Motley Moose – Archive

Jarring, isn’t it?

I have a secret, and it’s all about Billy.  If you want to find out, follow me after the fold!

If Obama can do it, so can I.

It was pretty damn thoughtless of me to disappear so completely during my personal and professional meltdown.  I have a rationalization for it, but I’ll spare you the BS.

You “guys,” (used in the gender neutral sense, Sricki), are my friends, and I’m sorry for letting you down.

crossposted at MyDD:

John McCain has no honor.

As a former Naval Officer, and fellow alumni of the Naval Academy, it’s almost hard to believe that I wrote those words above.

Here is the Honor Concept from the USNA website:

“Midshipmen are persons of integrity: They stand for that which is right.

They tell the truth and ensure that the full truth is known. They do not lie.

They embrace fairness in all actions. They ensure that work submitted as their own is their own, and that assistance received from any source is authorized and properly documented. They do not cheat.

They respect the property of others and ensure that others are able to benefit from the use of their own property. They do not steal.”

John McCain would get be expelled from the Naval Academy for his recent behavior.  

But, Hey!

He learned this shit fifty years ago, right?  

Maybe he just forgot.  

Welcome to the Inaugural Friday Night Open Moose!

This is the ultimate open thread, so beware.  This is a “serious politics” free zone, so bring your biting humor, and your body armor.

Tonight’s topic is, naturally, the iconic nature of the Moose.  Feel free to post your favorite pics and stories.

And remember, Sarah, in this place, the Moose fight back!

Howdy Folks, and Welcome to the Motley Moose Lounge!

Wanna blow off some steam?  

Crack a few one liners?  

Cuss up a storm?

You’ve found the right place.  Don’t miss the inaugural Friday night “Open Moose,” starting at 7pm EDT tonight.

Just remember…we don’t do straight politics here.  

Bring your chops, your jokes, and your sense of humor…clothing is optional, as always.

Cheers, and see you tonight!

-Stipes!

Bumped from One of the Original Launch Diaries

In the 1958 class the US Naval Academy, John McCain graduated 894th out of 899

Much has been talked about, with respect to John McCain’s time at the Naval Academy.  As someone who also went there, I want to express my deep admiration for John McCain’s accomplishment of graduating 6th from the bottom.

In 1988, I graduated from the United States Naval Academy, exactly 30 years after John McCain.  In my graduating class of around 1100, I graduated dead in the middle, in the low 500s.  By all measures, I was an average Midshipman.

How was my class rank calculated, and why did class rank matter?

Class rank is a combination of several factors:

1. Academic Performance

2. Professional Performance

3. Leadership Performance

There may be several more factors, and they may have changed since I graduated 20 years ago, but those should still be the major areas that are used to calculate class rank.

Why does rank matter?  

Because it determines what you get to pick for a job when you graduate.

What’s the most sought after job?

Naval Aviator.

Well…it was bound to happen.  

The Palin pick has changed everything…with DittoHeads.

I had an interesting encounter yesterday with a colleague, who is in fact, a raging Dittohead.  I knew that he listened to right-weird radio, (here in Portland, we get our Lars Larson and Bill-O on 750am), but I didn’t think he was delusional.  

For the most part, he appears normal…he comes to work clean every morning, with his hair combed and his underwear on the inside.  This would tend to eliminate him as a “Standard Issue” DittoHead, so I never had any real concerns for his sanity.

The Palin pick has changed everything…with how I view HIM.  

crossposted at MyDD

About 2 months ago, there seemed to be a daily oversupply of poll diaries.  Now…not so much.  This shortage was even noted by the Jerome himself, just this morning.

I try to keep in mind that single polls are meaningless.  It’s trends and rolling averages that are meaningful, not single data points.  But we all like polls.  They give us a feeling that we truly understand what is going on.

How do we know that looking at a single poll is mostly meaningless?  Mark Blumenthal of the National Journal has an excellent piece this morning that takes on this subject, specifically with respect to Instant Response Polls:

What do those “instant response” polls tells us about what voters think about John McCain ‘s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate? It may depend on which poll we look at.

The Gallup Organization called 898 registered voters Friday night and found that most voters had “never heard” of Palin (51 percent) or could not offer an opinion (20 percent). The few that had heard of Palin were mostly positive: 22 percent rated her favorably, 7 percent unfavorably.

On the same night, Rasmussen Reports called 1,000 “likely voters” using its automated methodology and obtained a very different result. Four of five voters were able to offer an opinion: 53 percent rated Palin favorably, 28 percent rated her unfavorably, only 18 percent said they were unfamiliar, and 2 percent were unsure.

   So, as of Friday night, the percentage of Americans who knew Palin well enough to rate her was either 29 or 71 percent.

The link to the entire article is here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26…

cross posted at MyDD

Well, as most of us know now, McCain did not fully vet Sarah Palin before he announced her as his VP pick.  We know this, because eight McCain staffers just arrived in Alaska to perform that function.

Can McCain retroactively vet Palin?  

Well sure! He can pretty much do anything that he damn well pleases, (well, except pick Lieberman for VP).  It’s pretty much like putting toothpaste back into the tube.  It’s extremely difficult, messy, and you can never get all of it back in, (my buddy and I tried this in college, and proved that you could get quite a bit back in, if you were very patient…and very bored).

Cross posted at MyDD

Dan Quayle, met Sarah Palin.  Sarah Palin, met 1988.

This pick is a disaster in many ways.  I find that it is my civil duty to list them, so here goes:

1.  McCain experience attack meme?  Dead.  She has 19 months experience as the Governor of Alaska.  Otherwise, she was mayor of a small town, and a Beauty Queen, (love those pics, BTW).  She is now a heartbeat away from running the country.  How comforting.

2. Bush/Cheney big oil?  She’s so deeply immersed in big oil, it makes Cheney look like Al Gore.  No maverick environmentalist here.  Alternative energy?  No!  Let’s fucking drill some more, and some more, and some more.