October-November Dates for Matt Welch-Nick Gillespie Declaration of Independents Tour

Matt Welch and I, co-authors of the widely praised The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong With America, will be speaking at a number of colleges and conferences over the coming months.

Here's a rundown of events and locations, including next Saturday's hoo-hah in the City of Brotherly Love:

Saturday, October 8: Students for Liberty Regional Conference, Drexel University, Phildelphia, Pennsylvania.

We're giving the evening keynote address. For more information, go here.

Monday, October 10: Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden-Sydney, Virginia.

We're speaking at 7.30PM at the Crowley Forum. For more information, go here.

Wednesay, October 12: Bastiat Society, Charleston, South Carolina.

For more information, go here. 

Tuesday, October 18: Yale Political Union, New Haven, Connecticut.

Nick Gillespie debating smoking and other nanny-state bans. For more information, go here.

Saturday, October 22: Students for Liberty Regional Conference, Columbia University, New York City.

We're giving the afternoon keynote talk. For more information, go here.

Tuesday, November 15: Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.

Talk by Nick Gillespie sponsored by Liberty at Boston University (where Reason magazine was founded in 1968!) at 4.30PM. For more info, go here.

Order our book at Amazon.com for just $15.28 in hardcover and $11.50 on Kindle; order at Barnes & Noble in hardcover and Nook for around the same.

Here's what George Will had to say about the tome in a column published during the dog days of the country's second consecutive recovery summer:

Autodidacts […] should spill sand on the pages of "The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong With America" by Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch. These incurably upbeat journalists with Reason magazine believe that not even government, try as it will, can prevent onrushing social improvement.

Here's what the book blogger Portland Aristotle had to say after catching our show in the City of Roses' great bookstore Powell's:

I am still trying to digest everything that I have learned from their presentation and having read their book. I absolutely love original thinking and strongly recommend their book to anyone out there trying to understand where our politics is taking us.

And here's E.D. Kain writing in Forbes:

It's a good book, a well-written, easily accessible manifesto on how libertarian ideas and anti-authoritarianism can help change the world, and how they will one way or another, whether we like it or not. Just as importantly, the book is uplifting, optimistic and full of energy. This is no pessimistic rant about how awful the "other guy" is – its a cheerful dismissal of tribalism and monopolistic thinking, in life and in politics. Nor is it merely a stab at the state – the old dinosaurs of corporate America face the same dismal looking future, and only manage to hang on to their advantage through state protection to begin with.

Oh yeah, and here's what some viewers of Real Time With Bill Maher said after I ran through some of arguments on that excellent show earlier this summer and argued against bank bailouts, restrictions on immigration, the drug war and in favor of smaller government, freedom of speech (even for corporations), and equal standing under the law for gays and lesbians:

Hey, @nickgillespie just bc you look like the Fonze with Aids doesn't mean you can ramble on like a fag

U stupid undercover Tea bagging fuck!

#SuperDouche @nickgillespie on Real Time with Bill Maher wearing his fake Ed Hardy shirt and Pimp jacket. What a tool!

@nickgillespie What was it like to get your ass pounded by Donna Brazile and Mayor Fetterman? For a PhD you're awfully ignorant and wrong. 

Thx @nickgillespie for showing us that Libertarians can interrupt, roll eyes, and fling racist remarks W/O gov't intervention.

All these comments and more can be checked out at our website for the book.

Watch the Maher appearance, where I was joined by political consultant Donna Brazile, Braddock (Pa.) Mayor John Fetterman, and actor John Turturro:

Comments

[AA]

Whew. I was afraid you guys were done pimping this book.

[Cheezit]

They're obviously just greedy and will do anything to get your money...

[Cheezit]

South Carolina, but not North Carolina? You skip the state with 2 of the most liberal cities in the southeast, and also with more top colleges than most states to visit... South Carolina?! Do people even read there?

[Barack HUSSEIN Obama]

I OWN North Carolina! Well, in 2008 I did. I hope you're voting for me again Cheezit. We can't have those shoeless sister-fuckers to the South picking who's in charge.

[Amakudari]

Now now, remember that your opponent was Turd Sandwich.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

All those pictures of Nick, and nary a Jacket in sight... what message are you trying to send here, Reason?

[DJF]

The Jacket is refusing personnel appearances until it gets a percentage of the royalties.

[Meaty Balls]

I like the T-shirt under the Jacket on that Maher clip. Is that a Versace?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Check out Welch on the 88's. More like rocktober, am I right?

And yeah, I wouldn't expect Maher's viewers to be any less terrible than the host himself.

[Cowboy]

I don't see Texas on the list. This saddens me.

You east-coasters get all the fun, between your book tours and bar get-togethers, and lack of serious hurricanes.

[$6M RoboTorso]

Half your commenters are from TX it seems, how about showing us some Jacket love?

[Proprietrist]

Yes, Dallas please.

[SIV]

Didn't I see you down in San Antone on a hot and dusty night?

[spencer]

EXACTLY!

[Episiarch]

Hey Nick, when you're in New Haven, you might want to check out The Owl. It's the only place in Connecticut where you can smoke in a bar. They're a cigar shop, but also a bar specializing in wines. I forget the exact reason why they were able to keep going after the ban on smoking in bars, but they can, and it's pretty cool inside.

[SIV]

Smoking bans in bars are an affront to civilization.Fuck the Nutmeg State.

[Episiarch]

You bore me.

[WarrenT]

He's your mom?

[capitol l]

That's 'boar', keep your homophones straight.

[Episiarch]

No. My grandma.

[Groovus Maximus]

Liar. Warty has your Grandma stashed in his jizz-caked, moldy pus cavern he affectionately calls "his basement."

Try again, you deviant.

[smacky]

There's a MAYOR of Braddock, PA?!?

I was under the impression that that city is completely lawless. I visited there this summer. Downtown Braddock was literally just one giant rave. The rave was just starting when I arrived in Braddock in early evening and was in full swing by the time I left Braddock around 11pm, furry hats and crop tops and open drug consumption and public displays of oral sex in parking lots and all. The centerpiece of Braddock is the abandoned, derelict Carnegie Library, where I went for a concert. Literally almost every other business there in the entire city is permanently shuttered. I had never seen a rave-driven economy before. It's truly something.

It's a shame, too, because the visually striking structure of the Carnegie Library in Braddock would give it potential to be a beautiful restored public library, but it's so run down; all of the auditorium seats are moth-eaten...what was the first Carnegie Library is now just as scuzzy as the scuzziest local concert hole-in-the-wall bar. If I were mayor of Braddock, PA I might prioritize restoring that likely once-impressive public library, so that the locals could at least have access to public internet and Google the fastest path out of there.

Frankly I am not surprised that the mayor of such a city physically threatened Nick Gillespie on Bill Maher's Real Time! Lol

Nick, you are fearless by the way. Bring Declaration of Independents to Cleveland!

[capitol l]

I don't know about the auditorium there, but the rest of the Braddock library was recently renovated. It is an awesome building though. As for the neighborhood, yeah it's pretty bad but not as bad as some make it to be. I've ridden my bike through there lots and never had a word said to me.

[Almanian]

Two things:

1) Wasn't Marvelous Marvin Hagler from Braddock? His fight with Hearns was a fucking WAR! Still sad Tommy lost 🙁 Hagler was a marvel...well, hence his monicker.

2) There's also a Mayor of Simpleton, so why not a Mayor of BRaddock, PA?

Enjoi...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Da9sc6YDBo

[Greg]

Hagler is actually from Newark and learned to fight somewhere in MA, I can't remember where. He left Newark after his family's house was destroyed in the Newark Riots if I recall

[Greg]

Brockton, MA. So sorta sounds like Braddock, probably what you were thinking of

[BakedPenguin]

smacky! Good to 'see' you! Anyway, this will explain a lot.

[capitol l]

Is it wrong to get a measure of pleasure reading about trust funded ghetto-stranded urban homesteaders?

[SIV]

a member of a straight-edge-vegan-punk-rock collective

Hell

[capitol l]

"Let's put all of the worst things together and do that, okay."

[Proprietrist]

Hey, I was a straight-edge vegan libertarian in high school and college. Different strokes...

[smacky]

Huh. That was informative. Thanks, BP. I had never even heard of Braddock until it was listed as a tour stop for the band Earth. Nice to 'see' you, too!

[BakedPenguin]

Are you back, or just stopping by?

[smacky]

Just passing by...this time! Waiting it out until they return to orderly sequential commenting.

[BakedPenguin]

PBrooks has been a refusenik, but he just posts replies at the bottom of the thread. PL objected too, but eventually gave in.

Ah well, stay warm in Northern Ohio. And remember you're welcome at Urkobold, where comments are always left-justified!

[sloopyinca]

FTA: "We use art to combat the dark side of capitalism," Fetterman replied.

What a dumbass.

[Lord Humungus]

That's funny, I use capitalism to explore the dark side of art.

[sloopyinca the sith]

Weird. I use the dark side to exploit the capitalism of art.

[BakedPenguin]

Huh. I use art to explain the capitalization of the dark side.

[Fartriloquist]

I think we should capitalize Art in cases like this.

[Hollow Weenie]

If the artist isn't starving when he creates something, then what he creates isn't art.

[Groovus Maximus]

The lovely anecdote and helpful links aside, the burning question here is: "Has Sandi taken a shite in Braddock, PA?"

[Sandi]

Nope. I skipped that place.

[PantsFan]

Can someone give Sandi an entry on the Reason Wiki

[sloopyinca the sith]

When do I get on there? I've been called a "beloved poster" more than once, have actually showed up in person at the reason LA offices, and started the Reason.com J sub D Memorial Fantasy Football League.

[np]

I was under the impression that that city is completely lawless. I visited there this summer. Downtown Braddock was literally just one giant rave. The rave was just starting when I arrived in Braddock in early evening and was in full swing by the time I left Braddock around 11pm, furry hats and crop tops and open drug consumption and public displays of oral sex in parking lots and all. The centerpiece of Braddock is the abandoned, derelict Carnegie Library, where I went for a concert. Literally almost every other business there in the entire city is permanently shuttered. I had never seen a rave-driven economy before. It's truly something.

When you mentioned "lawlessness" I had in mind people mugging each other, fearing for their safety, property being damaged, looting, etc. I fail to see how the rave and people attending it constituted any harm to others.

And how is the rave any less legitimate a business than your concert or any other? Also, you are confusing correlation with causation. The city's economic conditions with closed businesses were already there before the rave. In fact, that rave (and your concert and whatever else) is bringing in much needed business to the area.

I mean, even if the mayor is an ass, this is still ironic, considering this is Reason, you rant about one type of business and its patrons going about their own business.. and you go on about wishing "If I were mayor ..." using public funds to restore other city institutions, public internet, etc. Where are they going to get tax payer funding without extra businesses like that rave in the first place?

[smacky]

I fail to see how the rave and people attending it constituted any harm to others.

Huh? I wasn't making that argument. I never suggested that they were harming anyone. Public displays of sex and open drug consumption *are* illegal, though, and in a typical community with even minimal police oversight, neither would fly. I was making the observation that there didn't appear to be law enforcement of any kind in Braddock.

And how is the rave any less legitimate a business than your concert or any other?

In this instance, substitute "massive house party with electronic music and fuzzy hats" for "rave". This wasn't a commercially organized event at a convention center with tickets and vendors. There was nothing economic about it. My "rave-driven economy" quip was sarcasm, because raves are (if they have any economic transactions at all) primarily black markets and for that reason don't contribute to local economies (read: reportable to government as taxable income). There literally weren't even grocery stores or convenience stores in the area that I saw where attendees could have purchased beer or food. There were literally no local businesses for ravers to patronize.

Anyway, I wasn't attacking the legitimacy of raves so much as questioning their ability to sustain a region economically.

[BigT]

Please visit Oberlin OH. It's crazy with the statizm! And hipsters.

[Almanian]

*waving at you from the buccolic, more-right-wing Avon, OH*

[Warty]

I'm glad that Geauga Lake quit being Six Flags and became Geauga Lake again, aren't you?

[Ted S.]

Thanks for giving me a list of places to avoid the next two months.

[Xenocles]

You guys wrote a book? Why did nobody tell me?

[DJF]

They don't think it is right to use their positions at Reason to promote their book.

[sevo]

You guys must be getting tired of this, but, hey, I hope you make a ton of bucks and spread the word!
My copy's gotten thumbed by others and I hope they bought their own.

[heller]

Damn, I would go to the Boston one, but I can't miss work that week.

[capitol l]

You don't have to lie, just say that you don't want to go, they'll understand.

[heller]

No I really do want to go so that I can pretend to be a Paultard heckler.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

OT... does anyone own a Kindle, and if so, what are your general impressions. I've got my eye on one of those new Kindle Touchs (Touches?).

[Heroic Mulatto]

I'm a big Kindle fan. I hate reading for a long time on a computer screen, but I had a huge collection of old pulps and sci-fi e-books that I wanted to read. Enter the Kindle.

Buying from the Kindle store is hassle-free and there is a huge amount of free books out there that are easy to find, even in the Kindle store itself.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

That describes me pretty well, thanks for your input.

[Erik]

Some dude handed me a Kindle and asked me to read it. I said, "Read it? This is a Kindle, not a book!" I THREW IT ON THE GROUND!

[R C Dean]

I like my Kindle. A lot. Its the pre-touch version.

[Lord Humungus]

I just bought a $99 'keyboard' kindle. I'm reading lots of classics on it. I would recommend the leather case since I have a hard time holding the Kindle if lying on a sofa, etc. Wait, this is starting to sound like a dirty joke.

Anyways, I've only hit the free / public-domain stuff so far.

[sloopyinca]

Speaking of Bill Maher, I ran into him about 6 weeks ago in LA. He walked out onto a smoking patio at a bar. I called him a turd to his face and left.

Great side note: I drank about 10 beers with Ian McCallum (currently with Stiff Little Fingers) prior to my run in with Maher.

[Groovus Maximus]

Kudos Sloopington, though I doubt the epithet permeated through his thick layer of smug.

[Tulpa]

Aren't you supposed to be encouraging healthy behaviors, sir? At least my MD is always checking if I wear a condom at the shooting range, earplugs while driving, and a seat belt during sex.

[Groovus Maximus]

That sounds familiar. Would that litany of advice include: "So keep away, don't do milk, stay in drugs, and drink your school?"

[Greg]

Enough with the jibba jabba, I need work!

http://www.spike.com/video-cli.....needs-work

[Fatty Bolger]

Somewhere in LA there's an old lady still wondering why that strange man called her a turd at that bar.

[Tulpa]

Well wasn't that mature.

[heller]

Tulpa is Bill Maher. It all makes sense. Pretending to be a libertarian but actually a complete douche once he starts talking.

[Tulpa]

What makes you think there can only be one such person?

Not that I am.

[sloopyinca]

What was immature about it? Had I called him a small man with a small prostate, well then...

[Tulpa]

Have you ever heard a kid tell another kid he had a small prostate?

[School Aged Tulpa]

"Quit teasing me about mathletics! Gimme back my PB & J sandwich (sans crust), you jerk with a teeny weeny prostate!"

[Tulpa]

Don't you have some unnecessary surgeries to be referring, doc?

[Groovus Maximus]

Prunes, Tulpa. Prunes.

[JW]

You should have gotten Ian MacKaye, too, and kicked Maher's ass together.

[Tulpa]

Anonymous environmentalist: Solyndra loan caused by too much science.

An environmentalist with close ties to the Obama administration said Chu didn't help his cause with his own staffing decisions, picking people with science and technical backgrounds over people with solid political and policy chops.

"On some levels, it's exactly what you'd like to believe to be the best team, the environmentalist said. "But in the realities of this town these days, you need some people who have a different kind of intuition.

"The great irony, the big critique [with Solyndra] is the suggestion of too much politics and political influence, when in fact the realities on this might be exactly the opposite, that there was too much science and too little intuition," the person added.

I'm searching in vain for Politico's justification for giving this person anonymity? There is no insider knowledge in their statement, which is the usual reason for granting anonymity in exchange.

[heller]

As if any team went over this. Someone saw the word solar next to Solyndra and passed the file on to the loan department.

[sloopyinca]

More likely, they saw Solyndra next to George Kaiser and grabbed the White-Out to cover up that "Rejected" stamp a Bush DoE staffer had applied.

[Lord Humungus]

"She Blinded me with Science!"

[Art-P.O.G.]

There's a special hell for people who watch Real Time with Bill Maher. It's called watching Real Time with Bill Maher. That being said, the "Fonz with AIDS" crack was actually kinda funny.

[heller]

http://reason.com/blog/2011/10.....nt_2544984

[sloopyinca]

Yeah, I derived a bit of ironic pleasure knowing that Maher's viewers, the pinnacle of acceptance and tolerance, throw around homophobic and incendiary language as soon as they are offended, yet tell us what heartless bigots and racists we are.

I will heartily agree with the hilarity of the Fonze with AIDS crack, though. I wonder if it was really Cavanaugh, though, trolling along on a Friday night with nothing in the LAT to ridicule.

[flye]

I also enjoyed the "fake Ed Hardy shirt" burn, because it made me seriously contemplate whether a fake Ed Hardy shirt is worse than a real one. I'll have to add this to my upcoming Book Of Modern Koans.

[Zoe]

Well, I read the book, and it gave me hope while buried in its pages, but then living in the Northeast and watching the first few minutes of the Bill Maher video has sapped hope away again. The Bill Mahers, Mayor Feddermans and Donna Braziles of the world are going to win because people are sheep in human clothing.

[Fatty Bolger]

Being the mayor of a shithole is not exactly "winning."

[sloopyinca]

It is when you look at the pension package he ends up with. "Winning" for a few more decades, suckled up to the taxpayer teat.

[Tulpa]

I seriously doubt he's getting a pension -- it would have to be funded by the town, which is utterly broke. The state doesn't pitch in. He also gets paid a few hundred dollars a year, which is a bit below what Harvard policy degree holders are worth on the open market.

The guy's a douche, but he's certainly not in it for the money.

[db]

He really is a douche. I remember a poster ad that I saw showing a bunch of "union workers" and him in the ruins of an old steel mill, pushing for some sort of jobs legislation or other. The "workers" were wearing brand new work boots without even a hint of soot; bright, clean hardhats with no "Death to Rats" stickers, etc. Straight astroturf.

[Zoe]

But he's on a panel of 3:1 against a libertarian . . . the discussions below indicate that we may (and I think probably will) have 4 more years of Obama, entrenching the government even more deeply (as if there was much depth left) into everyone's lives on a daily basis and thus smothering any hope of ever undoing the damage as yet another generation comes of age in a "the government will do it" mode (see the Rupe-Reason poll of this year's youngsters' view of the TSA, Homeland Security, etc.). Gillespie and Welch wrote a great book, and Johnson and Paul are making some headlines, but I think they're all probably too late, especially since where I live, it's hard to find anyone who is not a committed Democrat (and if they aren't, they're a committed, similarly "government must fix this problem" type).

[Groovus Maximus]

Spot on, Zoe. Look at the Wall Street Occupiers and the wastrel copycats that it has spawned. Those little piles of freshly spooned drivel are the future. Bad enough they are the present a la The Boomers.

Not to mention on the local level, at least in mine, supposedly "fiscal conservative" types are raking in Fed grants and so-called "free money" to bolster their local core services. And those services seem to expand more and more and more.

Why bother having a smaller, less intrusive, constitutional federal government when the 57 states (heh) are all California Clones (America's Greece)?

[MNG]

Is the current furor over Perry indicative of an unusual demand for across-the-board litmust tests of GOP candidates by conservatives? I mean the guy would seem to be a conservative dream candidate: he has a proven track record of creating jobs (in a recession no less), hard to question evangelical cred, stridently conservative positions on most topics and luxurious Presidential hair (cf. Kathyrn Jean Lopez), yet he's being rejected so vehemently by much of the right for requiring a vaccine for school (and with an opt out) and for a single immigration policy? Has movement conservatism's great triumph of creating a loud, lockstep cadre of keyboard kommandoes backfired on the GOP with their own Frankensteinian creation now compelling the party nominee to not deviate in even the slightest from the new conservative orthodoxy?

[sloopyinca]

Good question, MiNGe. It looks that way at first, but not really. Now, if you are a self-professed Neocon like Perry, then you better fall in lockstep with the establishment crowd. On the other hand, RP has been going against the Neocon grain of Team Red for more than two decades, yet his popularity has remained steady through the early part of the campaign. Why, one might ask? Well, IMO, it's because the core GOP voters realize RP is a principled politician, whether they agree with those principles or not, while Perry is a more malleable guy they can ultimately manipulate and pressure into their way of thinking. All of this pressure is designed to exert pressure on Perry to fall into that desired lockstep of failed GOP policies that may lead to an election victory, but will ultimately lead our nation further into the two party toilet.

BTW, are you still putting Gary Johnson and then Ron Paul at the top of your "vote for" list? I'd like to see your current list, if you've got the time before John gets there to pick you up for brunch.

[MNG]

I dunno sloop, a lot of the GOP is doing its darndest to either simply ignore RP or scorn him.

Hey, I've always confessed a liking for Ron Paul. You have to say the guy does court the left a bit (look at his comments on the police treatment of the Wall Street Occupiers noted elsewhere, and in an old folks home no less!). You have to admire the guys courage (note to people who say Palin or Bachman have "courage"; standing up in front of a South Carolina GOP debate crowd and denouncing militarism is courage, going on Fox or Hannity and tweaking liberals is not, for a GOP candidate, courage).

But I don't pander about Paul. Some of his states rights positions are very troubling and his newsletter flap, while overblown, has troubling aspects. Still, while I would put him behind Johnson I would put him ahead of Obama. Remember, had he not run against McCain after eight years of GOP misrule I would have easily chosen McCain over Obama. But again, I'm not going to pander, I would choose Obama over all of the GOP crowd except Johnson, Paul, and Huntsman. The rest of the pack are not only cowardly pandering cretins but I disagree with their cowardly pandering to boot.

If I had my druthers Jim Webb would run, or Andrew Cuomo.

[JW]

Andrew Cuomo

Jeez. Why not just long for the return of the Fucking Steamroller?

[Tulpa]

He's all right for a Dem politician. He's definitely a better budget cutting governor than a lot of the purportedly Tea Party affiliated ones.

[Fatty Bolger]

You mean the way Hillary was rejected by Democrats over just one thing, her vote for the Iraq War Resolution?

When the perception is that the party's candidate is likely to win no matter what, people start pushing for the "purest" candidate possible. Just your typical party politics.

[MNG]

I don't think that dog hunts fatty. Obama for example defied the base on several positions important to movement liberals (e.g., gay marriage) and still won the nomination. In fact one thing recent Dems do is to go out of their way to defy the liberal base (Clinton's execution and Sister Souljah moment) and they don't seem punished in the same way that conservatives are now punishing conservatives who veer even slightly.

[Tulpa]

Indeed, liberals are so forgiving of their team members that they're going to line up and vote for a guy who continued Bush's wars that they used to oppose, and started a new one. Along with keeping Gitmo open, pushing for indefinite detention, raiding med MJ dispensaries, etc.

They're just a font of mercy and compassion, as long as you have the right letter after your name.

[MNG]

You know what I love? How right leaning folks get to have their cake and eat it too. The other day John, parroting a Rich Lowry article, argued that Obama was everything liberals could have asked for. On the other hand folks like Tulpa like to castigate liberals for continuing to support a President who has betrayed liberals at every turn.

You guys need to pick a meme and stick with it. This is an age where things get written down and preserved...

[Tulpa]

If John and I were the same person, or affiliated in any way, you would have a point.

[JW]

Tulps'a been the one enforcing the Hopeless McNoChange regime?

Damn Tupla, remind me never to get on your bad side. You can probably shoot lightning from your fingertips and shit.

[Fatty Bolger]

I'm not familiar with what Lowry has said. Is that really the argument, though? There is a difference between being everything they could have asked for, and everything they could have realistically hoped for. You could make a strong case that Obama has been the latter, or close to it.

[Tulpa]

It wasn't realistic for him to stop raiding med MJ facilities or pull troops out of Iraq and not start any new wars? Or not push for a new indefinite detention regime for suspected terrorists?

[Fatty Bolger]

First of all, I think you overestimate the importance of the gay marriage issue to non-gay movement liberals. Also, he hardly "defied the base" on the issue of homosexuality and gay marriage. He was against DOMA, voted against the marriage amendment, wanted to expand the employment non-discrimination act to homosexuals, supported full civil unions equal to marriage in every single way possible, wanted DADT to be repealed, and wanted to expand hate crime legislation to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

Oh, right, he was technically against "gay marriage" (winks to the base).

This is one area where I will actually give Obama some credit, for at least not getting in the way too much. Though it's hardly been the full-throated advocacy gays fully expected.

Also, with your mention of Clinton, you seem to have missed part of what I said. It's "When the perception is that the party's candidate is likely to win no matter what" that purity is sought.

[Tulpa]

he has a proven track record of creating jobs (in a recession no less)

Perry ran a business that hired people during the recession?

Oh wait, this is MNG, who believes that anything that happens in a polity happens by the grace of government.

[MNG]

Oh sheesh Cap'n Pedant, would it make you happier if I said "Perry had a proven track record of serving as governor in a state where many jobs were created (during a recession no less)?"

[Tulpa]

Yes, it would. It's not a pedantic point, either; note that your revision doesn't sound nearly as praising of Perry as the original formulation.

[MNG]

No, it's entirely pedantic given that Perry often and loudly notes that the reason for Texas job growth during the recession is that he got out of the way of businesses, a position you agree with, right? So it's pedantic, but hey, it's Sunday and you're bored, I get it.

[Tulpa]

If we're talking about just getting out of the way and doing nothing...you don't need a "proven track record" to show you're capable of it. I have a proven track record of not coercively interfering with business too, but no one is suggesting I would make a good president. (though I totally would)

[President Tulpa]

"Vote for Tulpaseed(tm), The Vaccine of Liberty!"

[Tulpa]

It's got a triple dose of immunosuppressants, so I don't think so.

[Mike Laursen]

Speaking of Perry, this will no doubt be in tomorrow's Morning Links:

Washington Post: "At Rick Perry's Texas hunting spot, camp's old racially charged name lingered":

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

[rather]

It should be an opportunity to discuss history, not present day politics
-thanks for the story idea

[rather]

Oh btw, I'm back!

Who wants to give me a Cleveland Steamer, half off!

[MNG]

Weekend Sports Topics:

1. How much was the Braves meltdown overshadowed by the Red Sox's meltdown? Was it right for Francona to go or was he a scapegoat sacrifice?

2. What can the Big East and Big Twelve (or whatever they are down to) do to survive? I think the latter should invite SMU in as a start.

3. Unsportsmanlike penalty on the Midshipmen yesterday, justified or b.s.?

[Bee Tagger]

Was it right for Francona to go or was he a scapegoat sacrifice?

I'd say yes and yes. As far as wins and losses in a single season go, managers have no more than a 2 or 3 game impact. Granted, 1 game would have made all the difference in the world, but so would have Carl Crawford being more than slightly better than a replacement player.

Francona going has to be an example of "do something!" but since it has very little bearing on performance, there's no harm done to the team and fans feel better about the team doing something.

[Chupacabra]

My guess is that Francona wanted out. Once your established vets start treating you like crap, there's no reason to stay.

Personally, I'd rather see Epstein go. While he had some early success drafting outstanding players, his track record with free agents has been horrible.

[BakedPenguin]

I read a good article - its point was that a good manager might not win you too many games, but he'll keep from losing them, and Francona was that guy.

Considering the 2 World Series they've won with him, I'd say that's a fair assessment.

[sloopyinca]

1. A lot, yet not enough. The Sox were supposed to be WS contenders, the Braves were supposed to maybe be playoff contenders. Oh, and Boston is a bigger baseball market with a rabid national fan base. Atlanta, not so much.

2. SMU is too small to help the B12. Besides, with UT-Austin, they have the state covered. IMO, they would be better making a run at BYU, CSU and LaTech, assuming the Boise St train has left the station. Those schools would expand their footprint into SEC and Pac12 areas and capture the LDS fan base.

3. Who cares. What we really want to know is whether Luke Fickell will be run out of town on a rail after going 6-6 at best and getting beat by that school up north. I hope the answer is "yes," and I hope Gene Smith and Gordon Gee are already opening up their checkbooks for Urban Meyer.

[Amakudari]

Solyndra Plant Had Whistling Robots, Spa Showers

At least they weren't spending the money on stupid shit.

[sage]

Wow. And I like how the article pointed out how much factory space in the area was standing empty in 2009. They didn't need to build a new plant, much less one the size of five football fields.

And if it was fat cats' money on the line, they wouldn't have.

[Solyndra]

Oh great another Drudge zombie rightwing freakout over something none of them understand at all. Just what this country needs. Yay. Soon Solyndra will have all the heft of other incisive criticisms of the president, like "FannieFreddie!" and "Kenya!"

[sage]

I'm not seeing much to like about the Solyndra thing, and I'm neither right or left wing. Would you care to expand on your statement?

[Amakudari]

Oh great another Drudge

I've visited Drudge maybe three or four times in my life.

zombie rightwing

You must be new here.

freakout

Says the guy trying to bring Birtherism into the discussion.

over something none of them understand at all.

Uh, what are people missing? The government, under the direction of the current administration to fast-track approvals in a clean energy loan guarantee program that had been around since the mid-aughts, made its first landmark guarantee to a company with an amazingly high cash burn rate and an extremely speculative business model that at all points involved much higher costs than both foreign and domestic competitors. Investors will lend money, too, but they typically do so with the prospect of enormous upside. When the company was on the verge of insolvency at the beginning of the year, they allowed other investors seniority over taxpayers as part of restructuring.

It's a drop in the bucket compared to military spending, but it puts the lie to some very important claims about government ending unemployment by ushering in a green economy.

Just what this country needs. Yay. Soon Solyndra will have all the heft of other incisive criticisms of the president, like "FannieFreddie!" and "Kenya!"

Yes, I see nothing at all to criticize about the government's handling of the mortgage GSEs over the last two decades.

[sevo]

"criticisms of the president, like "FannieFreddie!""
There's certainly enough to dislike about Obama and Co, but I don't recall anyone blaming Freddie and Fannie on him.

"and "Kenya!""
Why, yes, just last week we had a thousand-post thread on this very subject, right?

Uh, get this guy a reality transfusion, stat!

[sloopyinca]

Uh, get this guy a reality transfusion, stat!

And utilize a high-velocity lead-based delivery system.

[How Libertarian of you]

to present intelligent comments on your pro side and pick asshole glibs for the anti

[Tulpa]

AXIS OF GLIB!!!!

[capitol l]

Maybe the 'Fonze with Aids(sic)' comment was the most intelligent they could find from the anti camp.

I'm sure that your trollness can dig up something witty and insightful from the opposition, right?

[Episiarch]

Hey rectal, how many IP addresses are you going to burn in your quest to remain on H&R? What are you at, like 5 now? You know, it's not fair to the people who want to surf H&R from the library. Can't you think of someone else for a change?

[Au H20]

For the anti what?

POP WHAT MAGNITUDE?

[Tulpa]

Seriously, how many other washed-up never-was RBs have their own Pizza Hut campaign?

[PantsFan]

Red Zone channel means no damn commercials.

[xDevin xSomething]

Nick Gillespie makes me hot. And I'm a (mostly) straight guy. lol
Also, he has his shit way too together. Its best to just make broad generalizing statements that sound nice when on TV. hahah 🙂

[Tulpa]

Oh shit, Andre Johnson's not looking good.

[PantsFan]

GUS JOHNSON IS BACK IN THE NFL!!!!!

[Au H20]

Gawker is devouring itself over this Occupy Wall Street shit. Especially the demand that the government forgive student loans, which some people are rightly pointing out shouldn't be the tax payers' responsibility. Apparently, point that out makes you evil and like Glenn Beck and the tea partiers (who it goes without saying are evil and mean and smell bad).

Seriously, I have a problem though... why the fuck do I read Gawker again?

[Jerry]

Here the protestors shout down the one man who tried to question the appearance of Charlie Rangel at the protest. WE'RE SORRY. THIS IS A PEACEFUL MARCH. WE WELCOME EVERYONE.

[Cowboy]

Same fucking question I ask myself. It just makes me rage. I wish I were as good at debating as some of the folks here, I would love to school some of those pretentious assholes.

[Tulpa]

There's no known debating tactic to overcome the "lalala not listening" defense those types employ.

[Lola Marina]

Nick Guillespie, you are the hottest man on earth

[d]

Gosh, I can see why Gillespie got so much negative flack from those Maher online commentators: all those annoying facts and shit!

[Bob]

Liberal Democrats stole Nick's jacket. Let's occupy Wall St. until they return it!!!

[Priscilla]

1913 wasn't a very good year. 1913 gave us the income tax, the 16th amendment and the IRS.~ Ron Paul.
The Truth Marches On........If you know the real deal ,then the truth is easier to accept. The truth is always going to be our focus in this revolution Ron Paul 2012