Reflections on the nature of power in Washington (4.00 / 7)

We've got enough fucking Pentagon goons here to stage a fucking coup d'état. Now that I liked.

It always amazes me, even though it doesn't always amuse me, that reality for these guys amounts to bullying and dirty words for those you can cow, and enhanced interrogation for those you can't. And when they finally lose -- they always lose -- they come out of the bunker, blinking, and enter rehab somewhere in Utah.

Six months later, they're either TV gasbags, like Stephanopoulos, or selling Pentagon access to international arms merchants, like Kissinger, or like  Newt Gingrich, delivering murderous speeches at AIPAC dinners, hoping that someone else has noticed that Sarah Palin wouldn't exactly be presentable at a G20 or NATO summit, and hasn't noticed that they themselves are wizened retreads with an orange tan and a cheaper rug than they used to wear at their zenith on Capitol Hill.

We might as well laugh. This'll all be over soon enough. As Matt Taibbi has said, there's getting to be less and less for the motherfuckers to steal.

---

by: William Timberman @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 08:46:38 AM CDT

Ha Ha, thanks for the extra; are you sure you're not a script writer? (4.00 / 1)

I especially liked your use of "cow" as a verb:

reality for these guys amounts to bullying and dirty words for those you can cow, and enhanced interrogation for those you can't

I read this or heard this somewhere and it's becoming more and more true for me:
When too many mistakes have been made, one turns to comedy.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905

---

by: Michele Kelly @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 20:08:35 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I completely fell in love with (0.00 / 0)

The Thick of It in a brief moment in history a few years back when I could afford the cable package with BBB Amaerica on it. I'm dying for it to come out on a DVD format for the U.S. Do any of you techo geeks know if there's some sort of converter that will allow you to play Region 2 DVD's on a U.S. DVD player?

Thanks for alerting us to this movie, David. I'm not surprised by your positive review of it since it's from the same folks who did The Thick of It.

---

by: Oaktown Girl @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 10:50:20 AM CDT

yes (4.00 / 1)

there's an old freeware DVD ripping program called DVD shrink. If you have a DVD burner, you can convert a region 2 dvd to a region-free DVDR. Or you can look around for a gray market region free DVD player.  

"I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that."
-Lawrence Summers

---

by: kbuck @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 10:54:56 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Gray market? (4.00 / 1)

You can find region-free players for sale on-line that are even cheaper than the restricted ones on sale at a place like Best Buy. Not resold or hacked devices, either. Straight-up, brand new machines that are not generally stocked in stores because most US citizens don't care whether their DVD player can show foreign DVDs/VCDs or not.  

"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

---

by: SpitBall @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 11:12:56 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thanks very much for this info (0.00 / 0)

both of you. Very helpful and much appreciated.

---

by: Oaktown Girl @ Fri Oct 30, 2009 at 00:37:00 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Beverly Hills 90210 (4.00 / 1)

"...is like Beverly Hills 90210..."

This person resents that!  That is not very fair at all to Beverly Hills 90210.  

---

by: jim s @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 11:50:23 AM CDT

True. (0.00 / 0)

At least the people on that show were good-looking.

Montani semper liberi

---

by: Sadie Baker @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 13:52:11 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

David, (0.00 / 0)

I loved the clip you posted, your review, and the additional material on the website. Many warm thanks for sharing this movie with us.

---

by: Spartacus X @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 12:05:47 PM CDT

"People like Rahm Emanuel and Jim Messina..." (0.00 / 0)

"...trumpeted in the newspapers for their "toughness" and "guts" - all while they are capitulating to every demand from corporate special interests."

I don't think "capitulating" is the right term, because it assumes their interests are different from those they (and the boss who selected them) serve.

Likewise, I've never accepted the "weak, spineless Dems" meme, for the same reason. Whatever gestures the vast majority of them make (especially the leadership) -- such as affiliating with the Progressive Caucus, co-sponsoring bills they know the leadership will NEVER let reach the floor (ie HR 676), or making inspiring statements -- when push comes to shove, they'll vote anti-progressive, anti-labor, pro-war, pro-corporate.

Witness George Miller, one of the premier liberals, Progressive Caucus member, HR 676 co-sponsor -- and his efforts to scuttle the Kucinich amendment de-criminalizing state attempts at single-payer.  

---

by: nasrudin @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 12:32:37 PM CDT

If this is true, why, and what do we do about it? (0.00 / 0)

Whatever gestures the vast majority of them make (especially the leadership) -- such as affiliating with the Progressive Caucus, co-sponsoring bills they know the leadership will NEVER let reach the floor (ie HR 676), or making inspiring statements -- when push comes to shove, they'll vote anti-progressive, anti-labor, pro-war, pro-corporate.

I this is at least exaggerated, regarding most Progressive Caucus members and some others, but let's say you're right.  Then please answer my two little questions :-).  It would seem fairly hopeless to me.

---

by: dedelste @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 12:56:04 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Mimi Kennedy (PDA Chair) in movie (0.00 / 0)

Just wanted to note that Mimi Kennedy, National Chair for Progressive Democrats of America, brilliantly plays the role of Karen Clark in the movie (her name is briefly mentioned in the clip, but she is not shown here).
Some of you may also remember her as the "hippie mom" in Dharma & Greg.
And David is right--the movie is brilliant & very funny!

---

by: cobblestones @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 13:55:06 PM CDT

He's not based on Rahm Emanuel (0.00 / 0)

He's based on Alistair Campbell, Blair's old spin doctor.

But yes, In the Loop is a wonderful film and Peter Capaldi makes obscenity into an art form. It (and the TV show it builds upon, The Thick of It) gets the actors to deliver the scripted lines once, then it does another take in which they're encouraged to ad lib.

I don't know that you can say too much about American politics from it - it's very definitely a British (arguably even Scottish) film about British issues, and I'm not sure that Capaldi and Ianucci have any particularly well-developed critique of Washington like they have of Westminster and Wapping. I'd say that if you want to draw lessons from it, replace the British with progressive advocates - weak, squabbling, overestimating their own importance and desperate to come away with a piece of paper to wave about whilst promising peace in our time.

Forgotten Countries - a foreign policy-focused blog

---

by: Englishlefty @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 18:36:01 PM CDT

Scary? (0.00 / 0)

Bobby Kennedy was certainly tough but if the movie 13 Days is to be believed, everybody including Bobby was scared of pissing Dick Dailey off (the original one).  

I saw Dailey getting out of a car in downtown Chicago towards the end of his career once.  Both the guards and Dailey looked menacing, sort of Mafia-like.  Dailey was one scary dude.

McGovern went out of his way to stiff Dailey in 1972 and I always felt that Dailey returned the favor by going all out for the local ticket and nonchalanting the national.  He said not, but that was the rumor.

Both Bobby and Dailey would eat Rahm for lunch, IMO. Hey, so would Lyndon Johnson.  

---

by: David Kowalski @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 23:36:33 PM CDT