"For them to be cheering America's loss.."

They weren't. They were cheering Obama's loss.

But presumably that crude lie will serve its purpose amongst the Left.

Cute. The only problem is: IT WASN'T OBAMA WHO LOST. IT WAS OUR FUCKIN COUNTRY, JACKASS!

If you can't take the hate get out of America...

Krugman: "Middle-aged adolescents -- dumb middle-aged adolescents -- rule one of our nation's two great political parties."

That does not go deep enough:

We are now a nation freighted with self-loathing. Rupert Murdoch has struck it rich convincing one sort of American to hate another sort. But the world is also watching our TV broadcasts. They are aghast. They see Murdoch's Fox News trying to grind our president underfoot with pure lies and abject calumny. They see what from afar what we can't see from up close: We hate irrationally and rancorously in America.

Has there ever been an empire that failed because of self-loathing? Because that is precisely where this is trending. A house divided will not stand.

Now let's look at the IOC selection in light of my analysis:

If you were in charge of selecting a Western country to host the Olympics, would you choose a nation that denies out of hate, the birthright of its first black president? Or a romantic up-and-coming nation known for happiness, elan, and a celebration of its own brown skin?

Which is safer and saner?
The decision is a no-brainer.

The Olympic spirit doesn't belong in America. It belongs in Rio. And when in the future, historians finally affix blame, they will fix it where it belongs: In Rupert Murdoch's evil little lap. He is the hate-mongerer nonpareil. He has done more to turn this country against itself than any man in my lifetime...

Our country tolerates Murdoch's bile to its own demise. I say: Tear apart his media empire. De-fang this vampire before he sucks America dry. It has come down to this: Either his media empire dies or our empire dies. I choose the destruction of his empire. How about you?

The backlash will be perspective. Think the images and slogans of the right wing cheering for chicago's and america's loss will take root in the minds of the general public. Health care reform, the stimulous...alot of people are confused by that. The townhall protesters and tea baggers are just part of the mix. Ido think their tone has been more off-putting to americans than is realized, but this Olympic thing was so vindictive, petty, mean=spirited, unpatriotic and ugly that it might very well identify the movement.

Big mistake for the conservative, bigger mistake to keep it going and even bigger mistake not to realize how it looked to the country and the world.

Gee, and what would have happened if President Obama hadn't been there making the case for Chicago -- while the heads of government of the other finalists promoted their cities. Tell me honestly that the same people on the right who are cheering now -- wouldn't be sneering at the president and challenging his patriotism and his commitment to improving the U.S. economy.

Agree with Koreyel, what has happened to the right to make them hate so much, anyone who hates a good man who is trying his level best to undo the wrongs that the republicans have done, just because of the color of his skin.It is unbelievable in this day and age. Who would want to come to a country that is being destroyed by hate!

saw that segment earlier. did you notice how michael murphy worked 'valerie jarette' into the conversation. interesting, in light that she's the next target of beck and limbaugh.

murphy's such a pig.

The haters didn't poll too well at the Nite Owl coffee shop yesterday and this morning. Although my poll is, as always, unscientific, it is conclusive: "Anybody against the Olympics is un-American."

Shorter Version:
Everything Obama does is Bad
Obama is from Chicago
Therefore Chicago is Bad.

Nasty, Nasty People

Has there ever been any evidence that the right wing really cared about the country? I can't think of any.

They want to destroy the country and put it under a theocracy of whatever particular flavor their religion happens to be.

They are willing to let people die for the express purpose of enriching themselves. This isn't just the wars, but also Katrina, the medical insurance fiasco, the sub-prime mortgage fiasco, ...

They put their religion ahead of education and are willing to see the US go down the tubes because it doesn't have the educated workforce needed to produce the necessary innovations to get ahead of the rest of the world.

Their hatred of the "other" in the country that supposedly is "one nation" has torn our country apart since the time of MLK and Cesar Chavez.

They have no problem sending kids off to kill and be killed, but when they come back wounded, they're on their own. The only reason things aren't worse is that the Democrats in Congress pushed through a budget increase for the VA against Bush's wishes.

They have no problem poisoning our country and letting people die from the toxins, again for the express purpose of enriching themselves. When someone tries to stop them, they have a holy fit.

Their first reaction to anything is to kill someone. Witness the way the vigilantes ran loose in NO after Katrina, and the people who absolutely insist on carrying weapons. They don't need a reason, just an excuse.

It seems that hatred and fear pretty much defines how they regard the rest of the world. Why should their country be any different?

So this blatant display of hatred for America is just more of the same, only less concealed.

Steve writes:" I suspect if a pollster were to ask Americans which bothered them more. . ."

Oh, dear boy, it depends upon which American you ask.

Oh, and Mr. Murdoch (and Limbaugh and Beck, and the rest of their ilk) are drug dealers.

-and are getting just as filthy rich. . .

The Olympic Ideals might be progressive, but the Olympics itself is a very mixed bag of nationalism, regressive competitiveness and laundering corporate images.

"For them to be cheering America's loss.."

They weren't. They were cheering Obama's loss.

But presumably that crude lie will serve its purpose amongst the Left.

Do you even know what the word lie means? A different interpretation of events, maybe, but a lie? How on earth is that a lie?

I think it's shameful and embarassing that the right is cheering over this. How far is the right willing to take this? Anything bad that happens to the US is now good because it might make Obama look bad? These are the very same people who said that anyone who criticized Bush during wartime was a traitor and an America-hater -- they clearly have very short memories and have no grasp of the word hypocrisy or the concept of patriotism.

Obama did what he could to get the US to be the host country of the Olympics in 2016, a great honor for any country that gets to do so. It's not a huge loss not to get it, in fact I'd argue that Rio/South America deserves it more, but it's not some great failure for Obama either.

Grow up, righties. You're behaving like pathetic playground bullies.

I'm repeating myself, but there are layers and layers of absurdity (not to mention swinishness) in the right-wing reaction. As always, it's important, while repudiating the most obvious falsehoods being peddled by the wingnut lie machine, not to miss and thereby validate the less egregious ones. First and foremost, the sensible reaction is that this is no big deal. Good for Rio. Too bad for Chicago (and Tokyo). Good for President Obama finding the time to pitch in. Better luck next time. Americans aren't under an obligation to root for American cities or teams. If you have a soft spot for Rio, root for it. Perhaps it's time for the games to be held in S. America. Whatever. But to want Chicago's bid to be rejected just because Obama supported it (and so that they could then pretend this quite ordinary event in the life of a national leader was a crushing defeat) shows a level of infantile malice that I wish I could say surprises me. I think I've come to expect the malice, but am always gob-smacked by the occasions for displaying it that they find. Loathsome people.

It seems reasonable to assume that if Chicago had been picked by the IOC, conservatives would have criticized Obama for leaving the country for a trivial reason when he should have been home working on more important things. The right-wing strategy is simply to slam Obama all the time, for as many different reasons as they can think of. The merits of any specific attack are completely beside the point, because next week they'll be using a new one.

To am and all the other haters: You are irrelevant and what you have to say is of no value because you bring no solutions or recognition of someone else's contribution to the greater good. Whether you agree or not, to celebrate someone's "failure" to deliver is reprehensible. Anyone, in today's climate, who identifies with the Republican Party or as a conservative, gets my total disdain and does not deserve even this time I am grudgingly investing in this comment.

I am committed to Oneness through Justice and Transformation
peace,
st john

To be more explicit, though in broad agreement with the comments of those disgusted with the right-wingers, I think talk of 'America's defeat' or 'America's loss' yields to much to the people they are rightly reacting against, by blowing the event itself out of all proportion.

Will they also celebrate Obama's defeat in Afghanistan & Iraq? And, thus, the deaths of thousands of people, whether military or civilian, in these countries? The deaths of the people in TWC which drew us into the Bush wars, to glorify his War Presidency?

Perhaps this figured in the decision not to have the Olympics in the USA:

From the Thomas Merton Center/Twin Cities Pittsburgh and Indymedia/Glassbead Collective NYC (Pittsburgh, PA, September 27th, 2009)—On the first day of the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh, residents and visitors arriving in the downtown area of the two time “Most Livable City” winner were greeted with a town locked down with security fences, barricades, and checkpoints staffed by security forces in camouflage standing next to armored vehicles typically seen in TV news reports from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Apache, Blackhawk, and Chinook helicopters traversed the skies. National Guard and airborne regiments staffed local jails, extended with temporary holding facilities created from mobile trailers, portable toilets and generators, where incarcerated protesters were referred to with military terminology as “detainees” not “arrestees”.

Activists planning G-20-related protest events were repeatedly harassed by police during the week preceding the Summit, and residents unconnected with any protest organizing saw similar visits from a police force acting as if it expected a foreign army to invade the city. As collectives who support activists by providing food services at similar scale events entered Pittsburgh immediately prior to the convention, they and anyone who offered space to their mobile kitchens were harassed and threatened by local police. Attempted public feedings in the downtown area, open to all, were physically blocked by police citing lacks of permits.

Police responded to demonstrations with riot control equipment including batons, tear gas, pepper spray, percussion grenades, and Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) used by the New York Police Department during the 2004 Republican National Convention and by the U.S. military to disperse crowds in Iraq. Pre-recorded dispersal orders including the phrase “no matter what your purpose” were blasted from police loudspeakers in crowded public spaces, making it clear that anyone who stayed in the areas following the warnings would be in danger of riot control weapons and arrest—including journalists.

On two consecutive nights in and around the campus of the University of Pittsburgh, hundreds of riot police assaulted students, journalists, and members of the public frequenting the busy residential and recreational district—in non-riot situations. Diners walking out of restaurants, bar patrons, and students trying to get back to their dorms were tear-gassed, clubbed and arrested, and over 100 persons were arrested on Friday night, most in a mass arrest situation. Students were tear gassed by riot police inside university buildings. Those arrested including 6 journalists—two from Twin Cities Indymedia. The University of Pittsburgh, who prior to the Summit posted warnings to students against involvement in any activities that ‘may jeopardize their careers’, announced that they would be additionally investigating arrestees to see if they were registered students.

Twin Cities Indymedia reporter Melissa Hill was arrested, had her camera broken and her footage confiscated by the Pittsburgh Police Department.

“I was outraged”, stated Hill, “Immediately before the arrest, the police were acting extremely aggressive including using fear tactics like pointing rubber bullet guns at close proximity” . I repeatedly identified myself as a member of the press, was wearing a press badge, and when I was released 5 hours later, my camera was returned to me broken, and the recordable DVD with my footage on it was stolen”

Several other journalists were arrested and had equipment intentionally broken and footage confiscated during the Summit.
Sadie Gurman, reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Dominic Dimauro - Freelance Journalist, arrested, camera and media confiscated with no receipt. Charged with Obstruction of Justice, Failure to Disperse.
Tom Larkin - Freelance cameraman, had camera damaged by impact round, punched in the face by a policeman as he was filming.
Keith DeVries - member of Pittsburgh Filmmakers, student at University of Pittsburgh. Had camera destroyed as police tried to confiscate his tape following his arrest. Charged with failure to disperse, and was part of the mass arrest on Cathedral Lawn.

“We had a peaceful and legal march of 8,000 on Friday, and hours later it was the police who acted violently and unlawfully,” said Pete Shell of the Thomas Merton Center which organized the Friday Peoples’ March.

During the last major political gathering to received a “National Special Security Event” designation, the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN, a similar pattern of police and security overkill was noted before, during and after the Convention, with infiltrators and preemptive arrests, a massive police and military presence in the city, and indiscriminate targeting of bystanders and members of the press. Of the 818 people arrested, 75% were arrested in mass arrest situations, and saw their charges dropped. Around 60 journalists were arrested. No public official ever saw censure for allowing this blatant violation of the freedoms to assemble and protest, the implicit requirement that police only arrest those seen committing a crime, and of the freedom of the press.

The normalization of state force and violence visible in an unarguably national pattern of preemptive arrests/harassment, mass arrests, militarization achieved by suspension of Posse Comitatus, that has become a hallmark of National Special Security Events runs contrary to the expected, Constitutionally-guaranteed rights to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right to assembly. Furthermore, when state violence focuses public discourse on a struggle for these basic rights, it detracts from civic discussion around the substantive issues raised by dissenters, undermining the intent of the basic rights to promote open discussion in society.

As the G-20 leaves Pittsburgh, we are left with many questions about the state of freedom in America, about the casual and indiscriminate use of police violence and authority in non-riot situations as standard practice, and about a society that accepts the militarization of its cities in the name of “security”.

Gads, how balanced a set of views! How rare on commercial tv.

Considering that the Republican Party and conservatives are irrelevant to politics in the U.S. and that the U.S. will well on its way to becoming a one party state with the Democratic Party being the only relevant political party, there is nothing that can be affected by a backlash.

The real question is whether the U.S. get to look forward to many more pork laden, corruption filled endeavors like the Olympics as the U.S. becomes a one party state. Will politics in Chicago today be the political model of the U.S. in the near future.

I'm not objective since I join almost every other Chicagoan I know in dancing on tables at the outcome of this process, but WTF is with people equating this with a president's prestige or influence?

You can worry about Obama's clout when he's greeted with loud boos worldwide like his predecessor was, or when too many of his policies are staunchly resisted by most of the world like his predecessor's were. (As it is, the only Obama policies being [rightly] criticized bv the rest of the world are holdovers from bad Bush policymaking, so the right has no leg to stand on here.)

Sheesh. This is the freaking Olympics -- hardly the measure of an international leader.

I believe the basic reason for the criticism of Obama making the trek to lobby for the Olympics, is that with all else that is going on, the trek seemed like a poor use of time. The focus has been on the Afghan. war, where there hasn't been the "time" to develop a go-forward strategy, but there has been the "time" for Obama to attend fundraisers, honor sports and golf figures, and now go off to Europe to help bring the Olympics to Chicago.

Not sure, but has the the past record of holding Olympic games in US cities, e.g Atlanta, been the financial success that was being put forward as one of the main reasons for Chicago to invest in buildout of the site and infrastructure necessary to handle such games. There's a pretty compelling argument against the presumed financial benefits of hosting the Olympics in the following article:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4127/is_200510/ai_n15705690/?tag=content;col1

I must say Ms. Maddow is such a voice for decency, it's nice to see her on MTP. I now consider myself no longer a liberal per se but a decent person (of many decent people) instead.

For Republicans 'intellectual seriousness' has always been like putting lipstick on a squid. Ever tried having a serious conversation with a Republican? You can't get far before they start snickering.

They've never been serious and now they don't even have the squid ink to hide in.

And they think everyone is just like them.

Georgie Herbert Walky Boosch added his patrician hatred for broccoli to the national dialogue .
When in doubt , hate is a safe harbor for a rudderless party .

The world watches cable news, I don't think their reaction to all of this stuff, the Olympics, Healthcare etc is very pretty. I think there seems to be one small voice of reason from of all people Joe Scarborough in his article on Heffington Post today.

Anonymous has a point. Maybe people outside the USA just don't think we're all that cool?

Here's a comment from someone reading the Times of London, following an essay by Vidal Gore:

"...Your country spends $950Bn in arms for protecting itself from an imaginary
enemy.
"You bail-out corrupt bankers with trillions of dollars so they can pay themselves huge bonuses.
"But you cannot get yourselves a decent health care..."

Interesting.

Thinkprogress.org says that The Weekly Standard who cheered against Obama
has since changed its post as noted below> so isn't that interesting??

Originally:
"Soon after news broke that the International Olympic Committee had rejected Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics, which President Obama had personally lobbied for, Weekly Standard blogger John McCormack published a celebratory post on the magazine’s blog, titled “Chicago Loses! Chicago Loses!.” McCormack wrote that “Cheers erupt at WEEKLY STANDARD world headquarters”...

"But the post has now been changed. The reference to cheers have been removed and the title has been shortened to a non-exclamatory “Chicago Loses.” The current post neither acknowledges nor explains the changes that were made."

Thinkprogress also noted: Update --The Weekly Standard promoted McCormack's celebration on Twitter, saying "Chicago Loses! Chicago Loses!"

I have never really this mentioned by anyone, but isn't it amazing that the right wing, in just ten months, has literally become each and every thing that they accused anyone that disagreed with them, on even a single issue, of being over the last several years? I find it stunning.

Rooting for US Defeat? Check
Trying to undermine the President? Check
Displaying a (insert name) Derangement Syndrome? Check

Remember all of the drama over the missing flag pin? The amount of time spent on the flag pin was astonishing. Remember, there was real concern about who's side Obama was on.

President Obama continues the hard work of governing while the snarling, vicious, hating conservatives look for ways to undermine his administration. How patriotic of them.

The fact remains, will the conservatives ever pay a price for their hypocrisy? I hope Rachel Maddow is right about the taste that lingers. I was in my glory watching her on Meet The Press this morning. It was just awesome. David Gregory looks so small, so insignificant in her presence.

Let's not lose track of a factor that weighed heavily in Chicago's loss: the abusive way visitors to America are treated these days. It's costing our tourist industry billions, as people are staying away based either on their own bad experiences or what they've heard from others.

Over at Daily Kos, an astute commenter notes:

"Here's what these people have rooted against so far:

Bill Clinton freeing American journalists from North Korea
Marines rescuing Americans from Somali pirates
Rescuing American automobile manufacturers
Health care for all Americans
An American city hosting the Olympics

Can we call them anti-American yet? "

I don't think it's backlash so much as people will just tune out the GOP. It's kind of like Schiavo that way: "You're all hyped up about THIS? What?"

Observer,

We can call them whatever we want, but we are still in a minority (by we I mean politically aware progressives. Once the mainstream media begins calling them unAmerican and reporting their activities in that context, then we will all be calling them anti-American.

They have no shame, they're Republicans.

You might want to read this:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-gabler2-2009oct02,0,7817347.story
From the LA Times today.

Gman, if you can't keep it clean, decent, and respectful, get off the site.

Your comment is not only crude and offensive, but it reveals your narrow ignorance, poor grammar, and general lack of respect. Why are you still crybabying after all these months? Your side lost in November. Get over it! It's bad enough to be stupid; you've proved it in writing.

I find it amusing that when you read the brain-enriched comments like those of the esteemed Gman and am, they truly have nothing to say. They make no point, they add nothing, they just rant uncontrollably using trite words or phrases that they stole from someone else. They essentially just scream "poopy-head," using more words.

It really does bring home the original point of the article and the entire thread.

People lament the vitriol towards Obama, but I remember similar sh*t going on during the Clinton years.

In a perverse kind of way I'm glad the Olympics highlighted this trend.

The right would have us dissolve into a bunch of confederate states, the loathing for anything federal is so transparent.

That's what we're looking at folks.

Is there any other country on the planet where a bunch of goons would Cheer over losing an Olympic bid?

Guns. God. Obama (black) hatred. We got it all.

Has it ever occurred to the right that Obama just might love this country?

Insofar as U.S. negatives factored against the choice of Chicago, one was historical (five summer Olympics in the U.S.) and the other a result of a continuance of Bush policies (all the hassles associated with entry into the States). The rest is just hot air and spitballs. The funniest column seen so far: FEMA Brown's at Huffpost arguing that TARP and Brazilian tax cuts were the one-two punch. Anyway, beach volleyball at Copacabana vs. play along the Lake Michigan shoreline? C'mon...

shortstop at 4:14 PM: I'm not objective since I join almost every other Chicagoan I know in dancing on tables at the outcome of this process...

gman at 7:16 PM....One group applauded his loss.....

As an aside re: the so-called economic benefits of the Olympics see this reprint in todays NYTimes

http://miniurl.org/08J

Paul, the city DID spend millions trying to get the games.

Millions it decided NOT to spend on , say, reducing our deficit or rebuilding our infrastructure.

Or perhaps educating our children, so they will stop beating each other to death with 2 by 4s.

yeah us elitist chicagoans who live here and would reap NO economic benefits from your illusion of increased tourism etc. were against the boondoggle from the start.

Whatever polls you read, Chicagoans were against this crap by a large majority, ranging from the low 70's to high 80's. Especially after Daley conceded that we tax payers would foot the bill for any overruns. While

I would guess less than 1% of Americans have heard of the Weekly Standard.

"I don't think it's backlash so much as people will just tune out the GOP. It's kind of like Schiavo that way: "You're all hyped up about THIS?

I agree. And the left also needs to watch the whining about conservative ridiculousness. Maybe it's good PR, but it can also look like Democrats pointing at the Republicans and trying to get a disinterested public to notice ("Mommy! Look what the Republicans did!")

GREAT idea! I hope it happens...

(re pollsters).

Hey SB, I just plugged WM on Twitter (via @sociologisttina)

Republican values are clear:

Party before country, money above all.

The objection that the Right is cheering Obama's failure, not America's, is a fair except that would look like this: "Darn it, that jerk Obama cost us the Olympics. It would have been so cool, but he blew it, the jerk.

Cheering America's loss looks like: "Chicago loses! Chicago loses!"

South Africa is getting the World Cup, South America wins their first 2016 Olympics -- FIFA and the Olympic Committee see where their future growth will come from. They are smart business people.

Furthermore, the IOC wants their athletes treated with care and respect. The last time the US hosted the summer games in 1996 a right wing activist bombed Centennial Park in Atlanta, killing one and injuring 111. Given the right wing's current hostility toward hosting the games in the US, their hatred of Obama, their displays of military weapons at public meetings, etc. the IOC has reason to be concerned for athletes' safety in America.

Paul Madrigal: Perhaps your whispers into the tender ears of the mayor were too soft, or perhaps he was more concerned about the jobs and income that hosting the games would have brought the city despite the whines of the city's upper classes.

So precious. You really didn't follow the bid process, and you've never watched the mayor at work, have you?

Did Maddow really use those out-of-date numbers or are you misquoting her? By the time the IOC vote was made, supporters and non-supporters were evenly matched after September's City Council Olympics frolics (don't know what they did? Look it up) and the release of independent reports contradicting the mayor's version of events. I was on the side that doesn't mind inconvenience but does very much mind the city lying about the amount of private funding for which it had commitments; explicitly putting Chicago taxpayers on the hook for the Games' cost; wildly overestimating expected revenues; blatantly robbing education, infrastructure and the park district -- yes, this was going to disproportionately negatively affect low-income people, my dear; and failing to plan in any way for the return of basic public space and services after the Olympics (darn those elitist poor people and their never-ending whines!).

The closed-door contract process was just the final slap. This was quite simply a bad bid that was going to provide short-term jobs...followed by long-term, severely negative consequences for Chicago while enriching the limited Daley circle through his perennially bent handout process. What else is new?

It's okay to be angry about the right wing's cheering, which is unseemly and ill-informed. Sadly, the misplaced condescension toward Chicago liberals by non-Chicago Dems who are ignorant of what the Chicago bid actually contained and the process taken to create it is equally so.

GOP 2009: I-O-C over U-S-A

Where were these idjits when this guy was backing the Chicago Olympic proposal?

http://theworldofhowey.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/the-unamericans/

Putting aside all the obvious reasons why Rio would be chosen to host the Olympics or even why the United States would not, isn't it a real possibility that those casting secret ballots have been sickened by the uncivil, bigoted, potentially violent discourse being tolerated (being rewarded) in this country of late? Surely it would be sensible to reject it. Not only that--it might feel like an essential thing to do, for the sake of world progress and to fend off evil that's being allowed to spread.

The reaction of members of the Right, including at the Weekly Standard, only confirms what they feared and voted against.

quick fix to my post:

The reaction of members of the Right, including at the Weekly Standard, only confirms what they possibly feared and voted against.

(Seems entirely likely, wonder if we'll ever know.)

The "lights" of the Republican party today have shown over and over again that they care about their own tribe, *not* the country.

When it served them to shout "Made in the USA!", they did, until enough Republicans had their money invested in companies that manufactured goods overseas... then the conservative chant became "Hey, we need to compete! We need to compete!" and America suffered.

When it served them to preen that American public schools were the best in the world (and certainly better than those awful commie schools in the USSR!), they did, until conservatives decided that it was a waste of money to educate the non-rich, then it became "Public Education is a failure, let's have private schools for the rich and homeschooling for the peasants!", and American educational standards have plummeted. America has suffered.

In area after area of our national infrastructure and strength, we have become weaker because of right-wing greed and tribal loyalty. (Remember how the DoJ under Bush hired people based upon their loyalties and not their competence? REMEMBER MIGHT-HAVE-BEEN "JUSTICE HARRIET MYERS"?) And they dare to accuse liberals on every issue of "wanting to take away our freedoms and DESTROY AMERICA!!!"

The right-wingers frequently rail about the Homosexual Agenda. I think it's about time we uncovered the true Republican Agenda. Because it sure isn't the American Agenda...

This country is just like my high school circa 1968: the Young Republicans spewing their distaste for anyone who deigned to disagree with them and the rest of us trying to get through another stress-filled high school day.

No one talks to each other, they talk past each other. No one on the right is willing to do what is best for the rest of us if it means they lose face.

It's like the Bowling for Soup song, "High School Never Ends" with the petty disagreements and the hurt feelings and the big shows of faux intellectual rigor (The YRs in my school loved them some National Review; they all thought they were Buckley).

It didn't matter that those of us who were opposed to the war AND to the Republicans because of what was happening to our country turned out to be correct. With this crowd country never comes first as evidenced by the paucity of veterans among their ranks.

My only question is about the IOC. Maybe my understanding of weather is wrong, so I will state my opinion with some skepticism.

I though that those countries below the equator, like Rio is in the winter/spring season when we are in the summer/fall season.

At least that is for sure in Australia, where I have been. If they hold the games in August, as in the past, isn't that the winter/spring season. More closer to winter's end - February in the Northern Hemisphere!

jerry rubin: Rio is close enough to the equator that its temperatures don't vary wildly through the year like ours do. They get winters and summers like ours.

July and August are in the 60s and 70s there. The long-distance runners will appreciate that. :)

That is to say, they don't get winters and summers like ours.

Here is what I find odd about the Republicans'/conservatives'/right-wingers' elation over Chicago's loss of the 2016 Olympics:
If these folks have their way, a Republican will "regain" the White House from "that Obama person" in 2012. That means that all of the fanfare/glory/what-have-you that would have accompanied the 2016 Olympics would have occurred during that Republican president's first term. And the nutjobs were rooting against that.

Is the patient brain dead? There doesn't seem to be any brain activity.

It's okay to be angry about the right wing's cheering, which is unseemly and ill-informed. Sadly, the misplaced condescension toward Chicago liberals by non-Chicago Dems who are ignorant of what the Chicago bid actually contained and the process taken to create it is equally so.

Amen to that. I'm lmfao over all the arrogant coastal so-called progressives (CSCP) who blindly follow in the opposite direction Glen Beck points, thinking that having discovered the Chicago Olympics bid 7 days ago that they know more about it than those of us who have been following -- and *fighting* -- the process for two yrs.

What's equally amusing is how the CSCP are adopting wingnut patriotic framing, and characterizing the situation as a loss to the nation. Hey, why let the facts get in the way of a good wingnut bash-a-thon?

Chicago dodged a bullet, and anyone who thinks otherwise is an ignorant idiot.

This last week has been quite an eye-opener, demonstrating quite clearly that the so-called progressive blogosphere has become as ridiculously insular and incestuous in terms of actually covering issues as the MSM. Time for another media revolution.

That is to say, they don't get winters and summers like ours.

Rio doesn't have winter and summer seasons at all -- they have rainy and dry seasons.

polls showed 84 % of the country and 72% of Chicagoans wanted to games [numbers from The Maddow Show].

I bet you also believe that Saddam buried the WMDs in the desert, doncha?

Those figures you quote are from surveys taken by the Chicago bid team. An independent survey done by the Trib found that only 47% of Chicagoans wanted the Olympics if it was privately funded, and that a full 84% did *NOT* want the Olympics if any public money was used.

And right now it looks as if public money may have even been used as part of the $50 million for the bid itself. Andy Shaw of the Better Gvmt Assoc is calling for an investigation.