Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Who should be smiling?

Commentary By Ron Beasley


Senate Supreme Court nomination hearings are always a farce.  Let's be honest - the dumbest Supreme Court nominee is smarter than the smartest Senator and it usually shows.  That brings us to this question by Craig Crawford:


Smiling GOPers Ought to be Frowning



Watching Lindsey Graham's gotcha grin as he needled Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor with disingenuous and rhetorical questions you had to wonder what was so funny.


Does the Republican senator think it is amusing that he and his party's condescending tone toward the Hispanic woman was costing them ethnic votes with each passing hour of Tuesday's Judiciary Committee hearing?


It is not that the Republican inquiries were out of bounds in legal terms. But a confirmation hearing like this is a political forum.


Even if they vote for her, the fallout for Republicans could reach well beyond Hispanic voters. They are coming across as a bunch of snarky and bitter old white men who cannot bear the thought of their kind losing power.


The impact of this story on the political scoreboard should give Democrats much more to smile about.


Now I've watched very little of the hearings - The Weather Channel is more entertaining.  The Republicans had better be hoping that I'm not alone.  They are simply digging a bigger demographic hole.



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6 comments:

  1. BJ BjornsonJuly 15, 2009 at 5:20 AM

    Well, maybe they're listening to Pat Buchanan, who figures they aren't race-baiting enough.
    http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/07/buchanan-gop-needs-more-race-baiting-not-less.php
    Seriously, read the linked column. His argument boils down to, "Get more white votes and the ethnics don't matter".

    ReplyDelete
  2. VooDooChileJuly 15, 2009 at 6:55 AM

    US, Colombia near base access deal
    BOGOTA � The United States and Colombia are nearing agreement on expanding the U.S. military's presence in this conflict-torn nation, potentially basing hundreds of Americans in a central valley to support Air Force drug interdiction missions.
    Both sides say they hope a fifth round of talks slated for later this month in Bogota will seal a 10-year lease deal. Two of the Colombian ministers involved were to answer questions about the talks at a public hearing Wednesday following complaints about secrecy surrounding the negotiations.
    Opponents worry that a broadened U.S. military role in the world's No. 1 cocaine-producing nation could antagonize Colombia's leftist neighbors and draw Washington deeper into Colombia's complicated, long-running conflict with leftist rebels and rightist paramilitaries.
    Details of the negotiations are secret and U.S. officials declined comment other than to confirm the talks' next round.

    ReplyDelete
  3. malcontentJuly 15, 2009 at 6:59 AM

    I have also wondered aloud about this ruse. The best premise I could conjure is that they feel the need to perpetuate the fractionalization of left versus right.
    If both wings of the War Party continue to despise each other then they can continue to be addressed independently as needed. Minimize the crossover of dog whistle messages to keep the masses properly contented and confused.

    ReplyDelete
  4. geoffJuly 15, 2009 at 8:49 AM

    Slates legal correspondent on Maddow's show last night said the performances by senators are playing out very differently in the actual committee room. Lot's and lots of media from the English as a second language press in the front rows behind the Judge and they are wondering what's going on. In effect, I think, it is simply another episode in the long drawn out suicide dance of the GOP.
    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/31914298#31914298

    ReplyDelete
  5. PeterJuly 15, 2009 at 5:57 PM

    Let's be honest - the dumbest Supreme Court nominee is smarter than the smartest Senator and it usually shows.
    --
    While this is usually true, let me just say:
    Harriet Miers.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ron BeasleyJuly 16, 2009 at 1:37 AM

    Peter
    I thought about Harriet and even Gonzo was mentioned for awhile but neither one of them made it to Senate hearings.

    ReplyDelete

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