"George W. -- We will be forever in his debt" bumpersticker

[Hamlette]

anyone know where I can buy one? (someone ripped my Kerry bumpersticker off my car on Sunday while I was at Costco. I thought it a tad ironic that someone mad enough to remove the bumpersticker which has remained on my car unmolested for 2 years would be a Costco shopper. ha ha It is also funny that my other two bumperstickers "Yee Ha is not a foreign policy" and "if you are not appaled you are not paying attention" didn't bother them and are still there. I'm guessing they didn't get them. Maybe I need to be more direct? Well, I am in Utah, the reddest of the red. In some ways I'm surprised they let Costco in! Shhhh, don't tell them it is the bluest of the blue companies.)

And many kudos to Andrew Sullivan at: http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/ for the find.

He is my favorite blogger currently. He is SO mad at the right, do yourself a favor. He's smart, he discusses many different aspects of our current social/political/economic/religious climate and he makes for interesting reading.

[wtmusic]

1. Too subtle

The people who get it will love it, but already know it

[woo me with science]

32. very smart marketing.

will be purchased by both sides, but only one side will fail to appreciate the irony.

[Maiden England]

2. cafepress

if you have a picture editing program - you can make yourself one and get it printed on cafepress, for around $6-8 I think.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

3. Watch Sullivan

He's as smarmy and two-faced as David Gergen, only not as richly credentialed here in DC.

As for the bumper sticker getting ripped off - but they left the other two? - maybe the person who took it needed it for his or her own car?

Let us think generous thoughts.

Costco in Utah. What an oxymoron...............

[MADem]

9. I think David Gergen has way more integrity

He really has not wavered from his core views; he's somewhat to the right of the great American middle. That may not suit the average Democrat's worldview, but at least he isn't all over the map.

Andrew Sullivan only gets progressive when it affects HIM, personally. He has the impression that HE is the center of the universe, an impression that does not jive with reality. He actually believed that he had a place at the conservative table, simply because he carried water for those bastards. He's starting to understand that those clowns he championed would happily see him dead.

Cognitive dissonance. Ain't it a slap in his face!

[Hamlette]

30. you people are too pure for me. . .

I don't agree with Gergen on many things, but he agreed to work for Clinton and was loyal and helped "save" his presidency while he was there. (I didn't like that he wrote about it, but hey, he's a patriot. give him that at least. Would YOU do it for Bush? If you thought you could "save" his presidency? Not sure I would.)

Sullivan is arrogant (what politician/pundit/media type isn't?) and self absorbed but he has turned on the GOP social program with a vengence. He is not only (obviously) against the GOP stand on gays but he is pro-choice and he has taken the most thoughtful and courageous stand in support of atheists out there. (note I said thoughtful) He frequently has posts like this one today: "22 percent. That's the approval rating for the Republican-led Congress. The public is too kind.

Yes, he trashes dems but usually because we are being so STUPID. His quotes from Pelosi yesterday WERE gibberish. She deserves to be called on it by all of us! He links to thoughtful leftist sites more than he links to rightest sites. There is some interesting stuff out there, none of which gets much play here.

Today he also completely trashes Ponnuru's new book "The Party of Death" (about dems, what else) saying he once admired him but now he is just like Coulter. There is noone on the web attacking the right wing religious right in a way that moderates and "the other side" can hear like he is. He is pissed.

Yes he's still a conservative. Yes, he used to drive me as crazy as Coulter did/does. And yes, he is still blurry eyed on Iraq but....I think the left is too. We are there, we COULD do some good, we should shut up and do it...even if it means saving Bush. I have no confidence that Bush can do it but our sides message is so convoluted even I can't understand it and I'm paying attention. check out this... http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/04/the_left_awaken.html

The thing that drives me nuts, and away, faster than anything is name calling because it doesn't provide us with any information and alienates us from each other. It is a GOP tactic and if there is to be ANY difference between the parties it is that we will/should NEVER do that because we know how destructive it has been. Sullivan is not one of those who calls us names, even when he disagrees with us. And when he does label us, he's usually so on target you have to forgive him.

Read Sullivan from time to time. Open your mind. You might find you have more in common with some people on the right that you thought. And through that, we might realign the parties and get the country back on track.

[MADem]

37. I read Sullivan frequently, and I think he has his head up his ass

Along with the two major bugs he has up there as well--one is the Iraq issue, which, if he'd go over there and have a little look-see, he'd figure out right quick how bad a clusterfuck it is. The second bug is the Catholic church--he actually has this idea that they will change and accept him; and he justifies his faith with a cafeteria approach, which, if he were to be honest, he would realize is a complete nonstarter from a theological perspective. He needs to give it up, take a new path, and recognize that he isn't gonna feel the love from those folks any time soon--they've reserved him, because of his orientation and behavior, a seat by the fire for all eternity. He ought not hold his breath, after all, how long did it take for them to say Galileo wasn't that bad???

He bangs those drums incessantly, as if by stating his halfassed beliefs often enough, they will one day come true, and he is completely, totally flat-out WRONG.

As for Gergen, the "you people" brush does not apply to me (or to others here, I suspect). I said he has integrity. And integrity is one of those virginal qualities that one loses only once.

[Hamlette]

39. of course he's wrong about the church

but...80-90% of Americans are wrong about religion. I read/respect/listen to them, just not on that issue.

He's wrong about the war BUT if we had not had this war sold to us based on lies I think many of us would feel differently. (Like, had Bill Clinton started this war, or Gore.) I think a legitimate argument can be made for deposing Saddam. He was a tyrant. But I am of the school that we should do something in Darfur...even if the UN won't. And I'm one of those people who think Stalin and Pol Pot were monsters...even though technically they were leftists. I also believe that the left's position now in Iraq should be to more heaven and earth to create a free and stable Democracy there. I was adamantly against the war, still am, but a large part of it was the lies. But it is water under the bridge and I think it is immoral to do nothing now.

I regret that the US has become so isolated...from each other. I don't buy that labels define who we are (Catholic, atheist...none of them. I know some wonderful Catholics and some hiteous atheists.)

I find he has interesting stuff to say.

(I don't get the virginal qualities idea. I've done bad stuff and I still have integrity. Shit, I voted for that idiot Kerry.)

[MADem]

41. If Cllinton or Gore had started this war under the same circumstances

I'd be an Independent. But they weren't in the habit of gaming intelligence to suit their political purposes.

There will NEVER be American-style "Democracy" in Iraq. There may be voting, but there will always be sharia law, and that system of legal jurisprudence is incompatible with our system.

Enjoy the fellow, if you'd like, but you'll never convince me that he is anything more than a craven opportunist who uses his accent, his personal history, and his completely against-his-own-interests political views to get more attention than he would otherwise merit. He's just not very good. And he's usually WRONG.

As for Kerry, I don't consider him an idiot. He's my Senator, and a damn fine one.

[Hamlette]

43. but, but, Kerry is pro choice...and a Catholic!

exactly how is that different from Sullivan being gay and a Catholic?

Oh, yeah. You do remember that Clinton thought Saddam had WMD and bombed the shit out of Iraq in 1998 don't you? I agree it is different from what Bush did but he was telling us there were WMD. After 9/11 I'm not so sure he wouldn't have gone in.

I have a need to understand the right. I can't believe they are that different from me, but if so? I want to know how and why. Sullivan is the only one I can stand to read for very long. And he's providing me with many insights and great arguments.

Shrug.

[MADem]

44. OK, you don't seem to take my point

And that's absolutely the worst comparison in history. They've nothing in common. One is a war hero and a politician, the other is a loudmouth blogger who has the mistaken impression that he is the center of the universe.

Kerry is a Catholic Lite, and he doesn't have any problem with blowing that choice bullshit off. He's also NOT gay, and I haven't noticed him taking up the Catholic-Gay issue of late. When your annulment is bought and paid for, you know how that game works. He knows it. Everyone in his constituency knows it. You don't see photo ops of Kerry on Ash Wednesday, coming out of Saint Margaret's with ashes on his forehead, or sitting around with a bunch of men in dresses targeting the Catholic vote. Also, you don't see Kerry writing an opinion column or a blog in which he opines on everything from the latest NYC nightclub, to the terrible summer traffic in P-Town, to the heirarchy of the Universal Church, to the wonders of the Iraq War. THEY AREN'T EQUIVALENT. Kerry is a sharp, seasoned, senior politician. Sullivan is a gay media gadfly who wants the love and approval of an outfit that wants him to burn in hell and who makes his money shooting his mouth off. He's like an abused child, he keeps going back for more, thinking that if he's a good boy, a clever boy, a helpful boy, that one day the men in dresses will love him. But they won't.

Look, you are COMPLETELY welcome to love Andrew Sullivan. You can do that all you want, and more power to you. You can say it is because you "need to understand the right" (notwithstanding that Sullivan avers that he is NOT a right winger). Or you can do it for other reasons, all your own. Go for it. Just don't expect me to go with you.

But there's one thing you can't do, and that is convince me that Andy the bullshit artist is anything other than a hubris-laden nitwit with WRONG IDEAS. Especially with the quality of argument you use to support your assertions...Clinton could have done a lot of things, but he didn't!!!! We had a surplus when he was in charge, remember that? And he had his eye on Osama!

Shrug, indeed.

[Hamlette]

46. a distinction without a difference IMHO

check him out today, first link is to what he describes as a well written blog which he urges his readers to read regularily. The blog? The ACLU.

What an arrogant asshole unworthy of anyone's time! Why, he's just a gay media gadfly!

(I have NO problem with him being a "gay media gadfly" (I wonder which part of your description bugs you the most?). I happen to like them. If they have something to say...all the better. I didn't say I wanted him for president. I want him for his entertainment value and his ability to help keep me informed. Which is MORE than Kerry gave us. I remember Kerry from the Vietnam protest days. What in the hell happened to him? Frankly, when I'm looking for information, I would vastly prefer a "gay media gadfly" who can communicate to a principled man who cannot.)

His position has been right more often than wrong lately. Maybe he doesn't have any original thoughts but I don't see the opinions he publishes elsewhere. He makes me think about my knee jerk reactions to things.

I think it is better to read him and think and perhaps disagree with him about ideas than to discount him because he stays with a church that hates him and call him names. (You have noticed haven't you that the only people he's calling names these days are the ones who deserve it...mostly the likes of Coulter and his more current favorite shill to hate, Michel Malkin. I frankly don't remember the last time he criticized a dem who didn't richly deserve it....like Pelosi's recent blaming of the high gas prices on the GOP.)

[MADem]

47. Look, I am so pleased for you that you have found a soulmate in the

blogosphere. But I won't be baited or badgered by you or anyone else into liking a person who is WRONG. He is a putz, a REVISIONIST, a chameleon, who changes like the wind, and then CLAIMS to be right all along.

He's not a new item to me--I've watched and read him for years, when he was at TNR busily publishing since-debunked racist screeds about the intellectual capacities of folks who weren't white, criticizing others, like Bill Clinton, for practicing unsafe sex, before he acknowledged that he was HIV positive (you do know he declared, in the NYT, no less, that the HIV epidemic was over, don't you? His words were cited when AIDS programs were being decimated of funding...), before the petit bareback scandal...and I always thought he was an empty suit (and that is when I was feeling charitable). Besides, he "embellishes" (which is kinder, perhaps, than saying he MAKES SHIT UP): http://www.dailyhowler.com/h062801_1.shtml

And if you think his gayness somehow earns him a pass, it doesn't. Ask Michael Signorile: http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/06/05/sullivan/index.html

Why is my staunch refusal to join your AS cheerleading squad so difficult for you to understand? Do a little research on the guy. He's simply not consistent, and he has happily been employed as a GOP 'useful tool.' I doubt he's on Al Gore's Christmas card list. The word "opportunist" comes to mind when I think of him--and again, that's when I am feeling charitable.

But hey, as I said, enjoy yourself. Don't expect me to go along on your curious little ride, though.

[Hamlette]

49. gee...links to 5 year old articles....

I don't nurse grudes that long. Hope it works for you.

[MADem]

52. Works great. I know that even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

http://sullywatch.blogspot.com/

Here's someone I respect talking about your favorite lad: http://jameswolcott.com/archives/2004/11/touchy_feely.php

[RethugAssKicker]

4. I'm in Georgia... Are the rethugs over there as violent and aggressive

as here in Georgia? (if you know). Was just curious, I'm betting they aren't. What would your guess be?

Thats why I don't put bumperstickers on my car, although I really want to.

[Hamlette]

15. I was afraid my car would be keyed with my stickers, but no

of course I drive an Audi and you wouldn't believe! I used to drive a clunker then was given an Audi (I don't be looking gift horses...you know) and I noticed how deferential people are to people who drive expensive looking cars! Stupid. So I'm wondering if that's why I was never keyed.

[RethugAssKicker]

22. Yeah I know

I drive a Lexus ; had it for over 6 years now, and have had no incidents yet .
Don't want to spoil it with a bumperstick. Just don't want to take the chance. Yes, and I think
you're right.. you do get a sort of preferred treatment/acknowledgement. Especially from the police (which is VERY good).

[Lumily]

21. I live in Forsyth County, Georgia.

I've had my "Pro America, Anti-*", and a Democratic Underground sticker on my car since November 2004.

Since May of last year, no one has said a thing to me that hasn't been positive. However, before that, two people tried to run me off the road at different times, and I got lots fingers flipped at me every day. I also got called a traitor in the grocery store parking lot once. Then it all just stopped.

Now I'm seeing less and less pro * stickers and more anti stuff is popping up on bumpers all around here, which is truly shocking for Forsyth County. Makes me feel good. My family felt awfully isolated for a quite a while.

[RethugAssKicker]

23. Wow that would have been too much for me.

Glad its quieted down now.
When I first moved to Georgia (1990).. I was reading an atlas map of Georgia, and looked up Forsyth County. I was reading the statistics page and noticed this:

Number of crimes :12
Number of blacks: 12

LOL... I knew right then to stay away from there.

Anyway, I'm not too far... I'm in Cobb County !... in Newts old district to boot !

[Lumily]

27. It was the worse decision we've ever made.

I truly regret moving here. We moved here back in 1996, because we wanted a bit of land with our house. I wasn't very politically aware then. Things would be very different if I could do it all over again, that's for sure.

I am happy to report that the population here is a little bit more diverse now. I still would rather live in Decatur. :)

White 93,531
Black or African American 684
American Indian and Alaska native 247
Asian 785
Native Hawaiian and other Pacific islander 13
Some other race 2,236
Two or more races 911
Hispanic or Latino 5,477

[xchrom]

5. andrew sullivan is a republican.

i don't care how the light is shining in his eyes.

people are dead because of supporters like sullivan.

[MADem]

13. More than that, he is a WARMONGERING Republican

And how easy for him to be one, since he will never be called to serve. One of his recent posts:

It was only a matter of time before Iraq deployed Islamist terror against the West. Those who sincerely marched against war in London in 2002 and 2003 were unwittingly marching to keep in power a regime planning to bomb and terrrorize them.

Fucking putz. May he be relegated to the realm of the obscure has-been, and to quote Deadeye Dick, "sooner rather than later."

[xchrom]

19. what i hate is that with no qualifications what so ever

he has suddenly become the equivalent of a serious wonk in the msm.

what? there's a shortage of real expertise?

[MADem]

20. He has a good hook--he's a hen's tooth, as it were

HIV positive, UK born, gay conservatives with arty-farty accents don't exactly grow on trees. They know he's a celebrity, not so much for his recycled opinions that he steals from others, but for his presence and persona. He's a con artist--hasn't had an original idea since he's become a minor celebrity.

[xchrom]

33. not unlike jeff gannon.

[MADem]

34. Yep, they got one toothy hen over there in the GOP

The old hen has one tooth for peanuts, and one for popcorn!!!

[xchrom]

36. lol -- toothy indeed!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

26. He DID write for a major magazine before. But I can't stand him. He

was happy to whore for a gang that would be happy to burn him at the stake, and he probably would go right back to their bosom if he saw them regaining their old influence.

[xchrom]

35. but does he have degrees in international relations?

a phd in something that makes his opinion truly relevant?

at least -- as a glittering generality -- liberals, progressives, etc TRY to bring some real facts to the conversation.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

25. seconded.

[mnmoderatedem]

6. I saw a good one yesterday

It was the standard W logo from his campaign bumper sticker, followed by a lower case "hoops".

as in "Whoops". :evilgrin:

[helderheid]

7. Hey neighbor! I'm in Utah too. No one has touched my bumper sticker

[helderheid]

51. I shop at Costco too?

[Midlodemocrat]

8. Yesterday when someone suggested putting a swastika

over the W stickers, someone else suggested telling the owner of the car "I'm sorry, it looks like someone has vandalized your car, it has a Bush sticker on it".

I did this yesterday at Ukrop's, a grocery store chain here. The woman stopped dead, looked at me and said "I put it there". My reply: "You did? On purpose? I'm so sorry".

And I walked away. Feeling great. Had on my DU shirt, too.

[helderheid]

10. LMAO!

I carry military enrollment papers in my car to put on cars with W bumper stickers

[Momgonepostal]

11. Random thoughts...

Your sticker thief may have intended to take the others too, saw someone approaching and didn't want to be caught. Or maybe they didn't "get" what the stickers are saying. :shrug:

Costco probably does great in Utah because all of the big families. I'm LDS in CA and almost everytime I go to Costco I see someone I know from church there. I think most people don't know or care what a store's management's political leanings are.

I may still have a Kerry/Edwards sticker in my glove compartment. I can go look if you'd like me to send you a replacement. I'd be happy to. :-)

[Hamlette]

17. all the big families? In Utah?

yeah...and you wouldn't believe the number of polygamists at some of the big box stores here. In some areas you always find a couple of families with as many as 5 HUGE carts full of food.

Everyone watching Big Love? too funny.

Here, however, many polygamists are discernable by their dress and hair style...and the fact they are pushing around 5 carts of food at the grocery store!

[Momgonepostal]

28. I lived in Provo for a while and have to confess...

I would have loved to see a polygamous family but never saw one that was obvious to me. I admit, I wanted to gawk. :-)

But even with a regular ole' Utah family with 3 or 4 kids, buying in bulk is very practical. I bet Costco makes a killing there. Plus the people who end up buying for church activities, parties, etc, and then get reimbursed by their wards. :-)

Do you mind if I ask where in Utah you are? Just general description...not the exact town. How is the political climate in your area? I found Provo to be really politically stifling.

You know, even here in CA you can tell who the very traditional fundamentalists are at Costco. I bet they look a whole lot like the polygamists you see at Costco...and would be appalled to hear it. LOL

[Hamlette]

31. I live in Salt Lake, on the avenues

I'm one of those snobby yippie types. My mom and dad were raised here in (what are now )the suburbs and my mom wanted to live right downtown (eye of the hurricane) so as soon as she could, she moved the the University district. Smart lady and I've not strayed far from my humble beginnings.

I don't even like to drive to Utah County. I agree. too stifling.

and I just LOVE that all the mormons are shopping at a place that is 100% BLUE!!!!!

[lectrobyte]

12. I have this one on my car, it's pretty close.

from http://www.cafepress.com/irregulargoods.6166822
at http://www.cafepress.com/irregulargoods

[renate]

14. I bet the person who took it off didn't get the joke

Any chance they didn't realize its actual meaning? Especially since they left the other two on.

You can get bumper sticker paper at office supply stores, or you can design your own stickers at http://www.makestickers.com/home.asp for $5. (I just noticed that the prices go way down the more copies of a single design you get--I've only ever ordered one at a time.)

[Hamlette]

16. that's my theory

they didn't understand the other two were real indictments against Bush.

[KyuzoGator]

18. There's a really anti-liberal sticker on a car at my Costco.

Must be an employee, because the car is always there:

JOIN THE ARMY, DEFEND YOUR COUNTRY
COME HOME AND BE SPIT ON BY LIBERALS

What's so ironic about it is that they work for one of the bluest companies in America.

[Momgonepostal]

29. How dumb

Where are all these spit upon war veterans? I've never met any.

[Dunvegan]

24. Here's a bumper sticker with the slogan....

Just click on the bumper sticker if you're interested.

[Hamlette]

40. thanks!

[LuCifer]

38. GAG GAG PUKE PUKE

:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:
:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:
:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:
:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:
Yeah, forever in his debt alright...for fucking ruining THE ENTIRE PLANET...

[MADem]

42. I think you missed the joke of the sticker.....

His debt is 23 Trillion and counting....

[Jason9612]

45. And for those of you who haven't already seen MY new bumper sticker...

[MADem]

48. Heh, that's good! n/t

[yorkiemommie1]

50. made me lol

what a stupid face.