I resent the assumption that I am excited about "Fitzmas"

Somebody posted a long explanation about how it is a celebration of government corruption, which is of course wrong.

But that's not what Fitzmas is. Fitzmas is a celebration of justice being done against all odds.

And what is wrong with that?

Also, whatever comes out of all this is only going to be a pale, watery version of "justice." The only important thing about the whole case -- and the reason I'm glad it's come this far -- is the re-evaluation and reconstruction of all the deceptions in the lead-up to the war. So I'm happy for that. But it's not like Don Rumsfeld's going to lose his job or anything.

Let's look at what Fitzmas is in the eyes of those using the term: a bringing of justice to an administration who...
- Used lies to launch an unjust war
- Cover up those lies with treason
and on top of THAT...
- Clinton-esque perjury and obstruction of justice

In other words, Fitzmas, although juvenile as gypsa mothra pointed out, is a celebration of the bringing to justice of VERY SERIOUS matters. So, what is wrong with being vindictive, uncivil, and partisan?

Were people who celebrated the capture of Saddam Hussein vindictive, uncivil, and partisan? The downfall of Hitler?

What is the appropriate response to this?

"Ho hum, it appears there have been some indictments in the government. This will be a good time to indulge myself in some green tea and perhaps listen to some Michael Bolton."

The miracle of Fitzmas (Christmas...) is the day, probably today, that Fitzgerald will bring indictments against people in the administration.

to be honest i'm still not sure what you're talking about... examples? (not from this thread please... and not from blogs either if possible)

Here is pretty much a summary of what Fitzmas is, all of it exclusively limited to a few popular liberal blogs:

- Somebody photoshopped a Santa hat onto a picture of Fitz writing and captioned it "he's writing a list of who's been naughty and who's been nice" (I lol'd)

- A couple parodies of Christmas carols

- The word used as a synonym for indictments in conversation ("Think Fitzmas will be tomorrow?")

How shameful! Vindictive! Partisan! Uncivil! Completely unprecedented!

Why does political discourse have to be so serious all the time? I am loving this.

Your general point about Fitzmas being stupid is totally OTM, but if you think this schadenfreude is more shameful than what was going on during the Lewinsky thing you're just flat-out wrong. I remember tut-tutting about oral sex from a bunch of wacked out nutjobs. I remember talking heads, pols, and average joes alike screaming bullshit about the rule of law. I remember my republican co-workers CHEERING when the articles of impeachment were return because they had "finally nabbed that draft-dodging bastard." The coverage of the whole *thing* was unfair.

(dammit xpost that shoots my whole point since ethan was talking about something else I guess but I'm posting this anyway)

Fitzmas is nothing but a nerdy little joke by politically obsessed people who live and breathe politics about a very, very serious matter. And what's wrong with that?

the left delighted in watergate, if that's what you mean. but i suppose we should concern ourselves with that shamefulness, and not the attorney general threatening (vaguely sexual) violence against the publisher of the major newspaper on the story. or, you know, the lawbreaking for political ends.

Um, no. They wanted him beat up, but still President. Which is what happened. They didn't sympathize with him as much as do what they always do with celebrities in scandals--they shamed him and forgave him while feeling all superior and good about themselves for doing so.

This thread reminds me of the right wing talking point, constantly used by National Review:

"Yeah, we said something that is pretty much explicitly racist, this is true. BUT, look at how the left is shamelessly launching a character attack against us using said quote! That is the true story here. The real bigots are the intolerant left and how they squelch all dissent. My mom is making me go clean my room, but when I get back look forward to an enlightening essay on how the left are neo-Trotskyite fascists."

In the wake of the House of Representatives' approval of two articles of impeachment, Bill Clinton's approval rating has jumped 10 points to 73 percent, the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows.

That's not only an all-time high for Clinton, it also beats the highest approval rating President Ronald Reagan ever had.

At the same time, the number of Americans with an unfavorable view of the Republican Party has jumped 10 points; less than a third of the country now has a favorable view of the GOP.

Whereas prosecuting officials for outing a CIA noc for political revenge against somebody who pointed out evidence that the goverment had lied to the public about the necessity for a war . . . well, seems like a different kettle of fish, wouldn't you say?

(xpost - true dat!)

and no, 'fitzmas' is not funny. its a pun. they rarely are.

You're acting as if Harry Reid is posing on the steps of Congress with a "FITZMAS ACCOMPLISHED" banner and drafting legislation to make Fitzmas an official holiday.

Can I remind you that it's nothing but a joke on a few blogs? Hell, some of the people who clicked on this thread and decided to post here didn't even know what "Fitzmas" is. Look at how many people are even posting on this thread. Only a tiny handful of the people who post on ILE even care enough about Fitzmas to open up the conversation. Will you even remember this a few years down the road? Have some reason, man.

awesome. of course, the democrats are all French, so they'd probably go with JOYEUX FITZGERALD

FELIZ KHALILZAD

xpost yeah yeah fox news coulter france o'reilly iraq - leftists arent funny, i get it

They're going to spin it against us whether we do or not!

repeating my major points for emphasis.

-- _ (...) (webmail), October 27th, 2005.

Are you really that stupid? The anti-Harriet Miers crowd was made up of very many prominent mainstream journalists. Do you ever watch TV news? Pretty much every single opinion piece I saw on the news, including Fox for fucks sake, had a prominent conservative like George Will or Charles Krauthammer vocally attacking the Miers nomination. Even elected GOP officials from congress were on the record against the nomination. Many of the niche blog partisans agreed with this view.

NOW. Please. Direct me to some Fitzmas.

I suppose Kos only gained his immense power to change world opinion a few weeks ago. Back in late '04 he was in a totally different position than he is now.

This isn't DNC talking points, people. Since some of you are so confused about this, I decided to draw up some statistics for you:

- People who even know what Fitzmas is: a couple thousand at the absolute most.
- The influence of the concept of "Fitzmas" on national opinion: 0.
- Number of coming weeks in which you will hear Fitzmas discussed: maybe 2.
- Number of times "Fitzmas" has been mentioned on television news: 0. Maybe 1 that I'm unaware of.
- Number of Democratic elected officials who have gone on the record discussing Fitzmas: 0.

Ok?

Republicans - top officials are being indicted with serious crimes. People in the Bush administration will soon be forced to step down from their jobs and go to court for at the least, charges of obstruction and perjury, and at the most, treason. DeLay just had his mugshot taken for money laundering charges. Frist is taking a lot of heat for possible insider trading. Poll numbers have been significantly dropping for this administration in particular, Republicans up for election in '06, and the GOP party in general. They have been in a steady decline and right now are at an all time low. The party in-fighting has become so severe that conservatives just today destroyed a presidential supreme court nomination.

Democrats - make bad jokes.

Indeed, the left is in serious trouble! You are OTM as always, Dan!

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113037463460080756.html?mod=todays_free_feature

To the political right, it's much ado about nothing, "the criminalization of politics."

To the political left, well... it's beginning to look a lot like Fitzmas.

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/13007576.htm

also http://www.flickr.com/photos/mccord/54111624/

http://www.spreadshirt.com/shop.php?sid=13031&op=articles

When did ILX become Dipshit Central?

I see two cases of inner-ideology fighting right now. On the left, there are those who think Fitzmas is funny and those who don't. On the right, the conservative fighting lead to the withdrawl of a supreme court nominee. So why exactly does the left so strongly need a culling?

We operate in a two party system. Both parties are full of dipshits.

HAhahaahahahahahahahahahahahaha omg

i don't need to avoid corniness to have self-respect

http://www.okima.com/images/cracker_l.gif

ethan, you should really stick to making jokes about "corny indie fuXors" and people who like bad underground hiphop. matter of fact, i think that this thread is pretty much of a piece w/ those types of threads.

you could try posting something that isn't inherently insulting or nasty -- or maybe just something that is actually MAKES SOME FUCKING SENSE.

That said, I mean, of course I love seeing Karl Rove squirm and I hope he goes on squirming. But him squirming, in and of itself, isn't much of a triumph for the good guys, whoever they are.

Fuck yourself with a fencepole. You're the type of person who will eventually be the end of us all. Fuck you fuck you fuck you.

-- Kenan Hebert (edito...), January 14th, 2004.

But oh wait, the National Review doesn't like our shorthand. Must engage in cowering and self-loathing. I mean, those guys certainly aren't big corny nerds.

P.S. OMG PEE LOL

Nothing. But Jon Stewart made this point the other night, talking to Al Franken, that the Dems kind of seem to think that if the GOP screws up enough they'll somehow inherit the throne by default. Not that there aren't decent, intelligent Democrats on the Hill, but a year after the last election and just a year before the next, they're no closer to a coherent agenda or to defining a clear alternative to the Bush/DeLay/Hannity view of the world. That's what they oughta be spending their time doing, while the GOP is busy dealing with their own stupidity.

KONTRAKT WITH AMERIKKA MUTHAFUKKAS

Sort of like how you know that right now Karl Rove is working on a public defense for himself, but do you see him spouting it off or any media people echoing his talking points? No, he's waiting for the indictment.

xpost dude i said you held reasonable thoughts & opinions!!

You should stop watching O'Reilly so much. There really isn't a vast left wing conspiracy yet.

You do realize that the emasculation of this adminsitration means the war on terror is dead, kaput, finished? We will have no one to blame for this fact but people like you.

Miers' withdrawal is a win for bin Laden!

SOMEONE HELP ME OUT [Jonah Goldberg]
Byron, Andy, someone: Is it possible that Wilson will be indicted too, or is that pure pie-in-the-sky talk? Because that would sure help a lot of bitter pills go down.
Posted at 10:42 AM

ASHLEE & THE END OF THE WORLD [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
Is the younger Simpson being at #1 a sign of the end of the world?

Actually....the continuing success of Kanye West's "Gold Digger" has had me a bit down. Just on the most obvious if you've gotten beyond the VH-1 whitewashed version: He doesn't exactly use the n or f work niggardly. Mark Twain has been banned for less. It's not exactly what you want playing when company comes over.

Yes it has a good beat and you can dance to it (and I can't deny liking the Jaime Foxx bit). Not to be too serious about it (the Ashlee thing is the only reason I bring it up), but any usher would tell you it might...f...with your soul a wee bit.

Ethan, you read that FoxNews review of "Late Registration" that they posted right after Kanye's telethon appearance, right?

xpost- nah, paste??

Artemus Gordon: I only have one request: that you aim for my heart, my heart which has loved this country so much.
Dr. Arliss Loveless: Shoot him in the head.

I've never actually *watched* the film My Bloody Valentine, see.

Perhaps not an x-post.

1) It makes utterly no sense
2) black guy/gimpy guy arch being the only means of communication through 99% of the film
3) Salma Hayek's ass
4) Yeah mechanical spiders, wtf?

It's somewhat better than Around the World in 80 Days but that film had Jackie Chan.

"I m doind a projest on the Black widow spider and Tarentula Hispanica Could anyone help me with good pictures of these spiders and or information in there feeding habitat mating etc many thanks DJPERRY" http://www.atshq.org/search/searchindex.dat

ok, found it. This was posted on the Tuesday after Kanye's appearance.

...The big question will be how the Grammys receive "Late Registration," an album that's landed him on the cover of Time magazine. How will the awards judges handle all the samples and guest appearances?

West's big hit single, "Diamonds From Sierra Leone," is completely based on Shirley Bassey singing "Diamonds Are Forever." The song was written by James Bond composer John Barry.

The rest of "Late Registration," while very entertaining, contains almost no original compositions.

[...]

Will all these people be listed as Grammy nominees when the time comes? If there are winners, will they all be included? That's something I'd like to see.

"Late Registration" is fun to listen to, but in many ways it's a con job. It's a clip job, too.

Try to imagine Marvin Gaye not composing all of "What's Going On?" but splicing together other people's music and recordings over which he'd chant his musings. He would have been laughed out of the business.

But times have changed. We have Alicia Keys, Anthony Hamilton, Legend and just a few R&B performers who can actually create music. The rest has to be a clever construction....

My sources are relaying to me information that may be very good news re: the Plame Case.
Although I cannot substantiate this info 100%, I am receiving this from sources very close to the investigation and grand jury:

No indictments for Rove, Libby or any member of the administration.

Pobable indictments for Vallerie Plame, Joseph Wilson and one as yet unknown high ranking Congressional Democrat.

No wrong doing or misuse of intelligence on the part of the administration.

Possible criminal conduct in an attempt to smear the White House on the part of Congressional Democrats, Plame and Wilson.

(Again, take this with a grain of salt but this is what I am hearing from my sources and the D.C. grape vine)

But yeah, some of 'em are REALLY out there. Another example, google the folks who rant on about "deliberate childlessness."

On Friday, Fitzgerald was supposed to indict Karl Rove. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were going to be named unindicted co-conspirators. Maybe Condoleezza Rice, too. Who knew – maybe even Clarence Thomas. There was even talk of a posthumous indictment for Nixon.

It was going to be Fitzmas Day! (Which is much like Christmas except instead of having her baby in a manger, the woman has a late-term abortion.) Oh, it was hard to fall asleep on Fitzmas Eve!

But Friday came, and only Irve Lewis Libby was accused of committing any crimes. They were all crimes like perjury and obstruction of justice, personal to Libby, unrelated to the administration.

Fitzmas sucked. Instead of GI Joe and Mr. Machine, all Democrats got was a lousy cardigan sweater.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47194

And what makes you think it's over? That was only the first day of Fitzmas. Rove is still under investigation, and that's a fact. Plamegate isn't over, not by a long shot.

A+++ FAST SHIPPING GREAT SELLER WOULD BUY FROM AGAIN