Best Pet Costume from this Halloween

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Bad Ads -- Taco Bell

It's actually not a bad commercial. Joe Girardi does a good job, and it's a decent idea, having to bring in a closer to finish up. But watch the video:



The guy never takes a single bite. Why is he saying "I can barely finish" when he has yet to begin? And then he tells Girardi, "I got a couple of bites left." You have all your bites left! You haven't touched the damn thing!
Not that I blame the guy, I mean it does look particularly unappetizing with that viscous cheese-like substance oozing onto the meat-like substance, but still. How hard would it have been to have the guy eat at least a couple of bites before he declares that he can barely finish it?
I don't get how the ad people didn't catch this. At the end of the ad Girardi says "the kid chewed a heck of a chalupa today," when clearly the kid has done no such thing. It doesn't make sense. How does nobody catch this before it makes it on the air?

Here Come the Thugs!

Well, that was quick. The election wasn't even over yet when Republicans started in on the strong-arm tactics:

Companies may have to make amends after midterm elections

By Ylan Q. Mui and Jia Lynn Yang

Wasington Post Staff Writers 

Republicans have a message for the businesses that worked closely with the Obama administration over the past two years on key controversial issues: We won't forget.  

The pharmaceutical industry, in particular, worked closely with the Obama administration and Democrats on Capitol Hill to pass health-care reform. During the debate, the group's top lobbyist at the time, Billy Tauzin, struck a deal with Democrats . . . Tauzin's strategy did not sit well with House Republicans. Their leader, John Boehner, who is likely to become speaker should the Republicans win control of the House, blasted PhRMA in a scathing letter.

"Appeasement rarely works as a conflict resolution strategy," he wrote to Tauzin. "When a bully asks for your lunch money, you have no choice but to fork it over. But cutting a deal with a bully is a different story, particularly if the 'deal' means helping him steal others' money as the price of protecting your own."  

"There's going to come a time when pharma companies are going to want Republicans to take a tough vote for them, and they're going to be like, 'Why are we going to walk off a cliff for you guys? You were fighting against us,' " said one Republican lobbyist, who declined to be named in order to speak candidly. 

 And this time, they're not only doing the bullying, they're getting bullied too.

(via The Atlantic) From a blog post today at the Tea Party Nation website:

A letter to Mitch McConnell

Dear Mitch,

I am trying to find a way to say this that is both polite and perhaps a little subtle.  Unfortunately, people tell me I am neither polite nor subtle, so I'll be blunt.

"Grow a pair."

(via C&L)First, you can start by imposing party discipline. The days of reaching across the aisle are over.

 Many of them have been in the majority before and know how much better it is in the majority. Many of them are looking forward to being committee chairs. They need to understand, if they want to be chairs, they are going to follow orders.

 The filibuster is now going to be our friend. The GOP is going to filibuster early and filibuster often.

First, no more radical judges. I do not care if another Federal judge is not approved until 2013.  

Your job, kill the bad bills of the Obama regime. If you do, in 2012, we will see a sea of red, all across the country, as we did Tuesday night. You will be the majority leader in the Senate. On the other hand, if you do not, we in the Tea Party will remember. 2010 was our first election. We did not do everything right, but one thing I will say for our movement, we learn quickly. If you want to be the majority leader after 2012, I suggest you do the same.

 So who is this arrogant little teabagger prick threatening the future majority leader? His name is Judson  Phillips and he runs "Tea Party Nation." 

Judson Phillips is a controversial figure within the Tea Party movement, and a controversial guy in general after he seemingly urged Minnesotans to vote Rep. Keith Ellison out of Congress because he's Muslim and accused Ellison of supporting Hamas. His group, the for-profit company Tea Party Nation, puts on an annual Tea Party convention in Nashville, which drew fire in its first iteration for the high ticket prices and large speaking fee paid to Sarah Palin.

 So the teabaggers are going to push the Republicans around, the Republicans are going to push businesses around, everything gets filibustered, no nominees get confirmed and nothing good happens anywhere for anyone. Gonna be a long couple of years.

On the plus side, there will still be baby tigers: