Cheers and Jeers MONDAY!

From the Collinsville Bureau of the Alton Weekly Inquirer Action EyeWitness NewsCenter On Your Side, in the true-blue state of Illinois....

How is your day going, folks?  It's good to be back in the Master of Snarkimonies chair, if but for one day.  I can't participate in Cheers and Jeers like I used to, so I'm glad to be here, and I'm glad all of you are here!  Welcome back to all of our NN attendees, and for those of us who missed it this year, there is the hope of participating next year.  Those of you that are back, I hope you'll share some reminiscing with us.  It sounded like a great event this year.

I'll be back with my own column on September 5th, meantime..... Cue the theme music!  Cheers and Jeers MONDAY begins (Swoosh!) right now! (Clank.)

DISCLAIMER: AAbshier's Cheers and Jeers are not affiliated in any way, shape, or form, with Bill in Portland Maine's Cheers and Jeers.  The use of the words  JEERS  and  CHEERS , the swoosh/gong device, pie references,  lusty wenches, insults to Delaware Dem, mattress references,  whomps, moist, and flicked peas are all used with permission of Bill in Portland Maine and the members of the C&J Café community.  Any further resemblances to BiPM`s Cheers and Jeers are deliberately coincidental. So there.

NOTE: The theme music was composed by Virgomusic, and was performed by the Virgo-McDoc All-Electron Philharmonic Orchestra (now with theremin!).

Doc's Bad Joke of the Week!
(in the gray box so you can avoid it and not miss anything else)

Allen took his blind date to the carnival. "What would you like to do first, Sandra?" asked Allen.

"I want to get weighed," said Sandra.

They ambled over to the weight guesser. He guessed 120 pounds.  She got on the scale; it read 117 and she won a prize.

Next, the couple went on the Ferris Wheel. When the ride was over, Allen again asked Sandra what she would like to do. "I want to get weighed," she said. Back to the weight guesser they went. Since they had been there before, he guessed her correct weight, and Allen lost his dollar.

The couple walked around the carnival and again he asked where to next.  "I want to get weighed," she responded. By this time, Allen figured she was really weird and took her home early, dropping her off with a handshake.

Her roommate, Laura, asked her about the blind date, "How did it go?"
Sandra responded, "Oh, Waura, it was wousy."

Netroots Nation 2008: From Afar!

Cheers to former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. and Speaker Nancy Pelosi for making the trip to NN08.  While the reports I read described no small bits of dissembling from both (you "respect your colleagues at Fox News" Mr. Ford?  Really?) their presence, knowing they would be facing a potentially hostile audience, showed no small measure of cojones on their part.  A Cheer within the Cheer for Al Gore's surprise appearance, but a mild Jeer that it effectively saved Pelosi's bacon in the process.

Cheers to the local paper, the Austin American Statesman, which ran a special section on NN on their online edition.  Jeers to their coverage, though, which seemed concescending and snarky at times:

There was even one panel Friday featuring Princeton economics professor and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman (wearing, as if to galvanize stereotype, what appeared to be Birkenstocks) that was essentially about how the media weren't liberal enough.

As they say, only in Austin.

This from the paper in possibly the most liberal large city in Texas.  Oh, and an additional Jeer within the Jeer for this:

Bloggers — who have been fixating on attacking Obama for his position on telecom immunity for four weeks now — can seem out of touch with what matters to the rest of the country. Their concern that the Illinois senator is abandoning their left-wing interests ignores the trouble with the economy and rising fuel prices.

Sheesh.  See also GregMitch's reccomended diary from yesterday for more AAS atrocities.

Cheers to seeing the irregulars again, at least in photographs, in diaries here, here, and here.  How nice it was for Nancy and I to see old friends again, at least in this way.  We'll try to make the next one, honest!

Other affairs around the nation, around the world, and up your alley! ("Up my alley?  Up YOURS!)

Cheers to the rollout of the Obama campaign jet:

(Photo: Rob Olewinsky via Airliners.net; used by permission)

As compared to McCain's 737-400, Obama is flying on a 757-28A, a larger, faster aircraft with transcontinental range, and certainly capable of reaching Alaska and Hawaii, should he truly pursue the 50-state strategy. (Compare to the Kerry/Edwards 757 from 2004.)

Jeers to Joementum, who is scheduled to go on the stump in south Florida for Huggy Bear:

Lieberman will be on board a McCain campaign "Straight Talk Express" bus in hopes of persuading undecided independents and Democrats to back McCain.

"Straight talk" is to Lieberman as "reasonable" is to Michelle Malkin.  Maybe someone will burn bagels in his path.

Cheers to Nancy's first LOLpolitcian:

I looked at it and realized that the man only resembles Dick Cheney.  We all know the real one would have eaten Mr. Bigglesworth.

But wait, I have one also:

Speaking of Huggy Bear:

Jeers to bad timing, part I, as reported by Fired Up! Missouri:

Just a day after Missourians learned that Anheuser-Busch would be sold to Belgian firm InBev, McCain promptly comes to St. Louis --the home of Anheuser-Busch-- for a mega-dollar reception at the vast estate of the former United States ambassador to, of all countries, Belgium.

That's Belgium, the home of InBev, the corporation that is buying out Anheiser-Busch.

Notwithstanding the fact that John and Sindy [sic] McCain will reap millions of dollars from the Anheuser-Busch sale, their advisors would be wise to warn them not to celebrate too loudly about the deal as they rub elbows with the former diplomat in the STL.

Grammar aside, this looks like typical Republican tone-deafness to a changing situation.  St. Louisans, from what I've seen, are fiercely proud of the home brew, and were generally very upset over the sale.  Hopefully this will backfire on him.  (BTW, if InBev renames the baseball stadium or takes away the Clydesdales, watch for the city to revolt.)

Jeers to bad timing, part II. Musselfest, an annual event held over this past weekend and sponsored by St. Louis's Schlafly Brewery, featured the aforementioned mussels and.....Belgian beer on the menu.  Oops.

Cheers to unintentionally funny political reporting.  Someone named Samuel Siringi posted a report on a McCain rally in Union Station, Kansas City, which included this memorable quote:

...rallies in my own country are often attended by far more people than what I saw at the Union Station. There is also no vetting of those who attend the meetings, a practice that, sometimes, allows criminals to enter the rally venues with crude weapons.  In some cases, supporters clash at such rallies.

No one is sure if this is a wide-eyed first time observer of U.S. Presidential politics, or Borat 2.0.  Either way, this guy looks like fun reading.

Your Inky pic of the week (because Lamzdotes demands it):

Bill will be back in the Master of Snarkimonies chair tomorrow.  Meantime, the floor is open!  What do you have to Cheer and Jeer about today?