Top Comments 2.29.08 Guilty Pleasures? Leap-Day Confessions

February 29 only comes around every four years so it seems like an appropriate time for this theme.

Let's talk about guilty pleasures.

Rec-list. Some here are truly obsessed with making the recommended diary list. We strategize over it, experiment with varying times to post. Is this you? And TU-status? Who among us wasn't thrilled to see the Troll / Hide option when it first appeared? Or chagrinned to see it disappear? And don't forget snark and pootie pics!

But those are Daily Kos specific. Let's get more personal, okay?

Not pleasurable vices like smoking pot or drinking fine wine that you really can't afford. Or even cigarettes - have you noticed that cigarette smokers now sneak to smoke, not unlike my generation did to smoke pot?

I'm talking about lifestyle guilty pleasures, a catch-all for those little addictions by which we're just a bit embarrassed. Some of us have disclosed a few of these in the past, when the TC-lights go down low and it's just a few of us left here. But it's time for full-disclosure!

Here's a perfect example of what I'm looking for. My sister is a highly regarded CPA, totally professional (despite the fact that she looks like Princess Diana, a tall and blonde knock-out) and was recently elected as our County Treasurer. Always tucked into her briefcase, though, is the latest copy of People magazine and she tapes 'Days Of Our Lives' each day and enjoys a Saturday afternoon marathon to keep abreast of her 'soap.' And she'd kill me for telling anyone about either.

Sometimes we take pleasure in certain songs that we would never admit in public to singing along with. Such as "Copacabana" by Barry Manilow - now admit it! Don't you always sing along and catch yourself blushing? Mine is Huey Lewis' 'I Want A New Drug' - 'One that won't make me sick, One that won't make me crash my car, Or make me feel three feet thick.'

How about movies? Back in '06, MSNBC asked readers to name their guilty pleasures and this one caught my eye:

"Coyote Ugly"
One of my guilty pleasures is the Jerry Bruckheimer chick-flick "Coyote Ugly." With an ad campaign hell bent on getting male butts to fill seats, many a man — myself included — walked away feeling cheated. It was as if we were planning to watch "Showgirls" and got "Steel Magnolias" instead. But then there is that darn catchy soundtrack. I'd catch myself humming that cursed "Can't fight the moonlight" chorus again and again. Envisioning the very attractive actresses dancing around with bare midriffs and cowboy boots while spinning bottles feels like a souped-up version of "Cocktail" sans-Cruise. I admit, it may be a cute little coming-of-age story about a girl from Jersey, but I still can't seem to gather the strength to change the channel once it's on. I've even caught it from halfway on cable...then put the DVD in so I could watch it from the beginning.

I have two more guilty pleasure movies and they both feature Patrick Swayze: 'Dirty Dancing' and 'To Wong Foo, with love, Julie Newmar.' Swayze in a summery frock and a picture hat? Gorgeous! Best Vida Boheme quote: "Sometimes it just takes a fairy."

Shopping indulgences - I don't buy really expensive shoes (no Manolos in my closet) but I do love them. My brother likes to taunt me by asking 'Why do you need 43 pairs of black shoes?' 'Because I need them, that's why!' Every possible heel height, style, and composition.

How about favorite junk-food treats? Mine are Triscuits with shredded cheese, melted in the microwave. Reece cups and a glass of milk at bedtime. I tell myself that I really need the calcium and a bit of chocolate and peanut butter encourages me to drink more milk - as if!

And then there are the cheap paperbacks we hide from serious readers, pretending we're just saving them for that next airplane ride or trip to the beach. For me, it's historical fiction and erotica - and I'm something of a snob about both - tacky, bodice-ripping sex and Fabio on the cover aren't enough. Gotta have both plot and historical accuracy - I'm bearish when authors haven't done their research.

Any tv shows you always watch guiltily? Any 'Grey's Anatomy' / Dr. McDreamy fans out there? For me, it's 'Boston Legal' and 'Without A Trace' - I'm a serious, not-so-closeted fan of both James Spader and Anthony LaPaglia. I even pay regular visits to a couple of Boston Legal fan websites - I can admit it! It's the first step toward recovery. I'm so smug every time Spader wins another Emmy or Golden Globe award - like I knew all along something that others are just finding out.

Mark Morford - I'm addicted to his writing and not just for his regular reviews of sex toys ... what's not to love about run-on rhetoric like this, even though I'd pound a student for similar writing sins? From today's column about Obama and how the Repubs will try to beat him:

I mean, my God, his middle name is the same as Dubya's irrelevant little dead arch-enemy and his last name rhymes with that of the most-wanted terrorist in the world and this one's pretty much already in the can, nothing much for the right to do with Barack Hussein Obama's moniker except "accidentally" mispronounce it as "Osama Hussein" over and over again on Fox News and at McCain rallies and across Wal-Mart's loudspeakers so trailer park denizens across Bush's 'Merka will get even more confused and panicky and start loading up the bunker with Ding-Dongs and Coors just in case the Muslim radicals take over.

No, the problem for GOP strategists is not how to inflame the troglodytic, Limbaugh/Coulter-grade sects of the party who, assuming Obama goes the distance, are already hugely terrified of the notion of a black liberal president, given how he'll surely be a slippery slope straight to gay marriage and rampant lesbianism in schools and hourly shriekings to Allah as everyone's forced to give up their guns and drive a hybrid moped to the tofu store.

The true difficulty facing the GOP's henchmen in the coming months will be how to get those who are just a tiny bit smarter, calmer, less easily swayed, those on the right who might actually be a bit impressed and charmed by Obama's obvious intelligence and oratory power, to hate him, fear him, find his genuinely moving brand of hope and inspiration to be suspicious and problematic and even deeply dangerous.

It won't be easy. Because at the same time, they must make their own unlikely candidate, a feisty but fuzzy 71-year-old war hawk whose entire campaign is apparently now being fueled by a giant hunk of Cold War phlegm, the nauseating notion that not only is a perpetual state of war and aggression desirable for America, but is actually essential to a healthy and functioning nation, they must make John McCain's musty, patriarchal brand of regurgitated Republicanism seem fresh and visionary and not horribly regressive and embarrassing.

And then there are the pleasures for which we only feel a tiny bit of guilt but still righteous. Such as making fun of the Bush and the Dick. If this is you, here's a must-have item for spring-break!

Young Dick Cheney: Great American by Bruce Kluger, David Slavin, Tim Foley, Published: Apr 1, 2008, Pre-order today!

A wickedly funny faux-children's biography recounts Young Dick Cheney’s youthful lust for guns, oil, and the girl of his dreams.

He was born among the big skies and cow pies of the Great American West. And yet from these humble beginnings, he would grow to become the most famous, most powerful Dick ever to inhabit the Vice Presidency. In this often shocking, frequently touching, clearly unauthorized biography, faux journalists Bruce Kluger and David Slavin (National Public Radio) reveal the inspiring and sometimes even true story of Richard B. Cheney—frontiersman, freedom fighter, fatty. Meticulously reported (including a footnote!) and lushly illustrated by renegade artist Tim Foley, this unprecedented, spell-checked triumph of painstaking conjecture brings to life the Dick nobody knows: a secretive yet sensitive boy from Wyoming with a shoot-from-the-hip, shoot-in-the-face style all his own. From his mischievous boyhood friendships, to his high-octane high school romance with the one girl who knew what made Dick tick, Young Dick Cheney: Great American is destined to be cherished by patriots and Democrats alike—a book that will captivate readers everywhere for months to come.

Use the comment section below to confess to your guilty pleasures - you KNOW what I mean! And I promise not to ask again for another four years! What happens in TC stays in TC - well, not really, but we're mostly all anonymous!

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And now on to TOP COMMENTS! First up, submissions to our gmail account - send yours each day (before 9:45 pm Eastern) to TopComments AT gmail.com.

This one was nominated by both CocoaLove and be the change you seek:

This comment in the thread about how the Clintons may threaten to sue the Texas Democratic Party over the caucuses very aptly sums up the absurdity of the 2008 campaign process: History lesson by ogre.

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From vertexoflife:

Interesting juxtaposition of the two ads by elmo

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From arielle:

billysumday nails it with a Bill Clinton quote:
Bill Clinton Responds - BREAKING! by billy sumday - in turneresq's diary Obama Destroys Clinton with Red Phone Moment.  

(Note: Geekesque made a diary from this and other quotes from WJC. retriever also made a diary from this quote. Way downthread, reef the dog has a great idea: Simple ad for Obama.... )
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From pattyp:

There are so many great comments on Kagro X's diary about Islamobots, but this one by  Plays in Traffic really takes the cake.

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From Mewkey:

Homo neurotic’s comment here  and then subsequent comment here nearly made me spit coffee all over my keyboard I was laughing so hard.  S/he expresses my opinion better than I ever could, on both McCain and songs that stick in one’s head for hours lol.

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From Free Spirit:

Clinton! No, Obama! by wozzle.

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From me, most from late-night threads:

Re: definitions of insanity: Do people ever talk really loud to your son?  by MichiganGirl, Bread and circuses...  by Joy Busey, and Read some Howard Zinn.  by Robespierrette.

On living outside the country: Am 36, two kids, one wife...  by Bluecollarelitist and WOW  by grndrush.

About the Lifecycle costs of solar energy, Maybe if we can find a way to bury photovoltaic  by Reality Bites Back and Boom and Bust  by gmoke.

About the validity (and need for) party platforms: two by my TC buddy - I think Platforms are important and this is why.  by noweasels and I covered the Platform Committee meetings  by noweasels. This one The Daily Kos Party Platform  by Dallasdoc. And a couple others that couldn't be excluded: how about:  by a gilas girl and Not sure of the national platform  by mataliandy.

Sheer fun comment: ehem. let me try that again.  by nalin

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TOP MOJO by the numbers! Thank you, sardonyx!
Top Mojo excluding search-identifiable tip jars, first diary comments, Cheers and Jeers, and Mojo Friday:

  1) Thanks Everyone. by Saz — 249
  2) Indeed. A lot of blanks still to fill in here. by poblano — 141
  3) Thanks for Reading by gmoke — 137
  4) Instant Classic on 3 a.m. and Dropping Out by kubla000 — 136
  5) As I wrote in another diary, by byteb — 129
  6) Interesting quote: by carolinadreamer — 123
  7) Thank you by Saz — 123
  8) Bill Clinton Responds - BREAKING! by billysumday — 119
  9) I have to compliment Senator Clinton by movie buff — 107
10) Clinton's Rules of Procedure, Rule 1 by Dump Terry McAuliffe — 104
11) will you stop with the big rallies and speeches by tamandua — 93
12) I'm Barack Obama, and by GOTV — 93
13) Fear You Can Xerox by ghostlawns — 89
14) Great moment-- thanks for sharing it by Dallasdoc — 86
15) p.s. by Trix — 85
16) We accept by Robinswing — 83
17) Delaware Dem by Delaware Dem — 83
18) My response to Hillary's ad by CT Bob — 82
19) Clinton Messes with Texas by FishOutofWater — 81
20) In Kenya they protested a stolen election by FishOutofWater — 80
21) You say outrageous by MingPicket — 79
22) Hey Doc, This, Doesn't Help McCain Either: by leonard145b — 78
23) i can't imagine on what grounds by wu ming — 73
24) TOYOTA - by teacherken — 73
25) SallyCat by SallyCat — 71
26) congra on picking that up by AHiddenSaint — 70
27) The Fear Bomb by Kitty — 69
28) shayera by shayera — 69
29) Once you go Barack, you never go back by other72384 — 69
30) Anyone still think Obama can't fight back? by droogie6655321 — 68
31) I'm ~20 years younger, and yet by mofembot — 68

Top Mojo with No Exclusions:

  1) Tips by turneresq — 460
  2) I have written diaries that by Granny Doc — 375
  3) Tips for VoteVets by jhutson — 371
  4) In a word . . . by nyceve — 359
  5) Tips Recs by kubla000 — 332
  6) tip jar by EmperorHadrian — 324
  7) Tip Jar by lenzkrafterz — 291
  8) Tip jar by The Trucker Pundit — 281
  9) Tips for Hope over Fear by irishamerican — 251
10) tips by retriever — 251
11) Thanks Everyone. by Saz — 249
12) Tips by VirginiaDem — 245
13) my mojo mug, aka tip jar by teacherken — 158
14) Tips for rapid fire, smarter reponses. by Junglered1 — 148
15) Indeed. A lot of blanks still to fill in here. by poblano — 141
16) Tips for the poor by Spedwybabs — 138
17) Thanks for Reading by gmoke — 137
18) Nice diary. I feel the same way. by blue jersey mom — 137
19) Instant Classic on 3 a.m. and Dropping Out by kubla000 — 136
20) As I wrote in another diary, by byteb — 129
21) Interesting quote: by carolinadreamer — 123
22) Thank you by Saz — 123
23) Bill Clinton Responds - BREAKING! by billysumday — 119
24) Mojo Mug by TexDem — 116
25) Saw this coming from a mile away by aigeanta — 114
26) Let's hope that the good and honest Bill Clinton by Geekesque — 109
27) I have to compliment Senator Clinton by movie buff — 107
28) Cafe is Open by TexDem — 105
29) My name is Trix, and I'm addicted to Mojo :( n/t by Trix — 105
30) Clinton's Rules of Procedure, Rule 1 by Dump Terry McAuliffe — 104

Always the mountains - and a little fairy!
va dare