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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Feel the Trumpmentum

Feel the Trumpmentum

by DougJ|  October 5, 20103:09 pm| 110 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, We Are All Mayans Now

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Mark Halperin is very excited about a possible Trump candidacy (I advise you not to click the link for a variety of reasons).

A couple questions: (1) Will Tom Friedman get behind this candidacy? (2) What other super-rich attention whores will pretend to be interested in running for president between now and 2012?

Consider this an open thread.

Update. Dear FSM, he’s also rhapsodizing about Bloomberg-Petraeus with Bloomberg spending $3 billion of his own money on the race.

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Reader Interactions

110Comments

  1. 1.

    Jim

    October 5, 2010 at 3:11 pm

    Morning Joe opened at 7 AM with a lengthy bit about Trump, and then had him on via phone to talk about how awful China is. The look on Jeff Zeleny’s face about 3 minutes into Trump’s rant was priceless.

  2. 2.

    The Bobs

    October 5, 2010 at 3:13 pm

    I’m not sure Trump really qualifies as “super-rich”, but he is pretty much the definition of an attention whore.

  3. 3.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 5, 2010 at 3:13 pm

    What other super-rich attention whores will pretend to be interested in running for president between now and 2012?

    I think we call those “the Republican field.”

  4. 4.

    Scott

    October 5, 2010 at 3:13 pm

    Mark Halperin is easily excited about stupid things.

    I get the feeling he reads People magazine cover to cover and takes it all seriously.

  5. 5.

    Brachiator

    October 5, 2010 at 3:14 pm

    Mark Halperin is very excited about a possible Trump candidacy.

    Wow. Doesn’t take much to get some people excited.

  6. 6.

    Comrade Baron Elmo

    October 5, 2010 at 3:15 pm

    “Barack Obama — you’re fired!” jokes commencing in 3… 2… 1…

  7. 7.

    Chyron HR

    October 5, 2010 at 3:16 pm

    “Trump, Donald” or “Trump, Final”? I can think of a lot of candidates in the GOP stable who would fit the latter.

  8. 8.

    lol

    October 5, 2010 at 3:17 pm

    What does Trump bring to the table that Steve Forbes or Ross Perot didn’t?

  9. 9.

    Ash Can

    October 5, 2010 at 3:18 pm

    I’m not going to follow that link to Halperin’s column. I’m afraid that the pot smoke over there will be so thick it’ll drift through my laptop’s speakers and fuck me up, and I still need to be productive today.

  10. 10.

    DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.

    October 5, 2010 at 3:18 pm

    @Ash Can:

    It’s very slow to load as well.

  11. 11.

    Darius

    October 5, 2010 at 3:19 pm

    Dear FSM, he’s also rhapsodizing about Bloomberg-Petraeus with Bloomberg spending $3 billion of his own money on the race.

    Sounds good to me. We’re already dominated by the wealthy and the military-industrial complex, why not make it official?

  12. 12.

    60th Street

    October 5, 2010 at 3:19 pm

    A Palin, Romney, Trump, Naked Cowboy debate is categorically good news for Republicans.

  13. 13.

    burnspbesq

    October 5, 2010 at 3:20 pm

    Apologies if this has been mentioned already, but the Times Square Bomber was sentenced today. He got life.

    Remind me again why the criminal justice system can’t deal with the terrorist problem.

  14. 14.

    cleek

    October 5, 2010 at 3:20 pm

    @lol:
    celebrity

    Palin / Trump !

  15. 15.

    Ash Can

    October 5, 2010 at 3:21 pm

    @DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.: There you go. The server’s wasted.

  16. 16.

    beltane

    October 5, 2010 at 3:21 pm

    What’s wrong with Steve Forbes and his inherited wealth, huh? Not sexy enough for Mark Halperin?

    What degree of personal tragedy would it take to make the morally bankrupt, infantile, and narcissistic media class realize that life is not a f**king reality TV show?

  17. 17.

    stuckinred

    October 5, 2010 at 3:22 pm

    In a surprising move, powerhouse media reporter Howard Kurtz has left the Washington Post to become Washington bureau chief for The Daily Beast.

  18. 18.

    xochi

    October 5, 2010 at 3:22 pm

    @lol: A spectacular hairpiece.

    Seriously, can there please be a moratorium on presidential fantasy football stories?

  19. 19.

    Roger Moore

    October 5, 2010 at 3:22 pm

    @burnspbesq:

    Remind me again why the criminal justice system can’t deal with the terrorist problem.

    Because that’s what liberals advocate. If the liberals want to sue a criminal justice approach, it must be wrong. It doesn’t matter if they lock up more terrorists than the military has ever been able to kill. As long as the liberals like it, it’s wrong by definition.

  20. 20.

    Linda Featheringill

    October 5, 2010 at 3:23 pm

    The Donald is ugly and combs his hair funny.

    Ivanna, however, . . . . .

  21. 21.

    ruemara

    October 5, 2010 at 3:23 pm

    I wasn’t born here. Is there something in the gene pool that trends americans towards some ungodly groveling and serf fetish? I’d like to know before I consider breeding. Perhaps if you’d had to overthrow a monarchy or something you could have beheaded this sad trait out.

  22. 22.

    beltane

    October 5, 2010 at 3:23 pm

    @lol: Trump gets all the hot babes. The thought of a rich man and his hot babes gets Mark Halperin all tingly in the thighs.

  23. 23.

    jacy

    October 5, 2010 at 3:23 pm

    It seems like the “serious” Republicans are starting to look at possibilities for the 2012 field of presidential candidates and the hysteria and panic are starting to set in. Slowly, but it’s there.

    Great googly creeping god, do they not remember Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson? What the Republicans have is not so much a bench, but a giant, floating freak show.

    Why don’t they use their not-vaunted, not-hip technology skills and just choose the next Republican candidate via winner of a YouTube contest? You’d invariably end up with someone less insane and with a better grasp of policy issues if you just opened it up to random homeless people.

  24. 24.

    cat48

    October 5, 2010 at 3:26 pm

    If Trump thinks trillions is a “new number he had never heard before”, he’s in for a BIG shock. Everything in the government is friggin broken….and we’re broke, too! No money to fix anything. He’d last about 2 weeks until he learned all the other “secrets.”

  25. 25.

    K. Grant

    October 5, 2010 at 3:27 pm

    Trump makes perfect sense, the perfect Republican candidate: talks tough in programmed situations but essentially folds like a cheap tent in the real world. Caribou Barbie would be the perfect running mate. Bad hair and teeth, stuffed full of pull-the-string platitudes and pablum, and nothing but air between the ears. Folks, your Republican Ticket for 2012!

    Somebody has to make this happen.

  26. 26.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 5, 2010 at 3:27 pm

    @lol:

    What does Trump bring to the table that Steve Forbes or Ross Perot didn’t?

    A really shitty reality TV show?

  27. 27.

    Brachiator

    October 5, 2010 at 3:27 pm

    As an aside: as a true political junkie, I listened to the second Barbara Boxer, Carly Fiorina Senate debate, held on September 29. The media coverage of the Meg Whitman illegal immigrant maid issue had swamped all coverage of the debate (a neat trick by whoever helped orchestrate this thing).

    The best thing about the debate is that the two questioners, LA Times reporter Patt Morrison and La Opinion columnist Gabriel Lerner is that they would respectfully interrupt the candidates when they strayed from the question posed to them (even though both tried to stick to boilerplate or attacks on her opponent). Fiorina came off worse, in my judgment, once seeming stuck to find a response in her scripted bag of tricks.

    Fiorina also stubbornly and stupidly refused to say what she would do about the millions of illegal immigrants already in this country. Evidently, Mitt Romney’s response in one of the presidential primaries did not go over well (“put them in a bus and deport them all”), so the word has gone out to all Republican candidates to avoid answering this question and to sound tough by talking about shutting down the border.

    Ain’t politics grand?

    Anybody needing an insomnia cure can listen to the debate here.

  28. 28.

    cleek

    October 5, 2010 at 3:28 pm

    i actually wouldn’t mind President Bloomberg. but from a 3rd party ? i hope he’s not that stupid… i’d have to change my mind about him.

  29. 29.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2010 at 3:30 pm

    Shows like American Idol and Dancing With the Has-Beens and Never-Wases are embarrassing to me as an American and a human being, but nothing is more depressing than the media/entertainment success of Donald Trump–I love Letterman, but it’s embarrassing when he has Trump on.

    As Ezra Klein pointed out, Friedman’s wanky tantrum about a third party never mentions the filibuster as a factor in gridlock. What super-solutions to our super-problems would Bloomberg or Petraeus propose, I wonder.

  30. 30.

    MattR

    October 5, 2010 at 3:32 pm

    In the 90’s I read/heard a list of Mike Bloomberg’s top 5 jobs. I wish I could remember them all and/or find a link, but I know mayor of New York was on the list and I have a feeling that POTUS was not. That is really not that surprising given the number of constraints that the President faces. (Granted the unitary executive has been gaining power since that list was made)

    Semi related, am I the only one who thinks there is a good argument to be made that losing the mid term elections might be the best possible outcome for the Democrats 2012 hopes. I understand that a whole bunch of stuff will not get done, time will be wasted on trivial crap and the Republicans will manage to get some bad provisions passed in legislation, but for whatever reason this country seems to have forgotten what the results will be and maybe giving them a 2 year reminder is the best antidote (especially since Obama will still have the ability to veto the most egregious crap).

  31. 31.

    Roger Moore

    October 5, 2010 at 3:33 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Evidently, Mitt Romney’s response in one of the presidential primaries did not go over well (“put them in a bus and deport them all”),

    It sure as hell isn’t going to go over well with the readership of La Opinion. A hard line on immigration just isn’t going to work in California unless you can somehow keep it secret from all the Latino voters. That’s going to be hard when one of the moderators works for the biggest Spanish language newspaper in the state.

  32. 32.

    Joe Beese

    October 5, 2010 at 3:36 pm

    I could accept a President Bloomberg just to see the people who can’t stand having a black man in the White House really lose their shit.

  33. 33.

    Martin

    October 5, 2010 at 3:37 pm

    @burnspbesq: We can, if the terrorists are here. How the fuck do you arrest someone in Yemen?

  34. 34.

    Tony J

    October 5, 2010 at 3:37 pm

    I guess since it’s still pretty much inevitable that, given the field of likely GOP candidates, Obama is going to be re-elected in 2012, there’s nothing left for him to do but throw a few exciting names out there for the media machine to chew over.

    And I used ‘exiting’ right there in entirely the wrong way.

    Given how insane the Party Formerly Known As The GOP has become since ‘Appomattox 2 – This Time Lincoln’s Black‘ debuted on their screens, I half expect to see a final ticket consisting of the picked head of Ronaldus Magnus and Chuck Norris in a red, white and blue burka.

  35. 35.

    Southern Beale

    October 5, 2010 at 3:37 pm

    Oh dear god.

    It all is so clear to me now. The stupidity of our Better Classes is the reason everything sucks right now.

  36. 36.

    Bulworth

    October 5, 2010 at 3:37 pm

    Dear FSM, he’s also rhapsodizing about Bloomberg-Petraeus with Bloomberg spending $3 billion of his own money on the race

    Can’t we somehow squeeze The Donald onto the ticket? Make it a brand new three-way super duper non-partisan bi-partisan trinity of wonderfulness. I’m sure that would work and our problems would all be solved.

  37. 37.

    daveNYC

    October 5, 2010 at 3:38 pm

    Dear FSM, he’s also rhapsodizing about Bloomberg-Petraeus with Bloomberg spending $3 billion of his own money on the race.

    I wouldn’t particularly want him as president, but at least Bloomberg is a sane choice. He’s roughly 100% less batshit that whoever will end up as the Republican candidate in 2012.

    Trump, OTOH, well he’s just a waste of flesh.

  38. 38.

    60th Street

    October 5, 2010 at 3:41 pm

    Now we know what happens when Tweety leaves his English Leather in the MSNBC Green Room overnight…Apparently Halperin uses it for his 5am pre-MoJo rub-out and a few hours later *poof* Donald Trump is President.

  39. 39.

    gizmo

    October 5, 2010 at 3:42 pm

    What in the world has Petraeus done to make him worthy of being on a Presidential ticket?

  40. 40.

    Comrade Dread

    October 5, 2010 at 3:44 pm

    This is why I drink, people.

    The stupid… it burns.

  41. 41.

    Chyron HR

    October 5, 2010 at 3:44 pm

    @Martin:

    How the fuck do you arrest someone in Yemen?

    I never made it without fighting. Ask Mr. Owl.

  42. 42.

    trollhattan

    October 5, 2010 at 3:45 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    Megs was just behind Jerry in polls of Hispanic voters before Nikkygate, so I’ve been eager to see the latest numbers. Of course, it was all “Jerry’s fault” that it was brought up at all.

  43. 43.

    Redshift

    October 5, 2010 at 3:47 pm

    @burnspbesq: Plus he was tried in NYC, and yet it did not cause terrorist supervillains to rain destruction on the city!

    Sane people 1, conservative bed-wetters 0.

  44. 44.

    fasteddie9318

    October 5, 2010 at 3:48 pm

    @gizmo:

    What in the world has Petraeus done to make him worthy of being on a Presidential ticket?

    Oh please, do you even know who you’re talking about? This is the Greatest Military Mind of Forever and Ever! Alexander the Great himself couldn’t have managed to pay his enemies to stop attacking him single-handedly temporarily quiet lull into a brief sleep crush the Iraqi resistance! And now he’s well on his way to half-finishing covering up a defeat in running like hell from victoriously concluding yet another phase in the Triumphant War Against Teh Brown on Terror. He’s like the bravest American since St. Ronnie personally dodged the draft to make war movies forced the Japs to surrender in 1945.

  45. 45.

    BombIranForChrist

    October 5, 2010 at 3:48 pm

    Ah, so Trump is going to join Gingrich on the Pimp My Book ticket.

    Here’s the process:

    1. Feel sad because you aren’t as big a celebrity anymore.
    2. Run for president.
    3. Write a book called Bear Shitting in the Woods.
    4. Go on the Today show to pimp book.
    5. Say you will make a decision in 6 months.
    6. In 6 months, say you need another 6 months.
    7. Go on the Today Show with a Big Announcement
    8. Announce that you’re not going to run.
    9. Collect speaker fees.

    Success!

  46. 46.

    Linda Featheringill

    October 5, 2010 at 3:50 pm

    @gizmo:

    What in the world has Petraeus done to make him worthy of being on a Presidential ticket?

    I guess Petraeus is muy macho. And Republicans love a macho man.

    Sort of like Chamberlain getting mushy in the spine when he was around the SS.

    Although to be fair, I must admit that as a whole, those SS guys had the rough trade look down to a fine art.

  47. 47.

    Egypt Steve

    October 5, 2010 at 3:52 pm

    I agree that we should just cut right to the chase and permit only billionaires to run for president.

    That said, Bloomberg might actually make a pretty good president.

    But then again, where the fuck is he going to find 60 votes in the Senate that Obama couldn’t find? Is just going to flat buy them?

  48. 48.

    The Yankee Apologist

    October 5, 2010 at 3:53 pm

    As a New York City denizen, I wouldn’t be categorically against Bloomberg as a Republican President.

    At the very least, I get the sense he doesn’t mind bucking the Party Line if it doesn’t jibe with him – case in point his support for the Cordoba House (aka ZOMG THE OSAMA VICTORY MOSQUE!!!!!)

    That said, I think it’s pretty clear he won’t come with sniffing distance of the nomination.

    (Why is this in moderation? What did I say?)

  49. 49.

    Wannabe Speechwriter

    October 5, 2010 at 3:53 pm

    Hear about Howard Kurtz-

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-10-05/howard-kurtz-joins-the-daily-beast/

    There’s a lot to be said about this but one thing is certain-print media is truly dead. Even the hacks who 3 years ago denounced all these fancy schmancy internets are jumping ship as fast as they can.

    Also, it shows the collapse of the Kaplan’s media empire-first Newsweek falls and now their biggest hack won’t stay with them. Kinda makes me feel sorry for the Washington Post-then I read their editorial page and don’t feel any sympathy at all…

  50. 50.

    Redshirt

    October 5, 2010 at 3:57 pm

    The Empire hungers for an Emperor.

  51. 51.

    Crusty Dem

    October 5, 2010 at 4:02 pm

    I’m just going to start printing bumper stickers:

    “Super-rich bastard/decorated soldier 2012”

    Has this type of stupidity always been around? Were idiots clamoring for a John Paul Getty/Audie Murphy ticket in 1955?

    Just curious.

  52. 52.

    Scott

    October 5, 2010 at 4:04 pm

    @Egypt Steve:

    But then again, where the fuck is he going to find 60 votes in the Senate that Obama couldn’t find? Is just going to flat buy them?

    That’s… not a bad idea.

    “Senator, campaign records indicate you’ve received ‘generous donations’ from Blue Cross Blue Shield. We’re willing to double the amount you received from them in exchange for your vote in favor of full, universal health care.”

    Name a senator who wouldn’t take a dive for the right amount of unnumbered bills in a brown envelope…

  53. 53.

    Scott P.

    October 5, 2010 at 4:04 pm

    Semi related, am I the only one who thinks there is a good argument to be made that losing the mid term elections might be the best possible outcome for the Democrats 2012 hopes.

    That’s wishing to cut off your nose to spite your face. This was the left-wing hope for about twenty years — arguing that Nixon winning in ’72, Reagan winning in ’80, or Bush winning in ’00 were just the wake-up calls the country needed to finally turn away from the Republicans and embrace the left.

    Losing now in the hopes of winning later never works.

  54. 54.

    Brachiator

    October 5, 2010 at 4:06 pm

    @ruemara:

    I wasn’t born here. Is there something in the gene pool that trends americans towards some ungodly groveling and serf fetish? I’d like to know before I consider breeding. Perhaps if you’d had to overthrow a monarchy or something you could have beheaded this sad trait out.

    Americans once rejected a monarchy, but some have since had seller’s remorse. But a lingering fondness for an aristocracy seems to be present in a lot of people and countries.

  55. 55.

    Nellcote

    October 5, 2010 at 4:07 pm

    @Wannabe Speechwriter:

    speaking of Newsweak fail. They’ve hired Mickey Goatboy Kaus.

  56. 56.

    Turgidson

    October 5, 2010 at 4:07 pm

    @Egypt Steve:

    Buying senators does seem to be the best way to motivate them to vote a certain way. I think you might be on to something.

    How about Bloomberg takes over for Biden in the VP slot in 2012 and spends 90% of his time bribing the senate to vote for actual, good policy? I could live with that. Fight fire with fire and all.

  57. 57.

    artem1s

    October 5, 2010 at 4:09 pm

    Were idiots clamoring for a John Paul Getty/Audie Murphy ticket in 1955?

    you win the thread.

    my bet is sooner or later Shatner is going to figure out he can make lots of money and get as much attention as he wants by running for …something. I’m betting he would be the front runner as Palin’s VP candidate. he can follow her around the country and do his ‘poetry’ interpretations of her speeches.

    Gold.baby.Gold!

  58. 58.

    sherifffruitfly

    October 5, 2010 at 4:10 pm

    Media is unhappy that Dems are polling upwards a bit, and are moving on to a new shiny thing. Doesn’t matter how stupid it is.

  59. 59.

    artem1s

    October 5, 2010 at 4:12 pm

    Were idiots clamoring for a John Paul Getty/Audie Murphy ticket in 1955?

    of course this was why Sherman had to make his views on politics clear…will not run.will not serve.

  60. 60.

    Kryptik

    October 5, 2010 at 4:12 pm

    Oh, good god damn what the fuck.

    Via Mr. Sargent:

    The Post poll asked likely voters: If the Republicans win control of Congress, will they lead the country in a new direction or will they return to Bush policies?

    A majority of indys, 52 percent, said the GOP would lead the country in a new direction, versus only 37 percent who said the party would revive Bush policies.

    This is despite the GOP’s much vaunted Pledge being a literal rehash of every single goddamn policy and talking point from the past 15 years, to where they literally admitted it was nothing new.

    No wonder we’re fucked. As much as it’s impolitic to say it, it seems like Independents are utter dipshits. That, or a significant number still are those ‘Republicans Ashamed To Call Themselves Republican’ folk.

  61. 61.

    Wannabe Speechwriter

    October 5, 2010 at 4:13 pm

    @Nellcote:

    He was working at Slate, which is part of Kaplan media. Newsweek used to be at Kaplan media until they got sold for $1. So, they’re just keeping with who they know.

  62. 62.

    Nellcote

    October 5, 2010 at 4:14 pm

    How about Huntsman (Utah-R) comes back from China and runs with Chinese money funneled through the Chamber of Commerce?

  63. 63.

    danimal

    October 5, 2010 at 4:14 pm

    @Crusty Dem –

    ““Super-rich bastard/decorated soldier 2012” Has this type of stupidity always been around? Were idiots clamoring for a John Paul Getty/Audie Murphy ticket in 1955?

    Seems like General President Eisenhower could point you in the right direction.

  64. 64.

    Kryptik

    October 5, 2010 at 4:14 pm

    @Crusty Dem:

    Audie Murphy would never make it as a politician. He actually made a movie about himself and toned it down because he didn’t think the public would believe him.

    Humility doesn’t win votes.

  65. 65.

    Teak111

    October 5, 2010 at 4:15 pm

    Well, we have a super rich, attention, er a seeker, running in Cali this year. Will let you know how that goes.

    But Trump does not strike as the kind of guy who would spend in own $$$ on a campaign, bad investment.

  66. 66.

    mistersnrub

    October 5, 2010 at 4:18 pm

    Yes, I’m sure all these tea partiers will vote for a Jewish billionaire from New York so long as he uses some military brass for window-dressing.

    Halperin is like a 12 year old boy concocting imaginary battles between Darth Vader and Batman. I’m sure his next idea will be a Lieberman-McCain-Graham triumvirate ticket.

  67. 67.

    Alwhite

    October 5, 2010 at 4:19 pm

    The reason assclowns get excited about marginally competent personality candidates is that they are blank slates. Since they have no known positions assclowns can assume that they believe and will behave exactly as the assclown want them to.

    When they start taking actual positions or trying to govern things go all to hell because they have to take positions & way too often they are not well thought out or consistent with assclown desires.

    We have had strong 3rd party Gov candidates here since Jesse “The Fake Navy Seal” Ventura won. When you ask their supporters what they like about them you get one of 2 answers: “X is not an R or a D so they won’t do what R or D want” or a mixed bag of nuts that reflect what the speaker wants but nothing like what X has said publicly.

  68. 68.

    Crusty Dem

    October 5, 2010 at 4:21 pm

    @artem1s:

    Of course, given that the president at the time was former General Eisenhower might have quenched the desire for a military input, it still feels rather odd that everyone who suggests an untested, generally rich, presidential candidate feels the urge to put them with a military VP candidate.

    It worked so well for Perot, right?

    Isn’t this just a cowardly way to call for a coup? I expect that sort of behavior out of Beck and Limbaugh, but Halperin, Brooks, and Broder have to be all tangential about it… Because they’re serious and respected..

  69. 69.

    60th Street

    October 5, 2010 at 4:22 pm

    Meanwhile, Obama continues on his path to the unemployment line…

    Big Victory! White House Goes Solar!

  70. 70.

    Crusty Dem

    October 5, 2010 at 4:25 pm

    @danimal:

    Yeah, you got it before I remembered that..

  71. 71.

    Rommie

    October 5, 2010 at 4:27 pm

    I can’t take these proposed tickets too seriously, because they have two Alpha Wolves on them. There’s no way these power-hungry people would run with an “equal” partner and risk getting the short end of the stick, especially in the VP slot.

    No, it’s far more plausible (and scary) if you start seeing non-entities for VP (ala Quayle) or Puppet/Puppetmaster tickets (ala Bush/Cheney). MAYbe someone could swallow their ambition and take the VP slot, thinking they’ll be the obvious successor 4/8 years down the road, but swallowing ambition is not on the resumes of these folks.

  72. 72.

    Crusty Dem

    October 5, 2010 at 4:27 pm

    @Kryptik:

    Well, the very fact that you know that detail suggests that he could’ve been very successful (just like McCain was effective at broadcasting his great humility to the widest possible audience from 1996-2008).

  73. 73.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    October 5, 2010 at 4:27 pm

    Mark Halperin is just a big tent kind of guy.

  74. 74.

    PurpleGirl

    October 5, 2010 at 4:31 pm

    @artem1s: Shatner can’t run for president or vp, while he became a US citizen in 2005 or 2006, he was born in Canada.

    Teak111: Trump is not super rich. He’s been bankrupt at least twice, been propped up by Citibank because he owes them so much. His business interests are doing only so-so; really, he’s made some bad decisions in real estate that have cost him money and prestige. He’s a big-time attention whore. (Besides having a bad hair day, all day, every day.)

  75. 75.

    Brachiator

    October 5, 2010 at 4:32 pm

    @MattR:

    am I the only one who thinks there is a good argument to be made that losing the mid term elections might be the best possible outcome for the Democrats 2012 hopes.

    I certainly hope so. I keep hearing people say this stuff, and I can only wonder, “What is wrong with you?”

    The best rejoinder to this is perhaps to be found in this excerpt of a review of the wonderful, recently published letters of the late Senator Daniel Moynihan (Daniel Patrick Moynihan: A Portrait in Letters of An American Visionary):

    He also has time to exchange charming letters with the preteen daughter of an old friend, who has asked him about the games he played as a child: “We used to play marbles for keeps. If you lost, you lost. It is the same way with politics, but not everybody knows this.”

    While you are trying to punish people on your own side for not doing the right thing, your opponents are going to do everything they can to crush you into the ground and prevent you from ever getting back up. And you really think that handing them the stick to beat you with is going to work in your favor somehow?

  76. 76.

    Sad_Dem

    October 5, 2010 at 4:39 pm

    Trump/Fiorina 2012: Today’s combover, tomorrow’s hair

  77. 77.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 5, 2010 at 4:44 pm

    @Kryptik:

    A majority of indys, 52 percent, said the GOP would lead the country in a new direction, versus only 37 percent who said the party would revive Bush policies.

    Confirms my pet theory that the majority of independent voters, far from being the crusty, thoughtful skeptics of Vice Principal Broder’s fantasies, are actually people by and large too purposefully ignorant to actually find out what politicians and parties stand for and want to do. They’re the equivalent of that SNL schtick from last year, standing on the sidelines yelling “Just fix it” over an over again, with the added bonus of rejecting any solutions that might actually work because they are inconvenient.

  78. 78.

    Uloborus

    October 5, 2010 at 4:44 pm

    @Kryptik:
    According to the polling, the ‘independents’ are not the moderate swing voters. They’re the Tea Party. They’re Republicans who don’t want to admit it. So anything you read about ‘independents’ you can treat as if they were polling the Republican base.

  79. 79.

    Captain Haddock

    October 5, 2010 at 4:44 pm

    @Scott:

    You give him too much credit, I was thinking he’s more of a Parade reader.

  80. 80.

    David

    October 5, 2010 at 4:46 pm

    Lady de Rothschild gives Trump a thumbs up!

  81. 81.

    rickstersherpa

    October 5, 2010 at 4:46 pm

    It is not bad for the Halperin business model to pimp these kind of stories. It gets lots of eyeballs and six months later no one in the Village remembers or calls him to account.

    Idiocracy was not science fiction, it was unfortunately a deft little satire about the present.

    Friedman, David Broder, and the like indulge in this fantasy every 4 years that some super rich independent will arise, win the Presidency, smash both the DFHs and religious fundamentalist, eviscerate social security, and enact a gas tax. They seem to both forget that all laws have to get through a Congress and one has to keep wondering where the majority gets formed, especially where President Bloomberg (or President Whtiman if she becomes Governor of California) will find 60 votes in the Senate when neither party owes him anything.

    That being said, there may be a third party candidate in 2012 since as Nate Silver noted, they really have been quire common and have taken significant hunks of the vote in 1948, 1968, 1980, 1992, and, alas, 2000.

  82. 82.

    Cermet

    October 5, 2010 at 4:48 pm

    @beltane: Almost – his prefered position would be bent over for the tingle … .

  83. 83.

    Ruckus

    October 5, 2010 at 4:50 pm

    @DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.:
    I imagine pushing crap uphill is a slow process.

  84. 84.

    beltane

    October 5, 2010 at 4:50 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Most independents are that way because they don’t even have enough interest in the process to chose a party. They are vaguely aware Bush was bad because he was made fun of so much, but they are not capable of understanding why he was so bad, and they don’t really know what this has to do with the Republican party. Ads sway these people tremendously, and because they have little to no historical memory, everything they see is new and fresh.

  85. 85.

    Bruce (formerly Steve S.)

    October 5, 2010 at 4:55 pm

    I’m still waiting for someone to tell me what differences there are, other than the obvious cosmetic ones, between the mythical Bloomberg-Trump-Perot Saviour and Barack Obama. You want a centrist compromise solution to everything? He’s your man! You want pragmatic engagement as foreign policy? He’s your man! You want an affable guy who does charming little luncheons with “both sides”? He’s your man!

    You want all of the above but in a white guy with a European name? Hmm.

  86. 86.

    MattR

    October 5, 2010 at 4:57 pm

    @Brachiator:

    While you are trying to punish people on your own side for not doing the right thing, your opponents are going to do everything they can to crush you into the ground and prevent you from ever getting back up. And you really think that handing them the stick to beat you with is going to work in your favor somehow?

    Your rejoinder is a non sequitor. I am not suggesting anything anywhere near what you think I am. All I am saying is that electoral defeat in 2010 is not the end of the world and may actually work to Democrats advantage in 2012. If you don’t think there is a good argument to be made, then state your case instead of focusing on your incorrect assumption that I want the Dems to lose in 2010.

    @Bruce (formerly Steve S.): One difference is that Bloomberg, Trump and Perot are not Democrats which means that Republicans might actually be willing to work with them (or at least wont reflexively say no).

  87. 87.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 5, 2010 at 5:05 pm

    @David: I don’t know about that. Trump is rather nouveau riche and quite appalling.

  88. 88.

    Tom Traubert

    October 5, 2010 at 5:16 pm

    Here’s a ticket: Trump and Boehner. The Republicans can call it their own “Orange Revolution.” (rimshot).

  89. 89.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 5, 2010 at 5:17 pm

    @Bruce (formerly Steve S.): No, you don’t understand. _This_ time reaching out to the other side and hashing out bipartisan consensus based on simple common sense is totally gonna work, because, um, OMFG look over there! [ducks and runs]

  90. 90.

    Brachiator

    October 5, 2010 at 5:18 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Confirms my pet theory that the majority of independent voters, far from being the crusty, thoughtful skeptics of Vice Principal Broder’s fantasies, are actually people by and large too purposefully ignorant to actually find out what politicians and parties stand for and want to do.

    Depends on where you look. In California, independents tend to pay attention. They see, for example, that even though Republicans and Democrats make a lot of noise about being different and opposing each other, they have no problems in making deals to stay in power, keeping new voices on the sidelines. And the Public Policy Institute just noted the following in a September analysis:

    The percentage of California voters registered as independents, or decline-to-state, reached a record high of 20.2% in the June 2010 primary election, more than doubling since the 1990 November gubernatorial election (9.1%). Over the same time period, the percentage of registered voters in each of the major parties has fallen: Republicans from 39.3% to 30.8%, Democrats from 49.5% to 44.5%.
    __
    For example, in the previous gubernatorial election, 54% of independents in our post-election survey said they voted for Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger. But in the 2008 presidential election, most independents (59%) said they supported Democrat Barack Obama. In each case, the outcome reflected the choice of the majority of independents.

    I will grant you that there are also people who label themselves as independents who don’t care, barely pay attention, are uninformed, but there is also a strong core of people who have no confidence that the major parties care about anything more than perpetuating their own status and influence, screw the voters.

  91. 91.

    JCT

    October 5, 2010 at 5:22 pm

    This is so stupid I am at a loss for words.

    That is all.

  92. 92.

    Joseph Nobles

    October 5, 2010 at 5:23 pm

    @60th Street: I’m waiting for the “Obama fights killer rabbit” story to drop next year.

    Even though it was Bush that brought solar panels back to the White House, Obama will land all the “credit” in the right wing blogs.

  93. 93.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 5, 2010 at 5:24 pm

    There is no complaint which hath been more constantly in the mouths, no grief hath lain more heavily at the hearts of all good men, than those about our national divisions; about the spirit of party, which inspires animosity and breeds rancor; which hath so often destroyed our inward peace; weakened our national strength; and sullied our glory abroad. It is time therefore that all, who desire to be esteemed good men, and to procure the peace, the strength, and the glory of their country by the only means, by which they can be procured effectually, should join their efforts to heal our national divisions, and to change the narrow spirit of party into a diffusive spirit of public benevolence.
    __
    Henry St. John, Viscount Broder Halperin Bolingbroke.
    A Dissertation Upon Parties.
    1734.

  94. 94.

    Brachiator

    October 5, 2010 at 5:27 pm

    Here’s a sad sign:

    Arizona’s controversial immigration law has prompted denunciations, demonstrations, boycotts and a federal lawsuit. But it may not bring the protest vote many Democrats had hoped would stem a Republican onslaught in races across the country.
    __
    That’s because although many voters are disillusioned with the political process, Latino voters are particularly dejected, and many may sit these elections out, according to voters, Latino organizations, and political consultants and candidates. A poll released Tuesday found that though Latinos strongly back Democrats over Republicans, 65 percent to 22 percent, in the Congressional elections just four weeks away, only 51 percent of Latino registered voters say they will absolutely go to the polls, compared to 70 percent of all registered voters.

    I don’t get this at all.

  95. 95.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 5, 2010 at 5:37 pm

    @Brachiator: There has been a narrative about Latinos feeling betrayed by Democratic non-progress on immigration issues. Markos Moulitsas talks about it a fair amount. I just haven’t known how deep it runs.

    (Markos seems to see immigration as a kind of panacea for Democratic doldrums, which makes me skeptical; and, relatedly, he seems to favor the theory that fighting and losing nobly may not be as good as a win but it gets people charged up, which I _highly_ doubt.)

    But, yes, in policy terms, the status quo on immigration is beyond stupid. Eventually the dual presidency of Bloomberg and Friedman–Billionaires for America!–will fix it. Probably in some way that involves the Bully Pulpit and/or the transformational power of participatory social zzzZZZZZzzZZ.

  96. 96.

    Hal

    October 5, 2010 at 5:43 pm

    Who even likes Trump, let alone enough to vote for him as President? Is he going to have a debate about how fat and ugly Rosie O’donnell is, since that’s once of the only things he likes to talk about?

    As for Bloomberg, can someone please tell me why he’s so popular? I have nothing against the super rich, or inherited wealth (hell, I wish I had some of my own), but is Bloomberg really that smart? Isn’t this the guy who fired some lowly clerk for surfing the Internet and then got a big pat on the back for it? The one who couln’t stand the idea of not being mayor, so he had the city council override voter approved term limits?

    Yeesh. Maybe there really is something to this 2012 thing.

  97. 97.

    Mnemosyne

    October 5, 2010 at 5:47 pm

    Every time Trump’s name comes up, I have to mention that he managed to lose money running a casino. You have to be a special kind of idiot to manage to go bankrupt in a business where people literally walk in the door and hand you their money in exchange for a deck of cards and a few flashing lights.

  98. 98.

    burnspbesq

    October 5, 2010 at 5:47 pm

    @Martin:

    You don’t, the Yemeni government does based on our request that the person in question be extradited. Or, if the person in question is within the scope of the AUMF, just get the permission of the Yemeni government to use their airspace, and send in an appropriate force to kill the fucker. Under Ex parte Quirin, that’s totally OK (on that point, Sullivan and Horton are right and Greenwald is wrong).

  99. 99.

    Brachiator

    October 5, 2010 at 5:52 pm

    @MattR:

    All I am saying is that electoral defeat in 2010 is not the end of the world and may actually work to Democrats advantage in 2012. If you don’t think there is a good argument to be made, then state your case instead of focusing on your incorrect assumption that I want the Dems to lose in 2010.

    I stand by what I wrote. And I didn’t say that you personally wanted the Democrats to lose.

    One difference is that Bloomberg, Trump and Perot are not Democrats which means that Republicans might actually be willing to work with them (or at least wont reflexively say no).

    The wild card is the tea party movement. Their candidates, if elected, will oppose anyone who does not agree with them. And they are pushing for ideological purity in the GOP. Any policy that is perceived to be “liberal” would be rejected.

  100. 100.

    burnspbesq

    October 5, 2010 at 5:55 pm

    @Alwhite:

    “The reason assclowns get excited about marginally competent personality candidates is that they are blank slates.”

    I guess that means you’ll be supporting Don Henley when he primaries Obama in 2012. :-)

  101. 101.

    kc

    October 5, 2010 at 6:02 pm

    Standard DC pundit wankery.

    Remember when they were drooling over the idea of a McCain/Lieberman ticket?

  102. 102.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 5, 2010 at 6:08 pm

    @kc: People have been pining for literal bipartisanship in the English-speaking world since the days of Whigs and Tories. It’s always the same fantasy, which is that deep down everyone really agrees in the idea that the public is more important than the private, so all it should take is a little bit of haggling and everything would just all work itself out.

  103. 103.

    Mike in NC

    October 5, 2010 at 6:09 pm

    Trump shlump. Once upon a time the Villagers were all talking up a Lee Iacocca presidential run. They’re hopeless idiots.

  104. 104.

    grumpy realist

    October 5, 2010 at 6:48 pm

    Well, if we want really loony, may I suggest our late governor of Illinois, the man with the hair?

    Methinks the political silly season is now year-round.

  105. 105.

    Stan of the Sawgrass

    October 5, 2010 at 7:00 pm

    Don’t know if anyone’s still following, but at my redneck family (yeah, me too) reunion, the one cousin who owns a heavy construction outfit told us about a job he’d had with the Donald. He does the heavy foundation-creating work (no foundation, no building) so HE got paid, but friends told him that most of the subcontractors didn’t get paid– and when they got too insistent, Don’s minions sued them.

    It’s hearsay, so take it for what it’s worth, but my cousin generally likes other rich people.

  106. 106.

    debbie

    October 5, 2010 at 7:14 pm

    A Trump–Gingrich debate would be priceless. They could try to out-pompous each other.

  107. 107.

    Cacti

    October 5, 2010 at 9:31 pm

    Bloomberg is stronger than Howard Dean on First Amendment rights.

  108. 108.

    AlanDownunder

    October 5, 2010 at 10:39 pm

    A black guy is one thing, but a comb-over?

  109. 109.

    Montana

    October 5, 2010 at 11:30 pm

    Griff Harsh, the husband of California gubernatorial candidate Nutneg Whitman, acknowledged in a statement on Thursday that “it is possible” he received and wrote notes on a letter from the Social Security Administration back in 2003, regarding the former housekeeper. The Whitman/ Harsh household then fired their housekeeper in June 2009 (after nine years of service), when Nutmeg handlers decided that she was an election liability.

    Meg, Meg, Meg, where do I start, you have reportedly spent $140 million of your own money to get elected Governor but you couldn’t use some of it to get your housekeeper (after nine years of service) some legal help to get her papers, and worse you lied about it. Wow, what a WITCH, of course I meant it with a “B”.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#39450925

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGRrNs8-s5w

    But your comments on holding employers accountable for hiring undocumented workers real takes the cake, I assume you exempt yourself and your husband, or will you be turning yourself in.

    Meg on holding employers accountable:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4fWLHiw8zA

    Meg you think you can buy the election, but what puzzles many is if you real cared and loved California then why not do your civic duty and vote, seems more rhetoric than anything else.

    In good times we might give you a try but not in our disaster mode that we find ourselves in after that so-called outsider Independent Republican, named Arnold Schwarzenegger (sold to us by radio personalities John and Ken), ruined our state, yah we will trust another one of you liars, think not. And another thing nine years this maid was in your house, in your house and you failed to learned this major thing about her, come on this sounds like a huge lie that no one can believe in.

    Ebay paid out $200,000 because Nutmeg assaulted an employee, so it’s not the first time she has mistreated an employee. Good luck winning Nutmeg, money will buy you admiration from the majority just from the Gay Old Party (GOP), but not from all of California.

  110. 110.

    Acharn

    October 7, 2010 at 6:27 am

    @Martin:
    How do you arrest someone in Yemen? We have at least several hundred Special Ops forces in country. Whether they could go into the area where Awlaki lives is a question I’d like to see answered, but presumably they would need to get permission for the government, who might not really want that to happen.

    As I understand it, the Yemeni government doesn’t want any operations that would force them to admit to their people that there are Americans there. Missile attacks of some kind seem to be OK, which is probably why Obama is willing to murder this guy without ever charging him with a crime — convenience. It’s extraordinary that they don’t have any evidence to even indict him — I always heard that a good prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich.

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