Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When the time comes to make an endorsement, the pain of NYT editors will be palpable as they reluctantly whisper “Biden.”

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

I was promised a recession.

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

I’m just a talker, trying to find a channel!

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

It’s a new day. Light all those Biden polls of young people on fire and throw away the ashes.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

White supremacy is terrorism.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

When we show up, we win.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Sunday Evening Open Thread: Tradition!

Sunday Evening Open Thread: Tradition!

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political infrastructure toles
(Tom Toles via GoComics.com — click link for full-sized image)

So, Jeb(!) Bush was scheduled to appear on five separate Sabbathday Gasbag shows today, which speaks volumes about the level of political discourse in our media. And if the Washington Post‘s preliminary report is an indicator, it’s going to be a loooong four years:

President Obama won a second term in the White House in part by “dividing the country,” former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R) said in an interview that aired on Sunday morning.

“I think the basic part of his campaign was that those that were successful weren’t paying their fair share, even though we have incredibly high taxes for high income Americans,” Bush said on CBS News’ “Face The Nation.” “I think he ran a campaign of them and us. And it was quite effective, that somehow the Republicans don’t care about the large number of people.”

Bush said in order to win future elections, Republicans have to offer a “compelling alternative” to that narrative, which he said was untrue. The former governor said he sees such an alternative view taking shape….

… which he’s not gonna share, maybe because his 2016 GOP rivals might be listening, or maybe because “dividing the country… us against them” has been the sole successful GOP strategy for the last forty years, and Jeb (!) is the legacy candidate of the Repub “traditionalist” wing.

There is video at the link, although I don’t recommend looking at both Jeb(!) and Bob Schieffer if it’s anywhere near dinnertime in your area.
***********

Apart from this low rent roadshow version of “The Aristocrats”, what’s on the agenda for the end of the weekend?

Reader Interactions

83Comments

  2. 2.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    Mushroom-barley soup, fresh-baked bread, lemon custard with strawberries, and this gods-damned head cold that just won’t go away. I blame Bush. There’s a strong resemblance between the two.

  5. 5.

    Heywood J.

    I love Jeb’s disingenuousness with Dr. Zaius, at being asked about his intentions for 2016. Also too, the “crack addict” pejorative; for a guy whose daughter is an actual crack addict, that was one hell of a Freudian slip.

    Also, too, thanks to all of you for checking out my cat blogging yesterday, very nice responses. I’d like to trouble you to check this out, I am interested in everyone’s thoughts about the modern-day chimp pit we know as the workplace.

  7. 7.

    dmsilev

    “Incredibly high taxes”? No, incredibly high taxes would be, let’s say, Eisenhower-era 90% marginal rates for the top bracket. The highest earners in this country, in case Jeb has somehow managed to forget, get most of their income from dividends, capital gains, carried interest, and so forth, all of which is for some reason taxed at rates below that of wage and salary income.

  8. 8.

    Tim I

    Jeb actually did seven shows. Aside from the usual Sunday morning gabfests, he also appeared on Univision and Telemundo, where he was interviewed in Spanish.

    This sets a new record for Sunday morning news show appearances, shattering the old five show record set by William Ginsburg, the attorney who represented Monica Lewinski.

  9. 9.

    BGinCHI

    DC media is wired for Jeb Bush.

    Like a dog to a bone.

    Like an addict to a fix.

    Like a bunch of lazy overpaid hacks to a lying piece of shit.

  12. 12.

    e.a.f.

    No please, you Americans have to get a grip. No more of those Bush people. No more of those people who came from Texas. I don’t care if they come via Florida, just stop it. The world can’t take another Bush league brain fart.

    Taxes too high??? Eisenhower had much higher ones and the work force was more highly unionized. Bush and the rest of his bush leaguers need to get a grip. Hey, maybe you could get Jeb to get a real job and live on an “average” american salary. See how it works for him.

    John Huntsman is starting to look better to me all the time and I don’t even live in the U.S.A. Just sitting here north of the border. If nothing else, Huntsman is better looking.

    The problem is some of the Canadian prime ministers think some of those Bushes are great. Even take our Canada into wars. Not working so well for us up here.

  13. 13.

    Heywood J.

    @Tim I:

    Jeb actually did seven shows. Aside from the usual Sunday morning gabfests, he also appeared on Univision and Telemundo, where he was interviewed in Spanish.

    Pretty cool that John Ellis speaks two languages, you’d think he’d be generous and lend one to Dubya.

  15. 15.

    TriassicSands

    the sole successful GOP strategy for the last forty years,

    Forty? Better make that 50, Anne. It’s not like Barry Goldwater ran a national unification campaign. Then, in ’67-’68 — forty-five years ago — Nixon rolled out his Southern Strategy which was pure us v. them divisiveness top to bottom.

    Of course, Mitt’s relegation of 47% of American voters to parasite status was just another Republican effort to bring us all together.

    @Xecky Gilchrist:

    “we have incredibly high taxes for high income Americans,”

    Horseshit.

    What he meant to say was “I’m incredibly high.” That would explain why he would make such a ridiculous statement. Either that or else Jeb is just a lying sack of shit. I’ll leave it to you to decide — Was Jeb high or a despicable liar. Not a hard call.

  17. 17.

    Heywood J.

    Soooo….in Arrested Development terms, if Dubya is Gob, does that mean that Jeb is Michael? That can’t be right. He doesn’t seem quite Buster, though.

  19. 19.

    scav

    THe Uber rich will no doubt soon be negotiating, nay insisting upon, subsidies and tax-exemptions before deigning to buy homes and bless localities with their job-creating magic auras of success, magnificence and beneficence. They’ll sell it as a human rights triumph of putting meat humans on a par with corporate humans.

  20. 20.

    quannlace

    “I think he ran a campaign of them and us. </blockquote

    Ummmmm, pardon me, Mr. Bush. But isn't that what any campaign comes down to? Comparing your candidate to the other guy and asking voters to vote for yours? Jesus, you can't even attack Obama in any sensible way.

  21. 21.

    Spaghetti Lee

    I have never, in my life, sat down and watched a Sunday morning network talk show. I cannot fathom why any of you all would be so self-loathing as to do so.

  22. 22.

    Amir Khalid

    Jebbush 2016? I am so not feeling it. If he didn’t fancy his chances against last year’s cardboard cutout of a nominee, let alone the rest of the clown parade, he’s not a serious contender in any year.

    And my curiosity is piqued. Just what is this compelling alternative to Obama’s story that Jebbush sees taking shape? It would be nice to get some details, whose connection to reality could be evaluated.

  23. 23.

    1badbaba3

    @lojasmo: So Marky Marco is done already? Hell, he didn’t even last as long as Ice Ice Crazy up yonder in Alasky. That certainly was some bad ass drink of wa wa.

  24. 24.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    The Gophers reward for beating North Dakota in the WCHA final last night? Playing North Dakota in the NCAA quarterfinal next Saturday. I’d rather have played anyone else in the tournament, even the #2 seed. It isn’t that I’m afraid we’ll lose; UND threw their best punch last night and we shut them out. It’s more that I’m afraid they’re going to hurt someone, particularly if we don’t have a less lethargic reffing crew than Wrazidlo and Langley.

    I’m tired of the color green.

  25. 25.

    IowaOldLady

    It’s snowing again. Some more. Big wet flakes. It’s supposed to keep doing that until tomorrow morning. I may cry.

  26. 26.

    BGinCHI

    @Amir Khalid: Hey AK, there’s a show on BBC America with Dominic Monaghan (from Lost and the Tolkien films) we’ve been watching that’s a lot of fun. This past week they were in Malaysia (you live in Kuala Lumpur, no?), with great shots of the parks, the markets in KL, and so on. The country looked amazing and the people could not have been friendlier.

    Here it is:

    http://www.bbcamerica.com/wild-things/guide/season-1/

  29. 29.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    I watched “The Iron Lady” this morning and I sat there scratching my head cause I really did not remember all of the riots that were portrayed in the movie. Strangely enough when I spoke to my mother she didn’t remember them either. I have a great deal of respect for Baroness Thatcher simply because she had the wherewithall to rise from the humble beginnings of “a grocer’s daughter” to the highest level of power. Of course now she is deified by the RWNJs of the world because she “broke the unions” but what we have to remember is that she destroyed the UK economy while trying to push through her conservative agenda to the extent that even the conservative party told her to go take a hike. I can admire her for her achievement of being the first female prime minister but I can also revile her for the way in which she did it.

  31. 31.

    danielx

    President Obama won a second term in the White House in part by “dividing the country,” former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R) said in an interview that aired on Sunday morning.

    Well, yes, that’s the way elections usually work, Jeb. The Marquis, of course, made strenuous efforts to unite us as Americans by denigrating almost half of Americans as parasites. And why anybody takes anything seriously said by anybody at all named Bush at this point is beyond me, but then I’ve grown accustomed to the fact that a significant portion of my fellow citizens are morons.

    @dmsilev:

    This. I never tire of pointing out to Republican acquaintances that the highest marginal tax rates in American history were under that well known Communist Dwight Eisenhower, and when John Kennedy proposed lowering the highest rate to a preposterously low(!) 65%, it was initially rejected by Congress, then passed with some arm twisting by Lyndon Johnson (another commie) in 1964.

  32. 32.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @BGinCHI:

    I love that show! This week he was searching out the Giant Malaysian Honey bees and actually conquered his fear of heights. I absolutely love the way he treats all of the creatures he encounters with absolute reverence. The most used word in the show “ginormous” love it.

  37. 37.

    BGinCHI

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Spot on.

    He’s a great guide and so good with local people. No bullshit Great White Hunter machismo. I love it when he plays football with the kids.

  38. 38.

    eclecticbrotha

    Jebbyboo is doubling down on the wingnut truism that “conservativism can never fail, you can only fail conservatism” by taking the baton passed to him by Romneyshambles.

  39. 39.

    Southern Beale

    President Obama won a second term in the White House in part by “dividing the country,” former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R) said in an interview that aired on Sunday morning.

    Nobody believes that except Teanuts and the GOP base, which is essentially the same thing. This and the actions of the RW media like Daily Caller and whatnot tells me that Republicans haven’t learned the big lesson from the last election, namely that they suffered by operating in a conservative information bubble. Nothing has changed.

    This is excellent news.

  41. 41.

    Cacti

    I’m sure if they just run another 60-something legacy pol, this time it will be different for the GOP.

  43. 43.

    MomSense

    @dmsilev:
    I yelled pretty much the same thing at my teevee this morning. All I managed to do was startle the cat. I am just beyond sick and tired of hearing the same crap from the Republicans.

  44. 44.

    handsmile

    mrs. handsmile and i saw a terrific movie this afternoon, Lore (which I believe is now going into wider US release).

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lore_(film)

    Set in the closing weeks of World War II, five German children of prominent Nazi parents must navigate hundreds of miles through the war-ravaged country, led by their eldest 14 year-old sister. As they travel north towards their grandmother’s home, the children encounter and must grapple with the war’s horrors from which they had been shielded by ideology and upbringing.

    A bleak coming-of-age film that poses uneasy questions to the viewers’ sympathies. Highly recommended.

  46. 46.

    BGinCHI

    @handsmile: Will you watch the toddler so we can go see that?

    Man, I miss going to the movies…..

    I highly recommend the French film (poorly titled) The Intouchables. Available via Redbox.

    Excellent.

  47. 47.

    Mike in NC

    The Jebster has the inside track to the Republican 2016 nomination, simply because the American electorate is so fucking stupid and has already dropped the disastrous administrations of Poppy and Dubya right down the old memory hole.

  48. 48.

    The Other Bob

    …and by “divide us” he means Obama got all the votes, except the old white dudes. Cuz if you don’t win the white guys, you didn’t really win at all.

  50. 50.

    Patricia Kayden

    And I guess Romneybot’s speech about the 47% moochers was not dividing the country into us against them.

    Wow. Just wow!

    I hope Jeb runs and Hilary crushes him.

  51. 51.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    “I think the basic part of his campaign was that those that were successful weren’t paying their fair share, even though we have incredibly high taxes for high income Americans,”
    After listening to Bob Edwards’ interview with the producers of “A Place At the Table“, I hate these disgusting fucking Randian/Malthusian/Scroogian fucks even more than I did this morning. And this fat fuck was throwing himself on top of Terri Schiavo because of his “faith”? Vincent de Paul and Francis of Assisi piss on you, Jebbie.

  52. 52.

    handsmile

    @BGinCHI:

    If the damned transporter wasn’t on the blink, that would be a pleasure! (All the more so as I recall that your child is graced with the name of a beloved football star.)

    We did see The Intouchables last year, and indeed it is a superb film! Not a Netflix subscriber myself, but I’d imagine Lore would become available there.

  53. 53.

    Comrade Jake

    @Baud:

    Just spotted that too. Kind of hard to imagine a site that relied solely on taking people’s money over all sorts of trivial things could run itself into the ground. But, such is life.

  54. 54.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @Mike in NC:

    A quibble: For the nomination only, that would be the Republican electorate, which is a few shades stupider than the general electorate. Take 2012, for example.

    I hope they run him. The Dems’ ad guys and speechwriters would piss themselves with excitement.

  55. 55.

    Tara the Antisocial Social Worker

    @MomSense:
    My wife is currently screaming at the TV. The mutt is hiding, the border collie is seeking reassurance, and the labrador is continuing his nap. Apparently all the fuss has to do with some sport played with an orange ball and baskets or something.

  56. 56.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @danielx:

    Problem is, a big chunk of the Tea Party probably does think Eisenhower is a commie. They think everyone before Allen West and Ted Cruz was a commie.

  57. 57.

    Nutella

    Have you all seen this story about Wells Fargo?

    Warning: You may want to avoid reading the article if you have any tendencies towards depression or nervousness. Or if you have a mortgage.

  58. 58.

    WereBear

    @Litlebritdifrnt: the wherewithall to rise from the humble beginnings of “a grocer’s daughter” to the highest level of power

    True that… just as Mao rose from humble beginnings to be in a position to destroy the lives of millions!

    The word that comes to MY mind is “sociopath.” But she might just be a malignant narcissist!

  59. 59.

    priscianus jr

    Bush is right. For the Republicans it’s not about them and us. It’s all about them.

  63. 63.

    priscianus jr

    @Mike in NC: The Jebster has the inside track to the Republican 2016 nomination, simply because the American electorate is so fucking stupid and has already dropped the disastrous administrations of Poppy and Dubya right down the old memory hole. he’s the only one they can think of.

  69. 69.

    Heywood J.

    @Nutella: Horrible. Just horrible. Even better is in the comments, where a WF flying monkey wings in to express his infinite regret at the facts of the case being so recklessly misrepresented.

    Clearly there is no such thing as karma.

  72. 72.

    Lurking Canadian

    @Xecky Gilchrist:

    we have incredibly high taxes for high income Americans,”

    Horseshit

    No, he’s both honest and correct. It’s just that he is unable to bring himself to believe that the peasants have the gall to tax job creators AT ALL, so any tax rate on the wealthy in excess of 0% is incredible. Actually, the peasants really ought to be PAYING the wealthy for their job creating role, so any tax rate in excess of -5% is incredible.

  74. 74.

    mainmati

    @Spaghetti Lee: I have occasionally listened to some of them on CSPAN radio when raking leaves, for example, but have been stunned by how utterly shallow all of them all. Just absolute bullshit on both sides and none of the hosts are any good.

  75. 75.

    mainmati

    @BGinCHI: My brother’s family lives in Johor Bahru (he works for Reuters in SQ). I’ve been to Malaysia many times. It is one of the most interesting countries in a very interesting region. It has a well-developed, sophisticated economy but a simply awful forestry industry that has really run rampant on the tropical forests of its own country and those of Indonesia Borneo, the Solomon Islands and elsewhere. On the other hand, its federal system of government has been basically successful in preventing a total religious and ethnic meltdown at least so far. So good for them there. And while Dr. Mahathir was never any kind of democratic role model, Malaysia was the smartest country during the Asian economic crisis of the late ’90s. So Malaysia is an interesting work in progress.

  76. 76.

    FlipYrWhig

    Someone should ask Jeb about the Dubya campaign in 2004, whose entire raison d’être was that John Kerry may have been wounded in Vietnam, but nonetheless wasn’t a real American who’d keep blonde children safe by hugging them tight.

  77. 77.

    AndoChronic

    I think I just need one more scotch on the rocks, a shot of heroin, and one more round of cribbage to relax tonight.

  78. 78.

    Kyle

    I can admire her for her achievement of being the first female prime minister but I can also revile her for the way in which she did it.

    Thatcher is Exhibit A in refuting the people who make the generalized claim the world would be better place, more compassionate and caring, fewer wars, etc. if it were run by women.

  79. 79.

    Kayla Rudbek

    Saw the Saw Doctors tonight live. Governor O’Malley was there and the band had him come up and play on the final song of the night. He might be a contender (although it would depend on the height of the Repblican running against him IMAO)

  80. 80.

    Hal

    So we have Jeb running on an anti path to immigration platform (or has he flipped his flop back again?) Rubio running a pro path platform (meaning he’s dead in the water) Rand Paul running on the Obama is going to kill us all just you wait platform (Aided by some progressives who just can’t get over the fact that Paul seems to be on the same page in regards to drones. PS…he’s not) and Christie trying to seem like sanest one in the room until it’s time to unleash his inner wingnut to middle America sometime after he wins re-election by being the most modest Republican in America.

  81. 81.

    Bulworth

    “I think he ran a campaign of them and us. And it was quite effective, that somehow the Republicans don’t care about the large number of people.”

    Yes. Somehow. I can’t imagine where people might get that idea that, somehow, Republicans don’t care about them. I mean, while it’s true that Republicans don’t want those people who only want free stuff to have something like healthcare. Or jobs.

  83. 83.

    Bokonon

    Obama? Dividing the country? DIVIDING THE COUNTRY?

    Sorry, Jeb … after that national election we just had, which is still fresh in mind, don’t come around and piss on my leg and tell me it is raining.

    But I guess this is confirmation that GOP plan to bring back the same branding strategy they used back in 2000, where after bitterly dividing the country in vicious political battles, they wheeled forward a candidate whose name was Bush, who promised to “united the country” and put an end to all that bitter partisanship. People bought it then …

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