• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

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

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Venality / Late Night Open Thread: Me, I’m Praying for A Meteor

Late Night Open Thread: Me, I’m Praying for A Meteor

by Anne Laurie|  April 5, 20142:00 am| 131 Comments

This post is in: Republican Venality, Assholes, Decline and Fall, Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?, Republican Crime Syndicate - aka the Bush Admin.

FacebookTweetEmail

There are people, even Democrats, who will forgive George Herbert Walker Bush for stealing the election from Mike Dukakis. (I am not among those people; proof of Jefferson’s electoral diddling turned up after 200 years, but I’m thinking it will take rather less than that for evidence of Lee Atwater fiddling the 1988 Ohio results to burble to the surface of the swamp.) There are people willing to forgive his tenure (official or otherwise) in the CIA. There are even people who are willing to forgive GHWB sandbagging the Iran-Contra investigation, staging the first Gulf War for his paymasters in Saudi Arabia, “spearheading” NAFTA, and nuturing The C-Plus Augustus.

Those people are idiots, criminals, or both:

The elder George Bush will not give a speech. He is done with all that, he tells friends. But he will mingle and reminisce and bask in the admiration of graying men and women who helped him govern at a time when, some thought, they had reached the end of history.

As it happens, history is not done with Mr. Bush, at least not if his advocates have anything to say about it. More than 800 supporters, allies, aides and even former opponents of Mr. Bush, the 41st president, will gather in College Station, Tex., on Friday for a three-day reunion to mark the 25th anniversary of the first Bush administration and try to burnish its legacy along the way…

Frail from a form of Parkinson’s disease, Mr. Bush, 89, has benefited from a wave of historical revisionism that has transformed him from the biggest incumbent loser since William Howard Taft to, by at least one measure, the most popular former president of the past half century….

Even for anyone stupid, or venal, enough to forgive George Herbert Walker Bush his many other crimes, one name will forever remain as a stain against him and his Presidential tenure:


Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Some Things Never Change
Next Post: Saturday Morning Open Thread »

Reader Interactions

131Comments

  1. 1.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:01 am

    miss you, annie.

  2. 2.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:05 am

    can I do that thing I always do

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWWMmxyKOR0

  3. 3.

    Villago Delenda Est

    April 5, 2014 at 2:06 am

    Agreed.

    Thomas is an abomination…an incompetent unfit to sit as a justice of the peace, let alone the US Supreme Court.

  4. 4.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:10 am

    no omnes?

  5. 5.

    Gypsy Howell

    April 5, 2014 at 2:11 am

    He gave us George W Bush too. That’s pretty unforgivable.

  6. 6.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:13 am

    human wheels?

  7. 7.

    Biscuits

    April 5, 2014 at 2:13 am

    Am I remembering correctly, did he not replace Thurgood Marshall? Because that makes it even more unforgivable and spite filled. The entire Bush family has been a disaster for this country.

  8. 8.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:13 am

    why does john hate human wheels?

  9. 9.

    scav

    April 5, 2014 at 2:14 am

    That is one freaking tiny bubble that regards him as anything pretending to be most popular. The lack of idolized card-board cutouts, tattered photographs and hand-crafted macaroni icons at CPAC conventions and other purveys of fine tea might be the first clue. Granted, we’re arguing about a restricted and shallow pool to dominate here.

  10. 10.

    Steeplejack

    April 5, 2014 at 2:15 am

    @Little Boots:

    John Mellen Cougarcamp, “What If I Came Knocking.”

  11. 11.

    moderateindy

    April 5, 2014 at 2:17 am

    The Bush administration may have been in charge of negotiating NAFTA, but it was Clinton that helped push it through and signed it into law. Without Clinton’s advocacy of the trade agreement it would have not become law.

  12. 12.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:18 am

    @Steeplejack:

    nice.

    have I mentioned that you are the aweome, steeplejack.

  13. 13.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 5, 2014 at 2:18 am

    AL, the ’88 election was 426 -111 in the electoral college. And like 53-47 %. Too far apart to blame on theft. Bush I did unforgivable things like appointing Tomas, but he did win in ’88.

  14. 14.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:21 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    what are you on about?

  15. 15.

    Villago Delenda Est

    April 5, 2014 at 2:22 am

    @Biscuits: Yes, Thomas took over Marshal’s seat on the USSC.

  16. 16.

    Steeplejack

    April 5, 2014 at 2:22 am

    @Little Boots:

    Thank you. I will take my leave with this: the Rolling Stones, “Sittin’ on a Fence.”

  17. 17.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 5, 2014 at 2:23 am

    @Little Boots: Sorry, I was responding to something in the actual post. Silly me.

  18. 18.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:24 am

    @Steeplejack:

    nice.

  19. 19.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:24 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    fine, so bitter.

  20. 20.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 5, 2014 at 2:25 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Oh come on. Let me edit. It is less than five minutes since I posted that. FYWP.

  21. 21.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:25 am

    steeplejack is so much nicer than you.

  22. 22.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 5, 2014 at 2:27 am

    @Little Boots: Zombies.

  23. 23.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:27 am

    and you can’t always get what you want:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIX0ZDqDljA

  24. 24.

    Steeplejack

    April 5, 2014 at 2:30 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Huh. That version sounds slightly speeded up to me. Compare and contrast.

  25. 25.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:30 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    and no fair

    awesome song.

  26. 26.

    different-church-lady

    April 5, 2014 at 2:31 am

    …who will forgive George Herbert Walker Bush for stealing the election from Mike Dukakis.

    Wait… wha?

  27. 27.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 5, 2014 at 2:31 am

    @Little Boots: How about a little Francoise Hardy?

  28. 28.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 5, 2014 at 2:32 am

    @Steeplejack: I like yours better. And I think you are right about the speed.

  29. 29.

    different-church-lady

    April 5, 2014 at 2:33 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Man, the French really knew how to use reverb.

  30. 30.

    Steeplejack

    April 5, 2014 at 2:33 am

    @Steeplejack:

    It’s something slightly hinky with the bass.

  31. 31.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 5, 2014 at 2:34 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: I think Word Press is a Republican.

  32. 32.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 5, 2014 at 2:35 am

    @different-church-lady: Yeah, I wondered as well.

    ETA: I didn’t vote in that election as I was under the belief that it was inappropriate for a serving army officer to be political. Silly me. I was happy that that my home state of Wisconsin got it right though.

  33. 33.

    different-church-lady

    April 5, 2014 at 2:37 am

    @Steeplejack: Oh yeah, whomever ripped that from vinyl (you can hear the crackle) either had a fast turntable or screwed up the sample rate somewhere along the line. (Really easy to accidentally turn 44.1 into 48 when moving to video)

  34. 34.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:39 am

    actually, not bad music, just music.

  35. 35.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 5, 2014 at 2:40 am

    @different-church-lady: I do love that song. But, as we are on ’60s French chanteuses, I would be remiss in omitting Sylvie Vartan.

    ETA: I’ll go all Grace Jones in a flash if you bastards challenge me.

  36. 36.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:41 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    no getting together with steeplejack.

    that is not okay.

  37. 37.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 5, 2014 at 2:41 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’ve voted for every Dem nominee since Jimmy Carter in 1980. Clinton’s election was special since until then I’d gone 0-3.

  38. 38.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:43 am

    omnes, music? oh, come on, you have the best taste.

  39. 39.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 5, 2014 at 2:46 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Mondale, skip, Clinton, Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Obama, Obama. Became eligible to vote in ’82.

  40. 40.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 5, 2014 at 2:48 am

    @Little Boots: Fine, have some Grace, with a side of Robbie and Sly.

  41. 41.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:49 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    see, why we love.

  42. 42.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 5, 2014 at 2:52 am

    @Little Boots: FWIW Robbie Shakespeare and Sly Dunbar are probably the best rhythm section ever. I have never heard a thing that they have done that is less than perfect.

  43. 43.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:52 am

    and why you don’t love, but I can’t help myself:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gbz-Lau5tc

    don’t yell.

  44. 44.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 5, 2014 at 2:55 am

    More Grace, Sly, Robbie.

  45. 45.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 5, 2014 at 2:56 am

    @Little Boots: What am I? Chopped liver? I give you this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjKtfvKJSuk

  46. 46.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:57 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    nice.

  47. 47.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 2:58 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    you are awesome.

    it’s just I have this whole, well, sick, thing going with omnes.

  48. 48.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 5, 2014 at 2:59 am

    @Little Boots: Will you two just get a room. [/snark]

    BTW: If you didn’t watch that youtube clip, interesting who’s in the band.

  49. 49.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 3:00 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    eventually, probably, but not yet

  50. 50.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 5, 2014 at 3:02 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: No. While one is flattered, one shan’t.

  51. 51.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 5, 2014 at 3:05 am

    This one is partly in French.

  52. 52.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 3:05 am

    and now for fun:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbyAZQ45uww

  53. 53.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 3:11 am

    and because it’s beautiful:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR4vE9xL3yk

  54. 54.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 5, 2014 at 3:12 am

    @Little Boots: Care for some ’80s? Oddly, the band is even quite leftish.

    Bed soon.

  55. 55.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 3:16 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    nice, and yeah, bed soon. I wish I could stay up all night, but getting old. so, these guys.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9gKyRmic20

  56. 56.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 3:17 am

    they’re right. I do sorta love you.

  57. 57.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 5, 2014 at 3:19 am

    @Little Boots: How about some more Dusty?

  58. 58.

    NotMax

    April 5, 2014 at 3:24 am

    Liveblogging the elections in Afghanistan.

  59. 59.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 3:25 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    good enough.

  60. 60.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 3:27 am

    few better than dusty.

  61. 61.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 3:33 am

    okay, just to lighten it up around here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQPBk0RD8d0

  62. 62.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 3:39 am

    okay, it’s kind of different, but:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKbk_dQ8Mhg

  63. 63.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 3:41 am

    okay, is it so totally weird what I said?

  64. 64.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 5, 2014 at 3:44 am

    AL: I am interested in your theory that George H.W. Bush stole the 1988 election. Please explain it.

  65. 65.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 3:46 am

    @Little Boots:

    well, maybe. maybe just sleep.

  66. 66.

    Betty Cracker

    April 5, 2014 at 3:47 am

    There’s a railroad track less than a mile from my house, and it’s quite a busy one. Lots of Tropicana trains hauling citrus and god knows what else.

    When trains pass by during the day, I can barely hear them. At night (like just now), it sounds like they’re blasting through my yard. Is it the lack of ambient noise that makes this so?

  67. 67.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 3:49 am

    so, just a fun song, for the fun of it at 3 a.m.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUL68ZeclcA

  68. 68.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 3:55 am

    okay, this always makes me cry:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-LVXR6rjXs

  69. 69.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 3:59 am

    shut down the thread. wow.

  70. 70.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 4:00 am

    sometimes, john. just sometimes.

  71. 71.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 4:02 am

    and sometimes, I actually wish I were better too.

  72. 72.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 5, 2014 at 4:03 am

    @Betty Cracker: It probably has more to do with differences in humidity. However ambient noise might also be in play as well.

  73. 73.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 5, 2014 at 4:04 am

    Opps, guess I said a bad word. :(

  74. 74.

    Another Holocene Human

    April 5, 2014 at 4:06 am

    hoodie posted this earlier today (yesterday?) and I thought it was such a great insight I kind of want to put it on my wall and frame it. :)

    Conservatives tend to operate most effectively in limbic medium, where things like man[ner], body language and modes of response are more important than content. Maybe that’s why people who fall for conservative politicians can live with what seem like intolerable levels of hypocrisy and illogic, because the dissonance does not manifest itself in that limbic space. That’s also why there is probably something to the expression that DC is wired for conservatism, because the DC press environment is highly limbic, dominated by things like access and status. They’re particularly susceptible to the type of manipulation Rumsfeld engages in, so Rumsfeld becomes a Delphic sage rather than the third rate carnival barker that he is.

  75. 75.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 4:07 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    don’t be a dick

  76. 76.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 5, 2014 at 4:07 am

    Here. . And now to sleep…

  77. 77.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 4:09 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    oh, don’t sleep, everything’s getting all serious.

  78. 78.

    Another Holocene Human

    April 5, 2014 at 4:09 am

    @Betty Cracker: Is it the lack of ambient noise that makes this so?

    Basically. Weather conditions, also, too.

    That ambient noise consists of daytime (rubber tire) traffic, airplanes overhead, central air units, stuff like that.

    As a kid I can remember hearing the highway at night, but could never hear that during the day.

    eta: birds make a lot of racket, quiet at night

  79. 79.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 4:15 am

    @Little Boots:

    on the other hand, that’s not the worst idea.

  80. 80.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 4:18 am

    oh,come on omnes, be awake.

  81. 81.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 4:18 am

    are you pissed at me?

  82. 82.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 5, 2014 at 4:19 am

    @Little Boots: Excuse me? I have a comment with an answer to Betty Cracker’s question in moderation cause I used a bad word.

  83. 83.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 4:22 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: @BillinGlendaleCA:
    are you pissed at me?

  84. 84.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 4:22 am

    @Little Boots:

    oops, never mind.

    being paranoid.

  85. 85.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 5, 2014 at 4:23 am

    @Little Boots: I was, but I realized that my comment had no context since you all can’t see the comment in moderation. So no.

  86. 86.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 4:24 am

    can I offer up this song I love:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blrHHRWKygw

  87. 87.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 5, 2014 at 4:29 am

    @Little Boots: Suck up, you know I like that song. Reminds me of freshman year of college.

  88. 88.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 4:30 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    it is awesome.

  89. 89.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 5, 2014 at 4:32 am

    Hmmm, some of the suggestions on the youtube on my tablet are pretty good. “Everytime I thing of You” by the Babys.

  90. 90.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 4:32 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    sorry about all the weirdness. hey, how bout this song:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_Z48dHFYLc

  91. 91.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 5, 2014 at 4:35 am

    @Little Boots: No can see, it’s coming up as blocked on the youtube app.

  92. 92.

    Betty Cracker

    April 5, 2014 at 4:36 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: WP is being especially dysfunctional tonight. It put my perfectly harmless question in moderation at first too.

  93. 93.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 4:37 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    try again:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_Z48dHFYLc

  94. 94.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 5, 2014 at 4:37 am

    @Betty Cracker: I thought it was because I accused WP of being a Republican earlier this evening.

  95. 95.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 4:38 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    sorry I got paranoid.

    I get weird this time of night.

  96. 96.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 5, 2014 at 4:44 am

    @Little Boots: Couldn’t see the other one either, but I know the song. Weirdness comes with the territory considering the hour for you all towards the east.

  97. 97.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 4:47 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    damn, still. okay, it’s Church. Under the Milky Way.

    and by the way, youire a good guy.

  98. 98.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 5, 2014 at 4:51 am

    @Little Boots: Ah thanks, you’re good too.

  99. 99.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 4:51 am

    okay, it is almost four in the morning.

    it’s toto time:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTQbiNvZqaY

  100. 100.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 4:53 am

    did you know we’re all part Neanderthal, except for pure Africans?

  101. 101.

    Little Boots

    April 5, 2014 at 5:00 am

    okay, I really should sleep, but damn, it’s cyndy lauper:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIb6AZdTr-A

  102. 102.

    Amir Khalid

    April 5, 2014 at 5:26 am

    @Little Boots:
    No, it’s Cyndi Lauper.

  103. 103.

    raven

    April 5, 2014 at 5:28 am

    What up knuckleheads?

  104. 104.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 5, 2014 at 5:32 am

    @raven: That’s Mr. Knucklehead to you.

  105. 105.

    NotMax

    April 5, 2014 at 5:37 am

    Would attempt a quip, but this ain’t that kind of nightclub.

    An 80-year-old grandmother was allegedly still alive when she was zipped up in a body bag and put in the hospital morgue’s freezer — where she tried unsuccessfully to escape and froze to death.

    Her family is suing the hospital thanks to an appeals court that revived their medical malpractice suit on Wednesday. The case was previously thrown out by a lower court. Source

  106. 106.

    raven

    April 5, 2014 at 5:56 am

    @NotMax: So I asked you about the 7 up’s and went to bed. It was pretty good to see after all these years but looking at Richard Lynch’s bio was something I didn’t expect:

    In 1967 after taking LSD (acid), he set himself on fire in Central Park behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art near Cleopatra’s Needle.

  107. 107.

    ThresherK

    April 5, 2014 at 7:16 am

    A part of me thinks that saying “Clarence Thomas, but let’s have an open thread” is like overturning an outhouse into a car sunroof and then saying “Shall we enjoy the scents at the flower show or the bakery?”

    @Another Holocene Human: Hey, how’s that laptop / keyboard situation coming along? Still all thumbs up for the Dell refurbishers from here.

  108. 108.

    Alex

    April 5, 2014 at 7:34 am

    Not sure if I’d call the ’88 election stolen, but it is true that we have a stupid method of choosing presidents. Between the Willie Horton lies and distortions and the fact that we were revulsed at having Tank-sitting Dukakis in the White House (as if what he looks like in a tank is at all relevant), I would say those 2 did it. http://img.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_042908/content/01125107.guest.html

  109. 109.

    Matt McIrvin

    April 5, 2014 at 7:59 am

    The statement about 1988 would make more sense if it was about GWB vs. Kerry in 2004. (I’m personally skeptical that Kerry could have won a completely fair count in 2004, and he did lose the popular vote as well; but Ken Blackwell’s dinking with the election in Ohio was enough to at least call Ohio’s votes into question, and the win did turn on it.)

    Maybe the statement in the OP was a simple confusion between ’88 and ’04?

  110. 110.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 5, 2014 at 8:02 am

    Bush – Dukakis? That is sooooo 20th century.

  111. 111.

    JoyfulA

    April 5, 2014 at 8:05 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’ve been voting for president since 1968, and Obama was my first vote resulting in a president.* My late husband didn’t always vote, but his selections always won. We credited both of us voting for Gore for that outcome in 2000.

    *I voted for Ford because I couldn’t understand a word Carter said, and then I voted for Carter when he lost. I voted for Perot as the most liberal candidate over Clinton twice (NAFTA, Sister Soulja, triangulating, etc.), and I still can’t stand Bill Clinton.

  112. 112.

    Matt McIrvin

    April 5, 2014 at 8:06 am

    Bush v. Dukakis was an extraordinarily nasty campaign, even by modern standards. Remember the month when it all turned into a referendum on forcing children to say the Pledge of Allegiance?

  113. 113.

    El Cid

    April 5, 2014 at 8:14 am

    Regarding the deregulation, anti-labor, anti-peasant shit-show sold under the false label of “free trade” NAFTA, let’s give some credit where due: to Mexican PRI elected dictator Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who realized that his levels of profiting & corruption were far less than he could achieve.

  114. 114.

    Josie

    April 5, 2014 at 8:14 am

    @moderateindy: You are correct. I remember Al Gore debating Perot on television over this and winning the debate decisively, in everyone’s opinion. It’s a shame that nobody understood what Perot was trying to tell us.

  115. 115.

    Matt McIrvin

    April 5, 2014 at 8:19 am

    …Oh, man, I just Googled “Dukakis Pledge of Allegiance” and a couple of old newspaper stories came up, and just looking at the excerpts in the Google results made my stomach clench up.

    If it hadn’t been for Willie Horton, that would have been the nastiest episode in the campaign. Dukakis was defending the clear and court-affirmed First Amendment rights of a schoolgirl whose refusal to say the Pledge, as I recall, resulted in hate mail about how Hitler should have put her in the oven, and Bush successfully managed to frame it as Dukakis being against patriotism and apple pie.

  116. 116.

    Bobby Thomson

    April 5, 2014 at 8:30 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: This. Not to mention the linked article is about campaign messaging and not vote theft.

  117. 117.

    Marc

    April 5, 2014 at 8:40 am

    I’m thinking it will take rather less than that for evidence of Lee Atwater fiddling the 1988 Ohio results

    I love links that don’t actually have any relation to the statement that links to them.

    @Matt McIrvin: Maybe AL should take a look at this electoral map (warning: link actually leads to an electoral map), and then take a look at the margins in Ohio, and explain how Atwater “fiddled” the results.

    We all like to give the Great Orange Satan shit for some of its more dramatic diarists, but at least they hold the line against conspiracy theory bullshit.

  118. 118.

    Matt McIrvin

    April 5, 2014 at 8:42 am

    …Perot’s main legacy was bad: he was the guy who successfully convinced Americans that economic problems were mainly caused by the federal debt. It was a fine message to internalize during the boom that happened a few years later, but has caused us no end of grief post-2008.

  119. 119.

    Matt McIrvin

    April 5, 2014 at 8:52 am

    @Marc: 2004 is the more interesting case. As I said, the election really was close and things really were rotten in Ohio, the crucial state. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that Kerry really won.

    In that case, a lot of the theorizing was inspired by exit-poll leaks early on Election Day that seemed to show Kerry with significantly bigger margins across the whole country, and it led some people to think that there was a massive nationwide conspiracy to alter election results, because of a false belief that exit polls are always the most accurate kind of poll.

    But the results were actually pretty close to those of the last few days of pre-election state polls (Nate Silver wasn’t operating yet, but Sam Wang, Andrew Tanenbaum and others were aggregating them; pre-Silver, political chatter hadn’t yet internalized the idea that you could actually do a remarkably good job predicting elections this way).

  120. 120.

    Tripod

    April 5, 2014 at 10:07 am

    @Matt McIrvin:

    When things are going south, Democratic operatives and websites have a bad habit of flogging specious (“first wave”, “second wave”) exit polling. I assume that this is because of history’s greatest monster admitting to his beatdown in 1980.

  121. 121.

    Mike in NC

    April 5, 2014 at 10:12 am

    Both Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush are 89 years old. When the former dies, the media will shrug it off with a collective “meh”, but when the latter dies it will entail two weeks of national mourning, along with many fond recollections from the degenerate family and speculation about JEB! running in 2016.

  122. 122.

    different-church-lady

    April 5, 2014 at 10:42 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Will you two just get a room

    It looks like they have a room — and this is it.

  123. 123.

    different-church-lady

    April 5, 2014 at 10:54 am

    @Marc: I’m beginning to think this one is just an April Fool’s Day post that got delayed 3 days.

  124. 124.

    mellowjohn

    April 5, 2014 at 11:05 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Humphrey, McGovern, Carter, Anderson, Mondale, Dukakis, Clinton, Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Obama, Obama.

  125. 125.

    Villago Delenda Est

    April 5, 2014 at 12:03 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: The mention of “Ohio” causes me to think that 2004 got confused with 1988.

  126. 126.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    April 5, 2014 at 12:06 pm

    No mention of Panama? The first Gulf War was over keeping the oil supply out of the hands of an aggressive dictator in the hands of more US friendly dictators, so I will give that to GH Bush, but there was no such excuse for Panama.

  127. 127.

    patrick II

    April 5, 2014 at 12:06 pm

    @mellowjohn:

    I would bet that you, like me, regret that Anderson vote.

  128. 128.

    Villago Delenda Est

    April 5, 2014 at 12:09 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA: I didn’t vote for Jimmy Carter, who I voted for in 1976, in 1980, went with John Anderson instead, but since then, it’s been nothing but Ds.

    I was a very happy camper in 1992, let me tell you.

    There was a time when Army officers simply did not vote at all, prior to WWII, so when there was speculation about Eisenhower running for office, no one knew what party he’d be inclined to represent…both parties wooed him.

    However, that rule pretty much went away after WWII, although when I was in it was considered somewhat bad form to be partisan among some officers, but not others (I distinctly remember an O-4 being jubilant at Reagan’s election in 1980). While it’s within regulations to have a bumper sticker on your POV, or to wear political buttons when in civvies, I’d never do it.

    After I got out it was Clinton/Gore all the way, baby!

  129. 129.

    Another Holocene Human

    April 5, 2014 at 1:02 pm

    @ThresherK: Something got in the way. End result, new filing cabinets, moving actual physical files around, lol.

  130. 130.

    Ajabu

    April 5, 2014 at 1:28 pm

    @mellowjohn:
    Because I’m even older, my first vote was for LBJ (who, if he hadn’t gotten mired in Vietnam, would have been 2nd only to FDR in 20th century presidents) and all others were the same as yours except 1980. I was in California and had already experienced the bumbling B-movie star up close & personal as Governor. I would have voted for anyone to the left of Hitler running against that fool. But had to be a Democrat.
    And. damn, hasn’t the last 30+ years shown how right I was?

  131. 131.

    Rex Everything

    April 5, 2014 at 5:24 pm

    @Marc: Yeah. I think this is uncharacteristic of AL, but the link she provided has nothing to do with her assertion about Ohio.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Political Action

Postcard Writing Information

Recent Comments

  • eclare on On The Road – way2blue – Valparaiso, Chile [1 of 2] (Sep 28, 2023 @ 7:00am)
  • Baud on On The Road – way2blue – Valparaiso, Chile [1 of 2] (Sep 28, 2023 @ 7:00am)
  • OzarkHillbilly on Dank Grey Dawn Open Thread: The Repubs Debate in Loma Linda (Early Reports) (Sep 28, 2023 @ 6:59am)
  • OzarkHillbilly on On The Road – way2blue – Valparaiso, Chile [1 of 2] (Sep 28, 2023 @ 6:49am)
  • P Thomas on Dank Grey Dawn Open Thread: The Repubs Debate in Loma Linda (Early Reports) (Sep 28, 2023 @ 6:47am)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
What Has Biden Done for You Lately?

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Talk of Meetups – Meetup Planning

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Cole & Friends Learn Español

Introductory Post
Cole & Friends Learn Español

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!