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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Open Thread: JEB! vs. the Jersey Barrier (I’m Praying for Injuries)

Open Thread: JEB! vs. the Jersey Barrier (I’m Praying for Injuries)

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jeb tanned rested and ready oliphant
(Pat Oliphant via GoComics.com)

… If only in self-defense, because listening to another cycle of Bush Crime Family media promotion is liable to drive my blood pressure into the fatality zone. It’s pretty clear which quasi-criminal the NYTimes likes, the latest straw in the wind being “Donors Weigh Jilting Christie for Jeb Bush”:

Jeb Bush’s increasingly serious and public examination of a run for president has shaken the ranks of establishment Republican donors and fund-raisers who had planned to back Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey in 2016, forcing many of them to rethink their allegiance to the embattled governor.

In private conversations that are now seeping into public view, some of them are signaling to Mr. Christie’s camp that, should Mr. Bush enter the race, their first loyalty would be to him, not to Mr. Christie, according to interviews with more than two dozen of them…

Nowhere is the consternation greater than among the hundreds of top donors and so-called bundlers who cut their teeth on Bush family political campaigns. If Mr. Bush runs, they must choose between bucking their ties to the first family of Republican politics or turning their back on Mr. Christie, who does not take well to disloyalty…

“They feel good about Jeb,” said Barry Wynn, a fund-raiser for George W. Bush and a former chairman of the Republican Party in South Carolina. “They don’t have any questions about his integrity.”

The family name, he said, remains a powerful draw. “They love the Bush family,” Mr. Wynn said. “They love the whole package, and they feel Jeb is just a part of the package.”…

In a sign of how quickly the Bush world is coalescing around a Jeb Bush run, George W. Bush publicly encouraged him to enter the field in an interview with CNN on Thursday. “I hope Jeb runs,” he said, adding playfully, “Hey, Jeb, if you need some advice, give me a call.”…

Admittedly, sheer proximity gives the denizens of the Grey Lady more reason than most to despise Chris Christie, but just two weeks ago the ‘paper of record’ was saying that “Jeb Bush’s Rush to Make Money May Be Hurdle“:

… Mr. Bush left public office seven years ago with a net worth of $1.3 million and an unapologetic determination to expand his wealth, telling friends that his finances had suffered during his time in government.

But his efforts to capitalize on his résumé and reputation have thrust him into situations that may prove challenging to explain should he mount a Republican campaign for the White House. Records and interviews show, for example, that Mr. Bush participated in the fevered, last-ditch efforts to prop up Lehman Brothers, a Wall Street bank weighed down by toxic mortgage-backed securities. As a paid adviser to the company in the summer of 2008, he met with Carlos Slim Helú, a Mexican billionaire, as Lehman sought to persuade Mr. Slim to make a sizable investment in the firm, emails show…

And in a stint that could complicate his appeal to conservatives, Mr. Bush serves as a paid director to Tenet Health Care, the giant hospital owner, which supported President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, aggressively encouraged Americans to sign up for insurance under the program and trumpeted the legislation as a boon to the company’s finances.

The path from public service to private riches is well trodden by politicians of both parties. But, even by that measure, Mr. Bush took an aggressive and expansive approach to making money.

Since 2007, he has left few corners of the economy untouched, working on Wall Street, starting a consulting firm, investing in real estate, advising an emergency preparedness company, sitting on the board of a hospital linens provider, and giving speeches to grocery industry groups, local chambers of commerce and health care conferences….

“People thought of him as wealthy,” said Lance deHaven Smith, a professor of public policy at Florida State University who has studied Mr. Bush’s career. He recalled that when Mr. Bush was governor, his opponents took to calling him a “spoiled little rich kid” to protest his budget cuts.

“It was a misperception,” Mr. deHaven Smith said. “He grew up in a wealthy family, but he took a path that was quite different.”…

Gail Collins was sarcastic about that very article:

… I have to admit, I was surprised Jeb Bush did not have more money than that. He must have felt terrible at family gatherings. When they started planning for Christmas, do you think the other Bushes assured Jeb that they’d be happy with a pot holder or a knitted scarf, just as long as it was handmade?…

… leading one of her readers to comment: “Wow! Even Jeb Bush has to have more than one job to make ends meet!”

Reader Interactions

178Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    But his efforts to capitalize on his résumé and reputation have thrust him into situations that may prove challenging to explain

    Which is why, as a Republican, he won’t have to.

  3. 3.

    BGinCHI

    Disappointing lack of Benghazi content.

    Emails!!

    Coverups!!

    Don’t worry about funding for security!!!

  4. 4.

    Groucho48

    Reminds me of Joe Klein’s concern troll article in Time, in which he frets that Bill’s speechifying for money might doom Hilary’s campaign. Especially if word gets out that Bill likes to flirt.

  5. 5.

    mdblanche

    In a sign of how quickly the Bush world is coalescing around a Jeb Bush run, George W. Bush publicly encouraged him to enter the field in an interview with CNN on Thursday. “I hope Jeb runs,” he said, adding playfully, “Hey, Jeb, if you need some advice, give me a call.”

    Really? Are we sure W wan’t reading that off of a cue card being held up by his mother?

    But his efforts to capitalize on his résumé and reputation have thrust him into situations that may prove challenging to explain should he mount a Republican campaign for the White House.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAlTOfl9F2w

  10. 10.

    Tommy

    I read the above. This did jump out at me:

    The path from public service to private riches is well trodden by politicians of both parties. But, even by that measure, Mr. Bush took an aggressive and expansive approach to making money.

    I have to say if my last name was Bush and my dad and brother were president of the United States I’d find a way to make a buck off of it. What is interesting is how he did it. Telling I’d say. I think he could have made money any kinds of way. The way he did. Again, telling.

  12. 12.

    Chris

    @BGinCHI:

    The level of disconnect that it takes for Republican elites to not realize that someone with the name “Bush” will not have a good kind of name-recognition, so soon after the last Bush, is mind-boggling.

    I hope it lasts.

  13. 13.

    maya

    If he does run and does win you know the first thing the outgoing Obamaians will do is remove all the Js from the WH computer key pads.

  14. 14.

    Chyron HR

    @Chris:

    They must be back in the “miss me yet” phase of their tsundere relationship with Dubya. If JEB is nominated, they might even let his brother attend the convention this time!

    (TL Note: tsundere means “love-hate”.)

  15. 15.

    Hal

    If these folks are willing to coalesce around Jeb due to electability, than why not go with Jon Huntsman? I don’t see the point in going back to a Bush again.

  18. 18.

    srv

    So it was a bad idea to prop up Lehman, but save all the others?

    Hank Paulson appreciates your support.

    Think you’re barking up the wrong scandal if Jeb and Krugman agree:

    One of the really good things about teaching a new course is that the work you put into developing your lectures often leads you to stuff you didn’t know about, missed, or had forgotten. Today’s class was a sort of narrative walkthrough of the financial crisis, and in the course of preparing I found myself trying to recall who actually thought letting Lehman fail was a good idea.

    The answer is, a lot of people — and there were a fair number of op-eds and editorials congratulating Hank Paulson the next day, before it had become clear that the whole financial system was freezing up.

  20. 20.

    Tommy

    @Chris: My mom could not stand Sarah Palin. For the first time in her life voted Democratic. She told me that Sarah was shit all stupid and an embarrassment to smart and strong women. She openly asked if there are not other smart and intelligent Republicans? Somebody she could vote for.

    I will channel her and ask if there are not other smart and intelligent Republicans not named Bush. If this is all they have then I feel pretty good.

  21. 21.

    Davis X. Machina

    @Cacti: Skeletor has a veto-proof majority in both Tallahassee houses, and a tame secretary of state. So it’s within the margin of error margin of do-a-friend-a-favor.

  22. 22.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    If these folks are willing to coalesce around Jeb due to electability, than why not go with Jon Huntsman? I don’t see the point in going back to a Bush again.

    The Bushes have a four-generation record of raping and killing poor people for fun. The modern GOP, you could say, was expressly tailor-made for them.

    Huntsman seems like a decent human being. No Republican can vote for that.

  23. 23.

    Smiling Mortician

    Ran across this nearly-perfect sentence in a TPM article about the South Dakota Republican who wrote the letter to the editor about … well . . . buttsex.

    Hickey told TPM it’s obvious that anal sex isn’t good and urged the medical community to back him up.

  24. 24.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Bex: It will be difficult for Boner to appoint a Senate select committee. I don’t think Harry Reid will sit still for that.

    Now, a House select committee, yes. Made up of the most mindnumbingly insane teatards in the House, no doubt, all frothing and sputtering and foaming.

  25. 25.

    scav

    The lure of the Family Name. Up and fronting, nay even polishing, the unabashed rampant nostalgia for the golden Bush years certainly has been characteristic of the Repub strategy since the nation was expelled from the blessed age. Have you seen the souvenirs and icons for sale at all the conventions? Hard to walk down any street without tripping over a shrine with offerings.

  26. 26.

    Mike in NC

    I recently read a semi-serious piece on the Bushes that noted “maybe we’ll get lucky the third time”, but it also stated that Jeb was a “pretty good governor”. I’m thinking a lot of Floridians would have a very different opinion.

  27. 27.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    I found myself trying to recall who actually thought letting Lehman fail was a good idea.

    The answer is, a lot of people — and there were a fair number of op-eds and editorials congratulating Hank Paulson the next day, before it had become clear that the whole financial system was freezing up.

    @srv: I remember. It went from “eh, Lehman failed, who cares” to “there may not be any money when you go to the ATM tomorrow morning, or next week, or next month” in about three or four days. That was some scary-ass shit.

  28. 28.

    Baud

    I wonder if Jeb would invade Iraq again or try to portray himself as a fresh face by invading another country altogether.

  31. 31.

    Cacti

    @Baud:

    I wonder if Jeb would invade Iraq again or try to portray himself as a fresh face by invading another country altogether.

    Iran is the most coveted neocon target.

    Cheney’s greatest disappointment was not being able to invade it.

  33. 33.

    KG

    @CONGRATULATIONS!: Huntsman was the guy I liked last time around. But I just don’t see how he can win the nomination since he actually served in the Obama Administration. Apparently, one of his daughters is urging him to run for governor of California – which is interesting in that I can’t think of anyone who has been governor of two states (and two states that are so very, very different), at least not since the territorial days.

  35. 35.

    Tommy

    @Smiling Mortician: I missed that post. It says in part:

    “Certainly there are board-certified doctors in our state who will attest to what seems self-evident to so many: gay sex is not good for the body or mind,” he wrote. “Pardon a crude comparison but regarding men with men, we are talking about a one-way alley meant only for the garbage truck to go down. Frankly, I’d question the judgment of doctor who says it’s all fine.”

    I am a straight guy. Anal sex is not even something I ponder much. But I also can’t explain why I find a nude women sexy. It is just the way my mind is wired. I assume the same way a gay person is wired to find a person their same sex is appealing. Why it is so hard for somebody like this dude to grasp that is staggering.

  36. 36.

    Kay

    This is true, though:

    The family name, he said, remains a powerful draw. “They love the Bush family,” Mr. Wynn said. “They love the whole package, and they feel Jeb is just a part of the package.”

    The biggest lie about GWB was that he did anything by himself. The Bush family just have this huge crowd of powerful people in every state, and it’s like DECADES of loyalty.

    OTOH, why does Jeb Bush poll so poorly in Florida v Clinton?

    Clinton tops the following possible Republican candidates in Florida:
    · 49 – 41 percent over Bush;
    · 52 – 40 percent over Rubio;
    · 55 – 37 percent over Paul;
    · 52 – 34 percent over Christie;
    · 56 – 36 percent over Ryan;
    · 57 – 31 percent over Cruz;
    · 53 – 35 percent over Huckabee.

  37. 37.

    Roger Moore

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Now, a House select committee, yes. Made up of the most mindnumbingly insane teatards in the House, no doubt, all frothing and sputtering and foaming.

    I have a feeling that’s exactly what Boehner has in mind. He’ll appoint a bunch of the most obnoxious teabaggers who have done the most to undermine his speakership, and give them plenty of rope. They’ll waste their time, come up with a ridiculous report that makes them look like a gang of idiots, and wind up thanking him for the privilege. What’s not to like?

  38. 38.

    catclub

    @Cacti: He only invades Iran if he is trying to outstupid older brother. 3 times as big, relations with Russia are dicey, so they will supply weapons, no crazy dictator.

    Venezuela is more suitable.

  39. 39.

    Bob In Portland

    Kiev government snipers firing on the people of Kramatorsk. Gee, where’d they get snipers?

  40. 40.

    Mike E

    Was somebody in the other thread, that one dumbass hijacked, asking about this dog? I met one when I field canvassed, and they called it a Louisiana Hog Dog. Pretty chill for a big fella.

  41. 41.

    catclub

    @Kay: and yet in an election, if any one of those is the GOP nominee, they will get at least 43% of the vote. Today.

  44. 44.

    mdblanche

    @KG: It appears Sam Houston is the only man elected governor of two different states.

    @Kay: Well, since he still polls better than all his colleagues, I’m going to venture a guess that being a Republican helps explain why he polls so poorly.

  45. 45.

    BGinCHI

    @Kay: Is this front pager Kay?

    If so, where have you been? Miss your posts!

    If not, please to ignore.

  46. 46.

    scav

    @Tommy: I was rather wondering if he ever considered the usual delivery of his mighty truck and why he finds that equipage altogether healthy to be sticking into things.

  47. 47.

    Roger Moore

    @catclub:

    Venezuela is more suitable.

    Can we invade the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, or some other tax haven instead? It’s likely to be easier, and it will do a lot more good.

  49. 49.

    jl

    @KG: Huntsman in California? Assuming that is even possible, will he change to Dem and try to succeed Jerry Brown?

    Huntsman has The Mark of Obama hanging around him, like Kashkari.

    Huntsman will have to do a lot of renouncing and repenting and running around gun nutting and states righting and no taxing and no social nothing-ing to get rid of that. And it won’t work.

    Maybe that particular Huntsman daughter needs to sober up.

  51. 51.

    Tommy

    @catclub: Well there is the problem. You are right. I noted my mom for the first time voted for a Democrat. Obama. Could not stand Palin. First time in her 73 years on this planet. Dad still voted for McCain. I talk to him almost everyday and he isn’t a Republican, but votes for them. I yell at him about this, try to explain that the views he holds are not Republican.

  52. 52.

    jl

    @Baud:

    ‘ But his efforts to capitalize on his résumé and reputation have thrust him into situations that may prove challenging to explain ‘

    ” Which is why, as a Republican, he won’t have to. ”

    I think that is part of the ‘whole package’ they love so much.

  53. 53.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    Apparently, one of his daughters is urging him to run for governor of California

    @KG: Fuck that noise. Jerry Brown’s been the first decent governor we’ve had since…Jerry Brown. He’s running for a second term. We need him, frankly. He understands this state and how to get things done here and even though our budget is balanced for the moment, we still have a lot of cleanup work left to do. I think he’s the guy to do it. Huntsman can run in 2020 or whenever Jerry’s second term is done. He’d probably do well here.

    ETA: not that I would vote for him, because he has voluntarily chosen to be associated with the GOP, and I don’t vote GOP. Ever.

  55. 55.

    Amir Khalid

    I can’t imagine any Republican getting excited over getting to choose between Chris Christie and Jeb Bush for the Presidential nominee in 2016. Neither man has been a distinguished governor. If Christie’s temper doesn’t blow up his candidacy, his gangster style will. Jeb’s last name might pull in the donors, but what about the voters? HW’s presidential record is not a strong argument for the name Bush; W’s, if anything, is an argument against it.

  56. 56.

    Anton Sirius

    @Tommy:

    …we are talking about a one-way alley meant only for the garbage truck to go down.

    I can’t wait for this guy’s campaign against prostate exams and colonoscopies then.

  58. 58.

    Tommy

    @SatanicPanic: I am a long way away from CA. I also don’t know what Jerry has done in the state day to day. I just know that in 1992 I went door to door for the guy in Louisiana (oh there are stories here). First time I ever worked on a campaign or was involved. Me and Jerry, well he is my kind of liberal.

  59. 59.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    Who is gonna be the next gov? Harris? Newsom? Or does Brown have another term he can run for?

    @SatanicPanic: Brown can and will run for a second term.

    And hey, if you didn’t like Filner you are going to HATE Newsom. There’s a guy with so many skeletons in his closet he can’t force the door shut with a bulldozer.

  60. 60.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Tommy:

    I am a straight guy. Anal sex is not even something I ponder much.

    You do realize that’s a non sequitur, right?

  64. 64.

    Calouste

    Hmm, Jeb! vs Hillary. Someone who by the time of the inauguration would not have held public office for 7 years vs. someone who would not have held public office for 4 years.

    America, you can do better than that.

  66. 66.

    jl

    @SatanicPanic: Brown will term out, and probably age out, after next term.

    I don’t know. The CA GOP primary base is just as nuts as any other in the country, so I do not see how any half sane Republican will get enough money and support to do well in the CA ‘top two’ primary.

    If two prominent Dems go at each other and the GOP person is a clown like Donnelly, might be two Dems running in the general.

  67. 67.

    jl

    @Bobby Thomson:

    ‘ I am a straight guy. Anal sex is not even something I ponder much. ‘

    ” You do realize that’s a non sequitur, right? ”

    Someone needs to get commenter Tommy signed up for a straight bachelor party, where he can watch some art cinema.

  68. 68.

    Tommy

    @SatanicPanic: Best I can tell from the outside looking into CA from IL he has done a good job. I am happy about this. Very happy. It shows IMHO that a liberal can run shit correctly. If I am not mistaken he had to make some hard choices to balance the state’s budget and he made them.

  69. 69.

    Bob In Portland

    English-speaking mercenaries fighting with Kiev’s forces near Slavyansk.

  70. 70.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    @SatanicPanic: A lot of both, actually.

    Plus the pill habit.
    Plus the booze habit.
    Plus the self-aggrandizing sociopath habit.

    I could go on.

    I’m kind of afraid that he could be, unless stopped, more or less the Second Coming of Reagan. Not in a good way.

  72. 72.

    Tommy

    @jl: You know I got a sense of humor. Poke me all you want. I’ve been to a few bachelor parties and they were not fun. I walked away thinking OMG, OMG, OMG that isn’t cool.

  74. 74.

    Calouste

    @BGinCHI:

    Not talking about a third party, but it would be rather disappointing of neither of the major parties could put a current or even recent office holder as a candidate?

    Nader would definitely be the nadir in this regard though.

    The GOP field was already a nadir last time around. Of the candidates who won any states, Romney had the most recent public office experience and that was already 5 years ago.

  75. 75.

    max

    It’s pretty clear which quasi-criminal the NYTimes likes, the latest straw in the wind being “Donors Weigh Jilting Christie for Jeb Bush”:

    Enh. The NYT as a reporting and advocate policy is in favor of whatever Important People think is right. In NYC, Important People work on Wall Street, so right now the Important People are looking away from Christie because he’s in the toilet, nevermind that previously he was the Obvious Choice as a Reasonable Republican Who Would Compromise With Democrats on not hating gays and blacks, and instead hate on public employees, taxes, and poor people.

    Anyways, so now the billionaires and their puppets are sniffing JEB!’s butt and wondering if he can bring the tax cuts, and so the NYT may be ready to anoint him as the early Serious Choice. However, there are the primaries, and whoever wins those will become the Serious Choice, unless it’s a clown and then Hill will be the Serious Choice as long as she promises to suck up to bankers and bomb Iran.

    In any event, between now and this time in 2016, there will considerations of Mitt, Perry, Huckabee, whatshisname in Wisconsin and some other people as Serious Choices, because they will be offering to bring the tax cuts. When it gets to election time, of course, the NYT will support Hill with its fingers crossed. Because tax cuts!

    It’s important for Good and Serious People to support the right causes as long as that support doesn’t change anything or cause monetary pain to the wealthy.

    max
    [‘If Cuomo was smart he’d change parties and go all in on the tax cuts. He’s already there anyways.’]

  76. 76.

    Amir Khalid

    @Bob In Portland:
    So? People from all over the planet speak English. Do you have evidence for your claim that isn’t from a pro-Russian source?

  77. 77.

    BGinCHI

    @Calouste: Well, if you have any kind of voting record the GOP won’t have you in a primary.

    You can only be a Contra.

  79. 79.

    Hal

    I mentioned Benghazi in another thread, and then when I went on Facebook, my wingnut friend was in full Benghazi!Benghazi!Benghazi! mode. He linked some heritage foundation article asking why there were no photos of the war room on the day of the attacks, because apparently that would…? Again, I just don’t get it. I checked a thread at dailykos and some wayward wingnut came in to throw out a bunch of bs without any actual specifics, just a few lines about lies and how Obama was going down. Same thing happened here, which leads me back to what I’m guessing will be my forever question; just what is it that Obama did regarding Benghazi that is impeachable, criminal, incompetent, outrageous?

    I keep getting nothing.

    EDIT: Also, wingnut friend also wanted to remind everyone that Obamacare is a absolute failure, then encouraged others to turn MSNBC off cause you know how they lie.

  80. 80.

    Baud

    @Calouste:

    America, you can do better than that.

    I’m watching the 1996 Schwarzenegger movie Eraser right now. It makes me doubt whether we can do better.

  81. 81.

    jl

    @Tommy:

    I was joshing. I have always wondered at the obsession with anal sex between guys, when hetero anal sex is never mentioned by the reactionaries. as if hetero anal is not a thing. No, I guess it couldn’t be. It is a thing that doesn’t exist. All hetero couples would be aghast, disgusted, Every single one. And surely a hetero guy would not ask his partner to do that, or even consider it a fit and decent topic for the P RO N O S. No, not never.

    I am not into it. But I have heard… rumors… of people who think otherwise.

  82. 82.

    Comrade Jake

    I just got through watching Mark Halperin pontificate on this on MSNBC. I like Alex Wagner but I don’t know why she insists on having that tool on.

    Every time Halperin opens his mouth about the next presidential race, I can’t help but think that mostly what he’s hoping for is good material for his next Game Change book.

  84. 84.

    Anoniminous

    @Amir Khalid:

    There is between 1.5 and 1.8 billion English speakers. Roughly 400 million have English as their native language, the rest have it as their second language since it has become the default international language of business, science, and technology. India is different; there it is used as a language of government solely because it is neutral wrt the numerous internal social and political divisions.

  85. 85.

    Citizen Alan

    @Tommy:

    She openly asked if there are not other smart and intelligent Republicans?

    The saddest thing of all was, yes, there were. I don’t agree at all with the politics of Kay Bailey Hutchinson or Libby Dole (to name only two GOP women who were prominent in 2008), but neither of them would have humiliated the Republican Party on an almost daily basis the way Palin did.

  86. 86.

    scav

    @Amir Khalid: Well, except for the baby jebus, all English speakers outside of the border are well-known to be CIA operators under deep cover rearranging the entire world as though it was our dining room furniture? I haven’t a clue either.

  87. 87.

    Citizen Alan

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:

    Huntsman seems like a decent human being. No Republican can vote for that.

    I’d had a theory back in 2012 that Huntsman’s long term plan was to run as a Republican, watch the Republican lose humiliatingly, and then make a big production of switching parties and running as a moderate Dem who can make a unique case about the extremism of the GOP. Apparently, I was wrong (unless he’s waiting, hopefully in vain, for the Hillary Train to derail and then jump in).

  89. 89.

    Bill Arnold

    @Bob In Portland:

    English-speaking mercenaries fighting with Kiev’s forces near Slavyansk.

    Source? (Primary preferred). (Saw something on RT; if that’s what you have, fine.)

  90. 90.

    Turgidson

    @KG:

    Ha. Jerry Brown would beat him like a rented mule as long as he’s still capable of fogging a mirror on election day.

  91. 91.

    Citizen Alan

    @Kay:

    An even more interesting question is “Why does Clinton do strongest in heavily Florida against the only Hispanic person on the list: Ted Cruz”? Why, it’s almost as though minority groups are repelled by members of their own group who urge their fellow minorities to blithely accept being discriminated against.

  94. 94.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Amir Khalid:

    HW’s presidential record is not a strong argument for the name Bush; W’s, if anything, is an argument against it.

    W’s record is death on toastpoints.

  95. 95.

    mdblanche

    @Citizen Alan: Um, there is another Hispanic person on the list and he’s the second strongest Republican candidate there, down a mere 12 points.

  96. 96.

    Trollhattan

    @Turgidson:

    I give Huntsman full props for the “perfectly lubricated weathervane” line but he needs to stay the hell away from here. Also, too, if he were to run for anything here, it would be a senate seat when Feinstein & Boxer resign. He’ll first have to move to La Jolla, from where he can enjoy Willard’s car elevator.

  97. 97.

    jeannedalbret

    Don’t forge, he’s now in the business of making money from climate-change denial and oil-spills:

    “We have a long history in the oil and gas, marine and industrial sectors and believe there are significant opportunities to diversify our existing products and services into new markets,” said Charles Fabrikant, executive chairman of SEACOR Holdings told Maritime Executive. “O’Brien’s will also continue our international expansion in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and particularly Asia.” Fabrikant added. “Governor Bush has unparalleled experience in crisis management, as he helped guide Florida through some of the most significant natural disasters in its history. He will be integral to our ongoing growth initiatives and we welcome him to the team.

  100. 100.

    Citizen Alan

    @mdblanche:

    Crap. Apparently Mark Rubio is such an empty suit that I forget his existence immediately upon looking away from his name. He’s like the Silence from Doctor Who if they were all supercilious dicks.

  101. 101.

    Bob In Portland

    More bodies in Odessa. The neo-Nazis are tweeting about roasting “Colorado beetles.” What do they mean?

  103. 103.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Hal:
    They believe he deliberately let the consulate staff die, because he is Evil. This seems impeachable to them. Beyond that there’s a lot of variety of conspiracy theories, ranging from Obama merely covering up his callous indifference to actively supporting terrorism because he’s a Muslim and all Muslims are terrorists. It’s all words put on ‘he seems different and scares me’.

  104. 104.

    Bob In Portland

    @Trollhattan: What do the fascists mean by “roasting Colorado beetles”? That’s your side, right? You must have picked up some of the slang.

  106. 106.

    SatanicPanic

    @Frankensteinbeck: I know it’s a waste of time thinking about this stuff, but say Obama just let it happen because he didn’t care. Why not blame terrorists? What’s the point of saying it was a protest? Is one somehow better than the other? I don’t get it.

  109. 109.

    Frankensteinbeck

    It is truly weird that Jeb and Romney are even being discussed as possibilities, but this is 2014 and I care about the midterms. None of this will mean jack when 2016 rolls around. Leave the Villagers to discuss who’s the dreamiest and the Republican establishment to grift money from self-absorbed kleptocrats. In the real world, this is all just air.

    EDIT – @SatanicPanic:
    Because Obama is ‘other’, values America hating Muslims more than American lives. It is intuitive to them that Obama would not want to call anything ‘terrorism’ if he can help it, because he sympathizes with terrorists and wants to blame America and use terrorist reasoning and avoid acting against terrorists if he possibly can. They think he’s sticking up for our enemies, thus proving he is an enemy.

  110. 110.

    Turgidson

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Yeah, I think the level of nuttiness varies from one braindead GOP asshole to another, but the basic structure is simple. They started with the conclusion and worked backwards, like the GOP does about fucking everything now (see Paul Ryan and his fudged “research” on anti-poverty programs for another recent example). They’ve always known, just KNOWN, that Obama was a weak commander in chief, but he made it through his entire first term with no real fuckups they could throw in his face.

    So Benghazi happens, the GOPers, rather than spending precious seconds mourning the fallen, say “SWEEEET, FINALLY!”, politicize the everloving shit out of the tragedy, and proceed from the conclusion that it happened because Obama is weak on terrorism or whatever.

    The other thing they just KNOW is true regardless of facts or evidence is that Obama is a ruthless manipulator in his political dealings at home. So they KNOW there had to be some scheme, some coverup, some scandal in how the Obama administration reacted to the attack. No amount of contradictory evidence, and no lack of confirming evidence, can shake this belief, because they KNOW it’s true.

    Many of the GOP pols who are beating the BENGHAAAAZI drum are just being cynical assholes. Some are true-believing knuckledragging idiots.

  111. 111.

    mdblanche

    @Citizen Alan: That’s fair. I get the feeling everybody’s already forgotten about Rubio and the only reason they polled him is because he’s from Florida.

  112. 112.

    The Other Chuck

    @Citizen Alan: Huntsman isn’t in any sense a moderate. He just manages to compose complete sentences and to not literally chew on the microphone, which makes him too professorial for the current GOP.

  113. 113.

    scav

    Roasting Colorado Beetles? Sounds like a really bad google-translate of our immediately prior Ladybug thread mashed into a Thursday Night Cooking effort. We’re a conduit of frontline battlefield SitRep!

  115. 115.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @scav:

    Roasting Colorado Beetles? Sounds like a really bad google-translate of our immediately prior Ladybug thread mashed into a Thursday Night Cooking effort.

    Sounds more like something I’d regret looking up on Urban Dictionary.

  119. 119.

    jl

    @The Other Chuck:

    ” He just manages to compose complete sentences and to not literally chew on the microphone ”

    Hence, will never get an once of love from the GOP primary voter. Even, or especially(?) from the CA GOP primary voter.

  121. 121.

    Roger Moore

    @Tommy:

    I am not mistaken he had to make some hard choices to balance the state’s budget and he made them.

    More importantly, he was able to convince more than 2/3 of California voters to vote for a tax increase; it turns out that “we need more money to pay for the programs you like” is an effective way to get people to vote for tax increases. The biggest thing he’s doing now is saying no to all the people who want to use the new revenue to pay for their pet programs. He’s an old fashioned fiscal conservative of the style who believes in paying down debt before increasing programs.

    I think this is the point people tend to miss when they talk about “hard choices”. It’s actually easier to to make choices when faced with a start choice of what needs to be cut to keep the budget balanced. It’s much harder for any politician to stand up and say we should spend our budget surplus on paying down debt and building up a rainy day fund rather than tax breaks and empire building.

  122. 122.

    gogol's wife

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    My God, he really lives in Bizarro World. I guess the traffic lights are green for “stop.” And there are English-speaking mercenaries all over Ukraine.

  123. 123.

    Trollhattan

    @jl:

    The current GOP leader for governor is all guns all the time and did I mention guns? Huntsman would have to get a really nice camo suit to fit in.

  124. 124.

    Bob In Portland

    @Villago Delenda Est: Thanks for that google tip. So the neo-Nazis think that ethnic Russians are insects that deserve to be burned? That’s your side, right Villa? You’re cool with burning up people in the Trades Union Building in Odessa?

  125. 125.

    David Koch

    @Turgidson:

    Yeah, I think the level of nuttiness varies from one braindead GOP asshole to another, but the basic structure is simple. They started with the conclusion and worked backwards,

    A couple of days ago Ted Cruz posted on facebook that he agrees with Obama’s criticism on Sterling. About 2,500 comments were posted and I read through all of them and 95% of them thought the NBA’s sanctions were a violation of Sterling’s first amendment rights.

    We’ve often spoke about reactionary voters being low-information voters. But I think the broad response on Cruz’s facebook page shows that in reality they’re low-IQ voters.

    They also have no logical compass. They have no problem demanding someone’s dismissal when someone makes a controversial statement (Bill Maher, etc.) but when it’s a inflammatory statement they support (Mel Gibson, etc.) then claim no one should be fired for speech, lacking any self-awareness of their contradictory positions.

  126. 126.

    Bob In Portland

    Sounds like it’s Parubiy’s national guard recruits from the Pravy Sektor who are doing the sniping in the east. I wonder if they ever sniped before. Who shot the 12 policemen in Maidan?

  127. 127.

    danielx

    In a sign of how quickly the Bush world is coalescing around a Jeb Bush run, George W. Bush publicly encouraged him to enter the field in an interview with CNN on Thursday. “I hope Jeb runs,” he said, adding playfully, “Hey, Jeb, if you need some advice, give me a call.”…

    Ummm….right.

    Jeb: Know what I need from you, George?

    W: What, Jeb? Anything…

    Jeb: I need you to shut the fuck up from now until November 9, 2016. That means not one fuckin’ word to the media or anyone else regarding me, my candidacy, your disaster…er, presidency…nothin’…to…nobody. Do you think you can manage that?

  128. 128.

    Roger Moore

    @David Koch:

    They also have no logical compass.

    It’s not a lack of a logical compass; it’s a tendency to pick the answer first and the rationale second. Saying stuff they like is fine and should be defended, and saying stuff they don’t like is terrible and should be attacked. The arguments in favor of attack or defense are ad hoc; only the conclusion is important.

  132. 132.

    Jebediah, RBG

    @Mike E:

    Was somebody in the other thread, that one dumbass hijacked, asking about this dog? I met one when I field canvassed, and they called it a Louisiana Hog Dog. Pretty chill for a big fella.

    We have what we think might be a Catahoula – just over seventy pounds, very gregarious and affectionate. And gets so excited for walkies that sometimes I swear she is levitating.

  133. 133.

    Kay

    @BGinCHI:

    If so, where have you been?

    Hello! I got busier at work because the economy is better, so I’ve been working a lot. I realized my entire time here was during the Great Depression II, so the amount of work I’m doing now is not unusual- what was unusual was The Great Depression II.

    Also, I’m obsessed with the public school privatization thing. You know I was interested before but I tend to go overboard when I start with something, and I’m officially obsessed. I read all the ed bloggers, go their secret cell meetings, all of it. I’m practically an honorary member of a teachers union at this point which is crazy, since I’m not a teacher and I never even liked school :)

  134. 134.

    Origuy

    Ok, so I googled “English-speaking mercenaries fighting with Kiev’s forces near Slavyansk.”. I found a reference in the Guardian:

    In a statement on Friday, Russia’s defence ministry said the Ukrainian military operation was launching rocket strikes on protesters, accusing it of employing ultra-nationalists from the group Right Sector and “English-speaking foreigners” it suggested were American mercenaries.

    Is there a source that doesn’t derive from “Russia’s defence ministry”?

  135. 135.

    Hill Dweller

    The Twitter machine is telling me all 3 nightly news broadcasts either claimed the jobs report was bad or the Merkel visit was bad. I honestly believe we’re watching the Village try to destroy Obama in real time.

  137. 137.

    MomSense

    I don’t know WTF happened but I read the title of this post completely wrong and somehow added the word “method” to the title and now I have some mental pictures that need purging!

    MomSense +2

  138. 138.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I realized my entire time here was during the Great Depression II,

    Then you’re officially the best thing Bush ever did for this country.

  139. 139.

    David Koch

    @Roger Moore: exactly. it’s the very same way they constructed all their conspiracy theories: birtherism, IRS, fast and furious, whitewater, vince foster, ron brown, etc..

  140. 140.

    SiubhanDuinne

    O/T, but if this isn’t the best candidate name EVAH, I will eat my sunbonnet.

    (H/T Charlie Pierce)

    ETA: With that name, could he be anything except a Republican? I think not.

  142. 142.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I’m such an idiot. When we started to get busy again I was like “why did I have so much time …before?”

    I just stare out the window and think these things. “Oh, the economic collapse!”

    Putting two and two together! Anyway. Now I have it all figured out :)

  144. 144.

    Bob In Portland

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: “Feckin’ gobshite”?

    Touchy, eh? You like being on the side that “roasts” its enemies? Your tax dollars at work.

    You were for the death squads in El Salvador too, right?

  145. 145.

    max

    @Turgidson: So Benghazi happens, the GOPers, rather than spending precious seconds mourning the fallen, say “SWEEEET, FINALLY!”, politicize the everloving shit out of the tragedy, and proceed from the conclusion that it happened because Obama is weak on terrorism or whatever.

    Entire AP story from just now:

    Gunmen attacked a security forces headquarters in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi early Friday, killing nine people and wounding 24, the authorities said. The government blamed Ansar al-Shariah, an Islamic extremist group accused of being behind the attack on an American diplomatic post in Benghazi. Six army commandos and three police officers were killed, officials said. The government said a number of militants were killed, and others were wounded and arrested. The attackers may have been trying to get their hands on a car loaded with weapons and ammunition that the security forces had confiscated the previous night from a Libyan militia, the authorities said.

    Benghazi!

    max
    [‘Obama did it to distract attention away from Bundy!’]

  146. 146.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @Bob In Portland:

    “You were for the death squads in El Salvador too, right?”

    I stuck around St. Petersburg
    When I saw it was a time for a change
    Killed the czar and his ministers
    Anastasia screamed in vain

    Ya’ feckin’ gobshite

  147. 147.

    srv

    @max: 20 months later and Benghazi terrorists are still running amok because Obama wouldn’t stop them.

  148. 148.

    Fair Economist

    @gogol’s wife:

    My God, he really lives in Bizarro World. I guess the traffic lights are green for “stop.” And there are English-speaking mercenaries all over Ukraine.

    Nah, he’s getting paid. Putin has a lot of embezzled money to pay for a disinformation campaign, and apparently there’s a line item for commentators.

    Seems Putin is taking a line from the Republican playbook, too – attack people for having *your* weaknesses. He’s running Russia on the fascist playbook – yickyack about patriotism, close relations with the (conservative) Church, imprisonment of political enemies, foreign wars on flimsy excuses, no free press, vast profits for connected businessmen, etc. So he calls the Ukrainians fascists first to delegitimize the word.

  149. 149.

    David Koch

    Wow. jobs report was 288K exceeding all expectations.

    This has been a very, very bad month for the wingers: Obamacare is a wild success, David Wildsten turns states evidence on their only electable 2016 candidate, a religious right congressman is forced from office after he was caught breaking up another marriage, a regular wingnut congressman is indicted on 20 felony counts, Fixxed News places all it’s bets on a welfare rancher and it blows up in their faces, Donald Sterling turns out to be registered republican, Palin makes an ass of herself, polling for Democratic candidates rise, Colbert gets Letterman’s spot, and the jobs report nears 300K.

    Keep fucking that chicken, GOP

  150. 150.

    Mnemosyne

    @Bob In Portland:

    I’m still waiting for you to explain how the pro-Russian forces in Ukraine managed to down two helicopters if, according to you, they are totally independent and not Russian forces in disguise. Did the Ukranian grandmothers give them weapons-grade bowls of soup to hurl at the helicopters?

    Oh, and it turns out that if you don’t want to set the building you’re in on fire, you probably shouldn’t throw gasoline bombs at your opponents:

    The exact sequence of events is still unclear, but reports suggest the separatists had barricaded themselves inside the building and both sides were throwing petrol bombs. (emphasis mine)

  151. 151.

    Mandalay

    Yahoo on April 2 in response to being hacked by the NSA:

    Hundreds of Yahoos have been working around the clock over the last several months to provide a more secure experience for our users and we want to do even more moving forward. Our goal is to encrypt our entire platform for all users at all time, by default…
    We will continue to work hard to deploy the best possible technology to combat attacks and surveillance that violate our users’ privacy.

    Yahoo on April 30:

    As of today, web browser Do Not Track settings will no longer be enabled on Yahoo.…

    Users can still manage their privacy on Yahoo while benefiting from a personalized web experience. We encourage our users to tailor their online experience through the variety of privacy tools we offer within our own platform, accessible via our Yahoo Privacy Center.

    The privacy of our users is and will continue to be a top priority for us.

    Shorter Yahoo policy: If the NSA fucks with user privacy we will fight back, but if our users request that we don’t track them then we will just ignore them.

  155. 155.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Well, it was weird, because the economic crash here was like turning off a light switch, fast and brutal. It’s auto manufacturing dependent and that just..stopped, and then the recovery was so loooong with fits and starts. It’s like you have to slowly realize it might be over. I just noticed we have to paint the outside of the law office. We stopped doing all of those kinds of things. It was nothing but necessities. I hope the recovery “sticks” – plodding along gradually upward is fine. I’ve had enough excitement :)

  156. 156.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Jeb is as dirty as his brother is dumb. He has so many skeletons in the closet, I’ll be surprised if he runs.

  157. 157.

    JGabriel

    “They feel good about Jeb,” said Barry Wynn, a fund-raiser for George W. Bush and a former chairman of the Republican Party in South Carolina. “They don’t have any questions about his integrity.”

    As opposed to Christie? That raises the question, does Christie have some shred of integrity left of which I’m unaware?

    Because I know for damn sure that if no one is questioning Jeb Bush’s integrity, it’s only because they’re certain he hasn’t got any.

  158. 158.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @JGabriel:

    As opposed to Christie? That raises the question, does Christie have some shred of integrity left of which I’m unaware?

    It wasn’t questions, it was question. And you already asked it.

  159. 159.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @JGabriel:

    Because I know for damn sure that if no one is questioning Jeb Bush’s integrity, it’s only because they’re certain he hasn’t got any.

    Integrity and the Bush family have been estranged since at least the days of Prescott Bush.

  161. 161.

    Ruckus

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:
    I believe that the family Bush and integrity are like matter/antimatter. The two shall never meet or whoever might be out there watching will see a light show that makes a supernova look like a 20 watt bulb. I’m convinced of this by both recent and past history.

  162. 162.

    Bob In Portland

    @Mnemosyne: How did the Mujahadeen down Russian helicopters thirty years ago? As I understand it, surface-to-air missiles haven’t gotten more difficult to use in the interim.

    I wouldn’t doubt that the Russians have supplied surface-to-air missiles just like we did to the Mujahadeen. And there very well may Russian military personnel in eastern Ukraine, just as there seems to be English-speaking mercenaries from one of Blackwater’s offshoots. Unfortunately, the Kiev government and our State Department have been caught in a lie about it, as the NYT noted on page fifty. While the CIA first lied about it, we know that Brennan was in Kiev meeting with the coup government so I’m not sure on what ground we have to complain about Russian involvement. But the difference is that I have no say about what Russia does. Allegedly, we used to have a say about whether or not our country went to war. I am old enough to remember from Vietnam on all the foreign adventures that have brought misery around the world and at home.

    Somehow, the propaganda still works just as well for most Americans as it did when we were looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

    And there are neo-Nazis fighting in the streets on our dime and bragging about “roasting people” in Odessa. I’ve considered myself an anti-fascist all my life. This may help you in understanding my distress at what is unfolding in Ukraine and my country’s part in it.

  163. 163.

    Bob In Portland

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:

    Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,
    And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
    He knew human folly like the back of his hand,
    And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;
    When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
    And when he cried the little children died in the streets.

    Or roasted in union trade buildings.

  165. 165.

    Mnemosyne

    @Bob In Portland:

    I wouldn’t doubt that the Russians have supplied surface-to-air missiles just like we did to the Mujahadeen. And there very well may Russian military personnel in eastern Ukraine, just as there seems to be English-speaking mercenaries from one of Blackwater’s offshoots.

    So it’s A-OK for the Russians to be supplying arms to pro-Russia forces in Ukraine who are trying to overthrow the government, but it’s bad for the US to talk to the Ukrainian government.

    The saddest part is that you seem to have no clue at all that you’ve gone through the looking glass.

    @Bob In Portland:

    Feel good about what your side did?

    Right back atcha, Bob. Feel good about shooting down those government helicopters? How about the torture deaths of small-town government officials — you seemed pretty enthusiastic about that, too, at least when you thought he was a member of Party of Nations and not a lowly local official.

    How about those disappeared reporters, Bob? It turns out that there are a lot more than just two. How does it make you feel to be swallowing what Russia Today is telling you whole while Russian forces kidnap reporters?

  166. 166.

    Mnemosyne

    Also, Bob, I’d be curious to find out what Russia thinks about the Ukranian government putting down the Right Sector activists, including killing one of its leaders in a gunfight. Just a cover for their own neo-Nazism, right? Suppressing the Right Sector just proves that Kiev is controlled by the Right Sector, amirite?

  167. 167.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Mnemosyne: As long as the actions of all these people support the glorious restoration of the Russian Empire, it’s all good.

  168. 168.

    BubbaDave

    @Bob In Portland:

    And there are neo-Nazis fighting in the streets on our dime and bragging about “roasting people” in Odessa. I’ve considered myself an anti-fascist all my life.

    Seriously, how do you reconcile “anti-fascist” with “pro-Putin?” I mean, if your Russian defense sources are accurate about the level of influence fascist parties have on the Ukrainian state, that just means this is an intramural scrimmage for team Fascist.

  169. 169.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @BubbaDave: Yes, it does come as such a big surprise that there are Eastern European countries that have hard right factions.

  170. 170.

    Jack the Second

    @Hal:

    If these folks are willing to coalesce around Jeb due to electability, than why not go with Jon Huntsman? I don’t see the point in going back to a Bush again.

    They don’t give a flying fig about electability. They don’t plan to win elections at this point, they plan to steal them. Restrict voting to reliable populations wherever possible, allocate votes by gerrymandered congressional districts in blue-leaning states they control, keep winner-take-all in reliable red states.

    What this is really about is dividing up power, and which presidential candidate will reward the faithful the best.

  171. 171.

    Tommy

    @Omnes Omnibus: I will admit I’ve not read all your comments on this thread, but I recall something my grand father used to say. He went to war. Enlisted and fought. You don’t have to always fight.

  172. 172.

    Tommy

    @Jack the Second: My mom is a Republican. She runs elections in her district. Funny thing, she wants more people to vote not less. She calls me after almost every election in tears. That only this many people voted.A number so low it makes me sick to my stomach. What the fuck is going on? What we find amazing is where I live, rural IL is voting takes me like five minutes. I can vote faster them I can order a Big Mac. I see pics of people waiting in line to vote. I don’t know that experience. That is not the world I live in.

  173. 173.

    J R in WV

    Here in our rural WV county, the last national election was the first time we had to wait in line to get signed up, and then in another line to actually vote.

    The second line was sitting side by side on a gym bleacher bench, scooting over each time the next person got to go to a voting machine.

    It was more social than it just being me and the wife and the poll workers, the way it used to be. Conversation about anything but politics, like everyone just had a natural consensus that it was just a wee improper to talk about voting while standing in line for a machine.

    I think the county consolidated a lot of tiny precincts to need to use fewer poll workers, which are hard to come by. It takes like a 20 hour work day to get everything in and back out at the end of the long day.

    Most of the poll workers are retired folks who have been doing it for 30 years now, which puts most of them close to 90. In the 80s for sure.

    It still only took like 20 minutes, and we went in the evening which was a peak time for them. But they did have it down by that time of day. Mostly it’s more like 5 or 10 minutes even if there’s a long ballot.

  174. 174.

    AxelFoley

    @David Koch:

    Wow. jobs report was 288K exceeding all expectations.

    This has been a very, very bad month for the wingers: Obamacare is a wild success, David Wildsten turns states evidence on their only electable 2016 candidate, a religious right congressman is forced from office after he was caught breaking up another marriage, a regular wingnut congressman is indicted on 20 felony counts, Fixxed News places all it’s bets on a welfare rancher and it blows up in their faces, Donald Sterling turns out to be registered republican, Palin makes an ass of herself, polling for Democratic candidates rise, Colbert gets Letterman’s spot, and the jobs report nears 300K.

    Keep fucking that chicken, GOP

    To paraphrase Ice Cube, I have to say it was a good month. ;)

  175. 175.

    Talentless Hack

    @Villago Delenda Est: Now, a House select committee, yes. Made up of the most mindnumbingly insane teatards in the House, no doubt, all frothing and sputtering and foaming.

    I can see it now. The committee runs day after day after day, throwing subpoenas around like guitar picks at a KISS concert, calling everybody from HRC herself (oh, please God, let this happen) to the guy in charge of making coffee at the consulate to a few people who never left Foggy Bottom for any reason other than perhaps to do lunch with somebody who knew this other guy who visited Benghazi on his way to somewhere else…in 2007. Because everybody knows Barack Obama has secretly been President since 2005 and is therefore to blame for everything that has happened since that time.

    A week or two before the midterm elections, they release a preliminary report saying, basically, that the President, the Secretary of State, and everybody in his cabinet should be lined up against the wall and shot, or something to that effect. Fox News runs with that all the way to November 4th, even though it’s the stupidest thing put on paper since Pauly Shore started making movies. The usual people lap it up like it’s chocolate ice cream. Everybody else thinks it’s a big pile of some other brown substance.

  176. 176.

    Captain C

    @max:

    ‘If Cuomo was smart he’d change parties and go all in on the tax cuts. He’s already there anyways.

    If Cuomo switched parties before the gubernatorial election he might well lose (especially if Working Families had a good candidate) and thereby probably kill his national chances; if he did so afterwards, he’d probably kill his effectiveness at being governor and wouldn’t win another NY election after that.

    Plus, he’s from that weird librul New York state and has one of them funny furrin’ names and would have had a D by his name in the past. He’s not bugfuck enough to go the full Zell Miller, I don’t think, which would be his only option if he switched and wanted any political juice.

  177. 177.

    Captain C

    @Captain C: Of course, given that your point was that the NYT and Village Serious People would man up all over themselves at the prospect of a Cuomo-R presidential candidacy, well, that’s unfortunately quite correct, I should think.

  178. 178.

    Julia Grey

    Who is this Bill in Portland person? What is he ON about?

    No, wait. My question really is: What is he trying to get us to DO?

    (If he is getting paid for some kind of agenda promotion, it’s not effective if we don’t have a clue what he’s trying to encourage us toward.)

Comments are closed.