Front page of the Courier Journal has Mitch McConnell's promises to the Koch brothers in their secret mtg http://t.co/XzDErYDAmg #kysen
— Justin Barasky (@JustinBarasky) August 28, 2014
The backstory, as described by Mr. Charles P. Pierce:
Charles and David Koch — America’s favorite political porn merchants and the Mitchell Brothers of the Citizens United era — are having a week for themselves. Really, it’s like watching a really good episode of that HBO series about the Nevada brothel. First, yesterday, noted ‘ho Mike (Payola) Allen, one of the founding geniuses of Tiger Beat On The Potomac, went on liberal MSNBC and had a giddy old time with Squint and the Meat Puppet about that silly Harry Reid and all that noise he’s been making about the fact that the Kochs are well on their way to strip-mining American democracy…
Central to the ads that TBOTP helpfully collected for us all was an invitation-only hootenanny held by the Kochs last June to which a veritable All Star team of prospective conservative political porn stars showed up to demonstrate their facility with the money shot, and I do mean money shot. And nobody auditioned for his close-up more enthusiastically than did Mitch McConnell, the Minority Leader of the United States Senate. The Nation got a hold of an audiotape of Mitch’s audition and, boy howdy, this guy has the potential to be the Ron Jeremy of the Koch grindhouse…
Dear Democrats: Here’s the thing. A full 74 percent of Americans polled favored raising the minimum wage. Mitch McConnell just spit in their eye to curry favor with two Americans. A full 69 percent of Americans polled favored extending unemployment benefits. But none of them are named Charles Koch or David Koch, so Mitch McConnell believes they don’t count….
More at the link, of course.
Not coincidentally, I suspect, this week New York has a feature piece on Alison Grimes, and the NYTimes lapdances gives McConnell a sympathetic spread…
BGinCHI
Corrupt politicians.
Not ideology. Not a hail mary to save his seat.
Corruption pure and simple.
You know why the right so fetishizes “American Exceptionalism”?
Because it allows them to ignore the fact that their political party is a corrupt machine.
rikyrah
Black man taken to jail for sitting in public area
At 9:43 a.m. on January 31, police were summoned to the skyway in downtown St. Paul’s First National Bank Building on a report of a man loitering. The video footage shows an officer asking the then-27-year-old man to provide his name.
“Why do I have to let you know who I am? Who I am isn’t the problem,” the man calmly replies.
“Because that’s what police do when they get called,” the officer responds.
The man explains he was sitting in the skyway waiting to pick up his kids at 10 o’clock from the New Horizon Academy school. He says he had gotten off work at Cossetta at 9 a.m.
He tells the officer, “First off, that’s a public area. And if there’s no sign that [says], ‘This is a private area, you can’t sit here,’ no one can tell me I can’t sit here.”
“The problem is…” the officer says, before she’s cut off.
“The problem is I’m black. That’s the problem,” the man interjects. “It really is because I didn’t do anything wrong.”
youtu.be/UWH578nAasM
blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2014/08/st_paul_police_roughly_arrest_black_man_sitting_in_skyway_video.…
Baud
Dear Pundits: Here’s the thing. As you should well know, a full 99 percent of Americans don’t vote the way their answer to polls suggest they should.
rikyrah
Andrew HasbunVerified account @andrewfox10
Judge allows Shanesha Taylor, who left kids in car during March job interview, to get kids back from state custody. pic.twitter.com/v4Cd20fgzZ
danielx
I’d say Mitch McConnell is a whore, except that he’s more of a pimp. Kentucky’s citizens are the ones getting screwed, and they’re not even getting paid for it.
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: So what else is new? (not sarcastic)
The Other Chuck
@danielx: Kentucky’s citizens are also going to reelect this shitheel for no reason other than to spite Democrats. I’m pretty much out of hope.
rikyrah
Grimes has been handed gift after gift in her race against The Turtle.
If she doesn’t win, she’s the most incompetent candidate since Cloakley in MA.
Baud
@rikyrah:
I don’t know how good a campaigner Grimes is, buy KY is not MA. She could do everything right and still lose because she’ll never be able to out-hate Mitch.
KG
@rikyrah: saw the video this morning on LGF. the comments over there are interesting, somebody essentially trolling with the “if he just would’ve not said anything, he wouldn’t have gotten tazed” line. to which everyone pretty much said, “bullshit, the guy did nothing wrong and still got tazed in front of his kids.”
there is something distinctly wrong with law enforcement in this country.
Hal
I won’t be surprised if McConnell win at all, but he seems to be putting in more effort than I would have anticipated.
KG
@Baud: yeah, it’s a state that favors Republican quite a bit, I think Cook has it as R+13 or some such. And McConnell has been pretty consistently leading in the polls since mid-July. Personally, I’d love to see him lose because I have no respect for any politician who pulls the “our number one priority is to make the president a one term president” bullshit.
rikyrah
@KG:
He was in a fucking PUBLIC PLACE.
Couldn’t tell him what HIS CRIME WAS other than SITTING WHILE BLACK.
J R in WV
We had a strong thunderstorm last night, and the power went off about 12:45 – amazing thunder and lightning, some rain. The county 911 center was off-line from powerful electrical surges called lightning strikes.
Our new backup generator, as expected, fired up 15 seconds after the power company went off line. Then about 6:30 the generator shut down. At first I thought the power company came back up, but not. The gen set shut itself off because of an oil leak, no harm done. Installer came by around 10, found and repaired the leak, added a little oil, told me I was still a little low, so tomorrow I’ll pick up some.
So we’ve been off line from the Innertubes for far too long!!! Here goes:
Mitch McConnell is without question the worst political powerhouse in the nation. I have been supporting his opponent as best as I can, and am optimistic that she will beat him like a drum this fall. If the Fancy Farm Picnic speeches are any indication, it will not be close, the McConnell dude will be toast.
That is all. No – everyone, please go to Grimes’s website, click on the link, and pitch in a few dollars at the Act Blue web site. Even $10 will help, and more if you can.
I’m a poor state employee retiree, and I’m kicking in to 6 or 7 candidates I hope to help hang on to whatever federal power we can. Locally, we’re going into town and making phone calls for a couple of hours for one candidate we believe we can trust to do a good job. Grew up on a farm, so knows what hard work is like – Republican opponent has literally never had a paying job in their life – elected offices only, ever. Rich, too.
THAT Says it all. Get out there and work for your freedom, people!!! ‘Cause the Republicans intend to take it away, eventually if not immediately.
GxB
I couldn’t read that Pierce bit without the image of Mitch “The Turtle” giving the “me love you long time…” line from FMJ.
Violet
People had asked previously how to help the folks in Ferguson. There’s an Amazon registry of stuff they need for the Heal STL headquarters:
Trollhattan
@rikyrah:
Did you see her take the wood to the Turtle in that barn whatever it was (can’t call it a debate)? God, that was a thing of beauty–she’s very, very good in front of a crowd.
Since I don’t know the state or its voters, I kanna guess what will happen, but know in general it’s hard as hell to unseat a zillion-term senator. Here’s hoping, anyway.
Baud
@J R in WV:
Thanks for your positive thoughts. It would be a nice win, especially because it’s Mitch and because Kentucky has been one of Obamacare’s main beneficiaries.
mai naem mobile
I hate reading this shit. Jeezus, at least most rich Hollywood actors realize that they are one of a very lucky few who make it and make sure that the unlucky majority get union scale. Successful journos are assholes who can’t wait to suck up to the rich and powerful even though their brethren end up getting screwed by the same people they’re sucking up to. And, oh yeah, thank WJC(big backer of Alison Grimes) for the DFH punching and the media consolidation that helped us get to this point. Hillary finally commented on Ferguson. I’m sure she was waiting for her Sista Souljah moment.
CaseyL
The comments in the newspaper; oh, FSM, the comments in the newspaper for that article. If you want to know why McConnell is still leading in the polls, read them. Then weep.
Here’s some good news: remember the Market Basket brouhaha? Where Arthur S. Demoulas wrested control of the company from his cousin Arthur T. Demoulas, in order to more efficiently extract large profits from the supermarket chain? All the employees, and all of the customers, rose up in revolt. Today, they won:
Arthur T. is once again in charge, though two of Arthur S’ henchpersons are still co-executives. And the company has taken on nearly $2 billion in debt to pay off the sonuvabitch. Still, it is a victory for the workers, and for non-exploitative corporate governance.
Kathleen
I’m not optimistic at all about a Grimes win. Their hatred of Obama trumps everything. The Tea Partiers in Northern Kentucky (which is the bastion of Tea Party strength in Kentucky) are the absolute worst.
Regarding Mike Allen, what would one expect from someone whose father was prominent in the John Birch society, a fact Mike does not talk about.
Randy P
Speaking of auditioning, I notice in the Newsmax feed that Bobby Jindal is suing Obama. I guess he’s trying to get out in front of Boehner and audition for some sort of lead Wingnut or something.
Cervantes
@rikyrah:
That took nerve.
Baud
@Randy P:
Pretty much my thought. “Look at me! I’m still relevant!”
sinnedbackwards
Well, McTortoise is why I’m keeping my voting residence in KY until next year: one more chance to vote against that $$&)?!$.
SiubhanDuinne
@Trollhattan:
She had a great line — at least, I saw it attributed to her, don’t know if it was from the “debate” — to the effect of “If the doctors told McConnell he had a kidney stone, he wouldn’t pass it.” LOL.
rikyrah
Obamacare lowered the uninsured by 40%, in Kentucky, at last count.
And Grimes can’t club the Turtle over the head with that everyday until November?
Really?
Seriously?
MomSense
@rikyrah:
Exactly. This is what bothers me. You know they are going to attack her by aligning her with Obama anyway so she has nothing to lose by talking up how much ObamaCare is helping Kentucky families.
Archon
Let me tell you a story about Mitt Romney. He became fabulously wealthy sucking jobs dry and turning communities into Pottersvilles. He took that ill-gotten wealth and hid it in overseas shelters to avoid paying taxes. He then had the audacity to run for President on an unapologetic plutocrat-style platform and last but not least was caught on tape openly deriding half this country as irredeemable moochers. He still got 47 percent of the vote and everyone from his staff, to his voters, to Romney himself were utterly flummoxed on why he didn’t win going away.
In other words don’t hold your breath waiting for an “a-ha” moment from some secret meeting that could sway votes, at least not for the rest of the Obama era.
Calouste
@mai naem mobile:
Most rich Hollywood actors started their career (metaphorically) by packing their belongings in a rucksack and taking the Greyhound to Hollywood. And realize that they got a lucky break at one point when they caught a director’s eye or were cast in a minor role in a movie that turned out to be a big success.
Most “successful” journalists started their career with a job that was given to them by one of their rich and influential parents’ connections: Cokie Robert, Luke Russert, Anderson Cooper etc., etc.
Mike in NC
NY Times lapdancing the Turtle?
When we were in Arlington VA last week I killed some time waiting for a table by perusing the Washington Post. It had a fawning article on Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan barnstorming the country on behalf of Republican candidates. A few pages later was another fawning article on Rick Perry visiting New Hampshire. Killed my appetite for dinner, reading such tripe.
big ole hound
@rikyrah: She does but you fail to understand how deep the hatred of blacks and Obama is in border states like Kentucky and Missouri. Common sense doesn’t matter and logic is trumped by the resentment that he is higher on the social chain than they are. I have lived in those places and most will never admit any of this but just know they are being shit on by an uppity n-clang an will vote GOP.
karen
I’m a little confused. Why would the people in Kentucky care that Turtleface is a whore for money? Don’t they already know? Aren’t the Koch’s the Red Staters guardian angels? Don’t they expect Turtleface to suck Koch?
(sorry, I couldn’t resist.)
Roger Moore
@mai naem mobile:
Some of it is that they know that there’s always a chance they’ll be back on the bottom of the pile someday; it’s happened to a lot of actors over the years. The other thing is that they all work together on common issues, like residuals and safety on the set. It’s no coincidence that accidents like the recent one on the Gregg Allman biopic happen a lot more frequently on non-union shoots. That accident killed a crew member, but it could as easily have been an actor. SAG looks after that kind of thing for big stars and bit players alike, so they have a big common interest.
Hal
@rikyrah:
Yep. They will ride their health insurance into their sunset years all the while screaming SOCIALISM!!! Keep in mind these are the same people who voted for Paul Ryan even though if he had their way anyone under 55 would be screwed once they hit retirement age.
Let’s face it. Obama has his good and bad like any President, but the man ain’t getting much credit for anything he’s done that’s benefited this country the way he might if he was white, Irish catholic Barry O’Bama.
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: Kentuckians still have to pay for that, and you know how conservatives hate paying for stuff they get.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
Like the commenters on that article, I’m wondering who the asshole was that called the cops on the guy for “loitering” in a public place.
I’m guessing that their problem was that he had done it a few days in a row at the same time because he was waiting for his kids, and That Could Not Be Allowed.
OzarkHillbilly
@big ole hound:
You ain’t just a woofin’ there.
Mnemosyne
@CaseyL:
From the articles I saw about the case, it sounded as though Arthur S. had some reasons for being pissed off at how his branch of the family was treated by their grandfather (I think?), but sometimes you gotta keep the family feud inside the family and not try to take down the whole company because of it. See the sad tale of Crown Books to see what happens when a family-owned business becomes the victim of a family feud.
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne:
So, what can we do to foment a feud between Charles and David Koch, or between the various Waltons?
JPL
@Hal: The stimulus was too small but still saved us from going over the cliff and most economists agree. Sometimes I wish he had followed the repubs advice and say f..k. it. Really these people or better yet, those people piss me off.
also, too. In fact since I live in the South, I’ve heard the term the others.
Well the f.king people at Fox News are the others.
The Dangerman
Wow, Gamecocks getting worked over at home….
AliceBlue
Sigh. I was under the impression that Grimes was maintaining a small lead. Still, I’m not ready to throw in the towel and join the we-were-never-going-to-win-anyway chorus.
PsiFighter37
NYT wrote a really POS puff piece on McConnell and the current race, but if anything, it did a good job highlighting that a) no one really likes him; b) he cares only about power (specifically, being Senate Majority Leader) and has zero interest or real convictions at this point beyond opposing Obama and doing whatever weird depraved things the Koch brothers want him to do; and c) he only ever wins because he shits on his opponents more than they shit on him.
I really, really hope that he loses. Not just as payback for Daschle’s loss in 2004, but because, unlike Daschle, McConnell is a fucking scumbag. I don’t know how you can think that shithead is good for anyone or anything. He only shows up in Kentucky acting like a local boy done good when it’s election time, and he thinks he’s untouchable because he’s 8-0 in elections.
Grimes hasn’t been as great on policy defense (particularly on ACA/Kynect) as I would like, but she’s causing him plenty of trouble, and the contrast – a turtle-like 70-year old pasty-assed white man running against a vivacious woman in her mid-30s – all I hope is that she can limit the bleeding in coal country and absolutely crush it in Louisville and Lexington.
If we win there (and realistically, I think that’s the only shot we have – I feel like Nunn isn’t willing to get her hands dirty enough to fight Purdue in GA), we will hold the Senate, no matter how much we bleed elsewhere. Throw in a potential surprise in Kansas, and maybe 2014 won’t be so bad. I think people doom & gloom because the MSM keeps repeating how ‘unpopular’ Obama is…but he’s got the economy on the right track, we’re not putting boots on the ground in the ME or in Ukraine, and even if he’s only in the mid-40s right now, Bush was still trending lower at this point in time.
I have a marginally positive feeling about this November, and it starts with this race, right here.
raven
@PsiFighter37: Perdue
satby
@PsiFighter37: so does Booman
raven
LOS ANGELES — USC senior running back Anthony Brown, who quit the team a week ago, called head coach Steve Sarkisian a racist Thursday.
Brown posted on Instagram on Thursday morning, “Sark treated me like a slave in his Office…Can’t play for a racist MAN!!!!! #Fighton” and posted a similar message on Facebook.
Dog On Porch
Talking hippie-sense to the democratic party will drive you crazy every time.
El Caganer
@raven: What in the world is going on at USC?
Dog On Porch
@El Caganer: Rat-fucking?
Dog On Porch
@Dog On Porch: For those unfamiliar with the very term, Google the name Donald Segretti, and/or ‘Watergate’.
Bobby Thomson
I really doubt that McConnell can auto-fellate.
Bobby Thomson
@rikyrah: OMG. Struggling against the urge to drive to Minnesota right now and kick that rent-a-cop’s ass. I hope the guy who got arrested gets paid a lot of money and that idiot loses his job.
ETA: And the comments – good lord.
Bobby Thomson
@PsiFighter37:
No way. Brownback is vulnerable. Maybe even Kobach. Roberts is safe.
Paul in KY
@rikyrah: I hope he sues em. I would.
Paul in KY
@The Other Chuck: Alison has metaphorically stepped on her dick a couple of times already. Can’t make error 1, if you want to take down Mitch the Bitch.
Paul in KY
@rikyrah: Much tougher battle in KY for a Dem, nowadays.
Ms. Grimes has not run a bad race, she just hasn’t run a great one (yet).
Paul in KY
@sinnedbackwards: God bless you!
Paul in KY
@MomSense: Alison needs to get those people to the polls.
Paul in KY
@Mnemosyne: Might have been staff at the bank.
Paul in KY
@PsiFighter37: The problem is that she has to limit the bleeding in Northern KY. Many, many more people up there & it is, unfortunately, a Republican stronghold.