Wow, an Ed Klein story that only makes sense as anti-Clinton fan fiction! Again. pic.twitter.com/MijgjqnV6x
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) March 15, 2015
Ed Klein, prolific RWNJ political fantasist — “Even Rush Limbaugh, the king of conservative talk radio, told his listeners that the purported dialogue in some of Klein’s florid set pieces… does not ring true” — has sold a new conspiracy theory to the New York Post:
… Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett leaked to the press details of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail address during her time as secretary of state, sources tell me.
But she did so through people outside the administration, so the story couldn’t be traced to her or the White House…
Six separate probes into Hillary’s performance have been going on at the State Department. I’m told that the e-mail scandal was timed to come out just as Hillary was on the verge of formally announcing that she was running for president — and that there’s more to come…
Last fall, during the run-up to the 2014 midterm elections, Jarrett was heard to complain bitterly that the Clintons were turning congressmen, senators, governors and grass-root party members against Obama by portraying him as an unpopular president who was an albatross around the neck of the party…
“Obama and Valerie Jarrett will go to any lengths to prevent Hillary from becoming president,” a source close to the White House told me. “They believe that Hillary, like her husband, is left of center, not a true-blue liberal.”
If she gets into the White House, they believe she will compromise with the Republicans in Congress and undo Obama’s legacy.
“With Obama’s approval,” this source continued, “Valerie has been holding secret meetings with Martin O’Malley [the former Democratic governor of Maryland] and [Massachusetts Sen.] Elizabeth Warren. She’s promised O’Malley and Warren the full support of the White House if they will challenge Hillary for the presidential nomination.”
If you can parse the highlighted quote — how does ‘left of center’ contradict ‘true-blue liberal’? — you have a better grasp of RightWingSpeak than I. But at least now you know where your dittohead office acquaintance or elderly Fox-watching uncle picked up the new scary-tale they’ll be offering you breathlessly tomorrow.
***********
Apart from rolling our eyes, what’s on the agenda as we wrap up the weekend?
Mnemosyne (tablet)
Assuming that this is true (which I tend to doubt), it’s funny that the Republicans fear and loathe Jarrett for doing the exact stuff that they lionized Karl Rove for doing. IOKIYAR, indeed.
jo6pac
Not a fan of hillabilly but who cares in that everyone does this so if this is a crime then try all the criminals and not just in this white house. Right doj doesn’t look back unless it’s one of those evil whistle blowers;)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Ed Klein is a low road even for the Post. What surprised me was Slate linked to this as if it were at least gossip. I would think even NewsMax doesn’t take Ed Klein seriously.
Cliff in NH
they are just complaining that she isn’t full on liberal, too corpe-rat, too many bankers and wall street types, that kind of stuff.. the usual.
Heliopause
I went contrarian on a few picks here, just to mix things up a bit.
1 Kentucky
1 Villanova
1 Duke
1 Arizona
2 Wisconsin
2 Virginia
2 Kansas
2 Iowa St
3 Gonzaga
3 Notre Dame
3 Baylor
3 Maryland
4 Northern Iowa
4 Oklahoma
4 Wichita St
4 North Carolina
5 SMU
5 VCU
5 Providence
5 Utah
6 Arkansas
6 Xavier
6 Louisville
6 Michigan St
7 West Virginia
7 San Diego St
7 Oregon
7 Butler
8 Davidson
8 Georgetown
8 Cincinnati
8 Temple
9 North Carolina St
9 Colorado St
9 Ohio St
9 St John’s
10 Oklahoma St
10 Iowa
10 Georgia
10 Purdue
11 Indiana
11 LSU
11 Texas/Old Dominion
11 Boise St/BYU
12 Buffalo
12 Wyoming
12 Stephen F Austin
12 Wofford
13 Valparaiso
13 Harvard
13 Georgia St
13 North Dakota St
14 UC Irivine
14 Northeastern
14 Eastern Washington
14 New Mexico St
15 Albany
15 Belmont
15 Texas Southern
15 UAB
16 Coastal Carolina
16 North Florida
16 Lafayette/Manhattan
16 Robert Morris/Hampton
Germy Shoemangler
I’m not big on conspiracies, but I couldn’t help but notice Monica Lewinsky everywhere the past few months, when I hadn’t heard a peep from her in decades.
It’s easy to believe that stuff just randomly pops up on the tee-vee and other meedja without recognizing all the marketing folks behind the scenes.
Like tonight, I think 60Minutes is doing yet another attack job on Social Security. “Somebody” wants social security dead, and so suddenly and innocently all these AP news items are popping up about six million 112-year-old americans and SSDI cheats etc.
eemom
I’ll totally support Hillz if she’s the candidate, but I’ll never forgive her for tempting me to read MoDo today.
Amir Khalid
I don’t find it particularly believable that Obama would do this. If he thought Hillary was itching to undermine his legacy he wouldn’t have appointed her to his Cabinet. And if he had Jarrett do this through people not connected to the White House to avoid detection, how did Ed Klein’s sources find out about it? Or he is merely repeating their speculations?
JCJ
@Heliopause:
Seriously doubt Indiana gets in. They were pretty bad towards the end of the season.
Tree With Water
Yeah, never mind Hillary’s cheerleading Bush-Cheney War vote. It is her (apparently) legal-and-above board adherence to calculatedly flawed laws regulating this stuff that is really, really important.
JCJ
@Amir Khalid:
Speculations? More likely he was doing some ‘shrooms.
Emerald
And Senator Professor Warren is not running for president. Really. She isn’t.
Puts the lie to the whole story right there.
JCJ
@Heliopause:
I stand corrected
Baud
This story is missing a lesbian love triangle. B-.
Amir Khalid
More importantly, when is The Theory of Everything coming to my local cineplex? I’ve been waiting and waiting.
JPL
@eemom: Nothing can make me click on modo.
Germy Shoemangler
From Raw Story:
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was forced to pause a speech in New Hampshire on Sunday after he reportedly terrified a little girl by shouting that her “world is on fire.”
While speaking at an event sponsored by the Strafford County Republican Committee, Cruz warned that there was an “urgency to politics today that is unlike anything any of us have ever seen.”
“It is now or never,” he explained. “I don’t think we’ve reached the point of no return yet. But we’re close. We are close! And I believe if we go four or eight more years on this same path, we risk losing the greatest country in the history of the world.”
“Millions of Americans are realizing this isn’t working,” the possible Republican presidential candidate continued. “The Obama economy is a disaster. Obamacare is a train wreck.”
“And the Obama-Clinton foreign policy of leading from behind — the whole world is on fire.”
Tampa Bay Times political editor Adam Smith noted on Twitter that Cruz had to pause his speech to respond to a little girl in the audience who was young enough to be carried by her mother.
“Ted Cruz literally just scared a little girl in NH,” Smith wrote. “‘The world is on fire?!’ she asked, repeating his line on Obama-Clinton foreign policy.”
“The world is on fire,” Cruz replied, turning to face the girl and her mother. “Yes! Your world is on fire!”
Realizing that his rhetoric might have gone too far, the Texas Republican decided to do some damage control.
“But you know what?” he asked. “Your mommy is here and everyone is here to make sure that the world you grow up in is even better.”
JPL
@Amir Khalid: I haven’t seen it yet and here you can stream it on Amazon.
If you haven’t seen the Imitation Game, try to. This week I’m going to see Cinderella with a friend and I’m excited about that.
Corner Stone
And isn’t it rich they picked Jarrett as the culprit?
Corner Stone
See ya later Bulldogs.
WereBear
@Germy Shoemangler: Oh gee. I’m ready to entrust the nation to this guy. Oh yeah.
mai naem mobile
Ted Cruz reminds me.of the Bob Roberts character in the Tim Robbins movie.
The RW has a real thing about Valerie Jarrett. Never heard this crap about Axelrod, Plouffe, Rahm, McDonough, the lawyer guy whos been his buddy since law school whos in charge of the library search(can’t remember his name) etc.
Suzanne
@mai naem mobile: I can’t imagine why they hate Valerie Jarrett so much. Oh wait.
MattF
Once one realizes that Klein’s ‘sources’ are the voices in his head, it all sorta makes sense. But where’s the drug dealing? And the homicides, and the lesbian BDSM? Weak sauce, IMO.
Amir Khalid
@JPL:
I’m thinking I’ll see either Cinderella or Spongebob this week.
Thomas
@Germy Shoemangler: holy shit is he a dumb ass
KG
Wingnut translator…
Left of center: DINO
Right of center: RINO
Liberal: traitorous commie rat bastards that want to force gay marriage on everyone while taking away guns, bibles, and fatty foods, and faxing all your money away to pay for illegals
Conservative: true, patriotic, american loving, God fearing chirstian
(ists), who believe in truth, justice, and the American way (circa 1840)Botsplainer
My Louisville Cards are a 4 seed? LOL.
They won’t make it through two games this year, way they’re playing.
Cervantes
@Amir Khalid:
“More important,” not “more importantly.”
(Others I might not bother correcting but you, I think, appreciate it.)
Cervantes
I imagine a “not” was left out inadvertently.
“Left of center” could also mean “not a Cold War liberal,” but I doubt that’s what was intended here.
Baud
@Germy Shoemangler:
The shingles virus is already inside you!
MattF
@Baud: I’m glad to see that Cruz isn’t doing very well thus far in the pre-pre-pre primary season.
Botsplainer
@Baud:
Who was the evil fucker in The Dead Zone? Stillson?
Cruz reminds me of him.
Hal
I can’t believe any of you would even remotely believe this story. It sounds like the winner of a Clinton Derangement Syndrome writing seminar being hosted by Maureen Dowd.
Mike in NC
Kraphammer’s syndicated column today was entitled “Early Onset Clinton Fatigue”, which must indicate he’s pivoting away from Obama Derangement Syndrome.
Baud
@MattF:
Me too. Rand also seems to be flailing, although he is a different kind of crazy.
@Botsplainer:
Never saw the show.
Baud
@Hal: I pretty sure no one here remotely does.
The Dangerman
@Baud:
…involving Vince Foster (yes, Vince was packing a package, presumably, so call it an honorary lesbian love triangle).
Roger Moore
I assume that “close to the White House” is a description of a bum sleeping on the street in the neighborhood.
Just Some Fuckhead
New York Post, must be true.
Carolinus
Klein is an absolute joke and anyone here who is even entertaining his latest round of made-up ratFing is embarrassing themselves by association.
Corner Stone
@Hal:
Commenter askew you’re needed at the…uh, white phone? Commenter askew please answer the Balloon Juice lobby phone.
Amir Khalid
So now you know: Chris Christie is the Anne Hathaway of American politics. This is political reporting from a prestigious newspaper based in a national capital. Facepalm.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Amir Khalid: Fixed.
Chris Christie
isate the Anne Hathaway of American politics.Ultraviolet Thunder
I’ll start caring about Hillary reporting when the story is that she has pounded the GOP’s chosen rich white dude into a thin, transparent film.
Until then it’s all trivia.
Heliopause
@Heliopause:
Not bad. As the pundits indicated, UCLA was a complete joke, the only west coast team that doesn’t suffer from east coast bias. Georgetown was way overseeded. Colorado State got screwed. The rest you can make a case for, my own crazy pick was Old Dominion and I don’t think they even got a sniff.
jake the antisoshul soshulist
@JCJ:
Are you kidding, they had to put IU, UCLA, TEXAS, and LSU in. They are from the Big 5 conferences. Otherwise they would have to let in peons like Richmond and Old Dominion.
Amir Khalid
@Cervantes:
I do appreciate it, thank you.
Tree With Water
Charlie Watts has been arrested for first degree murder!…[peers more closely at the photo]… oh, never mind. It’s just a photo of Robert Durst. The guy could be Charlie’s brother.
BubbaDave
I don’t know about you, but I’m going to repeat this story to every RWNJ at my office. If we can convince them that Obama hates Hillary, they’ll vote for her just to spite him and we’ll end up with a landslide that makes Goldwater ’64 look like Reagan ’84.
cckids
@Botsplainer:
This. So much this.
HRC supporter
Can’t wait for Hillary to begin her first of two terms as president. She should be finishing it up now, but there was an unfortunate delay. The Klein worms of the world can drop into the Grand Canyon and won’t be missed.