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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Let there be snark.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Be a traveling stable for those who can’t find room at the inn.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Biden: Oh no. We’ve upset Big Pharma again.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Open Thread: Early Reactions

Open Thread: Early Reactions

by Anne Laurie|  April 13, 20156:12 am| 133 Comments

This post is in: Election 2016, Hillary Clinton 2016, Open Threads

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Road trip! Loaded the van & set off for IA. Met a great family when we stopped this afternoon. Many more to come. -H pic.twitter.com/5Va7zeR8RP

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 13, 2015

Eh, I kind of like the Hillary launch video. Maybe I’m just sick of the “WORSHIP YOUR NEW GOD” candidate-centric videos.

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) April 12, 2015

Will Leitch, at Bloomberg Politics, also kinda likes HRC’s announcement video:

… In the wake of the email pseudo-scandal reminding us why were suspicious of Hillary and the Clintons in the first place, we found ourselves skeptical of even things Hillary said that were obviously, demonstratively true. (Hillary is the first person I’ve ever seen get hissed at when she said she was excited to be a grandmother.) But you can’t be skeptical of the people in the ad. They feel like us: Demographically chosen for maximum strategic value, of course, but relatable nonetheless. They feel normal.…

It’s a clever, reactionary populism. If you don’t like what people are saying—if those unfavorable numbers are too high—change the conversation: Turn it outward to the people. It would seem awfully difficult, even with a low-impact primary season, to sustain this strategy for a 577-day campaign. This is, after all, a campaign video that barely features the candidate. But then again, Ted Cruz’s ads have to make him look like a Michael Bay cowboy; many voters don’t know who Ted Cruz is. We know who Hillary is. That’s the problem. On the first day of her campaign, Hillary went about fixing it by releasing an ad that had her hiding in plain sight. All told: That doesn’t seem like the worst way to kick this off.

The Repubs, of course, are milking their supporters’ anti-Clinton bias, and demonstrating in the process why even the fervent Obots among us should be wary of attacks on her. From Business Insider:

… Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who is considering entering the race, reacted to Clinton’s announcement with an email to supporters of his PAC, Right to Rise. Bush encouraged them to donate $5 to “stop” Clinton…

Bush predicted a Clinton presidency would exacerbate the “damage” caused by two terms of President Barack Obama.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who kicked off his presidential campaign last month, said a potential Clinton victory would mean a “third Obama term” in a lengthy press release sent out following her announcement…

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), who is also considering entering the race, sent a fundraising email to supporter criticizing Clinton as “part of the Washington problem.”… Walker also sent a trio of tweets about Clinton’s announcement wherein he called her “the architect of the failed foreign policy we’re seeing executed by President Obama today”…

(warning: continuous autoplay)

From the Washington Post:

… Aides and friends were mum ahead of the launch about how Clinton would answer the deceptively simple question of why she should be president.

A longtime friend and adviser, Burns Strider, said his own answer to that question lies in her personal history.

“She fixes problems; been doing it her whole life,” said Strider, an adviser to the pro-Clinton research group Correct the Record. “I’ve heard folks complain she’s not a politician. That’s a good thing — we have plenty. We need a leader and someone who can fix problems.”…

That’s not a bad answer. Back in 2008, when acquaintances started riffing on anti-Democratic “jokes” they’d picked up from talk radio, I would tell them there was a long history of women and/or people of color being called in to clean up the messes of rich spoilt man-boys like Dubya Bush. President Obama has done a superhuman job over the last seven years and counting, but there’s plenty of rich spoilt man-boys in Congress — not to mention Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and among the world’s leadership — who are still barfing in the parlor and knocking holes in the plumbing. Nobody thought Harry Truman was a worthy replacement for another larger-than-life charismatic president, but he managed to accomplish quite a lot by carrying on FDR’s mission…

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Reader Interactions

133Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    April 13, 2015 at 6:30 am

    Maybe I’m just sick of the “WORSHIP YOUR NEW GOD” candidate-centric videos.

    It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out as a contrast to the GOP’s traditional strong-daddy posture.

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 13, 2015 at 6:31 am

    I am so not looking forward to 577 days of “Benghazi!!!” and “E-mails!!!” and “IRS!!!” from the very people who brought us 9/11***, the invasion and forgotten occupation of Afghanistan, the whole shitshow that was Iraq, torture, Guantanamo, the economic collapse of 2008, the always rising deficits, the never ending religious fatwas, the…..

    Maybe I should just turn the internet off.

    *** 9/11 was a long time in coming and had many Fathers

  3. 3.

    Baud

    April 13, 2015 at 6:33 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Except Balloon Juice, I hope.

  4. 4.

    raven

    April 13, 2015 at 6:35 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: And it will differ from the last 577 days how?

  5. 5.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 13, 2015 at 6:36 am

    @Baud: Joe sez that Marco has promise, he’s alot like the President. He’ll be a hit with the young folk. Unfortunately, most Republican voters are.. well… not young.

  6. 6.

    Baud

    April 13, 2015 at 6:37 am

    @raven:

    Exactly. Welcome to the Democratic Party.

  7. 7.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 13, 2015 at 6:37 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Why do you hate America? Damn liberals.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    April 13, 2015 at 6:38 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Is Rubio announcing today?

  9. 9.

    raven

    April 13, 2015 at 6:42 am

    @Baud: Yea a report on him will be followed by Risnse Preuis who “will tell us what we don’t know abut Hillary” and then Calri Floridation who will reenact a pit viper in you car.

  10. 10.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 13, 2015 at 6:44 am

    @Baud: Yup.

  11. 11.

    Valdivia

    April 13, 2015 at 6:46 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    funny how all Republicans hate Obama but they run to declare any youngish candidate their own Obama (I have heard this about Rand, Cotton, Cruz, and Marco Rubio)

  12. 12.

    raven

    April 13, 2015 at 6:46 am

    “Mr Chairman” they call this bum!

  13. 13.

    JPL

    April 13, 2015 at 6:46 am

    @raven: How is morning Joe taking the news?

  14. 14.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 13, 2015 at 6:47 am

    @raven: Hence the overload.

  15. 15.

    Baud

    April 13, 2015 at 6:47 am

    @raven: @BillinGlendaleCA:

    I don’t understand why he would risk his Senate seat for this run. The only thing he ever brought to the table was appealing to Latinos by being reasonable on immigration. He failed at that and GOP primary voters don’t want that anyway.

  16. 16.

    raven

    April 13, 2015 at 6:47 am

    @JPL: That’s what I’m talking about.

  17. 17.

    raven

    April 13, 2015 at 6:49 am

    @Baud: Because he’s blinded by the light, dressed up like a douche you know he’s runnin through the night.

  18. 18.

    JPL

    April 13, 2015 at 6:49 am

    @Valdivia: Hillary is a grandmother, so it’s a way to point out that she’s old.
    Jeb is in his sixties so I’m not sure that helps him.

  19. 19.

    Baud

    April 13, 2015 at 6:50 am

    @Valdivia:

    You see, the people are stupid and they only like Obama because he’s cool. So these folks are like Obama because they’re cool too.

  20. 20.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 13, 2015 at 6:51 am

    @Baud: My guess is that he wants to get his name out there for a future run, or he’s a delusional idiot. From what I’ve heard of Marco, it’s probably the latter.

  21. 21.

    danielx

    April 13, 2015 at 6:53 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    *** 9/11 was a long time in coming and had many Fathers

    Chief among them being the Very Serious People* who continue to influence/guide foreign and national security policy to this very day. Because their/our Middle Eastern policies have been such a roaring success over the last thirty years.

    *Along with those fuckwits who aid and abet them for fun and profit.Yeah, I’m looking at you, William Kristol.

  22. 22.

    Mustang Bobby

    April 13, 2015 at 6:54 am

    @Baud: His best hope is that he will end up as the vice presidential nominee, but if they pick Jeb he’ll be constitutionally barred from running. Imagine Walker/Rubio…

    He’s gonna have to decide if he wants to keep running and give up his Senate seat since Florida doesn’t allow you to run for two federal offices in the same election. So he’s got to decide if he wants to be a high-priced lobbyist or a Fox News guest host. Or he could run for governor in ’18.

  23. 23.

    Mustang Bobby

    April 13, 2015 at 6:56 am

    @JPL: Not sure running on a Hillary-is-old campaign is going to go over too well with the Tea Party/Fox demographic that skews mainly between 65 and death.

  24. 24.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 13, 2015 at 6:56 am

    @danielx: Yes. On both sides of the aisle.

  25. 25.

    MattF

    April 13, 2015 at 6:59 am

    @danielx: I suppose it’s true that Kristol is a VSP, but OMFG.

  26. 26.

    Valdivia

    April 13, 2015 at 7:00 am

    @JPL: and even at her age she is more in touch with the millenials than these guys!

    @Baud: yes, exactly. And they all think that because Obama made it look easy it is easy. It is not, and their young guys are neither cool, not good, not smart.

  27. 27.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 13, 2015 at 7:00 am

    @Mustang Bobby:

    but if they pick Jeb he’ll be constitutionally barred from running.

    RB Cheney of Houston TX didn’t seem to have a problem with that.

  28. 28.

    Princess

    April 13, 2015 at 7:02 am

    When I am not lurking here, I hang out at a site full of hundreds of young women, mostly leftish, many vaguely interested in politics but many-low information voters or non-voters. Mostly also young enough to not have lived or not remember living through Clinton’s presidency. To them Hillary is a tough Secretary of State and a woman who gave Obama a run for his money. They mostly, in an ideal world, would prefer someone to the left of Hillary. But they are very, very excited about her running. Very. And they love the campaign roll out. So don’t underestimate her ability to draw in a whole new group of people who have been at the margin of political action.

  29. 29.

    BruceFromOhio

    April 13, 2015 at 7:02 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: On the contrary, I say bring it. The longer these two-bit ratfucking Republican criminals strut before the cameras spouting that bullshit, the more likely they end up in political cul-de-sacs with no where to go, sucking the grift teat and muttering to themselves. See Santorum, Rick.See also, Snooki, Snowbilly.

    Yes, FDL, but TBogg.

  30. 30.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 13, 2015 at 7:03 am

    @Valdivia:

    their young guys are neither cool, not good, not smart.

    Well duh, they’re Republicans.

  31. 31.

    Sherparick

    April 13, 2015 at 7:03 am

    Leitch reflects the meme that has seized the MSM horse race political media, that Hilary is so “retro,” so “1990s,” and and that well, yes most of what Republicans and Conservatives say about Hilary and Bill are lies, but where there so much “smoke” there must be fire, right? Actually, from Jeb to Ted to Rand to Marco to Scottie Huckabee, the basic proposals these guys are running on are the same as Dubya’s and Cheney’s first term, without the passionate conservative bit; e.g. wars, tax cuts for rich people, and getting rid of any pesky regulation that prevents the rich making the maximum of money possible no matter what fraud they indulge or pollution they dump. Consequences are for little people is theme between the lines of their sound bites about “freedom.” Talk about retro, they want to repeat 2001-2009, which worked out so well. And basically they want to do it scaring up to 70% of white voters to vote for them because of all those “Others” starting with the current President of the United States.
    b

  32. 32.

    Mustang Bobby

    April 13, 2015 at 7:05 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: IIRC, Cheney was registered to vote at his Fortress of Solitude in Wyoming.

  33. 33.

    Sherparick

    April 13, 2015 at 7:09 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: They also hate the President (not to fond of Hilary either, but the one thing the President has started to realize the last year is that he can troll these Republicans and prevent them from focusing on her while making them look insane to all outside the Conservative Industrial Entertainment Media Bubble).

  34. 34.

    danielx

    April 13, 2015 at 7:09 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Bombing Brown People has Bipartisan Appeal!

    I really should have gone into advertising.

  35. 35.

    IM

    April 13, 2015 at 7:11 am

    I liked the video. That is a decent start.

    and the logo is ugly but the Obama logo was rather uninspiring too and nobody cares about that anyway.

  36. 36.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 13, 2015 at 7:12 am

    @Mustang Bobby: That is true, however he lived and worked in Houston, TX for the 7 years after he was SecDef until he was selected(by himself) to be the Veep.

  37. 37.

    MattF

    April 13, 2015 at 7:12 am

    I think the possibility that Hillary is showing some flexibility and (dare I say it..) growth is bad news for the Rs. Their main tactic is to grab a hammer and just bang on that same old nail, over and over again. The possibility that their favorite nail has learned a new concept and has moved out of the way could be a real problem for them.

  38. 38.

    germy shoemangler

    April 13, 2015 at 7:18 am

    Saw a brief clip this morning of a Rand Paul speech. He had his right index finger in the air, and he sounded like a 1940s actor imitating a “statesman” with the pompous affectations.

  39. 39.

    Sherparick

    April 13, 2015 at 7:21 am

    Although a man, I go along pretty much with Hecate says: https://hecatedemeter.wordpress.com/2015/04/12/how-im-going-to-deal-with-hillary-clintons-campaign-because-thats-how-feminism-works/

    Whatever are problems we have with Hilary and the likely policies of a Clinton administration (to hawkish, to corporatist, to influenced by Robert Rubin and the “Washington Consensus” of 1990s, and fully invested in the National Security State), our Republican, Conservative, and Neo-Confederate fellow citizens and candidates have those same problems by exponents of 10, plus climate denialism, sexism, theocracy, and racism). The Presidency is the only institution presenting these folks, and their corporate and hedge fund masters from the Koch Brothers to Art Pope to Tom Ricketts to Bruce Rausner etc from running amok and doing to the country as whole what they have done to Texas, Mississippi, Kansas, and Wisconsin.

  40. 40.

    magurakurin

    April 13, 2015 at 7:22 am

    @Baud:

    Except Balloon Juice, I hope.

    That won’t save him. Here, he’ll have to listen to askew drone on endless about why we should all hate Hillary just as much as him……..sigh.

  41. 41.

    Luthe

    April 13, 2015 at 7:22 am

    Yet another unarmed black man shot by police: Eric Harris The cherry on the sundae is the shooter is a 73 year-old deputized civilian who was doing a ride along as an undercover cop because he’s a big time donor to the Tulsa PD.

  42. 42.

    LanceThruster

    April 13, 2015 at 7:23 am

    @IM:

    I actually liked the Obama logo (so I guess my beef below about the single letter ID is a bit inconsistent).

    I hate the H-> logo. It’s not particularly creative and my first thought is a branding that mirrors Dubya’s single letter moniker. First it’s the single names like Madonna, and Cher, and Rosie as celeb uber-status…now it’s single letters for pols? ‘Aitch’ ain’t really a power consonant if you ask me. Maybe it’s supposed to evoke a power female like in the ‘Hunger Games’ (bow and arrow huntress?). Well…we *are* currently in an apocalyptic style society at the moment, being jerked around by those in power.

    If I wanted to make a badass H logo, I would have just used the SS lightning bolts and connected them with a bar to make them an H but I guess that would have struck too much terror into the black helicopter crowd.

  43. 43.

    SuperHrefna

    April 13, 2015 at 7:23 am

    I’m sitting here in pre-surgical admissions where the tv is blaring Good Morning America and everyone is just sitting there staring at the screen slack jawed. I’m sure this constitutes torture – it’s not enough that I’m having surgery, I have to listen to these morons interpret Heb Bush’s response to Hill’s campaign too?

  44. 44.

    JPL

    April 13, 2015 at 7:26 am

    @SuperHrefna: The only comment that I saw from Jeb, is something about foreign policy. It sounds like he wants to return to the Bush years of bombing.

    You are fortunate that they don’t have Fox on.
    I hope that your surgery goes well.

  45. 45.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 13, 2015 at 7:26 am

    @magurakurin: I am beyond all hope. Just ask my wife.

  46. 46.

    LanceThruster

    April 13, 2015 at 7:27 am

    Some very good points here.

  47. 47.

    germy shoemangler

    April 13, 2015 at 7:27 am

    Decided to watch my local news last night. After they did weather, some local robberies and fires, etc., they moved on to national news. They showed a clip of the guy who ran from the cops and was shot by the 73 year old who thought he was using his stun gun.

    In the story, they said the cop can be heard apologizing to the runner, and then ended the story there. They then moved on to a black rapper who was jailed, and then on to footage of some black women who beat a homeless guy after they learned he’d hit one of their children. (I guess this was for balance, and to reinforce that these are bad people, not deserving of pity if one of them accidentally gets tased/shot.

    There was NO MENTION of “f**k your breath” on the local news. Just a remorseful cop apologizing for mixing up his taser with his gun.

    After the local news, I saw the national news. They showed the same footage, said the cop can be heard apologizing (I told my wife “he’s apologizing to the other cops, not the guy he shot) and this time the reporter admitted there’d been some profanity from the cops, (without going into detail about what was said and to who)

    So the average person who gets his news from broadcast tv NEVER GETS THE FULL STORY. It’s impossible.

  48. 48.

    MattF

    April 13, 2015 at 7:32 am

    @germy shoemangler: The story is just… Is there a scale of contributions to the PD? “If you donate enough money, we’ll give you a gun and a taser and you can threaten the bad guys. And, oh, btw…”

  49. 49.

    m.c. simon milligan

    April 13, 2015 at 7:32 am

    It’s a clever, reactionary populism.

    When did political writers start using ‘reactionary’ when they mean ‘responsive’? All it tells me is that the writer doesn’t know snakes from dildos politically speaking.

  50. 50.

    germy shoemangler

    April 13, 2015 at 7:33 am

    @MattF: What struck me was the selective editing on the local news. They only gave 1/4 of the story.

    Deliberately.

  51. 51.

    WereBear

    April 13, 2015 at 7:39 am

    @SuperHrefna: Good luck with that. Seriously.

    And yes, we were in a doctor’s office and your first response is “At least it’s not Fox” and then you are subjected to a segment edited in a blender with a lot of buzzwords shouted at you and at the commercial break you turn to each other with a WTF.

    So you have no one to turn to to eyebrow-say WTF.

    But I hear you.

  52. 52.

    Iowa Old Lady

    April 13, 2015 at 7:43 am

    @SuperHrefna: My dentist has taken to having the TV tuned to cooking and decorating shows. The last thing people in stressful situations need is political TV. Hope things go well for you today.

    We were at our son’s house in Chicagoland this weekend. They voted for Obama as their senator, though my teacher DIL was a big Clinton supporter in 2008. She told me that some of her co-workers, nominally Ds, but not really politically active, hate the Clintons. I think that could be a product of years of R mud slinging, and HRC has the opportunity to show them something different which is all the better for being a surprise.

  53. 53.

    Iowa Old Lady

    April 13, 2015 at 7:46 am

    @Sherparick: That’s a great post from Hecate.

  54. 54.

    Keith G

    April 13, 2015 at 7:49 am

    @LanceThruster:

    If I wanted to make a badass H logo, I would have just used the SS lightning bolts and connected them with a bar to make them an H but I guess that would have struck too much terror into the black helicopter crowd.

    ??
    I’m thinking that there might be an important Dem voting block that would have a question about that as well.

    @Princess:

    They mostly, in an ideal world, would prefer someone to the left of Hillary.

    As would I, but the last time America elected a liberal to an initial term of President was in 1932. Until (when/if) the now divided Democratic Party congeals around a core of ideals that is liberal in name and fact, such a president will not be elected. Hopefully those younger friends of yours are planning to get active in politics and help the change evolve.

  55. 55.

    danielx

    April 13, 2015 at 7:49 am

    @Baud:

    So these folks are like Obama because they’re cool too.

    They are? Gonna have to agree to disagree – with the possible exception of Rand Paul, they all look to be motivated by the fear that someone, somewhere….might be having a good time. And Rand Paul very much included, every last Republican candidate – hell, Republicans in general – sounds like they want to take something away from somebody, punish somebody, hurt somebody, or punish somebody by taking something away from them and/or hurting them.

    Or humiliating them – see Brownback, Sam, and legislature, Kansas.

    In short, they sound like a bunch of assholes, but the Republican base (also a bunch of assholes) loves all that evil shit and they eat it right up.

  56. 56.

    germy shoemangler

    April 13, 2015 at 7:50 am

    woke this morning to the sound of cat puking.

    She threw up on the downstairs gas stove. Right on the vent, so it dripped down into the inside. Had to take the thing apart to clean it up.

    She seems to do this more in the spring, because she’s shedding her winter coat and licking and swallowing more fur.

    I brush and comb her, which makes her want to lick herself more (and swallow more fur) because of the number 1 cat rule: ” anything touches me anywhere, I have to lick that place.”

    Who needs an alarm clock?

  57. 57.

    Baud

    April 13, 2015 at 7:51 am

    @danielx:

    I was speaking about the GOP’s thinking, not my own.

  58. 58.

    debbie

    April 13, 2015 at 7:55 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    You know, there are strong and very cogent responses that can made to each and every GOP shrieking accusation. Why don’t the Democrats with the megaphones ever make them?

  59. 59.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 13, 2015 at 7:56 am

    @Baud: Come on, we all know you think Marco’s dreamy.

  60. 60.

    debbie

    April 13, 2015 at 7:56 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    he’s alot like the President.

    He says that, and he likes Rubio?

  61. 61.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 13, 2015 at 7:59 am

    @debbie: They do, it’s just that the Right screams louder and the media report on the screamfest as tho it was a horse race and that the people screaming the loudest are winning.

  62. 62.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 13, 2015 at 7:59 am

    @debbie: As in being youthful and having an appeal to the kids, not policy wise.

  63. 63.

    LanceThruster

    April 13, 2015 at 8:00 am

    @Keith G:

    I was mostly being facetious but I do not like the logo she is using. Too derivative of the FedEx logo.

  64. 64.

    Baud

    April 13, 2015 at 8:00 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    I would like to quench his insatiable thirst.

  65. 65.

    debbie

    April 13, 2015 at 8:04 am

    @raven:

    Yea a report on him will be followed by Risnse Preuis who “will tell us what we don’t know abut Hillary”

    Ahh, this will probably be where they start running the “13-year-old Chelsea called the Secret Service pigs” allegation into the ground.

  66. 66.

    Jack the Second

    April 13, 2015 at 8:05 am

    Sarah Palin was also a grandmother when she was on the ticket.

    I know “opposite of what Democrats want” is really a Republican thing, but does anyone else themselves liking Clinton more and more the louder they hate her?

  67. 67.

    WereBear

    April 13, 2015 at 8:06 am

    I took a quick journey around the ‘Nets and some good people are making good points. While Mr WereBear has become completely radicalized and wants Bernie, I understand. He’ll come around and get excited. Because he wants to be.

    My deepest wish is that Hillary wants a couple of decades of payback. A serious, CGI-inspired, rabid-weasel beatdown on some hapless asses.

    I’d vote for that.

  68. 68.

    GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)

    April 13, 2015 at 8:07 am

    @Princess:

    That’s a good thing.Thanks.

  69. 69.

    WereBear

    April 13, 2015 at 8:12 am

    I decided that what keeps The Pure out of the voting booth is a misconception drawn from our consumerist society.

    The shoes I buy, the hat I wear, the brands I identify with… this is getting extended to politics. The fantasy of infinite choice.

    The candidate you vote for is not about YOU. It is the lever you pull to change the world to something you like better.

  70. 70.

    danielx

    April 13, 2015 at 8:14 am

    Also too, never let it be said that Bloody Bill Kristol doesn’t have a sense of humor.

    Bill Kristol floats Dick Cheney as “the most promising” of possible 2016 GOP candidates

    Trying to think of any time I’ve seen a picture of Dick Cheney that doesn’t show him snarling, sneering or smirking. I got nothin’.

  71. 71.

    Cervantes

    April 13, 2015 at 8:16 am

    This is, after all, a campaign video that barely features the candidate.

    Had it shown without any preface to an eight-year-old, and this is what she said thirty seconds in:

    “Hey, this is an ad!”

    (It may be significant that she has been taught to be severely analytical about advertisements in any medium.)

  72. 72.

    Baud

    April 13, 2015 at 8:16 am

    On reflection, I wish Hillary’s video had included Pajama Boy.

  73. 73.

    mai naem mobile

    April 13, 2015 at 8:17 am

    Heb Bush is a grandpa too if theyre going to go on about Hillary being a grandma. There a RW photoshop of Hillary’s logo where the two columns oh the “H” are turned into the Twin Towers with the plane about to hit the first column and smoke coming off the two columns. The only thing that worries me about Clinton is the 24/7 attacks from multiple GOP candidates. Thats reason enough to have a real primary on the Dem side.

  74. 74.

    Cervantes

    April 13, 2015 at 8:17 am

    @WereBear:

    By that theory, wouldn’t most people sit out every sale and not buy anything, ever?

  75. 75.

    danielx

    April 13, 2015 at 8:17 am

    @Baud:

    I know, never thought otherwise.

  76. 76.

    Cervantes

    April 13, 2015 at 8:23 am

    @m.c. simon milligan:

    You’re right, he meant “reactive,” not “reactionary.”

  77. 77.

    WereBear

    April 13, 2015 at 8:24 am

    @Cervantes: Most people can go to the store and find something they’ll be seen in.

  78. 78.

    Mustang Bobby

    April 13, 2015 at 8:27 am

    @danielx:

    Trying to think of any time I’ve seen a picture of Dick Cheney that doesn’t show him snarling, sneering or smirking. I got nothin’.

    What about that shot of him right after he swallowed the gopher in one gulp?

  79. 79.

    danielx

    April 13, 2015 at 8:28 am

    @Mustang Bobby:

    A satisfied smirk.

  80. 80.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 13, 2015 at 8:29 am

    @mai naem mobile:

    The only thing that worries me about Clinton is the 24/7 attacks from multiple GOP candidates. Thats reason enough to have a real primary on the Dem side.

    How would that make any difference? The Republicans, all of them including Ms. Demon Sheep, will attack Hillary 24/7 whether she has Dem opponents or not. Let me be clear, I’m not suggesting that other Dems not get in the race against her.

  81. 81.

    Cervantes

    April 13, 2015 at 8:32 am

    @LanceThruster:

    That was a good column by Clifton, thanks.

    Although it wasn’t his entire point, I liked especially his exposing all that Republican nonsense about the attack in Benghazi.

  82. 82.

    Cervantes

    April 13, 2015 at 8:34 am

    @SuperHrefna:

    Unplug it.

  83. 83.

    Sherparick

    April 13, 2015 at 8:36 am

    Per Digby, the big meta meme that Conservative Industrial Entertainment Media Complex (CIEMC) is promoting about Hilary is “She is an Old Woman.” http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-big-questions.html You have to wonder how Boomer white women who have trended Republicans the last six years in reaction to “Black Guy” in White House will react to the constant repetition of this meme. After all, they are talking about them being useless and old. If the idea is to get the young white male reactionary misogynists out to vote against her, I think the Repubs locked up that vote a long time ago (see Tucker and Buckley Carlson). Of course, like their racism with the President, they can’t help the misogyny and agism with Hilary.

  84. 84.

    LanceThruster

    April 13, 2015 at 8:37 am

    @Cervantes:

    I agree. It’s important to hold them accountable for their nonsense as when they (Goppers) say with a straight face that Shrubya kept us safe from terrorists (except for those times that he didn’t I suppose).

  85. 85.

    Cervantes

    April 13, 2015 at 8:38 am

    @Princess:

    Glad to hear it.

    Maybe lurk less, report more?

    (Thanks!)

  86. 86.

    germy shoemangler

    April 13, 2015 at 8:39 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: I don’t always get all the references here. Who is Ms. Demon Sheep?

  87. 87.

    Cervantes

    April 13, 2015 at 8:40 am

    @raven:

    reenact a pit viper in [your] car

    Wait — what?

  88. 88.

    dmsilev

    April 13, 2015 at 8:51 am

    @mai naem mobile:

    There a RW photoshop of Hillary’s logo where the two columns oh the “H” are turned into the Twin Towers with the plane about to hit the first column and smoke coming off the two columns.

    Even by the dubious standards of the right-wing idiots, that makes no sense. What did Hillary have to do with 9/11? Was she playing the long game and setting it up to cover for her actions in Benghazi?

  89. 89.

    dmsilev

    April 13, 2015 at 8:52 am

    @germy shoemangler: Carly Fiorina. Demon Sheep is a reference to this ad, which she aired during the primary of her doomed California Senate campaign.

  90. 90.

    danielx

    April 13, 2015 at 8:56 am

    @dmsilev:

    Was she playing the long game and setting it up to cover for her actions in Benghazi?

    Word from Michelle Malkin: clearly you know too much and should be keeping an eye out for strange cars and men with earbud headphones in your neighborhood. Who knows how far this conspiracy extends?

  91. 91.

    rikyrah

    April 13, 2015 at 9:05 am

    got through 3 episodes of Daredevil in Netflix.

    IT’S WONDERFUL!!!!

  92. 92.

    debbie

    April 13, 2015 at 9:12 am

    @dmsilev:

    More likely they’re unwittingly reminding people that just as Hillary’s neglect led to four deaths in Benghazi, Bush and Cheney’s neglect led to the deaths of 2,900 people.

  93. 93.

    Peale

    April 13, 2015 at 9:21 am

    @m.c. simon milligan: I know. I was wondering if the writer is some kind of unreconstructed pol pot supporter for whom the idea of softening ones image to appeal to voters is some kind of bourgeois idea straight out of Mussolini.

  94. 94.

    Hildebrand

    April 13, 2015 at 9:23 am

    The roll-out video was effective because it not only changes the game on what the Republicans expected, it is evidence that Sec. Clinton is going to do things her own way. I always wondered if ‘Hillary 2008’ was too much an attempted extension of the Bubba years. The video is obviously only a very brief tipping of the hat to the overall theme and strategy, but it was far more grounded than anything Bill did – maybe some of the No Drama Obama has rubbed off?

    Likewise, I think Sec. Clinton can make Obots happy with her critique of the Obama years by framing it in such a way as to say that President Obama couldn’t get more done because of the knaves in the Republican party. That, and to encourage the President to keeping trolling the republicans for the next two years.

  95. 95.

    boatboy_srq

    April 13, 2015 at 9:23 am

    we found ourselves skeptical of even things Hillary said that were obviously, demonstratively true

    I wonder if this could be a problem. We’ve already seen ODS reach levels where it’s eminently believable that the GOTea would complain about a yellow sky and blue sun because Obama mentioned the converse, and we’ve seen Gore’s entire political life shredded because he rides in aircraft and is (supposedly) “fat”. I doubt that the GOTea will get significantly worse with HRC than they are now, but expecting the derangement to slack off is foolhardy.

    @Sherparick: And once again we’re back to “vote Dem because Repubs are so much worse.” However true it may be we have got to find something more compelling than that.

    @mai naem mobile: @dmsilev: It makes perfect sense when you’re convinced that you can’t do anything wrong and that all the bad things that happen to your country are caused by Those People™. The GOTea is fighting a war: they’re the Good Guys™, and anyone opposing them is by definition opening the door to all manner of horrors – not because of incompetence or ignorance, but by deliberate design because They Hate Ahmurrca.

  96. 96.

    WereBear

    April 13, 2015 at 9:26 am

    Know what I LIKE about the logo?

    It’s an H.

    It’s about Her. It’s about Hillary.

    Just what I wanted :)

  97. 97.

    Cervantes

    April 13, 2015 at 9:30 am

    @WereBear:

    You do know who else had an initial “H,” don’t you?

  98. 98.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 13, 2015 at 9:32 am

    @Cervantes: Horatio Hornblower?

  99. 99.

    Cervantes

    April 13, 2015 at 9:34 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Hubert Horatio Humphrey.

  100. 100.

    Mike E

    April 13, 2015 at 9:41 am

    @Cervantes: Humbert Humbert

  101. 101.

    raven

    April 13, 2015 at 9:45 am

    @Cervantes: Bruce Hornsby?

  102. 102.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 13, 2015 at 9:46 am

    @Cervantes: And here I thought you were speaking of Barack HUSSEIN Obama.

  103. 103.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 13, 2015 at 9:49 am

    Weekday mornings almost always started with a post from mistermix. Did he retire when I wasn’t paying attention?

  104. 104.

    Cervantes

    April 13, 2015 at 9:53 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Or the Hesperides, nymphs of the sunset, after whom ancient Euesperides was named.

  105. 105.

    Mike E

    April 13, 2015 at 9:58 am

    Loving also how her announcement big foots the hell outa Rubio’s. Heh.

  106. 106.

    Patricia Kayden

    April 13, 2015 at 10:04 am

    I have yet to see the “damage” done by President Obama to this country or this world and I wouldn’t mind at all if Secretary Clinton is a third Obama term. That sounds about right to me. A third term of her husband’s administration (without the sex scandals) would also be great.

    When will Republicans figure out that everyone doesn’t look at President Obama as a scary boogeyman? Perhaps after they receive a well deserved whooping in November 2016.

  107. 107.

    Booger

    April 13, 2015 at 10:04 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Nice Polite Republicans reports that Rubio get the rap music the young’uns are so into. And nothing says hip like a middle-aged white republican who gets rap.

  108. 108.

    Booger

    April 13, 2015 at 10:06 am

    @Baud: He’s no Matt Santos, that’s fer sher.

  109. 109.

    WereBear

    April 13, 2015 at 10:06 am

    @Cervantes: LOL!

  110. 110.

    Cervantes

    April 13, 2015 at 10:21 am

    @Patricia Kayden:

    I have yet to see the “damage” done by President Obama to this country or this world

    Attended any weddings in Yemen lately?

    I agree that this President has done a lot of good, and if I could I might even vote for him again, but let’s not forget certain other aspects. (“A torched woman clutched her daughter in a lifeless embrace. Four severed heads littered the pavement.”)

  111. 111.

    Amir Khalid

    April 13, 2015 at 10:23 am

    @danielx:
    I saw that and said to myself, “Self, is there no end beginning to Bill Kristol’s words of wisdom?”

  112. 112.

    Anybodybuther2016

    April 13, 2015 at 10:26 am

    yawn – America

  113. 113.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    April 13, 2015 at 11:03 am

    @germy shoemangler:

    There’s an old “Sylvia” cartoon by Nicole Hollander that advertises an alarm clock that makes the sound of two cats vomiting — “guaranteed to have you up and out of bed within seconds!”

  114. 114.

    IM

    April 13, 2015 at 11:15 am

    @LanceThruster:

    She is already stamped as Hillary and she has to use Hillary because of the other Clinton.

    And no the stylish bolts of the SS can’t be reused I think.

  115. 115.

    LAC

    April 13, 2015 at 11:37 am

    @Hildebrand: ” Likewise, I think Sec. Clinton can make Obots happy with her critique of the Obama years by framing it in such a way as to say that President Obama couldn’t get more done because of the knaves in the Republican party. That, and to encourage the President to keeping trolling the republicans for the next two years.”

    That would beat the her running away from the president in the bid to get old white scared people vote. I hope that she goes with that approach. I am not up for hillbots telling me the equivalent of “lay back, point your feet to Jesus and think of shoes” in response to Clinton using her candidacy to undermine him

    @Cervantes – exactly what would president Obama do in Yemen to have stopped this singlehandedly? Because apparently no one else in the freaking world has any say on it, right? Did his cape get caught in the phone booth? Did his meeting at the justice league with batman, Wonder Woman and aquaman run over? What could he have done?

  116. 116.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    April 13, 2015 at 11:44 am

    @LAC:

    So far, President Obama has had nothing but praise for Hillary and said that he thinks she’ll make a great president, so I think the strategy is going to be Team Obama.

    I found out yesterday that Hillary was smart enough to hire the campaign manager who got Terry McAuliffe elected in Virginia by appealing specifically to minority voters rather than taking them for granted, so that’s a good sign.

  117. 117.

    Cervantes

    April 13, 2015 at 11:54 am

    @LAC:

    When you have a question that suggests you’ve actually read what I already wrote, then I may address it, if I see it.

  118. 118.

    Citizen Alan

    April 13, 2015 at 11:55 am

    @Mustang Bobby:

    HRC on election day will be two years younger than John McCain was in November 2008, and she has a longer life expectancy due to being female, AND she doesn’t have the health issues that have plagued McCain since Vietnam. i laugh at the hypocrisy of Republicans suggesting she’s too old.

  119. 119.

    LAC

    April 13, 2015 at 12:04 pm

    @Cervantes: Cervantes says:
    April 13, 2015 at 10:21 am
    @Patricia Kayden:
    I have yet to see the “damage” done by President Obama to this country or this world
    Attended any weddings in Yemen lately?

    I agree that this President has done a lot of good, and if I could I might even vote for him again, but let’s not forget certain other aspects. (“A torched woman clutched her daughter in a lifeless embrace. Four severed heads littered the pavement.”)

    Please let me know if I misread that.

  120. 120.

    LAC

    April 13, 2015 at 12:10 pm

    @Mnemosyne (tablet): I am glad to hear that.

  121. 121.

    Cervantes

    April 13, 2015 at 12:12 pm

    @LAC:

    Please let me know if I misread that.

    OK, you have now quoted some of it — but I have no idea if you mis-read any of it.

    Someone said she had seen no damage done to the world by President Obama. (In fact, she even scare-quoted “damage.”) I offered some evidence for her to consider.

    You still want to talk about Batman and capes and so on?

  122. 122.

    chopper

    April 13, 2015 at 12:20 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Mr. 4-H club himself, Harry Herbert Hoover Heaver.

  123. 123.

    LAC

    April 13, 2015 at 12:28 pm

    @Cervantes: still trying to figure out how the president’s damage is Yemen. If you want to get esoteric aboutt the word “damage” then every bad event that is going on In the planet is cause for blame (like world hunger) But if you are actually saying the acts in Yemen are evidence of his damage, then perhaps expand in it in a way that doesn’t sound like a “See? Here’s me caring because I read about Yemen” post.

  124. 124.

    Cervantes

    April 13, 2015 at 12:56 pm

    @LAC:

    I see what (probably) happened. You read my comment but did not follow the one link I provided therein. Here it is again.

  125. 125.

    Ruckus

    April 13, 2015 at 1:55 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    You might like this shirt.

  126. 126.

    AxelFoley

    April 13, 2015 at 1:57 pm

    @IM:

    the Obama logo was rather uninspiring too

    Um, how about no? The Obama logo is iconic.

  127. 127.

    LanceThruster

    April 13, 2015 at 1:59 pm

    @IM:

    You’re surely correct. I was mostly cracking wise. Maybe her logo will grow on me.

  128. 128.

    LanceThruster

    April 13, 2015 at 2:01 pm

    @Cervantes:

    HRC could be ‘Herc’ (rhymes with ‘work’ – evocative of ‘HERcules’).

    [I’ve seen some gawd-awful nicknames – not sure the source – i.e ‘Hill-dawg’ and ‘H-dog’ – like ‘Big Dawg’?]

  129. 129.

    Ruckus

    April 13, 2015 at 2:07 pm

    @debbie:
    That’s actually part of the problem. Democrats need to lead, not just punch back and give the bullshit credence. That is a change in the 2015 Hillary over 2008. At least for now she is leading with the right things instead of mudslinging. Early on in 08 I could have voted for either Clinton or Obama. But the farther along the primary race got the less I was willing to vote for Clinton, until there was not a chance I’d vote for her. I wonder if that is why so many are willing to vote for her as the dem candidate but not in the primary?

  130. 130.

    LAC

    April 13, 2015 at 3:21 pm

    @Cervantes: you are right about not going beyond your comment. I followed the link but saw corner drunk and mcglaring weighing too heavy in the comments. It is a conversation that we will probably have again with a president Clinton and by then the usual suspects here bewailing the world’s ills and shaking fists at Obama will be twisting themselves into pretzels haasplaining her foreign and security policies.

  131. 131.

    Cervantes

    April 13, 2015 at 4:39 pm

    @LAC:

    Well, I can’t be held responsible for what your suspects, usual or otherwise, have said or will say — but I will stand by what I wrote.

    Cheers.

  132. 132.

    sdhays

    April 13, 2015 at 9:05 pm

    @Hildebrand: I sure hope you’re right about Hillary copying the “No Drama Obama” approach. The two things that have always bothered me the most about Hillary are foreign policy (too hawkish) and her choice of advisers. I don’t have a lot of hope for #1, but if #2 is much improved, at least I can relax a bit that her chatty self-involved advisers won’t be undermining her campaign on the pages of the NYT or Fox “News”.

  133. 133.

    sdhays

    April 13, 2015 at 9:07 pm

    @AxelFoley: Yeah. I get that no logo is going to be liked by everyone, but “morning in America” in the O – I’m not really sure how you beat that.

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