What 2012 changed: even little-known Rs act like stars. Swagger. Haughty w/ press. See debate stages in future, even if nom a pipe dream.
— Robert Costa (@costareports) April 19, 2015
The crowd at Rick Perry’s “youth town hall summit” in Milford, N.H. pic.twitter.com/bwpUQHcyR0
— Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) April 16, 2015
I spent my daylight hours checking out another garden center and raking wintercruft away from my lilacs, and I’m tired. But the lilac buds are swelling, and it looks like the forsythia that overwintered in root pouches may actually have survived being buried under four feet of contaminated snow, so that’s a win.
The Storify below is only for true political addicts — a British writer for the Guardian watching the NH Young Republicans (age 18-40), plus Ted Cruz, in action.
Apart from point-of-order obsessives, what’s on the agenda as we wrap up the weekend?
My adventure in New Hampshire's Young Republican meeting (kindly storified by @JeffGazzard)
https://t.co/MTsvVWuDdl #FITN
— Nicky Woolf (@NickyWoolf) April 19, 2015
raven
Call the Midwife and Selfridge. Selfridge has gone from a silly soaper to a serious show about post WWI PTSD.
Keith G
In news that really matters, the Ohio State Buckeyes football team played it’s spring intrasquad game in front of a crowd of 93,330.
No expectations there.
Go Bucks!
NotMax
Forecast: Crazy with chance of clowns.
Howard Beale IV
Nicky Woolf should get hazard pay from the Guardian.
HRA
I spent some time raking my flower beds while a daughter and her bf picked up all the leaves on this 2 lot property. After finishing a section, I turned and went across to work on one in an alcove next to the house and saw a dead small animal plus 2 without heads. My husband came out to clean it and found 3 live baby bunnies buried under the leaves. Another daughter cared for and has saved baby animals in the past. She has them now.
Violet
Somehow typed something else where my name should go. Can someone please delete that one. Reposting the content:
Dug more ditch out today. Put the dug out part up next to the street to hopefully fill in the rut that was forming there and help out all the grass that was killed when the construction workers parked their cars there day after day for months on end last year. That was followed by heavy equipment trucks with huge trailers hauling diggers and so forth that parked there or pulled off to pass. It was a mess.
After all the digging and moving of soil and sod, I used a sledgehammer to pound in four foot rebar and put up flagging tape to mark it off so people can’t park there or use it to pass. I am sure I’m not making friends in the construction worker community but I don’t really care about that. The neighbors are happy about it because they’re as tired of the construction vehicles parking there as I am. Dug more ditch out today. Put the dug out part up next to the street to hopefully fill in the rut that was forming there and help out all the grass that was killed when the construction workers parked their cars there day after day for months on end last year. That was followed by heavy equipment trucks with huge trailers hauling diggers and so forth that parked there or pulled off to pass. It was a mess.
After all the digging and moving of soil and sod, I used a sledgehammer to pound in four foot rebar and put up flagging tape to mark it off so people can’t park there or use it to pass. I am sure I’m not making friends in the construction worker community but I don’t really care about that. The neighbors are happy about it because they’re as tired of the construction vehicles parking there as I am.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@Howard Beale IV: And treatment services as needed.
Not surprising that the klown kar kavalcade are behaving like pretentious, entitled ‘bags. As my grandfather used to say, “you is what you is.”
Carl Weese
You want forsythia to live? Why? It’s the second most awful thing in the universe (bittersweet is first). I’ve tried everything to eliminate the monster mass of the stuff that’s grown from what former owners planted here. Hiring a backhoe to dig the mass out by the roots is probably the only thing that might work.
Hal
WTF is up (pun intended) with Steve Kornacki? Last week he had Rick Lazio on to say Hillary Clinton would use her gender against GOP candidates. This week is was some republican strategist and Rick Ungar talking about how Hillary’s first week was a complete disaster.
I’m not Clinton’s number one fan, but how anyone could describe this past week as a disaster is beyond me. His guests all seem to be total shills lately, and I can only assume it’s the hour this show is filmed. Maybe too early for non-shills.
Pogonip
I suggest everyone vote for the candidate who shaves the cat with Harry’s. Shaving the cat at all shows courage; shaving ir with Harry’s shows frugality and a good eye for quality. But, you ask, what if the candidate has no cat?
Inconceivable.
andy
@Howard Beale IV: Kind of amazing how a Brit journo delivers more actual news in tweets than most US counterparts do in regular long form…
SiubhanDuinne
@Hal:
I’ve been without TV for a year or more, so the only time I see MSNBC programs is when I’m on the road, which happened last night/this morning. I didn’t pay much attention, but I do remember registering the idea that I made the right decision.
Felonius Monk
The New Hampshire ReDumboKlowns display the party’s anal warts on the national stage.
The Fat Kate Middleton
OMG. One of the funniest things I’ve read in weeks. And the bride shows up to meet Scott Walker!
Violet
@SiubhanDuinne: The only time I watch cable news shows is either when I’m stuck somewhere and that’s what’s on–airport, waiting room, etc.–or if there’s some kind of breaking news. Otherwise I just watch local news, mostly for the weather.
max
Well, that was cute.
I don’t even know what Gilmour’s theory is – so I can’t award him a derby car. Damn.
max
[‘How many candidates are running?’]
Jeffro
Why is he saying 2012 changed it? 2008 changed it, if anything. These GOPers no longer care about their resumes (that’s sooo old-school GOP, to wait your turn) and they all think they have their ‘fingers on the pulse’ (of what, I’m not sure I want to know).
Someone ought to ask them all, “You’re each convinced that this is your time…why do you think that is?”
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Getting set to take the Kickstarter live sometime in the early hours of the morning. Just need to make a couple of edits and it’s set to go.
Right now, though, I’m having trouble remembering which user name and password I used for it.
Violet
It’s hailing! Sort in between pea-sized and marble-sized. Not quite big enough to damage property but there’s a lot of it.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@Hal: The Narrative must be served, all hail The Narrative.
SiubhanDuinne
@Violet:
I check weather on my iPhone when it really matters. Usually it doesn’t, and unless it’s expected to be terribly rainy, hot, cold, or windy, the weather just does what it does without any input from me.
Violet
@SiubhanDuinne: I do a lot of gardening so like to have some idea of what’s going to happen so I can plan around it. Especially important if I have to cover plants during the winter freezes. Nice to know ahead so I can plan. But like today I worked on some specific things because I knew we had a chance of rain this evening. And sure enough, it’s pouring and hailing. Glad I got the specific things done that I decided to work on!
Iowa Old Lady
Sounds like the candidates aren’t being nice enough to Costa.
Anne Laurie
@Carl Weese:
No lie: I’m hoping the forsythia will smother some of the bittersweet here — and the ailanthus, which is really the most awful plant in the area, if not the universe.
Also, while forsythia does look messy the rest of the year, I love the riot of yellow blossoms in the early spring when everything else is still grey & horrible. I’m putting these transplants along the section of our property line that divides my ‘tomato garden’ (planters on an asphalt strip) from the trash-brush running down to the storage unit business next door, so they can’t really do much damage no matter how “invasive” they attempt to get.
Origuy
The plus side of the drought here in California is that I have an excuse to ignore the 15 square feet around my patio that serves as my garden. Since it gets little sun, there isn’t much that will grow there. The ferns are taking over, which is fine with me.
MomSense
I worked out in the yard today which felt wonderful even if the chores were tedious. My youngest spent the day with his cousins and then we all had dinner together. They all have school vacation this week so we are going to do some hiking provided the weather is ok.
Tonight is a quiet night of tv and tea.
One of the downsides of campaigning in NH is that I actually recognize some of the people from the live tweets. I generally try to cross the street when I see a young repub coming.
Mandalay
Marco Rubio Says Being Gay Is Not a Choice
Who knew? Anway, Rubio’s announcement is conveniently aligned with the views of Wall Street parasite Paul Singer, who has a gay son. He is up there with Adelson and the Koch brothers in terms of raising loot for Republicans, and even Rubio managed to work out what his position should be if he wanted to get some free money from Singer and his buddies.
I think this campaign is going to be really rough on the homophobe candidates like Cruz, Huckabee and Santorum. Not only has the public become more tolerant, but so have some of the donors; David Koch and Paul Singer both support gay marriage. The 27% haters are still out there, but the hatemonger candidates who want to chase their votes might find that the donors are now more willing to taking social issues into account before handing over their money.
SiubhanDuinne
@Violet: If I were a gardener, I’m sure I’d pay much closer attention to the weather. As it is, I live in an apartment (townhouse), and even in the vilest of weather, all I have to do is get from my front door to the car, usually all of 10-12 feet. My thumb is about as far from green as is possible.
Baud
@Mandalay:
If only the rich were poor, we’d be set.
Roger Moore
@Pogonip:
Then they aren’t getting the Balloon-Juice vote. Except for Obama, who seems to have managed to avoid our outright ire despite lack of any family feline.
SiubhanDuinne
@Carl Weese:
I’ve never heard or seen anyone hate on forsythia before. I love it; it’s one of the first signs of spring (here in Georgia, it often shows up blooming I late January or early February — what could be more inspirational?).
For much the same reasons, I adore dandelions — their bright color, their insouciant shags — and have never understood why the great majority of people classify them as weeds. I think they’re fun and attractive.
Bill Arnold
@Carl Weese:
Re forsythia, this looks like it might work.
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/kill-multiple-forsythia-bushes-21926.html
It involves triclopyr (follow listed precautions), stump remover, power hand tools and other hand tools, but no backhoe.
(My spouse complains about a few big clones of staghorn sumac, which are even harder to kill.)
Davis X. Machina
That storified Twitter stream is identical to the 2004 Maine state Democratic convention.
Kucinich people, and their state-level Department of Peace, and the platform.
Tied everything up in knots for three hours.
There may not have been a quorum at the end to adopt the platform — we still don’t know.
Anne Laurie
@Iowa Old Lady: Costa’s the national political report for the Washington Post, the local paper for the company town whose monopoly industry is national politics. He’s all about the business of the campaign — which candidates are liable to have an effect on the mid-level bureaucrats & north Virginia/Maryland realtors & retailers in his (& his paper’s) personal backyard. His job is to assess who’s gonna affect life in DC, not to market some “brand” of punditastic thumbsuckery.
I suspect he regards all those no-hoper Repubs swanking around demanding equal time because JEEBUS or BENGHAZI or HEARTLAND as a tedious waste of time he could otherwise spend assessing the support staff of the serious candidates.
Chris
There appears to be some sort of fire ongoing in southwest Miami. According to the news, nobody’s injured, but the smoke columns have been dramatically impressive. (100 acres on fire, they say).
Presumably because of this, a flight of helicopters and V-22 Ospreys flew by a couple hours ago. I had no idea the Osprey was a firefighting tool; you learn something every day.
Roger Moore
@Jeffro:
I don’t think they believe it’s their time; they think it’s now or never. 2016 is a relatively open election, with no incumbent in either party. That won’t be true in 2020, when they’ll have to face an incumbent either in the primary or the general. And they have to know that demographics are working against the white people’s party, so waiting until 2024 isn’t much of an option.
Roger Moore
@Mandalay:
Sure, but it only takes one bigoted sugar daddy to keep their grift going.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
And we’re live!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1282165987/becoming-phoebe
Anne Laurie
@Bill Arnold: For sheer obnoxiousness, I will pit our ailanthus against your staghorn sumac any day.
Actually, my ex-Michigander Spousal Unit refers to the ailanthus runners that pop up all over our property (even the asphalted bits) as “sumac”. Totally different species, but similarly pestiferous. At least you’re supposed to be able to make a refreshing drink from sumac berries — our ‘tree of heaven’ is poisonous as well as unpleasantly odiferous.
MomSense
@Davis X. Machina:
The 2012 Republican convention was a trip. The great Ron Paul delegates mutiny. The platform that came out of that convention was interesting as well.
@Davis X. Machina:
I happen to know and like a bunch of those Dept. of Peace folks but there is a reason I avoid conventions and committees.
Violet
@efgoldman: Because if I camouflage it they heavy equipment trucks will run right over the rebar and bend it and ruin it. The rebar doesn’t stand a chance against the cement truck or the giant tractor-trailer cab carrying a flatbed trailer with a full sized bulldozer or digger on it. Those vehicles can’t park on our neighborhood but it doesn’t stop them from trying.
It might puncture the tire of a regular car but I’m not really trying to do that. I just want them to park somewhere else. I’m not the only person in the neighborhood doing this. We’re all sick of it. If the construction people can’t build things without parking all over someone else’s property then maybe they should bring different equipment.
Roger Moore
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
You now have your first backer.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
By the time Mom finally took the leap to sell the big house the back yard was about 1/3 overrun with bamboo. In New York. Stuff is insidious once it invades.
Bamboo and cockroaches will be what survive a nuclear holocaust.
Here, we have an infestation on the property of what the locals call cane grass. I’ve attacked it with undiluted RoundUp (proper precautions taken), I’ve dug it up – root balls and all – completely, and still it comes back. Only thing that seems to faze it is dousing with salt water. Serendipitously, have ready access to lots and lots of ocean.
Davis X. Machina
@MomSense: I don’t mind a federal Department of Peace — although State should be precisely that. My objection is to insisting that the platform endorse it being replicated at the state level.
States don’t have foreign policy apparatus. They don’t provide international aid and development.
They’re states. Augusta isn’t the place for this.
Tried to explain this for four eternal hours one May afternoon.
Oh, and knowing parliamentary procedure helps.
MomSense
@Davis X. Machina:
Better you than me. I’ve tried to explain why I don’t think our state should have a Dept. of Peace in a small group but I gave up after about 15 minutes and ordered another coffee.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Roger Moore: Thanks!
I also have my first problem. My parents, for reasons they’ve never actually articulated, won’t contribute directly. Instead, they gave me a check for $5,000 and told me to just donate it myself. I just learned that I can’t contribute to my own project. So I sent an email to a bunch of friends asking if someone will donate that amount and I’ll give them a check for it.
Baud
@MomSense:
Wouldn’t a Dept. of Peace be in conflict with what you want to do to Eliot Cutler?
MomSense
@Baud:
I could settle for shunning.
Digital Amish
“Washington republicans were convinced that after Sandy Hook, Obama’s gun legislation couldn’t be stopped,” Cruz says. “…but we killed that legislation.”
Can there be a more despicable piece of shit than Ted Cruz?
Roger Moore
@Digital Amish:
No. It’s just like Peak Wingnut.
PurpleGirl
@Roger Moore: While the Obama family does not have a cat, they did ultimately end up with two doggies. And as we know Pets Add Life.
Violet
@efgoldman: You are not the first person to suggest it to me. I’ve had quite a few neighbors suggest I put rebar in at a level that will puncture tires but isn’t very visible. I have to admit I’ve enjoyed thinking about it but I’m not really a mean person. I just want them not to park or drive there.
Mandalay
@Roger Moore:
For now, yes. But not all the sugar daddies hate gays any more, and neither does the public. So Huckabee, Santorum, Cruz et al can keep going in the short term, and compete in Iowa, but I think it will be mostly downhill after that. Rubio, possibly with some gentle persuasion from Singer, has upped the ante with his pro-gay comments. Now the media will (quite rightly) be hounding all the Republican candidates for their positions on gay rights.
I hope it becomes a wonderfully destuctive wedge issue. Candidates can either join the rest of enlightened America, or crash and burn. Best of all, waffling fence sitters like Bush will be in trouble – being Broderesque ain’t gonna fly either.
It’s a win-win for gay rights.
opiejeanne
@Carl Weese: Where do you live that forsythia is a pest?