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You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / Hillary Clinton 2016 / Horse Race 2.0: The Horsening

Horse Race 2.0: The Horsening

by Zandar|  April 20, 20152:13 pm| 167 Comments

This post is in: Hillary Clinton 2016, Blatant Liars and the Lies They Tell, I Smell a Pulitzer!, Our Failed Media Experiment

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The reality of Hillary Clinton rolling all GOP contenders is way too dull apparently, so the New York Times would rather get in on that sweet, sweet manufactured controversy early.

The New York Times and Fox News have both struck agreements with a conservative author for access to his research on Hillary and Bill Clinton.

The Times mentioned the deal on Sunday in the middle of an article about author Peter Schweizer’s forthcoming book, “Clinton Cash”.

The author in question, human carbuncle Peter Schweizer, has a long history as a GOP operative and advisor and a record of poorly-sourced (and often retracted) hit jobs on Democrats ranging from Al Gore to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. Naturally FOX is eating this up as News Corporation owns Schweizer’s publisher, HarperCollins.

But for the NY Times to pay money to run with Schweizer’s garbage, well, that’s another thing entirely.  I want to say that the Gray Lady is winding up to punch Schweizer in the chops, but getting in on the ground floor of the next BENGHAZI! is something that no “media outlet” can pass up with 18 months worth of burrito bowl stories to write otherwise, right?

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Reader Interactions

167Comments

  1. 1.

    low-tech cyclist

    April 20, 2015 at 2:17 pm

    Our “liberal” media in action. Sheesh.

  2. 2.

    JPL

    April 20, 2015 at 2:18 pm

    ot.. Oh goodie, another storm is moving through and the sirens are going off. The mutt and I are going to the closet.

  3. 3.

    cokane

    April 20, 2015 at 2:18 pm

    yeah i just don’t see how R’s can take a national election with over 50 percent turnout with their current platform. And ppl think R’s can somehow get a higher pct of white voters than against Obama, that’s just delusional racism denying.

  4. 4.

    cokane

    April 20, 2015 at 2:21 pm

    thanks for posting that poll data by the way! As I suspected, Rubio is the candidate who polls closest to Clinton. Dumb R’s are unlikely to nominate him though. Not that it matters overmuch.

  5. 5.

    rikyrah

    April 20, 2015 at 2:21 pm

    oh isonprize

    …..

    in the old days, they would just ship Billy and Betty off to those ‘Academies’, but their azzes can’t afford Academy tuition anymore

    …….

    White parents in North Carolina are using charter schools to secede from the education system

    by Jeff Guo April 15

    …………

    Setting aside the drama between charters and teachers unions, or complaints that charter schools lead to the privatization of public education, there has been the persistent critique that charters increase inequality by plucking advantaged students out of traditional public schools.

    The most recent cautionary tale comes from North Carolina, where professors at Duke have traced a troubling trend of resegregation since the first charters opened in 1997. They contend that North Carolina’s charter schools have become a way for white parents to secede from the public school system, as they once did to escape racial integration orders.

    “They appear pretty clearly to be a way for white students to get out of more racially integrated schools,” said economics professor Helen Ladd, one of the authors of the draft report released Monday.

    Charter schools in North Carolina tend to be either overwhelmingly black or overwhelmingly white—in contrast to traditional public schools, which are more evenly mixed. Compare these charts from the report:

    …….

    The charts also show how racial makeups have shifted over time. By 2014, a fifth of charter schools were overwhelmingly — more than 90 percent — white. In 1998, less than 10 percent of charters were that way.

    Parental preferences are part of the problem. The charter school admissions process is itself race-blind: Schools that are too popular conduct lotteries between their applicants. But if a school isn’t white enough, white parents simply won’t apply.

    In previous research, Ladd discovered that white North Carolina parents prefer schools that are less than 20 percent black. This makes it hard to have racially balanced charter schools in a state where more than a quarter of schoolchildren are black.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2015/04/15/white-parents-in-north-carolina-are-using-charter-schools-to-secede-from-the-education-system/?tid=pm_politics_pop_b

  6. 6.

    SatanicPanic

    April 20, 2015 at 2:21 pm

    @cokane: they can’t. But the media can’t really spend the next 18 months talking about how pointless the campaigns are, could they?

  7. 7.

    Southern Beale

    April 20, 2015 at 2:22 pm

    I am at a loss for words. Really. Right-wing racist fucktards are horrible people.

  8. 8.

    Bobby B.

    April 20, 2015 at 2:26 pm

    I’ve been expecting this since Hugh Hewitt and Ann Coulter were presented on Sunday fluffer shows as “panelists”.

  9. 9.

    Lee

    April 20, 2015 at 2:27 pm

    Sweet mother of Abraham Lincoln I had no idea the numbers were that bad for the R’s.

    Of course it is still 18 months out, so that will probably change. But starting at that much of a deficit sucks for them (of course it is their own damn fault).

  10. 10.

    cokane

    April 20, 2015 at 2:29 pm

    @SatanicPanic: i mean the legislature should probably be very much up for grabs (2010 Senate seats are up). Progs shouldn’t just rest on a Clinton victory, go for all the marbles you know?

    But yeah, it’s so hard for many media types to motivate themselves to cover some Senate or House race. The R prez nomination should be a battle too. I dunno, despite Clinton’s strength there’s still alot of interesting storylines, just have to think a little creatively, but so many political reporters are incapable of that

  11. 11.

    srv

    April 20, 2015 at 2:30 pm

    Most of the police force and several officials resigned after the small town of Parma, Missouri elected its first African American woman as mayor, reported KFVS.

    Tyrus Byrd, a former city clerk, was officially sworn in as mayor on Tuesday after beating incumbent Randall Ramsey. Ramsey had served as mayor of Parma for 37 years under two terms.

    The outgoing mayor said five of the city’s six police officers submitted their resignation, citing “safety concerns.” Parma’s city attorney, clerk and water treatment supervisor also quit.

    Think of all the people that will quit if Hillary gets elected.

    @Bobby B.:

    I’ve been expecting this since Hugh Hewitt and Ann Coulter were presented on Sunday fluffer shows as “panelists”.

    Hughie used to be a regular right here at BJ back in the day.

    It really is sad DougJ never monitized his schtick. He could have been the next Broder. Instead, we got De Boer.

  12. 12.

    Zandar

    April 20, 2015 at 2:30 pm

    @Lee: Gotta sell the “Hillary’s launch was terrible, Clinton campaign in trouble, can she survive a real challenge” clicks or nobody will care for the next 18 months.

  13. 13.

    piratedan

    April 20, 2015 at 2:30 pm

    welcome to character assassination 101….. brought to you by our impartial media.

    It’s kind of funny, no need for anyone to do said same for the GOP slate… why? because their insanity is passed off as being worthy as a point of debate, never mind the complete lack of facts or misrepresentation of their arguments.

  14. 14.

    boatboy_srq

    April 20, 2015 at 2:31 pm

    @Southern Beale: And yet to them it’s the rest of us that are the intolerant, FascoSoshulist bigots.

  15. 15.

    Alex S.

    April 20, 2015 at 2:34 pm

    That poll… Jeb is getting 17% which, I think, is less than previous establishment favorite Mitt Romney usually got during the flavor-of-the-week phase of the republican primary. On the other hand, there are so many also-rans, I am actually looking forward to the embarassed pundits explaining why their favorite candidate (Jindal, Graham, Christie…) didn’t survive the first caucus.

    I guess everyone knows that the right-wing noise machine will be at maximum capacity until election day (and then during the next 4-8 years). The New York Post thinks -or wishes- that De Blasio now wants to run against Hillary, it’s all pretty desperate. But then, the right-wing noise machine is ALWAYS at maximum capacity, a different candidate wouldn’t change that at all. But it’s all in vain. The Clintons have been part of the public memory for 25 years now. You can’t hurt them with minor rumormongering anymore. You can’t go beyond dead girl/live boy (or Vince Foster and Monica Lewinsky) once you’ve already been there.

  16. 16.

    boatboy_srq

    April 20, 2015 at 2:34 pm

    @Zandar: Indeed. Then again, considering what a Parade of Fail the GOTea primary is shaping up to be, where the best moments will be the sequential implosions of the various also-ran campaigns, they have to write about something. I’m really hoping the NYT effort is to support something more than a milquetoast “This is horrible but BSDI so we have to report it” article.

  17. 17.

    geg6

    April 20, 2015 at 2:35 pm

    So Judy Miller is looking pretty good at this point, right?

    /sarcasm

    Anybody catch her on Maher’s show Friday? Unbelievable, the chutzpah of the woman.

  18. 18.

    Baud

    April 20, 2015 at 2:36 pm

    Dear NYT,

    I’ll invent more salacious stories at half the price. Call me.

  19. 19.

    boatboy_srq

    April 20, 2015 at 2:37 pm

    @srv:

    Think of all the people that will quit if Hillary gets elected.

    If they could be replaced without wingnuts whinging about Those People being “given” jobs, that might be a decidedly good thing. I’m not hopeful there, but that kind of turnover could definitely make a difference.

  20. 20.

    trollhattan

    April 20, 2015 at 2:39 pm

    @JPL:
    Stay safe!

    Where do you live? (So I can make a note to not move there.)

  21. 21.

    trollhattan

    April 20, 2015 at 2:42 pm

    @geg6:
    I wanted to punch my rather large teevee. She was insufferable, self-righteous, smug…had to fast-forward through the last portion so it may have been even worse for all I know. Can the Rummy Renaissance be far behind? How about “The Scooter Libby Show” on MSNBC?

  22. 22.

    Dennis

    April 20, 2015 at 2:44 pm

    The Clinton Hatred is deep and bred-in to the bone at the New York Times.

  23. 23.

    Mike in NC

    April 20, 2015 at 2:44 pm

    18 months might be plenty of time for quite a few grifters to knock out a book on why she’s the Worst Person in the World.

  24. 24.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 20, 2015 at 2:46 pm

    @trollhattan: I saw a clip, at least Maher told her she was fully of shit on some of her stuff. He let her slip in that “Democrats” believed in WMD, I guess she missed Bob Graham all but in tears on the Senate floor, begging his colleauges to read the classified Intelligence Committee report. Six did.

  25. 25.

    JPL

    April 20, 2015 at 2:47 pm

    @trollhattan: Roswell, Ga… The sirens are off and I just had hail and heavy rain. Trees are down south of me.

    The Clinton Foundation has done some amazing work. This sounds like a new swift boat type of attack where you attack someone’s strength. Hopefully, the Clintons handle it better than Kerry did.

  26. 26.

    samiam

    April 20, 2015 at 2:47 pm

    Polls are more or less meaningless at this point. I realize they are a tempting shiny object but I wouldn’t waste much time focusing on them.

    NY times just showed that grifting pays so expect a lot more people to try get in on the action.

  27. 27.

    Germy Shoemangler

    April 20, 2015 at 2:47 pm

    And every stupid ass right wing troll is going to be copying and pasting every one of his revelations into the comments section of every progressive blog I read (except for this one, I hope, Ceiling Cat Ban Hammer willing).

  28. 28.

    samiam

    April 20, 2015 at 2:48 pm

    Polls are meaningless at this point. I realize they are a tempting shiny object but I wouldn’t waste much time focusing on them.

    NY times just showed that grifting pays so expect a lot more people to try get in on the action.

  29. 29.

    trollhattan

    April 20, 2015 at 2:51 pm

    O/T Space nerds, Trekkies and coffee nerds can all agree that this is the coolest thing, maybe ever.

  30. 30.

    dmsilev

    April 20, 2015 at 2:54 pm

    After I read all the names, please tell me which of those candidates you would be most likely to support for the Republican nomination for president in 2016, or if you would support someone else. Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, John Kasich, Rand Paul, Rick Perry, Marco Rubio, Rick Santorum, Scott Walker, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham or George Pataki. (RANDOM ORDER)

    No Donald Trump? I am disappoint.

    (George Pataki? Seriously?)

  31. 31.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 20, 2015 at 2:54 pm

    You gotta check out the subtitle of a previous book by the NYT’s new special correspondent
    https://twitter.com/tbogg/status/590135163171971072/photo/1

  32. 32.

    Cacti

    April 20, 2015 at 2:56 pm

    @Dennis:

    The Clinton Hatred is deep and bred-in to the bone at the New York Times.

    Maureen Dowd won a Pulitzer for a year’s worth “political commentary” about Bill Clinton’s junk.

    Still gets my vote for low water mark in the history of the award.

  33. 33.

    Kay

    April 20, 2015 at 2:56 pm

    This is Clinton campaign planning reporting– lists, etc. for those who are interested.

  34. 34.

    Benw

    April 20, 2015 at 2:57 pm

    @boatboy_srq: if all the racists had quit when PBO was elected and the misogynists resign when/if H Clinton is elected, we’d be getting somewhere!

  35. 35.

    Germy Shoemangler

    April 20, 2015 at 2:57 pm

    @samiam: Polls are meaningless at this point. I realize they are a tempting shiny object but I wouldn’t waste much time focusing on them.

    Maybe so, but if polls said Jeb or Scott were WAY AHEAD of Hillary, that’s all I’d be learning from tv news, radio news and skywriting.

  36. 36.

    Archon

    April 20, 2015 at 2:57 pm

    The media is not going to let Clinton get to the White House without throwing punches. Think of the money they would lose with an election that isn’t closely contested.

    Until the polls really tighten the media is going to be Clinton’s primary/general election opponent, bet on that.

  37. 37.

    Roger Moore

    April 20, 2015 at 2:58 pm

    @srv:
    There’s a solid indication that those resignations were over corruption more than race. The old mayor had been at the job for a long time, and there’s every indication he had installed his cronies throughout the city government. The new mayor campaigned on a platform of cleaning up city government, not anything explicitly racial, so it seems likely those people are getting out before they’re thrown out.

  38. 38.

    Germy Shoemangler

    April 20, 2015 at 2:59 pm

    @Dennis: The Clinton Hatred is deep and bred-in to the bone at the New York Times.

    Amy Davidson of the New Yorker has had serious reservations about Hillary for years now.

  39. 39.

    trollhattan

    April 20, 2015 at 2:59 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    Jeez, it’s as though the entire book is printed on the book cover, and I’ll bet effectively it is just that. Not a good bidnez model, overall.

    Also, too, these “liberals” sound like really poor role models.

  40. 40.

    boatboy_srq

    April 20, 2015 at 3:01 pm

    @Benw: I said I wasn’t hopeful… but srv seems pretty optimistic.

  41. 41.

    NorthLeft12

    April 20, 2015 at 3:02 pm

    Thank Dog that the NY Times is still around to stand up for journalistic integrity!

    This conservative author will be a necessary counter balance to the plethora of pro-Clinton propaganda coming from columnists Dowd, Brooks, and Freidman.

    Outside of Mr. Krugman’s and Mr. Blow’s columns I really don’t know why anyone reads the NY Times anymore. Just bloody awful.

  42. 42.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 20, 2015 at 3:02 pm

    OT: Nothing to do with the horse race. I am in shock. I just found out that my old next door neighbor had a stroke about a week ago and has been in a coma since. We were close when I was growing up, an older sister that I never had.

  43. 43.

    Germy Shoemangler

    April 20, 2015 at 3:03 pm

    @geg6: Seeing Judy giggle on tv about the war left a rancid taste in my mouth. I couldn’t help thinking of all the dead and maimed while she was “witty” with Maher.

  44. 44.

    JPL

    April 20, 2015 at 3:04 pm

    Did the fake Steve troll, get fired?

  45. 45.

    Amir Khalid

    April 20, 2015 at 3:05 pm

    @NorthLeft12:
    Gail Collins is funny, especially when mocking David Brooks.

  46. 46.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 20, 2015 at 3:06 pm

    @Amir Khalid: I second you on Gail Collins. She is good, funny too.

  47. 47.

    boatboy_srq

    April 20, 2015 at 3:07 pm

    @dmsilev: Pataki strikes me as one of the less b#stsh!t-crazy ones. Rather like Huntsman in that regard. He’ll last about as long as Huntsman, too. The fireworks the rest promise – as they self-destruct – should be entertaining. Does anyone have recommendations for non-BigAg popcorn?

  48. 48.

    Bill

    April 20, 2015 at 3:08 pm

    82% of those polled think HRC represents the future of the Democratic party?

    Really?

  49. 49.

    Germy Shoemangler

    April 20, 2015 at 3:09 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Puts things in perspective. In the midst all the politics and polls and horseracing, the real business of living and sickness and health goes on.

  50. 50.

    boatboy_srq

    April 20, 2015 at 3:09 pm

    @NorthLeft12:

    pro-Clinton propaganda coming from columnists Dowd, Brooks, and Freidman

    That’s nearly enough for me to think twice about voting for her. [shudder]

  51. 51.

    MomSense

    April 20, 2015 at 3:10 pm

    @JPL:

    Please check in with us when the storm is passed so we know you are ok.

    @Southern Beale:

    I have some words but they are terrible.

  52. 52.

    Germy Shoemangler

    April 20, 2015 at 3:11 pm

    @boatboy_srq: Pataki has a bland exterior, but he’s GOP to the bone. And has a deep ignorant streak. When he was governor of NY someone mentioned E.B.White to him and he had no idea who that was.

    I mean, c’mon. Okay, maybe he didn’t spend his days reading E.B. White’s essays, but the author of Charlotte’s Web? Stuart Little?

  53. 53.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 20, 2015 at 3:12 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: She is only in her mid to late forties, that’s what makes this so shocking.

  54. 54.

    Belafon

    April 20, 2015 at 3:13 pm

    I remember reading comments from people who complained that Hillary was drawing things out by not announcing.

  55. 55.

    JPL

    April 20, 2015 at 3:17 pm

    @MomSense: Thanks. I’m fine. In GA it’s the falling trees that do the most damage. I’m on a first name basis with a tree guy.

  56. 56.

    Germy Shoemangler

    April 20, 2015 at 3:18 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Sorry to hear it. When things like that happen it makes me uneasy about making long-range plans. I used to think in decade-long increments: “In ten years I’ll do this, and ten years after that we’ll do that” but more and more I just can’t look that far ahead. I’ve seen too many sudden illnesses and deaths. I feel presumptuous taking things for granted.

  57. 57.

    Roger Moore

    April 20, 2015 at 3:18 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    Okay, maybe he didn’t spend his days reading E.B. White’s essays, but the author of Charlotte’s Web? Stuart Little?

    The Elements of Style!

  58. 58.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 20, 2015 at 3:22 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: Pataki has as much chance of being elected President as I do, but for the record, if he were, he’d be about a year and a half older than Ronald Reagan was, when he was elected.

  59. 59.

    Bill Arnold

    April 20, 2015 at 3:22 pm

    @NorthLeft12:

    I really don’t know why anyone reads the NY Times anymore. Just bloody awful.

    I read the A section most days. The op-ed page is hit and miss, but in the actual news and analysis pieces, they’ve been committing acts of journalism more often than in the recent past.
    (The byline can be important.)

  60. 60.

    Germy Shoemangler

    April 20, 2015 at 3:23 pm

    @Roger Moore: I was trying to make it easy on Pataki focusing on children’s books. I didn’t want to hit him over the head with the Elements of Style.

    But Jeesh! Governor of New York and he didn’t know E.B. White? Isn’t that like being the mayor of Hannibal, Missouri and not knowing Mark Twain?

  61. 61.

    Neo

    April 20, 2015 at 3:24 pm

    It’s illegal when former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber and his fiancée do a bit of influence peddling. Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife had the same problem with the law. Same was true for Jack Abramoff and Bobby Baker.
    Somehow though, Hillary Clinton’s apparent influence peddling while Secretary of State for the Clinton Foundation doesn’t have that same problem, at least so far.

  62. 62.

    raven

    April 20, 2015 at 3:26 pm

    @JPL: You asked if my bride think Midwife is darker this year> I think we are of the same mind that the show has always been a mixture of good and bad situations and that is what make it compelling. She thought the placenta problem last night was going to be undiagnosed twins but I didn’t think they’s do the same thing two weeks in a row.

  63. 63.

    Keith G

    April 20, 2015 at 3:26 pm

    I would like to think that the NY Times, seeing this as a significant narrative that will be with us for a while, is doing a smart thing by getting the details of “this case” against HRC earlier…. all the better to vet the info.

    It’s a story that is going to be told so they might as well get a 360 on it.

    On an other front, here is a story popping up in the New Republic: Eric Dyson’s essay, The Ghost of Cornell West.

  64. 64.

    SiubhanDuinne

    April 20, 2015 at 3:26 pm

    @JPL: It’s been crazeballs weather for the last couple of hours. Huge hail, tornado sirens, rain coming down in sheets, thunder, high winds — and bright sunshine. Stay safe, everyone.

  65. 65.

    Betty Cracker

    April 20, 2015 at 3:27 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: That’s terrible. I hope she recovers fully.

  66. 66.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 20, 2015 at 3:30 pm

    @Betty Cracker: I hope so too.

  67. 67.

    JPL

    April 20, 2015 at 3:31 pm

    @raven: Thanks. It looks like you are going to miss the storm.

    @SiubhanDuinne: I have to sun now.

  68. 68.

    raven

    April 20, 2015 at 3:37 pm

    @JPL: They are not even going to think about starting on the addition until next week and that is if the rain lays off.

  69. 69.

    Walker

    April 20, 2015 at 3:38 pm

    @rikyrah:

    This is not not really news. Stuff like this has been going on forever. Private day schools in the south (particularly in NC) are absolutely horrible — far worse than the public schools. But wealthy people attend them so they do not have to go to school with “those people.”

    I can speak from this first hand. My father was a doctor in rural NC. He believed in public schools and sent me there, but several of his colleagues sent their children to the local private school. This was back in the 70s.

    The only difference with charters is that now people can do this on the taxpayer dime.

  70. 70.

    JPL

    April 20, 2015 at 3:38 pm

    @raven: I still say your addition is done before Tebow is cut.

  71. 71.

    piratedan

    April 20, 2015 at 3:39 pm

    @Neo: yet for some reason, the entire GOP field being in the pockets of the Koch Brothers, Roger Ailes or Sheldon Adelson is a complete nothingburger. I can remember all of those elections that the Clinton Foundation controlled back in 2014 and it was a huge issue affecting the political landcsape….

  72. 72.

    Amir Khalid

    April 20, 2015 at 3:42 pm

    @Neo:
    How was Hillary peddling influence for the Clinton Foundation while serving as SoS?

  73. 73.

    rikyrah

    April 20, 2015 at 3:42 pm

    RUNNING UNPROVOKED?
    UNPROVOKED?
    WHAT THE PHUCK IS THAT?

    ………………………….

    Baltimore Man Who Died After Being Injured During Arrest Was Stopped For Running “Unprovoked”

    Police arrested Freddie Gray “without force or incident,” according to court documents. Baltimore’s mayor is demanding answers after Gray died Sunday, a week after he was injured during an arrest. April 20, 2015, at 9:35 a.m.

    A Baltimore man died Sunday, a week after being injured during an arrest by police in an incident city officials are pledging to investigate.

    Freddie Gray, 27, died around 7 a.m. Sunday after his spine was 80% severed at his neck while in custody, and he lapsed into a coma, according to a statement to the press from Gray family attorney William “Billy” Murphy Jr.

    According to court documents, a police officer wrote that Gray was arrested “without force or incident,” The Baltimore Sun reported on Monday. He was stopped because he “fled unprovoked upon noticing police presence,” according to the police account in charging documents filed in the district court. Police arrested Gray after finding a switchblade knife clipped to the inside of his front pants pocket.

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/baltimore-man-dies-after-being-injured-during-police-arrest#.yf5zKBJY

  74. 74.

    Citizen Alan

    April 20, 2015 at 3:44 pm

    @Bill:

    82% of those polled think HRC represents the future of the Democratic party?

    Really?

    Well, right now, she IS likely to become the 2016 Dem nominee, and that IS in the future.

  75. 75.

    Tom Q

    April 20, 2015 at 3:53 pm

    @Cacti: Obviously I have no proof of this, but I always suspected the Pulitzer. committee was being ironic in choosing Dowd that year. The Lewinsky story has been an almost exclusionary press obsession for the year preceding, yet this was the only way in which the Pulitzers singled out coverage — as if to say, this is what we think of the lack of journalism involved: we give our only prize to a glorified gossip columnist.

  76. 76.

    MomSense

    April 20, 2015 at 3:54 pm

    @rikyrah:

    His spine was severed while in custody?

  77. 77.

    D58826

    April 20, 2015 at 3:55 pm

    And Sen. McNutts fee-fees have been hurt. He told Harry not to invoke the nuclear option in the last Senate but no Harry ignored him. So now the GOP will slow walk all of Obama’s nominations in revenge. No one seems to have mentioned to McNutts that the reason Harry went the nuclear route was because the GOP has been slow walking Obama nominations since day one. But we certainly can’t let facts get in the way of McNutts having a good cry.

    In the meantime the Congress will give Obama fast track authority on the Pacific trade agreement that no one seems to know what the terms are. Fast track authority in effect hands the deal over to the executive branch with little or no further congressional oversight. This is the same Congress that wants to micromanage the Iran nuclear negotiations. It might seem odd that the GOP is reacting in such a polar opposite fashion until one realizes that their masters the 1% will benefit from the trade deal and are opposed to any deal with Iran.

  78. 78.

    Denali

    April 20, 2015 at 4:00 pm

    Gail Collins is the only reason I read The Times.

  79. 79.

    SiubhanDuinne

    April 20, 2015 at 4:01 pm

    @JPL:

    Yes, now it’s bright and shiny and sunny.

  80. 80.

    Betty Cracker

    April 20, 2015 at 4:01 pm

    @Keith G: I read that. Jesus. I learned something I didn’t know about Dyson, though: He was a preacher man. (I thought he had always been an academic.) It explains why his rhetorical style makes me want to jam sharpened pencils through my own eardrums.

  81. 81.

    raven

    April 20, 2015 at 4:01 pm

    @MomSense: Sounds to me like it’s broken when they are draggin him.

  82. 82.

    JPL

    April 20, 2015 at 4:02 pm

    @MomSense: When I read that earlier, I was sickened.

  83. 83.

    Valdivia

    April 20, 2015 at 4:06 pm

    @Kay:

    great link and very reassuring. I also wanted to say your comments this weekend about education reform and the Ohio experience were illuminating. The national media is so lost.

  84. 84.

    Calouste

    April 20, 2015 at 4:08 pm

    @D58826: That only makes sense if the masters of the GOP for the Iran treaty are Likud supporters like Sheldon Adelson. If there is an Iran treaty, Russia and China are most likely going to lift the sanctions no matter what tantrum the GOP throws, and will get themselves access to the market of an oil rich country with 80 million customers. Most of the American businesses would really like to get access to that as well.

  85. 85.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    April 20, 2015 at 4:08 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    Just like our local Sheriff who had been in the job for 30 odd years elevated his Secretary to Colonel in the Department and had a whole bunch of cronies who would never criticize him on staff. When the new Sheriff was elected they all figured it was a good time to retire. They had the years in to do it so they figured that to save face they could retire or be fired.

  86. 86.

    Paul Gottlieb

    April 20, 2015 at 4:09 pm

    The New York Times has been pretty rabidly anti-Clinton since 1992. Has everyone forgotten their award winning Whitewater reporting. It’s hard to believe now, but that poorly-sourced, falsehood-ridden piece of crap won a Pulitzer.before being totally discredited.

  87. 87.

    Peale

    April 20, 2015 at 4:11 pm

    Since the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post have already done their breaking stories on the Clinton foundation and its foreign donors, it makes sense that the NYT will be looking for its scoop too. Since it has been obvious for what it seems like 60,000 years that the fundraising of the Clinton Foundation and the growing wealth of the Clintons since he left office were going to be an issue and be created into a scandal I’m going with “nothingburger” in terms of the supposed “infulence peddling” angle. That said, the Clintons have been living under a state of seige from the VWRC for 20 years now to the extent that they know that everything they do, legal, upright and ethical will be turned by the MSM into “troubling questions” and “new allegations” whenever anyone objects, they may have stopped caring about such things.

  88. 88.

    Botsplainer

    April 20, 2015 at 4:12 pm

    I hate people.

  89. 89.

    jl

    April 20, 2015 at 4:15 pm

    @rikyrah: How was this person arrested ‘without incident’ if is his head broke off from the rest of his body at the neck, or did he do that to himself from running too hard? Sickening.

    I heard a news report that there is video of them dragging this guy, limp, to a vehicle. If that is true it is double disgusting. Broke the guy’s neck and then dragged him?

  90. 90.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    April 20, 2015 at 4:19 pm

    2016 is going to be an interesting election cycle, what with the primary opposition to the Democratic candidate not being the Republican party, but the Village.

    Lest we forget:

    “He came in here and he trashed the place,” says Washington Post columnist David Broder, “and it’s not his place.”

    Not even Obama got that kind of treatment. But the Clintons will get it all over again, but this time from people who have had 16 years to sit, and let their range and offended sensibilities fester, and plan revenge.

  91. 91.

    Southern Beale

    April 20, 2015 at 4:22 pm

    @boatboy_srq:

    We’re the racist ones because we noticed Michael Brown is African-American.

  92. 92.

    jl

    April 20, 2015 at 4:23 pm

    Some refreshing news. I hope O’Malley gets in the race and gets in soon. Will force the GOPers and their fanboys in the media to do something other than dredge up BS on HRC. I think O’Malley would be a good primary opponent for HRC, even if he is a very long shot.

    I heard about a crowdsource site where you can pledge contributions to candidates you would like to see run. I’ll find it and check it out and contribute something to O’Malley if it looks legit. Called CrowdPac, I think, but not sure.

    O’Malley Calls GOP Ideas On Inequality ‘Patently Bullshit’—And Fundraises Off It
    TPM blog

    Martin O’Malley is exploring an innovative tactic in seeking to establish himself as the progressive alternative to Hillary Clinton: cursing at Republican ideas.

    …
    “Our tax code’s been turned into Swiss cheese and certainly the concentrated wealth and the accumulated power and the systematic deregulation of Wall Street has led to this situation where the economy isn’t working for most of us. All of that is true. But it is not true that regulation holds poor people down or regulation keeps the middle class from advancing. That’s kind of patently bullshit,” he said.

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/martin-omalley-republicans-inequality-patently-bullshit

    A good high quality debate on Democratic side in primary would be a good thing, even with very very high odds HRC will win. And someone in it who is will to call BS to stupid and corrupt media faces would be good too.

  93. 93.

    trollhattan

    April 20, 2015 at 4:28 pm

    @jl:
    NPR chunked his interview into parts this a.m. and gave him a lot of airtime. Basically my introduction to the guy, who comes across as quick, thoughtful, feisty and fearless, with a good grasp on issues. Am wondering whether the national Dems know how to handle that particular combination.

    ETA He was especially good at re-framing poorly constructed questions before answering. Was nearly Jerry Brownesque in that regard.

  94. 94.

    scav

    April 20, 2015 at 4:30 pm

    There is that logical problem inherent in “Running Unprovoked” upon “noticing police presence” (which could be interpreted as the cause or provocation), and then there’s there is the whole joy of nearly completely breaking a neck being a non-event to arresting officers. Suppose it could just be annother of thise ordinary days at the office for those hypothetical surgeons, right? Do they remove the brains when they install badges or does it only happen when they become spokesmen?

  95. 95.

    jl

    April 20, 2015 at 4:32 pm

    @CONGRATULATIONS!: Depressing this is that this crap from the media never seems to end but only get worse.

    Obama was Bill Clinton II on bad meth. Any Democrat will probably be Bill Clinton III and Obama II. If it’s HRC, throw in some bath salts and a healthy dose of sexism, and I don’t know when it will drive me stark raving mad.

    And I do not give one rat’s ass about dynasties or ‘surname fatigue’. That is even less relevant than standard issue first world problems. We got serious problems that need to be fixed, any competent person one who has good policy proposals to fix them, that is really all I care about.

    If I had a a magic wand that I could wave and make Green Lantern fighting unicorns and mind control rainbows fly out of it, sure I would have, I dunno, O’Malley, HRC, Sanders (if he becomes a Democrat) and Warren, and Patrick, and hell why not, Biden all in there to make a nice contrast between GOP and Democratic debates and primaries. But I don’t, so will support any decent candidate with GOOD POLICIES who is nominated.

    BTW, Krugman had a recent column on the puzzling neglect of the candidates actual stand on substantive policies in media coverage during campaigns.

  96. 96.

    fuckwit

    April 20, 2015 at 4:33 pm

    Wel this isn’t too surprising. The media MUST HAVE HORSE RACE! It’s panic time for them.

    So, if there’s nobody to run against Clinton, then they must dig up ZOMBIE 1990s CLINTON to run against Clinton.

    If there is no primary challenge or a very polite one, and no viable R candidate to do the really salacious oppo research, the media will have to do it themselves.

    Expect Vince Foster to make a comeback.

  97. 97.

    jl

    April 20, 2015 at 4:36 pm

    @scav: I will look for ‘beware severing head from rest of body by running to hard’ signs next time I go the gym or local track.

  98. 98.

    Tree With Water

    April 20, 2015 at 4:39 pm

    What, or rather, who is the major malfunction at the Times? From chickening out under fire during the Bush-Cheney administration (the term aiding and abetting is likewise acceptable) to this decision to ally the Grey Lady to Rupert Fucking Murdoch, someone or some clique of people at that paper are ugly in spirit, and wretched in judgement. The bought of canceling my subscription occurs to me for the first time. And it would be over Hillary Clinton (albeit in a peripheral sense), for crying out loud. The irony would not escape me were I to do it.

  99. 99.

    jl

    April 20, 2015 at 4:39 pm

    @fuckwit:

    Well, gee, if only there were actual policy differences to cover, then it would be different, right?

    Maybe for example if there were some very high stakes diplomatic negotiations going on that could be the difference between war and peace. Or, hey, maybe the fate of a historically important domestic policy initiative, like maybe health care, that effects the welfare of nearly every person in the country to cover.

    I mean, if there were issues like that cover, the media wouldn’t waste time on horse race and sketchy scandal sheet tabloid shit, would they?

  100. 100.

    Roger Moore

    April 20, 2015 at 4:40 pm

    @trollhattan:

    Basically my introduction to the guy, who comes across as quick, thoughtful, feisty and fearless, with a good grasp on issues. Am wondering whether the national Dems know how to handle that particular combination.

    They’ve had six years of practice and still aren’t very good at it.

  101. 101.

    jl

    April 20, 2015 at 4:40 pm

    @Tree With Water: snot nosed corporate hack punks. And from what I have seen in interviews with the management, none too bright these days.

  102. 102.

    scav

    April 20, 2015 at 4:42 pm

    @jl: Be sure only to commence running after the appropriate level of easily recognized provocation!

  103. 103.

    Roger Moore

    April 20, 2015 at 4:45 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Police arrested Gray after finding a switchblade knife clipped to the inside of his front pants pocket.

    I wonder which of the arresting officers clipped it there.

  104. 104.

    aimai

    April 20, 2015 at 4:45 pm

    @jl: Right. This times a thousand. The fact that HRC is a prohibitive favorite really frightens the fuck out of the major media because it means that, contrary to the story that we are peddled, democratic positions generally speaking are more in line with the majority of voters. I don’t need to be persuaded to vote for HRC or whoever has the D after their name–I will never, ever, ever, vote for a Republican at this point and HRC’s 14 point lead over Jeb! means that a fuckton of other people have come to the same decision at this point. Frankly, I’d rather just vote for the party for the forseeable future. I really don’t care who the standard bearer is. I’m after a party that pursues policies I generally favor over the party that pursues policies I totally abominate.

  105. 105.

    trollhattan

    April 20, 2015 at 4:47 pm

    @Roger Moore:
    “Switchblade” sounds so sixties. Did he have a zipgun, too?

  106. 106.

    Germy Shoemangler

    April 20, 2015 at 4:52 pm

    @fuckwit: Expect Vince Foster to make a comeback.

    He already has. I read a comment on another site that basically explained the reason Elizabeth Warren “refused” to run for pres. “She doesn’t want to end up like Vince Foster.”

    The crazies are being well fed.

  107. 107.

    D58826

    April 20, 2015 at 4:55 pm

    @Calouste: Sheldon and Bibi are pulling the strings

  108. 108.

    Elizabelle

    April 20, 2015 at 4:56 pm

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:

    2016 is going to be an interesting election cycle, what with the primary opposition to the Democratic candidate not being the Republican party, but the Village.

    Sadly true.

    @Tree With Water: As subscribers, you and me and others have some say so here. We can email the reporter, the editor, the national news editor, whoever it will take. Hit them in the balls — remind them of Judith Miller. They give away their credibility, cheap.

    It’s a bad business model to tick off your paying subscribers, who are paying for credible and fact-based journalism — with editors, yet! — to win cred with people who will not buy your newspaper and despise your whole profession.

  109. 109.

    trollhattan

    April 20, 2015 at 4:57 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler:
    Or even worser, the WH travel office will mis-book her on a flight to Sevastopol. From there its whitewater rafting whilst drinking Fosters in the big cans.

  110. 110.

    D58826

    April 20, 2015 at 4:57 pm

    @Roger Moore: More to the point, if the knife was INSIDE his slacks how did the cops see it before starting to chase him. I realize that running while black is a major felony is most places in the US so that probably explains it.

  111. 111.

    Elizabelle

    April 20, 2015 at 4:59 pm

    @aimai:

    The fact that HRC is a prohibitive favorite really frightens the fuck out of the major media because it means that, contrary to the story that we are peddled, democratic positions generally speaking are more in line with the majority of voters. I don’t need to be persuaded to vote for HRC or whoever has the D after their name–I will never, ever, ever, vote for a Republican at this point and HRC’s 14 point lead over Jeb! means that a fuckton of other people have come to the same decision at this point. Frankly, I’d rather just vote for the party for the forseeable future.

    Gosh. There just seems to be a story in there somewhere. Can’t you just feel it?

  112. 112.

    Ruckus

    April 20, 2015 at 5:01 pm

    @jl:
    That only happens to humans with a darker hue. And only in the presence of police. Something about the changing wind resistance of a black body in motion caused by badges pined on chests. That causes all sorts of unusual bending of the laws of physics.

  113. 113.

    Amir Khalid

    April 20, 2015 at 5:04 pm

    This is intriguing. The Tulsa World reporters who broke the story about Robert Bates’ missing training records have up and left the paper for a local news website.

  114. 114.

    feebog

    April 20, 2015 at 5:06 pm

    @trollhattan:

    A couple years ago O’Malley had an armchair debate with then Virginia Governor Bob McDonald. O’Malley sliced him up pretty well. That may be setting a low bar, but most of the GOP candidates aren’t any brighter than McDonald.

  115. 115.

    Mandalay

    April 20, 2015 at 5:10 pm

    @Keith G: Wow! Cornel West has deliberately created an interesting shit list of enemies, including President Obama, Al Sharpton, Jessie Jackson and Melissa Harris-Perry. It’s worth noting that there are plenty of old quotes from West proclaiming how wonderful all those people were.

    For all his speaking truth to power, and his amiable buffoonery, he’s got a mean streak a mile wide

  116. 116.

    fuckwit

    April 20, 2015 at 5:13 pm

    @jl: Issues? What are these “issues” to which you refer? Oh, those pesky matters of national and worldwide importance? Well, those don’t sell ad space. Drama does.

  117. 117.

    gogol's wife

    April 20, 2015 at 5:14 pm

    @Cacti:

    She’s already outdoing herself in inanity in her H. Clinton columns.

  118. 118.

    Botsplainer

    April 20, 2015 at 5:15 pm

    @Mandalay:

    There are some people that are just assholes all the way to the bone, no matter how much you may agree with them on an intellectual level. It makes you feel a little crawley to realize that you’re in accord, and you admit it shamefully, kinda like in college when you got drunk and banged the weird, hateful girl that nobody liked.

  119. 119.

    Germy Shoemangler

    April 20, 2015 at 5:16 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Nothing’s been retracted; the paper is standing by their story. Looks like a better offer was in the works for a few weeks. The timing looks weird, I agree. They are good reporters and I hope they’re happier in their new jobs.

    @Mandalay: I always suspected it was personal, West was insulted when he couldn’t get an invite to the inauguration. It wasn’t until I read the article that I learned West called them, but from blocked numbers and never provided contact info, something the author claims was common with West. I’d always wondered why he never got an invite. Why would they deliberately snub him?

  120. 120.

    Bystander

    April 20, 2015 at 5:17 pm

    Another reason why these poll numbers can’t be discussed on Moanin’ Joe is because they destroy the “America is a center right country” bushwa.

  121. 121.

    Kay

    April 20, 2015 at 5:22 pm

    @Bill:

    82% of those polled think HRC represents the future of the Democratic party?
    Really?

    I was a little surprised by that too but maybe they realized it’s a ridiculously manipulative question and just decided to screw with the pollster :)

    We don’t have a landline anymore but we used to get tons of polling calls and I would listen to my husband: “hmm, I guess I’d have to pick…Constitution Party. Did you have any other questions?”

    I feel he skewed the polling, making things up. My middle son used to do it too, and he wasn’t even old enough to vote. I don’t miss the calls although sometimes it was funny. I got a call to go to a Sarah Palin rally that was 3 hours away. I felt at the time this meant they would lose, because why are they so desperate they’re cold-calling for rallies?

  122. 122.

    trollhattan

    April 20, 2015 at 5:25 pm

    @Kay:

    I got a call to go to a Sarah Palin rally that was 3 hours away. I felt at the time this meant they would lose, because why are they so desperate they’re cold-calling for rallies?

    I’d never think of this quickly enough at the time, but it would have been hilarious to ask, “Will there be free meth, like at her last one?”

  123. 123.

    chrome agnomen

    April 20, 2015 at 5:25 pm

    HILLARY IS RUNNING WITHOUT PROVOCATION!!! INPEECH!!!

  124. 124.

    Roger Moore

    April 20, 2015 at 5:28 pm

    @Kay:
    I always wonder how much outright dishonesty throws off polls. I know there are some people who will flat out lie to the pollsters to mess with them, but it would be interesting to see just how large that fraction is. I’m not sure exactly how you’d measure it; my best guess would be to have a longish poll with some questions from the beginning repeated at the end to see if people give wildly different answers the second time around.

  125. 125.

    Mandalay

    April 20, 2015 at 5:29 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    I’d always wondered why he never got an invite. Why would they deliberately snub him?

    We’ll probably never know the truth, but this would be reason enough for a normal person to snub him:

    In February 2007, West lambasted Obama’s decision to announce his bid for the presidency in Illinois, instead of at journalist Tavis Smiley’s State of the Black Union meeting in Virginia, calling it proof that the nascent candidate wasn’t concerned about black people.

    I guess President Obama was unwilling or unable to understand that his presidential run was really all about Cornel West.

  126. 126.

    Amir Khalid

    April 20, 2015 at 5:30 pm

    @jl:
    Slate had a story last week by Anne Applebaum (whom I don’t ordinarily like all that much) contrasting the upcoming British general election with the American presidential race — whose election day is still a year and a half away. The campaign in Britain is all about specific policy questions, with no mention of the parties’ image. (Presumably, people already know who the Tories, Labour, and UKIP are and don’t need to be reminded.) It will cost the various parties a total of US$25 million. It will be over in a matter of weeks.

  127. 127.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    April 20, 2015 at 5:32 pm

    @rikyrah: Looks pretty obvious from what little’s been released that one of the cops did a flying tackle off his bike to take down the running man – and broke the running man’s neck when doing so, and then they all ignored his screaming until he quit breathing during transport, because “fuck your breathing”.

    I used to be a bike racer and I’m a big guy – big enough to have to ride in what they call “Clydesdale class”, because otherwise the skinny little fuckers would always win, no exceptions – and if you’re pedaling along at twenty miles an hour, not a fast speed on a bike but a speed far faster than any human can run, I could easily see how you could break somebody’s neck by jumping off the bike and riding them down to the ground. Bikes are vehicles, they can build up a lot of momentum, and you can easily kill someone with one. Happens a lot more than it should.

  128. 128.

    D58826

    April 20, 2015 at 5:34 pm

    @Amir Khalid: What would American papers write about if the campaign was only 6 weeks long? At least the Brits have the royal family to talk about between elections

  129. 129.

    Amir Khalid

    April 20, 2015 at 5:37 pm

    @D58826:
    Don’t you people have the Kardashians?

  130. 130.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 20, 2015 at 5:43 pm

    @Amir Khalid: We people have naked mopping and kittehs and goggies

  131. 131.

    Peale

    April 20, 2015 at 5:47 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Like many things, the silly state of our presidential elections is the fault of the Democrats and Progressives. The Progressives for railing against the “smoke filled backrooms” in favor of open primaries. The Democrats for deciding in 1972 to move Iowa in front of New Hampshire which allowed the press to create all of these phoney “traditions” out of thin air.

  132. 132.

    boatboy_srq

    April 20, 2015 at 5:49 pm

    @Amir Khalid: To wingnuts, being associated with a philanthropic non-profit is equivalent to being on the take for untold sums to the local major industrial segment. Liberals do things for non-profits because they don’t make money, or something.

  133. 133.

    trollhattan

    April 20, 2015 at 5:55 pm

    @Roger Moore: Read an article over the weekend noting Frank Luntz had polled some group or other about some current issue, which was the first I heard he’d “un-retired.” That was fast.

  134. 134.

    Roger Moore

    April 20, 2015 at 5:56 pm

    @D58826:

    What would American papers write about if the campaign was only 6 weeks long?

    The official campaign may be only 6 weeks, but that’s because they’re more or less continuously campaigning as a part of regular elections. That’s the whole point of having a shadow cabinet and a formal opposition. They’re putting out position papers, proposing what they would do if they were in charge, etc. the whole time. We can’t do the same thing because our presidential candidates aren’t picked until relatively shortly before the election; most of the campaign is actually for the nomination rather than for the general election. If we followed the parliamentary practice of having a shadow cabinet, with the presidential nominee chosen shortly after the previous election, we could have much shorter election seasons, too.

  135. 135.

    Calouste

    April 20, 2015 at 5:57 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Part of the difference is that in a parliamentary system, the opposition parties have proper, identified, leaders (usually elected as party leader just after the most recent electoral defeat, so they have been around for 4-5 years). The voters know those people. In the US, the opposition party doesn’t have a leader, and there is basically a year long fight for that position.

  136. 136.

    Brachiator

    April 20, 2015 at 6:03 pm

    The reality of Hillary Clinton rolling all GOP contenders is way too dull apparently

    Did the election already and I missed it?

    Yeah, the candidates seem weak. But keep in mind this little tidbit from a June 3, 2008 analysis:

    Back when Sen. Hillary Clinton was just starting her campaign, top aides and advisers had a ready answer when asked if she could win the presidency.

    “She’s already winning,” came the response, as repeated by chief strategist Mark Penn, campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe and other top aides and advisers, in memos, press releases and interviews as the campaign began more than a year ago.

    This was also when some was convinced that NY mayor Rudy G was the inevitable GOP candidate. And look how that all turned out.

  137. 137.

    Calouste

    April 20, 2015 at 6:04 pm

    @Roger Moore: That’s not going to work in the US system, because the nominee has to be the leader of the opposition party, and there is no such position in the US. The Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons clearly has the most power, but in the US the Minority Leaders of the House and the Senate have roughly equal standing.

  138. 138.

    Brachiator

    April 20, 2015 at 6:11 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    The campaign in Britain is all about specific policy questions, with no mention of the parties’ image.

    I don’t know about that British comedians have been having a field day mocking the lame lack of direction of Ed Miliband and the Labour Party, the stupid attempt at American style debates and the refusal of Prime Minister Cameron to actually stake out any coherent policy questions.

    Part of the difference is that in a parliamentary system, the opposition parties have proper, identified, leaders (usually elected as party leader just after the most recent electoral defeat, so they have been around for 4-5 years). The voters know those people.

    An in the case of Labour and the Lib Dems, familiarity breeds contempt. The Lib Dems, which joined the UK government as part of a coalition, immediately became irrelevant. The party and the leadership have neither power nor influence.

  139. 139.

    gene108

    April 20, 2015 at 6:15 pm

    @Calouste:

    Part of the difference is that in a parliamentary system

    The bigger difference is the Party is GOD for a politician. You CANNOT BUCK THE PARTY and hope to have a career in politics.

    You could not have a Barack Obama jumping ahead of more senior Democrats to become President (and head of the Party) in a Parliamentary system.

    Being an Independent is hard, if not impossible. You cannot be Bernie Sanders and hang around for a few decades as an Independent, I would think.

    That to me is the biggest difference between politics in Parliamentary systems and what we have in the U.S. What we have in the U.S. is much, much more focused on individuals – and has been for decades (if not a couple of centuries) – than any Parliamentary system.

  140. 140.

    jl

    April 20, 2015 at 6:20 pm

    @gene108: Theodore Roosevelt wrote that in the US, political debate tended to avoid confronting policy issues at sufficient length and detail, and focused too much on personality and horse race. So, it is a problem that goes way back, at least a century.

  141. 141.

    Brachiator

    April 20, 2015 at 6:22 pm

    @aimai:

    The fact that HRC is a prohibitive favorite really frightens the fuck out of the major media because it means that, contrary to the story that we are peddled, democratic positions generally speaking are more in line with the majority of voters.

    What probably frightens the media is the idea that they could be made fools of again by declaring Hillary to be the prohibitive favorite, as they did in the run up to the 2008 election.

    We presume that there is not another Obama out there. But then again, not everyone anticipated Obama back in 2007 and 2008. From a 2008 analysis, Hillary is pretty much where she was in the early days of the 2008 primary campaign.

    ‘Armed with the best brand name in a generation of Democratic politics, Clinton and her aides could afford to be glib early on: She had the wide edge in polls and had the party’s top strategists and money folks locked down early — a signal, she hoped, that her candidacy could not be stopped.

    Clinton called her campaign a “conversation,” yet it was really always more of a machine: The accumulated muscle of the Democratic Party was powering a formidable messaging and fundraising operation on behalf of a skilled, determined candidate — all helping deliver the message that Democrats had better fall in line or get out of the way.

    Yet for all the sharp minds that populated Camp Clinton, the campaign failed to account for the broad and deep desire for wholesale change among Democrats; it was, it would turn out, a particularly bad year to run as a de facto incumbent. ‘

    I am happy to see Hillary putting fear in the GOP clown car. But a total celebration is premature.

  142. 142.

    Mandalay

    April 20, 2015 at 6:26 pm

    @Brachiator:

    The Lib Dems, which joined the UK government as part of a coalition, immediately became irrelevant. The party and the leadership have neither power nor influence.

    That is not the case; the Conservatives remain in power only as long as the Lib Dems are willing to be an ally. Cameron’s could have been ousted a long time ago if the Lib Dems were sufficiently motivated to do that That hasn’t happened, but only because Cameron is sometimes forced to yield to their demands, in return for his party retaining Lib Dem support.

    The argument that Lib Dems are making in the election campaign right now is that their candidates should be elected because they can temper the extreme behavior of whichever party (Labour or Conservatives) gets the most seats. They may be unprincipled, but they are not unimportant.

  143. 143.

    Brachiator

    April 20, 2015 at 6:31 pm

    @Mandalay:

    For all his speaking truth to power, and his amiable buffoonery, he’s got a mean streak a mile wide

    Obama’s election made West (and most other hard core progressives) irrelevant. That kind of thing can inspire a lot of anger.

  144. 144.

    Germy Shoemangler

    April 20, 2015 at 6:31 pm

    @Mandalay: That’s an excellent campaign slogan: “We may be unprincipled, but we are not unimportant.”

  145. 145.

    Brachiator

    April 20, 2015 at 6:40 pm

    @Mandalay:

    That is not the case; the Conservatives remain in power only as long as the Lib Dems are willing to be an ally. Cameron’s could have been ousted a long time ago if the Lib Dems were sufficiently motivated to do that That hasn’t happened, but only because Cameron is sometimes forced to yield to their demands, in return for his party retaining Lib Dem support.

    Odd. When I listen to the BBC comedy shows, the Lib Dems are presented as a sad irrelevancy, and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is mocked as a toadying lickspittle.

    What demands did Clegg make that anyone paid attention to? And even the most recent issues of the progressive Guardian has a story about Clegg whining about being excluded from BBC political debates.

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/19/lib-dems-complain-bbc-reneged-deal-nick-clegg-tv-debates

  146. 146.

    ruemara

    April 20, 2015 at 6:45 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: The left wing trolls will be doing this too.

  147. 147.

    aimai

    April 20, 2015 at 6:49 pm

    @Brachiator: Oh give it a fucking rest.

  148. 148.

    aimai

    April 20, 2015 at 6:54 pm

    @Brachiator: To be clear–the polls we are discussing refer to Hillary vs THE REPUBLICAN CONTENDERS. It behooves all of us to celebrate the fact that she is, in fact, a prohibitive favorite at this point. That’s the hill they have to climb. This has nothing to do with intra-democratic politics or the fortunes of other democrats. While I would be happy to see an actively contested democratic primary that pushes Clinton the left I could give a flying fuck about people’s weird feelings about her campaign’s rhetoric last time around. Obama won the primary and won his election against McCain but are you seriously under the impression that Clinton, had she won the nomination she came close to winning, wouldn’t have also won against McCain? Because that’s not how elections really work at this point. Not presidential ones. Clinton is doing well against the republicans because the republican brand is majorly tarnished and none of them can overcome that. Whoever else wins the primary will also probably do as well against the eventual republican nominee as long as the economy stays ok or getting better.

  149. 149.

    Germy Shoemangler

    April 20, 2015 at 6:56 pm

    @aimai: Whoever else wins the primary will also probably do as well against the eventual republican nominee as long as the economy stays ok or getting better.

    Well then the GOP will do whatever it can to tank the economy.

  150. 150.

    Calouste

    April 20, 2015 at 6:58 pm

    @gene108:

    1) Ken Livingston bucked the Labour Party, got elected as Mayor of London and got kicked out of the party for his troubles. It is possible, but not recommended for junior politicians.

    2) It’s actually the opposite. Most party leaders in parliamentary systems are relatively young when they get the gig, in their forties. It’s a matter of building a power base within the party. Cameron was 39 when he became party leader, Merkel 44.

    3) There are some independents, but mostly there are a lot of smaller parties. The House of Commons has 12 parties, and 5 independents.

  151. 151.

    Brachiator

    April 20, 2015 at 6:59 pm

    @aimai: What the hell is your problem? To be slobbering over Hillary as a prohibitive favorite is premature, no matter how much fun it might be.

    It’s not like she’s a puppy or a garden that everyone can coo over.

    You got some facts or considered opinion, bring it. Otherwise, you need to get over yourself.

  152. 152.

    germy shoemangler

    April 20, 2015 at 7:05 pm

    [SOUND OF CHAIRS SCRAPING FLOOR, BARTENDER DIVING UNDER BAR]

  153. 153.

    trollhattan

    April 20, 2015 at 7:05 pm

    @aimai:

    That’s the hill they have to climb.

    Golf clap.

  154. 154.

    Mandalay

    April 20, 2015 at 7:35 pm

    @Calouste:

    Cameron was 39 when he became party leader, Merkel 44.

    Right. And Blair was only 43 when he became prime mininster. Ed Milliband is a slight favorite to become prime minister next month, and he is only 45. I haven’t checked the numbers but I would guess that there is a marked downward trend for the average age of leaders in Europe.

  155. 155.

    Mandalay

    April 20, 2015 at 7:47 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Odd. When I listen to the BBC comedy shows, the Lib Dems are presented as a sad irrelevancy, and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is mocked as a toadying lickspittle.

    Odd indeed – nobody could have possibly predicted that comedy shows would not mirror political reality.

    But just consider it from a common sense perspective: why on earth would the Lib Dems (or any other party) be willing to form a coalition government if there wasn’t something in it for them?

    This link summarizes some Lib Dem “achievements”, which are essentially moderations of what would have been done if the Conservatives had not needed Lib Dem support to stay in power.

  156. 156.

    Tree With Water

    April 20, 2015 at 8:07 pm

    @Brachiator: I’m not sure how high the populist wing of the democratic rank-and-file ever ranked with Obama, or indeed if they counted to him at all beyond election day. He certainly knew their jive talk, and its still bemuses me that so many swooned after hearing him regurgitate it. That said, I do think he appreciates the fact that, by and large, populists held their tongues and supported his efforts during his first six years- in spite of the fools who worked for him making plain their own contempt.

  157. 157.

    Brachiator

    April 20, 2015 at 9:01 pm

    @aimai: These early polls mean exactly what the early polls favoring Hillary or Rudy G in 2007 meant: nothing. I have no problem with the fun that everyone is having at the expense of the GOP and the media, but it is not predictive of anything. It is foolish to assert otherwise.

    It is also a waste of time to speculate on the result of a Clinton v McCain match because hypothetical matchups are not how any elections work, not even presidential ones.

  158. 158.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 20, 2015 at 9:51 pm

    @Brachiator: It’s irresponsible not to speculate.

  159. 159.

    Brachiator

    April 20, 2015 at 10:58 pm

    @Mandalay: In the 2010 general election they won 23 percent of the vote. It was logical that they would grab for power in a coalition government with the Conservatives, even if Labour appeared to be a more natural partner. Since then, they have lost heavily in subsequent council elections and are currently polling at around 9 percent. We will see in May whether their brief flirtation with power gained them anything.

  160. 160.

    J R in WV

    April 20, 2015 at 11:08 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    The other folks mentioned regarding “influence peddling” (which doesn’t mean what the poster thinks it means) were either taking bribes from supplicants or stealing money from the government. Money was changing hands for the personal benefit of the politicians involved.

    Doing fund raising for a well known foundation that spends most of its cash-flow on doing the work it was founded to do… is not the same thing as those other things.

    Another topic, on the poll linked above:

    Bobby Jindal got 1%, 2% or an * for no votes on everything. Ben Carson, as well. R’s not gonna vote for one of them, no matter how well masked as a conservative. Just not gonna do it.

    Throughout the republican data, non-white respondents were all N/A… There are no non-white people willing to admit to a poll taker that they might vote for a republican. None! What a surprise!

  161. 161.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 20, 2015 at 11:15 pm

    @J R in WV: When an unfamiliar name shows up, spouts crap, and doesn’t stick around, I, even though I am a trusting soul, have some suspicions.

  162. 162.

    J R in WV

    April 20, 2015 at 11:29 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Can you smell Trolls? I can’t, it’s a F”kin computer!!

    The polling numbers are amazing. Down in the sub-questions near the bottom of the list of questions and numbers going every which way.

    I get pollsters here, lots of commercial questioners, we’re kind of middle American. Political questioners can be strange, right-wing nutjobs trying to appear middle-of-the-road, and then to elicit rejection of common-sense liberal positions.

    The best poll I even took was for a commercial outfit out of Cincy, probably for Proctor and Gamble. It was nearly an hour, longer because I spent a lot of time laughing, the woman asking the marketing questions was a real pro, patient, let me stop laughing and put some kind of answer together.

    She was asking me about the household use of and preferences regarding Toilet Paper!! The first quarter of the poll narrowed down a short list of brands, and then would ask “Out of these brans of toilet paper, which would you say is better at.,… something.”

    The best, funniest, most revealing question was “Which brand of toilet paper makes you feel the most PROUD to buy?” Trying to use pride to see how I wipe my ass…. too sweet. I wish I could have recorded that conversation. Hurt myself laughing, and the pollster never missed a beat. Obviously had done it once before…

  163. 163.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 20, 2015 at 11:37 pm

    @J R in WV: Is my troll-smelling foolproof? No, but this one seemed like a “toss a misrepresentation grenade into the room and close the door” sort of dude.

  164. 164.

    J R in WV

    April 20, 2015 at 11:42 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Very much so. I just reacted, I really should learn better after all these years.

  165. 165.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 20, 2015 at 11:56 pm

    @J R in WV:

    I just reacted

    I’ve done the same.

  166. 166.

    mclaren

    April 21, 2015 at 2:12 am

    I just do not see what this can possibly accomplish.

    Here’s a simple sentence:

    If the Repubs nominate Jeb Bush, the 2016 presidential campaign will become a referendum on the Dubya presidency.

    Full stop.

    End of story.

    Does anyone think the Repubs can possibly win that one?

    I mean really…seriously? For reals?

  167. 167.

    Cervantes

    April 21, 2015 at 5:17 am

    @mclaren:

    If the Repubs nominate Jeb Bush, the 2016 presidential campaign will become a referendum on the Dubya presidency.

    Did you see that poll of NH Republicans a few weeks ago wherein George W. was seen to be more popular than Jeb?

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