Jeb Bush has lost half his support among Republicans in just 2 months http://t.co/E1rI7MoTYR
— David Frum (@davidfrum) June 2, 2015
JUGGER-NOT! https://t.co/8oaKulvcKy
— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) June 2, 2015
I’m starting to suspect that the garbage fire that was the George W. Bush presidency is dragging down JEB. pic.twitter.com/XybLtAbk1k
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) June 2, 2015
The NYTimes is (somewhat) pained to inform us that “Jeb Bush Faces Challenge in Winning Over Brother’s Team”:
When George W. Bush first ran for president, he liked to say he had inherited half of his father’s friends and all of his enemies. For Jeb Bush, now preparing his own bid for the White House, that may ring familiar…
A sampling conducted largely by email of about 120 people who worked for George W. Bush — from cabinet secretaries to foreign policy advisers to advance aides — found about 25 who said they were supporting his younger brother. Fifty others said they were neutral or supporting another candidate, while the rest did not respond, passing up a chance to declare allegiance to the next Bush candidacy.
Some harbor the same reservations that other Republicans do about the notion of a dynastic presidency passed from one member of a family to another. Some simply want a fresh start, concluding that the party would make a stronger case against Hillary Rodham Clinton, the likely Democratic candidate, by nominating a new figure like Senator Marco Rubio of Florida or Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin. Some nurse doubts about Jeb Bush specifically, even on policies he shares with his brother…
Many of the Bush veterans unwilling to back him cited work reasons, explaining that their current employers would not want them to take sides publicly. Some are now working as academics, party officials or television pundits, and said they wanted to retain a professional detachment from any one candidate. Some said they hoped to be able to advise several of the Republican candidates, and there was no consensus for any of Mr. Bush’s opponents.
Others held back not because they oppose Mr. Bush, but because they worried that publicly supporting him would only hurt his chances by reinforcing his ties to his brother. They were acutely aware of the criticism he received when he released a list of foreign policy advisers that included many who had worked for his brother, like Paul D. Wolfowitz, the former deputy defense secretary…
“It is fair to say that those who are inclined to support Jeb out of loyalty to 41 or 43 have already jumped in,” said Stephen Yates, who worked on national security in the George W. Bush White House and is now chairman of the Idaho Republican Party. “Everyone else is up for grabs. He’ll be able to get some of the remainder, but no advantage over others.”…
Among those declaring neutrality rather than publicly embracing Jeb Bush’s candidacy is former Vice President Dick Cheney, who with his daughter Liz Cheney has started the Alliance for a Strong America to advocate tough national security positions among various candidates.
Others include former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, although she is leading Mr. Bush’s education foundation; Mr. Rove, who comments on Fox News and in The Wall Street Journal; Mr. Fleischer; Michael Gerson, a former senior White House adviser now writing for The Washington Post; Ed Gillespie, a former presidential counselor; Mark McKinnon, a campaign strategist for the former president; and cabinet secretaries like former Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Paul J. McNulty, who served as George W. Bush’s deputy attorney general and is now president of Grove City College in Pennsylvania, said he was torn between Jeb Bush and former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. “I’ve always been a big fan of Jeb,” he said, “but I worry about his electability.”…
When your crime family’s old hands think that Rev. Mike Huckster-bee is more electable…
"My plan is social security would kick in about a week or three before you die." pic.twitter.com/1dZPH63PED
— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) June 1, 2015
It’s weird that a Guy Who Isn’t Sure He’s Running for President keeps stumbling into these GOP events. pic.twitter.com/3wHa5LfmwJ
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) May 28, 2015
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
I dunno. Seems to me the rancid John E. Bush campaign for President is staining the Bush legacy.
SiubhanDuinne
JUGGER-NOT!
…that ye be not jugged.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I”m not proud of it, and it in no way balances the historical scales, but I would love to see Poppy and Bar live, lucidly, long enough to see The Smart One be squeezed out by the below-stairs sort he finds himself running against.
Walker
I really think we are going to see a Walker candidacy (no relation — thank the Lord).
Omnes Omnibus
@Walker: I couldn’t deal.
Zinsky
I just love the phrase, “the garbage fire that was the George W. Bush presidency….”. Classic. Dave Weigel is a genius.
SiubhanDuinne
@Walker:
I’ve thought that for months, and haven’t changed my views so far. And I still think he’ll (assuming he’s the nominee) choose a Bobby Jindal or even (twofer!) a Nikki Haley as running mate.
srv
You people clearly have never read any comics.
Radioactivity is like the best thing for turning someone into a superhero.
It’s Jeb’s time.
Mike in NC
All of the people mentioned in this article are the scum of the fucking earth.
SiubhanDuinne
Indeed. The courtiers are revolting.
PaulW
just try to remember Jeb will still have millions – in theory, I think he’s already got a lot of money despite whatever weak FEC rules exist – of funds to buy up the support he wants and outlast the clown car to the convention hall.
MomSense
@Walker:
Please no. How is it possible that we could end up with one of those candidates as a nominee? Not a single one of them is genuinely interesting or intelligent or even pleasant.
Tree With Water
My money is on that candidate who gains the financial backing of the indicted Chinese mafia gambling racketeer, Mr. Adelson. That man didn’t get to where he is today for lack of judgement.
Corner Stone
@PaulW: Jeb’s going to have $100M just to open the barn doors with.
People thinking polls matter a damn on the R side should try remembering President Newt, or President Cain, etc.
Mnemosyne
A depressing personal OT, but it looks as though my brother in Florida is fading fast. My mom is getting on a plane first thing tomorrow morning, I get on one just after midnight the next day, and we’re not sure if we’re going to make it in time.
The thing I’m most worried about is my youngest niece: her mom is basically a clinical narcissist and her oldest sister is also pretty fucked up (probably borderline personality or bipolar) and there is going to be nonstop fucking drama, which means the poor kid is going to get lost in the shuffle.
ETA: I’m hoping to hang out with her, but I’m nervous they’re going to swoop her away before I can even talk to her.
Anne Laurie
@SiubhanDuinne:
I knew I could count on you!
Corner Stone
@Walker:
Maybe you should consider finding a relation? Seems like a perfect grift if you can get in before he cuts off the credit card lines for staffers when he’s eliminated from contention.
jl
@Walker: I suspect the tighter polling numbers of HRC against Paul, Rubio and Walker are hopeful fantasies among some respondents. Some will vote for anything with an (R) behind the name, but some think ‘I don’t know much about them and I’m not an HRC fan so, why not?”. Surely that must be true for Paul and Rubio, and I hope its true for Walker. Walker is going so hard and doggedly, without any disguise or wriggle room for later plausible denial to the far right, that I don’t think he will worry much about moving back to center for general, even if he could manage it politically.
Valdivia
It surprises me that there are still people swearing Jeb will be the candidate. Just yesterday I saw an article about that, obviously based more on wishful thinking than anything else.
Corner Stone
Gay Republicans in TN sporting ads for gay marriage.
Sayyyy whuuutttt??
Valdivia
@Mnemosyne:
so sorry to hear about your brother. I hope you get to spend time with your niece, sounds like she will need it.
jl
@Corner Stone: Don’t need to lie about being a relative. How about doing inspirational talks to teabaggers. Talks about graduatlly turning conservative and thinking of voting for Walker merely because the last names are the same. Worth a try. Might make a few easy bucks off that angle.
Corner Stone
@Valdivia: Jeb will be the R nominee. That’s just how it will go. Just as surely as Romney was the most hated plutocrat and everybody hated him. Jeb’s got this.
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
I’m really sorry for you and your family.
Valdivia
@Corner Stone: But Romney didn’t have the Bush last name and the memory of GW’s presidency to contend with. I just don’t see it. I think it will be Walker (sorry Omnes). Then again I never understand the Republicans so you might be right.
Punchy
Just wait until the Kochs drop a billion-five on Walkers campaign. Game over, Dems.
SiubhanDuinne
@Anne Laurie:
Low-hanging fruit if ever there was such a thing.
Mike in NC
@Corner Stone: Mitt will be back, count on it. He will not go quietly into that good night.
askew
Hillary’s numbers aren’t much better in those polls. Her unfavorables are at her lowest point since 2001 in CNN poll and at lowest point since April 2008 in the ABC/WP poll. Plus, her trustworthy #s are cratering.
And Jeb Bush is the best match-up for Hillary. It gets rid of the dynasty argument and he sucks as a campaigner as much as Hillary does.
Corner Stone
@Valdivia: Jeb is going to survive 3rd and 5th and garbage time results in all the early primaries and caucus.
Walker is a joke.
He uses white resentment very well, but the people deciding this contest don’t give a shit about that emotion.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
Oh Mnem, I am so sorry. Not surprised, but one always hopes for a miraculous last-minute turnaround.
If indeed your brother is fading fast, I hope his transition is easy, painless, and maybe even joyful for him and his family. Be assured that you — and your brother, and your nieces, and your mom — have enormous, overflowing support and love from people you’ve never met but who are there with you. Hugs and light.
askew
@Mnemosyne:
I am so sorry for your brother. Fucking cancer. You’ve had a hard time of it lately and were due for some good news.
Corner Stone
@Mike in NC: You may be making fun here, but if I had to bet on the R nom I am still saying it’s either Mitt of Jeb.
It sure as fuck isn’t Walker or Paul or Rubio.
SiubhanDuinne
@askew:
It’s seventeen months until the general election. Grip, get one.
jl
@askew: There is any living human being half as bad at campaigning as Jeb has been recently? Who? Why?
We could go into defunct humans too, but they are not eligible for office.
benw
@Mnemosyne: I’m so sorry about your brother, and best of luck with your niece!
PaulW
I’ve seen media pundits starting to compare Jeb to Rudy’s failed 2008 run.
askew
@SiubhanDuinne:
Hillary’s history shows that her unfavorable #s increase the more she campaigns, so it should be worrying. It sure looks like she isn’t likable enough.
Chris
@Valdivia:
I tend to believe he’ll be the candidate just by default, because I don’t see who else the wealthy/the establishment would be willing to trust with the keys to the kingdom. Unless the Kochs on their own have enough clout to force Walker through, which I suppose they may.
Corner Stone
Marylanders Don’t Like Martin O’Malley, So Why Would The Rest Of America?
“But there’s a far simpler reason for why I’ve doubted O’Malley’s ability to compete: The people who know him best don’t like him. O’Malley is starting way down in the polls, and he’s not well known. And we have evidence that more O’Malley exposure doesn’t equal more O’Malley support. He earned just 3 percent (compared to Clinton’s 63 percent) in a poll of Democratic voters in Maryland conducted in October by The Washington Post and the University of Maryland.”
jibeaux
Agreed on Dave Weigel. He goes to the same wells a lot, but he’s funny and succinct.
As for Jeb, a 20% commitment rate from people who owe their paychecks to his brother is….not great.
Which is good, but it means one of these other jokers is pulling support from him, and my gods that’s a headscratcher.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: Good thoughts headed out to you and your family.
Phoenix_Rising
@Mnemosyne: So sorry to hear about your brother. As to your niece: Give it your best shot.
OT: It’s national niece rescue week, what with my wife’s niece requiring transfer to a specialty rehab hospital for the spinal cord injury she acquired in a car rollover early Sunday am. Both parents are wrecks so it’s time for some serious aunt-ing around here. She took the day off to learn about SCI research and treatment so that they have a report on the options to review tonight.
None of it is good, but the degree to which we are behind the labs in China, Japan and Korea who don’t have to kowtow to the Baby Jesus makes me wanna holler. Kid looking at life in a chair, isn’t even a Christian, wasn’t old enough to vote against Bush the Younger, who kept his campaign promise to cut off finding for stem cell research in August ’01.
Omnes Omnibus
@Chris: I guess the upside would be that he would be out of state a lot more.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Chris: I wouldn’t underestimate Walker’s appeal as an anti-labor hero to the plutocrats. I think he’s the strongest challenger to Jeb(!), not that he can beat Jeb, but Jeb can lose to him. And they’re both lucky the fundie vote is being split in so many directions (Carson, Huckabee, Santorum, Cruz… I feel like I”m still missing one). It’s fun to watch Jeb stumble and flail, but IIRC McCain looked like he had pretty much flamed out at this point in the pre-primary of the ’08 cycle.
Chris
@Mnemosyne:
I am very sorry about your brother, and hope that your worries about your niece prove unfounded.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@PaulW: Ah, the old Phil Gramm school of campaigning for President:
Lots of people from Texas (and JEB is effectively from Texas given his family) were able to raise lots of money for a Presidential run, thinking that would take care of it. It’s not that simple if they’re not able to win races early on.
Cheers,
Scott.
Valdivia
@Chris: @Corner Stone: well this shows how much I have my finger on the pulse. Jeb vs Hillary is going to bring out the worse in the Village, ugh.
MomSense
@Phoenix_Rising:
I will be rooting for your niece! I’m so sorry that she is going through this.
SiubhanDuinne
@askew:
Well, it’s worrying if you’re a committed Hillbot. I do not describe myself that way.*
And I didn’t mean to be as snarky as I ended up coming across. But there are so many things that can happen between June 2015 and November 2016 that I’m not very interested in hypothetical polls right now.
*Obligatory disclaimer: General — crawl, knees, broken glass, hot coals. Primary — Bernie, conversation, shift, left.
NotMax
A ploy to maximize the Jebmentum!
:)
Aleta
I caught the darkness
drinking from your cup
I said is this contagious?
You said just drink it up
KG
clicked through to the actual poll results… holy shit, not a single GOP candidate has a positive favorability rating. The best is Rubio at 31-31. I can’t imagine being a party power player and seeing numbers like that and not freaking the fuck out.
PurpleGirl
@Mnemosyne: I’m sorry. I hope you and your mother get to FL in time. I also hope you are able to swoop away that youngest niece.
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne: This is very sad news. My sympathies to you and your family. It’s a good thing that you hope to offer your niece some support. Remember to take care of yourself, as well.
Mike in NC
@Corner Stone: No, we are stuck with the White Horse Prophesy for a few more election cycles.
benw
@SiubhanDuinne: For example, we haven’t had a single R primary debate yet! If 2012 is any guide, each “serious” candidate, e.g. Bush, Walker, Rubio?, is going to be forced to say some crazy stuff at every debate. The same way Romney had to run to the right. And that stuff turned out to be really hard to walk back in the general, once Obama’s team realized what was happening. So any poll *before* the debates is sort of meaningless. There’s a lot of R crazy to come, so let’s take the opportunity to sit back, vote for a Socialist Vermonter in the primary, and enjoy the ride!
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: Santorum? I mean a boy can hope – he would give whoever the Dem is LBJ like numbers.
Howard Beale IV
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: I remember that campaign, and the searing hatred dirceted against Gramm:
I can feel some sorrow for him with that kind of vile directed t him. OTOH, he is directly responsible for creating the key bills that led the rolling back of all of the necessary financial regulations, which led to the Great Recession.
Quite frankly, with the latest criminal charges against UBS with the LIBOR rigging scandal (of which Gramm is a board member), I find it bizarre that the SEC/OCC hasn’t demanded the replacement of the board.
Aleta
@Mnemosyne: so rough for kids in that kind of family. I think it can help a lot just to know a different world outside that trap, and a person who’s out there and sees them. Writing letters ?
mai naem mobile
@Phoenix_Rising: oh, wow. I hope shes going to Craig hospital in Denver or LA. I hope they connect her with somebody who.has a spinal cord injury who can kind of mentor her. I hope her injury is lower rather than higher. Makes a huge difference functionally. Good luck. I have a friend who’s a long term quad who has a crazily positive attitude about his injury. I feel embarrassed when I bitch about my stupid problems. He has a job, pays taxes and goes out and does fun stuff. The road’s tough but it’s not the end of the world. Computers and tech have made a huge difference.
Redshift
@Mnemosyne: I’m very sorry to hear that. I hope everything goes as well as possible for you and your neice.
yodecat
Jeb boosh, for want of another term, is just another dickhead. Like we need more. Dickheads.
satby
@Mnemosyne: so sorry. That whole situation is tough. It’s good your niece can turn to you, and that she’ll know she can even if her chance to do so is limited.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Phoenix_Rising:
Ugh. My brother is a partial paraplegic thanks to a car accident 30 years ago. A lot depends on rehab, so make sure you research and find a top-notch center. We lived near Chicago, so he spent 6 months at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, which is #1 in the country and has been for many years. I wish your niece the best of luck.
Brachiator
All this stuff is mildly interesting. The polls are little more than semi-informed snapshots. When are the first GOP debates? And did they settle on a Hunger Games format?
Elie
@Mnemosyne:
Sorry to hear about your brother.
Not much you can do most of the time about some of the family dynamics besides to be there and be real with your true emotions..
Peace and best wishes to you
Splitting Image
I have a hard time seeing Bush winning the nomination, but I have a hard time seeing anyone else win it either. This clown car will shake and rattle all the way to Iowa.
Moneywise, Jeb Bush is the candidate of most of the high rollers and Walker is the candidate of the Koch brothers. Those two will be able to hang in for awhile even if they lose a race or two at the beginning. Jeb seems more likely to consolidate his support than Walker because the Bush crime cartel have been known to give the other 0.1%ers a share of the looting, while the jury is out on the Koch brothers.
Everybody else is in it for the grifting, or in the hope that they can get enough attention from the Kochs that they transfer their largesse away from Walker.
Elie
@Valdivia:
I just don’t get the Republicans at all, frankly. Seems like all they are doing is damaging the brand further. Can they really be this stupid? Its like going to a wedding and watching the bridesmaids get drunk and make horrible toasts to the bride and groom. Ewwwww — its hard not to feel that its time to go home… I just don’t get the number of idiots running either…
SiubhanDuinne
@benw: My sentiments ezzackly.
Redshift
@SiubhanDuinne: Yeah, I don’t give much credence to either “Jeb has lost half his support” or Askew’s totally objective assessment of Hillary’s poll numbers. Polls are pretty meaningless at this point except as entertainment. Anyone who followed the 2012 campaign should have learned that lesson.
Tree With Water
The Pittsburg Pirates Lawrence McCutcheon can fly. He just hit a ball to the gap in right center against the Giants in San Francisco, and was off like a cheetah. He dared them to make a play, and it looked to me as though the Giants outfield should have made it. The throw and relay would have needed to be perfecto-mundo, but no attempt was even made. I believe the Giants outfielders were actually surprised after they got to the ball, spun around, and saw how far along McCutcheon had tooled.
satby
@Phoenix_Rising: They can do great things in rehab, and she’s young, so I will hope for the best outcome possible for her. So sorry your own family is going through this too.
Redshift
@Brachiator: The bizarre thing is that even though they’re semi-informed snapshots/statistical fluctuations, they’re apparently going to decide who gets into the initial debates, which could have an actual effect on who stays in the race.
It’s basically an extremely expensive random number generator, but I suppose there are worse ways to thin the field.
Eric U.
@jl: So far, John Bush campaign reminds me of Teddy Kennedy’s try at the nomination.
Aleta
@Phoenix_Rising:
My aunt saved me big time .
Valdivia
@Elie: I really don’t understand how they can have 15+ people running, a lot of them really just not ready for primetime. The clown car is about to become a bus, and yet it will keep rolling until at least next March. Yuck.
Omnes Omnibus
@Elie:
It’s worse than that. One might plausibly want to sleep with one of the bridesmaids. Here, just ew.
danielx
@PaulW:
He does have some money, but he doesn’t have personal wealth on the scale of, say, Mitt Romney.
JustRuss
I just had dinner at a local watering hole, and a friend of mine pointed out a bench that had been artfully decoupaged by the owner’s wife. The owner of the bar is named…Jeb, and right in the center of the bench was a JEB! bumper sticker. So glad I’ve finally seen one.
jc
daveweigel and Bob Schooley, about ready to bust a gut …
The problem is … every photo of Jebush just reminds me of his mother.
Eric U.
@jc: that’s just an ugly thing to say.
I recall when the Rangers were in the post-season, and Barbara was sitting behind home plate in a blazing red outfit. Her evil just shines through, I couldn’t watch because Fox kept cutting away to see her reaction.
Phoenix_Rising
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): thanks for the well wishes & advice, and I’m sorry, and is this the same brother? At this point a future in which she’s dying of cancer in 30 years and leaving a spouse & kids seems like a good vision to hold onto.
Whoever said it, yes, the niece is going to Craig in Denver, because it’s a top rated research and treatment center. They plan to admit next Mon, keep her for 9-14 weeks & get her to her best new life. The right rehab seems to have an enormous effect on outcome, which is mostly what the Mrs spent her day investigating and reporting on. So she definitely made a difference.
My only regret about having an only: she will never know the pains and joys of being an aunt, and when she’s old she won’t have a sibling for her kids to fall back on in situations like this. Which, really, are life. We’ve all got a terminal condition.
fleeting expletive
I’m going to my 50th high school reunion this next weekend, and meeting up with my best friend of that time. She lives is Georgia. I do not know her political orientation, but dammit if she’s now a tugging bagger I don’t know if I can hang with her. It troubles me. We were roommates for a while in college and best friends in high school. She might be gay, some of her FB pictures are ambiguously gay. I am nervous about if she’s a Georgia Republican. She has worked at the same job for 25 years and is retiring with good benefits, but damn it will be awkward if she’s a RNNJ. I sincerely hope not.
Phoenix_Rising
On the ostensible topic: if it’s JEB!, I am taking next July off work and persuading Michael Schaivo to go on a barnstorming tour. Let’s talk about how many GOP voters want JEB to do for America what he did in Flroida. A government so small, it fits between you and your spouse!
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne, @SiubhanDuinne:
Well said, SiubhanDuinne. I couldn’t have put it better.
Mnemosyne, I hope things go well in the times ahead and you are able to maintain some sense of peace.
Omnes Omnibus
@Phoenix_Rising:
“[O]ne must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
– Camus
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
Best of thoughts for you and your family.
Any time you need a shoulder, give a shout. I can listen and I’ve been there. It was my sister, but with lots of family drama, bipolar included.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: I have an uncle who can’t do funerals. If he goes, he must be shitfaced. I hate them and have not typically been good at them. I have one exception. When my dad’s mom died a couple of years ago, he was wiped out. Dad has always been the rock at things like this; so when he couldn’t do it. I did. Elder son of eldest son. I did a eulogy and talked to everyone while making sure that only the people he needed to see filtered through to dad. It was a bitch, but my brother (who is a better people person) was dealing with his kids who were devastated.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: You’re a good man, omnes. A stand up guy.
It was kind of shocking when my dad sobbed and cried on my shoulder (literally) when he told me my mom died. He looked to me for everything that week, and I’m the baby of the family. Daddy’s girl must trump birth order. I was honored that he turned to me, and it was a privilege to be able to do it, as you no doubt experienced with your dad.
Suzanne
@Mnemosyne: Hugs to you and your niece. Even if you don’t make it in time, I’m sure he knows he is deeply loved.
Ruckus
@Phoenix_Rising:
Let’s hope that it goes well. It can, I knew a girl in a chair from a auto accident and she ended up 2 yrs later working for the Doc that got her walking again. She was pretty amazing, strong as a horse, she worked on me a couple of times while I was a patient. Also have a number of friends who live in chairs. They have done and continue to do a lot of living. I’m sure that a mentor will be available but if you want more, let me know and I’ll see what I can do.
Valdivia
@WaterGirl: reading that made me a little weepy. {{{hugs}}}
as did yours, @Omnes Omnibus
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Phoenix_Rising:
Actually, my brother who was in the accident is not the one who’s ill. The brother who was in the accident is currently 51, married (for the second time), and is raising two kids thanks to modern science. Between modern rehabilitation and changing attitudes in society, your niece will probably manage to have a reasonably normal life even if she ends up in a wheelchair. It won’t be the life she or her parents expected, but it can be a pretty damn good one.
WaterGirl
@Valdivia: I appreciate the hugs! It was twenty years ago, but I find that some things are permanently etched in my soul, so when I think about that time it’s like I’m there.
Nice to see you here again lately! I’ve been so late to the threads – if I get to them at all – that I haven’t been able to comment.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: I watched my dad walk out of the funeral home at one point and break down – he was very close to his mom. I left him alone because I know him. At that point, I knew that I needed to step up. I was nothing special. I was the person in family practice who would do it, so I did. Leaving my dad outside alone was hard. But he needed it. So I was charming and found a way to respond to all of the stories people told. It helped that she was in her 90s and was ready to go. We just weren’t ready to lose her.
Valdivia
@WaterGirl: some things are indelible, aren’t they?
It’s also nice to get to be back more and specially to get to say hello while a thread is live.
Omnes Omnibus
Fuck it. Here is Temptation, by New Order. There was a year when i realized that my musical tastes matched those of Scots heroin addicts.
Omnes Omnibus
And Good Feeling.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
I have attended mercifully few funerals, and I don’t like them. Give me a good (lively) wake or memorial service instead. I dreaded going to my father’s funeral four years ago (the open casket part). He once told me that our funerary practices are “barbaric” and (I thought) that he wanted to be cremated. But there was nothing written down (a lesson to us all), and my mother and RWNJ brother arranged for him to be buried in a veterans’ cemetery in Las Vegas (where they live). My other brother and I agreed that after my mother dies we will have Dad moved to Arlington National Cemetery. He loved the Air Force and he deserves it. (I don’t think RWNJ brother would mind.)
Kay
@askew:
Walker hasn’t been tested at all yet. No one outside the true believers knows anything about him. I follow this pretty closely and I just heard him speak-his voice- for the first time a month ago.
I’m not a big fan of the Clinton campaign so far- I think they’re way too careful and that’s playing into “trustworthy”- it’s like THEY don’t trust her, quite frankly, but comparing such a well-known figure to Walker at this point isn’t fair.
It’s not “Hillary Clinton versus any possible likeable person”. It’s Hillary Clinton versus one of these clowns. Are they more likeable is the only relevant question, and I don’t think we know yet.
I’m actually getting more sympathetic to her as I read the coverage. I think they’re over-playing “likeability” and they’re doing that because she’s a woman and we’re expected to be “likeable” above all else.
It’s pissing me off.
She’;s doing a voting rights event Thursday. Maybe they could so some substantive coverage of an issue in addition to the 24/7 beauty pageant.
Iowa Old Lady
@fleeting expletive: Hope the reunion goes well.
Maybe it’ll be like the West Wing episode that I’m fuzzily trying to remember. A gay man is killed, and President Bartlett is being lobbied to support gay rights but he feels it’s bad politically. Can that be right? At any rate the murdered man’s family will be at the White House and the question is whether to meet with them publicly. They’re from someplace like North Dakota, and the president’s team decides they’ll be unsupportive so there’s a private meeting. They turn out to be really ticked that the president is such a coward. They’re big advocates for gay rights.
Lurking Canadian
@Mnemosyne: I’m sorry for what you are going through. I think your niece is lucky to have you on her side.
Elizabelle
@Mnemosyne:
Thinking good thoughts for mnemosyne and her family. Her brother, for a peaceful transition. The family, for strength.
Chris
@Kay:
I fully expect to read so much ridiculous shit about her in the next year and a half, and to see the professional Right Winger’s Best Friends in the MSM nodding gravely and thoughtfully through all of it, that I’ll be a die-hard Hillbot come election night.
Jeffro
@SiubhanDuinne: I think Walker or Rubio has the best chance of winning the nom, with the other being a strong possibility to be on the ticket as Veep. Outside chance of the nominee being dumb enough and (mis)calculating enough to succumb to Ted Cruz’s blather (and/or delegate hostage-taking) and put him in the #2 slot.
Can also easily see one of several GOP women (Ayotte, Haley, Martinez, etc) on the ticket as Veep, too.