Graham on Romney “We tried tall, good lookin’, smart, nice, great family. Vote for me. We’re not going down that road again!” Ha ha ha.
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) June 12, 2015
Politico spills the beans:
DEER VALLEY, Utah — Mitt Romney is working with an unlikely collaborator — Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino mogul who bankrolled Newt Gingrich’s 2012 campaign — in the hopes of ensuring that the GOP primary produces a mainstream conservative without any of the mayhem that marked his own race.
The two, who speak monthly, aim to convince the wealthy contributors bankrolling various candidates to work together to avoid the kind of primary election chaos that Romney believes laid the seeds for his defeat in 2012. The former Massachusetts governor is also considering endorsing a candidate to achieve his goal…
It was all on display at the E2 Summit this week, which drew around 250 of his most loyal donors and prominent supporters to the Stein Eriksen Lodge, a luxurious five-star ski resort…
For a failed nominee who waged a presidential bid that many in his party found disappointing, Romney maintains a striking degree of influence. In part, it’s because of his unique mix of business acumen and political skills, but it’s also a recognition of his deep access to the complex, jungle-like world of super PAC donors. In a party that lacks a unifying figure, he’s eager to fill the void…
I would have gone for the simpler headline: Monkeys Dance for Money, but that's me. http://t.co/h6zqQIzpMy
— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) June 12, 2015
As the Washington Post sees it, “Republican elite convene at Romney summit in search of a Clinton foil“:
… Republicans have 10 declared candidates and counting, but they have no front-runner — not even the descendant of the closest thing the GOP has to a royal family. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush has struggled ahead of his official campaign launch on Monday, and he skipped the Romney confab because he was in Europe.
The fluidity gave the hopefuls who came — from top-tier favorites (Rubio and Walker) to dark horses (Ohio Gov. John Kasich and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie) to long shots (Graham and former Silicon Valley executive Carly Fiorina) — an opening to court the business-friendly, establishment financiers who powered Romney to the nomination in 2012. Many of the donors are either helping multiple candidates or holding out until a likely winner emerges…
Looming over the three-day retreat at the Stein Eriksen Lodge was Hillary Rodham Clinton, the dominant Democratic candidate, who will kick-start her presidential campaign with a rally Saturday in New York. In hotel hallways, on ski-slope hikes and in fire-pit huddles, leading Republicans pondered how to win — and acknowledged that Clinton cannot be underestimated…
ICYMI last night, Mitt Romney gave a brutal PowerPoint (!) on "The Most Consequential Obama Foreign Policy Mistakes" http://t.co/888GEmUtZa
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) June 13, 2015
Mitt Romney has really struggled with the whole graceful loser thing post his 2012 drubbing https://t.co/1vZqjMHtxe
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) June 13, 2015
it is impossible for Mitt Romney to not be Mitt Romney pic.twitter.com/P0s9QTT2wI
— Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) June 13, 2015
Another WaPo article:
… Dusting off a page from his management consulting playbook, the former Republican nominee delivered a speech by PowerPoint to more than 200 corporate CEOs and other attendees of his annual ideas festival about what he deemed (and titled his slides): “The Most Consequential Obama Foreign Policy Mistakes.”…
“With all that bad news, is it not true that arguably President Obama is the worst foreign policy president in history?” Romney asked. “I think he is.”
Next came the slides about Obama’s first-term secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner. First, Romney showed a map of the globe, colored in for all the countries she visited.
Then he mocked her.
“Secretary of Schlep,” the next slide read….
She actually thought she should work to get stuff done! And for that Black guy, no less! Har har har!
Mitt Romney is giving a foreign policy speech to donors in Utah that essentially amounts to: I WAS RIGHT!
— Matt Viser (@mviser) June 13, 2015
Hometown paper, the Boston Globe, not impressed:
If the stakes were not so high, the rivalries not so cutthroat, the high-level Republican gathering hosted by Mitt Romney this week in the mountains of Utah would almost resemble a jolly summer camp. Almost.
Here is Marco Rubio, clad in athletic shorts and Nikes offering to play flag football with any takers. (He played offense the whole time, to show off his arm and avoid humiliating any millionaire campaign contributors with tough defense.) Who wants to go skeet shooting with Lindsey Graham? How about sunrise Pilates — or afternoon horseback riding — with Ann Romney?
Romney himself plays the role of head counselor, letting out a loud whistle and telling his guests, “Let’s get started!”…
Romney’s fourth annual Deer Valley gathering marks a renewed effort to cement the 2012 Republican presidential nominee’s status as a GOP elder statesman…
In a nominating contest marked by a series of cattle calls — gatherings of candidates in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina — the one Romney convened here was the most exclusive. General Electric Co. chief executive Jeffrey Immelt roamed the hallways. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates ate lunch on the terrace. Former NBA commissioner David Stern was buttonholed by several Boston-based fans wondering what he would have done with a scandal over deflated basketballs…
Our own front-pager Kay pointed out earlier that the GOP establishment has taken to treating Romney as the closest to an “ex-presidential elder” they have. It’s not as though they want to remind the voting public about the last Repub in the Oval Office, the guy before that (Dubya’s daddy) is well past his sell-by date, and Reagan makes a good target for hagiography but not so much for his RINO-by-current-standards time in office…
Romney, raising expectations on Bush: “I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he has raised twice as much as all the others combined.”
— Matt Viser (@mviser) June 12, 2015
It would be fun if Mitt decides to spend this whole primary passive-aggressively messing with Jeb. https://t.co/duVYRt23qV
— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) June 13, 2015
More from the Globe article:
… One Republican, however, was conspicuously absent. Jeb Bush was halfway across the world, choosing to take an international trip instead of coming to Utah. Sources close to both Bush and Romney said that Bush tried to figure out a way to attend this conference — and finally sent his son Jeb Jr. instead.
But the former Florida governor’s absence was another sign of a relationship with Romney that no one describes as warm, and some say is downright tense. Some who have spoken with Romney privately say that he has been unimpressed with Bush, and they remember how Bush was one of the last politicians to endorse him in 2012.
There also are bitter feelings over how Bush started aggressively courting Romney’s donors and campaign aides this year….
There is still some wistful longing, as well as some second-guessing of Romney’s public flirtation in January of a 2016 run, which he ended after three weeks of frenzied speculation.
If he had waited, some advisers say, the party might now be turning to him, with such a chaotic field and the establishment favorite, Jeb Bush, unable to establish a clear lead.
“If Mitt had held his fire until now, the hydraulic pressure for him would be enormous,” said a former top Romney aide.
But those closest to Romney say they are now resigned to playing a role in a Republican world without him as a candidate (Some are quietly hoping he could become secretary of state in a GOP administration.)…
Clinton, O'Malley and Sanders were invited to the Romney confab in Utah via @mviser. All are in Iowa instead. http://t.co/rB5AnqzQLw
— Annie Linskey (@AnnieLinskey) June 13, 2015
The NYTimes, of course, keeps an eye on its target readership:
… In two days of luxury candidate speed dating that began Thursday evening — flag football with Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, skeet shooting with Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and speeches by no fewer than six 2016 hopefuls — about 250 members of Mr. Romney’s network took stock of the Republican field, hoping to find a candidate who not only excites them but who they believe can win a general election.
Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, who was in Europe and did not attend the event, was supposed to have already locked up this establishment donor base that just months earlier was urging Mr. Romney to consider a third run at the White House. But several stumbles by Mr. Bush left the party without a clear favorite…
“I think people want to be inspired,” said Spencer Zwick, Mr. Romney’s finance chairman. “I think they want to be inspired and they want to see a path to victory.” But, he added, “Donors, especially, want to know what is the path to victory, and I think there are a lot of donors who are not yet convinced that there is someone with a path to victory.”
Between sunrise hiking and panels aplenty and late-night drinks, something of a donor diaspora emerged. Some are sticking with Mr. Bush and the belief that he is most qualified to be president; some like Mr. Rubio’s message of generational change; others like Mr. Walker’s Midwestern charm and executive experience; and many remain undecided…
Mr. Romney appeared at ease, in a way he rarely was as a candidate. Though he has told confidants he is unlikely to endorse early on in the contest, he relishes his role as the unofficial father of his party and wants to win the presidency back for Republicans…
TPM is offering $500 for bona fide, publishable & exclusive photos of Mark Halperin doing pilates with GOP megadonors http://t.co/Z7UfR7zUcd
— Brendan James (@deep_beige) June 12, 2015
Corner Stone
Cavs haven’t made shit in the last 10 minutes. They should be getting blown out right now instead of down by a handful.
Corner Stone
Still say it’s Mitt or Jeb for the R nom in 2016.
srv
They don’t get it. This isn’t a battle over 2016, this is a battle over which Dynasty will rule the GOP.
There can only be one.
If only Ron had had a higher sperm count.
Kropadope
Pffft, when?
kc
I need some of this grift.
Mike in NC
@Corner Stone: Yup. Forget about the GOP Klown Kar sideshow. The Kochs will split their $900M between ads for Mittens and JEB! Covering all the bases, like good gamblers at one of Adelsons slimy establishments in Macau.
Steeplejack
Phrasing.
Valdivia
There was a quote from Mitt saying Obama was the worst FP President in history. Are these people high on crack?
rikyrah
Willard is waiting for Jeb to flame out.
He believes in the Prophecy.
srv
Speaking of Romney, Florida or Arkansas?
Steeplejack
Also, Philip Rucker’s tweet—“ICYMI last night, Mitt Romney gave a brutal PowerPoint (!) on ‘The Most Consequential Obama Foreign Policy Mistakes’”—is just a straight-up pimp for his own Washington Post story, titled “Mitt Romney Gives a Brutal PowerPoint Critique of Obama’s Foreign Policy.”
WTF. One, the story is not as inflammatory as the headline makes it sound, and, two, the use of the word brutal carries the connotation that Romney lands some punches, but the details of his PowerPoint presentation as given in the story just sound like him talking some vague smack—pretty much like every other “strategic” PowerPoint presentation in history.
jl
@Kropadope: I’m not sure how to read Graham’s statement. I guess the country will go for a guy short, bad looking, not smart not nice lousy family man like Graham, if he can convince us we need to to decisively confront all the dire existential threats to the US, which appears to be everything.
After Graham finished ratting off all the extreme dangers we must decisively confront NOW NOW NOW in his interview today, i’m surprised he left off six foot killer penguins, and reanimated hyper intelligent therapod dinosaur hybrids. Maybe those will be in his next speech.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Valdivia: Duh. The worst foreign policy president in American history was Neville Chamberlain.
Valdivia
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: lol, of course
jl
Let’s see if we can get this raccoon in the GOP primary. Powerpoint that, Mitt!
And can Graham ride on an alligator? I think not. How can he decisively decisive both Russia and China at the same time?
Meanwhile, in Florida, a raccoon is riding on an alligator
http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2015/6/14/8778569/meanwhile-in-florida-a-raccoon-is-riding-on-an-alligator
Major Major Major Major
SPORTSBALL WHO IS WATCHING THIS GAME
M^4+i don’t know it’s sunday and i’m gay, 6?
Tree With Water
From the horses mouth: “People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history”.
Dan Quayle, in interview with Hendrik Hertzburg (October 1988).
Kropadope
@jl:
Everything, especially including a Graham presidency. He plans on using the military to force Congress to vote his way and to prosecute thought crimes.
Major Major Major Major
I can’t shake the image of the whole Monty Python crew going “Stephen Curry?”
Anne Laurie
@efgoldman:
He’s been using it since his first campaign back in 1994 (or thereabouts). Back then it was his old man losing to Clinton, not his brother fusterclucking the world, that he didn’t want to remind people about.
You know how thrifty those old WASPS — like Bar, the parent Jeb most resembles — are. It may be a little threadbare & it was never stylish, but when you pay for quality you might as well use it all up.
scav
They’re really trying to impress us: Not the PowerPoint Presentation!? Nooooo!!!!!!!!
Does this come before or after the dreaded Power Ties takedown?
Howard Appel
He is going to step in to save the day after all of the current candidates implode.
MazeDancer
@efgoldman:
Apparently, Jeb! has been using the exclam since 1984. Pics of campaigns past: https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedAndrew/status/610096036120539136
Don’t know if Jeb! is aware how often the ! is used to mock him.
gene108
Cavs win or lose, Lebron should be the the MVP.
Major Major Major Major
@gene108: That’s not how MVP’s work.
gene108
@Major Major Major Major:
Worked once for Jerry West
jl
@MazeDancer:Thanks. I thought that mysterious glyph ‘Jeb!’ had been around for awhile. But… what does it mean?
Maybe we should add an asterisk for every campaign the guy has run since 1986. Then by now it should be Jeb!!!!!!!!, or sometting.
Corner Stone
Looks like Cavs giving up on this one.
Gin & Tonic
Curry!!
Corner Stone
Can’t stand Steph Curry or GS. Not a fan of Cavs but fuck GS.
jl
@Corner Stone: Glad you are enjoying the finals.
gene108
@Corner Stone:
I hate the GS fans. Seem like a bunch of rich tech-dude-bro’s, who are just front running.
Major Major Major Major
Where’s your messiah now, Cleveland?
Kropadope
@Corner Stone: What did Golden State ever do to you? I never even heard of them before this year, so I’m all the way in the bag for them right now.
MazeDancer
@jl:
Very funny. Or an exponent with the single exclam could work, too.
Major Major Major Major
@gene108: Some of us are crusty old salts that hate the demographic you just named. (‘crusty’ and ‘old’ by SF standards.)
redshirt
Lebron needs to work on his baby hook. If he could master the shot he’d be truly unstoppable.
divF
@Major Major Major Major:
I don’t have a rooting interest in this one (my team is playing in the facility next door). However, if GS is going to win a title, *please* let it be now before they decamp to San Francisco. The Eastbay fan base that has supported them through the wilderness years deserves it.
Corner Stone
@jl: I am! It’s been a hell of a series! I’ve been all over this blog commenting about how awesome it has been. It’s not over yet.
jl
@MazeDancer: Oops, I forgot the difference between an asterisk and an exclamation point. Well, I was watching the finals.
Better idea be an exclamation point for every win and an question mark for every loss. And an asterisk for every ‘contemplated run’ which wikipedia says were many. So if I count it right, it should be
Jeb?!!**?
The last ? is in gleeful anticipation of his coming loss in this primary. You are welcome, Jeb?!!**?, I’m glad to help.
I hope all the GOP primary candidates manage to lose, including Mitt. They way the RNC is running things so far, it could happen. It is logically possible, I guess.
jl
@Corner Stone: Well, more power too you if you can enjoy the series even if you don’t like the teams that much.
Major Major Major Major
@divF: Agreed. Much more exciting than the last, which looked like a done deal from the start and was, indeed, a done deal.
I just want to see LeBron lose, I dunno why. Well, I do: he’s got an ego the size of LeBron James. Not that he hasn’t earned it but petard + hoist is a fairly consistent human desire.
Corner Stone
@jl: Two OT’s and the third game like 4 points!
That’s intense, friend!
Arclite
Gamer Dork:
Bethesda E3 live feed: Doom 4, Fallout 4, etc.
Tree With Water
@gene108: Quite the contrary. Warrior fans are among the most loyal in all the sports universe. They have faithfully supported the team for decades, through years and years of futile sucktitude. Besides, Cleveland is a cursed sports town and everyone knows it*, so don’t blame the Warriors if they win it all..
* just why, I don’t know. But it is.
Mike J
The E2 Summit is going on the week before E3? Makes sense.
RSA
@Steeplejack:
I noticed that, too. As if management consultants don’t have a reputation for spewing self-contradictory nonsense already.
David Koch
El Caganer
@Tree With Water: You sure that was the right part of the horse?
jl
@Tree With Water: I can second that. I know several unbelievably loyal Warriors fans at work. They’ve slogged to every game they could for years, even when the Warriors were not only bad, but also boring, and everyone knew they were going to be a mess before the first game.
Not sure what kind of people they are highlighting on the TV. Probably there are a lot of people jumping on the band wagon in the front seats, and probably a lot or rich snots. They probably have good seats up front. Real Warrior diehards are up high in the cheap eats, and they’ve been there for decades.
El Caganer
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: And every Democratic candidate is locked in 1938.
David Koch
he’s still hoping he can worm his way into the 2016 race.
catclub
@Corner Stone: Cavs seem to die after three quarters last two games.
I think Kerr is a good coach and knows this too.
Actually, in all five games Cavs have barely hung on in 4th quarter.
Chris
@David Koch:
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Well, he just torpedoed any residual chance he might have at getting the Republican nomination.
Gene108
@Tree With Water:
The people at Oracle Arena do not strike me as long suffering fans. Maybe the cost of tickets is such the long suffering fan cannot attend.
Anyway, Cleveland does seem cursed. The injuries they have had this play-off run leaves a big what-if to me, because if they were healthy I think they could have swept this series.
jl
@catclub: I’m a Warrior fan, but I have to wonder how the series would have gone if the Cavs had been healthy. Warriors have much more quality depth than most teams. I think that is why Cavs wanted to have slow physical games, and took Warriors three games to figure out a response.
But, IIRC, Warriors-Cavs games in regular season were all close, and Warriors figured them out after a few games, even when Cavs where healthy.
Being a responsible BJ commenter, I’ll go try to check after I submit this.
catclub
@redshirt:
40 points after having the other team’s best defender on him is pretty close to unstoppable. Iguodala is defending really well, and he still gets 40.
On another topic: Romney saying that ‘by any objective measure. Obama foreign policy has been a disaster’ is only slightly less crazy than McConnell saying it about Obama and the economy. Romney is still in the world where he expected to win in 2012. How is he going to be any help in 2016. I can imagine his help making it worse in 2016, so that his failure in 2012 looks a little better.
Mike J
@Arclite: E3 was much better when it was industry only.
askew
Man, does losing to Obama make his opponents whiny and pathetic. It’s a tossup to which is worse McCain or Romney.
On a more random note, the season finale of Veep was perfection. Man, I love that show.
catclub
@David Koch:
I agree. Only way will be if no one sews up the nom, which could happen given the massive field and enough money that no one needs to drop out. It is still extremely unlikely.
jl
@jl: OK.looks like Warriors and Cavs split two games in regular season and they were not close at all, at least ten point lead for each game. Funny, I thought I remembered those games well. I do remember had Fear of LeBron haunting me during both games. Would the Warriors be able to handle him, and what did that foretell for the playoffs?
Chris
@catclub:
Well, I can see why they’re doing it, in both cases. They want to hammer home the “Obama worst ever ever ever” message, be it on economics or national security, because they figure it’s the only way they’ll ever overcome the public memory of how godawful their last president was on both issues.
catclub
@askew: OTOH: I think the first question to People like Huckabee would be to ask why they were too chicken to run against the black guy, when unemployment rate was 8%.
(Yes, I know it fell to below 8% in September, 2012)
Gin & Tonic
@Gene108: Maybe the cost of tickets is such the long suffering fan cannot attend.
In what major-city arena is that not the case? As a Knickerbockers fan I’ve suffered way longer than most, and I can’t afford to go to a game at the Garden these days.
jl
@Chris: So far they stayed far away from the plausible in criticizing Obama. Maybe since in their minds he is an inadequate blah man, it is hard for them to do a convincing critique. And I still see little sign they understand Obama is not running for a third term. I don’t see them moving towards a coherent critique of Democratic policies that can encompass Obama and HRC.
So, stuck on same old ineffective approach to both Obama and HRC. They got a superinfection of Obama and Clinton madness and they can’t shake it so far. Hope they never do.
David Koch
@askew:
It never fails
That will never get old.
Cacti
@catclub:
Because of injuries the Cavs only go about 2 deep on the bench, and their starters are gassed in the waning minutes of the game.
LeBron is average 45.8 minutes per game, which would be unsustainable for a month of regular season play.
He’s also averaging 44% of the offense created for the Cavs, which is unprecedented in a Finals series.
The Warriors are winning because they have the better team, and basketball is a team sport.
jl
@Gin & Tonic: Yeah, any long suffering fan of modest means who goes to lots of games year in and year out is up in the cheap nose bleed seats. And there are plenty of those among Warrior fans.
Tree With Water
@Gene108: And yet they are, your impressions aside.
Corner Stone
@catclub: It’s weird. Cavs seem like they don’t want to actually win any of these games. They get double digit leads and then just peter out.
But it’s been balls out fun watching since neither team is my team.
I still say the refs are giving people guarding LeBron a little too much leeway. He’s so damn good, and so damn strong that the refs expect 150% from him or they don’t call shit.
Corner Stone
GS should be thanking the Celtics for this series. Oh well.
Cacti
@jl:
The haven’t been able to handle LeBron, but no shame in that. He’s still the best player on the planet, Curry’s MVP award notwithstanding.
But when Irving went down with a fractured kneecap in game 1, the Cavs lost their only credible second option on offense. Honestly, I was surprised it wasn’t a sweep after that.
Corner Stone
@Cacti:
They definitely have the best team left, and that’s how this is going to go.
Steeplejack
(Belated) DVR Alert!
Forgot to mention earlier that Greed (1924), Erich von Stroheim’s damaged masterpiece, is coming up on TCM at midnight EDT tonight. “The ruthless pursuit of wealth drives a family to the brink of destruction.”
Wikipedia:
After that, two Japanese films by Yoshitaro Nomura that look interesting. (I haven’t seen either one.)
2:15 a.m. EDT: Zero Focus (1964). “After Teiko’s new husband disappears on a business trip, she discovers a pair of mysterious postcards hidden away in a book that may be clues to his fate.”
4:00 a.m. EDT: The Castle of Sand (1972). “Two detectives investigate the murder of an old man found bludgeoned to death in a Tokyo rail yard.”
Chris
@jl:
The problem is that their base doesn’t want “plausible” critiques, they want the loony-tunes stuff like death panels and birth certificates and secret Muslim allegiance and Weather Underground ties and being in league with the terrorists. “Plausible” just bores them. And as they’ve got to run the Republican electoral gauntlet before the actual election…
cmorenc
@Valdivia:
They are delusionally convinced that after a long, hard struggle, George Bush had successfully brought Iraq and the general Middle Eastern situation under lasting control, and Obama fucked it up by withdrawing soldiers from both places. Never mind that the troop withdrawal agreement to withdraw troops from Iraq (and the deadlines) were made while Bush was president, and that it was the Bush Administration who manipulated the installation of the strongly Shite partisan Malaki as head of Iraq’s government, whose discriminatory exclusion of Sunnis from power provoked the alienation and instability that provoked rebellion and created fertile ground for ISIS. Fact is, Iraq never was stabilized under Bush – the only way the lid temporarily seemed to stay on was to indefinitely keep 150k American troops in-country, but that did nothing to resolve the underlying instability and ethnic and sectarian hatreds. They seem to think that indefinitely keeping a couple hundred thousand troops spread across Iraq, Afghanistan, and newly expanded into the Syrian conflict, and engaged in direct combat, will somehow cure the situation and set the native people right in those places. And BTW, most of them also think the only reason we “lost” Vietnam was lack of willpower to stick that war out to successful conclusion.
jl
@Cacti: Now that my memory is refreshed, the Warriors beat the Cavs in regular season when they could swarm them with the bench and play a very fast game, and tire them out (even when healthy) and won by 18. In the second game in regular season, the Cavs figured out how to slow the tempo, and Le Bron could not be stopped, Cavs won by 11.
I don’t think a healthy Cavs would sweep, but if the Warriors could compete against a health Cavs in a seven game series, then maybe would be a see-saw of those two types of games with wider spreads. Maybe… I’m just guessing.
Cacti
And since it’s an open thread…
Trappistes Rochefort #10 brew is the f**king bomb.
Those Belgian Monks know how to make some fine beer.
redshirt
@Chris: Black goo or AKA Liberal Communism.
Mike in NC
@cmorenc: See McCain, John
karen marie
I have a really hard time understanding how anyone could consider Walker to have “charm,” Midwestern or otherwise. I didn’t realize turning Wisconsin into a shithole and convictions of six staffers is the type of “executive experience” voters are looking for.
redshirt
@catclub: Sure, but with a baby hook maybe Lebron scores 50-60 tonight. He missed so many 3-6 foot shots that a baby hook could hit.
If any other great player from the NBA past had the looks Lebron had, they’d score 60.
Steeplejack
Reds-Cubs tied 1-1 going into the bottom of the 11th inning on ESPN.
David Koch
Hillary gives strong defense of President Obama
Love that girl!
Cacti
@David Koch:
Our Hillary is learning.
It’s not 1996 anymore. Obama showed the winning formula for a Democratic candidate in the 21st century. You’re not going to win the Obama coalition by dissing and running away from him.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
And the Cubs win on an RBI hit by Starlin Castro!
redshirt
@Cacti: I hope so. Obama is the best and Hillary must utilize all the Obama love for her campaign.
Cacti
And since it’s an open thread…
Courage Russian Imperial Stout is a damn fine beer too.
So, I’ve only had 2 beers this evening, but at 11.3% and 10.0 % alcohol per volume, it was more like having 4, and I’ve got a mean buzz going this Sunday evening.
They went well with the BBQ point cut of brisket I made for dinner this evening.
Cpl. Cam
Philip Rucker ✔@PhilipRucker
ICYMI last night, Mitt Romney gave a brutal PowerPoint (!) on “The Most Consequential Obama Foreign Policy Mistakes” http://wapo.st/1cRy2Rj
Let me guess.
1. Invading Iraq in 2004
2. Disbanding the Baathist Iraqi army
3. Unsurgening the surge
catclub
@David Koch: Me too! Great!
David Koch
@Cacti: I’m so proud of my girl.
She really deserves credit for growing. She got rid of all of her husband’s loser friends and turned to Obama’s wizkids.
Chris
@David Koch:
I love that she brings up the 1990s budget surplus. No fucking Republican should ever be allowed to talk out of his ass about how important it is to be responsible with money without getting hit with that.
redshirt
@David Koch: Are you being serious?
catclub
@Cpl. Cam: Yeah. The other side is on any issue they start out with ‘Obama is a total failure’ but end up with recommending doing exactly what he has been doing. Nobody is actually calling for invasion of Iran or Syria ( or eastern Ukraine). Nobody is even calling for 100k more troops in any of those places.
But still, whatever Obama has been doing, must be wrong.
Mike J
@Chris:
The argument is always that there was a Republican congress. The follow up question is to explain the Reagan years when there was a Democratic congress.
jl
@catclub: That is what I noticed with McCain and Graham. When asked what they would actually do after their denunciations, they come up with what Obama has been doing but a little more, and they would do it better some unspecified how.
So, I guess if Obama is the worst most disastrous foreign policy failure as president in US history, we are doomed to have the most disastrous foreign policy failures as his would be GOP successors.
Graham may sense this problem, which may be why he goes on deranged endless rants about all the decisive crises and scary enemies the US is facing right now, every second, all the time everywhere to finish up his campaign pitch.
Mike G
@Steeplejack:
So the RomneyTron3000 is operating beyond its engineering specifications. Maybe he’ll suffer a catastrophic failure and be sent the fuck away to a junkyard.
Rmoney operates on the classic Repuke principle that if a rich CEO asserts something loudly enough, that makes it true.
Tree With Water
@Cacti: I think she handled it adroitly, leastwise for not having handled anything at all. Sanders was right in calling her out before the vote, but she had her reasons to decline. Having declined, her statement today appears eminently reasonable. Well played..
Chris
@Mike J:
Well, either that or to ask why the surplus disappeared as soon as there was a Republican Congress and a Republican president (early 2000s).
David Koch
@redshirt: Yes. I’m very impressed. Most people don’t change, but she’s converted.
Tommy
I am hooked on StarTalk. Who knew Neil deGrasse Tyson had a talk show. I sure didn’t.
Bobby Thomson
@catclub: One could be forgiven for thinking that all Romney’s moves are really designed to stick it to Jeb! (since he can no longer run against Obama, and no one likes his loser stench). I don’t think so, though, because Rmoney’s not that clever.
KG
@Chris: their response will be that it only happened because Republicans controlled Congress and the only reason it didn’t happen this time is because Obama was a damn dirty evil communist… I know too many within the wingularity.
Bobby Thomson
@efgoldman: Usually goes the other way around and refs whistle people for breathing on the marquee players. Or they just let them charge at will like that asshole McHale.
Tree With Water
@Bobby Thomson: The Romney’s are a kind of Mormon version of Pinky and the Brain..
bago
@RSA: Phrasing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyLWrKh2fB0
Chris
@Tree With Water:
I’m thoroughly enjoying having both her and Sanders in the race. FDR was the one who told people to his left that they had to *make* him do things even though he wanted to do them, and having someone coming at her from the left is that in a nutshell.
Fred
News for Mitt: It wasn’t the brutal primary that killed your pathway to the oval office. It was that doofy, greasy smile on your country club tanned pie hole as you blithely blamed America’s troubles on all the hard working people (or used to be) you and your ilk victimized.
Nobody wants to vote for the corporate suit who downsized their department, wrecked their town’s economy, raided their pension fund while sailing away on a company yacht.
El Caganer
Yep. Willard again in ’16. Only question is which of the goobers he picks for running mate to satisfy the teanuts.
Suzanne
I refuse to believe that Jon Snow is permanently dead. Perhaps I am in denial.
Loved watching the Warriors win tonight. I wish that GS would stop going for the 3’s as much as they do and would drive in a bit more, but then Curry makes SK e of those beauties and I am just stunned. Mr. Suzanne is from the Bay Area, and he and his friends are just so excited. We get cheap season tickets to the Suns, thEn sell half of them and make a profit, but he and his friend just loooove going to see GS.
Amir Khalid
I just glanced over at Salon. Here’s the headline over the current top story on their front page:
Oh dear.
dmbeaster
@Mike J: The quick response to the Republicsn Congress trope for the 90s is that the same Congress fiscally shit the bed as soon as Bush was elected.
Another Holocene Human
@MazeDancer: He has a bad case of FratBoyFace in those vintage photos.
Another Holocene Human
@efgoldman: Graham wins his SC primaries by quietly signaling to SC’s liberals that he’s sane and not a kook. I guess that’s why he goes nuts about defense, which more conservative liberals, moderates (are their any left?), and “serious people” share with conservatives in worrying about, instead of (usually) social issues.
That doesn’t work in the national if the D race is hotly contested. For example if more wealthy and/or conservative Hilary voters think those wild-eyed crazy Sanders voters have a chance at taking it they’re going to march to the polls to make sure Hilary is the one. Last couple of cycles I believe African American voters dominated the D primaries.
SC has white conserva-liberals, which is the demo Colbert’s sister was trying to grab (Sanford won). It has Black voters too, who her campaign seemed to have written off from the start. :((
SC will flip parties eventually and when that happens a whole lot of people are fixing to stroke out.
My Truth Hurts
I am pretty sure it is GWB who is the worst foreign policy president in US history. But hold on let me check…
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Yep, it was George W. Bush!