Awesome. Breaking news sirens — Roger Stone, “a Republican operative who prides himself as something of an elder statesman of GOP dirty tricks” plays You-Can’t-Fire-Me-I-Quit with The Donald…
Stone to Trump: “Donald, stop with the Megyn Kelly shit. It’s fucking crazy. It’s killing us.” http://t.co/lP0klXUp1r pic.twitter.com/Vu5oSDpapj
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) August 8, 2015
ETA: In my imagination, Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder are reading these lines aloud.
With all due respect to @RogerJStoneJr, the provocative media fights ARE Trump's platform. http://t.co/Pg8Ew1752J pic.twitter.com/BVjbCukXmW
— Daniel Drezner (@dandrezner) August 8, 2015
I'm sure Roger Stone, who launched an anti-Hilary PAC called Citizens United Not Timid, resigned out of principle
http://t.co/eeQchjnIlj
— Wyeth Ruthven (@wyethwire) August 8, 2015
CNN TV – LIVE 6p ET: @PoppyHarlowCNN interview with "fired/quit" Trump adviser Roger Stone. http://t.co/i3idwjfB15 pic.twitter.com/fjW7AdFtbd
— CNN (@CNN) August 8, 2015
Meanwhile, the Public Shaming of the Infidel, in 17 Acts, continues at Redstate the Gathering:
Donald Trump puts out a statement on getting uninvited to RedState: pic.twitter.com/DkkuHlWoEQ
— Alexis Levinson (@alexis_levinson) August 8, 2015
America wakes up, Googles every sexist thing Erick Erickson ever said https://t.co/MIn1Qn3i9y
— Wyeth Ruthven (@wyethwire) August 8, 2015
Erickson blocked me, so I can’t retweet this, where he refers to Dem convention as The Vagina Monologues pic.twitter.com/gtcjr7lhbP
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) August 8, 2015
Wow. pic.twitter.com/1q7YlesOXV
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) August 8, 2015
Erickson just got some boos for denouncing Trump supporters — "they will burn all of us if we don't say it's unacceptable"
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) August 8, 2015
As mama always said, leave fundamentalists of any type alone for long enough & eventually they'll devour one another. pic.twitter.com/XkLNHFmVJW
— Laura Seay (@texasinafrica) August 8, 2015
#nerdland Remember five minutes ago when Conservatives mocked disinviting speakers as Liberal speech-code fascism?
— driftglass (@Mr_Electrico) August 8, 2015
Republican pundit ranks still looking for someone with a clean misogyny record to attack Trump. Might have to look at pre-k conservatives.
— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) August 8, 2015
Sercon (serious, constructive) analysis:
Erickson is lobbying hard for a show on Fox News. A guy who calls people "Abortion Barbie" & "goat f*cking child molester" isn't offended.
— James Carter (@JECarter4) August 8, 2015
CNN is actually picking up on Erickson's past sexism and GOP hypocrisy on Trump http://t.co/55dWaff8rI #uppers
— Wyeth Ruthven (@wyethwire) August 8, 2015
The last few days have been great for Fox News and bad for the Republican Party, which is their problem in a nutshell.
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) August 8, 2015
beltane
This must be what Peak Wingnut looks like.
David Koch
GOP IN DISARRAY!
BWHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHHHAHHAHHAH
U can run, but U can’t hide.
Jeffro
It does have that Wingularity gravitational pull kinda-thingy, doesn’t it?
Love Schooley’s comment about having to look for “pre-K conservatives” in order to find one who’s not a misogynist…
22over7
The last time I felt this way was when I saw Fargo. Half the time I didn’t know whether to laugh or scream.
dmsilev
Another fun little detail. If you go to the RedState thread where Erick son of Erick of the House of Erick explains his reasons for disinviting Trump, the comments spiral out of control and eventually the thread was locked. Yes, that’s right, it’s possible for a comment thread to get too ugly for RedState.
Jeffro
@David Koch:
If situations were reversed (entire Dem party imploding/infighting) I’m absolutely positive that the Sunday shows would feature nothing but wall-to-wall conservatives and (airquote) “Libertarians” talking about Dems’ inability to lead, unfitness for any office above dogcatcher, etc etc. Not to mention every misogynist quote from a Dem from the past 50 years would be highlighted and discussed.
So…we’ll see about, what, 2% of that kind of treatment towards the GOP tomorrow? Or is that too generous?
dmsilev
@David Koch: Kind of odd, actually. You’d think he’d welcome the opportunity to show up and loudly disavow Trump’s comments. It’s not like the sort of people who approve of such comments would be watching Face The Nation, so what would be the downside?
mai naem mobile
I was listening to the top of the hour 3 minute NPR newscast this PM. The top story was Donald Trump saying Megyn Kelly had asked him tough questions because she was on her period. They didn’t try to find a euphemism. Just period. Never did I in my wildest dreams think that NPR would have a story with a woman’s menstrual cycle connected with a presidential campaign, forget the top story.
Baud
I blame Obama.
JPL
Even before Trump’s latest statement, the AJC and national papers researched Erick. He might have harmed Trump, but his name is mud. His excuse is that he has apologized. See it’s okay if you say you are sorry.
@David Koch: good times
feebog
It’s like the cannibals and missionaries crossing the river puzzle. Except they are all cannibals.
Linda Featheringill
Oh, my goodness. This whole thing is funny.
I’m sure that Bill Clinton, who reportedly advised Trump to go ahead, is having a good time.
Brachiator
@beltane:
I saw Interstellar. Or was that Ant-Man. In any case there ain’t no peak, there ain’t no Event Horizon. There is potentially Quantum Wingnut, and that goes to infinity.
Oh, Lord, this is good. Will the Sunday News shows be able to rein any of this in, and pretend that there is decorum somewhere over the rainbow, or that Trump is not the GOP’s worst nightmare? Will the GOP hustle to try to appease Trump in order to forestall any third party threat?
@Jeffro
Interesting point. I doubt that there will be any liberals on these panels, only an emergency team of conservatives furiously trying to patch up GOP problems.
On the other hand, Democrats might be too busy laughing to have anything to say. We shall see.
David Koch
I love it.
Trump is in their base, killin their doods.
I’m sure any moment now the beltway media will blame Obama, saying the fratricide and self-immolation wouldn’t be happening if meanie Obama had only invited them over for drinks.
MattF
@feebog: Or, scorpion and frog. It’s in their nature to do this.
Benw
@Baud: every day.
@22over7: what’s the GOP equivalent of the woodchipper scene? Are we there yet?
lgerard
@beltane:
Not quite yet
We need to hear from Palin and Glen Beck
geg6
LOLOLOLOL!
rikyrah
Why Donald Trump Isn’t Going Away
He’s not a Republican phenomenon. He’s part of a troubling global movement toward populism and nationalism.
By Reihan Salam
To understand the rise of Donald Trump, you’d do well not to fixate on the fact that he’s running under the Republican banner. During Thursday night’s Fox News debate, Trump made it clear that failing to secure the GOP nomination wouldn’t stop him from exploring an independent candidacy. And honestly, he’d be crazy not to. Trump is very far from a Republican regular. He represents an entirely different phenomenon, one that bears little resemblance to garden-variety American conservatism. That’s why Republicans shouldn’t fool themselves into believing that one lackluster debate performance will send him packing.
Go to almost any European democracy and you will find that the parties of the center-right and center-left that have dominated the political scene since the Second World War are losing ground to new political movements. What these movements have in common is that they manage to blend populism and nationalism into a potent anti-establishment brew. One of the first political figures to perfect this brand of politics was the very Trumpian Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian media tycoon who rose to power as part of a coalition of right-of-center parties in the mid-1990s, and who has been in and out of power ever since, dodging corruption charges and worse all the while. More recently, the miserable state of Europe’s economies has fueled the rise of dozens of other parties. Britain’s Labour Party has been devastated by the rise not only of the leftist Scottish National Party, but also by UKIP, a movement of the right that has been growing at Labour’s expense by campaigning against mass immigration, and by largely abandoning what had been its more libertarian line on the welfare state. UKIP’s leader, Nigel Farage, has a penchant for bombast that endears him his working-class base, which might sound familiar to you.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/08/donald_trump_why_the_republican_candidate_isn_t_going_away_anytime_soon.html
Tara the Antisocial Social Worker
Nobody’s said “This is good news for John McCain” yet?
Slackers.
bystander
Looks like the lead story on ABC. Couldn’t be more hilarious.
I’ve been trying to avoid Moanin’ Joe, but I have to hear Mika on Monday. After all, Donald is their friend.
feebog
@MattF:
Reminds me of the Farmer with the famous three legged pig. Reporter comes out to the farm to interview the Farmer and is regaled with stories of how the pig saved them from a burning house, made them a fortune by picking out obscure stocks, and sired a horde of little piglets. The Reporter asks, “what’s the story about the missing leg?” Farmer says, “pig like that, you just don’t eat him all at once”.
gelfling545
We are living in strange times. The most Republican person I know says he probably won’t vote. The second most Republican person I know is supporting Bernie Sanders. Go figure.
mai naem mobile
@Linda Featheringill: I completely.believe Bill Clinton plotted this out with the possible outcomes and went for it. I’m guessing Bill called Trump about a charity function. Trump talks about either Obama or the Atlantic City casino problems. Bill massages Trumps ego and tells him what a positive impact he would have on the GOP crazies and,well, he’s rich, very very rich and it wouldn’t cost him much because he won’t need ads. Jeezus, this is one NSA recorded conversation I would love to hear.
mai naem mobile
Fwp.I’m in moderation.
Rex Tremendae
The Democrats are in just as much disarray, what with Jim Webb gaining momentum every minute.
MSNBC called it first:
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/jim-webb-2016s-barack-obama
debbie
@David Koch:
I’m surprised Reince backed out. Wouldn’t have thought he’d have missed an opportunity to display his smugness.
srv
Trump is bigger than the Politically Cuckservative RedState. He’s bigger than everything now.
Benw
@gelfling545: based on your admittedly low-statistics sampling poll, Bernie Sanders will defeat Republican candidate X by a count of one vote to none!
SANDERS 2016
sophronia
If this takes down Erick Erickson, it would almost be worth having to put up with Donald Trump.
Emma
@Linda Featheringill: If it is true, we owe Bill Clinton a get-out-of-jail-card for every sin past and present. We are watching the dictionary definition of CLUSTERF*UK acted out in high definition, color, and stereophonic sound.
MattF
@debbie: I’m not surprised. His job is to keep Republicans organized and together– since there’s no way he can do that, he’s electing to lie low for a while.
That said, he may need to be lying low for some time to come.
MANDALAY
Rubio is a profile in cowardice, refusing to criticize Trump with an absurd rationalization:
Shorter Rubio: I won’t ever criticize any comments from Trump because my campaign would be consumed if I commented on everything Trump says.
The Clinton camp will have filed that away in the unlikely event they need to shove it down the yellow fucker’s throat at a later date. Rubio is scared shitless about falling out with Trump.
Jeffro
Just wondering who will be more blatant in his appeals to voters who might be considering ditching Trump: Walker or Cruz?
Hal
There is an aspect of this story that is so fucking irritating to me. These Fox fucks don’t care about sexism, misogyny, racism, homophobia or the overall shitty opinions of their core base and audience, but someone who always says shitty things says shitty things about Megyn Kelly and now it’s a problem?
sukabi
@srv: he’s yoooouge!
MattF
@Emma: Yeah, Bill is pretty smart. I’m just guessin’ here– but I’m guessin’ that he supports Hillary.
srv
There they go again:
trollhattan
@Linda Featheringill:
Repeating the thought from the day that rumor surfaced, if Big Dog talked The Donald into running, it’s the political masterstroke of the century. If there’s one thing Big Dog knows, it’s how to…er…stroke an ego.
sukabi
@Hal: no, they’re just trying to dump trump.
SiubhanDuinne
@bystander:
I thought Crisp Crispy was their friend. Did they dump him? (I haven’t seen or heard MJ in ages — all I know is what raven and the BJ Morning Crew may say.)
Baud
I blame Bill.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Hal: Never mind Fox, Howard Fineman is not alone as a Villager (and I think he’s better than most of them) in praising Erick Ericsson* for standing up to defend Dear Meghan (“Jesus is white”) Kelley. It’s the whole John McCain thing all over again. Birtherism? Tsk tsk. Latino-bashing? Well, he really isn’t our sort. Criticizing John McCain or being crude about Meghan? ZOMG! WILL NO ONE STOP THIS WRETCHED VULGARIAN?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Open thread? Good
and again, good. Not a burning barn, maybe, but at least a smoldering haystack.
debbie
@MattF:
Maybe he decided he wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face while boasting that 24,000,000 viewers proved the GOP was the People’s Party.
Waldo
I can’t begin to describe the powerful emotions this troubling situation has stirred in my soul, but this guy comes pretty close.
Baud
The nice thing about Trump is that liberals can totally promote him, because in the unlikely event he wins the whole thing, he wouldn’t be any worse than any of the other Republicans.
jl
@dmsilev:
“It’s not like the sort of people who approve of such comments would be watching Face The Nation, so what would be the downside? ”
That Ol’ Rinse will reveal himself to be an impotent and incompetent empty suit in the Roger Goodell league? The corporate hack news infotainment hosts will try to lob nerf softballs and commiserate and Ol’ Rinse won’t even be able to handle that and end up emitting little deer-like yelping noises that don’t even sound like English.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Why would Schumer want to keep it a secret? What a coward.
jl
@Baud: No question that DemocRAT divisiveness caused this mess amongst the innocent GOP, who are the real victims. Glad some one here is thinking straight today.
Maybe Ol’ Rinse tried that line in the mirror for his news talky show appearance and broke down in tears, and that is why he canceled.
MattF
@jl: Reince couldn’t think of a way to blame Obama.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SiubhanDuinne: he apparently reeeaaallly wants that Leadership post. From what I’m reading it’s not enough to derail him, but it’s a speed bump he doesn’t want.
MANDALAY
@Hal:
FWIW, FoxNews is specifically not writing about Trump’s “blood” comment. They have a web page with twenty articles on the debate, but not one of them is about that.
FoxNews faces exactly the same problem as the RNC: the monster they have unleashed is turning on them, but the public is siding with the monster. The media in general is falling over themselves to cover the “blood” incident, but FoxNews probably wishes it had never happened.
Brachiator
@rikyrah: Slate is over-thinking it. The Tea Party was a movement that developed into a political party, which captured the heart of the GOP. Trump doesn’t represent any coherent political ideology. He is just an ego gone wild, and it is not even clear whether his campaign will last into the primary season.
The author’s comments about the impact of the Scottish National Party on the UK Labour Party is just bizarre. The Scots pretty much rejected the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Here it was all about leftist nationalism. The British parties, all of them, became irrelevant.
jl
@MANDALAY: Cherubio scared away by scent of a Trump Dump. Our fearless would-be-leader.
How can any of them stand up to Putin/IS/Chinese/Cuba/Mexican Drug Lords/TEACHER’S UNIONS if they can’t stand up to Trump? Get HRC on the line, I smell a new attack ad in the making.
Gimlet
@SiubhanDuinne:
To announce it in his own way, at his chosen time, and with the context and background he wanted to accompany it.
jl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Another sign to me that Obama is not operating completely out of effs to give, but doing what he can to be as effective as he can in time remaining and pave the way for election. In this case, there will be payback for BS, and from what I have heard out of Schumer so far on this, his Iran vote is BS.
Jeffro
@Brachiator:
? The Tea Party was just the rump of the Republican Party – the basest of the base – coming to life and demanding the party move even further right once a black Democrat was elected president. It wasn’t any movement. It was the Palin/Trump/Cruz wing of the party, willing to say or do anything in their frustration. They didn’t capture the heart of the GOP – they always were the heart of the GOP.
Aaron
@beltane: Peak Wingnuttia is a myth.
oldgold
This feigning of outrage by the GOP over The Donald’s remarks concerning Megyn Kelly is damn humorous considering they are planning a multi-billion dollar “She’s a Bitch” campaign against Hillary next year.
Mike in NC
Maybe Priebus chose the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
trollhattan
@oldgold:
Exactly right. They might even be test-marketing some of their anti-Hillary strategies in front of our noses.
jl
@Jeffro: I agree. Most of the teaparty was GOP (edit: or GOP billionaire) astroturf from very early on. The national GOP media outlet, Fox News, covered their small BS demonstrations out of all proportion, and IIRC in some cases, were a supportive participant.
There were, and maybe still are, a few scattered independent grass roots teabagger outfits. No one has ever paid any attention to them. They are nobodies.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@oldgold: Particulaly since we’re now talking about Roger Stone finding Trump too crude and too blatant. We call the Supreme Court decision on money “Citizens United” because the plaintiff was a Stone founded group planning attacks on presumed ’08 nominee Hillary Clinton, the full name is “Citizens United, Not Timid”.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I hope it does derail him. Not a cent from me to the DSCC as long as he’s part of the leadership.
@Gimlet:
Well, that’s bullshit. He forfeited that right when he decided his primary loyalty was to a nation other than the United States. Fuck him.
Baud
@oldgold:
That should be Hillary’s campaign song
MANDALAY
@jl: Little Marco has really painted himself into a corner now. Twenty four million viewers saw him state that he opposes abortion in the cases of r*pe and inc*st. Now he is on the record as refusing to criticize Trump’s blood comment about Megyn Kelly. And he has twice voted against equal pay legislation for women.
Hey Marco…..how’s that women-vote-thingy workin’ out for ya? If Rubio is their eventual candidate Clinton would shove him down the wood chipper.
Heliopause
If Trump is a misogynist and a narcissist, and you bait such a person with an extremely confrontational question, just how in the hell do you think he’ll respond? And if your party platform is defund Planned Parenthood and proclaim American Exceptionalism (i.e. misogyny and narcissism) just how do you think the base are going to react to this? These dumbasses really need to rethink their strategery.
Gimlet
August 6, 2015
by Amanda Froelich
In response to 80 CEOS recently publishing a letter on the Wall Street Journal lecturing America about deficit reduction and urging them to “act on the deficit and reform Medicare and Medicare,”
Sanders responded to the lecture from the American CEO’s by releasing a report naming names and detailing how 18 of them have helped blow up the deficit and wreck the economy outsourcing jobs and evading US taxes.
Eighteen of the 80 CEOs who signed the call for deficit action are actually some of the biggest outsourcers and tax cheats in America. Not only did they crash the economy in 2008, they followed that incident by taking billions in taxpayer bailout dollars.
Then, they outsourced jobs and evaded taxes. It’s pretty unbelievable, then, that they are now calling for action on a deficit that they helped create over the past four years.
Iowa Old Lady
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Wasn’t it Santa who was white?
Priebus probably anticipates being too hung over to face a camera.
shell
Oh, for fucks sake…reading this and thinking of Jeb’s hissy pout about Hillary saying mean things about him
How do any of these people hope to hold any position of power/responsibility? The slightest bump in the road and they fall apart.
rikyrah
Shaun King @ShaunKing 2h2 hours ago
Holy shit.
#ChristianTaylor was absolutely murdered and police are now caught in clear lies to cover it up.
I’ll break it down next…
1. 3 different employees at the dealership who saw the security videos said that #ChristianTaylor WAS NOT & DID NOT attempt to steal a car.
2. The videos from the car dealership and the police dispatch audio show that the officer who killed #ChristianTaylor LIED about a scuffle.
3. #ChristianTaylor appeared to be at the car dealership IN HIS OWN VEHICLE – potentially just looking at cars on the lot for sale.
4. The officer who shot and killed #ChristianTaylor shot him in just 1.3 seconds of seeing him. No scuffle ever happened. At all. Lies.
5. You HAVE to listen to the police dispatch. It’s full of lies and misstatement after misstatement. Clusterfuck.
Shaun King @ShaunKing 1h1 hour ago
Employees of the car dealership where #ChristianTaylor was killed are saying his truck went through the store window AFTER HE WAS SHOT.
Jeffro
@MANDALAY:
and besides Rubio, Walker also said he was against it even when the life of the mother was at stake. (There may have been others who were in agreement). That is simply mind-blowing on all counts. Would love to see some gutsy reporter ask Walker (Rubio? Cruz? All of them?) what they’d do if it was their wife who had been raped and was then pregnant w/ the rapist’s child…or their daughter whose life was on the line because of a dangerous pregnancy.
rikyrah
I’ll ask again…what da phuq is a 49 year old doing being a ROOKIE on a Police Department?
#Christian Taylor
jl
@Heliopause: Rubio does have a chronic ‘fleeing the interview’ look to him, whether wet or dry.
David Koch
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: always bet on black
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Iowa Old Lady: That was the focus of the segment, she threw Jesus in there because–it seems/ed to me– she needs to believe it.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Hey!!
gbear
@Jeffro:
Cruz is going to do everything he possibly can to become Trump’s VP choice. Then he can start stirring the pot for the almost certain impeachment when Trump tries to fire everyone who doesn’t do what he says.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@jl: Yer darn tootin’!
I swear that’s my favorite scene in that whole movie.
Davis X. Machina
@Jeffro: If you were ambitious enough, you’d do it. You can always get another wife or daughter, but a shot at the White House?
sukabi
@Heliopause: no, it’s going just fine. It’s all in your perspective.
BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah: Could be a retiree from another dept., just a rookie with that dept. Still, I agree odd.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
You know what you did.
gbear
@Jeffro: The Tea Party movement was invented and funded by the Koch Brothers to run interference for all of the policy positions that they wanted to impose. The Tea Party never has fundraisers but they always have signs and busses for their protests. It’s billionaire money.
Edit: I don’t mean to pick on you, Jeffro. I could have replied to Brachiator’s comment just as well, I didn’t notice I’d responded to you again until after I’d responded.
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
This Roger Stone?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132×853802
lamh36
Earlier today my youngest sister was told her father had passed! It’s her wedding day. She made it through and it was bittersweet but happy!
https://twitter.com/psddluva4evah/status/630163184985378817
Davis X. Machina
@BillinGlendaleCA: There are active programs to convert military veterans into public safety officers. 49 is the right age to have taken the pension, and swap OD for blue.
Baud
@lamh36:
Wow. Having just lost my mom, I can’t imagine having it happen in such a special day. Best to your sister.
Iowa Old Lady
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Mine too! There’s something just so wonderful about Marge mumbling to herself “he’s fleeing the interview, he’s fleeing the interview.”
David Koch
Finally. Really weird to have dinner named after slave holder and genocidal maniac.
Should rename it the Kennedy-Obama dinner.
rikyrah
@lamh36:
what a handsome couple, lamh!!
wishing them many years of love and happiness :)
BillinGlendaleCA
@Davis X. Machina: True, after retiring from the military, about the right age.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937: I believe that’s the same one. Maybe his, eh lifestyle, was too much for Trump. Or working for Trump was getting in the way of his, lifestyle.
David Koch
@lamh36: wow. so sorry to hear that.
MANDALAY
@jl:
Schumer’s traitorous vote is already having consequences:
This really turns up the heat on Wasserman Schultz. If she opposes the Iran deal then her position as DNC just becomes untenable. How could she remain credible when she’s out asking for DNC donations if she votes against the president?
“I want your money to support the Democratic Party even though I won’t support them myself” is not a very persuasive line.
Fuck DINOs who put Israel first.
Davis X. Machina
@David Koch: Uhn-uh.
Kennedy was an unrepentant cold warrior, and, as we all know, Obama is worse than Bush.
Jordan-Studds.
trollhattan
@lamh36:
Lovely couple. My best wishes to them, and condolences on the family’s sad loss.
trollhattan
@Davis X. Machina:
He didn’t actually specify which Kennedy. I just want RFK jr. left off the list.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@lamh36:
Talk about a day of mixed feelings. If they were close, I’m sure he was proud of her and was there in spirit.
G’s cousin had his (estranged) father die the same day his youngest son was born, so that was a pretty strange day for him of getting tugged two ways.
Jeffro
@gbear:
Maybe I’m giving him too much credit, but I think Cruz knows Trump’s not going to get the GOP nomination. I do think he wants all of Trump’s supporters and would gladly jump in on most all of Trump’s positions (heck, he said several times before and during the debates that he – Cruz – is a “truth-teller”, you know, ‘revolutionary act’ and all that).
He’ll grab that support and run with it, and try his best to extort that VP slot from whichever craven individual manages to win the nom. I can easily see Walker, Rubio, even Bush making that kind of devil’s bargain.
dp
@feebog: That’s why this site needs a “like” button for comments.
Benw
@rikyrah: and he NYT (just to take an example) has nothing about this case but does have several big headlines about Trump.
It’s like black people are dying in a vacuum, without a sound.
Jeffro
@gbear: Didn’t feel picked on, no problem here. I think we’re both/all right. The Tea Party was certainly organized, directed, and funded by the Kochs and other like-minded GOP billionaires, but it used the quite-willing GOP rump as their ground troops to keep up the resistance.
Never mind the contortions our compliant media went through to pretend this was some sort of grass-roots populist groundswell.
Roger Moore
@gbear:
I have a hard time believing that Cruz will accept a VP nomination; he won’t accept being second banana to anyone. I do agree, though, that he would betray anyone who took him on as VP in an attempt to wrangle the top job for himself. You’d have to be suicidal to pick him.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I suppose there’s some snark here, but I’m not sure how much
sukabi
@Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937: that’s the one… older and saggier, and not so ‘invisible’.
Danack
This is the best explanation I’ve seen of what is going on: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2015_08/if_you_think_rubio_or_kasich_w056994.php
MattF
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: One does wonder what The Donald would do if some one of the ‘losers’ just says ‘no’ to one his demands. There doesn’t seem to be a Plan B anywhere in view.
srv
@Danack:
Arguably, the only moral position for progressives is to support Trump as that is the only scenario in which Sanders could win.
Of course, purity Democrats who hate Sanders will just stick with the status quo and bring America a choice between Hillary and Jeb. It’s a wonder how these extremists live with the choices they make.
sukabi
@MattF: It’s not just Trump, none of them have a ‘plan B’. And it appears anyone of them, when not getting their way would pretty much throw a screaming tantrum that would embarrass a 2 year old.
gbear
@Roger Moore: I was kind of joking about Cruz wanting to be Trump’s VP, although it would be just like Cruz to take the VP slot and then scheme to get the president impeached. It’s what he does…
trollhattan
@srv:
Do go on….
Villago Delenda Est
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Anyone who puts the racist, militarist regime that currently runs Israel ahead of the interests of both the American and Israeli people has no business seeking a leadership role in the US Senate.
Fuck Chuck. Fuck him over and over again.
trollhattan
@gbear:
Or more directly, Trump would use an official food taster anytime Cruz was in the building.
gbear
@srv: Why doesn’t Bernie just take the time to schedule a ‘race’ speech and get this stuff behind him? Obama had to do it when the Wright stuff was getting out of hand. Bernie just doesn’t appear to be thoughtful about this. If he needs help writing the speech, he should get help, but he should really take the time to do it if he’s serious – maybe even take some questions. He needs to care about this.
MattF
@Roger Moore: I think Cruz wants to pick up Trump’s supporters. And if it takes a knife in the back… it’s God’s will, after all.
gelfling545
@rikyrah: Couldn’t find honest work?
srv
@trollhattan: Anti-Sanders Democrats are the Naderites of 2016.
MANDALAY
@gbear:
It’s as bit of a simplistic notion that being vice president is the next best thing after being president. Cruz might like to become President Trump’s Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense, but I doubt if he would even consider being VP. As a practical matter, a VP can’t run against an incumbent president, and Cruz is way too power hungry to be willing to sit on the sidelines.
ETA: I see that you were joking, and I got whooshed. I will adjust my tinfoil hat accordingly.
JPL
@MattF: That’s what I think. I wonder if the nominee will be known before the convention.
rikyrah
@Villago Delenda Est:
Amen.
Baud
@MattF:
When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die.
Pithy Pseudonym
@srv: “can Trump be so big, he’s bigger than everything else, including himself?” — Roger Stoner, Jr.
srv
@gbear: This is a Democrat problem, eating their own. There’s no out there for the old white man. How is he supposed to come off as ‘thougtful’ about race? PC purity Democrats would just liken him to some white Republican.
Obama had to disown Wright. Who is Sanders supposed to disown?
MattF
@srv: Real world waves, says “Yoo hoo!”
Schlemazel
@rikyrah:
This has been my concern for a long time, Clinton era long time. Dump would be the perfect vessel for the sort of jingoistic authoritarian disguised as a populist jackass that can blow the whole damn thing up. People like Mao, Stalin, Hitler do not rise from healthy societies they rise from sick ones where people have been through a wringer and stopped thinking clearly so that they see this sort of easy answer emotional bullshit as a solution. I always said Dump was a joke only in this for his ego but in the last few weeks I have begun to pray that is right because the alternative is unspeakable.
David Koch
@Davis X. Machina: no he wasn’t. I expect better from a Jesuit grad.
This
http://i.imgur.com/pMNTVRb.jpg
plus, this
Gimlet
@gbear:
There’s a Black President in office now with all the levers of government at his disposal. Bernie likely will never be President.
Have to wonder why the #BLM folks are not directing their energies at the current administration.
gbear
So you’re saying that he shouldn’t bring it up because it’s impossible for an old white man to understand racism?
edit: @srv 125
trollhattan
@srv:
Going to need you to show your work on that. I see no crossover whatsoever but am always ready to learn.
Patricia Kayden
Disinviting Trump because he made a sexist comment about the Blonde Bombshell, Megan Kelly, while ignoring conservative derogatory comments about Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, etc., is the height of hypocrisy. I guess it’s only a travesty when the sexist comment is directed at someone from the Right.
But that’s the current Republican Party for you.
Watching Republicans take down Trump and his hairpiece is fun though. I think we all knew he wasn’t going to be their nominee anyways. Onward to Jebbie and Walker.
Tree With Water
This is Hillary’s best line since she cracked wise about “Dr. Kevorkian” (to a republican) before a congressional committee, back when she went to bat for national health care insurance circa 1993:
“Ten men stood on stage and ignored 51% of the American population.”
Mandalay
It’s not just the RNC and Trump getting blowback this weekend. From the Facebook page of Black Lives Matter Seattle:
srv
@gbear: It’s impossible the BLM crowd will be placated from their agenda to becrown Hillary.
Real conservatives and progressives understand this is probably their last battle, Hillary or Jeb, everyone loses. Same two-sided coin, same dead-end destination.
Davis X. Machina
@David Koch: You’re looking only at Vietnam… and only at plans for Vietnam…
We were supposed to be home from Iraq except for a few thousand trainers by mid-late 2005.
princess leia
@MattF: Yes, this. Do they think this will make him less likely to be able or willing to run as a third party?
Another Holocene Human
@lamh36: Gosh, that’s rough. My condolences.
raven
We drove over to Beaufort, SC this morning. Got here about noon and fished for about three hours on Port Royal right across from Parris Island. We wandered back and had a nice seafood dinner and then happened on a big “Salute To Vietnam Veterans ” thing at Waterfront Park. They had the Marine Corps Band and, oddly, a local Army National Guard officer who spoke before the music. Lots of cognitive dissonance but my bride had never been to anything like that and people really liked the dogs!
decent enough sunset
VFX Lurker
@lamh36:
Sad news. My condolences on your family’s loss, and my congrats to the newlyweds.
Beautiful couple. Wishing them health and happiness.
Baud
@raven:
Nice shot.
Another Holocene Human
@Gimlet:
Activists called on the White House and DOJ to respond from Day One of both the Trayvon Martin shooting breaking through Black media and in Ferguson.
rikyrah
@Danack:
I think this is on point.
Gimlet
@Another Holocene Human:
And…?
What more do they want Bernie to do that Obama can’t or won’t?
RaflW
@Gimlet: That would have suited Schumer’s giant ego. But Obama is playing for keeps on getting the Iran deal thru if at all possible. Too bad for the erstwhile Senate leader, our country needs a deal not a f*king GOP-stoked, Schumer-abetted war.
scav
@Gimlet: Could it also just be the easiest way in for some media time? Other candidates may be screening the audience more strictly — or aren’t attracting media attention. Pretty good bang for the buck as B is drawing media eyeballs.
Mike J
@lamh36:
Ow.
Last week I found out that a person that was a friend[1] of mine when I lived in the same city had died. I had never really thought about it, but if you had asked me I would have said that I didn’t really think I’d ever see her again. You know, just because she lived there and I live here, and people don’t keep in touch. After I found out (a year and a half after the fact) that she had died, I walked around for the next 3 days feeling like I had been punched in the chest. The next three I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. Today I only thought about her about a dozen times.
That was only for a friend. I can’t imagine for a parent (even if I know it will happen eventually). My sympathies.
[1] Dated twice, we both knew it was just killing time in a fun way, she dated my roommate for the next 2 years, my next gfriend was for the same period. So never a “girlfriend”, but we went on dates and were friends after.
Woodrow/asim
@Another Holocene Human:
And what’s more, the pressure is working — the DOJ has published scathing and detailed reports on many of these incidents, and placed the blame squarely on the police forces. Obama started speaking more directly to this as both a matter of police training and racial inequality.
People who claim the BLM movement isn’t working seem to think Obama just happened to wander into a prison tour a few weeks ago while he was in town…
Gimlet
@RaflW:
I’m not sympathetic to Schumer, just offering reasons why he might not have wanted Obama to reveal his decision.
J R in WV
@rikyrah:
I think it is pretty obvious at this point that in many places, cops are primed to shoot someone at all times they are on duty or otherwise armed.
It is a miracle that we don’t see a dozen unarmed innocent people shot every day. I guess, really, that could be going on now, and just really hushed up by people being told they are next if the breath a word about that shooting they think they just saw, which was really just a TV show accident.
I believe that the vehicle hit the dealership window as a result of the victim’s body spasming after his brain was destroyed, or whatever fatal injury was done to him by the cop’s bullets.
It’s obvious now that happens often when a driver is shot while sitting at the wheel of a running vehicle. If their foot is on the gas, they’re going to press the gas pedal until they’re completely limp, aka finished dying.
Look at what happened in Cincinnati, after the “university security” officer shot that guy, his car ran down the block. It seems to be random whether a driver drives away after he’s been killed or not, probably based upon whether he has his foot on the gas or the brake when executed.
I think the only thing that will begin to cure this evil sickness in our law enforcement community is for everyone in a chain of command that attempts to cover up a murder gets indicted for conspiracy and tried and jailed as a result of that conspiracy. From the street cop, his immediate superior, his partner if any, the LT, the Captain, the chief, anyone who said anything excusing the action, defending the action, that’s part of the conspiracy to cover up a murder, and they all need to go.
And no leave of absence WITH pay, those guys need to worry about buying their next meal, paying for the ammo for that piece they need to carry to help their dick get hard.
I’m sick about not being able to trust that a cop that shows up when called for help isn’t going to kill someone, put someone in a mental unit without calling their family. What if you don’t have a family, and you get treated as a psychopath in a mental ward? You won’t even remember how to use a telephone.
Haldol and thorazine are really strong, you won’t remember your own name, they can just forget about what you saw, your testimony even if you get your memories all straight won’t mean a cup of warm spit fresh out of the mental ward.
And they do this to people of color, the more you tell them you’re a lawyer, know the bank president, the crazier they believe you are, everyone knows ni**ers aren’t lawyers and executives, just a junky dreaming, needs treated over at the mental ward.
Look it up, just happened to a black executive in NYC, actually put away for claiming to be exactly who she was!!
I’m sick about it.
Gimlet
@Woodrow/asim:
I think most people want more prosecution and punishment rather than the sternly worded letter.
Another Holocene Human
@Mandalay: There’s a competing fb page claiming to be the original BLM-Seattle, calling Bernie and Seattle liberals out in scabrous detail. And the “official” BLM-Wa twitter user admits he/she isn’t actually a member of #BlackLivesMatter. And then the people who took the stage turn out to be members of some lefty cell called “206” that thinks police should be abolished (ie, they are anarchists, and really fruity ones at that).
Real vortex of fringe lefty infighting derp there. Poke with very long stick.
OTOH, according to Seattle Times, the very white Bernie crowd cussed out the protesters when they asked for “four and a half minutes of silence” for Michael Brown (gosh I hope I’m not mangling this account, but I’ve already killed the tab).
And some of the white (by avatar) Bernie supporters on twitter are at it again on #blacklivesmatter: “people who wanted to hear Bernie speak lives’ matter too” RAGE SO MUCH RAGE.
Your fucking followers, Bern, you should do something about that.
J R in WV
@lamh36:
What a beautiful couple they are. I’m sure you’re so proud, and you should be. Best of luck to the couple! I hope they have a long and wonderful life together.
chopper
@Benw:
didn’t rand paul already do something similar with a chainsaw?
Another Holocene Human
@Gimlet: DOJ is curtailing the taking of property, but the states now have to follow suit.
Gimlet
@J R in WV:
I believe that the vehicle hit the dealership window as a result of the victim’s body spasming after his brain was destroyed, or whatever fatal injury was done to him by the cop’s bullets.
Can’t find that version “officially” on the web. Last I found was that cops had in their possession the surveillance videos. They officially reported the crash occurred before the “fight” and shooting and there was no video of the fight and shooting.
Another Holocene Human
@Gimlet: He’s going to be the next president (eta: potentially, right)? He was pretty blunt before his campaign started that anything but economic stuff was going to take a backseat? His response was kind of eh to increased pressure?
But you have to realize, both Netroots and this Seattle thing, if you listen to the activists engaging in the disruption, were targeted far more at their fellow liberals than at Bernie Sanders. They are protesting a community that pays lip service to their issues but does nothing. This is what the activists say, this is their perception of Netroots and of Seattle’s liberal scene. You don’t have to agree with it, and I wasn’t there. But I think it’s interesting that that’s what’s driving this.
Another Holocene Human
@Gimlet: Have no idea in this case but know of so many crashes that occurred where the human inside was incapacitated or there was no human inside.
RaflW
@sukabi:
Well of course not! They all think Plan B is as evil a drug as has ever existed.
Another Holocene Human
@rikyrah: Agreed. GOPers hate their party … hell, many of them think FOX is too liberal and a sellout.
Gimlet
New post up by Cole on the Sanders face-off.
Hal
@Mandalay: So even white liberals are easily butt hurt over some heckling to the point where this person feels the need to apologize on behalf of an entire movement? Are you kidding me? Obama and Clinton can be called out for policy deficiencies, but not Sanders?
Mandalay
@Another Holocene Human: Based on the little I know:
– This is the “real” Black Lives Seattle FB page.
– This is the “fake” Black Lives Seattle FB page created yesterday.
– The “real” FB page is denouncing the actions of those associated with the “fake” FB page.
– The disruption was caused by a few individuals, and not by BLM Seattle.
– I don’t blame the Sanders supporters in the least for being furious about what happened. Maybe I’m misreading your comments but you seem to be blaming the victim. But again, I don’t think anyone really has all the relevant information yet, and I certainly don’t.
RaflW
@srv: You are seriously unhinged this evening. Making shit up whole cloth.
RaflW
@Gimlet: Fair enough. My anger was/is at Schumer rather than you. Sorry for my wide shot.
Mandalay
@Hal: As I understand it, the individuals who did the disruption were not sanctioned by BLM, yet these are the headlines:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/08/08/bernie-sanders-leaves-seattle-stage-after-event-disrupted-by-black-lives-matter-protesters/
Since nobody here knows exactly what happened your condemnation seems way too premature.
J R in WV
@Gimlet:
So you didn’t ever read or look at the comment I was responding to. Rikyrah reported what witnesses saw, witnesses who saw the Dealership’s security tape, and who said that what happened was nothing like the police description of the events.
The fact that police reports of these events bear no relation to reality as shown later on is what we’re talking about. The police are at this time a conspiracy to kill anyone they want to kill, no reason necessary.
Everyone who participates in a conspiracy to commit murder, to cover up murder, is guilty of murder.
And that is what is going on with these cops, they drive up, cock their piece, and shoot instantly they have a target picture of their victim. That’s murder, not a justifiable police shooting of a dangerous law breaker.
Here again is the link to her comment, which I was referring to.
@rikyrah:
This time, read what I’m talking about, so you can speak intelligently, instead of parroting police propaganda!
schrodinger's cat
@lamh36: Cute couple! Congratulations to the newly weds. BTW did you find a dress? What did you wear?
JPL
@J R in WV: NBC Dallas has an eight minute video. It does not show when he was killed but does show his movements before. link
It appears that he drove into the window before the police arrived. You need to watch it. I’m sure other videos will be released.
J R in WV
Maybe so, I’m not a witness.
But having an automobile accident isn’t a death-penalty crime.
There is no reason for a police officer to be killing someone still in a car that just wrecked. He should probably have been calling for an ambulance, not pulling his pistol.
As an old balding, fat, white-haired white guy, I’m tired of reading about people just minding their own business getting shot, killed, jailed, put into a mental ward.
I’m very sick and tired of cops shooting people who aren’t armed and dangerous! Especially NOT shooting white guys who ARE armed and dangerous, while EXECUTING black people who are NOT armed and dangerous. It is wrong, un-American, illegal, and immoral.
It has to stop!
Gimlet
@J R in WV:
You want your crow cooked with feathers on or off?
schrodinger's cat
In yesterday’s Snooze Hour, Humble Brooks was talking up Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio, which probably means that they are toast with the rabid base.
Ruckus
@gbear:
One possibility is that Sanders has been pushing his agenda for some time. It’s a good or even great agenda but it seems to be the only one he has. IOW he’s running for senator of the US now, not just VT and that isn’t enough. That he resonates with a large swath of people is because his agenda crosses all boundaries. It is of course not the only one out there, BLM is also an agenda of vital importance, one that really matters more than if you have a job, as dying, especially at the hands of the police, or having all your earnings stolen by the courts is still a very likely event. And many don’t see that Sanders financial changes, even if he could get them all passed, will make squats worth of difference, if the police/court issue isn’t changed. And what seems to be his position is that everything is financial and changing that will fix everything. Blacks know much better, that isn’t enough.
Hillary has a needle to thread here, but she has shown that she is far more than one dimensional. Sanders isn’t and that is his biggest blind spot.
NonyNony
@Brachiator:
I disagree on two counts:
1) The Tea Party isn’t a movement. It’s a name for one of the factions that make up the Republican Party. The most socially conservative, racist, and angry at the world faction. It is the ultra-nationalist, anti-immigrant faction. Basically the Tea Party is the portion of the Republican base that would be most amenable to supporting fascism of one sort or another.
2) Trump absolutely has a coherent political ideology – one that has been recognized since shortly after World War I. Unsurprisingly (given point 1 above) it’s called fascism. And I don’t mean this as a smear or to pull a Godwin or to say that Trump is a Nazi or anything like that. Hell he probably isn’t even smart enough or knowledgeable enough to know that what he’s proposing is basically similar to ideas that were used by Franco, Mussolini or (yes) Hitler (the similarities to Mussolini are pretty damn striking actually). He proposes an ultranationalist, anti-“foreigner”, ultrapopulist, protectionist agenda. He calls back to a previous “golden age” and insists that today America “sucks” – people joked about this during the debate but this is a major tenet of every single example of fascism seen through modern history.
If it seems incoherent that’s because fascism is an attempt to fuse together leftist ideas with conservative ideas – it’s that mix of conservative populism that makes fascism attractive to a lot of folks. The Republicans have been playing with fascist elements ever since fascism became a “thing” in the post-WWI era – that whole idea that society is going downhill from a previous “golden age” is an inherently conservative message (which I suspect is why even though fascism started as a fusion of left and right it inevitably slips rightward). Trump is just attracting that group around him – which is a scary thing. As I’ve said elsewhere, I don’t think that Trump has a snowball’s chance in this race, but at the back of my mind I remember that history repeats, first as tragedy then as farce, and realize that having Donald Trump as our first fascist president would be just that kind of farce…
Ruckus
@raven:
Friend had an extra ticket for Navy day at Long Beach. Three ships, you got to tour one. OK a light weight tour but comparing the ship I served 2 yrs on against the replacement was interesting. They still wear the summer ice cream vendor suits.
Matt McIrvin
@NonyNony: I’ve been seeing some liberals online start to resign themselves to a dawning certainty that Donald Trump is going to be President.
The reason they think so is that they think America right now is ripe for fascism, and that Trump is the man to bring it.
satby
@lamh36: That’s too sad, but the bride looked beautiful.
Mike E
@srv: He’s yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge!
Mike J
@Ruckus: What ship did you tour? I went on the Boxer(LHD 4) a week or two ago at Seattle Fleet week. They’re based out of SD. Funny they’re a Wasp class ship. I took my dad on the tour, and he was on the Wasp (CV 18). About the same length.
Brachiator
@NonyNony:
Faction. Movement. Whatever. We disagree much less than you think.
I’m not seeing the Tea Party or the GOP yet as being ultra-nationalist. That’s hard to do in America unless you’re the KKK. But the main thing is that the Tea Party, even if created, funded, and sustained by the Kochs, were dissatisfied with the regular GOP, gradually purged all the moderates and have pushed it to its present anti-government extreme.
Oddly enough, the Tea Party is having a hell of a time reconciling the contradiction of fascism and anti-government BS. You cannot really have both together.
Also, while the Tea Party nutballs are anti illegal immigrant, the business and libertarian wing of the GOP just wants to exploit the crap out of cheap immigrant labor, and would happily watch poorer citizens lose their jobs to illegal and legal immigrants. And yet dopes support the GOP anyway, and think that the promise to create jobs is actually something more than a smokescreen.
You have gone further than Trump ever has in trying to wring something coherent out of his bloviating nonsense. Maybe this is why he is popular. People can read into him whatever they like. His actual dealings as a businessman have not been anti-foreigner, protectionist or ultra populist.
Bottom line. I don’t see much reason to take Trump seriously. If I’m wrong, I’ll see you at the gulag.
equs_1776
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Megan Kelley re Jesus was White: White? NINA
Ruckus
@Mike J:
USS Halsey DDG 97. Was stationed on one of the original Adams class, USS Semmes DDG18, about 3 lifetimes ago. Navy doesn’t seem to have changed all that much, ships still rust, but the living conditions are better. And I saw that in my tour, my last 2 months was on a LPD, the USS Juneau, with racks you could sleep in and lockers bigger than a box of kleenex.
redshirt
I don’t see how The Donald would be any worse than the rest of the wingnuts. Maybe better?
I’d choose Donald over Huckabee. Over Santorum.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
based on past statements, Trump doesn’t believe most of what he says. The other two believe all their own crazy. Especially Santorum. That boy ain’t right.
Xenos
@MANDALAY:
She can’t vote for or against this deal – she is not in the Senate.
If she comes out in support of the Likudniks, that a problem will be. But an avoidable problem as with a bit of skill she can straddle the positions and act as a peacemaker.
jl
Trump seems less fascist than Peronist, a himbo Evita. Skip the Juan, he was not classy enough anyway.
g
If Trump wanted to move on to different topics, why is he still engaging in this fight, and doubling down on hateful language about women?
Ruckus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Agree. T Rump really is just a blowhard egomaniac. If you look that up in the dictionary you’ll see his picture. But many people think that a blowhard egomaniac makes a perfect leader. However my feeling is he wants to win/be vindicated for his life and cares not one fuck about politics or actually being president. Which I take as if he wins, his VP will be running the country and he will be the spokesmodel. Do remember this wouldn’t be the first time, even in this century.
Brachiator
@Matt McIrvin:
Nonsense. The wheels are already starting to fall off of Trump’s campaign. He’s got high level staffers leaving, and instead of proudly self-financing, he is now begging for contributions. And the primary campaign has barely started.
He may be a tough businessman, but he is a political naive for all his bluster. The GOP establishment is going to close ranks and push him out. And he will be too embarrassed to try a third party bid.
For the first time in his life, he is about to look like a total loser. This might end up even taking the shine off his business empire.
You do not want to buy a movie studio or enter politics if you are not already part of that scene. You will always end up on the short end.
Brachiator
@redshirt:
Trump is a political neophyte with a tremendous ego hiding massive insecurtiy, and obvious anger issues.
You really want this hothead running foreign policy?
What would we do after he insulted Angela Merkel?
Every now and then he blurts out a half way interesting idea. For example, unlike the rest of the GOP, Trump called out the insurance companies as part of the health care problem. But I don’t have any confidence that he would have half a clue how to craft any new health care policy.
And no one should forget for a nanosecond that his statements about illegal immigrants has been hateful. And no matter how you look at it, his ramblings about China are frankly stupid.
sm*t cl*de
@Brachiator:
To be fair, “begging for contributions” does not imply poverty, because even if you can self-finance, why bother if you can fool the rubes into paying the bills?
Another Holocene Human
@J R in WV: Yeah, these cops have been watching too many fucking movies.
People run into buildings all the time (medical events, distracted driving, brake failure, bad at driving) and it usually means Fuck. All.
Everybody thinks a car in a building is The Joker or something.
Another Holocene Human
@NonyNony: You’re scaring me now. Many pluralistic societies have fallen to fascism in hard times. OTOH I don’t think things are that hard right now, especially for the ones most amenable to the message.
redshirt
@Brachiator: While your points may be true, ask yourself the same questions if it were Huckabee or Jindal or Santorum or any of the other wingnuts.
At least Donald doesn’t really believe all this nonsense. I could see him actually being fairly liberal if elected (which he won’t be) as compared to your standard issue wingnut.
Glidwrith
@Another Holocene Human: Go read what Danack excerpted from the Washington Monthly article. Their whole world is falling apart as far as they are concerned. They also have Faux news screaming fear at them 24/7 about how all the brown hordes inside and out are coming to kill them. We have police that are killing those same brown folks with little consequence and we have open-carry yahoos stalking around with military-grade hardware. All it would take for those yahoos to transform into explicit brown shirts is the support of the State to go after folks perceived by the State as an enemy. Considering the gross incompetence on display in the ‘Thug primary, it doesn’t look like that much of a stretch to me.
ETA: Danack at #108.
Bill Arnold
@MANDALAY:
This is not simply voting against the President. It is voting for either (1) full up war with and occupation of Iran, doing enormous damage to the US, reputational and financial, and with 10s of thousands of U.S. casualties, (2) less than the current status quo (international sanctions collapse) and an Iran that will probably decide to go nuclear, this time using deep underground facilities and improved (Russian-supplied) air defenses.
And (2) gets messy, with the possibility of an ineffective bombing campaign, with muted noises about a preemptive Israeli nuclear first strike, an arms race involving Saudi Arabia and Turkey, with eventual (nuclear) ballistic missile flight times in the several minutes. (Lots of other possibilities left out to keep main point more concise.)
Insane. This course of action would increase the likelihood of the destruction of the state of Israel. I don’t understand how any rational supporter of Israel would be opposed to this deal with Iran. I can understand B. Netanyahu being opposed because he has been making political capital with Iran scare-mongering for the last 20 years.
(The Iranians could help by not being so generous in supplying their proxies with advanced weaponry; I saw one AIPAC mailing making a lot of out the long range missiles that Iran is supplying to Hezbollah – they had a picture of missile flight times that showed flight times of the fastest such missiles to points in Israel, pointedly (dishonestly) not noting this fact in the text.)
karen marie
@debbie: He’s huddled in a corner, blankie over his head, crying, and sucking his thumb.
karen marie
@Gimlet: I thInk this whole thing started with a Twitter argument between some BLM people and a couple Bernie supporters, escalated into #Bernieissoblack, and has snowballed into a mess. While I agree Sanders should address BLM issues, I really disagree with the tactics of the BLM people who persist in attacking Sanders.
karen marie
@J R in WV: Did you listen to this 2010 episode from This American Life? Crossing that thin blue line is hazardous for cops.
karen marie
@Another Holocene Human: Asking for four and a half minutes was a further provocation. They knew it wouldn’t be granted. Asking for 60 seconds wouldn’t have left them room to scream like banshees.
Ian
@srv:
Obama didnt have to do it. I would argue it is a mistake to even address these so called “crises” that the republicans invent. After the pastor became the ‘he’s a Muslim”, then the “he’s a furiner”, then the “he’s secretly a gay”, to the “he’s in the tank for Iran”. Any Democratic official at the highest level will get smeared with some “Bengazhi!!” faux scandal.
karen marie
@sm*t cl*de: And it is the start to a ground game. People willing to pony up are more likely to do GOTV, which is not really something you can buy past a certain point.