I had been afraid that Jeb might be smart enough not to stay out of the nativist sewer but never fear:
Jeb Bush’s attempt to echo Donald Trump’s un-PC talk on immigration by unapologetically using the derogatory term “anchor baby” is getting him hit from both sides of the aisle.
Jeb’s never going to out-crazy Trump. I’m not even sure that Cruz and Huckabee can for that matter. And it’s only August — he’s really going to take stake out positions that hurt in the general because Trump’s leading FIVE MONTHS before the first primary?
Derelict
Jeb and every other GOP candidate has no choice but to stake out extreme and outrageous positions. Not just because Trump is doing so, but because it’s the only way to get any traction in the primaries. Remember that the Teahadists control the primaries, so only those candidates who pass muster with the 27% crazy faction can hope to survive.
That helped kill Romney’s candidacy. It will likely fatally damage whoever the GOP nominee is this time around, too.
srv
Yeah, that Rise troll sure picked a real winner there, huh?
A whole year left to winnow out all those cuckies.
Perhaps someone can do a live blog:
We’re back, and we’re not going away.
beltane
I’m really dreading next year’s Republican convention. The delegates are likely to go on a killing an pillaging spree.
SatanicPanic
@srv:
What?
smintheus
Turns out Neil is the smart one.
Bobby Thomson
Plus he already walked it back and stabbed himself coming and going.
ETA in fairness, Romney was every bit as much of an awkward flip flipper, but it didn’t seem to stick quite as much as it does to Jeb.
Jeffro
I’m still trying to think of how any of these clowns (besides the head clown, Trump) distinguishes themselves from the others strongly enough to win some other clown’s supporters. Seems increasingly possible that they all continue limping through the primaries quite some distance at the 10-15% mark.
Putting the RNC convention nights on my calendar now…
Derelict
@smintheus: Neil: “No, I didn’t think it was unusual for women to appear at my hotel room door to have sex with me. Yes, I remember that I’m still under oath.”
craigie
@srv:
I don’t think the angry white people ever went away.
sidhra
Throw him another anchor, baby.
Benw
Even when Jeb is saying stupid stuff he’s boring. Even writing comments about Jeb saying stupid stuff is boring!
smintheus
@Derelict: Yes that Neil. Best in a weak field.
Peale
@craigie: I don’t remember them ever being all that silent, but then I’ve only been around them 40 years or so.
srv
This is how far our guard has sunk under Obama
JPL
Fetuses are babies and children born in the United States by immigrants are anchors. These are not Rockefeller republicans, that’s for sure.
JPL
The Dow has been bouncing between 400 and 500 down. The stock I want to purchase hasn’t budged much though.
Lavocat
As much as I continue to enjoy the daily Republican shit-show that is 2015’s Republican primary, I can’t help but wonder if this is not, in fact, a very visible tectonic shift to the right for the whole damned country. Most of the garbage I am reading and seeing in the media is nothing short of fascist. And while it’s so obscenely absurd that I find I can do nothing but laugh at it, I also realize that the longer this narcissistic pabulum passes for high-policy from the Republican Party, the more damage it does to political discourse in general (and will do in the general election).
In short, Trump is not only tearing down the Republican Party, he’s dragging fascism from the dark recesses of the American psyche and making it one of the Republican Party’s central planks in their platform – or the entire platform itself.
Trump is the result of adding billions of dollars to an intellect that never evolved beyond the elementary school playground.
Betty Cracker
@SatanicPanic: This might help.
lgerard
@Benw:
Bush is undoubtedly boring, but standing next to Scott Walker he looks like Liberace.
Scott Walker is the most boring drone I have ever seen run for any office.
He has spent his whole life in office, and spent all his time in office running for the next one, all in service of his corporate backers.
Mom Says I'm Handsome
@SatanicPanic: Cuckie = cuckservative. The latest insult conservatives fling at one another for not having sufficient purity.
A definition. At this rate the Republican party will be nominating the Ghost of Reagan Past.
gene108
@smintheus:
I’m going with Marvin or the sister. Neither have gotten into any real trouble that I know of, unlike George, John or Neil.
piratedan
I think it’s a good thing to turn over the rocks and expose all of the bugs that make up the “foundation” of the GOP base and belief system.
My biggest fear is that someone will neglect to take all of these “positions” and make them clear to the American public and have them decide if this is really who they want to support and making laws on their behalf.
The GOP is making it clear that they don’t believe in a living wage, that health care is a privilege and not a right, that people who aren’t white and christian have no place in our society. They’re also not very keen on women being allowed to do much of anything other than making sandwiches and birthing out litters. If you’re poor, well they intend to make sure that you stay that way, after all, somebody needs to work the fields and mow the grass.
SatanicPanic
@Betty Cracker: eyew, gross. I thought these were the people who represented family values
Amir Khalid
If you consider this as a test of nerves, it’s plan that Jeb’s aren’t steady enough for the presidency. If he’s insecure enough to follow the Donald into the crazy, he’s not sure enough of himself to be his own man in the Oval Office. He’ll be too easily spooked away from his own position on any issue, and he’ll be a pushover at any negotiating table.
Iowa Old Lady
@gene108: You have to remember that being the smart Bush offspring is a very low bar.
Cacti
Funny how the “pro-life” party is always ready to kick brown-skinned babies in the mouth to score political points.
JPL
@Cacti: Yup..
redshirt
Jeb! keeps getting PWNED and it’s hilarious.
Still think he somehow comes out on top, but no one today can deny The Donald.
The Other Chuck
@Mom Says I’m Handsome:
Aside from the increasing impenetrability of the insider jargon, that idiotic terminology sounds like some sort of verbal fart from the MRA crowd.
catclub
@JPL: As long as you keep in mind that the last 20% of gains don’t really belong to you, anyway, a 10% correction is way overdue.
Amir Khalid
I like Hillary’s tweeted response to the “anchor baby” slur.
Incidentally, DougJ, it might be a good idea to give a heads-up if you’re linking to Slate. The linked story counts against their five-stories-a-month cap for non-paying readers.
Steeplejack (phone)
@DougJ:
Should that not be in your first sentence? Seems to reverse the intended meaning. Or maybe I’m not getting it.
Roger Moore
@smintheus:
I think it’s more likely that there is no smart one; they’re all idiots.
burnspbesq
The thing is, no matter how crazy/stupid/fascist the Republican nominee turns out to be, AT LEAST 50 million of your fellow Americans will vote for him/her/it. Maybe more.
Fifty. Million.
Yeah. Think on that for a second. Try not to vomit.
Roger Moore
@Mom Says I’m Handsome:
I think they’re going to skip straight over Reagan and nominate the ghost of Jefferson Davis.
catclub
@Lavocat:
If by whole damn country you mean white men, maybe. I have not seen any shift in blacks or Latinos, have you?
smintheus
@Lavocat: Trump is dangerous for democracy in the same way that Berlusconi was in Italy. I can’t believe how many Democrats continue to treat him as a non-threat.
Splitting Image
@Lavocat:
Trump is putting it front and centre in the news, but deporting “illegals” has been part of the Republican platform since 1996. It’s Pat Buchanan’s legacy, if anybody’s. The difference is that in ’96 they had that nice Bob Dole to cover for them.
MattF
It seems that understanding the nuances of the various policy statements from the different candidates comes down to drawing distinctions between ‘fanatical’, ‘moronic’, and ‘clueless’…
craigie
@piratedan:
Conservative economic policy in a nutshell:
If you want to motivate the rich, you have to pay them more. If you want to motivate the poor, you have to pay them less.
Germy Shoemangler
“I’m the tortoise in the race,” Jeb told a group of voters in Florida not long ago. “But I’m a joyful tortoise.”
Peale
@Splitting Image: Yep. So far, I have yet to see any signs that people who yell “those criminals! deport them all!” suffer any consequences and aren’t invited back into the seats of power by voters. I know, I know, the wonderful story of California and how it went to the Democrats forever, except Arnold, who doesn’t count.
oldster
“smart enough not to stay out of the nativist sewer”
Typo, right?
You meant either,
“smart enough to stay out of the nativist sewer”
or
“smart enough not to dive into the nativist sewer”
right?
Gin & Tonic
@smintheus: And Silvio was PM *three* times.
MattF
@Gin & Tonic: I’m still waiting for Trump’s ‘bunga bunga’ moment. And then, I guess, the attempt by the rest of the field to copy it.
Peale
@catclub: I think we’re probably “due” for a little panic, ourselves. I would have thought after a few years of giving off signs that its economy was slowing down, China’s economy cooling off would have been “priced in” as they say. But apparently not.
smintheus
@Gin & Tonic: Yep. And he completely remade the Italian political landscape in his own image, in ways reminiscent of Putin. Like I said Trump’s dangerous.
Omnes Omnibus
@smintheus: They’re all Fredo.
John Revolta
@burnspbesq: It bears repeating: think about how stupid your average person is, and then realize that half of them are stupider than that.
MattF
@Peale: Remember– ‘The stock market is always suspended between fear and greed.’ Rational theories about market behavior are just a larf.
Jeffro
@craigie:
That is indeed an excellent way to sum it up. They’re definitely all for comforting the comfortable, and afflicting the afflicted.
catclub
@Gin & Tonic: I have previously brought up Berlusconi as an example to compare with Trump.
However, my impression is that Berlusconi was/is a much bigger deal in Italy than Trump is in the US. Berlusconi owned lots of the media, not so for Trump. So Berlusconi had an advantage for elections, he could give himself lots of good coverage and his opponents bad coverage in his media outlets. Trump cannot really do that. He has to ‘earn’ free media by being outrageous.
That free media can go away or turn on him. Not so Berlusconi.
Jeffro
@Germy Shoemangler:
Well, Jeb!, we have some bad news for you: there are plenty of other tortoises in the race who can hang in there to & through the primaries, and they sure as heck make for better candidates than you do. It’s better-rehearsed, more on-message tortoises most all the way down.
Cervantes
@Lavocat:
Yes.
MattF
@Jeffro: Jeb! is the tortoise and he’s lying on his back in the middle of the desert.
John Revolta
@MattF: I just keep thinking: a guy with Trump’s background must reeeeallly have faith in his tax attorneys to be acting out this way.
Cervantes
@The Other Chuck:
Actually, it originated in “white supremacy” circles.
There’s a brief discussion in this comment.
Heliopause
A recent FOX poll found that 12% of Republican voters consider illegal immigration their #1 issue. Not just an issue important to them, but the most important issue. A recent CNN poll found that Republican voters think Trump will do a better job on this issue by 44 to 12% over Bush. So yeah, the rest of the field has a lot of catching up to do.
John Revolta
@catclub: I believe that Berlusconi is (or was, anyway) *the richest* man in Italy.
Anoniminous
Since Lee Atwater Conservatives have said what they believe in private and lied their asses off in public. The big change in 2015 is they are saying what they really believe in public.
smintheus
@Heliopause: At Trump’s website, immigration is the only issue listed on his “Issues” page.
DougJ
@burnspbesq:
Even if their candidate were Sarah Palin.
It’s amazing, I try not to think about it.
catclub
From Jonathan Bernstein: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-08-21/why-republicans-are-suckers-for-trumpism
smintheus
Watch the gun nuts use this story from France to argue again that everyone should carry a gun…despite the fact that the heroic Marines disarmed the gunman even though they were unarmed.
catclub
@John Revolta: That was in the back of my mind, also.
Mike in NC
Before it’s all over, Trump will be acting like the “Jigsaw” character in the Saw horror movies, getting the other candidates to torture one another until each drops out.
craigie
@MattF:
Holden: Yes. You’re in a desert walking along in the sand when all of the sudden you look down-
Leon: What one?
Holden: What?
Leon: What desert?
Holden: It doesn’t make any difference what desert, it’s completely hypothetical.
Leon: But how come I’d be there?
Holden: Maybe you’re fed up, maybe you want to be by yourself, who knows? You look down and you see a tortoise, Leon, it’s crawling towards you-
Leon: Tortoise, what’s that?
Holden: Know what a turtle is?
Leon: Of course.
Holden: Same thing.
Leon: I’ve never seen a turtle — But I understand what you mean.
Holden: You reach down, you flip the tortoise over on its back Leon.
Leon: Do you make up these questions, Mr. Holden, or do they write them down for you?
Holden: The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun beating its legs trying to turn itself over but it can’t, not without your help, but you’re not helping.
Leon: What do you mean I’m not helping?
Holden: I mean, you’re not helping. Why is that Leon?
Leon: Because I am a Democrat and watching this spectacle is too much fun.
Ok, I made that last part up.
Calouste
@catclub:
And that fell on fertile ground because these people already believe that magic happens. Just pray to your magical sky daddy from your magical book full of magic and hey, magic happens. Everyone who believes in the rapture, the immaculate conception and that kind of stuff believes in magic, that something can come out of nothing.
Shana
@catclub: I’m certainly no expert in Italian politics, but I always had the sense that Italians in general never expect their government to actually work that well so the entertainment value of a Berlusconi outweighed his actual governance.
Again, I’m no expert.
jl
Both HRC and Trump replies to the loser dolt Jeb!? are good.
I didn’t see the link in comments above, so apologies if I missed it. TPM has a very good article explaining why ending birthright citizenship would be a lifelong never ending mess for everyone, even for the white bigots who worry about all the bogus claims about the supposed harm it does, even if it grandfathered in people who already have it (and I think that is an open question if it was changed by a constitutional amendment, since the ex post facto aspect could be exceptioned out in that case).
I guess it wouldn’t have to be a bureaucratic nightmare. I mean, you could go European and issue everyone definitive identity papers… I guess. Which would be the GOP approach to learning from the European social welfare state: adopt all the costs but none of the benefits.
Why Ending Birthright Citizenship Would Create A Nightmare For Everyone
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/birthright-citizenship-national-nightmare
jl
And I notice from TPM that the GOP candidates are starting flip flop all over the place on birthright citizenship. Walker has bravely decided to change from against to no opinion. Kasich, as far as I can figure has been for, against, and now for.
Besides promoting disastrous policies, they are two faced (badly) calculating shfity losers. What a stew of rank bums they are.
redshirt
I’m waiting for one of the Wingnuts to propose sending African-Americans back to Africa. I mean, every negative they say about Hispanics could also apply to AA’s, right?
Heliopause
I should add, being seen as overly solicitous of the BLM movement will also hurt in the general, but you see the Dem candidates are trying to get out in front of that one as well.
jl
@Heliopause: No, I disagree. Neither Sanders nor HRC really changed any of their positions as a result of BLM protests, and both were criticized for not being ‘responsive’ enough.
For Sanders, even is policy vocabulary did not change. Sanders was giving institutional racism, police violence against minorities a few minutes during his stump speeches long before the BLM protests, and said that they were parallel and independent issues, and this is all available on youtube. Just, for some reason, people did not notice, or did notice and thought he should give that issue more prominence.
I don’t think there is much comparison at all. And remember, that with video evidence available, some polls show a majority of whites who think that there is a problem. So, I just don’t see a comparison.
If you tried to make an attack ad that HRC or Sanders were bowing down to black radicals, what would you see? A grouchy looking old white man frowning after those two particular BLM protesters did not leave the stage and grouching that he did not approve of their tactics (and it was not even his rallies where this happened), or HRC lecturing BLM protesters how to move from protests to changing policy.
Stacy
@MattF:Yes the Republicans have reached peak Berlusconi with Trump.
Heliopause
@jl:
Well, I don’t agree with your analysis, I think the two cases are quite comparable. The Dem candidates have already been responsive to varying degrees to the protesters and there are a million ways a clever advertiser can tie them to “black radicals.” Clinton and Sanders are trying to walk a fine line and you can bet they’ll be asked if All Lives Matter, whether they think the police are everybody’s friend, and so on, and they’ll have to have a carefully calibrated answer at the ready.
The Republic of Stupidity
@Derelict:
Well thank god for that…
This s/b an entertaining primary season, w/ these feckless twits trying out one up each other on the tough talk circuit… this would be a variation on the Prisoner’s Dilemma, no?
Cervantes
@jl:
Also did Sanders not disavow an apology for insufficient outreach issued by one his people?
rikyrah
@Lavocat:
Where have you been? This is who they are. But, we’ve had a MSM covering for them, and the ridiculous ‘independents’ pretending that the GOP was something other than what they are.
SiubhanDuinne
@Germy Shoemangler:
“Joyful Tortoise” would be a great band name.
SiubhanDuinne
@Iowa Old Lady:
I think you meant to say “a very low Bar.”
In which case, I would have responded “I saw what you did there.”
jl
@Heliopause: I think you are correct that somebody will try an attack ad on it. The questions are, how many of the target audience will be particularly sympathetic (and as I said, there is polling that a majority of whites will not be, particularly), and can you make it stick for more then 20 minutes or will it backfire?
We will see when it comes.
SuzieC
@beltane:
Dreading? That will be better than Game of Thrones.
daverave
@MattF:
With a swarm of ORVs bearing down on his soft underside…