Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

The gop couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. don’t touch it.”

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

I am pretty sure Katy Tur wasn’t always such a bootlicking sycophant.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

No one could have predicted…

It’s a new day. Light all those Biden polls of young people on fire and throw away the ashes.

A consequence of cucumbers

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

It looks like winning debates is a black job!

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / David Brooks Giving A Seminar At The Aspen Institute / The jig is up, the news is out

The jig is up, the news is out

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Epic Bobo today. Starts off by talking about his Snooze Hour buddy Mark Shields and closes by calling Fiorina and Rubio renegade geniuses:

That’s where Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio come in. So far, Fiorina has looked like the most impressive candidate. She has a genius for creating signature moments.

[….]

Rubio is young and thus uncorrupted, and he is a genius at relating policy depth in a way that is personal.

[….]

It’s going to be somewhat the same, but edgier and more renegade.

And we all know how much neocons love uncorrupted young men.

Reader Interactions

154Comments

  4. 4.

    gogol's wife

    It truly is epic. Everyone should read it, it’s the funniest thing I’ve seen all week. Jeb’s problem is his “gentility and emotional guardedness.” I like this comment, which somehow slipped past the moderators: “Just look at that bus of crazy, just look at it! Get on board David, thats your bus. Ha Ha Ha.”

  9. 9.

    Jeffro

    By the way, this is the harshest criticism of a political figure (Trump) that I have EVER seen from Brooks. The fear clearly shows. Nevertheless, David: over half of your party wants Trump or Carson…tell me how this party comes together in the end??

  10. 10.

    Mustang Bobby

    “Rubio is young and thus uncorrupted,”

    Has he looked into Rubio’s history in the state legislature in Florida? Seriously? His abuse of the FLGOP Amex card, among other things?

    Well, I suppose it depends on what you mean by “uncorrupted.”

  13. 13.

    Elizabelle

    @gogol’s wife: The reader comments are the best thing about Bobo’s columns. They’re more grounded in reality than his columns. The NYTimes is wise to allow that outlet.

  16. 16.

    Elizabelle

    Bobo or K-Thug: You make the call:

    I’ve been going over what was said at Wednesday’s Republican debate, and I’m terrified. You should be, too. After all, given the vagaries of elections, there’s a pretty good chance that one of these people will end up in the White House.

    Why is that scary? I would argue that all of the G.O.P. candidates are calling for policies that would be deeply destructive at home, abroad, or both. But even if you like the broad thrust of modern Republican policies, it should worry you that the men and woman on that stage are clearly living in a world of fantasies and fictions. And some seem willing to advance their ambitions with outright lies.

    Let’s start at the shallow end, with the fantasy economics of the establishment candidates.

  18. 18.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Rubio is young and thus uncorrupted, and he is a genius at relating policy depth in a way that is personal.

    Like when he said we need trickle down economics ’cause his dad was a bartender and his mom was a hotel maid and where would they have been without people rich enough to tip?

    She has a genius for creating signature moments.

    By lying. Yesterday on MSNBC I saw Michelle Cottle and a Democratic pollster both brush off questions about the accuracy of Fiorina’s planned parenthood histrionics. It was much more important that it was an effective moment of television that appealed to the base. The Dem pollster called a moment for young woman and girls to look up to as strength and leaderly leadership. And the parents of the step-daughter (her ex-husband seems to hate her) who died want CF to stop talking about their daughter’s death (h/t @SteveinSC: ).

  20. 20.

    Elizabelle

    In yesterday’s reader comments about the GOP debate, one person thought Jeb! seemed like an animal led onstage. She had a good take on the various personalities up there. Will look for it.

    The readers were a lot more honest than the professional journalists. I am not sure I would subscribe to the NYTimes if it did not allow reader comments. Which they moderate, so they do not become online sewers.

  21. 21.

    Elizabelle

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Have you noticed how much the word “corruption” comes up?

    iCarly threw it out a lot in the debate. Now we hear that young Rubio is “uncorrupted” (by education and sufficient exposure to reality, methinks).

    Pure projection. Obama’s run a very clean administration. Compare it with Bush-Cheney (the aims), which these whackadoodles see as the template, whether they will admit it or not.

  22. 22.

    beltane

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Everything that Fiorina uttered was a lie. The lies about her family were vile and exploitative. Are there any people close to her who do not actively hate her guts? Really, if the GOP were not soooo desperate for an anti-Trump, this person’s candidacy would be DOA.

  26. 26.

    boatboy_srq

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    It was much more important that it was an effective moment of television that appealed to the base.

    The GOTea’s circuses. Pity there’s no bread to go along with that: seems the GOTea wants to shutter all the bakeries because they give loaves (and fishes too methinks) to Those People.

  27. 27.

    Patrick

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    By lying. Yesterday on MSNBC I saw Michelle Cottle and a Democratic pollster both brush off questions about the accuracy of Fiorina’s planned parenthood histrionics.

    I think I just want to scream. Why doesn’t somebody in the media ask Fiorina to point out where the hell in the video she is seeing what is claiming? If she refuses, we all know that she is lying.

    Why the hell is this so difficult?

  29. 29.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Elizabelle: I think I did see a clip of Fiorina talking about ‘this corrupt administration’ or something like that. Li’l Marco as uncorrupted… my mind goes right to his hinky relationship with that car dealer, the personal expenses on the FL R-party credit card as @Mustang Bobby: points out. I sometimes think, how do people not know about this? Then I remember that as a political junkie, I’m the oddball because I do. I guess that’s why those ads that Plouffe and Messina et al will run when and if the time comes are worth the money

    OT: This, from TPM, cracked me up. This many candidates, their teams in smallish towns, a lot of young aides blowing off steam. Maybe George P and Bubba Jr Huckabee will wind up on a very special episode of Cops

    A deputy campaign manager for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) allegedly threw a punch at an aide to presidential rival Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) Thursday night inside a bar on Michigan’s Mackinac Island.

  31. 31.

    boatboy_srq

    @Mustang Bobby: “Uncorrupted” n. 1) clean; free of taint; honest and trustworthy. 2) [<emNB: GOTea definition] Uncomplicated by the evils of knowledge; unwilling to compromise with Those People; not yet proven to exhibit willingness to accept reality.

  32. 32.

    beltane

    @Patrick: @Patrick: Carly Fiorina’s candidacy is like dust bunny. Any kind of media scrutiny would cause it to disintegrate into nothingness. As long as they need her to be in the race, they will avoid asking any questions at all of her.

  35. 35.

    boatboy_srq

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Is it possible that the GOTea assumes that to accomplish anything in government – that is, to actually govern – one is necessarily on the take or in some interest’s pocket? And therefore being “uncorrupted” is expressed by not actually doing anything constructive?

  36. 36.

    kindness

    Bobo and his people live in a very different world than you and I. Now we on our end feel they have a little bit of an optics problem. They see things differently. They see things that I for one can not completely explain how they arrived at their positions on matters. My go to understanding would be that Bobo et al are lying to try and pimp their side. That’s about the only way I could reasonably explain away the lies as fact memes and the indignation of the Bobos regarding how the great unwashed masses (us dfhs) can believe what we believe. Sadly I bet I am wrong there. I bet the Bobos of this world have convinced themselves of their righteousness and their purity and don’t see their lies as lies at all. Just good talking points to try to define the unwashed masses.

    The next French Revolution on US soil can’t come quick enough in that case.

  38. 38.

    boatboy_srq

    @Jeffro:

    David: over half of your party wants Trump or Carson…tell me how this party comes together in the end??

    Why, by convincing Democrats to be more “bipartisan” and “cooperative,” of course…

  39. 39.

    Thoughtful Today

    grrr….

    I’m annoyed at reading even that little of Brooks.

    …

    Fiorina “has a genius for creating signature moments” of pathological lying.

    Rubio … I got nothing … ? does affably smarmy better than the others?

  41. 41.

    beltane

    Re JEB:

    Three hundred and fifty years of WASP reticence have left habits of gentility and emotional guardedness that inhibit him, just as they inhibited his father.

    I could not read this with a straight face. Could Brooks write it with a straight face?

  42. 42.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @dedc79: Jackie Calmes at the NYT too:

    Jackie Calmes ‏@ calmesnyt 17h17 hours ago
    Having watched & reported on @ PPact sting videos, I’m stupefied that Fiorina cld so falsely describe them on natl TV.

    The most galling thing to me about that debate was that Jeb? could make that absurd statement about his brother “keeping us safe” precisely because of the broderist dictum that we mustn’t politicize 9/11, while on that same stage Fiorina (and I’d be surprised if she was the only one who mentioned it) can demagogue about Benghazi and get a pass. Because only 4 people were killed, it can be “poltiicized”?

  43. 43.

    danielx

    My man Dave strikes again….

    This debate was one moment in time, but you can see the vectors of where this campaign is headed. This is no longer Bob Dole’s or George H.W. Bush’s G.O.P. But it’s not going to completely lose its mind, either. (Italics mine. Many would argue that the GOP has lost its mind, and not all that recently. In point of fact I seem to recall a couple of Brooks columns arguing pretty much exactly that. Down the memory hole they go…)

    It’s going to be somewhat the same, but edgier and more renegade. Right now, Rubio, Fiorina and maybe Chris Christie are best positioned to occupy that space.

    Mid-six figure salary for producing complete drivel twice a week. Nice work if you can get it.

  47. 47.

    benw

    @MattF: For all the GOP attacks on PP, hers was the most despicable. Her lies are being treated as a positive outreach toward women (fuck you, NYT):

    With a debate performance that was steely and at times deeply personal, Carly Fiorina appears to have improved her standing in the race to be the Republican nominee. But even if she falls short, she took a big stride toward filling a role her party badly needs: a credible antidote to the gender gap and the Democrats’ claims of a Republican “war on women.”

    I don’t know if its funny or sick.

    @Elizabelle: You’re welcome.

  48. 48.

    Cervantes

    @beltane:

    Everything that Fiorina uttered was a lie.

    A lot of it, and not surprisingly.

    The lies about her family were vile and exploitative.

    And what were those?

  49. 49.

    Big Jim Slade

    Doug! I should hunt you down and do terrible things to you. The nerve! Putting a Styx song in my mind first thing in the morning…

  50. 50.

    dedc79

    @benw: If you can believe it, the original title/version of that article was even worse. It assumed what it set out to prove (but never proved) – that Fiorina would solve the GOP’s problem with women voters.

  51. 51.

    danielx

    @beltane:

    If I was a truly mean, nasty and evil person I’d say that I wouldn’t mind seeing Chris Christie catch fire either; what with all that fuel it would be a truly magnificent blaze.

    However, since I’m not that kind of person, I’d prefer that his campaign fizzle like a wet firecracker, which it shows every sign of doing.

  53. 53.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @benw: she took a big stride toward filling a role her party badly needs: a credible antidote to the gender gap and the Democrats’ claims of a Republican “war on women.”

    I’m trying to remember the last time the Republicans came up with a candidate who would close that gender gap for them…. Oh, her name’s on the tip of my tongue….

    @beltane: @boatboy_srq: Brooks is a fine example of the hang-ups of so many of his fellow Green Roomers, enamored of Christie’s schoolyard bully “toughness”, and so desperate to be invited ’round for sunset cocktails at Walker’s Point, where they could chuckle knowingly when Barbara made a tart comment about that vulgar but useful fellow from New Jersey.

  54. 54.

    Amir Khalid

    The only presidential thing about Fiorina is her gift for confident assertion; but not much of what she asserts is actually true. Rubio is an undistinguished and, as presidential candidates go, still-callow youth. In this nomination race, neither has pulled away from the pack chasing den Donald, let alone come close to challenging him for the lead. For all I know, David Brooks picked their names for his ideal Republican ticket at random.

  55. 55.

    bystander

    Rubio is uncorrupted…by the burden of intelligence. Age has nothing to do with it.

    I’ll go to bobo’s column but I will only read the comments. Why clutter up my beautiful mind?

  57. 57.

    beltane

    @benw: I honestly can’t think of any constituency of women Fiorina would appeal to. Of course she will not appeal to the very large group of women who appreciate Planned Parenthood. But she will also not appeal to evangelical women who will find her somewhat unsavory personal story to be, shall be say, uninspiring. Fiorina is no Sheryl Sandberg, that’s for sure.

    It was a big relief when John McCain bypassed Kay Bailey Hutchison as a running mate. She was someone I could see having a cross-over appeal to politically moderate women.

  58. 58.

    WaterGirl

    @Elizabelle: Excellent idea to try to have a book thread with TNC.

    Completely agree that we should talk more about Coates and other smart writers rather than giving an outrage forum to Bobo and the rest of the idiots.

  61. 61.

    beltane

    @Cervantes: Fiorina did not raise her step-daughter. The ex-wife had custody of the girls and is now crying bloody murder over the exploitation of her daughter’s death. Such family situations can be messy and emotionally difficult. At the very least, Fiorina’s crassness paints her in a very ugly light.

  64. 64.

    Ian

    Rubio is young and thus uncorrupted, and he is a genius at relating policy depth in a way that is personal.

    Wow. Has he done any research into Rubio at all? The man is a grift machine… And policy depth??? like kiddie pool depth??

  65. 65.

    Elizabelle

    K-Thug’s column today is awesome (h/t benw).

    More: Fantasies and Fictions at G.O.P. Debate

    If the discussion of economics was alarming, the discussion of foreign policy was practically demented. Almost all the candidates seem to believe that American military strength can shock-and-awe other countries into doing what we want without any need for negotiations, and that we shouldn’t even talk with foreign leaders we don’t like. No dinners for Xi Jinping! And, of course, no deal with Iran, because resorting to force in Iraq went so well.

    Indeed, the only candidate who seemed remotely sensible on national security issues was Rand Paul, which is almost as disturbing as the spectacle of Mr. Trump being the only voice of economic reason.

    He takes apart “renegade” Carly Fiorina — click link for that — and then:

    I began writing for The Times during the 2000 election campaign, and what I remember above all from that campaign is the way the conventions of “evenhanded” reporting allowed then-candidate George W. Bush to make clearly false assertions — about his tax cuts, about Social Security — without paying any price. As I wrote at the time, if Mr. Bush said the earth was flat, we’d see headlines along the lines of “Shape of the Planet: Both Sides Have a Point.”

    Now we have presidential candidates who make Mr. Bush look like Abe Lincoln. But who will tell the people?

    Isn’t that something the New York Times should be doing?

    Instead of giving Bubble Boy Bobo a column from which to prop up fantasists?

    Fantasies, Fictions, and Fascism.

  66. 66.

    MattF

    @Amir Khalid: I can tell you that people in NJ have become deeply unhappy with Christie– killing the Hudson tunnel project was a very bad thing to do. He (and Cuomo) are now trying to undo that error without making him look bad, but it ain’t easy.

  67. 67.

    beltane

    I don’t understand why a mouthpiece of the establishment like Brooks isn’t promoting Kasich’s candidacy more. He is far more formidable as a GE candidate than Rubio or Fiorina could ever hope to be.

  69. 69.

    Elizabelle

    They want Christie cuz he’s a brawler. I think he was on the Today show, earliest segments today.

    They realize they need a brawler to take on Trump. He’s their brawler.

    Wasn’t Christie supposed to be having legal troubles and a possible indictment by now? Or at some time this campaign year? Must the United Airlines CEO’s be the only head that falls there?

  71. 71.

    beltane

    @Elizabelle: The politics of the region being what they are, I don’t think a governor of NJ or NY for that matter will want to go after Trump too hard. Christie goes after Trump at his own peril.

  73. 73.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @beltane: and they still have to worry about pissing him off. Seems to me Trump really hates Jeb, but if the party as a whole or some other eventual nominee piss him off, he can make a lot of trouble. I still assume Trump won’t be the nominee, but that it may be interesting, after the election, to see how many write -in votes he gets

  74. 74.

    Elizabelle

    @beltane: Yeah. I actually see Christie as the one in the wings once the Donald flames out. If he does.

    Why can’t the GOP just explode, sooner rather than later? Why do we have to get dragged along in the death throes. (I know, it’s cuz the plutocrats want and need the GOP. Their servant.)

  76. 76.

    beltane

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: If he doesn’t get the nom, it will be fun watching them grovel for his endorsement. He will almost certainly demand a prominent sport at the convention. Even then, I expect he will make news during the general by issuing occasional critiques of the eventual nominee.

  78. 78.

    benw

    @shell:

    I think the GOP is becoming more like the Party of the Morlocks.

    SANDERS/ELOI 2016

    @Elizabelle:

    Isn’t that something the New York Times should be doing?

    Krugman is walking right up to the line of calling his own paper a ignominious failure of journalism.

  79. 79.

    beltane

    @Elizabelle: I can see Trump eventually throwing his weight behind Christie. He won’t do it for free. He will want concessions, lots of them. But this is the price of doing business in Jersey and Christie knows this better than anyone else.

  80. 80.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @benw: the other day on I think the Tweety show, Ron Reagan Jr compared Carly Florina to the fabulist Brian Williams, who I gather will make his triumphant return to the NBC family as part of Chuck Todd’s new show, which is called “MTP Daily”, or something like that. Cause Meet The Press is a brand all the kids are talking about.

  81. 81.

    Thoughtful Today

    lol

    Indeed, the only candidate who seemed remotely sensible on national security issues was Rand Paul, which is almost as disturbing as the spectacle of Mr. Trump being the only voice of economic reason.

    and now i feel queasy

  82. 82.

    Jeffro

    @Amir Khalid: I don’t think he chose them at random: they are just about the only viable establishment options left. Bush and Walker are flawed and clearly not up to the task…Paul is erratic as hell, Huck is Huck, Cruz can’t be trusted and is widely disliked by the party establishment, etc etc.

    Right now Rubio and Fiorina are their best hope…Kaisch is interesting as a VP because Ohio, but is pretty unpalatable to the Tea Party base. Christie might be back in the limelight briefly once again but given how Bridgegate & bullying might play out, he likely can’t head the ticket (and adds less as Veep than Kaisch or Fiorina)

  83. 83.

    different-church-lady

    So far, Fiorina has looked like the most impressive candidate. She has a genius for creating signature moments. (snip) But her spotty record at Hewlett-Packard probably means she can’t start at the top of the ticket.

    Her spotty record at HP is her “signature moment”.

  85. 85.

    trollhattan

    The uh, great thing about Fiorina’s lies is that she calls Hillary a liar every chance she gets, opening the door wide for painting her with the same brush. That needs to happen now.

  86. 86.

    Randy P

    @Elizabelle: I’ve mentioned before that it’s in my current rotation of books I’m working my way through. I seem to go through phases of slow reading and fast reading, and I’m currently in a slow phase for everything I’m reading. But Coates’ book is slowing me down also because it is so enormously powerful.

  87. 87.

    schrodinger's cat

    Just because they get a woman to sell their misogynist policies, its not going to endear the Republicans to most women. Nastiness oozes out of Fiorina’s every pore when she speaks, like that of a female Bond villain.

  88. 88.

    beltane

    @different-church-lady: I guess the Republican party has devolved to a point where no actual achievements are needed, only the ability to create “signature moments.” Say what you will about Sarah Palin, but she at least was elected governor of a state. Even that bar is too high for today’s field of candidates.

  89. 89.

    Seanly

    It’s going to be somewhat the same, but edgier and more renegade.

    That’s gonna be my new personal tag line:

    Seanly: He’s somewhat the same, but edgier and more renegade.

    Yeah, I’m a renegade! Suck it non-edgy, less renegadey Demon-rats! David Brooks met me at the Applebee’s salad bar while I was talking with Friedman’s cabby & Noonan’s deli guy.

  91. 91.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jeffro: I still think HP make Fiorina poison on a ticket, and the story was that Christie couldn’t pass the Romney vetting process (though I also suspect Willard couldn’t stand a junior partner who would eclipse him on stage), and that was before his New Jersey mentor/consigliere started talking to the Feds. The media adore Kasich, but he’s got a couple of flaws, Medicaid expansion, Lehmann Bros*, and a tendency to say things that don’t come out quite the way he wanted them to

    Kasich tries to praise Latinos – and ends up talking about tipping the hotel maid
    “A lot of them do jobs that they’re willing to do and, uh, that’s why in the hotel you leave a little tip,” said Kasich before a small group inside the Shady Canyon Golf Club, nestled in a gated Irvine neighborhood.

    * there was a story a couple months ago that the Bush camp thought a Bush/Kasich ticket would be unbeatable because FL/OH. They would also make an all Lehmann alumni ticket

  92. 92.

    different-church-lady

    @beltane:

    Fiorina is a woman-hater in possession of two X chromosomes. I’m not getting the appeal.

    You’re not getting the appeal of a woman hater to the GOP base?

  93. 93.

    beltane

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Fiorina adds absolutely nothing to a ticket, but her sketchy professional history does detract. There are other far more accomplished women Republicans out there to choose from. Fiorina can go away and spend time with her money.

  97. 97.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Seanly: We at the network want a dog with attitude. He’s edgy, he’s in your face. You’ve heard the expression, “let’s get busy”? Well, this is a dog who gets biz-ZAY! Consistently and thoroughly.

  98. 98.

    redshirt

    From where comes the assumption that Trump has billions of dollars?

    I’ve always assumed he’s a pretend billionaire, and that he really doesn’t have a lot of money (relatively).

  99. 99.

    Elizabelle

    @different-church-lady: A woman against other women not of her precise type? It got Joni Ernst elected. NYTimes ran some lapdog headline about Joni Ernst figuring out how to appeal to male Iowa voters.

    Sadly, iCarly can afford Manolos and I’ve not heard sad tales of breadbags on her tiny feet.

  102. 102.

    Matt McIrvin

    @redshirt: His FEC disclosure apparently indicated that his net worth is in fact several billion dollars. People have argued that his gains relative to the riches he inherited are not that spectacular for a big wheeler-dealer, and in his various ventures he’s made copious use of the bankruptcy process, but all in all he’s done all right for himself.

  106. 106.

    gene108

    @Elizabelle:

    Pure projection. Obama’s run a very clean administration. Compare it with Bush-Cheney (the aims), which these whackadoodles see as the template, whether they will admit it or not.

    Nixon’s failure was not that he ratfucked his opponents, but he left a trail that could lead back to him.

    Reagan’s people (all ex-Nixonites) at least insulated Ronnie, but couldn’t keep their finger prints off of their shenanigans.

    By the time Bush & Co. came to power, the ex-Nixonites who were running Bush, Jr.’s White House had figured out how to be corrupt and not get caught.

    What the powers that be now want in a Republican candidate is someone sharp enough to emulate Shrub’s reign of corruption and not get caught.

    The reason Christie’s fallen out of favor is the amateurish trail of e-mails his staff left regarding the George Washington bridge closure.

    Walker’s up to his eye-balls in corruption charges, but so far has escaped personally but had to sacrifice some key pawns, which Bush & Co. never really had to do, with the exception of Scooter Libby.

    I think one reason they were so hyped up on John Ellis Bush is he’d bring back the same crew of criminals that have been running amok in American politics, since the Nixon White House and their disciples. Unfortunately John’s not doing so hot.

    They’re interested in having a corrupt White House, which can break the laws in their favor and not get caught doing it.

    It’s a feature not a bug.

    Edit: Corrupt Republican White House naturally. If a Democrat showed respect to a foreign head of state (by bowing to a king or some such), they’d call him a wimp, who’s selling out America.

  107. 107.

    schrodinger's cat

    Rubio and Fiorina have been the candidates that have be trumped up on K-Lo’s Corner of Crazy or what passes for intellectuals within the GOP, right from the beginning. Token minorities, they lubs them.

  108. 108.

    schrodinger's cat

    Rubio and Fiorina have been the candidates that have be trumped up on K-Lo’s Corner of Crazy or what passes for intellectuals within the GOP, right from the beginning. Token minorities, they lubs them. It will work as well as Palin did.

  109. 109.

    Brachiator

    @Elizabelle: KThug drops the mike:

    Indeed, the only candidate who seemed remotely sensible on national security issues was Rand Paul, which is almost as disturbing as the spectacle of Mr. Trump being the only voice of economic reason.

    It should be easy for the Democrats to deal with any Republican nominee (though the Democrats often drop the ball on this). The country is in the mood for plain speaking, which explains a lot of Trump’s appeal. And Hillary was at her best (which is not always that much) when she spoke directly.

    So, clearly point out GOP failures on the economy and foreign affairs.

    Point out GOP stupidity (vaccines, Planned Parenthood, an almost endless list)

    Point out GOP emptiness and obstruction of Obama (Iran, immigration reform, don’t touch gun control for now)

    Point out that the only place where the GOP even comes close to reality is when they reject stale GOP principles (Trump on the economy, Paul on national security).

    Shorter: The GOP lie about their spectacular failures and lie about Obama’s successes. Vote Democratic Party.

  111. 111.

    rikyrah

    Amid dropping poll numbers, Scott Walker will retreat to focus on Iowa

    By Jenna Johnson and Matea Gold September 17 at 4:14 PM

    GOP presidential candidate Scott Walker — who has tumbled from top-tier status amid tepid debate performances and other missteps — will pull back from other early-voting states in favor of a heavy focus on Iowa, where he once led the field and has strong roots as a Midwesterner.

    The Wisconsin governor also faces growing pressure from some financial backers to make staffing changes in an attempt to turn around his campaign. But in a brief interview with The Washington Post at the Los Angeles airport Thursday afternoon, Walker said he had just completed a conference call with about 80 major donors — none of whom mentioned wanting staff changes.

    “It didn’t come up at all,” Walker said, as he waited for a flight to Detroit.

    Instead, Walker discussed Wednesday night’s debate and his strategy to spend much more time in Iowa, insisting that the campaign is still strong, according to three people on the call.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/09/17/scott-walker-donors-anxious-for-change-in-campaign-leadership/

  113. 113.

    benw

    @Elizabelle:

    It did not used to be this brazen.

    I think the Times determined to stick with their version of “objective” journalism while the Republican party slowly drove off the rails. With each election cycle they either have to knowingly become more brazen to make “evenhandedness” work or – worse – they’ve been doing it for so long now that they have a whole generation of political “reporters” who believe their asinine version of objectivity is somehow truth. Also, they hate the Clintons with the white-hot power of 1000 supernovas. It’s too bad, because a lot of the Times other reporting is the best around. I do wish there was a way to get my weekly Krugman fix without having to see even the Times political headlines; at this point even the headlines are rage-ifying.

  114. 114.

    Brachiator

    @beltane:

    There are other far more accomplished women Republicans out there to choose from.

    You have to go with the accomplished woman Republican you have, not the accomplished woman Republican you want.

  116. 116.

    Elizabelle

    @benw: Truly. The Times writers are the frog in the boiling water, and they can’t see it. The water in Oceania has always been this comfortable temperature, readers.

    Plus, the NYTimes has taken a lot of Republican-leaning journalists, and former Politico types (but I repeat myself).

  117. 117.

    Cervantes

    @beltane:

    I see your response, thanks, but I still don’t know what “vile and exploitative” lies (about her step-daughter) she told at the debate. Can you quote some of them?

    Fiorina did not raise her step-daughter.

    From the Daily Mail article cited approvingly above:

    There is no doubt that Carly became incredibly close to the girls.

    Does that address the question of “vile and exploitative”?

    You add:

    The ex-wife had custody of the girls and is now crying bloody murder over the exploitation of her daughter’s death.

    “Crying bloody murder”? Whereas from that same DM article:

    When approached by Daily Mail Online, [husband’s first wife] Patricia would only say: ‘There are two sides to every story. That’s not how I remember it. Lori was my daughter and I grieve her every day.’

    “Two sides to every story”? Seems a lot more ambiguous to me than “crying bloody murder.”

    And then there’s Amy Davidson’s version:

    [Paul’s] most effective moment, though, came when he talked about decriminalizing drug offenses, prompting Bush to talk about smoking marijuana as a teen-ager and Fiorina to speak, movingly, about her step-daughter who lost her life to addiction.

    That’s from the New Yorker, September 17, 2015.

    Does it address the question of “vile and exploitative”?

    You add:

    Such family situations can be messy and emotionally difficult.

    All the more reason, I think, for outsiders to be cautious, if not compassionate, when passing judgment in these matters.

    At the very least, Fiorina’s crassness paints her in a very ugly light.

    We probably agree almost completely about her career and her politics — and, from where I’m standing, the ugliness there is no fault of the light.

  118. 118.

    schrodinger's cat

    Looking forward to the Bobo column where he praises the unappreciated genius of Trump, when his latest crushes Fiorina and Rubio fail to displace him from the top spot. You know, its coming.

  121. 121.

    trollhattan

    @Cervantes:
    This section tells me all I need to know.

    ‘She is pathologically narcissistic and all she cares about is her,’ he said. ‘Nothing holds together with her.
    ‘I got kind of suspicious of her towards the end of the marriage because she had no old friends. She had nobody that she knew in the past, and I thought, “God that’s kind of weird.”‘
    Today Bartlem believes the reason lies in Carly’s ‘modus operandi’ of ‘dropping people’ as soon as they have fulfilled their useful purpose in her life. Certainly it’s what he believes happened to him.
    ‘I had no utility and that’s what the judgment was,’ he said. ‘If you aren’t useful to her, your time is over. She learned that in business school. I was heartbroken. It was brutal.’
    Bartlem claims that when Carly walked out on him she did so without leaving so much as a forwarding address or phone number. A year after the divorce, he claims, she pulled up in the driveway of their former home and calmly said, ‘I will never see you again.’
    True to her word, all contact ceased.

    It’s utterly clear she offers up a mostly false narrative of her entire life. Accuracy: that’s for little people.

    She makes me miss Willard.

  122. 122.

    ? Martin

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    inside the Shady Canyon Golf Club, nestled in a gated Irvine neighborhood.

    Shady Cyn is pretty nice. I run/bike through there pretty regularly. A house will run you north of $4M, so not a bad place to raise some money. Lots of retired athletes and bond traders. Hugh Hewitt might even live there now.

  125. 125.

    Applejinx

    Heh, Trump apparently challenged Bush about being bilingual. I offer this to any of the poor bastards up against The Donald:

    “Well, you should try learning English. Since you only speak Asshole!”

    Sadly, it’s not Christie who speaks Spanish. I guess he could yell that retort from the wings, and then get dragged off by moderators.

    Wait, nobody has that many moderators.

  126. 126.

    Cervantes

    @beltane:

    I don’t understand why a mouthpiece of the establishment like Brooks isn’t promoting Kasich’s candidacy more. He is far more formidable as a GE candidate than Rubio or Fiorina could ever hope to be.

    If I had to guess, I’d say it’s because he thinks Kasich is a lost cause in the primaries. A bit of a chicken-and-egg problem, one might argue, but I’m not sure if even that’s true (given the field).

    Anyhow, what’s your best guess?

  127. 127.

    Cervantes

    @trollhattan:

    This section tells me all I need to know.

    That’s fine if you appreciate the source (and its sources).

    My question was about the supposed “vile and exploitative” lies about her step-daughter that she told during the debate — a topic not touched by the section that tells you all you need to know.

  128. 128.

    trollhattan

    @Cervantes:
    It was published in July, time travel optional. She exploited the corpse of her stepdaughter two nights ago, time travel not optional.

    But by all means, do give her your vote.

  131. 131.

    Elizabelle

    @SteveinSC: I think that’s a compelling article, Daily Mail or not. They’re a tabloid, but I’ve seen some reporting by them that turned out to be solid.

    Particularly the part about claiming her husband’s daughters as her own, and erasing mention of the first wife (who had custody). Carly’s website says she raised them. Also the timeline of the Fiorinas’ romance. Their business, but Carly’s past does not seem to match up with Carly’s narrative.

    Admittedly, Carly’s website is said to have been developed by an outside group, and not her own presidential campaign. The better to throw it under the bus once scrutiny sets in.

  132. 132.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Seanly: Bobo sounds like the network executive on the Simpsons episode with Poochie

    “Well, this is a dog who gets “biz-zay!” Consistently and thoroughly”
    “We’re talking about a totally outrageous paradigm”

  135. 135.

    Cervantes

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Cervantes thinks its (Presidential politics) cricket with both sides playing a gentleman’s game dressed in white.

    On the same topic yesterday I commented:

    Republicans willingly use racist tropes (I won’t call them arguments) every day. You want the Democrats to do so as well?

    And you say I think “both sides” are “playing a gentleman’s game dressed in white”?

    Could you be more mistaken?

    Here’s the rest of that comment of mine from yesterday:

    @schrodinger’s cat: Because as some wise man has said before, politics is war by other means.

    You may be thinking of Clausewitz. Here’s what he actually said:

    War is a mere continuation of policy by other means.

    You really think this is true?

  136. 136.

    Big Jim Slade

    @Paul in KY: A little story: Since I grew up in LA by parents who were not rabid sports fans, I was not indoctrinated into liking the local teams. I had a subscription to Sports Illustrated, so I liked the teams I read about – especially the champs. So I loved the Steelers in the late 70s. And, separately, in my tweens and early teens I loved Styx. Decades ago I turned my back on both of them. But I was watching late night tv like 5 years ago and there was a special on how the Steelers, since the early 2000s, were using Renegade to pump up the crowd at some crucial juncture in the game. And it worked like some sort of astonishing magic. I had this surreal experience of these things from my youth coming together and making something new without me knowing about it. I was sort of fascintated and horrified. Though, yeah, Renegade’s alright. In the documentary Tommy Shaw described how he wrote the song to be quiet, like the intro is, but the band said, let’s start that way, then rock it out. Good team work.

  137. 137.

    Sherparick

    @Mustang Bobby: I think he means “uncorrupted” by the truth, or “pure in his dedication to destroy social security, lower the taxes of the rich, and make endless war on Arabs and Persians and other assorted wogs through out the Middle East, while pumping oil and digging up coal to the max.”

  138. 138.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Cervantes: I am an aunt, two nieces. Although, cricket has been called a gentleman’s game it can be pretty brutal, more so than baseball. It always has been.
    Before helmets became mandatory test players have had severe head injuries.

    Coming back to politics, you acknowledge that Republicans play dirty but you seem to want Democrats to play the game with one hand tied behind their backs. Or may be I misunderstood. I think they do need to win and not be swiftboated like Kerry was.

  139. 139.

    Patrick

    @dedc79:

    All George S did was to state that somebody had seen all 12 hours and claimed there was nothing bad in the tapes. That made it easy for Fiorina to claim otherwise. Why couldn’t George S have demanded that Fiorina show him and the rest of us where in the tapes the illegality occurred? Instead Fiorina kept saying the following: “Rest assured I have seen the images that I talked about last night. Rest assured that human lives are being aborted fully formed in order to harvest body parts. Rest assured that this erodes at the character of our nation, and once again I will say, I dare Mrs. Clinton and President Obama, two defenders of Planned Parenthood, to watch these videotapes.

  140. 140.

    Hoodie

    Bobo’s desperately grasping at straws. Fiorina’s got currency now because all the other candidates are betas to Trump’s alpha. However, she’ll fall by the wayside because she’s got no natural constituency in the GOP, e.g., she’s not one of boys in the Bush club and she doesn’t have fundie or neocon cred. She’s kind of an upscale female version of Herman Cain. Rubio will never excite the base. Kasich might slip through, but I doubt it due to his apostasy on Obamacare. Rubio is born for a VP slot, but no more.

    This baby is Trump’s to lose. He was smart enough to realize that the “deep bench” is the Bad News Bears. He’ll never get more than a plurality, but that will be enough to get him through. The GOP is a fractured mess, a party united only by grievance, so the guy with the best chance of winning is the guy who is the best vessel for that grievance.

  143. 143.

    bystander

    Why can’t the GOP just explode, sooner rather than later? Why do we have to get dragged along in the death throes. (I know, it’s cuz the plutocrats want and need the GOP. Their servant.)

    Their servant and host. Or are the plutocrats the host for the prion disease Charles Pierce often refers to? If so, I’m up for watching either or both of them explode.

  144. 144.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Elizabelle:

    Why do we have to get dragged along in the death throes.

    Because racists would rather burn the country down than share it with a black man. The plutocrats are why this is dragging out so long. They were really enjoying having a major voting block that would give them anything they wanted if that would piss off the negro-loving liberals.

  146. 146.

    NorthLeft12

    You know, just once I would like to see the Times mandate that the authors of their columns be required to moderate and respond to the comments to their opinion pieces.

    Perhaps that might go some way to piercing the bubble that some of these deluded fools live in.

  147. 147.

    Elizabelle

    @NorthLeft12: I like the idea of the columnist having to respond, personally, to the top 3-4 reader-selected comments, and — if different — the top few negative comments. After column has been out long enough for readers to weigh in (like a few hours; most of a morning, etc.)

    Krugman could do so easily.

    Bobo would have a harder time. I would guess he does read the top comments. As to whether he feels shame, or whether his mind turns to the nice house he lives in and the nice car he drives, and his next TV appearance — money is good …. I could not tell you.

    But this business that Bobo puts up crap, and then is seen as the voice of reason on NPR or PBS?

  148. 148.

    Cervantes

    @Patrick:

    All George S did was to state that somebody had seen all 12 hours and claimed there was nothing bad in the tapes. That made it easy for Fiorina to claim otherwise. Why couldn’t George S have demanded that Fiorina show him and the rest of us where in the tapes the illegality occurred?

    If you and I can figure this out, then it would seem to me that Stephanopoulos also figured this out beforehand — which leaves the obvious question.

  149. 149.

    Cervantes

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Although, cricket has been called a gentleman’s game it can be pretty brutal, more so than baseball. It always has been. Before helmets became mandatory test players have had severe head injuries.

    So true — which left me wondering why it was that you picked on cricket (“a gentleman’s game dressed in white”) — but then I chalked it up to randomness (not to say entropy).

  150. 150.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Cervantes: I picked cricket, because cricket is a metaphor for a fair game played by as strict set of rules. That’s not cricket is shorthand, for someone playing fast and loose with the rules and wins by cheating or by other unfair means.

  151. 151.

    PaulW

    Rubio is UNCORRUPTED?!?!

    Dude has questionable credit card spending habits: that is, he uses other people’s…

    http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/legislature/records-show-marco-rubio-spent-thousands-with-gop-credit-card/1075692

    this is the REAL problem with pundits like Brooks: they only see what they WANT to see, and he WANTS to see a good-looking Republican win the nomination so the general voters will be DAZZLED by the Kennedy-esque style of said candidate WITHOUT CARING ONE WHIT ABOUT THAT CANDIDATE’S LACK OF CHARACTER.

  153. 153.

    Tehanu

    Rubio is young and thus uncorrupted,

    “Young and thus…” ???

    Some people are born corrupt. I name no names, but this has got to be one of the stupider things Bobo has ever said — especially when I think of all the times he’s sighed sadly over the failure of the yoots of today to, you know, enthusiastically sign up to get blowed up real good in Iraq, or rush to join in with the fag-bashers, or agree that climate change is really just a hoax put on by those science types trying to get hold of all that sweet grant money.

    And as for Carly’s “genius,” so far the only genius she’s shown is for lying with a straight face.

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