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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

“woke” is the new caravan.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Everybody saw this coming.

The revolution will be supervised.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

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

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

There’s always a light at the end of the frog.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

I was promised a recession.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Friday Morning Open Thread: Quixotic

Friday Morning Open Thread: Quixotic

by Anne Laurie|  October 9, 20154:31 am| 152 Comments

This post is in: Election 2016, Open Threads, Daydream Believers

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For fun we threw Michael Dukakis into an iteration of the Democratic field on our national poll this weekend. He beat Martin O'Malley

— PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) October 5, 2015

Yes that's @MartinOMalley planking and reading his iPad in our Campaign story today pic.twitter.com/m5trJAnJQj

— Peter Hamby (@PeterHamby) October 6, 2015

Okay, back in April I called Doug Hughes a goofball, and his new argument isn’t going to change many minds. As the Washington Post describes it:

The Florida postal worker who landed a gyrocopter at the U.S. Capitol to protest campaign finance laws rejected a new deal to plead guilty to a felony in the incident, he said Thursday, after prosecutors reopened negotiations in the case.

Douglas Hughes, 61, of Ruskin, Fla., faces six felony and misdemeanor counts after flying his low-powered gyrocopter from Gettysburg, Pa., to the District on April 15. He said he was delivering letters to members of Congress, and has pleaded not guilty…

If Hughes were convicted on all counts he would face a sentence of zero to 9 1/2 years in prison . To avoid a trial, prosecutors originally proposed a plea bargain in which Hughes would plead guilty for a recommended sentence of 10 months in prison. Hughes’s defense argued that zero to six months was appropriate…

After the Thursday hearing, Hughes said he rejected prosecutors’ latest offer that he plead guilty to a single felony, saying conviction would restrict his rights, such as his ability to vote or hold office.

“I am not at all optimistic” about reaching a deal, Hughes said…

… But Hughes still has a better grasp of reality (and sense of his own self-worth) than Larry Lessig:

… Mr. Lessig, the Harvard law professor who rails against unfairness in campaign finance, shifted his message to the unfairness in the debate selection process and the fact that he had not been invited to next week’s gathering in Las Vegas…

Mr. Lessig said that his campaign had more “energy” than those of Lincoln Chafee, Jim Webb or Martin O’Malley — who are expected to face off against Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont — and that the fact that he was able to raise $1 million in a month shows that he is a legitimate candidate…

Just not a legitimate Democratic candidate, Professor Lessig. Go scrum with the GOP clowns!

… Hopeful that he will still be asked to join the debate, though he has not been in contact with its officials, Mr. Lessig said he had been brushing up on a range of issues with his campaign consultants and that he was prepared. And he says that he is ready to talk about more than just campaign finance.

“I’m not going to be the ‘rent is too damn high’ candidate,” Mr. Lessig said…

No, you’re not, because Jimmy McMillan actually made it onto the debate platform once or twice.
***********
Apart from tilting at windmills, what’s on the agenda for the day?

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Reader Interactions

152Comments

  1. 1.

    redshirt

    October 9, 2015 at 4:36 am

    I’m thinking on how to use micro windmills. Imagine a structure that has embedded wind turbines that generate power whenever able. With a coral like construction, with the micro windmills embedded in the coral.

  2. 2.

    mclaren

    October 9, 2015 at 4:46 am

    In one of the last polls done during Shrub’s presidency someone threw in Satan as a joke. And he actually outpolled George W. Bush.

    Bush’s final approval rating as president was 22 percent.

    In other news, the Republican Party continues its work on women’s outreach. Republican Ohio Governor and presidential candidate John Kasich explained that the reason for the gender pay gap (women get 77% as much as men for the same job) was that women are stupid and incompetent.

    With that kind of appeal to women voters, how can the Republicans lose?

  3. 3.

    redshirt

    October 9, 2015 at 4:49 am

    @mclaren: I’d sincerely vote for Satan over any Republican. At least with Satan I assume He knows what He’s doing.

  4. 4.

    NotMax

    October 9, 2015 at 4:55 am

    @redshirt

    Baud/Satan ’16!

    “Why the hell not?”

  5. 5.

    EconWatcher

    October 9, 2015 at 4:57 am

    Say what you will, I could never bring myself to hate Boehner.

    Maybe it’s because I went to a blue-collar Catholic high school in the Midwest, just like his. My misspent youth included a lot of beer-drinking with guys just like him. I wouldn’t want any of them to have political power, but on a personal level, they weren’t bad guys.

    Wonder what he’ll do now? My guess is, with no votes to rally or events to attend, he’ll deepen his friendship with the bottle.

  6. 6.

    Woodrow/asim

    October 9, 2015 at 5:03 am

    Y’know, I’m roughly in Lessig’s target demo, and even I forgot the dude was running.

  7. 7.

    Morzer

    October 9, 2015 at 5:03 am

    @EconWatcher:

    I suspect Boehner will be remembered as the permanently embottled Speaker.

  8. 8.

    Amir Khalid

    October 9, 2015 at 5:04 am

    I’ve always felt that Michael Dukakis was cheated out of the presidency by a cruel stroke of luck. 1988 was the year his cousin Olympia hogged all the Dukakis family’s good fortune when she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Well, that and his “Snoopy in the tank” photo.

  9. 9.

    redshirt

    October 9, 2015 at 5:07 am

    @Morzer: Orange Julius.

    Honestly though I miss Orange Julius at the mall. It was such a refreshing mall beverage.

  10. 10.

    EconWatcher

    October 9, 2015 at 5:12 am

    @Morzer:

    Well played.

  11. 11.

    Amir Khalid

    October 9, 2015 at 5:20 am

    Is another car-industry scandal afoot? The US Treasury department is keen to know why ISIS likes to drive Toyota pickups. (Does Toyota have a clandestine sales rep embedded at ISIS?) As far as I know, the brand has always been popular in the Middle East.

  12. 12.

    Ziggurat

    October 9, 2015 at 5:22 am

    @redshirt: If height and wind speed are held equal, longer turbine blades are always much better.

    And of course, there’s a good reason why windmills are out in open spaces and not attached to buildings.

  13. 13.

    EconWatcher

    October 9, 2015 at 5:22 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Many people thought his answer to the rather unfair death-penalty question did him in. (“Would you favor it if your wife Kitty were raped and murdered?”)

    But I always thought that If Dukakis had been a better politician, it could have been a great opportunity for him. He could have shed his reputation as a cold fish and a bit unmanly right there and then.

    My fantasy answer:

    “Bernie, if someone did that to my wife, I wouldn’t want the death penalty for him. (Pause.) I’d want to kill him myself. With my bare hands.” (Long, thoughtful pause, with a steely and determined look, while that sinks in.)

    “That’s how anyone would feel. But you know, when we get elected to office–when we make laws–we have to consider some other things. Let’s talk about how the death penalty works in our society…..” (Then explain anti-death penalty position.)

    Still replaying that one in my head….

  14. 14.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    October 9, 2015 at 5:29 am

    @NotMax: Shouldn’t that be, “Why not the Hell?”

  15. 15.

    Cervantes

    October 9, 2015 at 5:39 am

    Just not a legitimate Democratic candidate, Professor Lessig.

    Why not?

  16. 16.

    Keith G

    October 9, 2015 at 5:45 am

    @EconWatcher: Dukakis had a stilted/wooden affect that is hard to survive if one is running for president. Ironically, GHW Bush was no better in that respect, but he was running as an extension of Reagan and he had the Baker/Atwood brain trust leading his campaign.

  17. 17.

    Anne Laurie

    October 9, 2015 at 5:54 am

    @Cervantes: Lessig thinks campaign finance reform is the One Big Answer to Everything, and he insists all Democrats stop accepting dirty money (as defined by Lessig) right now, because we’re the “honest” party and the Republicans won’t do it regardless. A guy who insists that *I* disarm in the middle of an all-out war, for “principle”, since my opponent won’t… is not my ally.

    He’s asking the Democrats, and only the Democrats, to default this election to the worst angels of the Tehadis and other Repub ids.

    IMO, a guy who wants Democrats to commit suicide should be caucusing with the Republicans.

  18. 18.

    amk

    October 9, 2015 at 6:02 am

    Just not a legitimate Democratic candidate, Professor Lessig. Go scrum with the GOP clowns!

    How? Why? Sanders is there not meeting the must-be-a-dem criteria and has the same views on campaign financing.

  19. 19.

    Kay

    October 9, 2015 at 6:05 am

    After the Thursday hearing, Hughes said he rejected prosecutors’ latest offer that he plead guilty to a single felony, saying conviction would restrict his rights, such as his ability to vote or hold office.

    I agree with him. They’re all felony-crazed. We over-charge everyone in this country and everything is a felony. Jesus Christ. Charge him with something minor – trespassing or disorderly or something and let him go. He’s no threat to anyone and he’s right, too. There IS too much money in politics and they DO listen to wealthy donors to the exclusion of regular people.

  20. 20.

    EconWatcher

    October 9, 2015 at 6:06 am

    @amk:

    Does Sanders favour unilateral disarmament? If so, I’d tend to agree with Anne that this is suicidal purity, even though I believe campaign finance reform is an existential issue for our democracy.

  21. 21.

    Cervantes

    October 9, 2015 at 6:09 am

    @Anne Laurie:

    Lessig […] insists all Democrats stop accepting dirty money (as defined by Lessig) right now, because we’re the “honest” party and the Republicans won’t do it regardless. A guy who insists that *I* disarm in the middle of an all-out war, for “principle”, since my opponent won’t… is not my ally.

    Well, what do you make of the following?

    Bloomberg Politics: You’ve been a vocal opponent of big money in politics, a major proponent of campaign-finance reform. How will you be dealing with campaign-finance reform in your own presidential campaign? How will you reconcile the need to raise a whole lot of money—and really fast—with your stated desire to end all super-PACs?

    Lessig: My view is that reformers should not be unilaterally disarming: that you should be supporting candidates who support fundamental reform, but you should not give up the opportunity to win elections to get fundamental reform.

    There are people who take a different position. My friend Buddy Roemer […] disqualified himself by imposing on himself the rule that he hoped would be adopted as a law once he became president—I think that’s just a mistake.

  22. 22.

    Cervantes

    October 9, 2015 at 6:17 am

    @EconWatcher:

    If so, I’d tend to agree with Anne that this is suicidal purity, even though I believe campaign finance reform is an existential issue for our democracy.

    What is “suicidal purity”?

    And can an “existential issue” be put off? Indefinitely?

  23. 23.

    EconWatcher

    October 9, 2015 at 6:21 am

    @Cervantes:

    No disrespect, but it seems straightforward to me:

    Democrats have shown an ability in the past to vote to ban the very sources of money that helped them get elected (because they’re smart enough to see that both sides will be disarmed).

    So they should take the same money as the other guys so they don’t get trounced, and then they should vote to ban it. If they don’t follow through on the second part, they should be primaried in the next election.

    I don’t view this as “putting off” the issue. It’s putting yourself in a position to do something about it.

  24. 24.

    EconWatcher

    October 9, 2015 at 6:24 am

    @EconWatcher:

    However, based on your quote from Lessig, it sounds like he does not favour unilateral disarmament, so I have no beef with him. I really know nothing about Lessig, and I guess I just proved it.

  25. 25.

    Cervantes

    October 9, 2015 at 6:24 am

    @EconWatcher:

    So how do you differ from Lessig on this issue and why do you say you “tend to agree with Anne that this is suicidal purity”? What is “suicidal purity”?

    PS: Scratch these questions. I see your second response.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    October 9, 2015 at 6:26 am

    @NotMax:

    If I could choose a foreign running mate, my first choice would be Amir.

  27. 27.

    Kay

    October 9, 2015 at 6:30 am

    @Cervantes:

    I think Lessig is doing Democrats a favor. It isn’t a top tier issue now but polling like this?

    As the 2016 presidential race begins, 84 percent of Americans think money has too much influence in political campaigns now. Criticism of the role of money cuts across party lines – large majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and independents all think money has too much influence.

    Now, maybe they say that but aren’t willing to do anything about it, but the fact is people know it and at some point some political Party will have to address it. Part of the problem is “campaign finance” puts people to sleep- it puts me to sleep, too- so I think Bernie Sanders will make more progress on it than Lessig because Sanders addresses it in such blunt terms.

  28. 28.

    Cervantes

    October 9, 2015 at 6:31 am

    @EconWatcher:

    So they should take the same money as the other guys so they don’t get trounced, and then they should vote to ban it. If they don’t follow through on the second part, they should be primaried in the next election. I don’t view this as “putting off” the issue. It’s putting yourself in a position to do something about it.

    On that point, here’s a little more Lessig (if you’ll pardon the expression):

    Bloomberg Politics: Is Obama one of the politicians who has been corrupted?

    Lessig: No, I wouldn’t say he’s corrupted at all.

    You know, he’s been an amazing president. But in my own view he made a really fundamental mistake by not leveraging his extraordinary mandate to take this issue on.

    In 2007 to 2008, he talked about this issue all the time. And then when he got to the White House, he dropped it, he didn’t take any step to change the way campaigns were funded. He didn’t even deliver on the promise to give the Congress a way to deal with presidential public funding.

    So that was a mistake, and the consequence of that mistake is that he didn’t have a Congress free to lead. He also had a really vigorously strong partisan Congress against him. But my own view is that that’s in part related to the system we’ve adopted for funding campaigns. So Obama could only do as much as he could do inside the executive branch. And what he did within the executive branch was really incredible! [Further praise for Obama’s executive actions deleted.]

    You know, he’s been an amazing president inside the executive branch.

    But what we need is a government that can actually legislate in a sensible way. We’re not going to address climate change in a really serious way unless we can get legislation. We need to be able to pass Wall Street reform that doesn’t have to shell out to Wall Street. There’s a million places where we need Congress, and [so] my focus is: How do we get a Congress that’s actually free to lead?

  29. 29.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 9, 2015 at 6:34 am

    @Baud: Obama wasn’t born here, so it really doesn’t matter. Baud!/Amir! 2016!!!

  30. 30.

    Baud

    October 9, 2015 at 6:36 am

    @Kay:

    Every significant Democratic candidate has come out against Citizens United and unlimited campaign contributions (as has the current president). So one party is already addressing the issue if that 84 percent really care.

  31. 31.

    Kay

    October 9, 2015 at 6:37 am

    Here’s his charges:

    The charges include two felonies: one count each of operating as an airman without an airman’s certificate and violating registration requirements involving aircraft. In addition, he was indicted on four misdemeanor counts: three counts of violation of national defense airspace, and one of operating a vehicle falsely labeled as a postal carrier.

    The “national defense” charges are misdemeanors anyway, so he can plead to one of those, but operating a vehicle falsely labeled as a postal carrier is better, IMO :)

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    October 9, 2015 at 6:45 am

    @Baud

    Gasp. You’re saying that Satan isn’t a real ‘merkin? Next you’ll be claiming God isn’t one, either.

    :)

  33. 33.

    Mustang Bobby

    October 9, 2015 at 6:46 am

    I’ve been working on a play and friends and family kept asking “When’s it gonna be done? I want to read it.” So I finally get it to a point where it’s ready to be read. I tell my friends and family, “Okay, it’s done, here it is, take a look.”

    [crickets.]

  34. 34.

    Kay

    October 9, 2015 at 6:47 am

    @Baud:

    I saw that “really care”, Baud :)

    I agree in a way- I don’t know that people care- obviously I do care. All the big name Democrats have addressed it but outside Sanders (who weaves it thru everything, either directly or indirectly) I don’t think they focus on it and Lessig is a single issue advocate so he could help raise the profile.

    He himself is not that great a messenger, I don’t think. He’s not even the best law professor/campaign finance reform advocate- Teachout (who ran against Cuomo) is much better. She’s genuinely talented at politics. She should be the candidate.

  35. 35.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 9, 2015 at 6:47 am

    @NotMax: Satan’s from the USSR, didn’t you learn anything in the 60’s?

  36. 36.

    PaulW

    October 9, 2015 at 6:48 am

    Go scrum with the GOP clowns!

    I think I need to remind everyone – myself included – that it’s

    CLOWNS to the LEFT of us and
    JOKERS to the RIGHT.

    …so then how can we make fun of the GOP clown car if they’re all Jokers?! :(

  37. 37.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 9, 2015 at 6:48 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Neither was I. I was born in Texas and as the ad said, “It’s a whole ‘nother country!”

  38. 38.

    Mustang Bobby

    October 9, 2015 at 6:51 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I was born in Dallas, but we left when I was six months old, so it didn’t take.

  39. 39.

    MomSense

    October 9, 2015 at 6:53 am

    @Mustang Bobby:

    What is the play about?

  40. 40.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 9, 2015 at 6:53 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’ve had the misfortune of having to travel to Texas for bidness pretty often when I was in Satan’s employ. The poor kid had to live there for 4 years by edict of the US Government. Neither of us have any love for Texas.

  41. 41.

    NotMax

    October 9, 2015 at 6:57 am

    For Amir.

    Singapore’s banks have approved loan criteria that could be used to deny funds to companies linked to the haze from Indonesia that’s polluting the city state’s air. Source

    A fiscal catalyst to ending foot-dragging by the money sector?

    The smoky haze has also reached the popular Thai holiday islands of Phuket and Samui, forcing several planes packed with beach-bound tourists to turn back. Source

  42. 42.

    Mustang Bobby

    October 9, 2015 at 6:59 am

    @MomSense: From the New Play Exchange synopsis of “All Together Now.”

    Paul and Adam are a gay couple living together happily in Miami. One morning the doorbell rings and in walks Fox, age 15, just off the plane from Santa Fe, who tells Paul that he’s his father and that he wants to live with him now. To share in this staggering news are Paul’s parents Jim and Dorothy, and after an all-day frantic trip from Santa Fe, Fox’s mother, Julie. This life-changing moment touches them all; Paul and Adam, who are on the verge of getting married; Julie and Fox, who are coming to terms with him growing into adulthood, and for Jim and Dorothy, who never expected to be grandparents.

    Two acts, single set. I’ve been promised a reading this winter by a theatre company here in Miami.

  43. 43.

    Kay

    October 9, 2015 at 6:59 am

    @Baud:

    I also see the essential lunacy in running against big money in politics while raising big money. The “small donors on the internet” was supposed to solve this dilemma but it has obviously not worked, so someone has to try something else.

    I maintain that a lot of people are invested in this system. They don’t just raise a billion dollars, they spend a billion dollars. A lot of people are benefiting from this system, and they aren’t all politicians and wealthy people. I think Ohio tv stations might go out of business without campaigns. I have gotten 11 direct mail pieces from the “legalize pot” people alone- they spent 20 million dollars. One state issue.

  44. 44.

    different-church-lady

    October 9, 2015 at 7:01 am

    I’ve been on vacation for six days, with no access to political junkie-type news. Not counting Dukakis or Satan, are we down to 32 candidates yet?

  45. 45.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 9, 2015 at 7:03 am

    @different-church-lady: For President or House Speaker?

  46. 46.

    Kay

    October 9, 2015 at 7:07 am

    I’m glad O’Malley is in the debate, too. He seems naturally combative and those are the fun people to watch. I mean that as a compliment! There are people who like to fight- actually enjoy it- and he’s one of them. I think the O’Malley/Sanders interplay could be really interesting because O’Malley can fill that role for Sanders while Sanders takes the high road.

  47. 47.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 9, 2015 at 7:07 am

    @Mustang Bobby: Texas City, across the bay from Galveston. Left at 4 months of age but I had a Texan for a mother with all the requisite baggage (Texas jokes really pi$$ed her off, no sense of humor at all on the subject)

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Well, you do know how to find Texas don’t you? You walk west (or east in your case) until you smell it, than south until you step in it. Since my grandmother’s death, I’ve had very little reason to visit TX and have limited them to the very long drives thru it on the way to and from Mexico or New Mexico, never stopping for anything more than a tank of gas and a burrito.

  48. 48.

    MomSense

    October 9, 2015 at 7:08 am

    @Mustang Bobby:

    That sounds great. I love the idea of a 15 year old boy being one of the main characters. He will definitely bring all the family issues out whether or not anyone is ready.

  49. 49.

    Elizabelle

    October 9, 2015 at 7:09 am

    Morning Republican Joe is extreme fantasyland this morning. It is most days, but Joe is trying to single-handedly stave off honest appraisal of the GOP condition.

    He’s informed his audience that Jeb! or Rubio could beat Hillary easily, and that Christie is strengthening by the day. The GOP has the young bench; Dems are these old 70-somethings.

  50. 50.

    Mustang Bobby

    October 9, 2015 at 7:10 am

    @MomSense: Thank you. The tough part will be finding an actor to play him; kids these days…

  51. 51.

    JPL

    October 9, 2015 at 7:11 am

    @Mustang Bobby: I met someone whose partner gained custody of his teenage daughter. That was over a decade ago and I often wondered how it turned out. Good Luck to you with your play.

  52. 52.

    Kay

    October 9, 2015 at 7:13 am

    @Elizabelle:

    I can’t watch so thanks for the report. I’d rather they push Christie than Kasich. The crush on Chris Christie is a good thing.

  53. 53.

    Elizabelle

    October 9, 2015 at 7:13 am

    Have to catch up with the thread, but does anyone think Biden would actually run? I don’t see it, unless HRC is incapacitated.

    Bernie, thank Dog, is dragging the party’s rhetoric back to middle and working class issues. Is there space for a 70-something guy who was Mr. MBNA and pro-creditor bankruptcy law? I don’t see it.

    Biden is there so Republicans and our elite media (but I repeat myself) don’t have to address Hillary or what the Democrats are talking about honestly.

    Look! Another horse! And it’s a really nice one, with a tragic backstory!

  54. 54.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 9, 2015 at 7:15 am

    @Elizabelle: Joe loves his Florida men.

  55. 55.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 9, 2015 at 7:15 am

    @Elizabelle: I agree.

  56. 56.

    NotMax

    October 9, 2015 at 7:15 am

    Give the judge a cookie. In fact, two cookies.

    A federal judge on Wednesday ordered New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority to let filmmakers run a series of lighthearted advertisements promoting their film “The Muslims Are Coming!” in the subway.
    [snip]
    “An arbitrary conclusion by some official at the MTA, untethered to any articulated or articulable standard, that an advertisement including the word ‘Muslims’ is ‘political,’ is utterly unreasonable,” [U.S. District Judge Colleen] McMahon wrote. Source

  57. 57.

    MomSense

    October 9, 2015 at 7:18 am

    @Mustang Bobby:

    Tell me about it!

  58. 58.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 9, 2015 at 7:19 am

    @Mustang Bobby: Oooooh oooooh oooooh me! Pick MEEEE!

  59. 59.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    October 9, 2015 at 7:20 am

    Lessig lost me when his PAC supported at least one Teabagger candidate. He seems to think that lobbying people like Darryl Issa is the way to change Washington. His PAC is trying to give money to David Brat for crying out loud. (Yes, he wants to convince elected officials to support his “reform” ideas with the promise of campaign donations. That’s the whole point of the PAC.)

    The people he’s lobbying aren’t allies for “reform”. They’re dangerous and need to be voted out of office.

    The fact that he, and his organization, doesn’t see that is very troubling.

    He’s a vanity candidate. Without some sort of evidence that he’s serious about winning elections (polling numbers; having held significant elective office somewhere before; endorsements; something concrete) he has no business being part of the Democratic debates.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  60. 60.

    Mustang Bobby

    October 9, 2015 at 7:26 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Have your agent send in a bio and headshot.

  61. 61.

    JPL

    October 9, 2015 at 7:28 am

    Dave Weigel retweeted this
    Music blaring in House gym “Another one bites the dust” as some of my GOP colleagues exercise. I suggested they consider another song.
    It’s from Rep. Earl Blumenauer, from Portland, Oregon.

  62. 62.

    boatboy_srq

    October 9, 2015 at 7:28 am

    @Mustang Bobby: Well, you haven’t sent it to me yet…

  63. 63.

    NotMax

    October 9, 2015 at 7:29 am

    Rather surprised no front pager has yet to mention something on the privacy front of far-ranging import snippeted a few days ago. Some follow-up on that:

    The legal battle against mass U.S. surveillance that he subsequently pursued resulted in what lawyers called a “bombshell” ruling knocking down a data transfer framework between the European Union and the United States used by over 4,000 companies such as Google, Facebook and IBM . Source

  64. 64.

    Mustang Bobby

    October 9, 2015 at 7:33 am

    @boatboy_srq: Check your e-mail tonight.

  65. 65.

    Iowa Old Lady

    October 9, 2015 at 7:37 am

    So Boehner was right all those times he thought they’ll all be sorry when I’m gone.

  66. 66.

    Patrick

    October 9, 2015 at 7:39 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Joe Scarborough is making predictions again, eh? He is about as credible as Bill Kristol when it comes to making good predictions. Here’s what Scarborough said about the 2008 election.

    “Barack Obama: Forget the fact this guy’s middle name is ‘Hussein.’ Forget the fact he has been in national politics for less than two years. Forget the fact that Hillary Clinton will raise more money than God in 2007. “Yeah, right. Barack Hussein Obama is more Johnny Bravo than John Kennedy. The vest fits and the fans scream while DC’s star-maker machinery shifts into overdrive.” “Like Peter Brady’s Bravo, Obama’s shot at the top will be short lived. “Please give a warm Chicago welcome to the next President of the United States, Hillary Clinton!'”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/when-joe-scarborough-pred_b_141380.html

    Why does he have a show with such low credibility?

  67. 67.

    NotMax

    October 9, 2015 at 7:40 am

    @Iowa Old Lady

    So ineffectual he can’t even resign properly.

  68. 68.

    Baud

    October 9, 2015 at 7:43 am

    @Elizabelle:

    I agree. I don’t think Biden will run.

  69. 69.

    Baud

    October 9, 2015 at 7:44 am

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    John Boehner is the key to saving Western Civilization.

  70. 70.

    Baud

    October 9, 2015 at 7:45 am

    @Kay:

    Small donors without voter turnout is always going to be ineffectual.

  71. 71.

    NotMax

    October 9, 2015 at 7:46 am

    @Patrick

    A show which MSNBC just this week announced they want to air even more of, to inflict it on those in the Pacific Time Zone.

    Now executives are considering an expansion of “Morning Joe,” MSNBC’s early-day programming block featuring Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. “It’s on at 6 to 9 a.m. in the eastern time zone. It isn’t really seen as much in Los Angeles as we’d like to to be – in Los Angeles, where it’s 3 a.m., or San Francisco or Seattle,” Lack explained. “I’m just looking at ways to extend some of the good work that Joe and Mika are doing and turn it around, expand it.” A decision on how to proceed has not been finalized, Lack said. “In my view, it is the most influential program in cable news in the morning, and I think it’s missing an opportunity in the west.” Source

    Sigh.

  72. 72.

    Baud

    October 9, 2015 at 7:49 am

    I mean, it’s not like the GOP is ambivalent about campaign finance reform. They actively and vehemently amd vocally oppose it. The politics are not too complicated to understand.

  73. 73.

    Baud

    October 9, 2015 at 7:50 am

    @NotMax:

    Yesterday afternoon, MSNBC had a McCainite on to talk about how Obama sucks on Syria.

  74. 74.

    Elizabelle

    October 9, 2015 at 7:53 am

    @NotMax: Morning Republican Joe has Joe Lieberman on now, to tell us how people get along non-partisanly. Jon Huntsman’s on there too. The phrase “No Labels” just came up.

    Morning Republican Joe is the Republican fantasy hour. With better music segues. (Bruce Springsteen! Elvis Costello! We’re cool, kids.)

    Joe’s talking about what a hard worker and wizard he was in Congress. All that working across the aisle. Um, not what most remember about Bill Clinton’s experience with Republicans in Congress.

    They’re talking earnestly about compromise right now.

  75. 75.

    Morzer

    October 9, 2015 at 7:54 am

    @Baud:

    Just once it would be nice to see a McAbelite. Just once…..

  76. 76.

    NotMax

    October 9, 2015 at 7:56 am

    @Elizabelle

    Have been saying it for years: Morning Joe is the world’s longest circle jerk.

  77. 77.

    mclaren

    October 9, 2015 at 7:57 am

    @Cervantes:

    What is “suicidal purity”?

    Saying things like “the president of the united states has to obey the constitution” and “without campaign finance reform, democracy in America will be hopelessly corrupted.”

    You know…if you assert that the rule of law should apply in these United States. You’re a “purity fanatic” who wants “magic ponies.”

  78. 78.

    Morzer

    October 9, 2015 at 7:58 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Hell, the GOP can’t even manage to compromise with themselves. Why would anyone imagine they can compromise with sane people?

  79. 79.

    NotMax

    October 9, 2015 at 7:58 am

    May we live interesting times, indeed.

    Iraqi Official: Baghdad May Request Russian Air Strikes On IS

    Afghanistan’s Dostum Turns To Old Ally Russia For Help

  80. 80.

    Elizabelle

    October 9, 2015 at 7:59 am

    @Morzer: Exactly. Also, I’m not sure they’ve had a Democrat on all morning, except Mr. Lieberman.

  81. 81.

    mclaren

    October 9, 2015 at 8:00 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Biden’s imaginary run for the presidency is a confection of the media. As Nate Silver has pointed out, the media are desperate to create a horse-race narrative for this presidential cycle so they can rope in viewers. In reality, this is going to be a very dull campaign. Jeb will be the nominee, Hillary will beat him, and it’s going to be a giant snooze. But that doesn’t keep your news ratings up, so the media have to tart up the facts with all this bullshit about Biden and Trump.

  82. 82.

    Morzer

    October 9, 2015 at 8:00 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Wasn’t Lieberman an Independent the last time he shambled out of his crypt?

  83. 83.

    Cervantes

    October 9, 2015 at 8:01 am

    @Baud:

    I mean, it’s not like the GOP is ambivalent about campaign finance reform. They actively and vehemently amd vocally oppose it. The politics are not too complicated to understand.

    You’re right — it’s not the Republicans who are ambivalent on this issue.

  84. 84.

    Mustang Bobby

    October 9, 2015 at 8:02 am

    Joe Lieberman always reminded me of the dad on ALF.

  85. 85.

    mclaren

    October 9, 2015 at 8:04 am

    @EconWatcher:

    Lessig is a fool and a clown. He made such a disastrously bad argument before the Supreme Court against that atrocity of a copyright extension bill that he blew the case. Now Lessig is trying to do for campaign reform what he tried to do for copyright reform — namely, fuck it all up ten ways to Sunday.

    Lessig needs to go away and stop annoying the grown-ups. He’s a Ralph Nader wannabe in a Democratic party that has learned better than to tolerate spoilers like Nader. (Without whom we would not have had to suffer through eight years of a Drunk-Driving C-Student presidency.)

  86. 86.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 9, 2015 at 8:05 am

    The head of the FBI has said it is “ridiculous [and] embarrassing” that the federal government has no better information on police shootings than databases compiled by the Guardian US and the Washington Post.

    The money quote comes at the very end:

    At the violence summit, mayors, police chiefs and state attorneys general said the lack of data was contributing to a dangerous trend in which police officers shunned aggressive tactics for fear of becoming the next officer to be caught on camera in a compromising situation.

    Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago, said although most officers did the right thing, authorities lacked the data to prove it, the Washington Post reported.

    “Unless we deal with backing them up, the gang members know [police] are not putting their hands on them because they don’t want to be prosecuted, whether it be by public opinion or by the court,” he said.

    Head? Meet desk. They just don’t get it. Some of them never will. They need to go.

  87. 87.

    Baud

    October 9, 2015 at 8:06 am

    @Cervantes:

    Right. Partisan lines are clear. People ignore them at their own peril.

  88. 88.

    JPL

    October 9, 2015 at 8:07 am

    Frank Luntz is on CBS and seems upset about the developments on the hill. He’s begging Paul Ryan to take control.

  89. 89.

    NotMax

    October 9, 2015 at 8:08 am

    @Elizabelle

    For sweeps month, maybe they can bring on Zell Miller and his dueling pistols.

  90. 90.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 9, 2015 at 8:10 am

    @Mustang Bobby: Yes! All the shambling and whining.

  91. 91.

    JPL

    October 9, 2015 at 8:11 am

    @NotMax: Please no.

  92. 92.

    debbie

    October 9, 2015 at 8:12 am

    @JPL:

    I blame Denny Hastert.

  93. 93.

    Cervantes

    October 9, 2015 at 8:13 am

    @JPL:

    Is he crying?

    Not that there’d be anything wrong with that.

  94. 94.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 9, 2015 at 8:15 am

    @Elizabelle: He used to be a Democrat.

  95. 95.

    Iowa Old Lady

    October 9, 2015 at 8:15 am

    @mclaren: From your mouth to the FSM’s ear.

  96. 96.

    JPL

    October 9, 2015 at 8:19 am

    @Cervantes: He certainly was flush and he probably was crying earlier.
    What he didn’t say is that these jerks are going to put the full faith and credit in the U.S. at risk.

  97. 97.

    Jay C

    October 9, 2015 at 8:21 am

    @Baud: @NotMax:

    Heh. “Foreign” probably wouldn’t apply to having The Adversary for a running mate: as was so ably articulated by Stephen Vincent Benet in his classic tale The Devil and Daniel Webster. If you recall, Webster initially tries to void the validity of the contact for his client’s soul on the grounds that “Mr. Scratch” isn’t an American citizen. Scratch, however, points out that he has been resident in America, and working hard (and productively) here, for a very long time: so that if not a formal “citizen”, he’s at least a sort of resident alien, and thus jurisdiction would apply.

    Great campaign slogan, though: “Baud/Satan 2016! The Devil you know!!”

  98. 98.

    Mike E

    October 9, 2015 at 8:21 am

    @Mustang Bobby: Can’t blame em for being distracted these days, plus, their hands are prolly greasy from all the popcorn they’re eating lately, also. Too.

  99. 99.

    Cervantes

    October 9, 2015 at 8:21 am

    @Baud:

    If you had to choose one, would you expect useful change to come first through a new Congress or a new Court?

  100. 100.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 9, 2015 at 8:21 am

    @Elizabelle: I turned it off when Joe started whining about Obama “allowing” the Russians into Syria. The Russians(Soviets) have been in Syria most or all of Joe Scar’s life. They’ve increased their involvement, but they’ve been there for a long time.

  101. 101.

    Elizabelle

    October 9, 2015 at 8:24 am

    TV’s off now, but this is the longest I was ever able to watch Morning Republican Joe in the background. Because Joe is chastened and wasn’t egregiously snarling today. He needs to show his softer, get along side, because the mask fell off the Republicans in Congress yesterday.

    Mika the battered wife was not there today.

    I think NBC/MSNBC are complicit in polluting our politics by presenting this “influential” morning show. Because it is fantasy land. Today Morning Republican Joe really was the boy’s club house. Saw a few questions from one young female reporter, something Kucinich (?) Donald Trump called in and, as always, he was genial, entertaining, and self-absorbed.

    Media gives us the boys club of politics. It’s Daddy party messaging. On Fox, it’s delivered by mean blonde girls in cocktail dresses. Mommy party is a scold and NOT FUN and cool. She doesn’t have cool new wave-ish music for the segues.

    Paul Ryan is the young daddy that’s going to come in and save them.

  102. 102.

    Elizabelle

    October 9, 2015 at 8:26 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: I was probably downstairs making coffee when that segment ran. Selective attention, too.

  103. 103.

    Elizabelle

    October 9, 2015 at 8:28 am

    @mclaren: I so hope you are right. Good assessment.

  104. 104.

    Baud

    October 9, 2015 at 8:32 am

    @Cervantes:

    The Court can’t generate change. All the Court can do is decide is what they will stop.

  105. 105.

    Tommy

    October 9, 2015 at 8:35 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Oh Russians. I was watching a show the other day and they were all speaking in Russian. I am like you get this is fucked up right.

  106. 106.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 9, 2015 at 8:35 am

    @Baud: And only if it actually gets to them.

  107. 107.

    debbie

    October 9, 2015 at 8:35 am

    @Elizabelle:

    I’d love to see them all (Scarborough, O’Reilly, Wallace, etc.) get together and “discuss” which one’s the most influential.

  108. 108.

    NotMax

    October 9, 2015 at 8:36 am

    @Jay C

    Made into a darn good film. Clip referencing the “American” bit. Quite possibly my favorite among Walter Huston’s many stunning performances, especially so during the very last frames of the movie (not included in linked clip).

  109. 109.

    Baud

    October 9, 2015 at 8:36 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Yep.

  110. 110.

    Tommy

    October 9, 2015 at 8:43 am

    @Baud: Yes just a little Dead.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaQ1vXdf1Q0

  111. 111.

    raven

    October 9, 2015 at 8:49 am

    @Tommy: I think I’ve shown you the pix my buddy took of the Dead in the Assembly Hall in 73?

    https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7411/9418448642_b377a541fd_o.jpg

  112. 112.

    Patricia Kayden

    October 9, 2015 at 8:52 am

    @mclaren: Agree with everything you wrote, except that Jeb! will be the Repub nominee. That would require a major shake up. But whoever it is will be easily beaten by Secretary Clinton.

  113. 113.

    Cervantes

    October 9, 2015 at 8:52 am

    @Baud:

    Well, conventionally “true,” perhaps, but there are any number of Supreme Court cases that can muddy that assessment, some very recent.

    Anyhow, if you’re saying that getting a new Congress is the key, that’s not too far from what Lessig is saying — and also why he’s been willing to back candidates on this issue whom he otherwise might not support.

  114. 114.

    Peale

    October 9, 2015 at 8:53 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: thems the breaks, Joe. The Russians aren’t invading Syria. They were invited in by the recognized government. I guess we could help by participating in an illegal blockade. But we only do that in countries like Yemen where we can create famines out of the view of media concern.

  115. 115.

    raven

    October 9, 2015 at 8:54 am

    A shooter opened fire on Friday at Northern Arizona University’s Flagstaff campus, the school said. One person was killed and three people were injured.

    The shooting took place around 1:20 a.m. pacific near the Mountain View Hall, a building that houses most of the university’s 23 fraternities and sororities. The Delta Chi fraternity confirmed that some of its members were involved in the attack.

    The suspect was in custody early Friday, the university said. The wounded are being treated at Flagstaff Medical Center.

    “My thoughts are prayers are with the families,” of the victims, Arizona Senator John McCain (R) said in a statement provided to ABC 15.

    NAU will hold a press conference at 6 a.m. pacific.

  116. 116.

    Ayn Randy

    October 9, 2015 at 8:55 am

    Dave Weigel is one of the best journalists in DC and easily one of the most even-handed, but mocking the press corps for noting that the House is in chaos is lost on me. How could anyone deny that this is a big deal? The party in charge is such a mess they can’t even find someone to be Speaker.

  117. 117.

    bystander

    October 9, 2015 at 8:58 am

    The best part of Moanin’ Joe today was his aria, “We’re losing the Supreme Court and the Federal bureaucracy for a generation.” His tessitura was shaky but effective.

    Who said “no labels” is just another way of saying “I’m embarrassed to be a repub”?

  118. 118.

    Elizabelle

    October 9, 2015 at 9:00 am

    @raven: It’s Friday, Joe.

    Not enough of a death toll to break into Morning Republican Joe programming. It got mentioned in passing.

    Today is President Obama’s visit to Roseburg. Godspeed and keep him safe.

  119. 119.

    Kay

    October 9, 2015 at 9:00 am

    @Baud:

    Small donors without voter turnout is always going to be ineffectual.

    Well, except small donors was supposed to solve the turnout issue too, because “donors” (of any kind) are the most politically engaged people- they are the base. They would be engaged because they had “skin in the game” and they would bring others along with them. That was the plan.

    I think if Democrats really wanted to commit to small donors, short term, they’d have to approach it completely differently. Rather than plus/and (small donors make up what they don’t get in large donors) they’d have to commit to finding a way to spend less because small donors will always lose eventually if we’re going to play the Sanders/Clinton game, where Sanders equals Clinton, which were the blaring headlines last week. What if they said we’re going to find a way to spend half a billion dollars and win because we cannot compete dollar for dollar on small donors? Who says it costs a billion dollars? What if it doesn’t?

  120. 120.

    Peale

    October 9, 2015 at 9:00 am

    @NotMax: please, please, please. Let Russia become the guaranteer for the Iraqi government. We get so much out of that relationship. I’d be so sorry to lose it.

  121. 121.

    Elizabelle

    October 9, 2015 at 9:02 am

    @bystander: Yeah. I loved that part about losing the White House and the Supreme Court for a generation. It kept me from hitting the remote.

    Karma, bitchez.

    Although I really do wonder what unstable rightwinger citizens might do to interrupt or affect the elections, since their candidates are so lame. Scary time.

  122. 122.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 9, 2015 at 9:04 am

    @raven:

    “My thoughts are prayers are with the families,” of the victims, Arizona Senator John McCain (R) said in a statement

    “My actions on the other hand are always with the shooter as we must make sure they have access to plenty of guns and ammo.”

  123. 123.

    MattF

    October 9, 2015 at 9:04 am

    @Elizabelle: Krugman sayeth what needs to be said about Ryan.

  124. 124.

    mclaren

    October 9, 2015 at 9:05 am

    @Cervantes:

    If you had to choose one, would you expect useful change to come first through a new Congress or a new Court?

    New congress. Specifically, a new House of representatives. We desperately need to change funding priorities and stop urinating away a trillion dollars per year on military + national “security” and instead spend that money on jobs creation programs like nationwide high-speed rail, green energy, rebuilding U.S. infrastructure, knocking down and rebuilding our cities to accommodate transportation by light rail + bicycles + buses instead of cars, ramping up scientific basic research to epochal levels, kick-starting huge numbers of apprenticeship programs in fields like numerically controlled machining, and so on.

    The supreme court can’t do any of that. Congress can.

  125. 125.

    Elizabelle

    October 9, 2015 at 9:11 am

    @MattF: Saw that. Flimflam, but buff.

    Morning Republican Joe was so funny about Ryan today too. Talking about he’s a parent with young children. How they’re going to have to give him a deputy to do all the travel and another deputy to do all the fundraising required of Speaker.

    Because he is a parent! With young children! What a burden for him to assume the most powerful position in the House, and nationally third in line for the Presidency.

    I think one journalist pointed out Ryan didn’t want to be Speaker because he wants to run for President himself in 2020 or ’24. That was the only time that inconvenient fact was aired, and it never passed the lips of Morning Republican Joe or his Republican (male) political guests.

    But it was so amusing. Would they be saying that “___ is a parent!” about women, and mean it as “she’s got HER priorities in order.”

  126. 126.

    Punchy

    October 9, 2015 at 9:11 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Concealed carry weapons coming to University of Kansas campus in 2017, thanks to the KS legy. Being a librarian, professor, or bouncer will require mandatory health and GSW insurance.

    Cant wait to see how many lockdowns per week the campus suffers as students unfamilair and/or uncomfortable with seeing weapons start calling them in….I’m guessing it will paralyze the campus.

  127. 127.

    Elizabelle

    October 9, 2015 at 9:14 am

    @mclaren: I think we need to press hard, in the states, to get rid of political gerrymandering.

    Don’t let the Democrats do it either. Get rid of it. Independent commission, and make the districts contiguous. Make them convenient for the voters, not the incumbent.

    That would unseat a lot of the extremists.

  128. 128.

    mclaren

    October 9, 2015 at 9:17 am

    @Ayn Randy:

    Also, the mainstream media is missing the really big story — why the House is in a mess.

    The House is in chaos because the Republican party has moved so far to the right that a large group of representatives (the Freedom Caucus) is now literally making insane demands. (Like the demand that the Speaker repeal Obamacare.) That’s crazy stuff. Not gonna happen. The Republican party is now out there where the busses don’t run with the anti-fluoridationists and the people who claim the gubmint is beaming mind-control rays into their heads. As a result, the Repubs in the House are making demands that are impossible to satisfy — period.

    But the mainstream media refuses to report on this. Instead, they’re trying to make it into a procedural or an internal partisan power struggle issue. No. Republicans in the House are demanding things that are impossible to accomplish, like the repeal of the ACA and the defunding of Planned Parenthood and nationally banning vaccinations. Planned Parenthood has 60% support nationally across both political parties. The ACA is hugely popular. Vaccinations have 70+ percent support. It is not physically possible to get enough votes in congress to shut down policies that popular. It would be like demanding that your party puts an end in this congressional term to public libraries or compulsory K-12 schooling.

    The mere effort to enact such policies is crazy. But the mainstream media shies away from reporting that. Instead, they call it a “controversy.” No, one political party has gone nuts. That’s the big issue in 2015. And no MSM outlet is reporting it that way.

  129. 129.

    JPL

    October 9, 2015 at 9:18 am

    So students get in a fight and one dead and three injured but classes will go on as scheduled. Arizona must be a great place to go to school.

    Arizona law says guns can be locked in car on campus.

  130. 130.

    mclaren

    October 9, 2015 at 9:20 am

    @Elizabelle:

    You’re absolutely right. Gerrymandering is one of the single biggest problems with our political system. It has encouraged the growth of incredible extremism by artificially creating perpetually safe congressional seats for politicians who are batshit insane.

    Not sure how we get rid of gerrymandering, since both parties benefit from it.

  131. 131.

    Elizabelle

    October 9, 2015 at 9:27 am

    @mclaren: Well said. I wish our First Amendment protected press would say that in public.

    There are worse outcomes than ticking off some readers and advertisers.

  132. 132.

    Punchy

    October 9, 2015 at 9:33 am

    @JPL: But many students ride bikes. What about bikes? Can you strap a TEC-9 on a Trek 9000 in Tempe? Can you get a Gat from a Giant at Grand Canyon U?

  133. 133.

    MomSense

    October 9, 2015 at 9:39 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    They have a major naval base there. He’s a doofus.

  134. 134.

    Gin & Tonic

    October 9, 2015 at 9:41 am

    @Tommy: What’s fucked up about Russians speaking Russian?

  135. 135.

    David Koch

    October 9, 2015 at 9:50 am

    Are there any articles on how Baud is preparing for the debate?

  136. 136.

    Baud

    October 9, 2015 at 9:51 am

    @Kay:

    We’ll find out soon enough. Neither Clinton nor Sanders will be able to raise or spend as much as the GOP nominee.

  137. 137.

    Elizabelle

    October 9, 2015 at 10:13 am

    @bystander:

    Who said “no labels” is just another way of saying “I’m embarrassed to be a repub”?

    That’s what it is, too.

    @Baud:

    I hope Carly Fiorina’s well funded and nonsuccessful campaign in the 2010 Senate race, and Meg Whitman’s even more $$ spent and worse a percentage against Jerry Brown in the governor’s race that year, illustrate that massive ad buys can’t pull a poor candidate over the finish line. People tune them out.

    What gives me pause is Cory Gardner being elected to the Senate in Colorado last year, an empty suit if ever there was one.

    It takes complicity of major news too. The Denver Post endorsed Gardner. The national press licked up what Joni Ernst, that downhome pig castrator, was serving.

  138. 138.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    October 9, 2015 at 10:22 am

    rant:

    It would be nice if stories about the debt limit would mention that the US hit the limit on March 16, 2015 and the only reason why we haven’t defaulted yet is that the Treasury Secretary has put off things like investing in the G Fund for federal employees, etc., etc.

    The date those measures will be too little to prevent default is estimated to be between November 10 and 19, 2015.

    /rant:

    I don’t expect the US to default, at least not in any meaningful way (we have “technically” defaulted for a few hours/days in the past). If it gets bad enough, I would expect Obama to make some emergency statement about the 14th Amendment rather than having the US and world economy dissolve into chaos.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  139. 139.

    Amir Khalid

    October 9, 2015 at 10:22 am

    @JPL:
    Why is it legal in some parts of America to leave a gun unattended in a parked car? Cars can get stolen.

  140. 140.

    catclub

    October 9, 2015 at 10:31 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Well, that and his “Snoopy in the tank” photo.

    I was thinking about that recently. I wish he had come out with a statement that he would rather look foolish on a tank than send
    real tank drivers into some fool war.

  141. 141.

    JPL

    October 9, 2015 at 10:33 am

    @Amir Khalid: According to the NRA, the second amendment allows States to decide gun laws. Don’t bother looking for it though, it’s in magic ink.

  142. 142.

    Paul in KY

    October 9, 2015 at 10:33 am

    @EconWatcher: That sure would have been a better answer.

  143. 143.

    catclub

    October 9, 2015 at 10:37 am

    @mclaren:

    by artificially creating perpetually safe congressional seats for politicians who are batshit insane.

    The safest seats that GOP gerrymandering creates are Democratic seats ( 80% democratic).
    I will continue to bring this up.

    The GOP seats are 55-60% GOP and there are MORE of them, but they are much less safe than the Democratic 80% seats.

  144. 144.

    catclub

    October 9, 2015 at 10:39 am

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:

    investing in the G Fund for federal employees

    The G fund is a very interesting beast.

    By law, the G Fund must be invested in
    nonmarketable U.S. Treasury securities
    specially issued to the TSP. The G Fund
    investments are kept by electronic en
    –
    tries, which do not involve any transac
    –
    tion costs to the TSP. The G Fund rate is
    set once a month by the U.S. Treasury
    based on a statutorily prescribed formu
    –
    la (described below), and all G Fund in
    –
    vestments earn that interest rate for the
    month. (The G Fund rate is also used in
    other Government programs, such as
    the Social Security and Medicare trust
    funds and the Civil Serv
    ice Retirement
    and Disability Fund.)
    Although the securities in the G Fund
    earn a long-term interest rate, the
    Board’s investment in the G Fund is re
    –
    deemable on any business day with no
    risk to principal

  145. 145.

    catclub

    October 9, 2015 at 10:42 am

    @mclaren:

    The House is in chaos because the Republican party has moved so far to the right that a large group of representatives (the Freedom Caucus) is now literally making insane demands.

    I think the very inside baseball insane demands are actually rolling back a lot of the power that Newt Gingrich rolled into the Speakership, and making the leadership promise to support teaparty incumbents when they get primaried.
    (Stacking the deck in their favor)

  146. 146.

    benw

    October 9, 2015 at 10:49 am

    @mclaren: K-thug feels your pain this morning. He’s basically calling out the US political coverage of his own paper.

  147. 147.

    Paul in KY

    October 9, 2015 at 10:50 am

    @catclub: Wish he’d said that too!

  148. 148.

    catclub

    October 9, 2015 at 11:04 am

    @benw: Yes. This looks aimed right at NYT reporting.

    But I’m not sure that normal people, who have jobs to do and families to raise, are getting the message. After all, who will tell them?

  149. 149.

    Chris

    October 9, 2015 at 11:47 am

    @mclaren:
    @benw:

    Not the New York Times, but the other big National Paper Of Note; some academic-related research last night made me stumble across a Krauthammer article from a few years ago ranting about Obama’s “leading from behind” foreign policy. His conclusion was that Obama’s policy must stem from the fact that he comes from a world of liberal elites who “revile the American colossus and want to see it cut down to size” (Ayers! Wright!)

    No, he couldn’t even be bothered with the Elder Statesman routine of how Obama is a naive Chamberlain type who means well but doesn’t understand how dangerous the world is. He just hopped right into the whole “Obama is an America-hating radical Manchurian Candidate who just wants to hurt America because he’s an America-hating America hater.”

    This is the Washington Post, not Breitbart.com. Garden variety John Bircher conspiracy theories have become so accepted that you can now find them in the op-ed columns of “mainstream” newspapers, and these newspapers will still be hated and condemned as “liberally biased.”

  150. 150.

    Cervantes

    October 9, 2015 at 11:51 am

    @mclaren:

    Thanks. I was talking specifically about useful change in the area of campaign finance, but your list is interesting enough in its own right.

  151. 151.

    Paul in KY

    October 9, 2015 at 12:34 pm

    @Chris: That POS Krautsucker has been writing insane things for years. It’s his speciality.

  152. 152.

    Chris

    October 9, 2015 at 3:51 pm

    @Paul in KY:

    Yeah. It’s just that it had been years since I came across one of his columns, and I’d forgotten not only how ridiculous that guy is, but how ridiculous it is that his Bircher word-vomiting was actually taken seriously enough to be granted a soapbox on one of the nation’s premiere Very Serious Newspapers (with a “moderate” or “liberal” reputation).

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