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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Because of wow. / The soft bigotry of no expectations

The soft bigotry of no expectations

by David Anderson|  October 15, 201510:46 pm| 127 Comments

This post is in: Because of wow., Free Markets Solve Everything, Fuck The Middle-Class, JEB! = John Ellis Not-Bush 2016, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, Both Sides Do It!, Fools! Overton Window!

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(Trigger Warning: Politico link)

Bush can tweak his message on a day to day basis, cut costs around the margins and even reduce or reallocate staff. But he remains committed to the large campaign infrastructure he has built to run a national campaign, staff members say. What’s changed is the desire to avoid any appearance of extravagence…..the campaign’s early state organizations do surpass those of most rivals, Bush’s other major investments — in paid advertising and a policy shop that’s churning out his speeches — have yet to pay real dividends….

Bush is also pitching serious policy proposals. He has close to 10 staffers working in his campaign’s policy shop

The “wonky”, “serious”, “smart” “technocratic” Republican campaign is making “major” investments in his policy shop. That major investment is under 10 full time employees. I am betting it is eight or nine people including the 23 year old making $23,000 to buy binders, collate TPS reports and fetch coffee. It costs the Bush campaign under $1 million a quarter (my bet is under $300K/quarter) or the price of a mid-level fundraising manager.

Truly the soft bigotry of no expectations of policy competence is at play here.

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Reader Interactions

127Comments

  1. 1.

    Chris

    October 15, 2015 at 10:49 pm

    I am betting it is eight or nine people including the 23 year old making $23,000 to buy binders, collate TPS reports and fetch coffee.

    You think they pay their coffee-fetching intern?

  2. 2.

    dmsilev

    October 15, 2015 at 10:49 pm

    “Close to 10” employees? I assume that means “7 or 8”.

    Or maybe Bush is counting in binary and it really means “2”.

  3. 3.

    redshirt

    October 15, 2015 at 10:50 pm

    If you can add 2+2 your to smart for us.

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    October 15, 2015 at 10:51 pm

    Hang on. We’re forgetting the extensive blog-troll operation. Surely, that accounts for at least half of the policy shop’s staffing.

  5. 5.

    Culture of Truth

    October 15, 2015 at 10:53 pm

    Concur with above. ‘Close to 10’ is 7 kids with no clue. Probably family friends and assorted grifters.

  6. 6.

    dmsilev

    October 15, 2015 at 10:54 pm

    @efgoldman: Well, it can’t be binary otherwise ‘2’ isn’t defined. If it’s ternary (base 3), the answer is 11. In base 4, the answer is 10. In all higher bases, ‘4’.

  7. 7.

    jnfr

    October 15, 2015 at 10:55 pm

    Bush would have a lot of staff whether he really needs them or not, because it’s his due.

    If he is throttling back he’s worried, I think.

  8. 8.

    Mike in NC

    October 15, 2015 at 10:56 pm

    Sad loser JEB! has a plan to cut taxes for the very rich that will result in massive economic growth. No, not really. The usual bullshit about tax cuts for the very rich. Fucks the rest of us with no job growth. Every Bush has resulted in a terrible recession.

  9. 9.

    benw

    October 15, 2015 at 10:56 pm

    @dmsilev: Compared to 1,000,000 one is close to 10.

  10. 10.

    redshirt

    October 15, 2015 at 10:56 pm

    @dmsilev: In base 0 it’s true.

  11. 11.

    Some guy

    October 15, 2015 at 10:59 pm

    Sinking ship

  12. 12.

    22over7

    October 15, 2015 at 11:03 pm

    It’s going cost so much for any of the clowns to win the primary that whoever gets the nom is going to be at a severe disadvantage coming in to the general. Sure, money will start flowing then, but field offices and national ad campaigns are expensive and take time to build. Dems have the advantage there.

  13. 13.

    benw

    October 15, 2015 at 11:09 pm

    Bush is also pitching serious policy proposals. He has close to 10 staffers working in his campaign’s policy shop

    Can I just say how fucking stupid this is? If you have serious policy proposals, people talk about the proposals. If you are full of shit, they count your staff members.

  14. 14.

    Doug R

    October 15, 2015 at 11:13 pm

    @dmsilev: I think that $23,000 a year goes to RTR.

  15. 15.

    p.a.

    October 15, 2015 at 11:13 pm

    @efgoldman: In Admiral Ackbar’s voice: “It’s a trap!”

  16. 16.

    benw

    October 15, 2015 at 11:16 pm

    Bottom of the 9th, Mets up 3-2, Dodgers up.

  17. 17.

    p.a.

    October 15, 2015 at 11:16 pm

    Jeb’s campaign is creating its own reality.

  18. 18.

    dmsilev

    October 15, 2015 at 11:17 pm

    @Doug R: He’s overpaid then.

  19. 19.

    Renie

    October 15, 2015 at 11:18 pm

    @Doug R: I doubt he makes that much at all. RtR has done a disappearing act or maybe he drove off to Mexico with the BRINKS TRUCKS.

  20. 20.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 15, 2015 at 11:20 pm

    @benw: @efgoldman: Staff matters. I have seen info indicating that HRC has 90+ people in Iowa including at least on staffer in every county. Sanders is supposedly at 50+ on Iowa. Both are taking the ground game seriously and working on it. On the GOP side, crickets…

  21. 21.

    cmorenc

    October 15, 2015 at 11:21 pm

    Over in the Trump campaign, he only needs a couple of intern staffers at most to write his position papers.

    HERE’S the entirety of his foreign policy position paper (that’s paper, not papers):
    1) Negotiate TERRIFIC deals with foreign countries.
    2) Get along with foreign leaders, especially Putin, make TERRIFIC, tough deals with them.
    3) Extend principle #2 to Chinese leaders. Get along with them, but make TERRIFIC tough deal with them to stop unfair trade and currency manipulation to bring jobs back to America.
    4) Erect border wall with Mexico, force Mexico to pay for it, and round up and load all illegals aboard buses and deport them over the other side of that border fence, which BTW will be a HOUGGGE fence.
    5) Donald Trump will accomplish goals #1 through #4 with force of personality and his TERRIFIC HOUGGE ability to make favorable deals. Does Chuck Norris need to specify further details before he starts invincibly setting things right? Neither does Donald Trump.

  22. 22.

    benw

    October 15, 2015 at 11:21 pm

    @efgoldman: Yep. Good thing they have lots of staff members to count. Otherwise, we’d have to actually face up to what Republicans want.

  23. 23.

    dedc79

    October 15, 2015 at 11:23 pm

    LETS GO METS! Six out save from Familia. Wow

  24. 24.

    benw

    October 15, 2015 at 11:24 pm

    @dedc79: Woot! Let’s go, Mets!

  25. 25.

    Mike J

    October 15, 2015 at 11:25 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: 99 counties in Iowa. If you don’t have a staffer in each, you aren’t really running for president.

  26. 26.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 15, 2015 at 11:28 pm

    @Mike J: The numbers I saw weren’t specific. The point being made was that HRC already had each county covered, Sanders was on his way to it, and none of the R were even close.

    @efgoldman: Agreed. HRC is definitely following the Obama model and it looks like Bernie is working on it.

  27. 27.

    amk

    October 15, 2015 at 11:28 pm

    Has cole’s pet/nightmare krispy kreme christie quit yet? Like over 70% of nj’ers want him to?

  28. 28.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 15, 2015 at 11:30 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Staff matters happens.

    Fixed to sound more like ¡Jeb!

  29. 29.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 15, 2015 at 11:32 pm

    @cmorenc:

    That is one classy foreign policy paper there.

  30. 30.

    Mike J

    October 15, 2015 at 11:33 pm

    @efgoldman:

    They learned from the best. It’s how Obama won both the nomination and the general.

    I remember when Howard Dean was sucking up all the oxygen and John Kerry very quietly went around vacuuming up organizers in Iowa. And then it was such a surprise to everyone who hadn’t been watching what was really going on.

    (I worked on two different campaigns that year, including Kerry, but none in Iowa.)

  31. 31.

    gf120581

    October 15, 2015 at 11:35 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Hillary has much of Obama’s organization at her disposal now, so makes sense. Hey, if it works, you stick with it.

    As far as JEB! goes, well, I guess the BRINKS TRUCKS are not really doing it anymore.

  32. 32.

    benw

    October 15, 2015 at 11:35 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Hilarious. You’re on fire!

  33. 33.

    Anoniminous

    October 15, 2015 at 11:36 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    JEB!, like Romney last time, is relying on the Iowa GOP county party leaders plus the Usual Suspects from the Bush machine.

  34. 34.

    p.a.

    October 15, 2015 at 11:39 pm

    @Mike J: Kerry could’ve used some of that Dean O2. And some amphetamine.

  35. 35.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 15, 2015 at 11:40 pm

    @gf120581: I agree. Also, she has done this under the MSM radar. While people were wondering where she and her campaign were all summer, they were recruiting the top campaign staff and organizing on the ground. To me, this is the most impressive thing that she has done so far. In 2008, Obama worked out a plan to garner the most delegates at the convention and he stuck with it. HRC, so far, seems to have adopted that example.

  36. 36.

    Arclite

    October 15, 2015 at 11:40 pm

    That’s a classic title, Richard. =D

  37. 37.

    Anoniminous

    October 15, 2015 at 11:41 pm

    @efgoldman:

    GOP has gotten lazy over the last couple of presidential primaries.

  38. 38.

    seaboogie

    October 15, 2015 at 11:42 pm

    Speaking from my own perspective, at first I was a bit gleeful at all of the crazy piling into the Klown Kar, and then kind of amazed and horrified at how their pandering to the throbbing id of the right and the moneyed patrons just exploded into a free-for-all of baseness, immigrants, blacks and upscaling their war on women.

    What this seems to have done though, is allow the left to really speak out to address this, and FSM bless Bernie for his role in pushing the issues like he has.

    Here is a link to a Digby post about re-emerging liberalism from Salon:
    http://www.salon.com/2015/10/15/the_resurrection_of_the_liberal_how_conservatives_tried_to_destroy_american_liberalism_and_how_it_came_back_from_the_dead/

  39. 39.

    Amir Khalid

    October 15, 2015 at 11:43 pm

    @dmsilev:
    You’re the scientist here; but as I remember, in binary less than 10 is either 1 or 0. But whether it’s binary or base 10, that sounds like damn few for a serious presidential campaign. I wonder how many Bernie and Hillary each have.

  40. 40.

    PhoenixRising

    October 15, 2015 at 11:43 pm

    Politico can’t find the spell checker, or realize that the red squiggle means ‘extravagance’ has a different number of ‘a’s than your first instinct. I trust their detail orientation in the round ‘almost 10’ staffers, too.

    Because they’re on the ball, which is why they gave this space to an ad for the narrative ‘JEB! is the serious one among the bozos piling out of the clown car’.

  41. 41.

    Chris

    October 15, 2015 at 11:43 pm

    @Anoniminous:

    Incredibly lazy. Their “establishment” candidates especially give the impression of people who think they have a divine right to the throne and are getting really cranky that they have to even pretend to humor the peasants in order to sit on it.

    After all, Reagan consecrated the White House as Republican property thirty five years ago, for Pete’s sake.

  42. 42.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    October 15, 2015 at 11:45 pm

    Dunno. WaPo from March:

    Presumed Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush is turning to a Wall Street veteran to serve in a top policy position — and possibly to run his policy shop, once he formally launches a campaign.

    The National Review reported late Wednesday that Bush is set to hire Justin Muzinich to serve as campaign policy director. Bush aides say he’s only joining the team in a part-time role for now, but will eventually serve in some kind of senior policy position, possibly as policy chief.

    The policy chief usually plays a major behind-the-scenes role, but it could be a more prominent position in a Bush campaign, given the wonky nature of the former governor, who expects aides to fully brief him on issues, eagerly absorbs as much information on policy as possible and often enjoyed sparring with reporters covering his two terms about the finer points of his policy proposals.

    Muzinich didn’t respond to requests for comment. The hire comes amid a flurry of new faces in Bush World, including Scott Jennings, a Kentucky-based operative and veteran of the George W. Bush administration, who is expected to serve as the campaign political director.

    On Wednesday, aides also announced that Bush has hired two more staffers in New Hampshire: Rob Varsalone, who has worked for Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), and Nate Lamb, who served as field director for Republican Scott Brown’s failed Senate bid last year. They’ll join Rich Killion, who will serve as Bush’s state director.

    Bush’s apparent decision to hire Muzinich comes after he also hired April Ponnuru, a well-known conservative policy expert, to join his team. And Bill Simon, a former gubernatorial aide and current Walmart executive, has been helping to solicit policy ideas and potential hires.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if Jeb? thought he could pay these big name “experts” $50k a month because of all the money he expected to be swimming in.

    Sure, the gofer would be an unpaid 20-something, but I can’t imagine that these Wall Street and corporate MotU types would be working for free, or even $50k a year.

    Hillary spent $38M on salaries, benefits, etc., in her 2008 run…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  43. 43.

    seaboogie

    October 15, 2015 at 11:45 pm

    And I wanted to post the following heartening items in the same post, but I understand that FYWP is multiple-linky sensitive. So here goes in a subsequent post (regrets that they come from Huffpo, but heartening nonetheless):

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-sandra-bland_56201d82e4b06462a13b719d

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ohio-abortion-clinic-clergy_561eaf3ae4b028dd7ea654c8

  44. 44.

    p.a.

    October 15, 2015 at 11:45 pm

    @Anoniminous: If he tries to ‘McCain’ Trump á la Shrub Trump won’t go fetal and whimper like Johnny did. That would be great theater. I just don’t know how long Trump keeps up with his vanity project.

  45. 45.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 15, 2015 at 11:51 pm

    @benw:

    Ta. Low-hanging fruit. (Edit: ¡Jeb!, I mean, not Omnes.)

    Just catching up here; I went to see Benedict Cumberbatch in Hamlet tonight, got home about half an hour ago, and am still feeling emotionally drained. Incredible performances by everyone, and an excellent production.

  46. 46.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 15, 2015 at 11:53 pm

    @dmsilev: RtR is overpaid if RtR is paying the campaign to post here.

  47. 47.

    Arm The Homeless

    October 15, 2015 at 11:53 pm

    @Some guy: a sinking ship raises all crustaceans.

    Did anyone catch the video of some tweaked out whiskey-tango spitting on protesters at yesterday’s T-rump shin-dig?

    The natives are getting impatient for their very own Mulberry-Kristallnacht

  48. 48.

    Brandon

    October 15, 2015 at 11:54 pm

    I think you are missing the point. The article claims his “policy shop” are writing his speeches. Those are actually speechwriters. Anyone who would confuse speech writing with policy making or actually think that speech writing constitutes policy making is not to be taken seriously. Speeches are to announce policy, not to set policy itself. And in fact, we sadly suffered 8 years of that style of garbage under his brother. Jeb! is a clown and I think there is probably a very good reason why he couldn’t even get into Yale as a legacy, unlike his brother. He is actually the dumber one and the prospect of him becoming president scares me quite a bit.

  49. 49.

    Bokonon

    October 15, 2015 at 11:55 pm

    All I can say is that Jeb Bush has been getting a very poor return on his money.

  50. 50.

    TG Chicago

    October 15, 2015 at 11:56 pm

    Snark aside, I have no idea how many people are “supposed” to be in a campaign’s policy shop. How many does HRC have? How many did Obama or Romney have in 2012?

    benw makes a completely valid point, but still: without comparison, I can’t get into ripping Bush over this.

    (especially since there’s plenty other things to rip into Bush about)

  51. 51.

    trollhattan

    October 16, 2015 at 12:00 am

    @Villago Delenda Est:
    RtR would be overpaid if he were paying them a nickel/post. First Mittens, now Bush the (even) Lesser. He can sure pick’m.

  52. 52.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 16, 2015 at 12:04 am

    @Brandon: No one is missing that point. I thought it was implicit in the OP.

  53. 53.

    trollhattan

    October 16, 2015 at 12:04 am

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
    After the revelations of Carli(tm) stiffing her campaign staff and vendors after the ridiculous demon sheep senate run, I hope her current crew are being paid cash up front, or bitcoins or quatloos or something.

    Funny how she’s vanished the last week or so. Was it fun while it lasted, Carli(tm)?

  54. 54.

    benw

    October 16, 2015 at 12:05 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: Hamlet is exhausting. I love Hamlet so much. Second only to Richard III (tragedy category). When Hamlet found Ophelia dead was one of the most crushing scenes I’ve watched.

  55. 55.

    redshirt

    October 16, 2015 at 12:06 am

    Has Chicago and New York ever been able to hate on each other as such?

  56. 56.

    Soonergrunt

    October 16, 2015 at 12:07 am

    @efgoldman: But do they laugh? Or is that the helicopters?

  57. 57.

    NotMax

    October 16, 2015 at 12:07 am

    pitching serious policy proposals

    Translation: relabeling the same warmed-over “fluff the rich, screw the rest” proposals and “86 all regulatory authority” pap from the oughts and 90s, pulled from think tank shelves.

  58. 58.

    Ridnik Chrome

    October 16, 2015 at 12:07 am

    Cubs-Mets NLCS! Gonna be a great one…

  59. 59.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 16, 2015 at 12:09 am

    @TG Chicago:

    Snark aside, I have no idea how many people are “supposed” to be in a campaign’s policy shop. How many does HRC have? How many did Obama or Romney have in 2012?

    The true and vague answer is enough. The issue regarding staffing is the one I mentioned above – staffers on the ground. Right now, HRC has a person in every county in Iowa and Sanders is working towards that goal. No one else is close. That should say something.

  60. 60.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 16, 2015 at 12:10 am

    @benw: What is wrong with you? MacBeth is the play.

  61. 61.

    redshirt

    October 16, 2015 at 12:12 am

    @redshirt: I’m rooting for Chicago.

    Burn you fucking Yankee bastards!!!

  62. 62.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 16, 2015 at 12:13 am

    @Soonergrunt: You’ve been in truck and you have been in choppers; which is more likely to have a sense of humor?

  63. 63.

    benw

    October 16, 2015 at 12:15 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Oh come on, the Scottish play? Give me a break.

  64. 64.

    Mike J

    October 16, 2015 at 12:16 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    What is wrong with you?

    He is but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, he knows a hawk from a handsaw.

  65. 65.

    Ridnik Chrome

    October 16, 2015 at 12:17 am

    @redshirt: I’m a native Chicagoan (Logan Square and East Lakeview) now living in Queens. Most New Yorkers I’ve met have good things to say about Chicago. They can be a little condescending, but in a good-natured sort of way. Chicagoans, on the other hand, have a serious inferiority complex where New York is concerned. Anything New York has, well Chicago has something just as good, if not better, to hear Chicagoans tell it.

  66. 66.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 16, 2015 at 12:20 am

    @benw: A dithering Dane over a resolute Scot?

  67. 67.

    ruemara

    October 16, 2015 at 12:22 am

    @Ridnik Chrome: I’m more sorry that you live in Queens.

  68. 68.

    SinnedBackwards

    October 16, 2015 at 12:23 am

    Jeb?ster has a fool-proof way to double the growth rate, and just maybe he thought it up all by hisownself. He’s going to outsource our statistics to China.

  69. 69.

    trollhattan

    October 16, 2015 at 12:23 am

    O/T Sometimes you can tell you’re doing it right by the enemies you gain.

    Gun groups on Thursday promised a forceful response to Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed ballot initiative to cut down gun violence in California, which includes background checks for ammunition purchases and a ban on the possession of large-capacity magazines.

    “Protecting civil rights and lawfully owned personal property from police state gun grabbers like Gavin Newsom has to be everyone’s first priority,” Firearms Policy Coalition President Brandon Combs said in a statement. “If Gavin Newsom wants to declare war on law-abiding gun owners and Second Amendment rights, we’re certainly going to bring the fight to him.”

    The initiative, co-authored by the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, was formally unveiled Thursday at a press conference outside San Francisco’s 101 California St. office building, where a mass shooting took place in 1993.

    Thinking of graphic treatments for a tshirt saying “I’m a gun-grabber, baby!”

  70. 70.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 16, 2015 at 12:25 am

    Wow, Cole just got retweeted by Morgan Fairchild.

  71. 71.

    TG Chicago

    October 16, 2015 at 12:26 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: I certainly see your point about staffers in Iowa, but that seems to be a separate issue from policy shop staff (unless I’m missing something).

    I can even see how local staff is far more important than a policy shop, given that one can easily outsource policy positions to a think tank or whatever. As others have indicated: when is the last time Republicans came up with a new policy? Probably when the Heritage Foundation came up with a healthcare reform plan. Republicans seem to regret that now.

  72. 72.

    Peale

    October 16, 2015 at 12:26 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: I don’t get this at all. It’s like Republicans are suddenly like Democratic candidates from 1980. Like Ted Cruz’s plan is to mobilize millions of disaffect white voters. If that’s his plan, he’d better be setting up shop in Iowa in a big way as that is a state that Obama carried and where there would be a few hundred thousand disaffected white voters who could carry him to victory using his proclaimed strategy. He’s got as much money as anybody. But who is going to mobilize them? He’s just gonna go to all those churches himself and remind them that he’s gonna repeal gay marriage and kick the gays out of the military?

    It’s no secret that Iowa is a caucus state and to do well in that caucus one needs to pay people to make sure your supporters show up on caucus night in far flung precincts.and then make sure the delegates stick around until March when they finally get around to deciding who to support.I guess the truth is that the publicity of doing well is more important than winning the delegates.

  73. 73.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 16, 2015 at 12:28 am

    @TG Chicago: I refer you to the first sentence in the comment to which you are replying.

    @Peale: It seems to me like you do get it.

  74. 74.

    seaboogie

    October 16, 2015 at 12:30 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: I read that as Morgan Freeman, and then had to do the google. So imagine you are Cole, who is the more desirable retweet?

  75. 75.

    craigie

    October 16, 2015 at 12:32 am

    @Ridnik Chrome:

    This pretty much describes the dynamic between San Francisco and LA. The SF folks loath us, and we just cluelessly go “Sure, San Francisco is a great town!” I think that makes them even madder, that we don’t hate them back.

  76. 76.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 16, 2015 at 12:33 am

    @seaboogie: I refuse to imagine that I am Cole. I can’t imagine ever being a Republican, supporting the Iraq War, or being an jam band fan. Ew.

  77. 77.

    Amir Khalid

    October 16, 2015 at 12:33 am

    This sounds ominous for Bush. The sense I get from the Politico story is that he doesn’t have money where he really needs it: his superPAC is loaded but his campaign is having to pinch its pennies. That’s going to hurt his efforts to hire staff in the states. And the reports of the ad blitz in New Hampshire that did absolutely nothing for his polling numbers there suggests a campaign that isn’t prioritising effectively.

  78. 78.

    seaboogie

    October 16, 2015 at 12:37 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Okay then – which Morgan would you rather have retweet you, if you tweet?

  79. 79.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 16, 2015 at 12:39 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    his superPAC is loaded but his campaign is having to pinch its pennies.

    This is devastating. Bush has been trying to outsource his entire campaign. He will soon run into the contradictions inherent in that choice,

  80. 80.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 16, 2015 at 12:42 am

    @seaboogie: Fairchild.

    @efgoldman: She has oddly become a respected foreign policy person. She has studied and is respected by real experts.

  81. 81.

    seaboogie

    October 16, 2015 at 12:42 am

    @efgoldman: Morgan Fairchild was born Patsy Ann McClenny, in 1950.

  82. 82.

    SFAW

    October 16, 2015 at 12:43 am

    @redshirt:

    Burn you fucking Yankee bastards!!!

    First of all, as any fan of Steve Gilliard can tell you, the proper conjugation is “Fuck the Fucking Yankees.” (a/k/a “FTFY”)

    Third of all, the Yankees were eliminated in the wild card game. Get with the program, will you?

    Fucking Maine autumn musta froze your brain.

  83. 83.

    Amir Khalid

    October 16, 2015 at 12:45 am

    @efgoldman:
    She’s in her mid-sixties — younger than you, but not by much. And, for what it’s worth, still rather hot.

  84. 84.

    SFAW

    October 16, 2015 at 12:45 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    She has oddly become a respected foreign policy person. She has studied and is respected by real experts

    Glad to hear she didn’t pull a Victoria Jackson.

    @efgoldman:

    She’s gotta’ be even older than I am.

    Unpossible.

  85. 85.

    Mike J

    October 16, 2015 at 12:47 am

    @SFAW:

    Third of all, the Yankees were eliminated in the wild card game.

    There is no time when FTFY isn not appropriate.

  86. 86.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 16, 2015 at 12:48 am

    @Amir Khalid: But, but.. BRINKS TRUCKS!!!

  87. 87.

    seaboogie

    October 16, 2015 at 12:49 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Go Morgan/Patsy Ann! In wiki research, there is a sort of footnote that she was kidnapped and held against her will on two separate occasions. Cannot even imagine that. Do you suppose the second time, she was all “Oh – not this shit again!”?

  88. 88.

    trollhattan

    October 16, 2015 at 12:49 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    My wife whom I’ve seen naked? Who’s next, Morgan Freeman?

    I demand all Morgans at BJ. Has anybody seen Joe lately?

  89. 89.

    Ridnik Chrome

    October 16, 2015 at 12:50 am

    @ruemara: You should see all the refugees from Brooklyn running around Sunnyside these days, now that they can’t afford Williamsburg and Park Slope anymore. Laugh all you want, you’ll be living here too soon enough…

  90. 90.

    SFAW

    October 16, 2015 at 12:53 am

    @Ridnik Chrome:

    Some people would rather move to Fort Ham or Canarsie before making the move to Queens.

  91. 91.

    Amir Khalid

    October 16, 2015 at 12:55 am

    @efgoldman:

    prioritizing

    You Americanised my spelling. I haz a sad.

  92. 92.

    Ridnik Chrome

    October 16, 2015 at 12:57 am

    @SFAW: And I say let them. I’m paying enough rent already…

  93. 93.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 16, 2015 at 12:58 am

    @Amir Khalid: It’s the American way.

  94. 94.

    SFAW

    October 16, 2015 at 12:58 am

    @Mike J:

    There is no time when FTFY isn not appropriate.

    Although I’ve been a Mets fan for 55 years, I feel no special animus towards the Yankees. It’s out of respect for the memory of Gilliard that I use FTFY.

    (And, when I first came to this joint, I could not understand why so many people were saying FTFY in their comments, since said comments had nothing to do with baseball or NY. It took about six months before I realized it was “Fixed That For You.” Light dawns on marble head.)

  95. 95.

    SFAW

    October 16, 2015 at 12:59 am

    @Ridnik Chrome:

    Fair enough.

  96. 96.

    Ridnik Chrome

    October 16, 2015 at 1:08 am

    @SFAW: I still miss Gilliard. I’m so old I remember when he and Cole were both regular posters at Daily Kos. Some dandy comment battles with those two…

  97. 97.

    frosty

    October 16, 2015 at 1:08 am

    @craigie:

    This pretty much describes the dynamic between San Francisco and LA.

    Chicago, New York; SF,LA. Same dynamic between Baltimore and Washington. We hatesss them, they say “Oh Baltimore, cool working class neighborhoods, nice place to visit.”

  98. 98.

    mclaren

    October 16, 2015 at 1:10 am

    @redshirt:

    If you can add 2+2 your to smart for us.

    Ha! Libtard dummy! Everyone knows 2 + 2 = 22!

  99. 99.

    mclaren

    October 16, 2015 at 1:12 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    This sounds ominous for Bush.

    #hashtag for the last 6 months worth of news coverage of Jeb!, no?

  100. 100.

    Ken

    October 16, 2015 at 1:13 am

    The article says his policy shop is working on speeches.

    Are any of the less than ten staffers actually working on, I dunno, policy?

    For some reason, I’m reminded of the crew his brother set up to plan the postwar management of Iraq, that spent all of its time cooking up “intelligence” to justify the W’s greatest misadventure instead of planning.

  101. 101.

    mclaren

    October 16, 2015 at 1:15 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    This is devastating. Bush has been trying to outsource his entire campaign. He will soon run into the contradictions inherent in that choice.

    Coming soon: Bush outsources his candidacy as well.

  102. 102.

    mclaren

    October 16, 2015 at 1:19 am

    Bush is also pitching serious policy proposals. He has close to 10 staffers working in his campaign’s policy shop.

    Meaning Jeb has either 1 or zero staffers working his campaign’s policy shop — and when you put a 1 and a 0 together, the result is close to 10!

  103. 103.

    Redshift

    October 16, 2015 at 1:28 am

    @mclaren:

    Coming soon: Bush outsources his candidacy as well.

    That explains why his troll here is named after his super PAC — he’s gonna have the super PAC run in his place!

  104. 104.

    PurpleGirl

    October 16, 2015 at 1:40 am

    Re Morgan Fairchild and foreign policy — yes, it may seem incredible that she changed herself into someone much more serious than she gets credit for. I would like to remind people that Heddy Lamar also did something along the same lines. It took many years before her design work was implemented but eventually she was credited with inventing Spread Spectrum Technology.

  105. 105.

    NotMax

    October 16, 2015 at 1:44 am

    @efgoldman

    But – but – it’s all a cunning plan to lower expectations, surge at precisely the most opportune moment, dazzle the electorate with a torrent of crisp Benjamins and run the table.

    Or something.

    :)

  106. 106.

    PurpleGirl

    October 16, 2015 at 1:51 am

    @efgoldman: I count Shirley Temple Black becoming an ambassador as a political patronage appointment, paying her back for years of Republican fund raising, not as someone who actually worked in the Foreign Service. Pamela Harriman is in that same category — a reward for years of fund raising for the Democrats in her case. (Also Pamela Harriman was married to Averill Harriman.)

  107. 107.

    NotMax

    October 16, 2015 at 1:52 am

    @efgoldman

    When it comes to cunning plans, Jebbie makes Baldrick look cerebral.

  108. 108.

    Goblue72

    October 16, 2015 at 1:56 am

    @frosty: yes except in this relationship, LA has all the people but we have all the jobs & money & growth.

    http://www.centerforjobs.org/economic-tale-of-two-regions-los-angeles-county-vs-bay-area/

  109. 109.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 16, 2015 at 2:03 am

    Looks like Northern LA county has washed away.

  110. 110.

    Felonius Monk

    October 16, 2015 at 2:06 am

    @mclaren:

    Coming soon: Bush outsources his candidacy as well.

    He already did. Trump took the contract.

  111. 111.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 16, 2015 at 2:09 am

    @Felonius Monk: Trump knows how to do great deals. He’s told us as much.

  112. 112.

    piratedan

    October 16, 2015 at 2:13 am

    @Ken: policy is easy, you simply apply Cleek’s Law and the policy writes itself

  113. 113.

    Fair Economist

    October 16, 2015 at 2:29 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    And the reports of the ad blitz in New Hampshire that did absolutely nothing for his polling numbers there suggests a campaign that isn’t prioritising effectively.

    Particularly since the superPAC can do a good job on media blitzes, but they can’t help him hire organizers or write speeches and have a lot of legal loopholes to do policy work.

  114. 114.

    ruemara

    October 16, 2015 at 2:33 am

    @Ridnik Chrome: I can’t laugh. Ozone Park looms in my future.

  115. 115.

    redshirt

    October 16, 2015 at 3:05 am

    Yeah, Morgan Fairchild. That’s the ticket…

  116. 116.

    hkedi

    October 16, 2015 at 3:21 am

    @Redshift:

    Corporations ARE people, my friend… why shouldn’t one run for president?

  117. 117.

    sm*t cl*de

    October 16, 2015 at 3:34 am

    a policy shop that’s churning out his speeches

    “But what do you really think about $ISSUE?”
    “Just a minute, I’ll check my principle shop.”

  118. 118.

    sm*t cl*de

    October 16, 2015 at 3:38 am

    @mclaren:

    Coming soon: Bush outsources his candidacy as well.

    Example #262 of “Why outsourcing is good for the company and for the economy”.

  119. 119.

    jafd

    October 16, 2015 at 4:21 am

    “TPS reports” = ???

    ‘Temporary Protected Status’ ?
    ‘Twin Prime Search’ ?
    ‘Theorum Proving System’ ?

    The world wonders.

  120. 120.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    October 16, 2015 at 7:14 am

    @jafd: In case you’re not snarking, it’s a meme from the movie “Office Space”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy3rjQGc6lA (0:52).

    HTH! :-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  121. 121.

    NonyNony

    October 16, 2015 at 8:12 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    This sounds ominous for Bush. The sense I get from the Politico story is that he doesn’t have money where he really needs it: his superPAC is loaded but his campaign is having to pinch its pennies.

    Isn’t that what happened to Rick Perry? His SuperPAC had plenty of money in it, but his campaign coffers were empty.

    I just double checked – it was true of Scott Walker too. His SuperPAC had over $40 million in it, while his campaign apparently owed money on outstanding debt when he dropped out.

    This is why the GOP wants to remove the restrictions on campaign donations ever further than they are now. Right now a few insane billionaires can start a SuperPAC and put as much money into advertising for a candidate as they want. But they’re still restricted to $2700 per election cycle to the campaigns.

    (The UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH SuperPACs have not been as devastating on the national level as people had feared – I suspect that this is because national elections already have so much saturated news coverage that people just do not care about another ad – people mostly know well in advance how they’re going to vote. If that money could be given to the campaign to organize GOTV it could be devastatingly effective, so keeping those individual donor limits in place is important. State-level elections are getting bought with that UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH though – it’s a real problem that billionaires are able to basically buy an entire state government for what amounts to the loose change from the couch cushions.)

  122. 122.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    October 16, 2015 at 9:10 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Staff matters. I have seen info indicating that HRC has 90+ people in Iowa including at least on staffer in every county. Sanders is supposedly at 50+ on Iowa. Both are taking the ground game seriously and working on it. On the GOP side, crickets…

    I thought the GOP pols outsourced that to Mega Churches or their doners. Which is one of the reason they are in such a mess.

  123. 123.

    Richard Mayhew

    October 16, 2015 at 10:11 am

    @TG Chicago: Many years ago when I was a young policy wonk fresh from grad school and massively underemployed, I picked up a gig as a policy geek for a Democratic Senate primary campaign (we lost). The pay was decent enough once you included unlimited Campaign Coffee, a lot of beer and more bad pizza than you can imagine. There were 3 full timers with benefits, and about 15 people doing chunks (like me).

    Most of the policy work was synthesis of a variety of ideas floating in the liberal policy space, and a lot of research to poke holes in our opponents’ ideas. Give us a topic at 9AM and we could get 50 pages for 7pm and a good 10 pages by noon the next day and then a 1 pager by the end of 48 hours followed by a 250 page white paper in 2 weeks.

    We were a primary campaign and we were better staffed than a presidential campaign.

  124. 124.

    J R in WV

    October 16, 2015 at 10:29 am

    @efgoldman:

    Shirley Temple Black became played a diplomat.

    FTFY

  125. 125.

    Joel

    October 16, 2015 at 10:40 am

    @efgoldman: It’s a lot harder to sling bullshit to people’s faces. For one, there’s the possibility of pushback.

  126. 126.

    TG Chicago

    October 16, 2015 at 12:40 pm

    @Richard Mayhew: Thank you for the context.

  127. 127.

    James Wimberley

    October 22, 2015 at 8:53 am

    @Omnes @PurpleGirl: Omnibus: Pamela Harriman was an intelligent woman with useful experience. The experience was peculiar – in WWII London she’d basically been a geisha to British war leaders, exhausted and stressed middle-aged men. You don’t do this for a good time but because you are interested in high-level decision-making.

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