Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

The words do not have to be perfect.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Republicans in disarray!

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

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

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

This really is a full service blog.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Open Thread: Jeb Bush Is A Deeply Weird Entity

Open Thread: Jeb Bush Is A Deeply Weird Entity

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Guy seems to be turning into Willard Romney before our very eyes, falling into the Uncanny Valley where a close-but-not-perfect simulacra of humanity disturbs our identification. If he weren’t a member of the Bush crime syndicate clan, one might wonder if his heart was in this campaign. This was the NYTimes, last week — “Jeb Bush Says Campaign Attacks on Him Are Keeping His Ailing Father Strong“:

… Chatting with voters at a coffee shop here on Wednesday morning, Jeb Bush was asked how his parents were doing. His mother Barbara remained the matriarch, he said — a “blessing from God” who is nonetheless “not always right.” (Mrs. Bush famously said there had been “enough Bushes” in the White House, before coming around on the idea of a third one.)

Mr. Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, is “91 years old, but he’s just as strong as a goat,” he said. The elder Mr. Bush now wears a neck brace and cannot walk. And yet, Mr. Bush suggested, for his father — and by all accounts, no one else — the 2016 presidential campaign had proved a health boon.

“I feel like I’m participating in this a little bit because my candidacy has lifted his spirits,” he said. “I notice he’s not watching ‘CSI’ reruns anymore. He’s watching Fox, getting mad at people that attack me and stuff like that. I feel like I’m making a contribution to keep him strong.”

The Bush family has taken an active role in fund-raising for the campaign, but aides to Mr. Bush have weighed the merits and pitfalls of featuring George W. Bush as a public surrogate. Asked about a New York Times article this week outlining his campaign’s dilemma, Mr. Bush offered a shrug to reporters, saying there was “no grappling going on.”

“There may be a lot of grappling going on outside of my realm,” he said. “My realm on the road is maybe different than people in the campaign. You have to ask them.”

He repeated that he was happy to have his brother’s support, though another endorsement seemed to have required more handiwork.

“I’m happy I got my mom’s support,” he said. “That was huge. That was a big first step.”

And then, those vast “GOP Establishment” cash reserves don’t seem to be doing him much good, per TPM:

The $4.8 million TV and radio ad blitz in New Hampshire by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and his associated super Pacs has done little to bump up his polling in the state, which is considered crucial to his campaign.
A report by Politico Thursday notes that in the weeks since the ad buy — which has pro-Bush ads taking up 60 percent of the political airspace in the state — the former governor’s average poll numbers have actually dipped down, from 9 percent to 8.7 percent…

Reader Interactions

250Comments

  1. 1.

    David Koch

    “There’s this big argument about the Washington Redskins — the ‘Redskins’ being a pejorative term — I think ‘Washington’ is the pejorative term, not the ‘Redskins,’” ~ ¿Jeb?

    ¿Jeb? isn’t good at this

  2. 2.

    David Koch

    ¿Jeb? complains about “free things” yet he took a free $4,000,000.00 tax-payer provided bailout on a failed investment.

    WASHINGTON, Oct. 13— After Jeb Bush, a son of the President, and a partner bought a Miami office building using money an associate had borrowed from a local savings and loan, the Federal Government wound up repaying most of the loan.

    The savings institution became insolvent, and the Government paid more than $4 million to make good the loan as part of the bailout of the savings industry.

    Privatize the gain, socialize the losses.

  3. 3.

    Mandalay

    The elder Mr. Bush now wears a neck brace and cannot walk.

    That’s a real bummer. Looking back, he doesn’t seem such a bad guy, despite his spawn.

    And when it comes to war heroes there is definitely no asterisk against his name.

  5. 5.

    Goblue72

    There’s something oddly mundane and a little sad to think of Bush the elder watching CSI reruns in his dotage.

  8. 8.

    MBunge

    And think, everyone in the Beltway would have sworn on a stack of Bibles that Jeb was the smarter brother.

    Mike

  9. 9.

    David Koch

    Wow. Even the Bush Family courtesans at WaPo are bailing out

    No more ‘shock and awe’: Jeb Bush now just another presidential aspirant

    Former Governor Jeb Bush, shown here in New Hampshire in August, is struggling with weak fundraising amid low polling numbers in the 2016 presidential race. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
    By Philip Rucker and Matea Gold October 15 at 10:08 PM

    Jeb Bush entered the presidential race as the “shock and awe” candidate whose fundraising dominance was poised to make his campaign an unstoppable juggernaut.

    He is not that candidate anymore.

    After reporting Thursday that he has less cash in the bank than three other Republican candidates, Bush effectively cemented his status as just another aspirant in a presidential race where the surest predictions have been proven wrong time and again.

    “He should have hit at least $25 million,” said one major Republican fundraiser, who like others interviewed requested anonymity to speak candidly.

    “Some donors are really nervous,” said one top Bush fundraiser.

    The comments to teh article are hilarious

    former Republican
    10/15/2015 2:06 PM PST
    Shocked to learn a Bush brother is burning through a surplus and heading toward a huge deficit.

    lewfournier1
    10/15/2015 2:42 PM PST
    Maybe he can solve the problem the same qay his brother did: Borrow it from the Chinese, and then get a Dem to fix the problem for him.

  11. 11.

    BGinCHI

    I hope the most salutary thing about the Bush crash & burn is that it means all future Bushes will be laughed out of the room if they run. Because you know that family is not done destroying the American dream.

  12. 12.

    prufrock

    He’s watching Fox, getting mad at people that attack me and stuff like that. I feel like I’m making a contribution to keep him strong.”

    I’ve read where nursing homes won’t allow cable news to be shown to their residents, particularly Fox. Apparently that tactic cuts down on both agitation and depression.

    They watch old movies instead. H.W’s handlers should put on Casablanca instead.

  13. 13.

    Aleta

    As long as J Bush loses disastrously, his candidacy has one potential positive. It gives a chance for more public knowledge to develop, for a few more people to become conscious of the extent of the Bush family’s role in destroying US stability. Because the history of their involvements — banks, oil, Saudis, Iran, CIA operations, contras, bin Laden family, business partners, money-making out of failures and destruction and favors — seems pretty well buried from wider public familiarity. The older Bush especially. He’s kept a smooth surface, and now he’s the benign elder statesman. Even W has lucked out a bit because the criminal Cheney draws so much blame. I hope that Jeb’s being in public view will mean more opportunity for writers to publish his family’s connection to what’s been lost in the US the last 35 years. So the younger folks will know.

  14. 14.

    Caravelle

    “I notice he’s not watching ‘CSI’ reruns anymore. He’s watching Fox, getting mad at people that attack me and stuff like that. I feel like I’m making a contribution to keep him strong.”

    Usually people don’t talk about their elderly parents beginning to watch Fox as a GOOD thing… So weird to be Republican.

    I do feel bad for Bush Sr. though.

  15. 15.

    ThresherK

    I, too, hadn’t heard that GHWB was not able to walk, and also needs a neck brace fulltime. Perhaps paying close attention to Jeb’s campaign fortunes isn’t good for his well-being.

  16. 16.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    When they’re talking about jeb? being in trouble on Morning Joe, jeb?s in trouble.

  18. 18.

    Another Holocene Human

    @MBunge: You know, I’ve dismissed this litany of “Jeb is stupid” for the last year or so, but if that’s his natural speech, wow. With all that background and education, if that is how he actually talks–and the lack of discretion–no. He is pretty dumb.

  19. 19.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Caravelle: Ironically, on FOX GHW Bush is watching fellow conservatives/Republicans attack JEB! (and maybe his own legacy, too, by extension) for being not conservative enough or a squish.

  20. 20.

    Amir Khalid

    Scott Walker has bitten the dust, and Jeb is fading. So will the next member of the Billionaires’ Boy Club be Marco Rubio? He’s still chasing the Donald and Dr Ben himself. The rich old dudes must be wondering what choices remain to them.

    a close-but-not-perfect simulacra of humanity

    Ahem. The singular is simulacrum.

  21. 21.

    BruceFromOhio

    I notice he’s not watching ‘CSI’ reruns anymore. He’s watching Fox, getting mad at people that attack me and stuff like that. I feel like I’m making a contribution to keep him strong.

    Yes, because anger + Faux Noise = strength. Got it.

    @Goblue72: There are far worse things. It could be ‘Happy Days’ re-runs, for example.

  24. 24.

    Baud

    “I’m happy I got my mom’s support,” he said. “That was huge. That was a big first step.”

    Um… This is kind of sad, no?

  26. 26.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Amir Khalid: Marco is a Party man, and the Party told him to run for POTUS. They’re still backslapping and encouraging him. Meanwhile, Rick Scott is making noises that he wants the Senate seat. Apparently, governing in Hell sucks, oh, I mean Heaven, everyone in Florida knows that Florida is Heaven*, so they desire assiduously to draw a pension in Hell, Hell being DC definitionally. I wonder if and when Marco realizes he’s been used?

    *fuck Florida and fuck the weather, too

  27. 27.

    ThresherK

    Hey, I’m in the market for a used car.

    And I need someone to talk me out of this, or this. My wife is not going to be that person. Plus, I have a trusted mechanic who would probably jump at the chance to assure me they can fix anything going on with a 283 carbureted Chevy V8.

  28. 28.

    Another Holocene Human

    Yeah, I know Betty and Gator90 will get mad that I dissed Florida. I live in the country part of Florida. It is hell to me because I have lived in a first world country called America and now I live in a 2nd world shithole called America. I am tormented daily by the knowledge that “it” doesn’t have to be this way. But I am surrounded by “assholes” who know no better. Not to mention the active ideologues striving to actually make things worse.

    And the weather is actually okay for me health-wise (I have no desire to move to CA for example specifically because it’s too dry) but I’m not fucking in love with it either. I am sick and tired of the notion I should endure poor wages and working conditions because of the magical weather wage. Really? Hey, I’m not afraid of a little chill. Bring it on.

  29. 29.

    Another Holocene Human

    @ThresherK: You know how much pain you’re in for.

    I have a mechanic friend who suggested I buy a used Mercury for a quarter of ten grand. No coincidence at all, this is exactly the style of car he favors. There would be advantages but it’s up against the Schmerz of having to drive that boat daily. He thinks it’s comfortable and for him the cars I like would be a bed of nails.

  30. 30.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Baud: Me too. That is weird, and I kept checking the article attribution because it is so devastating to JEB I thought it might be satire.

    JEB? told on himself. I think at DNC in 2012 one of the Castros was talking about Mom and how she’d always supported them. Touching story. JEB is talking about how he had to CONVINCE Mom. If Mom has doubts, what of the rest of us?

  31. 31.

    Amir Khalid

    @ThresherK:
    If you reckon you can afford the running costs for a ’64 or ’66 Studebaker, and you have a mechanic who reckons they can keep it running, I see no reason to dissuade you, They look like beautiful cars.

  32. 32.

    WereBear

    “I’m happy I got my mom’s support,” he said. “That was huge. That was a big first step.”

    Perhaps karma is ar work here after all. Being around Barb as a basic life sentence is not appealing.

  33. 33.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Amir Khalid: Our illustrious OP must have elected out of Latin class.

    I had to fight to get Latin in public school. I found it was a big help studying other subjects. The teachers actually tried to teach us Latin and Greek roots through probably English class, with a workbook and everything, because it’s so crucial, but I didn’t learn anything from the workbook. I however learned a lot from elective Latin. We memorized vocabulary every week and walked around the classroom singing noun endings. The other weakness of memorizing roots is that it turns out that learning multiple languages really pumps up students’ understanding of grammar (despite the fact what they call English grammar in US schools is a load of crock that linguists laugh at). I found that was true I took Latin and French and English simultaneously and later added German as well, and I kicked my classmates asses who were only doing English and Spanish or Eng and Fr. Keep in mind too that Latin instruction starts by necessity with some basic grammar whereas the modern language instruction starts with conversation and pronunciation–makes sense, right?–meaning that any advantageous language structure instruction won’t come along until later.

  35. 35.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Baud:

    Um… This is kind of sad, no?

    Very, very sad.

    Of course, if you’re part of a crime syndicate, you’ve got to get the OK of the crime boss before pulling off any big deals of your own.

    Speaking of the Bush crime syndicate, people who think Bush the Elder wasn’t so bad need to be reminded that he pardoned pretty much everyone involved with Iran-Contra just before leaving the White House, over Christmas 1992. (Like a Friday afternoon news dump, only more so.)

  36. 36.

    Gindy51

    @Another Holocene Human: In my old HS all the brainy science kids took Latin because it helped so much with biology terms and on the old SAT (we’re talking 1976). I took 4 years of it and by the last no Englsh was allowed to be spoken in class at all. It was kind of fun actually.

  37. 37.

    qwerty42

    @Another Holocene Human: I believe the “rules” (such as they are) of English were only worked out in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. So some are actually based on odd things (supposedly ending a sentence with a preposition is incorrect because it is incorrect in Latin). And even those rules are fading (when was the last you used or encountered the subjunctive in English? I mean, if I were king, I might dispense with it altogether, but still …)

  38. 38.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Tell me again why anyone would willingly be a part of the sociopathic religion known as Catholicism? I don’t care how much “better” Francis is, as long as shit like this is allowed, his church is a cesspool.

    Catholic hospital denies Michigan woman treatment on religious grounds

    Weeks after learning she would give birth to her third child, Jessica Mann was faced with a difficult decision: because she was stricken by a life-threatening brain tumor, her doctor recommended she have her fallopian tubes tied at the time of her scheduled cesarean section delivery, later this month.

    Mann agreed to undergo the procedure at her hospital to prevent the risk of a future pregnancy exacerbating her tumor. But the hospital, Genesys Regional Medical Center in Grand Blanc, Michigan, declined on religious grounds.

    I have a special hatred for the Catholic church. It is a puss oozing abscess on the ass of society.

  39. 39.

    low-tech cyclist

    That Jeb! quote that Anne led off her post with, gives me a vision of him doing a small-scale version of Pol Pot’s clearing out the capital in Cambodia and forcing everyone into the countryside.

  42. 42.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Gindy51: Gosh, I’m jealous. I switched school systems and the level I was at wasn’t offered there, so I switched to Spanish but it didn’t stick :( Wish I could speak it now.

    I did acquire some Latin books back in the day that taught commode spoken latin*. Had a lot of fun with those.

    *naturally, this is Classical written/rhetorical Latin, a more formal language than the vulgar lot might have spoken day to day

  43. 43.

    Patricia Kayden

    @David Koch: You’re missing the point. It’s okay for people like Jeb! to get free things. It’s wrong for darker complexioned people to get free things.

    @Amir Khalid: I would think that the more sensible Republican donors are supporting Rubio or Bush. I’m sure they’ve figured out that there’s no way in hell that Carson or Trump could actually win the White House. We’re going to see a repeat of 2012 where they went with the boring safe robot (and still lost).

  44. 44.

    Schlemazel

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Mostly unacknowledged, the Catholic church has been buying up hospitals, particularly in rural areas. It’s good business because it eliminates competition and allows them to dictate prices to insurance companies instead of visa-versa so it is a decent money maker for the church. But the other half is it allows them to dictate medical treatments to doctors. Think about what that means when you read cases like the one you point to. There are several of these sorts of things reported in many places around the country.

    These are truly horrible people. My apologies to devote Catholics who are good people but the mob that runs your branch are evil, money grubbing, women hating, pedophile enabling (at the very least) bad, bad, men who should live in fear of their death if they actually believe in a just God.

  45. 45.

    Another Holocene Human

    @qwerty42: Right, well there are the grammarians’ “rules” (or schoolmarm “rules”) and then there’s the description of structure, which is what I’m really on about. That “grammar” is based on Latin grammar which is actually ALSO a misfit based on Greek grammar. How about that! When linguists describe English grammar it’s radically different. (Instead of prepositions they speak of particles, for example.)

    Btw, you can see how those 19th century language moralists got to that conclusion because the word “preposition” comes from roots PRE + POS[ere], in reverse order PLACE + BEFORE.

    In reverse order because English syntax does not track Latin syntax. Irish is more closely related to Latin than English is, loanwords notwithstanding.

  46. 46.

    Jeffro

    @amk: Yes he does and well he should.

    Hey look who’s got the cash to hang in there a while longer: Trump, Carson, Cruz, and Rubio. Shouldn’t take the Establishment too much longer to figure out who their man is, eh?

  47. 47.

    bystander

    CSI: Miami is the best. Miami seems to have funded the most futuristic, high tech lab and pays their employees so much they can all afford Givenchy and Brunello Cuccinelli to wear while sloshing around in blood and guts. Florida must be so proud!

  49. 49.

    Jeffro

    @Amir Khalid:

    So will the next member of the Billionaires’ Boy Club be Marco Rubio? He’s still chasing the Donald and Dr Ben himself. The rich old dudes must be wondering what choices remain to them.

    Yup. Consider, though: if Rubio becomes the Establishment’s clear choice this early on, he’s up against a fractured not-Establishment field of Trump, Carson, and Cruz. He can more or less coast to the nom with his 51% while the rest limp on with their 20%, 20%, and 9% of the votes.

    The interesting part will be if/when as each of the non-Es drops out: does their support go straight to the remaining non-Es, or does some of it slide over to Rubio?

  50. 50.

    Jeffro

    @Baud: I think he has a sugar daddy or two lined up, plus it’s beginning to be quite clear that the Establishment side is thinning out (no Perry, no Walker, and about to be no Bush).

  52. 52.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Schlemazel: If you read the article they talk about that. While hospital #s overall have dropped, the # of Catholic Hospitals have increased 16%.

  54. 54.

    NorthLeft12

    @Goblue72: The article said he had stopped watching CSI and was now watching FOX News instead. Now that is very sad.

    Not sure why he would watch Fox News as he would not be remembered fondly by that noise machine, and his latest entry into the GOP Hunger Games would probably get mauled as well.

    Perhaps……..”He believed it was his love of hatred that kept him going.”
    The Boondocks Granddads Fight Aaron McGruder & Rodney Barnes

  55. 55.

    ThresherK

    @Another Holocene Human: Well, “pain” is different now. Currently a car becomes no longer worth it because of the failure of expensive subsystems which cannot be repaired cheaply nor removed without a major impact on usability. Complicating things are the small spaces one has to work in.

    I’ve never driven the kind of cars my Dad grew up with, when machining tolerances were 50x what they were when I was a teenaged car shopper, and checking oil was something you did every week or oftener. And I’ve done enough wrenching on my vintage motorcycle to not be totally in the dark.

  56. 56.

    Schlemazel

    @Another Holocene Human:
    People used to ask “why’d you move from Florida to Minnesota? If gets really cold there!” I’d tell them “Its warm in hell too but I find Minnesota a nice place to live.”

    We met some really nice people in FLA but many many more nut jobs, people who wanted the government to do things for them but didn’t think they should have to pay for it. I understand why so many Republicans think FREE STUFF, it’s because thats what they want, the best roads, schools, public services, policing but shouldn’t have to be taxed because that would be tryanny!.

  57. 57.

    PurpleGirl

    @Another Holocene Human: Going to good schools doesn’t mean one has learned anything or that the knowledge has stayed with a person. Yes, the Bushs went to good schools but they didn’t learn anything and they didn’t WANT to learn anything. They are legacies in schools and in business, with other people making sure they have their needs provided for.

  60. 60.

    Schlemazel

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    My BP is is high enough on its own, reading that would probably not be good for me. But yes, the church is consolidating medical care. Its good business with the side benefit of being able to enforce their version of morality when they are unable to do it via legislation.

  61. 61.

    ThresherK

    @ThresherK: A few decades ago, rust was pain, more or less depending on the maker. Before that, many engines and drivetrains that gave fine service on the roads of the 30s and 40s simply couldn’t take the demands of being put on the interstates of the 50s and 60s without flying apart in a relatively few miles.

    (My edit window evaporated during composition.)

  62. 62.

    debbie

    “Let’s create a little bit of a recession in Washington.”

    I think this must be the new GOP talking point. Kasich said pretty much the same thing, after years of touting his ability to balance the federal budget:

    Those sorts of increases [Kasich increased some taxes to offset his breaks to businesses, wealthy, etc.] aren’t included in Kasich’s plan to balance the federal budget, unveiled Thursday. Instead, his campaign projects his tax cuts would grow the budget deficit in the first few years, before sparking growth that would eventually offset lost tax revenue.

    His plan also relies on limits in the growth of spending on Medicare and Medicaid, along with the freeze on nonmilitary spending.

    Acknowledging the economy could be harmed is a new thing, but I can’t imagine it will fly very far with the Tea Partiers screaming for a balanced budget and lower taxes.

    http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/10/15/john-kasich-leans-tax-cuts-spending-freeze-plan-balancing-federal-budget/73981478/

  63. 63.

    raven

    @ThresherK: My 62 GMC had this weird thing where it would vibrate like hell at about 50 and smooth out at 60. Proly tie rod ends or ball joints. My “new” 66 has an all rebuilt front end and it’s no problem.

  65. 65.

    ThresherK

    @raven: I grew up (figuratively) on the seat of a ’64 Dodge pickup with a Slant Six. More than once my parents hosed out the interior. Boy howdy, I miss the days when someone really had to want it to drive a truck at 60mph. The rattles, the cornering (sic) limits, the noise.

    I’m convinced that the ride comfort of modern trucks have made poseurs of many younger folk* who simply don’t know what they’re doing with something that big. I wouldn’t care, but this “right to a 300 hp SUV” thing gives a bad name to people like my brother, who can park a box truck in a phone booth, and it is a threat to my life and limb when I on my motorcycle or bicycle.

    (*Yes, I want them to get off of my lawn.)

  66. 66.

    Sherparick

    @prufrock: “He is watching Fox.” The decline and corruption of the American ruling class is summed up in that sentence. Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes have a wonderful business model, telling all the old rich white guys like themselves about how wonderful they are and how victimized they are by the “moochers and takers” out there, particularly the Black and Brown moocher and takers. At times it seems like we are reenacting Blazing Saddles on a national scale.

    This points to one of the problems of getting your information from Faux news. For the last six years they have been repeating that Obama and the Democrats have made a huge increase in Federal Government, adding a ‘huge” number of overpaid Federal employees. JEB!, because he gets his “news” from Fox and the WSJ editorial page probably believes this to the case. When it is pointed out that under Obama Federal jobs have decreased (and the only exception was 2009-2010 when lots of temporary workers were added for the Census and dispensed with once the Census was done in the summer of 2010), they simply respond “that can’t be true.” http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/01/14/job-shifts-under-obama-fewer-government-workers-more-caregivers-servers-and-temps/

  67. 67.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven:

    this weird thing where it would vibrate like hell at about 50 and smooth out at 60.

    Sounds more like a broken belt in one of the tires. They will hit resonance at certain speeds and then flatten out at higher speeds. Bad tie rod ends and ball joints show up in sloppy and loose steering and alignments.

  68. 68.

    Jeffro

    @Sherparick:

    they simply respond “that can’t be true.

    Same thing with deportations of illegal immigrants increasing during the Obama years, same thing with health care costs flatlining instead of skyrocketing since Obamacare started, etc etc.

    They just can’t believe that under the direction of smart, humane, thoughtful people…government works.

  71. 71.

    gvg

    @ThresherK: Deaths from car crashes has been going down to where other things will be the big killers. I like the looks of many older cars, but there is no way I will drive one again. I will never take my nephew in one either. Even the difference between a 10 year old car and a new one have my sister and I discussing how we probably won’t drive them into the ground like we used to. Not everyone see’s it that way.
    My Uncle has a restored 70’s muscle car. He drives it to nearby shows or trailers it, so that’s OK. Were you just going to own it and drive on special days, or are you considering a daily driver? It’s probably a waste using something like that for regular commutes.

  73. 73.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @ThresherK: Slant sixes were great to work on. I changed a friend’s starter on a slant six in about 5 minutes without even getting under the car. It was right there.

    These days, you’re lucky if you can see and get to anything mechanical on an engine without spending half an hour removing plastic covers and hoses and wires and belly pans and …

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  74. 74.

    raven

    @ThresherK: My 66 has a retrofit power steering unit. One morning I jumped on the bypass and hauled ass to the parts store. When I got back in I started her up and turned the steering wheel. “BOOm”, the ps unit mounting bolts had popped right through the frame. I went on ChevyTalk and posted it an got tons of messages. “Happened all the time. Many people just puled the ps unit off wrecks, punched holes in the frame and away they went. Over time the torque wore the holes out and they broke. It is so common that a company makes a frame support that sandwiches on the frame and adds the necessary support.

  76. 76.

    Cervantes

    @Jeffro:

    They just can’t believe that under the direction of smart, humane, thoughtful people…government works.

    In this connection you mentioned “deportations of illegal immigrants increasing during the Obama years.” To what extent are these deportations humane? (You may be right. I’m just curious to know if you’re making a positive assertion to this effect.)

  77. 77.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Baud: You could ask the same about so many of the GOP candidates. Why are Jendal, Kasich, and Glimore still running? They’re not even viable VP candidates.

  78. 78.

    Schlemazel

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
    many engines today come with a plastic cover so when you open the hood you can’t see the engine. It’s insane. I carpool with a guy that is a shade tree mechanic and he is getting increasingly frustrated. Someone brought him a car with a bad front bearing but the bearing is integrated into the entire drive structure so there is no way to just press in a new bearing, he had to buy a whole new arm for a few hundred bucks. Its almost as if they are qorking up to disposable cars. Drive it till something goes wrong then just toss it because its cheaper to buy new

  80. 80.

    Baud

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Kasich has a shot at being the respectable establishment candidate. I don’t think Christie does anymore.

    Jindal is auditioning for the wingnut welfare circuit.

    Gilmore is a mystery and always has been.

  81. 81.

    Schlemazel

    @raven:
    Back about ’68 I helped a friend rebuild the 4 cyl in his Chevy Nova, we did actually stand inside the engine compartment for some things. Cars are just not that large any more.

  82. 82.

    NotMax

    Whew. One knows the years are creeping up when it take three tries to successfully get up from the desk chair.

  86. 86.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Baud: Didn’t Kasich expand Medicare under the dreaded Obamacare though? I don’t think that will go over well with the GOP base and I can’t see the Koch Brothers supporting such a travesty. .

  90. 90.

    NotMax

    @raven

    Room to dangle the legs inside the engine compartment while sitting on the fender in the ’68 Chrysler Town & Country with the 440 V-8 that owned before moving here.

  92. 92.

    Sherparick

    Speaking of assholes, Steve M at “No More Mister Nice Blog” catches this gem from Peggy Noonan, who no matter what crazy thing a Republican says or does, knows that the true source of the problem is the Black Guy in the White House and all the stupid Democrats who put him there. Noonan says “Thanks Obama” for Trump, Carson, etc. putting the shiv into her fav JEB!.

    http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2015/10/peggy-noonan-you-know-what-else-is.html#links

  93. 93.

    bystander

    After hearing how much repubs are looking for outsiders with no experience in governance to be the next POTUS, I think I remember some vague comments about how America didn’t need some inexperienced community organizer in the WH. But I probably am misremembering.

  97. 97.

    Patricia Kayden

    @bystander: Just like Repubs made a huge fuss (and still do) about President Obama’s father not being American and yet have nothing to say about Cruz’ or Rubio’s parentage. Repubs are nothing if they aren’t hypocrites.

  98. 98.

    NotMax

    Heh.

    The man who has become the public face of rising drug prices says he has donatedto presidential candidate Bernie Sanders — who has been bashing Big Pharma on the campaign trail — to try to get a meeting so the two can talk it out.
     
    Sanders isn’t interested. His campaign said Thursday that he’s giving the money to a Washington health clinic instead — and the drug executive isn’t getting the meeting. Source

  101. 101.

    bystander

    I caught a clip of Trump complaining about how hot the facility was where the last repub debate was held. He said to the effect, “It must have been 110 degrees in there. Poor Chris Christie. Can you imagine?” And that’s how you sway the obese voter!

  105. 105.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I had no idea they had cameras back in the last ice age!

    Don’t be an asshole. He’s not that old – try the Stone Age, OK? Well, maybe the Bronze Age.

  109. 109.

    Davebo

    He’s watching Fox, getting mad at people that attack me and stuff like that.

    How many thousands of hours does he have to watch Fox to run across someone attacking Jeb!

  112. 112.

    SFAW

    @JoJo:

    I had a 74 Dart Sport with a 360 V8. You could actually see the needle on the gas gauge drop when you hit the accelerator.

    Not surprising, considering the ballast you probably needed in the trunk, to keep it from doing a reverse wheelie.

  120. 120.

    Chris

    @Aleta:

    the history of their involvements — Nazis, banks, oil, Saudis, Iran, CIA operations, contras, bin Laden family, business partners, money-making out of failures and destruction and favors

    Let’s not be leaving Prescott Bush’s accomplishments out of the picture!

  121. 121.

    SFAW

    @rikyrah:

    But, BLACK PEOPLE are the ones that want FREE STUFF, JEB?!

    Hard to argue with the truth. Free T-bone steaks will bankrupt this country, you know. Especially when consumed by strapping young bucks who should be out in the fields, picking cotton.*

    *ETA: Where you can hear them singing “I get no kick from champagne.”

  124. 124.

    Southern Beale

    Didn’t Jeb Bush have an “Aqua Buddha” moment? I’m remembering something from way back when W was president, about Jb having some kind of Chinese name or something … anyone else remember that?

  126. 126.

    Davebo

    This surprises me a lot.

    Bernie has almost twice the cash on hand than Ted Cruz who has the most on hand of all GOP candidates.

    What really surprises me is that Ted Cruz has the most among the red candidates!

    I really didn’t see that coming.

  128. 128.

    jonas

    @Another Holocene Human: This was the underpinning of the liberal arts curriculum for centuries. Learning Latin and Greek laid the foundations of proper grammar and rhetorical style — which is also why nineteenth century English prose often has an odd, stilted feel to it compared to how it’s written today. You were taught to write Latin first, and then make your English sound like good Latin (e.g. no split infinitives). I once heard that for the graduate Ph.D exam, an eminent Ivy League Classics department once required you to translate a chapter of Gibbon *back into* Latin, because it’s clear he was thinking in Latin even as he wrote English.

  130. 130.

    Cervantes

    @Betty Cracker:

    Yip Harburg was an excellent lyricist, a great American, and a wonderful friend.

    The US government, in the grubby little hands of Joe McCarthy and his thugs, for years treated him like dirt — as did Hollywood when it was profitable to do so. It was a disgrace heaped upon a disgrace, never to be forgiven.

  132. 132.

    EconWatcher

    Sometimes you have to step back and remember the big picture:

    Jeb and George are a couple of lazy, none-too-bright frat boys who would have ended up regional sales managers for an office supply company, were it not for fabulous family wealth and connections.

    I’d like to ask each of them, tell me, what’s so special about you, other than what you were given?

    It’s really even truer of Jeb than George. Although it was always lost on me, I suppose to some George has a certain boyish bravado and charm.

    Jeb has nothing, absolutely nothing.

  133. 133.

    Chris

    @Another Holocene Human:

    Yeah, I know Betty and Gator90 will get mad that I dissed Florida. I live in the country part of Florida. It is hell to me because I have lived in a first world country called America and now I live in a 2nd world shithole called America. I am tormented daily by the knowledge that “it” doesn’t have to be this way. But I am surrounded by “assholes” who know no better. Not to mention the active ideologues striving to actually make things worse.
    …
    And the weather is actually okay for me health-wise (I have no desire to move to CA for example specifically because it’s too dry) but I’m not fucking in love with it either. I am sick and tired of the notion I should endure poor wages and working conditions because of the magical weather wage. Really? Hey, I’m not afraid of a little chill. Bring it on.

    I’ve lived in Florida since 2012 (Miami for most of grad school, currently a small coastal town up north), and had family here for much longer. Go right ahead and diss it. Moving here from DC, which actually has decent public transportation, Miami was underwhelming to say the least. Then, this was the state in which I turned 26 and had to start looking for my own health insurance – which was a delightful look at what’s laughingly called a safety net in this state (and a close up look at the whole Medicaid expansion argument). The weather’s a topic for a whole other post, though I don’t mind it as much as so many others seem to.

    Florida is far from being the only state that believes there’s no such thing as society (I’ve called the South a third world country that survives by being tacked onto a first world economy, and I still stand by that – and it’s not just the South). And I’m sure a lot of other states are worse than Florida, but it could be a whole lot better too.

    There’s a lot of people in Miami that I’ll miss when the master’s is over, but honestly, most of these people, whether they’re Miami natives or also just down here for college, are looking to fuck off to someplace like NY or DC too when they’re done.

  134. 134.

    FlipYrWhig

    @EconWatcher:

    Jeb and George are a couple of lazy, none-too-bright frat boys who would have ended up regional sales managers for an office supply company

    David Brent? I can see that.

  135. 135.

    Elizabelle

    @Davebo: I think Cruz was hoovering up cash from the megadonor families. (NY Times expose: 156 families have provided half of the cash in the 2016 presidential campaign; 136 to Republicans. A lot was going to Cruz.)

    NY Times: The Families Funding the 2016 Presidential Election

    The three families who have provided the largest donations in the campaign to date — the Wilks family of Texas, which made billions providing trucks and equipment in the shale fields; the Mercers of New York, headed by the hedge fund investor Robert Mercer; and Toby Neugebauer, a Texas-born private equity investor — have backed Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a socially conservative Tea Party firebrand disdained by Republican leaders.

    Per the graphic, Cruz has taken $26 million from two families: $15 mill from the Wilks clan; $11 mill from one hedge funder, Robert Mercer.

  136. 136.

    Cervantes

    @Gian:

    Great point — and there’s more where that came from.

    Ask Bush père about democracy — and slaughter — in Panama, for example.

  137. 137.

    NonyNony

    @Davebo:

    Even more interesting than the cash on hand, scroll down to the table of millions of dollars raised and spent by each candidate and look at that. Sanders is fifth overall behind Jeb!, Clinton, Rubio and Cruz in the number of dollars raised (including SuperPAC and other PAC donations through June 30th). And he’s got 0 SuperPAC/PAC dollars raised at all. If you look at just the money that the campaigns have on hand, he’s SECOND in raising money for funding his campaign – Clinton has raised about twice as much so far, but everyone else is behind him.

    This breakdown is astounding to me – I would have assumed that Jeb! at least was going to be on par with Clinton as far as campaign dollars raised and that the reason his campaign was reported to be having some cash flow problems was because he was spending so much trying to get Trump off his back. But no – he’s raised less money directly for his campaign than Carson has! His SuperPAC is doing amazingly well, but he can go ask Rick Perry and Scott Walker how much having millions in their SuperPAC has helped them in their race to the White House this year.

  138. 138.

    Cervantes

    @EconWatcher:

    Jeb and George are a couple of lazy, none-too-bright frat boys […] It’s really even truer of Jeb than George.

    I can tell you that as an older teen and through college, Jeb Bush was not lazy. How hard he works now in this campaign I can’t say.

  139. 139.

    SFAW

    @EconWatcher:

    I’d like to ask each of them, tell me, what’s so special about you, other than what you were given?

    I don’t know, it takes a special kind of talent to run a bunch of companies, including a baseball team and an oil company. Run them into the ground, that is, and to stay afloat only through getting propped up by Poppy’s rich friends. It used to be that you’d practically have to try to bankrupt a sports franchise to be able to do so, because things were so stacked in the owner’s favor.

    W lucked out with 9/11 in more ways than one – had that not happened, the SEC might have continued its investigation into Harken Oil.

    So when people talk about W running the country like a business — well, he did. He ran it like every other business he touched..

  140. 140.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Caravelle: The fact that FOX is attacking Jeb? is proof positive that he just doesn’t have it…they never, ever, attacked his brother, even at his lowest point. If he’s lost FOX news, he’s lost.

  141. 141.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Southern Beale: The “unleash Chang” speech?

    http://www.gainesville.com/article/20050918/COLUMNS/50917061

    He got the expression from his dad, and apparently didn’t understand that it wasn’t originally in reference to some ancient “mystical warrior” but to Chiang Kai-Shek. “Unleash Chiang” was a popular wingnut slogan back in the day when Red-baiting hardliners in the US fantasized that Chiang could somehow reconquer the mainland if the commie-symps in the United States would only let him.

    http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2005/10/unleash_chiang_.html

  142. 142.

    Jeffro

    @Elizabelle: that NYTimes article has even a few of my right-leaning friends shaking their heads…it’s amazing that so very few have such a controlling stake in this election.

  143. 143.

    SFAW

    @Jeffro:

    that NYTimes article has even a few of my right-leaning friends shaking their heads

    Not that they’ll do anything positive about it.

  144. 144.

    boatboy_srq

    Mr. Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, is “91 years old, but he’s just as strong as a goat,” he said.

    Maybe it’s just me, but (speaking as a Downeastah) calling your own father an “old goat” isn’t exactly either complimentary or prudent, no matter how you stretch it out.

  145. 145.

    EconWatcher

    @Cervantes:

    I’m with Mandalay, a little soft on HW myself, in part by contrast with his worthless spawn.

    HW risked his life for the country at 18, spent many years building his way to the Presidency, and (with some extremely notable lapses like Justice Thomas) seemed to value competence. I think his judgment on Gulf War I was also good.

    But he must know, deep down, that anything good he ever achieved was far overshadowed by the damage he inflicted on the country by helping his namesake take the Presidency. He’s not stupid. He’s gotta know that.

  146. 146.

    SFAW

    @EconWatcher:

    He’s not stupid. He’s gotta know that.

    Except that when he and Babs are talking, he says “Did you see what YOUR kid(s) did now? Jesus H Christ!”

  147. 147.

    Matt McIrvin

    @EconWatcher: At the time, GHWB also seemed smarter and more competent than Ronald Reagan, which he probably was.

    But the sheer nastiness of his 1988 presidential campaign still leaves a bad taste. Just the Willie Horton ad and “what is Governor Dukakis’s problem with the Pledge of Allegiance?” alone.

  148. 148.

    Cervantes

    @EconWatcher:

    a little soft on HW myself

    Your prerogative, of course.

    I’m not moved by the contrast with his sons. He did a lot of awful things in his own right, beginning in Texas Republican politics by happily utilizing the Birchers to hoist himself up the ladder. In between that and the self-serving pardons mentioned above, there were a slew of offenses and crimes that have until now prevented me from being “a little soft” on him.

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Just the Willie Horton ad and “what is Governor Dukakis’s problem with the Pledge of Allegiance?” alone.

    Yes. Unforgettable.

  149. 149.

    gelfling545

    @Another Holocene Human: In my high school (pardon me, Catholic Girl’s Academy) back in the day Freshman year was Latin for everybody. Sophomore year was more Latin & a modern language. In junior year you could drop Latin but almost nobody in the college prep track did. I remain grateful to this day for that opportunity.

  152. 152.

    danielx

    @ThresherK:

    Brings up bad memories for me; I totalled my dad’s cherry ’66 Studebaker (just like one of those) six days after I got my driver’s license. He forgave me (eventually), but never forgot.

    Also, too, it’s 50 outside right now and supposed to be down to 33 tonight. Beautiful crystalline blue sky that only shows in autumn….

  153. 153.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Matt McIrvin: don’t forget “card-carrying member of the ACLU”

    Whatever regrets he has about his son’s presidency, his own ride-the-tiger demagoguery set the stage for it, and for Newt Gingrich before that. We’re all reaping what sowed. He wasn’t alone, but he’s as guilty as any of them.

  154. 154.

    Rand Careaga

    @Southern Beale:

    Didn’t Jeb Bush have an “Aqua Buddha” moment? I’m remembering something from way back when W was president, about Jb having some kind of Chinese name or something?

    It’s actually funnier than that. Jeb was referring to a bit of family lore wherein GHWB would threaten to “unleash Chiang.” This was a reference to Chinese civil war silver medalist Chiang Kai-Shek, of whom Jeb had apparently never heard. Details here.

  155. 155.

    NonyNony

    @Davebo:

    Cash on hand numbers are indeed the campaign’s cash, not SuperPAC cash – the table further down shows the numbers matching the campaigns’ cash.

    Also if the article Elizabelle links to is correct and Cruz really did get $26 million from two families into his SuperPAC, that’s most of his SuperPAC at the time that was reported – the numbers show his SuperPAC reporting $38 million as of June 30th (which is the last time they were required to report).

  157. 157.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    also, too, The Magick Dolphin Lady says Obama is to blame for Trump, because he “lowered the bar” for who could be president– I can’t copy the text cited, and don’t subscribe to the WSJ, but Simon Malloy tweeted a longish excerpt of her drooled Bailey’s-and-Popov breakfast blend.

  159. 159.

    MomSense

    @Another Holocene Human:

    And the weather is actually okay for me health-wise (I have no desire to move to CA for example specifically because it’s too dry) but I’m not fucking in love with it either. I am sick and tired of the notion I should endure poor wages and working conditions because of the magical weather wage. Really? Hey, I’m not afraid of a little chill. Bring it on.

    We have poor wages and working conditions here in the land of the big chill, too. It’s the norm in the US of A. Every week or so someone up heah complains to me about “welfare” I always tell them that I’m more upset about how much money we give to subsidize the food and housing of Walmart employees when that company can damn well afford to pay their employees more.

    Amazing how every single time I get this blank expression when I bring this up.

  160. 160.

    Paul in KY

    @SFAW: ‘I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy!’

    Edit: This was actually meant for a Matt McIrvin comment #146

  162. 162.

    Matt McIrvin

    @gvg:

    Deaths from car crashes has been going down to where other things will be the big killers.

    Deaths from guns are on a track to exceed deaths from cars this year, and most of that is because deaths from cars are decreasing, to an extent that must have seemed like a fantasy back in the 1970s. I remember thinking of traffic fatalities as one of those bad things that was just going to inevitably get worse forever.

    The chart of automobile deaths over time is curiously lumpy. There was a drop starting around 1979, another one in the early ’90s, and another one starting around 2007 to the present day, with shallow increases in between. 1979 and 2007 both had huge spikes in gasoline prices that might have motivated people to replace their old gas-guzzlers with cars that were incidentally safer. The early-90s one was probably the effect of the wave of seat-belt laws.

  163. 163.

    mclaren

    @Goblue72:

    There’s something oddly mundane and a little sad to think of Bush the elder watching CSI reruns in his dotage.

    Seems obvious to me. He’s trying to figure out how to better cover up the evidence of his family’s crimes.

  164. 164.

    Joel

    Jeb is still the favorite among betting sites, but his odds have been drifting (getting longer) since the beginning of August.

    Trump’s odds have been shortening but no one seems to be totally confident in him. In his stead, you have Rubio in second place.

  166. 166.

    mclaren

    @Baud:

    “I’m happy I got my mom’s support,” he said. “That was huge. That was a big first step.”
    This is kind of sad, no?

    No, it’s scary. Read between the lines. If Jeb doesn’t get the Shelob of Kennebunkport on his side, he’s going to need a 50-gallon barrel of anti-venom.

  168. 168.

    Joel

    @Matt McIrvin: Lower youth driving rates might be a big factor? Reducing the riskiest pool of drivers can’t hurt. I also wonder if motorcycle use is declining. Seems that way.

  169. 169.

    Chris

    @EconWatcher:

    His World War Two record is something I put to his credit, like McCain in Vietnam. But like McCain in Vietnam, it only goes so far. Comparing H.W. to his sons, or Reagan, might make him look good, but by the same token, my memory is that he largely accepted the takeover of his party by the Reagan wing and was happy to follow in his footsteps.

  171. 171.

    mclaren

    Mr. Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, is “91 years old, but he’s just as strong as a goat,” he said.

    A goat that can’t walk and has to wear a neck brace, that is.

    Jeb Bush is as smart as a sea urchin isn’t. He shows the kind of vitality and elan that roadkill don’t. And now his campaign is starting to droop, like pasties on a very old fan dancer at Las Vegas.

    Wow, just like his brother, Jeb can’t handle the English language either, can he?

  172. 172.

    Zinsky

    @Mandalay: Poppy Bush was, and is, pure human filth. The October Surprise, arming Saddam Hussein, Iran Contra, Jennifer Fitzgerald, Clintons passport exposed – if only this bastard would have been sterilized at puberty, this world would be a much better place!

  173. 173.

    Mike in NC

    JEBzzz living in his own fantasyland. Poppy and Bar appeared at a baseball game last week, each looking like they had one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. But they’re watching FOX and are strong as goats. Gotcha.

  175. 175.

    Chris

    @MomSense:

    Things suck in greater or lesser measure all over the place, but the “greater or lesser measure” makes quite a bit of difference.

    Co-worker who just moved down here used to live in New York, and his description of the kind of social programs he was able to rely on up there when he was in trouble made me incredibly jealous. Medicaid being, of course, the biggest one.

    (He’s had a couple times since then when he’s stated that he was making less money here than in NYC, but actually got to keep more of it (less taxes in Florida), and that was awesome. Which to me… is a massive case of penny-wise-and-pound-foolish. Dude, you have no health insurance. Who gives a shit if you have a little more money to spend at the bar at the end of the week? Those taxes are paying for the net that caught you).

  177. 177.

    Cervantes

    @Chris:

    His World War Two record is something I put to his credit

    Plus signing the ADA.

    Breaking his (cheap and demagogic) “pledge” to not raise taxes.

    Yes, these are some good things he did.

    The list in the other column is a hell of a lot longer.

  178. 178.

    mclaren

    @Mike in NC:

    Poppy and Bar appeared at a baseball game last week, each looking like they had one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.

    Dunno about that. Bar Bush is going to be around for a long, long time. The blood of many human victims keeps her strong, and doubtless her kids haul in the victims too strong for her to catch herself, so Bar can wind them in cocoons and hang them from the ceiling as snacks. The Shelob of Kennebunkport may be old, but her venom sacs are still pulsating with hunger.

  179. 179.

    oldgold

    @Elizabelle:

    These two families are so put upon by folks getting free stuff that they can give a “no – chancer’ like Cruz $26 million. What in the hell is wrong with these people? When is enough, enough.?

  181. 181.

    Betty Cracker

    @MomSense: Kudos to you for bringing it up — keep up the good work! Consistently pushing back against the nonsense is the only path toward progress. Repetition of lies got us where we are; repetition of truth will get us out.

  182. 182.

    J R in WV

    @Aleta:

    You left out the most damaging history, that of Prescott Bush’s hard work in support of German politics (and you know who) before WW II broke out. After too, actually!

    He made millions of dollars working for the German ruling party in the 1930s and 1940s, and strongly opposed the United States providing aid to Great Britain, when the lend-lease aid was all that was keeping the English population fed.

  183. 183.

    the Conster

    Jeb Bush Verified account
    ‏@JebBush

    Iran tests missiles threatening Israel, shows off missile bases, doubles down in Syria & preaches death to America/Israel. “Smart power?”

    Donald T. Trump ‏@reaDonaldTrump 40m40 minutes ago

    @JebBush You’re starting to sound like a warmonger! You should go do some more bongs

    Retweets
    4
    Favorites
    6

    7:07 AM – 16 Oct 2015 · Details

    This is what the Republican party has become – a racist blowhard thin skinned babyman twittering at an over-entitled clueless babyman.

  184. 184.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Joel: Quite possibly. People also drive less in general during economic recessions, and those periods of steepest decline all coincided with recessions, but the fatal accident rate didn’t shoot back up when the recession was over (just-so story: maybe the first thing people did when they were feeling flush again was buy a new, safer car).

  185. 185.

    Peale

    @Matt McIrvin: While it takes awhile for such things to have an impact as cars stay on the road a long time, the advent of rear cameras and lane sensors and their circulation down to affordable cars has something to do with that. Also, to, GPS. That annoying voice that tells you to prepare to turn or go straight actually keeps drivers focused on the road.

  187. 187.

    NonyNony

    @Cervantes: In comparison, his son W signed the Do Not Call List into law. It’s literally the only good thing I can recall getting done while he was President.

    I would assume that were Jeb! to become President, his list of good accomplishments would be even smaller than W’s.

  188. 188.

    Cervantes

    @NonyNony:

    In comparison, his son W signed the Do Not Call List into law. It’s literally the only good thing I can recall getting done while he was President.

    And does it work?

  189. 189.

    Shana

    @Another Holocene Human: My daughters’ Latin teacher here in Fairfax County VA did the same thing with the songs. They loved it, and you’re right, it teaches you so much about languages in general that anything else is easier.

  190. 190.

    Fair Economist

    @jonas:

    Learning Latin and Greek laid the foundations of proper grammar and rhetorical style — which is also why nineteenth century English prose often has an odd, stilted feel to it compared to how it’s written today….I once heard that for the graduate Ph.D exam, an eminent Ivy League Classics department once required you to translate a chapter of Gibbon *back into* Latin, because it’s clear he was thinking in Latin even as he wrote English.

    Insisting English have Latin grammar is pretty silly for a lot of reasons, but Latin is a great language to think and write complex ideas because the distinctive endings for different word uses make it much easier to express complex sentences unambiguously.

  193. 193.

    eyelessgame

    @jonas: Hearing stories like that causes the existence of things like “Cattus Petasatus”, the translation of the Cat in the Hat into Latin, to make a lot more sense.

  194. 194.

    NonyNony

    @Cervantes: Works for me – the only calls on the landline I get these days are charities that I’ve told are allowed to call me and people running political polls.

  195. 195.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Peale: I would have expected GPS units (and phones running nav software) to be more of a dangerous distraction. At least the in-dash ones often have safety features that prevent you from fiddling with the screen when the car is moving.

    I suppose they also keep people from getting flustered and doing stupid things just from being lost. Trying to figure out where the hell you are and how to get back to the highway can keep you from concentrating on your immediate surroundings.

  196. 196.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @Cervantes:

    And does it work?

    It never worked for us.

    When we still had our landline, we averaged about twenty telemarketer calls a day. Scam artists pretending to “take surveys” while asking increasingly personal financial questions. Robocalls as well. Many of them eventually became hangup calls after I cursed out one of the scam artists.

    Along with being registered with the national Do Not Call List, I would always tell them “I’m not interested, and please put us on your Do Not Call List, and I remember one of them chuckling before he hung up.

  197. 197.

    Jeffro

    @Bobby Thomson: I was working off of this

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/2016_republican_presidential_nomination-3823.html

    which has Trump at 24%, Carson at 20%, and Cruz at 7% (i.e., non-Establishment vote at 51%). If Rubio becomes the Establishment choice and can consolidate all of that side (a mighty big “if”, of course) then he only needs to peel away a couple % points from the non-Es in order to have majority support and therefore the nomination.

    Obviously there’s still a lot of other candidates still in the race, and this assumes that the non-Es keep splitting that vote…two could drop out and the remaining one could consolidate all of that side. But there’s real potential here for Rubio with Perry & Walker out, and Bush dropping like this.

  200. 200.

    pacem appellant

    @Amir Khalid: Thank you Amir. I was going to say the same thing. Two options to fix the sentence:

    “…where a close-but-not-perfect simulacrum of humanity disturbs our identification.”
    or
    “…where close-but-not-perfect simulacra of humanity disturb our identification.”

    The second version implies that there are multiple, perhaps competing, images of humanity in the Uncanny Valley. Though I suspect @Anne Laurie meant the former.

  201. 201.

    Fair Economist

    @qwerty42:

    (when was the last you used or encountered the subjunctive in English? I mean, if I were king, I might dispense with it altogether, but still …)

    I recently learned some Italian for a trip, and I think it’s a real loss we don’t have a proper subjunctive. Italian uses the subjunctive for thoughts and beliefs, so speaking Italian (well) is a constant lesson in philosophy, constantly reminding you that just because you *think* something is true doesn’t mean it’s *actually* true.

    I’d try to speak English that way, but because our conjugations are so minimal you can’t tell the subjunctive from the indicative except in third person singular there’s not really much point.

  203. 203.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Peale: My wife’s new car has, not just a rear camera, but cameras all around it, whose images get stitched into a synthetic overhead view on the dash display.

    If nothing else, it’s great for peace of mind over the possibility that you’ll run over a little kid backing out of a driveway. That was always one of my mother’s major terrors when I was growing up.

  205. 205.

    Jeffro

    @the Conster:

    You’re starting to sound like a warmonger! You should go do some more bongs

    0_0

    See, Peggy Noonan is right, this is just the kind of thing Obama is responsible for…

  206. 206.

    catclub

    @Zinsky:

    Clintons passport exposed

    The fact that GWB admin did not support the Obama was born in Kenya thing should have been decisive. Obama must have applied for passports. That requires a birth certificate.

  208. 208.

    Mandalay

    @EconWatcher:

    HW risked his life for the country at 18

    Indeed. And I suspect that’s far more than the armchair heroes here have done, while they condescendingly cherry pick their links to show he is a monster.

    It’s just as easy to cherry pick links to show that Carter and Clinton and (especially) Obama are evil monsters. It goes with the territory of being president. I still think GHW wasn’t such a bad human being, or president.

  209. 209.

    J R in WV

    @ThresherK:

    My dad was a rag-top guy, and the first one he got after we kids could be trusted not to stand up in the back seat of a convertible was a rag-top version of that 1964 Commander.

    It was cherry red with a white top – the only downside was the black interior, which got burn-you hot in the sunshine in moments, so there were giant bath towels to cover the seats when we parked it.

    I say go for the Commander!

    But on the other hand, my Dad’s car had the V-8, so maybe that ’66 Cruiser would be the better choice. While I was in high school Dad’s red convertible would eat the average GTO for lunch, which was a good thing, I’m sure you would agree.

    That Cruiser is a very good looking car! I think the V-8 is worth the extra $600 asked.

  210. 210.

    trollhattan

    @NonyNony:
    That faint rumbling you hear are Brinks Truck rolling, but in this case it’s away from jeb[yawn] and on to the next Great White Dope. Or Rubio.

    Brinks. Trucks. Departing.

  211. 211.

    Patricia Kayden

    @bystander: True although I assume a Palestinian American (someone actually born in the U.S.) would have an impossible time getting either Party’s nomination in the first place. Unfortunately, he/she would have a high hurdle to overcome to even be a viable candidate. Both parties are very pro-Israel and he/she would have to prove that he shared those sentiments.

  212. 212.

    Fair Economist

    @Fair Economist:

    Insisting English have Latin grammar is pretty silly for a lot of reasons

    See, the subjunctive is useful!

    Insisting English has Latin grammar

    means something quite different. I should cook up an example about how the inability to distinguish first person indicative and subjunctive can produce muddled thinking.

  215. 215.

    MomSense

    @Chris:

    No one likes taxes but it would be much easier for all of us to budget and plan, including businesses, if we paid more in a progressive income tax system then the current system of trying to make up shortfalls with increases on fees, property, real estate, sales, lodging, vehicle registrations, excise, etc.

    And all of these fees and local taxes hit lower and middle income people much worse. I also find it incredibly frustrating that the Republicans who advocate for this kind of chaotic, piecemeal financing are the same people who say they want to run government like a business. What kind of business wants this kind of piecemeal income stream??

  216. 216.

    trollhattan

    @Mandalay:
    Clarence Fucking Thomas, your new Thergood Marshall.

    I’ll grant that Poppy was a step up from Reagan (but, so is chlamydia) and the one thing he did that I was genuinely thrilled about was a unilateral nuclear arms reduction.

    One overriding fear I have as the WWII and Cold War generations die off is our lack of pursuing elimination of nuclear arms. That generation understood their importance far more than the current folks at the helm.

  217. 217.

    Brachiator

    “I feel like I’m participating in this a little bit because my candidacy has lifted his spirits,”

    Holu fvck! You mean I will have to put up with these muthafvckers forever, because they see running for president, not as public service, but like fun times at the family barbecue?

    “Hon, pass me some of those ribs, and a Secretary of State, please.”

  218. 218.

    Patricia Kayden

    @mclaren: “A goat that can’t walk and has to wear a neck brace, that is.” LOL.

    Jeb! doesn’t seem to realize that his father, who only served one term, and his brother, who served two disastrous terms, are both liabilities rather than assets for his sinking candidacy. He should be running on his own successes as the Governor of Florida (if there are any) rather than talking about his Pa and Bro, neither of whom is popular with the American people.

  220. 220.

    srv

    which has pro-Bush ads taking up 60 percent of the political airspace in the state

    Driving in Florida is pretty weird. The FM dial is filled with dozens of Christian stations and maybe a single distant rock station. They make Texas look like some Def Leppardville.

  223. 223.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @eyelessgame:

    There’s someone who occasionally comments over at Booman (I think) whose personal tag is:

    If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well it were done subjunctively.

  224. 224.

    Jager

    @ThresherK:

    Unless you only plan to drive it on the weekend-don’t do it. I fell in love with a ’64 Belair 2 door last year. One owner California car with 27,000 actual miles on it. 283 with “three in the tree”. After I drove it was like those warm thoughts one has about an old high school girl friend until you see her 30 years later. The old, red Chevy felt like it was going to tip over going around a corner, the brakes were a joke, it was slow as a slug, the wind noise was unbelievable and you don’t want to ride on bench seats for more than 25 miles. A weekend toy, yes. This is coming from the owner of a ’69 Z28 that sits 90% of the time under a cover taking up space in the garage.

  225. 225.

    srv

    Head Cuck Prince Rebus (or whatever) realizes reality:

    “However, I think that we have become, unfortunately, a midterm party that doesn’t lose and a presidential party that’s had a really hard time winning,” Priebus said. “We’re seeing more and more that if you don’t hold the White House, it’s very difficult to govern in this country — especially in Washington D.C.”

    “So I think that — I do think that we’re cooked as a party for quite a while as a party if we don’t win in 2016. So I do think that it’s going to be hard to dig out of something like that,” Priebus told the Examiner. “I don’t anticipate that. I think … history is on our side.”

    The only man who can disrupt Washington is Trump. It’s time to get with the program, princy boy.

  227. 227.

    Cervantes

    @Brachiator:

    When you saw:

    “I feel like I’m participating in this a little bit because my candidacy has lifted his spirits”

    What did you take that “this” to mean?

  228. 228.

    PurpleGirl

    @Chris: I had friends who tried to get me to move to Florida. I resisted exactly because of the social programs up here in NYC and that the lower taxes didn’t really give me a lot more money since salaries for administrative assistants were so more lower in Floria. (For example, I was already making what in Florida was the top possible salary.) It really didn’t balance out for me, and since I can’t drive (medical issue) it would be so much harder for me to get around in Florida.

  229. 229.

    trollhattan

    @Paul in KY:
    Certainly agree the missives match the personality and have just presumed that anybody who’s owned cas…er…places where people willingly hand their cash wads to the owners for no known reason has had plenty of like-minded people working for him and keeps a few around to keep the Donald being Donald narrative going.

    The fascinating aspect of his campaign for me is how very easily he laps the enormous cast of opponents because he genuinely understands the role and mechanics of being a very public person and media star. Part of that is getting your supporters, enemies and the merely curious to keep following you just to find out what’s next.

    I can’t name another Republican candidate who can generate a tenth of the interest.

  230. 230.

    SatanicPanic

    @srv:

    Head Cuck Prince Rebus (or whatever) realizes reality:

    You need a decoder ring to understand you people

  231. 231.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Jeffro: so you get there by reclassifying Fiorina, don’t know, and none of the above (and Huckabee, Santorum, etc.) as establishment support, rather than telling a story where Rubio plus Bush plus Kasich plus Christie (I’ll even spot you Graham’s non-support) gets to 51%. Spoiler: it doesn’t.
    Any gains from Perry and Walker have been realized, and haven’t shifted the dynamic favoring outsiders willing to let their freak flags fly.

  232. 232.

    Brachiator

    @Another Holocene Human:

    I had to fight to get Latin in public school. I found it was a big help studying other subjects

    The Times of London is calling out to you.

    TIMES CROSSWORD IN LATIN

    Yesterday’s Times (of London) newspaper included a crossword where all the answers were in Latin. Latin crosswords will now appear on a weekly basis in the newspaper. The first crossword was published in the Times in February 1930, and a few weeks later the newspaper published a Latin version. However, until yesterday, there hadn’t been another one in the 85 years since then.

    An article in the Times (which only subscribers can see, but there is a copy here) said that anyone with a basic grounding in Latin should be able to solve the puzzle. It is called O Tempora, the name being taken from Cicero’s comment on the dissolute customs in Rome in 63BC, O tempora o mores (oh the times, oh the customs). It is set by Auctor. Llewelyn Morgan, an Oxford don, said that the Romans were very keen on puns and anagrams, such as amor (love) being Roma in reverse.

    http://virtuallinguist.typepad.com/the_virtual_linguist/2015/10/times-crossword-in-latin.html

  234. 234.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    “I notice he’s not watching ‘CSI’ reruns anymore. He’s watching Fox, getting mad at people that attack me and stuff like that. I feel like I’m making a contribution to keep him strong.

    Good God. He thinks this is a good thing, and he wants people to know it about his father. Embittered resentment fueled by a political propaganda network.

  235. 235.

    Jager

    @raven:

    I had a ’57 Belair post coupe in high school, we were deathly afraid of getting picked up for minor in possession. I’d pop the hood and put a case of beer in the space between the radiator and the grill.

  237. 237.

    Brachiator

    @Cervantes:

    What did you take that “this” to mean?

    My little joke does not depend on over-analyzing this or that.

    You may take “this” to mean whatever you like.

    @Matt McIrvin

    The Bushes like to leave their daddy issues right out on the table.

    Now that sounds just a little creepy.

  241. 241.

    Jager

    @trollhattan:

    Not bad really, the cool air blowing over the case kept it from getting too warm. I tried using a cooler in there, blocked the radiator. Anything was better than the 100 dollar fine and my old man’s wrath. That and my grandfather was a county judge and he would have sent me to prison.

  242. 242.

    Tripod

    The old man’s network in intel and big oil are long gone. W and Jeb never had to build those connections for themselves (handed to them on silver platter), and combined with W’s disastrous administration and the length of time they’ve been out of office, the family has no leverage over the party, donors or the perma-gov.

    JEB! may well be aware of his role in this Grand Guignol family drama, but that doesn’t make it any less weird and creepy.

  243. 243.

    Dmbeaster

    @Another Holocene Human: Remember that they attacked GHWB as a squish even while he was president. The less than tepid support for him was the prime cause for his failure in 1992. The Business like to blame Perot for that, but exit polling showed that Perot voters split evenly between Clinton and Bush if Perot had not jumped back in the race.

  246. 246.

    Sad_Dem

    @prufrock:

    They watch old movies instead. H.W’s handlers should put on Casablanca instead.

    Bedtime for Bonzo? The Good Shepherd? White Heat?

  247. 247.

    Tim C.

    Bush the elder is my very definition of a “Round Earth Republican” Never would vote for him, but he by an large understood that facts are stubborn things and must be dealt with. The purity brigade never forgave him for it. I also remembering thinking on January 20th 2001, something like, “Well… at least this guy will probably be like his dad.”

    I was very very very wrong.

  248. 248.

    Ksmiami

    @the Conster: fu– at least trump has shown he works pretty hard. Jeb is just nothing- I mean fl governor is a joke esp when all he did was ruin the states education system, help get w elected, and basically skull-fk:ed a corpse

  249. 249.

    Cervantes

    @Brachiator:

    My little joke does not depend on over-analyzing this or that. You may take “this” to mean whatever you like.

    That’s nice, but I was asking what you thought Bush meant.

    I guess I’ll die not knowing!

    Have a good evening.

  250. 250.

    mclaren

    @Schlemazel:

    Its almost as if they are working up to disposable cars.

    Mark my words: very soon now new cars will have labels inside the hood — CAUTION: NO USER SERVICABLE PARTS INSIDE.

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