Looks like the shitshow in the House of Representatives is about to cost someone else their political future:
Yup, White Smoke with conditions and a hope to have all groups unify behind him this week. #RunPaulRun
— Rep. Bill Huizenga (@RepHuizenga) October 20, 2015
He basically told them he will run only if the House Freedom Caucus will STFU and follow.
pacem appellant
If it works, well, cons: one less idiot to kick around on the GOP presidential stage. Pros: The house might function? No, that’s a con. Pros: the house Freedom Caucus won’t follow him and it’ll be the same shitshow as always. OK! I found a silver lining. Carry on.
dedc79
I see how it is. Now that your Pirates are eliminated, you jump right on top of the baseball open thread.
dmsilev
So, assuming that the House Freedom [sic] Caucus pinky-swears that they won’t cause any trouble, what exactly keeps them from declaring a week from now that Speaker Ryan has gone back on some nebulous promise and is now persona non grata?
schrodinger's cat
Why don’t the rest of the Republicans undermine by the Freedom Caucus, they only have 40 members. The rest of the party can form a strategic alliance with the Democrats. Stranger things have happened.
Baud
Good for the country if this happens. Until we can take back the House, all we can do is jerry rig the sump pumps to keep the nation from drowing.
Betty Cracker
@schrodinger’s cat: Because they are cowardly shitheads who fear Eric Cantor’s fate.
Ken
Yes, nothing says “Libertarian principles” better than taking one of the three most powerful roles in the U.S. government, while telling your political “allies” that they have to do what you want.
Baud
@schrodinger’s cat:
Dem cooties aka Cleek’s Law.
Jeffro
And we wish him all the best with that!
Seriously, I told my right-leaning dad last week: Ryan will demand that they knock it off as a precondition to him serving as Speaker, and they’ll demand that he agree to only serve until the next election. Ryan’s not stupid: one little bit of disgruntled b.s. to a reporter from the Freedom Caucus and he’ll be gone, leaving the offending Rep on the hook for the ‘comment that broke the GOP’.
(Dad agreed. We don’t agree on much so I know I am smart here.)
schrodinger's cat
@Betty Cracker: Could it be because they are supportive of the Freedom caucus’s demands.
Corner Stone
This guy is EPIC FAIL.
How many potential R Speakers will go down in so many flames?
Baud
@schrodinger’s cat:
Demands. Probably.
Tactics. Probably not.
Corner Stone
@schrodinger’s cat:
That is pure crazy talk. The R party put the necessary parts in place to empower the purist crazy fringe to dominate their party!
Citizens United
Removal of Pork
Gerrymandering
Corner Stone
“Choose me. Or choose…DEATH!”
/Paul Ryan
rikyrah
Less than 24 hours after Ahmed Mohamed met President Obama, his family decided it’s time to leave America for good.
The 14-year-old Texas boy who was arrested for bringing to school a homemade clock that authorities said resembled a bomb will soon be living in Qatar.
“After careful consideration of all the generous offers received, we would like to announce that we have accepted a kind offer from Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF) for Ahmed to join the prestigious QF Young Innovators Program, which reflects the organization’s on-going dedication to empowering young people and fostering a culture of innovation and creativity,” the family said in a press release Tuesday.
—
He was among 300 visitors to “Astronomy Night,” a celebration of science and learning. Bill Nye the Science Guy was there, along with a number of standout students who have been recognized for scientific achievements throughout the country. Though some of those students received shoutouts during President Obama’s comments, there was no mention of Ahmed in the audience. That didn’t stop reporters from shouting to him from behind the rope lines: “Ahmed! How are you feeling?”
Perhaps that’s the question that has been left out of the viral hubbub: what has this been like for Ahmed? To go from a run-of-the-mill 14-year-old to an international symbol for stereotyping in America?
In a phone interview on Tuesday, Ahmed’s 19-year-old sister Eyman said he’s under a pressure they never imagined. It can be a good pressure: “It’s like now he’s motivated to work harder than every before,” she said. “Because people are going to be waiting to see what happened to that 14 year old kid.”
And a bad one: “It’s been really hard. Everything happens for a reason, but there’s so much stuff being said that isn’t true…”
Eyman was referring to a number of conspiracy theories that appeared on the Internet about his arrest. Most attest that the incident was a pre-planned plot to get attention. Some of that skepticism stems from claims against Ahmed’s father, Mohamed Elhassan, who has run for president of Sudan and was present during a high-profile Quaran burning in Florida. Bond, the family friend, said the conspiracies are why Ahmed doesn’t want to go to school in America.
“Everybody’s vilifying him, and he’s not a villain. He’s a 14 year old boy,” Bond said. “The whole world was concerned about this, and it’s impossible that anyone could have expected this international reaction.”
Bond said the family is planning to move next week so Ahmed can begin school at the Qatar Foundation, where he will receive a full scholarship. His parents and two sisters will relocate too. The press release announcing the move may be the last we hear from the family for a while.
It included one statement from Ahmed:
“I loved the city of Doha because it’s so modern. I saw so many amazing schools there, many of them campuses of famous American universities. The teachers were great. I think I will learn a lot and have fun too.”
Ahmed’s sister Eyman said the Middle East won’t feel too different from the U.S., except that the family will be surrounded by Muslims like themselves.
“Qatar is in the Arab world, but it also feels like Texas. It’s like Texas in Qatar.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/clock-kid-ahmed-mohamed-and-his-family-will-move-to-qatar/2015/10/20/a95ed296-7762-11e5-b9c1-f03c48c96ac2_story.html?tid=sm_tw
Villago Delenda Est
@Ken: That’s what Libertarianism is all about. Your freedom is subservient to mine. There can be no equality in a Libertarian society; it’s all about the absolute rights of those who happen to be on the top of the heap. The freedom of those below MUST be subject to the Freedom of those at the top, which is the only proper Freedom.
It’s neo-feudalism, in essence. I’m reminded of Horatio Hornblower marveling over the freedom he enjoyed as the captain of a ship of the line, and his pointed unawareness that the freedom of hundreds of men subordinate to him is subjugated so he can enjoy the freedom he has.
Baud
When you play the Game of Speakers, you win… or you die.
Keith P.
The honeymoon will last until the debt showdown, if the bloggers/radio hosts don’t force him to resign earlier.
Corner Stone
Thomas Mann is a really uncomfortable interviewee. Norm Ornstein is 1000 times better on camera.
NotMax
Fastest
GunBigfoot in the West.:)
Villago Delenda Est
@rikyrah: This is disappointing, but not really all that surprising. The vehement hatred of the wingtards would drive anyone with the opportunity to flee to do so.
Corner Stone
McKay Coppins reminds me of Philip Seymour Hoffman as Capote.
BillinGlendaleCA
@schrodinger’s cat: They’re afraid of be primaried.
The Pale Scot
@Villago Delenda Est:
That’s why I prefer the Bolitho novels
Frankensteinbeck
@rikyrah:
You know what? Yeah. If the kid is going to be subjected to this kind of pressure, take him somewhere that he’ll be an unknown judged solely on his cleverness. Nobody should grow up as the center of conspiracy theorists and having to dodge the revenge of angry and corrupt officials. I am completely in sympathy with his family’s action, here. His father is active in international politics, so no doubt this move will be smoother than it would for a regular family.
I don’t care about the moral victory standing up to local racists. Let the family take care of their son.
aimai
@schrodinger’s cat: Cooties. Or जाति प्रदूषण.
Corner Stone
There are no moderate House Republicans. None.
Paul Ryan is not a moderate. Peter King of NY is not a moderate.
Charlie Dent is not a moderate.
They do not exist. There are none.
aimai
@rikyrah: You have to figure that they got tired of worrying about the death threats in a state filled with open carry assholes.
JPL
@Corner Stone: this It’s that darn window again that keeps moving.
Corner Stone
Mario Lopez is doing commercials against toenail fungus.
Stacy
@Corner Stone: My 12 year old daughter thought the dame thing.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Frankensteinbeck:
That’s what I was thinking, too. The family needs to do what’s best for Ahmed. It just sucks that the best thing for him right now is moving to another country.
dmsilev
Erick, son of Erick, scion of the House of Erick, is not happy:
Should be an …interesting few days.
dedc79
@Villago Delenda Est:
Flashman, at least, was self-aware.
Frankensteinbeck
I am not enthused about this. Paul Ryan is a ghastly piece of work, a true Randian who is better than the Teabaggers only in that he wants to keep enough of the government and economy alive to transfer all remaining wealth to the rich. I predict he will view Boehner’s wildly unprecedented obstructionism and partisanship as a base to build on. And the Teabaggers will still turn on him immediately.
aimai
@Villago Delenda Est: That seems a really weird reading of Horatio Hornblower, who rises up from midshipman and endures all the unfreedom of the ordinary sailor before becoming captain, and whose life (as described in the books) is pretty much an endless struggle against the crushing burdens placed on him at each station by those higher up and/ or in competition with him. The books have tons of detail about how cruel, capricious, dangerous and unpleasant the lives of the ordinary seamen are.
Baud
@Frankensteinbeck:
What option is there?
Redshift
@Keith P.: I hope Ryan has a private deal with Boehner to handle the debt ceiling before he leaves.
Linda Featheringill
I am so sorry to hear about Ahmed. I understand, but I’m very saddened.
I think we just failed a test.
raven
@Linda Featheringill: Nah, we would have failed if we made him stay.
Baud
@raven:
We never make anyone stay. Closest we came was Elian Gonzalez.
catclub
@Redshift: That would be too sensible.
Tom Q
From the GOP point of view, the best part of having Ryan as figurehead is it will get the DC press corps back into its preferred “both sides are reasonable” mode. Analysis over the past weeks makes it clear they’ll characterize Ryan as An Adult, almost no matter what he does; they’ve practically promised that in advance.
I’d really have rather had Boehner stick around to get the debit limit raised with mostly Dem votes. I’m not sure Ryan will be willing to do what’s necessary to make that happen.
Frankensteinbeck
@Baud:
Plenty. It would take about twenty Democrats to abstain from voting for the Republicans to elect a Speaker without the Teabaggers. Anybody willing to swallow their pride and make a deal with Nancy could do it. He won’t be under any worse primary pressure than he is just for having a recognizable name. Boehner’s been holding our government hostage with his arrogant partisanship for four years and blaming it on the Tea Party. This is just another step in that process.
EDIT – Hell, they could nominate you as Speaker and usher in a new era of peace and prosperity. Baud 2016! One man, three branches of government!
Redshift
One piece of good news in Ryan’s announcement is his talk about not sacrificing his time with his family. What that means, from what I’ve read, is that he’s not going to keep up Boehner’s fundraising schedule. The party bigwigs apparently were willing to allow that to get him to accept, but there isn’t a replacement for that fundraising.
Baud
@Frankensteinbeck:
Dealbreaker.
raven
@Baud: There card cheat asked Butch Cassidy to stick around!
Renie
He’s crazy; they can say now they will unite but in reality, no way. He’s making the worst mistake of his career. (Not that I care though)
MazeDancer
@dmsilev:
Watched Paul Ryan’s statement live on Chris Hayes show.
Stuff like he wants family time, no more blaming, and he wants to go from Party of Opposition to Party of Proposition (pretty sure he meant laws, not hitting on people). Also no rudeness. Then said family time, family time, family time.
Basically he doesn’t want this. Really, kind of said that. But he doesn’t want to be called a wimp that ran from a hard job.
How can Erick, Son of Erick, go for that?
Mike in NC
Zombie-eyed granny starver continues to fail upward.
schrodinger's cat
@aimai: Everything is fair in love and war and also politics. I haven’t been following Indian politics very closely off late, but historically there is a lot of coalition building across caste lines. Party affiliation is more fluid, legislators switching parties is fairly common.
dmsilev
@MazeDancer: Basically, Erciksonsonson wants someone who will act like Mel Gibson in Braveheart, painting their head and screaming FREEDOM!.
Redshift
@Frankensteinbeck: He is a ghastly piece of work, and I’m optimistic this will destroy any higher ambitions he may have.
schrodinger's cat
@BillinGlendaleCA: Yes I think that’s what they are most afraid of, party primaries not the actual election.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Simon Maloy @ SimonMaloy 23m23 minutes ago
gotta say I’m worried that guaranteed family leave for the Speaker will depress productivity and turn us into Denmark
@Mike in NC: I don’t know. I think he just became the next candidate to be the next Romney, Or the next Jeb Bush. Or both.
NotMax
@MazeDancer
Should it take place (and am still highly doubtful about that, except maybe as a placeholder, what with dueling ultilmata being bandied about), Paul “Magic Asterisk” Ryan will doubtless be as ept a Speaker as he was a Veep candidate.
/back-handed “compliment”
beltane
Canada gets Justin Trudeau and we get…this.
Redshift
@dmsilev: Ewickson has some really weird fantasies…
schrodinger's cat
@efgoldman: What can be done to make the actual elections more competitive than the primaries? Doesn’t gerrymandering and creating safe districts undermine the very purpose of elections?
Baud
@efgoldman:
I’ll have the bulliest pulpit of them all.
Steve From Antioch
@rikyrah:
Ahmed successfully trolled the local bigots and parlayed it into a great gig.
Good for him and his family.
NotMax
@Baud
Made from a real bull.
Mike J
@Baud: Or the pulpiest bullshit.
MazeDancer
Tweeted some true, but not favorable, remarks about Paul Ryan’s whiny, self-absorbed, non-saviorness, and had many really hardcore RWNJ’s re-tweet. Which was a very strange experience.
@NotMax: Yes, every possibility Ryan’s Speakership will echo his VP candidacy in success. But this time, his own party will eat him alive.
@dmsilev: Definitely the “Freedom” Caucus wants that excellent Braveheart description you made.
Think that Ryan so does not want this job he’s hoping the “Freedom” Caucus won’t meet his demands and he’ll be able to say he tried and didn’t wimp out. Not being known for wimping out seems to be his only real goal.
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck: Yeah, but too bad for the daughters. Qatar is a medieval shithole as far as women’s rights are concerned.
jl
@Redshift: Erik E is lost in some fantasy pretend world.
Commenter above is right that all of them are extreme right wing reactionaries, but a few are not grown-up and sane enough to realize that sometimes you have to cooperate to get something done. I guess the silver lining is that if all of them did cooperate, they could accomplish more evil and destruction.
Erik seems to forget if there is no new Speaker, the commie lefty socialist totalitarian Boehner may stay on and ram through more Soviet style deviltry. Boehner has already said he will stay long enough to pass a debt ceiling, no matter what the nutcase caucus wants.
I wonder why Ryan would take the Freedom loons’ promises to cooperate. Likely they will break any promises as soon as they get a new hair up their ass because of some emergent BS and start with the anarchy again. (Edit: which may be a good thing, if nothing critical needs to be done for awhile after the debt ceiling is raised)
Baud
@Mike J:
Same difference.
NotMax
@MazeDancer
In fact, that he didn’t refuse Romney because of the same desire for family time (opting instead to run simultaneously for both national office and the House) more than exposes his statement as a flimsy fig leaf.
Elie
@Villago Delenda Est:
I disagree! While I understand this family has been under great pressure and scrutiny, why give up? Now what? They give in to the people who wanted to push them out to go live with “their own kind”. Don’t they just reinforce the right wing fright message? I am really sorry but also very disappointed for them. Jeez, every possible way was tried to mitigate what happened — he met the President, went to MIT, Google — everyone encouraging…. So his solution is to go “live with his own kind”. Umh, umh, umh…. sad
MazeDancer
@NotMax:
Very good point.
Family time is an excellent thing. And he was so harsh and demanding about no way he was giving up that.
Just kept thinking how he would deny it to every parent in America, especially the women.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@NotMax: I read a week or so ago that the demands on Ryan’s “family time” would be traveling for the fund-raising and recruiting, that is the part of the job that Boehner was actually good at. SO maybe the wing nut welfare machine/RNC will find the booze-addled old weeper a $inecure where he can keep doing that.
patroclus
@aimai: Indeed – the books are quite animate on the hardships and problems of being a mere midshipman with no money and having come from nothing and Hornblower, even as captain, was far more egalitarian (and modern) than other senior officers depicted; often making humane and practical and diplomatic decisions taking into account their potential effect on common impressed sailors. (On the other hand, as low as midshipman is/was, Hornblower was still always an officer.)
My favorite Hornblower story actually doesn’t stem from the books. Instead, it’s about when Churchill first read them during WWII. He had been visiting Cairo, making various staff changes and otherwise meddling and having secret meetings to which the established command was not invited. When he finally left, someone gave him the Hornblower books to read while in transit on the oceans and he read them and sent a telegraph back to Cairo sating that he “found Hornblower admirable.” When received in Cairo, it caused great consternation because they assumed that it was some planned secret operation or further staff change of which they unaware and everyone scurried around trying to figure out what Churchill was really saying.
Some guy
Breaking:Motel 6 announces Right to Rise staff welcome in all Iowa and NH motels now that Bush credit cards activated. “Our cheerios and waffles are the best complimentary breakfasts in town” Lloyd Dunkelberger, Motel 6 VP for Media Relations said.
Mike in NC
@NotMax: Paul Ryan was hand picked by the Kochs to (eventually) sit in the Oval Office as their stooge to enact their dystopian agenda of broken government and unlimited corporate profits.
They still plan to spend close to $900M in the next election.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Elie:
I hope he’s able to come back when he’s 18 and attend his dream school, MIT, but he’s still only 14 and I totally understand why his parents wanted to remove him from all of the scrutiny (both good and bad) that he’s been getting.
And, yeah, I’m guessing that Qatar isn’t that different than Texas in a whole lot of ways. Hopefully his sisters will be able to come back as well and go to college in a non-Texas state.
amk
@Elie:
and that solves his every day threat from rwnj’s how? nice victim blaming there.
amk
@NotMax:
Exactly. The fucking coward doesn’t have the guts even to say a simple no, thanks.
Misterpuff
@MazeDancer: I gotta agree with this.
“I offered myself but they wouldn’t unify (under my demanding demands).”/Ryanbot
schrodinger's cat
I think the crazy caucus is going to reject the blue eyed boy of the MSM.
sparrow
Off-topicish, but can someone tell me why we are so quick to jump on Sanders for being unelectabe in the general? He is up +5.2 over Trump in recent polls (no timeline available as they only recently started asking):
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_sanders-5565.html
Since Trump solidified his lead over the other clown car members in September, Clinton has not gone over +3.6 against Trump (latest number is +2.5 but obviously there is statistical fluctuation).
Granted, that +5.2 may be an initial outlier, or may be misleading for other reasons, but it makes me question the whole conventional wisdom that Hillary is somehow a safer choice. Data as of today says the opposite.
PaulW
That’s the problem. They won’t.
Goblue72
Ryan would be awful for Dems. He’s a hard right Club for Growth Randian. He’ll demand cuts cut cuts and do it while sounding reasonable.
He’s a true believer sociopath.
Cervantes
@Tom Q:
This is the DC press corps in which universe?
Ken
@dmsilev: So what are those percentages in E.E.’s rant? Some kind of loyalty rating?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@schrodinger’s cat: He’s already lost Drudge, who’s calling him “Obama’s New Ally”
Honestly have no idea if Drudge has any influence, but Erickson, Beck, Raul Labrador…. they’r not gonna make it easy
PaulW
@Corner Stone:
Cake.
Either that or paint the ceiling beige.
Cervantes
@schrodinger’s cat:
Depends on what you think “the very purpose of [American] elections” is.
Cervantes
@Elie:
What makes you say they are “giving up”?
What goal are they “giving up” on?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
schrodinger's cat
@Cervantes: To elect representatives that represent the will of the governed. Didn’t more people vote for Democrats in 2014 but Republicans ended up winning more seats in Congress.
Goblue72
@schrodinger’s cat: oh that’s so cute.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@sparrow:
It really depends on who the Republican nominee is. A lot of people (myself included) still don’t believe that Trump will pull it off. I think Hillary would do better than Sanders against all of the establishment candidates. If it really looks like Trump could go all the way, it’s possible that Sanders might be the better bet since it would be insurgent vs insurgent, but I think Hillary would do better if it’s establishment vs establishment. That’s why I’m trying to keep an open mind.
MazeDancer
@Misterpuff: @Ken:
It’s a RedState thing. They put the “Heritage Action for America” scorecard percentage for True Conservativeness next to every elected person’s name. Which clicks through to the site for same with current and lifetime scores. It’s like the NRA ranking, except it’s for How Conservative Are You.
Ryan’s a current 55%. Rubio is 92%.
Aleta
Ryan is building in some respectable exit doors before he starts. If sword fighting comes to pass in the aisles, he won’t be falling on his. He’s set it up so that he will have a previously determined excuse to leave before he gets too damaged, and the blame for his failure will be on the ultra-conservatives. (Erikson sees that and is pissed). And there’s always the needs of the kids if he needs them in order to step away.
But if he keeps things together — and he’s obtained a lot of a promises from people to do that work for him– and if they have a good 2016 election, he’s got a story arc that’s more memorable than Romney stepping in to save the Olympics. He’ll be another great uniter ! (Echoing GWB’s campaign claim.)
I wonder if Biden has been waiting until this is settled so that his announcement would not be overshadowed by the Speaker drama.
schrodinger's cat
@Goblue72: Your sarcasm is noted. I am not saying that’s the reality, I am saying that should be the ideal.
Duane
Cervantes
@Betty Cracker:
Qatar is certainly bad enough on this score, but not quite as bad as some other good friends we have in the region, e.g., the Saudis.
And not that it will directly impinge on this particular family, we hope, but slavery, forced labor, and indentured servitude are alive and well in Qatar, too.
Mandalay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
That might actually make a lot of sense. Boehner could get paid just for schmoozing, and Ryan could spend more time with his family.
Regardless, it’s absurd for anyone to be a representative in Congresss, and be speaker, and have to travel the country raising money and recruiting fresh blood. It’s like a sports team recruiting some guy as a coach, and then putting him in charge of the marketing department as well, and then asking him to pick up the litter when the game is over. The real world doesn’t work like that.
Don’t any of the powerful Republican political insiders who want to run government as a business stop to consider that the current approach is a really stupid and ineffective way to get results?
Jeffro
@Aleta:
You’re being too kind. Joe’s still trying to make up his mind whether or not Ted Kaufman (his top adviser) really means it…that he should run.
Mandalay
@Betty Cracker:
Like Texas isn’t?
Cervantes
@schrodinger’s cat:
I see where you explained that you think this is the ideal, not necessarily reality, but my question was about actual purpose.
Anyhow, my question is not the important thing. If you look for a radical critique of “American democracy” — the reality of it — I’m sure you’ll find one.
Widespread phenomenon (not limited to the House), and the Constitution was not designed to prevent it.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@MazeDancer:
Ryan wimp out? Unpossible! He has climbed all the 20ers and ran a marathon in 90 minutes!
/snark
Cheers,
Scott.
Callisto
@Cervantes:
Way to go, Amir.
KS in MA
@rikyrah:
Can’t say I blame them. I hope they’ll be deliriously happy in Qatar.
Cervantes
@efgoldman:
What is rational thought?
I’d agree that these people don’t have a good grasp on what it means to live in a complex society and an even more complex world — but I think you’d agree that the federal government does still occasionally get in their way (and I agree that it should).
Cervantes
@Callisto:
Keep snickering.
No man is an island.
Cervantes
@efgoldman:
Nor did it have to. For example, we need only look at how many Senators each state is allocated.
Aleta
@Jeffro: He doesn’t trust Ted Kaufman’s advice ? That sounds like a dilemma for Netflix.
Mandalay
@Frankensteinbeck:
Well said. Meeting the president and getting offers from the likes of Google is all fine and dandy, but none of us really know the nature or extent of any nasty stuff that that family may have had to face, both before and after his school and the cops completely lost the plot.
GregB
What was the group that McCarthy, Cantor and Ryan belonged to?
The Crumb Bums?
Callisto
@Cervantes:
Thanks, I think I will. Hee hee.
SFAW
@Villago Delenda Est:
I think Hornblower was aware of it, I think it was discussed – but hardly at length – during some of the early ones. But Forrester was not really doing a social treatise, except in certain instances.
mclaren
@sparrow:
Comparing Bernie Sanders to Donald Trump is the wrong comparison, since Trump is thoroughly unelectable — he’s not even a politician. No one has ever voted for Donald Trump for anything, whereas Sanders and Clinton have both been elected to national office multiple times.
The proper comparison is with Hillary Clinton, who is about 15 points ahead of Sanders, and has massive support from all the Democratic party insiders. That’s a tough hump to get over.
Sanders may well do it. I think a large part of the “unelectable” meme comes from the lamestream media’s frantic desire to create an underdog-horserace narrative that will excite readers/viewers. In reality, Sanders is not nearly as far behind nor as unelectable as the lamestream media hype suggests.
If you look at trends (the first derivative of Sanders’ polling numbers), he’s climbing much faster than Hillary in the polls. Sanders has also raised nearly as much money as Hillary but all from individual donations.
mclaren
@Cervantes:
Claiming that evolution can’t be true because there are still monkeys.
Villago Delenda Est
@aimai: Oh, I’ve read every one of the Hornblower novels multiple times. For the most part, yes, he’s a man who has experienced Royal Navy life from the bottom (as a midshipman) to the top. For the most part, very admirable indeed. He’s always consumed by so many self-doubts, that he’s not really sure he should be wherever he is. When a crisis occurs, he always comes through, though; he sets his self doubt aside and applies himself to the situation at hand, be it a cutting out expedition, or dealing with a fireship sailing into Gibralter, or facing four-to-one odds at Rosas Bay.
But he does have a blind spot, and while he’s thinking in Ship of the Line about how great it is to be Captain of one, he doesn’t seem to get the connection between the harsh life of your average sailor and all that freedom he’s reveling in. He’s human, in other words.
danielx
@Villago Delenda Est:
You’ve read the Aubrey-Maturin books, HMS Surprise, all that?
Villago Delenda Est
@danielx: One of these days, I will, but did see Master and Commander, fwiw.
danielx
Good movie, but kind of an amalgam of a couple of the books. Aubrey definitely has a better grasp of the seaman’s lot, having been reduced from midshipman for sneaking a girl aboard his ship while in his teens. Books are supposedly more technically accurate than the Hornblower books, though what I know about square rigged ships could be written on a pinhead.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Villago Delenda Est:
Jesus Christ, Aubrey/Maturin is Hornblower × 10. Get to reading!
Villago Delenda Est
@SFAW: Forrester always made strong points about the brutality of life for a Royal Navy sailor during the Napoleonic period, and always portrayed Hornblower as sympathetic to the lot of the sailor, with no illusions about how nasty it can be…in part because of Hornblower’s own experiences as a midshipman, being bullied by those who held rank on him. Forrester even put in in a situation where an officer who had once been Hornblower’s superior was imprisoned on his own ship by mutineers, and Hornblower was sent out by St. Vincent to deal with the mutiny. The officer was still a lieutenant, while at the time Hornblower is a commodore. When he was rescued, he was not so happy to see who commanded the force that suppressed the mutiny his own poor command presence had fomented.
Hornblower also on occasion indicated that hangings did not sit well with him, to the astonishment of some of his superiors. The thing is, despite these unorthodox views, he got results, which is why he keeps being called to deal with difficult assignments.
Betty Cracker
@Mandalay: As far as I know, women’s testimony is still admissible in court in Texas. And there’s no death penalty for having an affair with a non-Christian.