Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

He really is that stupid.

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

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

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

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Not all heroes wear capes.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

The words do not have to be perfect.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Late Night Open Thread: The RNC’s Never-Ending Debate Dumpster Fire

Late Night Open Thread: The RNC’s Never-Ending Debate Dumpster Fire

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Well, that certainly went well. From the Washington Post, company paper in the town whose monopoly industry is national politics, Monday evening:

The format and content of upcoming Republican debates became increasingly uncertain on Monday after Donald Trump’s campaign said the real estate mogul would negotiate his terms directly with television executives instead of as part of a joint effort with his rivals.

The move by Trump, coming just hours after his and other campaigns huddled in a Washington suburb to craft a three-page letter of possible demands, thwarts an effort to find consensus after what most candidates agreed was a debacle hosted by CNBC last week…

Back story, from Jim Newell at Slate – “The GOP’s Presidential Contenders Are Hijacking Their Own Debates“:

In a Godfather-esque gathering of rival political concerns, representatives of the Republican presidential campaigns gathered in an Alexandria, Virginia Hilton on Sunday evening to draw up a list of conditions for their participation in future presidential debates. The campaigns still are all het up about the completely unfair questioning that business-Republican network CNBC subjected them to last week, such as, Marco Rubio, your tax plan is really good for the wealthy, no? or, Ben Carson, why were you in bed with this snake-oil company for so many years? If the moderators had asked fair questions, see, the candidates wouldn’t have been forced to lie. What’s so complicated about that?…

The campaigns and their consiglieres put together a list of demands to which future debate hosts must agree to ensure the candidates’ participation. The finalized version, as obtained by the Washington Post, is hilarious in its granularity. Not once but twice does the document inveigh against “lightening [sic] rounds,” which must be banned “because of their frivolousness or ‘gotcha’ nature, or in some cases both.” The letter also implores networks to agree not to “ask the candidates to raise their hands to answer a question,” “allow candidate-to-candidate questioning,” “allow props or pledges by the candidates,” “show an empty podium after a break (describe how far away the bathrooms are),” or “leaves microphones on after breaks.” What about allowing hot mics in the distant bathrooms? There’s no clear rule on that, though it would certainly violate the spirit of the letter…

What was the point of having the RNC serve as middleman in the first place? To navigate the party through the primary process in a way that didn’t damage the eventual nominee too much before the general election. Priebus was able to cut the number of debates roughly in half, and he ensured that no mischievous entity like MSNBC was granted hosting duties. The candidates have found his efforts lacking, though, and are using the leverage that’s available to them as a group to run the show themselves. So far, it looks like they’ll use that power to ensure that they don’t, for even a hot second, have to factor general-election considerations into their primary strategies…

The Post, again:

… The consternation marked the latest turn in a debate process that has grown more problematic by the day. Officials with the Republican National Committee took control of the process for the 2016 presidential election after a long and eventful debate season that many in the party thought hurt its chances in 2012.

But the campaigns have been quietly irritated by the rigid process all year and broke into open revolt last week. The RNC responded by suspending NBC from hosting its Feb. 26 event, and it put a new staffer in charge of managing the debates.

RNC spokesman Sean Spicer, who had been overseeing the deliberations before being replaced last week, said he supports Trump and others as they negotiate directly with television executives. “These debates have always been about the candidates,” Spicer said. “The candidates will be and always should be determining the best format for them.”…

My emphasis. Dear ex-bosses: Fvck you very much, you fvcking bunch of fvckers. Luv, S. Spicer.
.

Simon Maloy, at Salon, “Why These Clowns Should Be Laughed Out of the Room“:

… To be clear about what’s going on here: the candidates have precisely zero intention of fostering “substantive” discussion at the debates. The CNBC debate was a travesty largely because the moderators completely lost control of the forum and allowed the candidates to reframe their substantive questions as inappropriate expressions of “liberal bias.” They allowed themselves to be cowed by the bullying of self-interested actors whose chief concerns are protecting their own images and controlling the flow of information. The RNC’s letter to NBC and this list of demands from the candidates are just an escalation of what was already a pretty flagrant attempt at intimidation.

There is no good reason why any media outlet should consent to aid the candidates in executing their public relations strategy. And there is absolutely no justification for ceding any degree of editorial control to the candidates – even if it’s over something as annoying and reviled as “show of hands” questions, you’re still letting a politician dictate how you do journalism, which sets a horrible precedent. Such requests should be squelched as violently as possible. Moderators asking bad questions is a problem, but the solution is not to empower the campaigns to determine which questions are permissible.

If the candidates threaten to boycott, fine, let them. It’s doubtful that many would follow through on that threat given the exposure they’d be sacrificing and the mockery they’d be opening themselves up to. If they do boycott, invite the JV debate participants to take their place. Leave an empty lectern on stage with the name on it. Explain that they declined to attend because they were uncomfortable with certain types of questions that might be asked. The candidates already view the media as the enemy, so the media should be highly reluctant to give them any quarter…

And back to the WaPo, for the closer:

… Most Republican aides who came to Sunday’s conclave were not especially hopeful about finding consensus. Ginsberg, who oversaw the two-hour conversation, also made clear in his remarks to the group that his goal was to give them advice about how to deal with the networks, not necessarily urge them to work together.

Mark Levin, a talk-radio host and author suggested by some Republicans as a possible moderator, told Breitbart News on Monday that the RNC had lost control of the debates. “Reince Priebus should be fired or should resign,” Levin said of the RNC’s chair…

Reader Interactions

120Comments

  2. 2.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    It was easier to get Notre Dame into whichever post-season football agreement is current than plan for Trump.

    Then again, the Irish have higher favorability ratings and a more widespread and diverse fan base.

  3. 3.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    PS I am just seeing, for the first time, the stick figure slam his head into a bloody pulp, in the downstairs post.

    Trying to not wake up my wife with my laughing. She is in another room.

  4. 4.

    Pie Happens (opiejeanne)

    I just came by to say how much I love the arrows to the next or previous thread.

    Now I”m going to sleep. Goodnight all.

  5. 5.

    amk

    The same third rate, fourth estate are the ones who spent the last 7 years bemoaning how the kenyan was not making efforts to get along with these immature bratty bastards in the name of bipartisanship.

  7. 7.

    Amir Khalid

    Lieber Gott in Himmel. Do these candidates for President not realise that they’re embarrassing their country? I remember Obama scolding the 2012 Klown Kar for not defending that gay soldier when he got booed by a debate audience. That was a failure of courage, to be sure. This is a failure of the basic decorum they teach in kindergarten.

  9. 9.

    Central Planning

    From WaPo link:

    “We agreed to this and now you’re saying you’re not agreeing?” said one executive who was granted anonymity in order to speak candidly.

    They were for it before they were against it. Flip floppers. But we all know that won’t stick.

  10. 10.

    sm*t cl*de

    I’m picking Cruz as the first candidate to reject all this talk of “moderators” and demand “exaggerators” for all future debates. For FREEDOM.

  14. 14.

    Schlemazel

    @ThresherK (GPad):
    I thought that was hilarious. I figured out after the last redesign to avoid the place for about a week after any major change. I don’t get why people drop a deuce in the middle of actual comments to whine about the same thing 30 other people have in previous threads over and over. “COLE! DO SOMETHING ABOUT X THIS SUCKS!!11!!” when you can find the exact same thing complained about in every thread. They have a history and have mentioned that they tweak stuff as they go because it takes time and they would rather be online that to stay off line for a week while they do some of this.

    While I feel bad for John I do wish he would develop a tougher hide. He knows by now that this is going to happen with every major change and he should not take it personally, he should tell everyone once (hell, make it a perm link on the side bar for a couple of weeks) to expect changes & give the thing some time then simply point and laugh at those who go to 11 over every little thing.

  15. 15.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @JPL: I normally don’t speak ill of the departed; I’ll make an exception in this case. Fuck Him.

  18. 18.

    Schlemazel

    @JPL: @MattF:
    Yup, only 20 years too late! I truly wish there were a hell so he could know eternal torment for the evil he fomented. In that hell he, Boy Blunder and Darth Cheney would pick each others pineapples every day and have to listen to the screams of the dying that they were responsible for. Bastards.

  32. 32.

    sm*t cl*de

    @Central Planning:

    “We agreed to this and now you’re saying you’re not agreeing?”

    This is the party that’s reneged on every deal since the Contract with America. WTF did the executive expect?

  37. 37.

    JPL

    City Council elections are today. On the agenda is waving signs near polling stations. Since all politics start locally, it’s important to keep track of who supports your electors. Ours is currently owned by developers, that want to rezone land near me from 3 houses every two acres to ten or more. f.k…em

  38. 38.

    Schlemazel

    @tybee:
    dang, you beat me to it!
    I am unable to get the pie filter to work on chromebook/chrome but I have become adept at skipping his sludge. I wasn’t here last night at all partly for the reason I gave above but mostly because I had a lot of stuff to do.

  39. 39.

    Schlemazel

    @raven:
    As in ‘put in its sling’? As in ‘on someones head’? is the latter, was it the mighty corner stone? I have not seen r2r here recently, didn’t know if he got laid off from the campaign of whacked.

  40. 40.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    Hey Joe, when you apply for most jobs, they want to look at your credit report. So why isn’t that relevant for a candidate for President of the United States?

  42. 42.

    Randy P

    @Schlemazel: The John Cole “fuck you all” rant is part of Nature’s Site Redesign Cycle, as autumn colors are part of the year. And many of us look forward eagerly to that part of the cycle, as many people look forward to the fall colors.

    Seriously, I was curious when that shoe would drop and wondering why it was taking so long.

  43. 43.

    Patrick

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Republicans always talk about running the government like a business. With that in mind, a credit report is very relevant. If you can’t handle your own credit rating, how can you handle the US credit rating?

  44. 44.

    Sherparick

    To answer Mr. Malloy, for the cable networks the reason to host the debates, particularly with Trump and Carson, is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. When CNN was the only cable news show in the 1980s and early 90s, it could “afford” journalism. Further, it was run by a guy, Ted Turner, love him or hate him, who knew that his whole reputation was wrapped up in that network, which he could use to cross promote his money making entertainment cable networks TBS and TCN. That all started go south with the sale to Time Warner, one of the many great merger disasters of the last 30 years.

    I do like the fact that Trump spent the last 24 hours laying the ground work for a dozen negative ads against Marco Rubio (disloyal, flipflopper, lightweight, and so many more).

  45. 45.

    Matt McIrvin

    @MattF:

    Ahmed Chalabi dies of a heart attack.

    Well, I guess that takes one brokered-convention scenario off the table.

  46. 46.

    Mustang Bobby

    I am growing to like the new look but sympathetic to those who are not. That happens when you move the food dish. It reminds me of work when we rolled out a new ERP system to replace the Reagan-era MSDOS based system. Oh, there was consternation and monkey house; people who could zip their way through an Amazon order were suddenly struck stupid by a new and more efficient system. Those of us on the development team knew it would go something like: Week 1-5: WE HATE IT; Week 6-10: Well, okay… Week 11-present: Can’t live without it. That was five years ago.

  47. 47.

    Sherparick

    Ahmad Chalabi it appears was a little older than I thought. If, as possible, he was what the spooks call an “agent of influence,” he will have to be regarded as one of the most successful of all time. There is strong evidence that Chalabi was and remain in cahoots with leading figures of Iran’s Government and Revolutionary Guards, who of course had, for very good reasons, a deep and simmering hatred of Saddam Hussein and the Sunni Arabs of Iraq, and could see opportunities, as well as dangers in American invasion of Iraq. https://www.stratfor.com/weekly/ahmad_chalabi_and_his_iranian_connection Of course, Bush, Cheney, and the neo-cons had to be very willing buyers for the snake oil Chalabi was selling. 12 and 1/2 years and at least 250,000 deaths later, I hope the all rot in hell.

  48. 48.

    MattF

    Well, of course, the problem is not the debate format– it’s the candidates. Leaving out the liars, loonies, and assholes leaves… let’s see… Maybe Bush, maybe Kasich. Any ‘debate’ format besides just letting them say whatever is going to be a nightmare.

  58. 58.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Mustang Bobby:

    Week 1-5: WE HATE IT; Week 6-10: Well, okay… Week 11-present: Can’t live without it. That was five years ago.

    That is me with anything to do with computers, hence my refusal to complain about anything to do with the redesign.

    @MattF: If you leave out the liars, you have an empty stage. That goes for Dems too. Mastering the art of politics is first and foremost having the ability to bend the truth, sometimes beyond recognition.

  60. 60.

    Sherparick

    This story speaks about so much that I have witnessed and seen over the last 40 years. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/health/death-rates-rising-for-middle-aged-white-americans-study-finds.html?action=click&contentCollection=The%20Upshot&module=MostPopularFB&version=Full&region=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article

    Somehow, I don’t expect Squint and Sock Puppet to mention this inconvenient article, or all the inconvenient catastrophes in Kansas under Brownback, while interviewing the Koch brothers on Morning Spew this morning.

    By the way, although it of course does not fit the American “myth,” something similar happened in the 1920s and 30s, particularly as small, middling farms failed and the standard of living for perhaps most Americans, particularly rural white Americans, fell from the mean that had existed in in the first two decades of the 20th century.

  61. 61.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @cokane: I’m sure Amir knows some conservatives, just not American conservatives.

    ETA: I think our’s may have not had their shots and have become rabid.

  62. 62.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @MattF:

    Leaving out the liars, loonies, and assholes

    I guarantee you that Bush is at least two out of those three categories. He is certainly a gigantic, arrogant, whiny, malicious, privileged asshole with anger issues. He’s just not very good at it, because he’s always gotten everything he wanted by going ‘Mommy said you have to give it to me!’

    @raven:
    What? Corner Stone has been banned? I can’t say I like the guy, but I’ve never seen him rise anywhere near the ban level. What did he do?

  63. 63.

    Patricia Kayden

    Hope all of you Virginians are going out to vote today and help the Dems squeak out a win. The political ads are pretty hard hitting and interestingly enough many of them use Tea Party affiliation and the holding of anti-same sex marriage sentiments against the Republican candidates.

  64. 64.

    bemused

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Vomitus blech. This isn’t the first cozy chat Dumb and Dumber have had with the plutocrat bros. The Koch groupies, Joe and Mika, must be on cloud nine getting a second shot at throwing their panties at their idols.

    Every time I see Mika, I remember the bizarre tabletop cheesecake photo she did with Joe for a show promo. She wants to be taken so seriously with her women’s voices thing, etc but I think she wants to be a celebrity more than anything else.

  66. 66.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @JPL: State Senate, House and assorted County office elections here in NoVA. The morning fog is just starting to burn off. It looks like a beautiful day. Here’s hoping we have a good (meaning much higher than the predicted ~ 30%) turnout and we turn the tide away from the apathy that controls so much of our politics. If the postal flyers are any indication, it should be a landslide for Team D. (And it should be anyway, but won’t be if people don’t vote!)

    There are important elections in KY today, also too. Get out there and do your civic duty people!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  67. 67.

    MattF

    @Sherparick: Interesting stuff. I remember, back in the ’80s when, back in the USSR, death rates were rising. That always seemed to me to be the real giveaway about QOL in Russia.

  70. 70.

    debbie

    @JPL:

    Today we vote to legalize dope in Ohio. Should be a natural fit. I kid…

    I’ve read the entire amendment and it sure feels like ALEC is lurking somewhere in the wording. Out-of-state investors, a guaranteed monopoly, not allowing the legislature to change any part of it ever or change the tax rates ever, allowing stores and growing fields to be anywhere that wasn’t zoned 100% residential as of January 1, 2015. This thing stinks worse than a 90-year-old dead fish.

  72. 72.

    srv

    Donald Trump is the Republican candidate most trusted to manage the economy, deal with foreign leaders and serve as commander in chief, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll of Republicans conducted after the party’s third debate.

    And more Republicans would trust him with the nation’s nuclear weapons than most of the rest of their party’s presidential primary field.

    People trust Trump. People do not trust her.

  77. 77.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @srv:

    People trust Trump. People do not trust her.

    Once again you make the mistake of thinking Republicans are people. The jury is still out on that assertion.

  78. 78.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @debbie: I hope it gets voted down and a more sensible proposal is put up next year.

    Maryland had some similar “special people can put monopolies in special places” rules put in place for cas i nos a few years ago. I understand the need to regulate such things, but it seems a guaranteed roadway to corruption. The latest is they want to be able to reduce their payouts from the video spinny and clanky machines.

    Locking-in a particular way of growing, distributing, and selling pot so that only the well-connected can grab the state-controlled profits seems to me to be a bad idea.

    Good luck.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  80. 80.

    BobS

    @srv: I can understand that — I wouldn’t trust Fiorina (or most of the rest of the Republicans) with a fucking microwave, let alone nuclear weapons.

  81. 81.

    Baud

    @Gimlet:

    This is admittedly speculation, but I can’t help but wonder if constantly living in the outrage bubble that is white conservatism is taking a toll. The article can’t really explain why white rates are the only ones increasing.

  84. 84.

    Germy Shoemangler

    http://www.chaunceydevega.com/2015/11/white-privilege-and-killing-useless.html

    All human suffering is to be condemned. My sense of linked fate extends to my brothers and sisters on both sides of the color line. With those qualifications having been noted, while I am concerned and send positive energy out to all folks who are struggling in these perilous times, I have no tears, loss of sleep to be experienced because, or great sadness for the white victimology blues channeled by The New York Times’ new story on the rising death/suicide rates among white middle-aged people who do not have a high school education.

    Life is hard. When black and brown folks suffer it is quotidian and “just life as usual” in these United States. When white folks in the same cohort encounter challenges it is headline worthy in one of the country’s (and world’s) leading journals of record.

    Ultimately, the white racial frame and white privilege are in overdrive this week.

    White heroin addicts get sympathy and empathy on 60 Minutes while people of color are erased from the story–the latter is a group to be punished for drug use; the former is to be helped for they are “sick” and “made a mistake”.

  85. 85.

    Cervantes

    @BobS:

    I wouldn’t trust Fiorina (or most of the rest of the Republicans) with a fucking microwave, let alone nuclear weapons.

    And yet these are ostensibly the best people the Republicans could find to run this year.

    It’s the stuff of nightmares.

  86. 86.

    bemused

    @debbie:

    Chris Hayes had interesting segment on big pot last night. Wil Hylton of New York Mag interviewed Willie Nelson who is leery of big pot investors and concerned about industry farm chemicals getting into mega marijuana production.

  88. 88.

    Gimlet

    @Baud:

    More speculation – baby boomers show up in this demographic, there used to be poor houses now there is prison and living on the streets, once in prison no chance for decent employment, no independent means with cuts in social programs – little family support with two wage earners just getting by, in the oldsters a lot of alcoholics in the recently retired with time on their hands and no real pension just SS.

  92. 92.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    I say let them ditch ALL moderation. They have none in their policies, why pretend they have any in their debates? Turn the stupid up to 11, then break the knob. Let them be the gibbering loons anyone with an IQ over 50 knows they are.

  93. 93.

    Gimlet

    @Baud:

    Still speculation – Conditions already present in black social structure with perhaps more adaptation, higher black prison population in this age group, some help from VA for blacks in this age group, hitting black population at a younger age.

  94. 94.

    Baud

    @Gimlet:

    Yeah, accoridng to the article, the black rate is still much higher than the white rate, but not increasing, I presume. Interestingly, the Latino rate is significantly lower.

  95. 95.

    Applejinx

    @Germy Shoemangler: I agree with this guy, and I’m one of those college-dropout 47 year old whites trapped into a little box by life. I’m frequently trying to talk myself out of suicidal thinking and am looking forward to when this shitshow ends and I can get off, all the more since I’ve chosen not to destroy myself with drugs and alcohol (one of the more good things in my life is the years of clean time that gets me some props in recovery circles)

    So, I figure since I AM that demographic and can endorse everything the article says about us, I’m in a position to say: no wonder Ferguson erupted, no wonder tumblr is full of people flipping out over various affronts and offenses. Some of us old white male types assume that EVERYBODY is starting from the same position of basic privilege and then when they flip over a police car or invent pronouns, they’re demanding extra privileges because they’re all greedy and stuff.

    More like, they can’t stand the pressure anymore and lash out in various ways. Well, you know what? Now some of us are feeling that pressure, and we don’t like it either. If old white guys without degrees are breaking under the strain, maaaayyyyybe it’s worth looking at our culture of strain and breaking, and listening to the outrage of so many people who have been complaining all this time even though it was societally unacceptable to do so because ‘everything’s fine’.

    The answer is not to stamp out minorities and immigrants and women so even unedumacated old white guys can be privileged, and it isn’t to stamp out the old white guys and replace ’em with whoever wins the fight for dominance. The only answer is to think bigger and re-examine what the hell we’ve been doing, and whether it works as a functioning society.

    So I’m blaming capitalism (or at least vulture capitalism?). If it can’t even sustain freaking adult male white guys, who at least have a shot at LOOKING like ‘the people who win this game’, what good is it? Everybody loses. Time to get off the ride—in a more productive way than cosigning all the bullshit and committing suicide to concede defeat in a game you never signed up for.

  98. 98.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @Applejinx: I think people like the Kochs see this phenomenon as simply the “Invisible Hand” brushing some lint off its shoulder.

    You made some excellent points.

  100. 100.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    “God’s Comic” (Elvis Costello)

    I wish you’d known me when I was alive, I was
    a funny feller
    The crowd would hoot and holler for more
    I wore a drunk’s red nose for applause
    Oh yes I was a comical priest
    “With a joke for the flock and a hand up your
    fleece”
    Drooling the drink and the lipstick and
    greasepaint
    Down the cardboard front of my dirty dog-collar

    [Chorus:]
    Now I’m dead, now I’m dead, now I’m dead,
    now I’m dead, now I’m dead
    And I’m going on to meet my reward
    I was scared, I was scared, I was scared, I was
    scared
    He might of never heard God’s Comic

    So there he was on a water-bed
    Drinking a cola of a mystery brand
    Reading an airport novelette, listening to
    Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s “Requiem”
    He said, before it had really begun, “I prefer
    the one about my son”
    “I’ve been wading through all this unbelievable
    junk and wondering if I should have given
    the world to the monkeys”

    [Chorus]

    I’m going to take a little trip down Paradise’s
    endless shores
    They say that travel broadens the mind, till you
    can’t get your head out of doors

    I’m sitting here on the top of the world
    I hang around in the longest night
    Until each beast has gone bed and then I say
    “God bless” and turn out the light
    While you lie in the dark, afraid to breathe and
    you beg and you promise
    And you bargain and you plead
    Sometimes you confuse me with Santa Claus
    It’s the big white beard I suppose
    I’m going up to the pole, where you folks die of cold
    I might be gone for a while if you need me

    Now I’m dead, now I’m dead, now I’m dead,
    now I’m dead, now I’m dead and you’re all
    going on to meet your reward

    Are you scared? Are you scared? Are you scared?
    Are you scared?
    You might have never heard, but God’s comic

  101. 101.

    low-tech cyclist

    @amk:

    The same third rate, fourth estate are the ones who spent the last 7 years bemoaning how the kenyan was not making efforts to get along with these immature bratty bastards in the name of bipartisanship.

    And it’s the same worthless Fourth Estate that threw a hissy fit when the Kenyan said Faux News didn’t qualify as a real news organization. But they won’t defend NBC.

    Has it ever occurred to the GOP that instead of dumbing down the debates they could smarten up their candidates? – Schooley

    No. How the fuck would they be able to do that anyway? Bring in a bunch of Dems, perhaps?

  103. 103.

    Germy Shoemangler

    John Boehner may have metaphorically “cleaned the barn” before retiring last week, but he left a few actual cleaning projects for Speaker Paul D. Ryan. The Wisconsin representative and P90X enthusiast has been complaining about Boehner’s smoking for years, and last week staffers set up a filtration machine to air out the speaker’s office, where Boehner lit up frequently, for its new inhabitant. “They have these ozone machines, apparently, that you can detoxify the environment. But I’m going to have to work on the carpeting in here,” Ryan said on Meet the Press. “You know when you ever go to a hotel room or get a rental car that has been smoked? That’s what this smells like.”

    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/11/speaker-ryan-cleans-up-the-house-literally.html#

    Hastert’s portrait was also taken down…

  104. 104.

    rikyrah

    Kentucky has seen the largest drop in its uninsured rate of any state in the country. It’s currently 9 percent, down from 20.4 percent before Obamacare, according to the Louisville NPR affiliate.

    And yet, they have an election today, and they are actually considering electing a muthaphucka that would take away their health insurance.

    and, if they do….no sympathy for them.

    if they’re too stupid to understand that
    KYNECT=OBAMACARE

    No sympathy at all.

  108. 108.

    rikyrah

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 11/2/15
    9/11 first responders wait for GOP to act on popular health bill

    Dan Moynihan, 9/11 first responder, talks with Rachel Maddow about the lobbying effort to generate support for the Zadroga Bill to help with the health care of 9/11 first responders. The bill enjoys wide support but needs House Republican leadership, including new Speaker Paul Ryan to bring it to a vote

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/9-11-responders-bill-waits-for-house-gop-557776451942

  109. 109.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: White suicide rates in the US have been far higher than non-white ones for a long time. I remember noticing that when I was trying to figure out the breakdown of gun deaths. I think it’s somehow culturally bound: white Americans think of suicide as a possibility to a degree that other Americans simply don’t. And men kill themselves far more often than women do, as you might expect.

    It may be connected to crises of masculinity and power: white men are more likely to think of life as not worth living if they perceive themselves as losing control. I think spree killings could be connected.

  110. 110.

    Matt McIrvin

    …White American men are also, I think, the most likely people to have a lot of guns around, which provides them with an opportunity.

  111. 111.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: As I said the last time one of those popped up, I really, really hate these stories analyzing individual polls, because they’re mostly looking at noise and they’re biased toward sensational outliers. If you look at the average of all polls over the same time period it’s obvious that Carson is not leading Trump, though he’s narrowing the gap.

  112. 112.

    MattF

    @rikyrah: My recollection is that McConnell made a little ruckus by muddying the waters on that one– deliberately and with malice aforethought. And he was called on it, and got away with it. One assumes that all other Republicans will do the same.

    Of course people should be told the truth and should be able to figure out where their actual interests lie– but in places like Kentucky, they aren’t and they can’t and they don’t.

  113. 113.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    If I were running a network I’d agree to all their demands and then tell my moderators to ignore every aspect of the agreement once the debate starts. They want to change the rules on a whim, I’d change them right back. Maybe that means my network only gets to host one debate. So be it – it doesn’t seem like anyone other than Faux News is going to get more than one anyway.

  115. 115.

    April

    Re: the Ohio pot legalization, it seems a bad bargain to allow continued arrests for possession, and all of the destruction that brings, because we don’t like the sound of monopoly pot. The black market for pot is not a free market now, and we don’t like those who are getting rich off black market pot any more than we would like the monopolists getting rich off legal pot. The cost in lives damaged because of possession busts should carry the argument. It feels like holding out for single payer rather than taking the ACA half a loaf.

  116. 116.

    lol

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that gun ownership is significantly higher for this middle-aged white guy with a high school degree demographic.

    Gun ownership means that when they do decide to try killing themselves, they’ll actually be successful. The advantage of “slower” suicide methods (overdose, cutting) is that you frequently realize “I’ve made a huge mistake” and call for help before its too late. With a gun, you pull the trigger and that’s it.

    So there might not necessarily be anything that’s causing them to *attempt* suicide more often than other demographic groups, but the presence of a gun means any attempt will probably be successful.

  118. 118.

    sukabi

    @Germy Shoemangler: look for the new speakers budget to be substantially increased to make way for a massive remodel of the office. Probably be remade with all the extras….with an undisclosed amount of $$ never accounted for.

  119. 119.

    J R in WV

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    And Raven said: “Be kinda nice to see Corner Stone get his punk ass banned on the new site! ”

    So I’m being glad I’m not the only person in the Innertubes that had a run in with Corner Stone.

    Even if I can be hard to get a long with sometimes, I’m trying to not be a butthead. Some people are trying to find opportunities to get shitty.

    We had a neighbor who had the local Oil and Gas company come out and show them which pipes were old and abandoned (and could be dozed up and gotten rid of) and which pipelines were full of gas under pressure or full of crude oil, and shouldn’t be messed with.

    He was bringing in a trailer for the family, so they wouldn’t have to live in spare rooms in the old farmhouse.

    So first thing they go to remove old obsolete pipelines, and 90 barrels of crude oil rushes out into the creek!

    Bobby phones the gas company, and when they show, he just goes off on them!!! The worker bees are spreading straw and giant pamper-like absorbant things to keep the oil from running too far downstream.

    But the local site manager, Bobby has him by the ear, screaming at him about how they told him which pipes were safe to bulldoze and remove, and which ones to leave alone, and they WERE WRONG!!!

    Later on, after the boss had left the scene, and the worker bees (who were neighbors, mostly) were getting the job done, Bobby said he understood that people make mistakes and that sometimes you need to give people room to mess up. “But sometimes, with some people, you just have to get shitty right off the bat!”

    So that’s the theme, when management fucks up bad, sometimes, you just got to be shitty, right off!!

    But here, Tommy and his partner(s) have done a good job so far, and I expect them to make more improvements right along.

    The Republicans, and their non-debates – on the other hand, we need to be shitty right off. They can’t answer polite questions from a journalist? Then they can’t be trusted to talk to the leaders of Russia or China, or North Korea, or Japan, or Ireland, or anyone!!! They’re too stupid to talk about their ideas, much less the world geopolitic!!

    Thank FSM they’re stupid so obviously!!

  120. 120.

    groucho48

    The Republican race is turning out just about as one would expect it to if you realize that the candidates all pay lip service to the Ayn Rand school of morality and all think of themselves as John Galts who have the obligation to impose their will on the plebes. RNC? House Leadership? Generally accepted debate protocols? Pffft…no one is the boss of me!!!

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