Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Trump should be leading, not lying.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

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

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

In my day, never was longer.

In after Baud. Damn.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

T R E 4 5 O N

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

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Open Thread: Meanwhile, In Mockable Carrion-Feeder News…

Open Thread: Meanwhile, In Mockable Carrion-Feeder News…

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Bad news for Dr. Carson. There’s been previous speculation as to whether the candidate was, to put it delicately, in the hands of “professionals” whose first priorities might not be identical to his own interests. Last month, the Atlantic asked, “Where Is Ben Carson’s Money Going?“:

Ben Carson is raising a ton of money. He hauled in an impressive $20.8 million in the third quarter, shocking the political world and topping the Republican field in fundraising. That comes after a strong second quarter, when he raised more than $10 million.

But Carson is also spending a ton of money—he spent nearly seven out of every $10 he raised in the quarter. What is that money being used to do, and is that rate of spending sustainable?…

In Carson’s case, a majority of what he’s raising is being plowed right back into fundraising costs—$11.2 million of the nearly $20.8 million. That means 54 cents out of every dollar Carson raises is going to raise more money…

Many strategists say direct mail is an important part of a diversified strategy. Other operatives, though, when discussing the Carson campaign, use words like “grifters” or “unconscionable.” They complain that Carson’s fundraisers appear to be reaping small-dollar donations from atypical donors and true believers while doing little with that money to build the infrastructure to win the nomination. For the majority of analysts who still consider Carson a very long shot to win the nomination, anyway, there appears to be no big downside for the candidate. But what about the earnest folks writing the checks?…

They’re suckers with money, is what — a scent which inevitably attracts the big-money scammers, per Bloomberg Politics:

Republican strategist Karl Rove helped set up a meeting between top fundraisers for Ben Carson and casino mogul Steve Wynn.

Rove confirmed to Bloomberg Politics that he acted as the go-between for the Carson camp and Wynn, a sometimes business competitor of Donald Trump, the rival Carson has been batting all fall for the Republican nomination…

The mastermind of George W. Bush’s presidential victories in 2000 and 2004, Rove has not signed on with any of the presidential candidates this year, though he says he has dispensed advice to a number who have asked. Trump’s camp is viewing the effort to help the billionaire real estate mogul’s chief rival as an attack on the front-runner…

Rove’s role in setting up the meeting between Wynn and Carson advisers raised some eyebrows within Carson’s political orbit, with some advisers questioning Rove’s intentions, said one source familiar with the meeting and the campaign.

The source said they were skeptical that Rove was only acting to inflate Carson in an effort to ultimately take out Trump. “Karl Rove isn’t just going just to help Ben Carson out of the goodness of his heart,” the source said…

Yeah, the Carson handlers get Rove’s somewhat outdated ‘rolodex’ — and Rove gets the Carson mailing list of fresh marks. Rove hasn’t exactly been front and center on the publicity trail since his Election Night 2012 public meltdown. Come to think, that’s something he and Donald Trump share: having been made to look stupid, on air, by Megyn Kelly.

Reader Interactions

109Comments

  1. 1.

    Anoniminous

    After RovePac ploughed through $500 million and got squat I doubt the Big Money is interested so gypping the goofballs out of nickels and quarters may be the only grift he has left.

  2. 2.

    mainmata

    Hi Anne, love your stewardship of this site but I think you meant Carrion not Carrior unless this was somehow about air-conditioning. But point well-made: with any GOP campaign, the cynicism and grifting of the gullible mouthbreathers is the norm not the exception. Degrading our democracy is what’s for dinner.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    Carson may never have wanted to be president, but he did much better in the polls than I expected he would. I didn’t think his soft spoken schtick would sell.

  4. 4.

    Hal

    Why do men like Rove bother with the thick hair that only grows on that back of their head? It looks bizarre, like a squirrel climbed on his back in an attempt hide from a cat.

  5. 5.

    RaflW

    @Anoniminous: There are plenty of televangelists who’ve bought jets and multiple mansions on the nickels and quarters of goofballs and worked the grift for decades.

  7. 7.

    Hildebrand

    Now that Carson is starting to lose his luster, Rove figures he can ride him on the way down knowing he won’t actually have to do anything, like work or put together a coherent strategy.

  8. 8.

    boatboy_srq

    Call me a contrarian here, but if rank-and-file wingnuts are sending so much of their excess largesse to Carson, is it possible that the Reichwing might be correct that wages are, in fact, too high (at least for some)?

    (/snark /wingnut-social-engineering)

  9. 9.

    dmsilev

    Carson is starting to bleed support; if you look at the polling aggregators, he’s as low as fourth in some recent polls (passed by Rubio and Cruz; !Jeb is consistently fifth). It might have been the whole Egyptian Pyramidal Grain Silo thing; that’s a pretty clear shorthand for ‘this guy is nuts, isn’t he?’

  10. 10.

    boatboy_srq

    @RaflW: Yes. And when they limited their reach to how much personal wealth they could obtain the risk to the rest of us was far lower. The new generation seems dedicated not only to that practice, but to ensuring that nobody not exactly like them can have a decent life. I for one would be much happier if they stayed with the gold-plated Gulfstreams and the mansions – and stopped trying to legislate against women’s choices or quality education or the suppression of other faiths (or lack of same).

  12. 12.

    RaflW

    @boatboy_srq: Agreed. I don’t really begrudge them their expensive toys (though I do begrudge any favorable tax treatment for their “church”). But when they’ve steeped in the grift long enough to believe they have moral agency in the larger culture, they are quite problematic.
    My earlier point, perhaps inelegantly made, was that Rove can continue to fleece many flocks, even as he presages no victories.

  14. 14.

    skerry

    Carson is visiting Syrian refugees in Jordan this weekend. The quote below is from his Facebook page.

    Amman, Jordan – Just over two months ago I began planning a trip over the Thanksgiving Weekend to visit with Syrian Refugees, Jordanian Government Officials, and NGO’s. I wanted to come to see with my own eyes this great human tragedy.
    Today I listened to the life struggles of many Syrians who were forced to flee their own homes. I met with medical professionals, humanitarian workers, and government officials. I saw pain on the faces of mothers and children.
    They came to Jordan for safety. Jordan is doing an amazing job opening its doors and extending a hand in relief. The rest of the world could be doing so much more.
    These brave people want nothing more than an end to the war in Syria. They want to go back to their lives. We must find a political end to this conflict.
    Millions of refugees have now been waiting years for the end of the war to come in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Some are giving up hope that they will ever be able to return to the country. We must keep their hope alive. Until it is safe for them to return home, Jordan is a safe place for them to wait. The kingdom has welcomed them with open arms. But Jordan is a small country. They need the world’s help to feed, educate, and care for these refugees until the war ends.
    The United States must do more. We can do our part to help this crisis without bringing 10-25,000 refugees to the United States. Jordan already houses 1.4 million refugees. Jordan needs and deserves our logistical help and financial support.
    In the coming days I will offer what I believe are real solutions to the problems created in part by the Obama-Clinton Administration’s failed policies.

  15. 15.

    Brachiator

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Rove knows where the marks are. He’s a parasite.

    Ha! You might be right.

    I saw this story earlier today about Rove opening his Rolodex for Carson, but didn’t have a chance to get past the headline. I still wonder what Rove is trying to accomplish. This certainly is not part of any effective strategy to surround and contain the Trump monster. And despite his trip overseas, Carson cannot overcome the plain fact that he is dumber than Sarah Palin when it comes to understanding foreign policy.

    The fundamentalist purists who believe that the deity will anoint Carson’s head with wisdom simply because he is born again, or whatever, are not enough to sustain Carson’s candidacy, no matter how much they continue to give him in love donations. Maybe Carson has a future as an evangelist.

  16. 16.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @dmsilev:

    !Jeb is consistently fifth

    These four words (plus punctuation!) deserve far more emphasis than you gave them.

    !Jeb is consistently fifth
    !Jeb is consistently fifth
    !Jeb is consistently fifth
    ¡JEB IS CONSISTENTLY FIFTH!!

    The Brinks trucks are not laughing.

  18. 18.

    Brachiator

    @skerry:

    We must keep their hope alive. Until it is safe for them to return home, Jordan is a safe place for them to wait.

    Hmmm. Let’s see. It’s OK for refugees to be warehoused in Jordan, which is not their home country, but not OK for any of them to come to the United States.

    What a bunch of hooey.

  19. 19.

    Baud

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    The great thing about Jeb!’s campaign is that he rarely is even worth talking about anymore. I wonder if the indifference hurts more than the ridicule.

  21. 21.

    ThresherK

    @SiubhanDuinne: I remember when “third-way tie for third place” (or, fifth place) would get a feller laughed at until he had to withdraw.

    Of course that fellow was a (nominal) Democrat: Blowmentum.

  22. 22.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @dmsilev:

    Actually, it would appear that the troll budget has been discontinued altogether. Have not seen Rice is Ripe for some weeks now.

  25. 25.

    dmsilev

    @SiubhanDuinne: They’re just restructuring the Internet Troll division. Once the current trolls are finished training their outsourced replacements, operations will resume.

    Brinks trucks will once again back up!

  26. 26.

    Brachiator

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    !Jeb is consistently fifth
    and is so thoroughly miffed
    that he bought himself a fifth
    and so is inconsolably,
    and drunkenly,
    and so consistently fifth

  27. 27.

    Baud

    @dmsilev:

    Once the current trolls are finished training their outsourced replacements, operations will resume.

    Must resist. . . mocking RtR . . . in . . . offensive . . . Asian accent.

    So. . . hard.

  28. 28.

    NotMax

    Holy schnikeys.

    Just installed a brand new 27″ monitor – 1920 × 1080 resolution. Boy, is there a lot of empty space on both sides of the comments!

  36. 36.

    srv

    It is frustrating that we are still talking about cuckservatives. So much waste of energy on low energy people. Perhaps we should just write novels about them.

    The Cuckservative in the Rye
    Of Mice and Cuckservatives
    Cuckservative-22

  39. 39.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Brachiator: You’ll notice that “Dr.” “Carson” doesn’t mention where the funding will come from to supply Jordan with what they need to feed, house, clothe, and otherwise care for those 1.4 million refugees they’re hosting. All he can talk about is the “failed” policies of Obama. As if Obama has any ability, given that he’s faced with a House filled with petulant racist asshole children, to allocate funds (which “Dr.” “Carson” should know, holds the pursestrings) to do this. This would fall under the heading of “foreign aid”, which all wingnuts know is responsible for fully a quarter of the deficit.

  41. 41.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @raven: The only rivalry game of any import was played yesterday, and the Fighting Fashion Nightmares hung on to beat MooU.

  44. 44.

    raven

    @SiubhanDuinne: About him as a coach? He’s certainly one of the hot names this year. There look to be quite a few openings, LSU, South Carolina to name a couple from the SEC. Richt will probably stay but we’ll see.

  50. 50.

    Randy P

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Isn’t all that empty space grand?

    I believe the word is “clean”. And anyone who doesn’t like it is an ignoramus who doesn’t appreciate a “clean design” and doesn’t deserve to make comments.

    Good thing some of us aren’t still harboring grudges from the Great Redesign.

  53. 53.

    Origuy

    @NotMax: I have a 17″ laptop display. There’s a lot of blank space on mine, too. However, you wouldn’t like it if the text went all the way across the screen. I think your eyes would get tired and you’d be uncomfortable.

  54. 54.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Randy P:

    And anyone who doesn’t like it is an ignoramus who doesn’t appreciate a “clean design” and doesn’t deserve to make comments.

    And they are internetting wrong, also, too. Of course I don’t hold or nurture grudges, why do you ask?

  59. 59.

    magurakurin

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Have not seen Rice is Ripe for some weeks now.

    Nor the fake Sanders supporter Thoughtfortoday or whatever it was called. That was actually a better use of funds than the actually Jeb? cheerleader. Ratfucking is more effective, I’d reckon. I believe a decent portion of the assholish Sanders “supporters” at the DKOS fall into this category as well.

  64. 64.

    amk

    This post is in C.R.E.A.M., Election 2016, Grifters Gonna Grift, Open Thread, Republican Crime Syndicate – aka the Bush Admin., Republican Venality and has 65 Comments.

    Leave a Reply
    Want to join the discussion?
    Feel free to contribute!

    why just be pithy when you can be all pixelly?

  68. 68.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Steeplejack (tablet):

    Thoughtful Today was on yesterday.

    And Thoughtful Yesterday? When was he on? And when may we anticipate seeing Thoughtful Tomorrow?

    / like a holiday weekend and the recent time change weren’t confusing enough …. sheesh …..

  69. 69.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @Baud: I dunno, this sounds like something the apparatchiks would say in Ninotchka. A Russian accent would get the point across .

  76. 76.

    benw

    @schrodinger’s cat: well, there’s the mostly-racist asshole, the mostly-sexist asshole, the mostly-crazy asshole, the mostly-clueless asshole, the mostly-entitled asshole, and so on. So many flavors of asshole, the media must savor them all like a fine whine…

  77. 77.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @SiubhanDuinne: There are things one doesn’t say. Ever. Not if one is a dude. Women can talk about it all they want. But, there are a comments that one of my grandfathers made about aging and changing bodies that most women have no interest in hearing. Let’s all observe those proprieties, okay?

  81. 81.

    Redshift

    @Villago Delenda Est: My favorite (which may have changed since my college days) was the name for the women’s teams at Fairfield College. The men’s teams had long been called the Stags. So the women’s teams were called the Lady Stags.

  82. 82.

    BBA

    @Redshift: Before Atlanta got the Braves, their minor league team was, I shit you not, the Atlanta Crackers. This bizarre self-mockery by the white team was then copied by the local Negro League team – the Atlanta Black Crackers.

  83. 83.

    FlyingToaster

    @raven: Hey, Indiana WON the Old Oaken Bucket (for the third year running). Though why a team which is 2-6 in its conference would be considered bowl-eligible baffles me.

  84. 84.

    magurakurin

    @Steeplejack (tablet):

    Thoughtful Today was on yesterday.

    damn. Well, I guy can dream, can’t he? I still say he is a fake Sanders supporter. Ratfucker sent to set people fighting against each other.

  85. 85.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    @Omnes Omnibus: There are several traditional hockey cheers that the band at a women’s game doesn’t use, or have heavily modified. There’s one that they insert the word “terrible” instead of “suck,” and now it doesn’t make any sense.

  87. 87.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    @Redshift: Of course, as Bemidji State could tell you, using the school’s nickname for the women’s teams without modification can sometimes be unfortunate. (Oregon State has the same issue.)

  88. 88.

    NotoriousJRT

    For some reason, I keep getting solicitations from Ted Cruz and Ben Carson. Only Carson, however, sends a big, post paid envelope so I can mail his crap back to him at his expense.

  93. 93.

    amk

    @skerry:

    “Jordan is a safe place for them to wait. The kingdom has welcomed them with open arms. But Jordan is a small country.

    The United States must do more. We can do our part to help this crisis without bringing 10-25,000 refugees to the United States. Jordan already houses 1.4 million refugees.”

    ignorance? arrogance? cognitive dissonance? or all three.

  95. 95.

    Brachiator

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    I think you’re making a whole lot of assumptions about what Dr. Carson knows.

    There is a recent BBC news story about the possibility of a hidden chamber in King Tutankhamun’s tomb. There is some hot speculation that this chamber might hold Queen Nefertiti’s remains.

    But I will bet that Dr Carson would insist that this is just another granary, built under the supervision of Joseph. Because when faced with the Bible or archaeological evidence, go with the Bible.

  97. 97.

    Ruckus

    @Amir Khalid:
    I contend that there is an actual disconnect between thought and speech. Otherwise all we’d hear is gibberish. And no, gibberish is not what we hear. What we hear from Dr knife is Sarah Palin speak. That is, it uses English words (for the most part) but the structure and meaning is incomprehensible.

  100. 100.

    jl

    @skerry: Well, if Carson wrote that he shows more awareness and insight than most of the other GOPers.

    Carson is odd and I can’t figure him out. A distinguished career in medicine, and that excerpt shows insight and empathy in that passage far beyond anything I have seen from the other GOPers. But on a whole raft of other issues Carson is unbelievably ignorant and crazy.

    Read something someplace (was it on this here blog?) that contained the question of whether Carson was the grifter or the mark of his own campaign, without answering it. Good thing he has no chance of being President. Bad thing that some of the other GOPers do have a nonzero chance.

  101. 101.

    jl

    @amk:

    ‘ ignorance? arrogance? cognitive dissonance? or all three. ‘

    Learned helplessness. Carson knows suggesting letting even one Syrian refugee into the US, no matter how worthy, would doom his campaign.

    As I said before, seems like all the big issues that really move the GOP base, and make a big splash in the corporate news media is fantasy, BS and made up crap, sheer crap. Unbelievable. The GOP has turned into the Raving Loony Party.

  102. 102.

    Amir Khalid

    @jl:
    The Raving Loony Monster Party was taking the mickey, and everyone in Britain was in on the joke. Big difference.

  103. 103.

    mclaren

    Karl Rove has opened his Rolodex for Ben Carson.

    That’s amazing. I had no idea Ben Carson was interested in gay prostitutes.

  104. 104.

    Lurking Canadian

    @Brachiator: King Tut’s tomb was not in a pyramid.

    I mean, neither were any granaries in pyramids, but a new discovery about Tut’s tomb is not germane to that question.

  105. 105.

    Zinsky

    I don’t give a shit if this guy is a respected neurosurgeon, he is an utter and complete failure as a human being and doesn’t have even an eighth grade understanding of politics, civics or history. He needs a pie in the face on national TV to trim his ego down to size. Anyone??

  106. 106.

    Another Holocene Human

    @dmsilev:

    It might have been the whole Egyptian Pyramidal Grain Silo thing; that’s a pretty clear shorthand for ‘this guy is nuts, isn’t he?’

    Disagree; many of the rubes were taught as much in Sunday School and are shocked anyone says otherwise.

    No, Carson has gone down for being Weak On Terrah. Paris killed his campaign. He failed to mount an effective response and that has allowed Cruz to eat his lunch.

  107. 107.

    Brachiator

    @Lurking Canadian:

    King Tut’s tomb was not in a pyramid.

    I was going for the joke, not strict reportage.

    I mean, neither were any granaries in pyramids, but a new discovery about Tut’s tomb is not germane to that question.

    But in the end, Carson’s claim is not anything to be taken seriously, but is worthy only of mockery.

    And sadly, the larger point is, I think, dead on. Carson and other fundamentalists like him believe that the Bible is not only the word of the Deity, but accurate history. No evidence or scientific discovery could ever be accepted as contradicting any biblical established belief.

    @Zinsky

    he … doesn’t have even an eighth grade understanding of politics, civics or history.

    In this respect, he is close to the typical American, especially many Republicans. Carson, despite his skill as a surgeon, is following in the path blazed by the supremely stupid Sarah Palin, who still energizes the GOP faithful with her “common sense” based plain speaking.

  108. 108.

    Brachiator

    @Another Holocene Human:

    No, Carson has gone down for being Weak On Terrah. Paris killed his campaign.

    Yes, but I don’t think it is that Carson is weak on terror. It’s that the fundamentalists and others who loved him, but also want some foreign policy chops see that he is hopelessly out of his element.

    Weirdly, so is Trump, but he still is getting by with his simplistic “Trump Smash!” rhetoric. The other GOP presidentials are hopelessly dependent on standard neo-con madness, but at least can talk a coherent game.

  109. 109.

    boatboy_srq

    @skerry: Translation: Despite millenia of unrest in this particular part of the world, I am convinced that all this unnecessary suffering is entirely the Gay Kenyan IslamoFascoSoshulist’s fault; and I’m meeting with my military advisors (fresh from their latest VFW meeting) to outline a massive invasion of Syria to oust Assad, kill every last Daesch extremist, and let these poor people go back home where they belong. There may be costs associated, but I’m sure I can persuade Congress to ignore the bill for all those boots on the ground and munitions expended.

    @skerry: Watch: in the very next statement he’ll denounce all that wasteful foreign aid that he thinks is draining the Treasury dry and sending the deficit into the stratosphere. Something about “American citizens have no cause to send countless billions to other countries [read: Other Countries, populated by Other People] when our own burdens are so great and our own economy is in such a mess,” complete with some unsourced made-up anecdote about how US aid donations are supporting Boko Haram. Refugees warehoused in Jordan until Syria is secure is fine, but they won’t get any US assistance because Deficit Spending™!!11!1! – and Gun-Totin’ Capitalist Jeebus forbid that the US actually take anyone in because They Might Kill Us All.

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