Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

Dear legacy media: you are not here to influence outcomes and policies you find desirable.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

The words do not have to be perfect.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

All hail the time of the bunny!

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Even Politico Is Beginning to Worry…

Open Thread: Even Politico Is Beginning to Worry…

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… because the Repubs are sailing On Beyond Crazy. Michael Grunwald, “senior staff writer for Politico Magazine and editor-at-large of the Agenda”:

After five Republican debates, most Americans know about Donald Trump’s provocative beliefs, like his desires to end birthright citizenship, stop Muslim immigration and kill families of suspected terrorists. Much less attention has been paid to Carly Fiorina’s conclusion that the minimum wage is unconstitutional, Mike Huckabee’s pledge to defy Supreme Court rulings he deems incompatible with God’s law, Rick Santorum’s claim that Islam is not protected by the First Amendment or Chris Christie’s threat to shoot down Russian planes and launch cyberattacks on Chinese leaders.

Those provocative beliefs, believe it or not, were also expressed during the five Republican debates. They were just overshadowed by the furor over Trump. It might be natural for an opposition party to sound bombastic during primary season, especially when its front-runner is blessed with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of bombast, but the debate transcripts read like a Democratic opposition researcher’s dream…

… I’ve watched all the debates as well as the undercards live, but when I reviewed the transcripts, I was amazed how many radical statements had slipped under my radar. Ted Cruz called for putting the United States back on the gold standard. Marco Rubio accused President Barack Obama of destroying the U.S. military. Huckabee said Bernie Madoff’s rip-offs weren’t as bad as what the government has done to people on Social Security and Medicare. Lindsey Graham said his administration would monitor all “Islamic websites,” not just jihadist ones. I had even forgotten Trump’s claim that vaccines caused autism in a 2-year-old girl he knew.

Vaccines do not cause autism. Goldbuggery is crackpot economics. The U.S. military is still by far the strongest in the world. And what the government has done to people on Social Security and Medicare is give them pensions and health care. But none of those statements drew any pushback from the other Republican candidates, or, for that matter, the media moderators. Neither did Ben Carson’s assertion that if the United States had set a goal of oil independence within a decade, moderate Arab states would have “turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks,” which is wackadoodle on multiple levels…

Democratic leaders have expressed glee about these nationally televised festivals of right-wing me-too-ism, but another way of thinking about them is as highly rated, mostly unrebutted advertisements for the notion that Obama is a disaster and America is in peril. So far, the Republicans have had more than 20 hours to tell the public that “the idea of America is slipping away,” that “we’re on a path to socialism,” that “America has been betrayed.” Nobody on the debate stage disagreed when, for example, Christie declared that Obama doesn’t respect the military or the police, or that Americans believed in a more prosperous future in January 2009 (when the economy was losing 800,000 jobs a month) until Obama “stole” that belief. You might not take Christie at his word that Obama is a “feckless weakling,” but when you hear it over and over, you might assume he must be missing at least some feck…

Ah yes, the cult of BothSides — all the GOP candidates are spinning lies and nutcase fantasies as loudly as they can, but it’s President Obama’s fault for not, I dunno, arranging to have the debate stage struck by a bolt of lightning. Grunwald ties up his jerimiad by complaining that “the Democrats are acting like they’ve lost their feck”, unlike the “confident… perhaps overconfident” Republicans. If our proud nation is destroyed at the hands of feral revanchists, at least the Politico lads will have their savvy takes to hug.

Reader Interactions

135Comments

  1. 1.

    Comrade Luke

    I don’t think they’re blaming Obama. I think they’re blaming the DNC, which is running the Democrat side of the upcoming election.

    Which is justified criticism.

  2. 2.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Grunwald is a climate hawk and the author of a pretty good book defending the Stimulus, one that was generally ignored by EvenTheLiberalMSNBC and other should-be friendly outfits. He also used to use twitter to taunt Ron Fournier.
    I don’t read that as criticism of Obama but as too-faint condemnation of the media and the Dems who should be more noisy about having Obama’s back.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    Grunwald ties up his jerimiad by complaining that “the Democrats are acting like they’ve lost their feck”

    I haven’t clicked over because Politico, but our candidates IMHO seem full of feck to me.

  6. 6.

    oldgold

    I just watched a Rubio ad that claims President Obama has been “humiliated by Putin, Iran and Islamic jihadists.” Say what?

  12. 12.

    Adam L Silverman

    I have a feeling the President is going to have a lot of fun at this year’s State of the Union address. He certainly has plenty of material to work with.

  13. 13.

    rikyrah

    Latest police shooting in Chicago.

    They pumped 7 bullets into a young man with mental issues.

    He had a bat.

    But, that’s their ‘reason’. I heard his mother ask why SEVEN BULLETS?

    How come they didn’t just put him down with one or two shots?

    Hearing her pain on the radio….I felt it.

    The reporter on the radio brushed past the OTHER person killed by police at that address. I should have known that something was up when there wasn’t a ready made excuse to justify the police shooting.

    Turns out that the second person the police MURDERED was a 55 year old mother of five in recovery from ovarian cancer whose crime was…

    wait for it…

    She died for the ‘crime’ of ANSWERING THE DOOR IN HER HOUSECOAT AND SLIPPERS WHILE BLACK.

    THAT was her ‘crime’.

    I am not exaggerating.

    That was her ‘crime’.

    ……………………

    The Associated Press ✔ @AP
    BREAKING: Chicago police: 55-year-old woman killed by police early Saturday was ‘accidentally struck’

    Alex Nitkin @AlexNitkin
    Jones, mother of 5, was recovering from ovarian cancer, family said. Was looking for all-clear from her doctor so she could go back to work.

    Alex Nitkin @AlexNitkin
    Per family: Jones was shot while opening the door for police. She had just been asleep, & was wearing her nightgown.

  15. 15.

    Baud

    @rikyrah: I saw that on the news this morning, but they didn’t say she was opening the door for the cops.

    Seems like #VerbWhileBlack should be a hashtag.

  19. 19.

    raven

    @Betty Cracker: The new stadium isn’t built.

    Minneapolis, MN (June 15, 2015) – With construction of Minnesota’s state-of-the-art, multi-use stadium more than halfway complete, the Minnesota Vikings can bank on a substantial home field advantage every time they take the field beginning in 2016.
    Effective today, that stadium also has a name: U.S. Bank Stadium.

  26. 26.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: Maybe we should combine the WHCD and the SOTU, will President Baud do that?

    ETA: Just finished washing the last of the dishes from Christmas dinner, I’m on a roll!

  30. 30.

    Baud

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Being America’s first virtual president, I think I might tweet the SOTU.

    Baud’s in the White House/All’s right with the world! #SOTU

    As far as the WHCD goes, as great as it would be to make fun of the people in attendance, I think I’ll choose to end that monstrosity.

  37. 37.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Well fuck, just fuck. My best friend in the world — i’ve known her since sophomore geometry class in high school, so 58 years ago — has had bad news. “My cancer has returned, meandering from the lung to the spine and a couple of lymph nodes behind the abdomen.”

    Sucks. Just totally sucks. She has a better attitude than I do, but I am devastated. She lives in Tucson, and I’m hoping to see her this May when I drive out to Arizona for my grand-niece’s graduation.

    This Balloon Juice crew is wonderful at gearing up the white light and warm fuzzies, so please send some in the direction of my friend Linda.

    Deep thanks.

  42. 42.

    raven

    @SiubhanDuinne: Exactly the same diagnoses as my boss. She’s in her late 40’s and had both nose and breast cancer. She starts more chemo the 4th. I’ve been her confidant through her treatment and her doctorate and you are right, her attitude is better than mine.

  44. 44.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: They shot Ms. Jones through the door while she was trying to answer it. There is never such a thing as an accidental shooting, just negligent ones. Take everything else regarding firearms and violence and set it aside and you’re left with an inanimate object that doesn’t do anything unless someone makes it do something.

    As to how the police responded to this call: I am convinced that these incidents/events that we keep seeing are training related. Specifically they’re failure to train properly and to maintain standards. There’s a long standing criminology/criminal justice understanding that law enforcement culture looks at the world as police friendly and police unfriendly. When they have to go into what they believe is policy unfriendly territory they do so with overwhelming force and respond to everything as if its a threat. The only ways to overcome this cultural response is through training and supervision. Clearly there is a problem with the latter two here.

  45. 45.

    redshirt

    @SiubhanDuinne: Tucson is the best place to see the stars in mainland America. Take a tour of Kitt Peak. Also, the Biosphere 2 is only a couple of hours away and it’s an amazing, off world place.

    Best wishes.

  46. 46.

    Baud

    @raven: With the proliferation of bowls and corporate sponsors have come some some crappy names. Here’s a sample from ESPN.

    Raycom Media Camellia Bowl
    AutoNation Cure Bowl
    R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
    San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl
    GoDaddy Bowl (really?)
    TaxSlayer Bowl
    Motel 6 Cactus Bowl

  54. 54.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven:

    All best wishes to your boss. Please share with me about her, as I will with you about my friend. Linda has had one chemo treatment with at least a couple more to go.

    What an incredibly sucky thing cancer is.

  61. 61.

    Ruckus

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    Good luck to your friend.

    Can I just add, I HATE fucking cancer.
    Too many people I have known have had it and some that I know very, very well have it right now. A just god my ass. You call this intelligent design?

  62. 62.

    JPL

    @efgoldman: Talk shows complain that a four year old get a participation trophy but it’s okay if mediocre teams go to bowl games. It should have been named the purple people eaters bowl..
    Guess it all depends on who will benefit.

  64. 64.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven:

    This lady has been through more shit than I can imagine. She got sober some 25+ years ago, met her current husband through AA. He is the first of her four husbands she has agreed to marry while not in an alcoholic fog, according to her, and I must say, they are a terrific pair. Her first husband blew his brains out. Her second husband molested/raped her young daughter. Her third husband was the dictionary definition of “charming and totally irresponsible.” Her brother committed suicide about 13-14 years ago. And yet, believe it or not, she is by no stretch a drama queen, although god knows she has plenty of reason to be.

  66. 66.

    Mike G

    if the United States had set a goal of oil independence within a decade, moderate Arab states would have “turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks,”

    Funny, I remember when a Dem president tried to reduce our dependence on foreign oil in the late 70s and the Repuke response was “MALAISE blahblahblah cardigan wimp blahblahblah UnMurkan thermostat temperatures blahblahblah Tear down the solar panels from the White House roof, I’m driving an SUV, MURKA FUCK YEAH”

  70. 70.

    JPL

    @SiubhanDuinne: Cancer is a cruel disease. Last Wednesday I found out that someone I knew died from brain cancer. She had been diagnosed six weeks ago. Until then, she was an avid hiker and healthy.

  73. 73.

    redshirt

    @SiubhanDuinne: I don’t mean to tell you what to do, of course. I just love Tucson, and have made many trips there. I used to go to Nogales Mexico all the time, but their drug war (our Drug War) has ruined that. No one dares cross the border anymore.

  75. 75.

    Ruckus

    @Mike G:
    Conservatives have to get ideas from somewhere, for they have no new ideas. Having new ideas makes them not actually conservative and while it’s not that conservatives don’t like the results of some liberal policies, it’s that they have to invent them, implement them before they are “good” policies. Which is a problem when they have no ideas and can not look forward to any kind of solution for things which were never a problem for them, 50-100 yrs ago.

  76. 76.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @JPL:

    Oh, I am so sorry. Yes, it completely sucks. If the 21st century does nothing else, I hope it can find a way to prevent, mitigate, cure, and/or relieve these terrible afflictions we lump together under the umbrella term “cancer.” Hugs backatcha, JPL.

  77. 77.

    jl

    Well, feck that asshole. Quite a few somersaults and flips to get to the conclusion that, hey, those crazy GOPers might not be so bad after all.

    Hey, ol’ Huck is agin’ cancer! Fiornia advocates a non-insane (but over-hyped) budgeting gimmick cure-all! So, gosh, and pound of nuts and and once of sense equals ‘maybe they are worth listening to’. They are not.

    Anyway, just two examples of slop from this ass. Sanders may or may not have given the impression to this idiot that he would not mind raising marginal income tax rates on the rich to 90 percent, but he clearly said that he would not (but that the infamous commie Eisenhower did).

    And, sure, many of us blame the DNC for too few debates and bad scheduling, but they are not exactly hidden. Millions of people watched them.

    What desperate dreck. Which I suppose is a good sign, that the partisan beat at Poltico has to go to such asinine stupidity to get their insinuendo.

  78. 78.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @redshirt:

    I always welcome suggestions for places to go and things to see. While I’m able, I intend to spend a good chunk of my retirement driving all over North America, and visiting quirky and out-of-the-way attractions. So feel free to pass along any recommendations you may have.

  81. 81.

    redshirt

    @raven: I’m sure the coastal resort towns are OK. I’m just talking about Nogales, which turned into a No Go Zone with the uptick in the violence in Mexico over the last 15 years. It’s not a tourist town at all.

  83. 83.

    redshirt

    @SiubhanDuinne: Cool. The Biosphere is HIGHLY recommended. The University of Arizona has a presence at the site (It is an A of U property) and even their buildings are like straight out of Star Trek. The entire site is like traveling to a different world.

  84. 84.

    jl

    @SiubhanDuinne: Sorry to hear about your friend. I remember the desert museum being fun too. Saguaro National Park is cool, and right outside both sides of town,. If Mt. Lemmon has recovered from the fires of several years ago, that is pretty place to drive through and hike.

    Chiricahau and Organ Pipe are cool, at the north end of the latter you can get pic of yourself by the Why AZ city limit sign.

  86. 86.

    J R in WV

    The Desert Museum is fabulous. There’s a cave with a mineral exhibit, Native arts and crafts, Desert Bio exhibits, and it’s all easy walking. We loved it. Even the drive out to it is wonderful, through rocky peaks with thousands of saguaro cactus standing guard. It’s either close to or part of the Western Saguaro National Park.

    I’m assuming Global Climate Change hasn’t killed all the giant cactus off, but I think that would have made the news, actually. In southern AZ they tend to cover southern exposure hills at the right altitude. Elevation makes the weather out there much of the year.

  88. 88.

    Gin & Tonic

    @raven: Rocky Point was an amusement park in RI. Long since bankrupt and closed. Only old guys like efgoldman remember it anymore.

  89. 89.

    Zinsky

    I think Grunwald brings up a great, unmade point about these GOP so-called debates, and that is that any one of these doorknobs is espousing right-wing views as radical as has been heard in the U.S. since the 1920s! Return to the gold standard? Eliminate the IRS? Ban contraceptives? For fucks sake, these views are a hundred years out-of-date! I wish someone would call out these corksuckers for this medieval nonsense!!

  92. 92.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I wanna know how efgoldman suddenly got to be the definition of “old man.” I’m way older than he is, but does anyone ever use SiubhanDuinne to portray oldness? Nooooooo.

  95. 95.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Satby:

    Thank you, Satby. And, although I don’t think I have commented much, I want to say how much I am enjoying your posts about your “girls” and the wonderful experiences you are giving them. It is a treat to share their experiences vicariously.

  100. 100.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Emma:

    Emma, that is beautiful. Thank you, and I hope it will be a long time before I need to deal with the ultimate grief. Although each little moment of sad news contributes to that grief.

  102. 102.

    Satby

    @SiubhanDuinne: aww, thanks! We do have fun. Qunoot has taken to saying “Mother!!” in that faux aggravated teenaged way (thanks, MOTHER!). So I just answer her with the same tone of voice (you’re welcome, DAUGHTER!). They just laugh. Right now they’re upstairs singing to Adele.

  104. 104.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Satby:

    LOL, sounds as though total bonding has taken place! They sound like terrific young women. You are lucky, and so are they.

  107. 107.

    Gin & Tonic

    @SiubhanDuinne: That was intended as a more or less light-hearted response, playing on “traditional” Western etiquette notions that I, and therefore you, are old enough to remember. If you prefer, I will henceforth refer to you as “SiubhanDuinne, older than dirt.” However, I still would not have used you as the canonical definition of old in my earlier comment because, to the best of my knowledge, you have not lived in Rhode Island and thus would not, presumably, have known of the bankrupt amusement park that efgoldman referred to.

  112. 112.

    Steeplejack

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    “Old man” has certain, uh, baggage that “old woman” doesn’t, e.g., yelling at clouds, onion on belt, vehemently held but possibly unhinged views, etc. Not sure you want to be the standard-bearer for all that. And efgoldman is managing it so well.

  113. 113.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @SiubhanDuinne: So very, very sorry … thoughts and energy being sent her way. We just learned today that the daughter of one of my husband’s best friends (high school and college) died Christmas Day. She was 48. He had two daughters and a wife, and now all have been taken by diabetes. I hate that fuckng disease. And they were an absolutely beautiful family.

  114. 114.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Gin & Tonic:

    That is true, and I apologize for snapping at you. I do, however, remember Riverview, the equivalent amusement park in Chicagoland.

    And I got your light-heartedness, I just didn’t respond in kind. Feel free to keep using efg as the canonical “old person” — I don’t want that to be my defining characteristic. But equally, I don’t want him to get all the glory when there are “old people wins” on the line.

    Edit: BTW, I have had the pleasure of meeting efg and the lovely and talented Mrs. efg in person. He is about as far from an “onions-on-belt” fogey as you would wish to meet. If he shakes his fist at clouds, he is just toying with you.

  115. 115.

    redshirt

    @debbie: Cancer is clearly part of life. Maybe it’s super-charged life. It sucks, but our (Life) place here in this world is temporary, and subservient. We should all align ourselves with this truth.

  117. 117.

    Gin & Tonic

    @SiubhanDuinne: I’m sure he’s delightful, as I suspect you are, too. It was just a useful device to reference the long-since-gone nature of that park. But I think I have to stop flailing away at this vaguely equine-shaped oil slick in the road.

  119. 119.

    Ruckus

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    He is the definition of old man. You are not a man. As it is I’m following closely in his footsteps, if he stumbles, I’ll have just enough time to miss stumbling over him.
    The other thing is that as I understand it, women never, ever get older than 29 and it’s far safer for men’s health if they fully believe that.

  120. 120.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Yes, he is delightful, and yes, I modestly like to believe I am too. I hereby hand over all the reins of Olddom (Oldness, Oldhood) to the venerable efgoldman.

    I am considerably older than 29, and have never quite understood the trope of women being preserved in the amber of <29. I wouldn't return to that age if you paid me a great deal of money for the privilege. OTOH, I am well aware that there are also several typical "old-lady" stereotypes that I would be just as happy to avoid.

  127. 127.

    Ruckus

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    Just reminiscing of days of yore. I also find that telling woman about the always 29 thing sort of cancels it out.
    I agree about not going back to those days, even if I knew everything I know now. Although at the time I was living with a very wonderful woman who still is to this day……..
    Getting old(er) isn’t all that bad, as long as the memory holds out, the plumbing still works, as well as the legs and ticker. It’s just another mile on the bumpy road of life and I’m glad that it mostly is a road enjoyed, even if there are potholes, washouts, snow, unbearable heat, etc, that just makes it a bit more exciting. The one thing I can not imagine is always playing the safe card, never taking risks, all in the hope of another day. Boredom is all it’s cracked up to be.

  130. 130.

    jl

    @efgoldman: I’mm disappointed that there is a witness who says that you are not a demented old man Simpson who yells at clouds.

    But, just to show I have no hard feelings over the disappointment, I grant you my coming old age and senescence as well. You are welcome.

    Edit: anyone know if that gift is tax deductible, BTW? Income tax season coming up pretty soon. Goldman, you might need to write up a receipt.

  131. 131.

    Adam L Silverman

    @SiubhanDuinne: Do you have any thoughts on the creation of the brownie in Chicago? Because I’ve got a whole thread on that just waiting for a personal anecdote…

    And we’ll keep good thoughts for your friend on this end. And Raven’s too.

  132. 132.

    cokane

    Your commentary indicates a pretty deep misreading of that piece, Anne. I appreciate the link, but you’re misrepresenting Grunwald’s argument.

  133. 133.

    Keith G

    Ah yes, the cult of BothSides — all the GOP candidates are spinning lies and nutcase fantasies as loudly as they can, but it’s President Obama’s fault for not, I dunno, arranging to have the debate stage struck by a bolt of lightning.

    I reread thrice, but still saw no text that backed this assessment.

Comments are closed.