Oh no. Oh dear God please no. https://t.co/wQgItoS8g8
— Daniel Drezner (@dandrezner) January 25, 2016
Yes. Here's a bet for my friend @matthewjdowd: Trump won't be GOP nominee. For dinner at a swanky place near @ABC. https://t.co/QuRI0L2dk6
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) January 24, 2016
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Because Bill “Sarah Palin, Let Me Show You Her” Kristol is always wrong!…
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Idea: Conservative eggheads do whip-a-round, raise $, pay Kristol to come out FOR Trump. https://t.co/wkE1frzXj8
— Billmon (@billmon1) January 25, 2016
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Apart from despair snark, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
Betty Cracker
Not so sure Trump wouldn’t be the optimal result for Democrats. Of course, it would be frightening that such a buffoon would have a non-zero chance at the presidency, but isn’t that true of all of them?
Iowa Old Lady
@Betty Cracker: One of the major reasons it’s frightening is that if any of them becomes president, that means the election undoubtedly put both houses of Congress in R hands. That’s scary as hell.
trollhattan
Holy shit no, Bloody Billy, nooooo. Take it back!
patrick II
Bill Kristol:
There is an old joke about conflicting feelings being your mother-in-law driving your new mercedes over a cliff. For me I just added being a good enough friend of Bill Kristol that he would make personal bets with you and you get numerous free dinners.
Gimlet
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Harris-grand-jury-indicts-pair-behind-Planned-6782865.php
A Harris County grand jury probe into Planned Parenthood of the Gulf Coast ended Monday with the indictments of two anti-abortion activists.
David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt were both indicted for tampering with a governmental record. An additional indictment for prohibition of the purchase and sale of human organs was issued for Daleiden, according to a release from the Harris County District Attorneys Office.
Enhanced Voting Techinques
So if Kristol is saying that it means Trump has won it without even the first primary. I think it says a lot about the decadence of the GoP that an entertainment personality can win the nomination when they are out on basically a lark. And give Trump his due, he would like make a much better president than the rest of those clowns in the GoP primary.
Ohio Mom
Twenty years ago, when we lived in the DC suburbs, my husband and I attended the neighborhood Conservative synagogue. Rather a run of the mill place.
One week there was a bar mitzvah and a row of guests who we did not recognize as members. Still, my husband kept insisting he recognized them. From where he could not remember but it was driving him crazy.
At the end of the service, the rabbi took a moment to recognize the bar mitzvah boy’s distinguished distant cousins: the entire Kristol clan!
My husband was relieved his itch was gone. I was disgusted to realize I’d just shared a morning with them. My prior suspicion that the rabbi was a jerk was confirmed.
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker:
I don’t see them all as equally bad. Trump, the rank amateur, could be the worst of all possible worlds. Neither Trump nor Carson nor Fiorina have any grasp of domestic or foreign policy, but only Trump continues to fool people with his swaggering bluster.
Worse, Trump’s tendency to attack those who disagree with him suggests an angry instability that could lead to a foreign policy disaster.
I’m semi-convinced that the only reason that Trump is running is because Obama made him look like a fool when he kept pushing the birther BS. To even consider electing a person president who is so deeply motivated by resentment and a fragile ego is to court tragedy of massive proportions.
Tommy
@Enhanced Voting Techinques: Trump still worries me in the general for several reasons, the top of the list is people like John isn’t thrilled with any of our candidates. I live in a pretty darn blue district. We had not elected a Republican in 70 years. We elected a bat shit crazy tea party guy last year. The reason was simple, very, very low voter turn out. Most years Republicans couldn’t even find somebody to run. But somehow we still lost. I fear the same with Trump.
D58826
@Gimlet: Beat me to it. Glad I was sitting down when I saw it on twitter. Does this mean the FSM really does exist,
Gimlet
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/01/25/3742461/michigan-attorney-general-appoints-snyder-donor/
Weeks after refusing to even look into allegations of wrongdoing in the Flint water crisis, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette (R) announced on Monday that he is appointing a special counsel to investigate the situation. Schuette said that he has selected former prosecutor Todd Flood, a donor to both Schuette and Gov. Rick Synder (R), to determine whether anyone broke state law.
Tommy
@Brachiator: Trump’s anger is maybe the most troubling thing about him IMHO. Look I lose my temper from time to time but I am also not running for POTUS. I bet Obama loses his temper from time to time but it is with trusted advisors behind closed door without TV cameras set to record.
D58826
@Gimlet: Commented on the other thread that a militia group has shown up to protect the citizens of flint from the gubbermint. They are there to show that thirsty or not the 2nd amendment is all important.
and – ‘Schuette said that he has selected former prosecutor Todd Flood, a donor to both Schuette and Gov. Rick Synder (R), to determine whether anyone broke state law.’
why not use the money to buy bottled water
Tommy
@Gimlet: My little rural town is pretty cool. Every year the city tests our water and sends us a letter with the results. It is safe to say I don’t even use a filter in my household because my water is about as clean as possible. I guess I used to take this for granted, of all the horror stories out of Flint that is no longer the case.
Hurling Dervish
@Iowa Old Lady: Plus the Supreme Court. Especially the Supreme Court.
lol chikinburd
The three good things about today were (1) I got to have lunch with an aunt I hadn’t seen in many years; (2) the washing machine now seems to work after replacing the coupler ($27), and (3) I wasn’t crushed by a falling refrigetator. (Had to move a dead one out of the basement, up a flight of stone stairs.)
Don’t know where this leaves my karmic balance but I’d have to say that any day you’re not crushed by a falling refrigerator is a day to be thankful you weren’t crushed by a falling refrigerator.
Tommy
@Hurling Dervish: Yes, yes, yes. I can tend to think more of the “horse race” and forget that the Supreme Court and who appoints future justices is more important than just about anything else. I think it is safe to say if we lose just one vote, much less two, there is no telling what they might do.
D58826
@Hurling Dervish: I know it doesn’t make for an upbeat sound bit or bumper sticker but 2016 is ALL about SCOTUS. The D’s may retake the Senate and then lose it again in 2018 but the House is GOP for at least 6 years if not until 2030 (baring some major catastrophic event). So wither it is Hillary or Bernie they will have a problem getting a Mother’s day resolution passed. While A GOP Senate will limit the choices that Hillery or Bernie can make, at some point they have to fill the empty seat. A court filled with young John Roberts lookalike will invalidate any legislation that a democratic president and congress might pass for the next 20-30 years. Just think the Lockner era and FDR’s problems in his first term. While Hillary and Bernie can veto the worst of what the GOP does that is short term defense. SCOTUS is the long game.
Brachiator
@Tommy:
The thing about Trump’s anger is that it is so childish. He always has to strike back, get even, and belittle the other person. And, as you suggest, Trump acts out his tantrums in public. Maybe he is worse behind closed doors.
Some people like the way that he fights back, but they don’t seem to be paying attention to the infantile aspects of Trump’s behavior. And yet they think that they want this in a president.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
Hard to see your own short comings in fact are short comings without being mature enough to be honest with yourself. Makes it just as hard to see the same traits in others. IOW infantile people don’t recognize that in themselves or others.
Sad_Dem
@Tommy:
Obama doesn’t get mad, he just sends in the Navy Seals.
SiubhanDuinne
@lol chikinburd:
What an amazing coincidence! I wasn’t crushed by a falling refrigerator either. I had no idea we had so much in common (although the day is still young….)
ThresherK (GPad)
My town has a meeting I’m doing the geeking forit, as there’s overflow attendance and SRO for the internet live streaming in other public rooms at town hall. We’re trying to stop a water bottling plant for Niagara. Not sure we need the commitment to giving them a fudgeton of water at below-homeowner prices.
And there would be a plastic bottle factory, 2 million a day. Plus traffic. For the sake of three dozen low skill jobs. Did I mention a $4M tax abatement?
PurpleGirl
@ThresherK (GPad): I hope you win. I thought you lived in CT; where does Niagara come in — a river or the company name? No more corporate welfare!!!!!
laura
Here in Sacramento, our Mayor gave basement rates to Nestlé to bottle our water.
Yes, we are in a drought despite El Nino, and yes, they did not throttle down on the rate in which they bottled and sold a precious and valuable resource because reasons.
daverave
@laura:
That’s no ordinary mayor, that’s KJ !, former NBA great and occasional perv.
laura
@daverave: daverave, when we occasionally find ourselves in the same restaurant, farmer’s market or other public space with KJ, and Mrs Rhee, my husband braces for the inevitable rant and hopes I keep it in check.
As the late Abe Sass would say “Shitty Ass Ratfuckers” because you know they are.
SWMBO
@D58826: If we send the militia snacks, will they drink the water?
@Brachiator: And yet, W got his knickers in a knot because Saddam “TRIED TO KILL MY DADDY!”. Don’t underestimate the revenge factor of the GOP.