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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Right to Regurgitate

Right to Regurgitate

by Betty Cracker|  January 27, 20164:48 pm| 146 Comments

This post is in: Election 2016, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Venality, Republicans in Disarray!, Assholes, Clown Shoes

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Jeb Bush can take credit for one good thing: His shameless exploitation of Terri Schiavo so disgusted our host that he turned from the Dark Side.

Now, with a floundering campaign and the candidate himself getting serially pantsed by the bulbous, evil shower-drain genie Trump, the super PAC for Jeb the Lesser digs up poor Ms. Schiavo once again. Via Salon:

An appalling ad created by the super PAC Right to Rise that’s currently running in South Carolina boasts that Bush is “a man of deep faith, who fought time and again for the right to life.” And among the images accompanying the words is a photograph of Terri Schiavo. It’s an inclusion the late woman’s husband Michael calls “simply disgusting.”

I was semi-rooting for Jeb to win the Republican nomination early on because I relished the thought of another Clinton beating the pants off another Bush. I figured he would win because he had the most money.

But now I’m glad it appears he’ll suffer the greater humiliation of being trampled in a stampede of vulgar clowns and finishing behind his erstwhile protégé Rubio after starting with such a huge head start. What a thoroughly despicable human being.

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Reader Interactions

146Comments

  1. 1.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 27, 2016 at 4:49 pm

    And I thought W was the dumb Bush.

  2. 2.

    bobbo

    January 27, 2016 at 4:51 pm

    We can still hope for that Clinton/Bush election. Jeb! is Right to Rising in NH! (Maybe!)

  3. 3.

    Miss Bianca

    January 27, 2016 at 4:51 pm

    I can just imagine the Bushes channeling their inner Mark Hanna throughout the JEB! Fiasco:

    “We bought this sonofabitchin’ party and IT WOULDN’T STAY BOUGHT!”

  4. 4.

    Chris

    January 27, 2016 at 4:52 pm

    Jeb Bush can take credit for one good thing: His shameless exploitation of Terri Schiavo so disgusted our host that he turned from the Dark Side.

    That seems more like a credit to our host than to Jeb Bush. If it hadn’t been that, it would’ve been something else :)

    Nah, but I relate. I was at the very least conservative-curious when I started following politics – the first political blogs I ever read were right wing. I give these blogs credit for exposing me to the full blast of what the right wing base really believes, and in so doing, helping to point me in the opposite direction.

  5. 5.

    trollhattan

    January 27, 2016 at 4:57 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:
    None of us allowed for the possibility of an even dumber Bush. Our bad, but it’s that glimmer of faith in humanity that keeps me going most days. Heb? tested it bigtime.

  6. 6.

    SP

    January 27, 2016 at 5:00 pm

    Maybe this is just so Jeb can show he’s following the law, because if his campaign were coordinating with the superPAC would they really approve such a stupid ad?

  7. 7.

    Anoniminous

    January 27, 2016 at 5:03 pm

    Given the advantages JEB! had going into this election: money, contacts, the Bush Machine, name recognition, endorsements, etc., it took major ineptness for him to blow it. In almost 50 years of politics I’ve never seen a front ranked candidate self-destruct so quickly and thoroughly.

  8. 8.

    boatboy_srq

    January 27, 2016 at 5:04 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: First we had HW; then we had Shrub; then (largely thanks to those two) we got Bandar Bush; and now we have Pander Bush.

    I really feel for Michael Schaivo. HEB? is simply refusing to let the poor man’s wife rest in peace.

    Somebody ought to take note that the whole ugly Schaivo escapade not only was anything but “pro-life” it was directly opposing not only “pro-choice” positions but Roe itself – for reasons other than the antichoicers will admit. Terri’s end of life care was her concern first and foremost, and after that her husband’s; suggesting that male blood relations had more awareness of her needs and desires than either she or her husband did is a direct challenge to the principle on which Roe was decided. Anti-choicers want not only the slvts to bear the shame of their wantonness, they want their fathers/brothers/sons to have veto over every healthcare decision they make.

  9. 9.

    boatboy_srq

    January 27, 2016 at 5:05 pm

    Oh, and HEB? is despicable, now more than ever.

  10. 10.

    GregB

    January 27, 2016 at 5:06 pm

    What next for Jeb? Running the video of George W. crawling on the floor looking for WMD?

  11. 11.

    boatboy_srq

    January 27, 2016 at 5:07 pm

    @trollhattan: He actually had less-bad-than-some beginnings. The 2000 election [mis]handling was masterful (if viewed from the perspective of family fortunes), as was his handling of the 2004 hurricane season (ditto). It’s the REST of what the slimeball has done that is so awefully awful.

  12. 12.

    BGinCHI

    January 27, 2016 at 5:08 pm

    Why doesn’t Jeb just cut the bullshit and pay people to vote for him?

  13. 13.

    Tenar Darell

    January 27, 2016 at 5:08 pm

    There is nothing worse than being the loved one responsible for deciding to withdraw all but palliative care. Fnuck Jeb! to hell forever for making Michael Schiavo jump through hoops when he tried to follow his wife’s wishes, and made a tough time even more terrible.

  14. 14.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 27, 2016 at 5:09 pm

    ¡Heb! is gloriously unaware that his Shiavo intervention totally fucked up Kkkarl Rove’s maths in 2006.

  15. 15.

    Felonius Monk

    January 27, 2016 at 5:11 pm

    Don’t be countin’ those chickens, ’cause it ain’t over, ’til it’s over:

    Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) surged into second place in a New Hampshire poll released Wednesday by the Emerson College Polling Society, although real-estate billionaire Donald Trump retained a double-digit lead in Granite State.

    (Source)

  16. 16.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 27, 2016 at 5:11 pm

    (I tried to post about his yesterday and two posts got et by FYWP. I wondered if that family name triggered the spam filter)

    I’ve been surprised this issue hasn’t come up as a drag for Bush, but given the timing and the fact that he’s bringing it up now, I wonder if this isn’t a sign of desperation, a last ditch appeal for the hard core fundies to float him up to a tie for fourth place, or wherever the hell he’s aiming for.

    I also saw a tweety the other day, forget from whom, that NH Republicans are majority pro-choice, so this is some Iowa desperation.

  17. 17.

    boatboy_srq

    January 27, 2016 at 5:12 pm

    @Tenar Darell: “Jump through hoops”? HEB? made the man face off against his inlaws, the Florida legislature, the US Congress, and SCOTUS (IIRC), and then had him investigated post-mortem by FL DCF for abusing his wife while she was alive. And now this. “Tough time more terrible” nothing: HEB? made Schaivo’s life a cultural, social and legal hell for over ten years; and apparently he isn’t finished yet.

  18. 18.

    boatboy_srq

    January 27, 2016 at 5:13 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: He’s losing the committed fundie vote to Cruz and the uncommitted/Prosperity-Gospel fundie vote to tRump. Of course he’s desperate.

  19. 19.

    NCSteve

    January 27, 2016 at 5:13 pm

    Thanks, Jeb! for the reminder of what a vile, loathsome shitstain you really are. Because with first rank vile, loathsome shitstains like Cruz and Trump at the top, it’s easy to lazily slip into thinking that you’re not as bad as they are. Oh, but you are.

    The Schiavo affair, as much as Katrina was a critical turning point for a lot of people because it so perfectly illustrated the complete intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the Republicans under Bush. The memory of GWB flying Air Force One back to DC from the Crawford movie prop cattle-free dude ranch so he could sign that abominable law, and yet failing to do so for Katrina still fills me with sick disgust.

    But, above all, it was the petulant malice behind Jeb’s! instigation of the DFC investigation and his corrupt attempt to strong arm local D.A.’s into indicting Michael Schiavo for murder after he lost that truly cemented his status as the most despicable member of the Bush Crime Family to me.

  20. 20.

    Anoniminous

    January 27, 2016 at 5:15 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    That made me wonder what Rove was up to. A quick Google revealed he is going around talking about what the 1896 William McKinley election tells Republicans in 2016. I have no idea what he is saying but I’ll guess “bugger all” isn’t one of the bullet points.

  21. 21.

    Cacti

    January 27, 2016 at 5:15 pm

    The Bushes are just plain awful people.

  22. 22.

    boatboy_srq

    January 27, 2016 at 5:15 pm

    @NCSteve:

    his corrupt attempt to strong arm local D.A.’s into indicting Michael Schiavo for murder

    Thanks; I forgot about that.

  23. 23.

    Steve in the ATL

    January 27, 2016 at 5:16 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    And I thought W was the dumb Bush.

    I say W is still the dumb Bush, but was a better politician than the somewhat smarter Jed.

  24. 24.

    MattF

    January 27, 2016 at 5:16 pm

    Jeb! seems to have no idea how gruesome his behavior in the Schiavo affair looks to anyone outside the bubble. I’m appalled, all over again.

  25. 25.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    January 27, 2016 at 5:19 pm

    Hey, where’s Rocky in this discussion?

    The whole Schiavo affair should be a millstone around Jeb’s neck for the rest of his life. It should be the thing that everyone remembers him for, right before spitting.

  26. 26.

    Betty Cracker

    January 27, 2016 at 5:22 pm

    On the way to visit a friend, I accidentally drove by the facility where Ms. Schiavo was kept on life support during the height of the Bush intervention fiasco. There was a huge traffic jam due to the antics of the weirdos who thought what was going on was their personal business, so I got a good look at the circus. I’ll never forget the sick fucks demonstrating outside with their loathsome signs. Scum, the lot of them.

  27. 27.

    boatboy_srq

    January 27, 2016 at 5:26 pm

    @MattF: HEB?’s behavior in general has been pretty gruesome. We all saw what Katrina did to Nawlins, and what FEMA didn’t do for that city; what we did NOT see was what Charlie, Frances, Ivan and Jeannie did to Orlando, Daytona Beach, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Port Charlotte, Fort Myers, Naples and Pensacola. We didn’t see that because HEB?’s FL emergency management took the lion’s share of the relief and recovery effort. We didn’t see that because (as in 2000) HEB? shielded Shrub from the horrendous publicity that would have come from the Shrub&Brownie sh!tshow failing not just one major metropolitan area but an entire state. HEB? stood up so 2004 wouldn’t be The Year Hurricanes Sank the GOP: his actions had nearly nothing to do with tending the needs of his constituents. Imagine what the ’04 elections would have looked like had a greater-than-Katrina collective disaster been as badly handled weeks before voting….

  28. 28.

    slag

    January 27, 2016 at 5:26 pm

    Jeb’s an ass, of course, but the real villains in this war on personal privacy are the leaders and troops of the American Taliban. Does anyone really believe that Jeb gave a rat’s ass about Schiavo?

  29. 29.

    BruceFromOhio

    January 27, 2016 at 5:26 pm

    “…bulbous, evil shower-drain genie …”

    Finally, a description I can use in conversation with my mother. She doesn’t like it when I cuss, and I do a lot of that when referring to the Klown Kar Kavalcade Parade of Fail.

  30. 30.

    kc

    January 27, 2016 at 5:27 pm

    Now?

  31. 31.

    kc

    January 27, 2016 at 5:28 pm

    Crikey, finally. Thx to whomever.

    I had forgotten about Jeb’s trying to get Michael Schiavo indicted. Jeb is truly lower than pond scum.

  32. 32.

    lgerard

    January 27, 2016 at 5:29 pm

    The smearing of Michael Shaivo, a GUY WHO QUIT HIS JOB AND WENT TO NURSING SCHOOL IN ORDER TO BETTER CARE FOR HIS WIFE was perhaps the single most revolting thing I have seen from the right wing nuts in my lifetime.

  33. 33.

    boatboy_srq

    January 27, 2016 at 5:29 pm

    @kc: Yes. Now. Because while Terri has been brain-dead for twenty five years, and disconnected and interred for ten, she’s still not allowed to rest by the sh!tstain that put her family through H3LL just so he can get votes and campaign contributions.

  34. 34.

    Patricia Kayden

    January 27, 2016 at 5:31 pm

    “What a thoroughly despicable human being.”

    All of the Republican Candidates fit this description though. There isn’t one who wouldn’t wreck the economy if he/she got into the White House. There isn’t one who supports a woman’s right to choose or voting rights. They’re all bad.

    Actually according to one poll, Bush has surged to second place in New Hampshire so he may yet win his Party’s nomination. Who knows at this point?

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/polltracker/bush-2nd-place-emerson-poll

  35. 35.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 27, 2016 at 5:31 pm

    @Cacti: “They were careless people… they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” … and never troubled their beautiful minds with the broken people and body bags and rubble they left behind.

  36. 36.

    M. Bouffant

    January 27, 2016 at 5:32 pm

    “shower-drain genie”
    Thanks a lot, now I’m scared to clean the hair trap in my shower.

  37. 37.

    Cermet

    January 27, 2016 at 5:34 pm

    @NCSteve: Don’t forget that the ass-wipe jEB? also supported and defended that criminal rat-fu$ker Governor snyder of Michigan who poisoned tens of thousands of people in Flint!
    Future moderation here I come!

  38. 38.

    Roger Moore

    January 27, 2016 at 5:35 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    ¡Heb! is gloriously unaware that his Shiavo intervention totally fucked up Kkkarl Rove’s maths in 2006.

    I think Katrina and Iraq were far more damaging.

  39. 39.

    eemom

    January 27, 2016 at 5:35 pm

    As if that’s not enough, yesterday Jebby praised — yes, praised — the governor of Michigan.

    Seriously, how is it POSSIBLE to be that stupid?

    Also too, every word of your post. As loathsome as Trump is, he HAS done this country an invaluable service in blowing up the republican machine, and outing the likes of Jeb for the worthless rich fucks that they are.

    Also three, the Jeb implosion has been fucking hilarious to watch, and God knows we need some comedy relief.

  40. 40.

    Tenar Darell

    January 27, 2016 at 5:36 pm

    @boatboy_srq: I will be honest- that was the most temperate thing I wrote & I regret it.

    Let me rephrase- that was @&$!?£?,}#### -and I want Jeb to inhabit all the circles of Hell & Tartarus for eternity.

  41. 41.

    Roger Moore

    January 27, 2016 at 5:38 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    And I thought W was the dumb Bush.

    He is the dumb Bush. ¿Jeb? is the dumber Bush.

  42. 42.

    M. Bouffant

    January 27, 2016 at 5:39 pm

    OT, but what’s the deal w/ that little tiny video on the sidebar between Recent Posts & Recent Comments that has Jesse Ventura in it & (probably fortunately) no sound? I hope y’all are getting money for it, ’cause you rooked whatever ora is good if we can’t even hear the audio.

    And the copyright in the footer is still “2015”.

    Bitching/advice over!

  43. 43.

    Betty Cracker

    January 27, 2016 at 5:40 pm

    @M. Bouffant: I have long hair and apparently shed like a golden retriever, so I have to clean the shower drain frequently. I always expect Trump to rise up from the drain like an evil spirit, attached to that clump of hair. It’s scary.

  44. 44.

    jl

    January 27, 2016 at 5:42 pm

    @lgerard: Thanks for info. I did not know that. Years later, I get new info that makes Jeb look even worse.

    Regarding Schiavo, Jeb looks about as bad now as Snyder does on the Flint water poisonings. I just read that Snyder over ruled his own flunkies that he put in charge of Flint. They nixed the water change because of dumb reasons like ensuring health and safety and not taking crazy risks. I guess I underestimated the flunkies Snyder would put in charge and, unbelievably, overestimated Snyder, on competence and ethics.

    Edit: Anyway, puts an interesting light on Snyder’s blame game, which turns out to be just a different form of lying.

  45. 45.

    Mike J

    January 27, 2016 at 5:43 pm

    Everyone has something different to hate about the Schivo affair. The part that set me off was the disingenuous “we just want the courts to be able to review it” argument after the courts had already reviewed it for five fucking years.

  46. 46.

    scav

    January 27, 2016 at 5:44 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: Is it so much as a surge by !beJ or a preciptious collapse by someone else? Active or Passive tense?

  47. 47.

    bystander

    January 27, 2016 at 5:44 pm

    I’m enjoying watching Jebula’s debacle as a slo mo version of the Wicked Witch’s demise.

    Noticed that CBS was questioning the Wounded Warrior charity. Now the NYTimes is covering it, too.

    As a crotchety old retiree who watches way too much tv, their ads make me wonder why our government isn’t providing vets these basic services. Of course, I know why not…because it’s so much more beneficial to our vets if some guy gets paid $500,000 a year to dole out drips and drabs.

  48. 48.

    boatboy_srq

    January 27, 2016 at 5:44 pm

    @Tenar Darell: Understood; it just strikes a little closer to home here. I’m nowhere near as reserved when it comes to that [cough] person [cough].

  49. 49.

    Waldo

    January 27, 2016 at 5:45 pm

    @Felonius Monk: Maybe this is all part of Jeb’s master plan: Sandbag up to the last minute before finishing strong in NH, a la Bill Clinton. The media will dub him the Comeback Kid Brother and Trump will wonder where it all went wrong as Jeb Rolls to the nomination.

    Better than no plan at all, I guess.

  50. 50.

    Cermet

    January 27, 2016 at 5:45 pm

    tRump is leading in NH by more than all the other candidates combined! Doubt jEB? is really in second since most polls show Cruz, Rubio and even Kasich ahead of the stupider one.

  51. 51.

    M. Bouffant

    January 27, 2016 at 5:46 pm

    @Anoniminous: It’s not as if he actually did anything to self-destruct. He just blew up on the launch pad.

    I suspect the GOOPERS had enough sense, not publically voiced but way down inside somewhere, that another Bush just wasn’t going to cut it, even were he the “smarter” one. J.E.B. probably knew it too, or he would’ve run in 2012.

  52. 52.

    Mike J

    January 27, 2016 at 5:46 pm

    @M. Bouffant:

    OT, but what’s the deal w/ that little tiny video on the sidebar

    It means your adblocker isn’t working properly. Filter out everything from ora.tv and it should vanish.

  53. 53.

    boatboy_srq

    January 27, 2016 at 5:46 pm

    @Mike J:

    after the courts had already reviewed it for five fifteen fucking years.

    Much more accurate.

  54. 54.

    Baud

    January 27, 2016 at 5:49 pm

    So Jeb is surging in New Hampshire after his troll jumps ship to Trump.

    I guess we’ve figured out who the weak link was.

  55. 55.

    Brachiator

    January 27, 2016 at 5:51 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I’ve been surprised this issue hasn’t come up as a drag for Bush, but given the timing and the fact that he’s bringing it up now, I wonder if this isn’t a sign of desperation, a last ditch appeal for the hard core fundies to float him up to a tie for fourth place, or wherever the hell he’s aiming for.

    This may help him with fundamentalists, but it will remind many others why he can never be allowed to become president.

  56. 56.

    Mnemosyne

    January 27, 2016 at 5:53 pm

    And here I thought this was a post by our oldest cat, who certainly seems to regurgitate on everything he can reach. Luckily, the carpet in our rented apartment is already hideously ugly so he really can’t make it worse.

    I will tell you a story about why it’s really, really dumb for Jeb to be bragging on what he did to Michael and Terri Schiavo. My oldest brother is a lifelong Reagan fan — seriously, he has pictures of the guy in his office. He also was in a car accident in his teens and is still a partial paraplegic.

    He bought some of the Schiavo propaganda when it was first being circulated, but when he did some more reading, he completely turned in Michael Schiavo’s favor when he found out that, in all of the years of Terri Schiavo being bedridden, she had only had a few minor bedsores. As someone who spent almost a year in the hospital recovering from a spinal injury, my brother knows how difficult it is to prevent bedsores even when you have a patient who is mentally competent.

    So, yes, bringing up Terri Schiavo is going to turn off even long-time Republicans.

  57. 57.

    dr. bloor

    January 27, 2016 at 5:53 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: They’re like a set of Russian nesting dolls of Stupid.

  58. 58.

    Roger Moore

    January 27, 2016 at 5:55 pm

    @Mike J:
    One of the things the whole Schaivo business really brought home to me is that the right has no respect for process, only for outcomes. They knew the answer they wanted, and they were going to keep trying- different courts, different theories, passing special laws that applied only in this case, etc.- until they got it. They were happy to trample on beliefs that they’re supposed to take seriously, e.g. that a husband is supposed to have more control over his wife’s life than her parents, in order to get the “right” result. There’s a huge gap between what they say they believe and what their actions reveal about them.

  59. 59.

    M. Bouffant

    January 27, 2016 at 5:56 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Mine’s not as long as it used to be, nor am I balding [whacks a piece of wood for several mins.] but a lot of it piles up there too.

  60. 60.

    M. Bouffant

    January 27, 2016 at 5:59 pm

    @Mike J: Ah. Merci!

  61. 61.

    Mnemosyne

    January 27, 2016 at 5:59 pm

    @bystander:

    When I feel like Supporting Our Troops, I donate to Fisher House, which does things the VA is not set up to do, like giving families of vets a therapeutic place to live while their loved one is undergoing treatment (similar to a Ronald McDonald House for families with sick kids).

  62. 62.

    M. Bouffant

    January 27, 2016 at 6:02 pm

    @bystander: It’s my sincere belief that any non-profit/charity that has the money to advertise on the telly is by definition corrupt.

  63. 63.

    boatboy_srq

    January 27, 2016 at 6:03 pm

    @Roger Moore: Not only that but the “outcomes” are far-reaching beyond even what they desire.

    I had a friend who lost her paternal grandmother to a heart attack. The poor woman had cardiac arrest, was rushed to ICU, and while there – suffering a second arrest that occurred while she was in ICU – the attending physician asked her son in front of everyone including his patient whether he wanted to override his mother’s DNR and administer treatment to keep her from dying. That should not have been possible without the Schaivo case: DNRs are usually viewed as binding. Yet (apparently because she was a woman) my friend’s grandmother wasn’t capable either at the time she signed and recorded the DNR nor in her condition in the hospital to make her own healthcare and end of life decisions so long as a male relative was there who could override her legally documented instructions.

  64. 64.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    January 27, 2016 at 6:03 pm

    Wouldn’t it have been a nice touch if they had gotten former Senator Bill Frist to narrate. If you’re going to be tone deaf you may as well go all in.

  65. 65.

    pseudonymous in nc

    January 27, 2016 at 6:04 pm

    Are there really still Terri Schiavo Truthers among the GOP fold?

    I suppose it’s inevitable, given how Peak Wingnut is a lie. But you’d think that it was the kind of thing they’d just pretend never happened.

  66. 66.

    beltane

    January 27, 2016 at 6:05 pm

    @Baud: Whatever you do, do not hire this troll to work for your campaign.

  67. 67.

    JPL

    January 27, 2016 at 6:05 pm

    According to twitter, some of the militants are surrendering.

  68. 68.

    Baud

    January 27, 2016 at 6:06 pm

    @JPL:

    I thought the militants were revolting.

  69. 69.

    boatboy_srq

    January 27, 2016 at 6:06 pm

    @pseudonymous in nc: There’s a whole industry devoted to Schaivo Trutherism. It’s symbiotic with antichoice, for complementary reasons (slvts don’t know what’s good for them, but Daddy/Brother/Son/Hubby does).

    ETA to revise male hierarchy, since obviously from the Schaivo case husbands are further down the totem pole from male parents/siblings/children.

  70. 70.

    JPL

    January 27, 2016 at 6:08 pm

    @Baud: Well you have those who surrender, and those who revolt. Wonder who will be the last man standing.

  71. 71.

    NonyNony

    January 27, 2016 at 6:08 pm

    @Roger Moore: I believe the phrase you’re looking for is “the end justifies the means.” And yes, that has been the MO on the right for a while now.

  72. 72.

    Kay

    January 27, 2016 at 6:08 pm

    You forget how really ruthless the Bush family members are at your peril. I still don’t count Jeb out, and I won’t until someone else is actually nominated.

    On March 18, 2005, the House and Senate subpoenaed Terri Schiavo, ordering her to appear as a witness before committees in both chambers. No one in Congress was waiting to hear what she had to say—everyone knew that Schiavo couldn’t say anything. She had been in what doctors called a persistent vegetative state for fifteen years, although her husband, Michael, had long said that she wouldn’t have wanted to be kept alive in such a condition. Instead, the point of the subpoenas, pushed by the Republican leaders Bill Frist and Tom DeLay, was to theatrically invoke federal “witness protection” laws to threaten anyone who removed her feeding tubes with the crime of obstructing her appearance before Congress. Republican aides told reporters that the penalty might be five years in prison.

  73. 73.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 27, 2016 at 6:09 pm

    @slag:
    I do. Not for Schaivo herself, but seeing Jeb:( on the national stage has made it clear that he’s the world’s biggest entitled prick. He will never forget and never forgive that he did not get his way.

  74. 74.

    Baud

    January 27, 2016 at 6:10 pm

    @Kay: Both sides, Kay. Both sides.

  75. 75.

    trollhattan

    January 27, 2016 at 6:11 pm

    @M. Bouffant:
    No shit. And on the same week the “X-Files” opening credits feature a pic of suckerman.

    [Shudder]

  76. 76.

    Baud

    January 27, 2016 at 6:12 pm

    @beltane: I don’t usually sign pledges, buy I’ll sign that one.

  77. 77.

    dogwood

    January 27, 2016 at 6:13 pm

    For those of you who haven’t been reading this blog for 12 + years, the Schaivo arguments were epic. I didn’t start commenting here until after the 08 election. But I’ve been a reader for over a decade.

  78. 78.

    feebog

    January 27, 2016 at 6:13 pm

    I’m am puzzled by this ad. Why would JEB? and his advisors think that bringing this issue back up would be a positive thing? What I remember about it was how the autopsy revealed the poor woman had been blind and brain dead for years. All the hoo-hah about how she was reacting to stimuli (as maintained by her family)was completely discredited. If this moron does get the nomination I hope it comes up in a debate. Bernie or Hilary will beat him over the head with it.

  79. 79.

    Baud

    January 27, 2016 at 6:13 pm

    @dogwood:

    I missed those good times.

  80. 80.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 27, 2016 at 6:14 pm

    @Cermet: I can’t discount that New Hampshireites are just fucking with the pollsters now.

  81. 81.

    Germy

    January 27, 2016 at 6:15 pm

    Headline of the day:
    Woman Wakes Up to Raccoon-Monkey Hybrid Sensually Caressing Her Face

    An unnamed 99-year-old woman was rudely awoken from slumber by a kinkajou, which had somehow escaped its owner’s house and ended up snuggling in bed with her. When the woman screamed, the exotic animal ran up into the attic…

  82. 82.

    Davebo

    January 27, 2016 at 6:18 pm

    It’s a classic dog whistle. Schiavo is never mentioned in the ad, just has her picture pass by as one of many.

    Most will never make the connection unless by some miracle it’s pointed out in the mass press (and that’s not Salon) but those it’s intended for will know exactly what it means.

  83. 83.

    dogwood

    January 27, 2016 at 6:20 pm

    @M. Bouffant:
    One of the best research projects I had my high school English students do was to research charities. We passed the hat each day for a semester and then students did research and advocated for their various charities. They learned a lot about bogus philanthropies. In 2004, one class chose to give to the micro-lending outfit, KIVA. I’ve been retired for 4 years, but I’m still reinvesting that $500.

  84. 84.

    debbie

    January 27, 2016 at 6:23 pm

    Jeb has clearly gathered a raft of very bad advisors around him. Even if bringing up Schiavo helps him in SC, how stupid are they to think that it would go no further than the state border?

  85. 85.

    Kay

    January 27, 2016 at 6:23 pm

    @Davebo:

    I agree 100%. Jeb might be worse than George W because what it really was to me was a massive abuse of power.

  86. 86.

    Gimlet

    January 27, 2016 at 6:24 pm

    @Kay:

    the point of the subpoenas, pushed by the Republican leaders Bill Frist and Tom DeLay, was to theatrically invoke federal “witness protection” laws to threaten anyone who removed her feeding tubes with the crime of obstructing her appearance before Congress. Republican aides told reporters that the penalty might be five years in prison.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/delay-let-brain-damaged-father-die/

    House Speaker Tom DeLay, who has helped lead a congressional effort to keep a brain-damaged Florida woman alive, joined family members nearly 17 years ago in allowing doctors not to take extraordinary measures to extend his father’s life

    DeLay had just been re-elected to a third term in Congress in 1988 when his father, Charles DeLay, was badly injured in the crash of a backyard tram he and his brother had built. As DeLay’s vital organs began to fail, the family chose not to connect him to a dialysis machine or take other measures to prolong his life

    DeLay helped push through Congress a federal law allowing the parents of Terri Schiavo to go to federal court in an effort, so far unsuccessful, to have their brain-damaged daughter’s feeding tube reinserted after state courts allowed it to be removed. The Texas Republican has also criticized Schiavo’s husband and the courts for allowing what he called “an act of barbarism” against Schiavo, who doctors say is in a persistent vegetative state.

    DeLay declined to be interviewed about his father’s case, but a press aide said it was “entirely different than Terri Schiavo’s.”

  87. 87.

    debbie

    January 27, 2016 at 6:24 pm

    @Davebo:

    Terry Schiavo was a really big deal for conservatives. I think most will recognize her and will know exactly what the ad is saying.

  88. 88.

    Kay

    January 27, 2016 at 6:26 pm

    @debbie:

    I wonder if some of it they really haven’t grappled with how different the environment is- how fast things travel and how there’s exhaustive examination and millions of people weighing in and passing items along.

    Imagine the Florida recount now. They might not a gotten away with it.

  89. 89.

    Germy

    January 27, 2016 at 6:27 pm

    Southside With You
    Clip from the Obama first date movie.

  90. 90.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    January 27, 2016 at 6:28 pm

    Terry Schiavo is a good metaphor for the Jeb? campaign.

  91. 91.

    Roger Moore

    January 27, 2016 at 6:29 pm

    @boatboy_srq:
    That is more or less what I meant about caring about outcome over process. They’re willing to ignore a process that generally supports their cause if there’s a particular case where it doesn’t, even if though that risks the process in the general case. They care so much about winning this case now that they’re willing to hurt the long-term in the process. That’s why I was somewhat hopeful that they’d blow up the filibuster once they took control of the Senate; it has been more helpful than harmful to them, but I expected them to be willing to destroy it in the hopes of short term accomplishments.

  92. 92.

    Gimlet

    January 27, 2016 at 6:29 pm

    Cont’d

    The 65-year-old DeLay, his brother, Jerry, and their wives were trying out a tram the brothers had built to ferry their families up and down a 200-foot slope from their backyard home in Canyon Lake, Texas, to the edge of the lake when the tram roared out of control and jumped the tracks on Nov. 17, 1988.

    Charles DeLay was pitched headfirst into a tree. Hospital admission records showed he suffered multiple injuries, including a brain hemorrhage and broken ribs.

    Doctors advised that he would “basically be a vegetable,” said the congressman’s aunt, JoAnne DeLay, who suffered a shattered elbow and broken bones in the crash.

  93. 93.

    raven

    January 27, 2016 at 6:29 pm

    @bystander: Wounded Warrior’s is bullshit and it makes vets look like fucking charity cases.

  94. 94.

    trollhattan

    January 27, 2016 at 6:32 pm

    @Germy:
    Maybe headline of the decade! Gauntlet now thrown.

  95. 95.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 27, 2016 at 6:32 pm

    @raven: Not to mention making lots of coin for the perpetrators.

  96. 96.

    boatboy_srq

    January 27, 2016 at 6:32 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead: you mean brain-dead and on life support, but not free to be unplugged because some greater authority ars3h0le in a governor’s mansion won’t let it die? Shouldn’t we see the campaign’s Advanced Directives before we make that comparison?

  97. 97.

    Germy

    January 27, 2016 at 6:33 pm

    @trollhattan: Of the decade? With tRump front runner?

  98. 98.

    debbie

    January 27, 2016 at 6:35 pm

    @Kay:

    Whatever it is, it certainly isn’t longterm strategizing. But then, that’s typical of the GOP.

    I remember when they first started using social media, Grassley et al. would send partial tweets, prewritten tweets without filling in the blank spaces for names, etc. They may type faster and better now, but their parochial outlook hasn’t changed a bit.

  99. 99.

    Mike J

    January 27, 2016 at 6:36 pm

    Holy shit. On twitter, DougJ cited a balloon juice comment of mine as the best description of liberals ever. From four years ago.

    His post the comment is from is still required reading.

  100. 100.

    FlipYrWhig

    January 27, 2016 at 6:38 pm

    @feebog:

    Why would JEB? and his advisors think that bringing this issue back up would be a positive thing?

    Because it’s a proxy for abortion and the Iowa Republicans are white hot crazy about abortion.

  101. 101.

    boatboy_srq

    January 27, 2016 at 6:38 pm

    @Roger Moore: “Outcome over process” is the willingness to abandon ethics, violate the law and pivot on ethics just to achieve a specific end. This is “unintended consequences” where much of eldercare and critical care get upended because family members become intimidated into not honoring their loved ones’ stated and recorded wishes because some wingnut in authority could charge them with a homicide. I see your point but I think you used the wrong phrasing.

  102. 102.

    Baud

    January 27, 2016 at 6:41 pm

    @Mike J: Congrats, man. Welcome to the big time.

  103. 103.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 27, 2016 at 6:41 pm

    @Kay:

    I had mercifully forgotten the details, but seriously, that may have been one of the most despicable Congressional moves in the nation’s history. Frist and DeLay? Scummiest of the scum.

  104. 104.

    Germy

    January 27, 2016 at 6:42 pm

    @Mike J: You’ve joined the Immortals.

  105. 105.

    FlipYrWhig

    January 27, 2016 at 6:44 pm

    @raven: Aren’t some of the services they say they provide already done through the VA? I’ve gotten the sense that they’re sort of the man’s man’s version of Susan G. Komen.

  106. 106.

    zzyzx

    January 27, 2016 at 6:44 pm

    I started coming here during the Schiavo insanity. I was impressed to see a conservative leaving the ranch on this issue. Little did I know what it would start.

  107. 107.

    eemom

    January 27, 2016 at 6:48 pm

    @Baud:

    To state the obvious, you should name Mike J as your veep.

  108. 108.

    debbie

    January 27, 2016 at 6:50 pm

    @Mike J:

    You certainly ruffled Samara’s feathers. ;)

  109. 109.

    Germy

    January 27, 2016 at 6:50 pm

    CBS News tonight is doing part two of their investigation into the Wounded Warriors project. In the promo, they ask “Just how many veterans have they helped?”

  110. 110.

    ThresherK

    January 27, 2016 at 6:51 pm

    OT: ABC’s coverage of the Oregon “Militia” confrontation sucked. Any other channel do better?

  111. 111.

    redshirt

    January 27, 2016 at 6:54 pm

    Why do any of you watch “The News”? Are you hoping to learn something? Or are you doing oppo research?

  112. 112.

    Germy

    January 27, 2016 at 6:54 pm

    Before he shot Laquan McDonald, Jason Van Dyke repeatedly tampered with his dashcam recording equipment.

    And he wasn’t alone. Videos taken from two other squad cars at the scene that night in October 2014 also didn’t include audio. According to an investigation published earlier today by DNAinfo Chicago, the lack of audio evidence from the McDonald shooting, the cover-up of which has forced the resignation of the chief of police and implicated the mayor’s office, was probably not a convenient accident. Maintenance records for the dashboard camera in Van Dyck’s vehicle reveal a pattern of “intentional damage” and delayed repairs throughout the department.

    In total, 80 percent of Chicago’s 850 dashboard cameras don’t record sound, often due to “intentional destruction,” DNAinfo Chicago reported previously. Officers have been known to stick dashcam microphones in their glove boxes or remove the batteries and antennas from the cameras. Of the 22 police shootings passed from the Independent Police Review Authority to to the State’s Attorney’s Office last year, video was missing in all but three instances. (Audio was missing in all.)

    https://newrepublic.com/minutes/128520/shot-laquan-mcdonald-jason-van-dyke-repeatedly-tampered-dashcam-recording-equipment

  113. 113.

    ThresherK

    January 27, 2016 at 6:58 pm

    I’m waiting for Jeopardy! myself. “Watch” is a word connoting more attention than I pay, and if the TV weren’t so close to my kitchen, there would be less attention still.

    Plus there’s the fascination with watching some newsreader put together their Fox News audition reel.

  114. 114.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 27, 2016 at 6:59 pm

    @Mike J: Yeah, but… DougJ also has posted a very, um, odd.. picture to Twitter, so be careful of what you’re in proximity to.

  115. 115.

    eemom

    January 27, 2016 at 6:59 pm

    @debbie:

    IIRC, Samara was one of the nyms of notorious enfant terrible toko-loko.

    Also, “Kola Noscopy”, one of the many nyms of a certain equally notorious intellectual property-infringing celebrity portrait painter is on that thread.

    Neither is any longer with us on this mortal blog. Sigh.

  116. 116.

    Benw

    January 27, 2016 at 6:59 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: may they be consigned to the Valley of Ashes, forever to be watched over by T.J. Eckleberg.

  117. 117.

    Comrade Luke

    January 27, 2016 at 6:59 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    We were told for years the Jeb! was the Michael Corleone of the family.

    Turns out they’re all Fredo.

  118. 118.

    JPL

    January 27, 2016 at 7:01 pm

    @zzyzx: true

  119. 119.

    Germy

    January 27, 2016 at 7:02 pm

    On Thursday night, while the rest of the Republican presidential field takes the stage in Iowa for yet another debate, Donald Trump will be hosting an event to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, one of the most visible veterans groups in the country.

  120. 120.

    RSA

    January 27, 2016 at 7:03 pm

    @Mike J:

    On twitter, DougJ cited a balloon juice comment of mine as the best description of liberals ever. From four years ago.

    Nice! Four BJ/Twitter-years ago? That’s like a few centuries in actual time. Your observation is now a classic.

  121. 121.

    debbie

    January 27, 2016 at 7:06 pm

    @eemom:

    As in tokyokie?

  122. 122.

    Sad_Dem

    January 27, 2016 at 7:14 pm

    @slag:

    Does anyone really believe that Jeb gave a rat’s ass about Schiavo?

    Jeb doesn’t care about some poor person dying somewhere; Carly Fiorina would fire salespeople for underperformance if she ran a baby parts supply company; Ted Cruz would appoint Roy Moore to the Supreme Court if it put a Target gift card in his pocket.

  123. 123.

    Kay

    January 27, 2016 at 7:23 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    but seriously, that may have been one of the most despicable Congressional moves in the nation’s history. Frist and DeLay?

    I personally think it was defensive in Congress, meant to distract from the Culture of Corruption thing that was picking up steam at the time and involved both Frist and DeLay.

    It didn’t work.

  124. 124.

    eemom

    January 27, 2016 at 7:32 pm

    @debbie:

    “Matoko-chan” was her original nym, I believe.

    omg. Not only am I older than dirt IRL, I’m BJ old too. :(

  125. 125.

    Mnemosyne

    January 27, 2016 at 7:37 pm

    @Germy:

    IMO, tampering with a dashcam should be a crime in itself, and the absence of dashcam footage after a fatal shooting should be a firing offense.

  126. 126.

    PurpleGirl

    January 27, 2016 at 7:55 pm

    @debbie: No, tokyokie is a regular commentor. toko-loko/Matoko-chan was a more troll-like Muslim women who kept insisting in almost every comment that Arab country had innoculated themselves against Christians prosletizing and conversions in their countries by law. She claimed to be an Islamic convert herself.

  127. 127.

    Roger Moore

    January 27, 2016 at 8:24 pm

    @Mnemosyne:
    IMO, any indication that a dash cam or body cam has been tampered with should allow an adverse inference (i.e. and assumption that the person who damaged it has something to hide) in court.

  128. 128.

    psychobroad

    January 27, 2016 at 8:24 pm

    @slag: Thank you! It’s easy to get distracted. Of course he didn’t give a rat’s ass about Ms. Shiavo.

  129. 129.

    Gvg

    January 27, 2016 at 8:24 pm

    Results over process….you mean like secretly authorizing torture and pretending it wasn’t? W is worse than JEB. So far. Let’s not test future potential.

  130. 130.

    boatboy_srq

    January 27, 2016 at 8:25 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Frist and DeLay

    Don’t they work the TSA security checkpoints at IAD? Wait, what? Oh…

  131. 131.

    boatboy_srq

    January 27, 2016 at 8:28 pm

    @Roger Moore: Ditto.

  132. 132.

    Mnemosyne

    January 27, 2016 at 8:28 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    That, too, but I think the tampering in and of itself should be an indictable offense. At a minimum it should be considered destroying evidence and be prosecuted as such.

  133. 133.

    Gex

    January 27, 2016 at 8:30 pm

    I always loved that at the time that the right was making vocal, vehement arguments about the sanctity of marriage Jeb and friends were trampling all over the sanctity of that marriage and all the standing laws regarding these end of life decisions for political gain. Which, to be fair, was what their whole sanctity of marriage was really about anyhow.

  134. 134.

    Felonius Monk

    January 27, 2016 at 8:39 pm

    It looks like it’s really happening: Republican frontrunner Donald Trump announced a Thursday night event at Drake University as counter-programming for the Fox News presidential debate, which he has said he would not attend.

    The event is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. local time, the same time Fox’s primetime debate is scheduled to start.

    (Source)

  135. 135.

    Central Planning

    January 27, 2016 at 8:42 pm

    I did pass a BRINKS. TRUCK. on the way to work today. There were no ¿Jeb? signs anywhere, and this was on the more republican side of Rochester.

  136. 136.

    blueskies

    January 27, 2016 at 8:54 pm

    “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

  137. 137.

    Matt McIrvin

    January 27, 2016 at 8:56 pm

    @Baud: The House AND the Senate!

  138. 138.

    PaulW

    January 27, 2016 at 9:00 pm

    I soured on Jeb! years before Schiavo because of another shameless thing he tried to campaign on, using another family’s tragedy to score cheap political points.

    Unlike him, that’s about as far as I’ll say about it.

  139. 139.

    PaulW

    January 27, 2016 at 9:04 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    it’s amazing how much of a circus the wingnuts want to make of things, so they can show off to each other how devoted they are to the Cause of the Permanent Republican Majority.

  140. 140.

    Scott Alloway

    January 27, 2016 at 10:34 pm

    @Baud: Reminds me of an old Wizard of Id comic strip. King’s Aide: “The Peasants Are Revolting.” King: “You can say that again.” IIRC 40 years ago.

  141. 141.

    Scott Alloway

    January 27, 2016 at 10:44 pm

    @boatboy_srq: Your comment begs this question: “Candidate, what advance directives have you written in case you are seriously incapacitated? Do they include DNR?”

  142. 142.

    Steve in the ATL

    January 27, 2016 at 10:45 pm

    @Baud: Clearly, Baud just found his VP

  143. 143.

    mclaren

    January 28, 2016 at 1:18 am

    The Bush family represents a bottomless chum bucket of sleaze, ratfvcking, and all-around slime. Look for much worse before Jeb is finished.

  144. 144.

    mclaren

    January 28, 2016 at 1:22 am

    @Scott Alloway:

    If Ronald Reagan had signed a DNR, his entire presidency could have been avoided.

  145. 145.

    boatboy_srq

    January 28, 2016 at 9:03 am

    @Scott Alloway: That’s actually not a bad thing to ask in the debate. We should suggest that.

  146. 146.

    Tom65

    January 28, 2016 at 10:43 am

    Poor Jeb, undone by the Army Of The Stupid unleashed by his brother.

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