Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

In my day, never was longer.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2016 / Open Thread: Could Be Worse, You Could Be A Republican

Open Thread: Could Be Worse, You Could Be A Republican

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The above tweet made me curious enough to check the source. Allahpundit’s very first line:

I can’t shake the nagging suspicion that not only isn’t this guy [Trump] conservative, he doesn’t much respect conservatism either when you come right down to it…

… Some voters, as Shapiro says, don’t care about conservatism in the first place; either they’ve been centrists for years or they’ve drifted towards nationalism in frustration with the GOP. But others probably do still identify as conservative yet have no problem identifying Trump that way too because their definition of conservatism is thin and consists in great part of opposition to the left…

… The true risk to Trump in lumping conservatives in with Beltway Republicans is that it makes the right’s incentive to go third-party stronger if he ends up as nominee. If conservatives are part of the problem that a Trump-led GOP is trying to overcome, why would they stick around and support him in the general? Better for that 20 percent of the party to go indie and vote for Romney or whoever, even at the expense of electing a Democrat, since it would force nationalists to recognize that they can’t win without conservatives any more than conservatives can win without them…

I keep thinking of the punchline to the ancient joke about an overbearing bully confusing Raisinettes and rabbit pellets: See — you’re getting smarter already!

Apart from schadenfreude, what’s on the agenda as we start the (long for some) weekend?
.

Reader Interactions

247Comments

  2. 2.

    guachi

    Had great time at the Clinton event in South Carolina. It was a small event in a small, rural, mostly black town.

    Clinton’s speech was okay. She sounded a bit hoarse and like she had a cold. Then the questions started.

    Wow. She was fantastic from first question to last, even on the crazy questions. Tried out her new lines of attack that we saw in the debate about not being a one issue candidate and got major applause anytime she defended anything Obama did.

    I didn’t get any pictures as I was under the mistaken impression I couldn’t bring my camera, so I left it in my car. And I had fantastic seats, too, as it was a very small venue.

    Still would like to get to see Sanders and see what a Noun-a Verb-and Wall Street Bankers sounds like for a full speech.

  5. 5.

    Adam L Silverman

    I think it is more along the lines of what Scott Lemieux talked about and linked to yesterday:
    http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2016/02/maybe-stop-trying-to-give-your-constituents-mostly-stuff-they-dont-want

    That Donald Trump’s stream of consciousness rambling promising vague improvements of certain things are more in line with actual members of the GOP, and specifically self identified conservatives than what either the GOP or movement conservative elites, notables, and leaders thing the base wants. Older, whiter people don’t want social security cut, they don’t want Medicare to go away. If they were actually offered it, they’d probably want more. Even the good folks in the hollers of Kentucky that Zandar writes about wanted their Kynect and didn’t believe that now Governor Bevin would take it away, despite him clearly saying he would take it away.

    Yes, tribal identifications/primary associations are important. But Donald Trump is tapping into more than that. The GOP and movement conservative elites don’t get that. Because just as like when Bobo Brooks goes visiting Adams County, PA he can’t process what he’s seeing. Also, full disclosure: Applebee’s do not have salad bars! That’s Ruby Tuesdays.

  9. 9.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    Conservatives have had their entire identity for the past 8 years as who can get as close to calling President Obama a ni***er as it was possible to do. They have no ideas or anything to offer the middle class, so they’ve rendered the word conservative meaningless. It’s tribal, but without hating Obama as the focus of their hate and all the coded signifiers – like Kenyan Muslim takin’ our guns signifier – they’re in free fall. Soon to focus their hatred on the Dem, except Bernie will scold them and make them see the error of their ways, because reasons.

  10. 10.

    Germy

    Wow! I just learned the actress Sue Johnston, who plays Gladys Denker on Downton Abbey (she’s the dowager’s maid feuding with Spratt the butler) used to work for Brian Epstein and dated a member of the Swinging Blue Jeans!

  14. 14.

    Doug R

    The racism Is the most important thing. Once you’ve got that, everything else can be your agenda.

  15. 15.

    SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant):

    I have obviously missed some important comments. Had no idea, but please know you have my deepest sympathies. I’m so happy Mrs. Ben Cisco will live on so powerfully, and I hope the awareness of her great gift brings a measure of comfort to you. Sincere Juicer Hugs to you across the internets.

  17. 17.

    Tommy

    @guachi: My gosh can Bernie get a break. Look I would love to have Hillary in this smaller setting. I am old enough to recall, living in DC of all places, the shit she had to endure. I will always have a more than little love for her there that she fought back and didn’t lie down. But I honestly have to ask what is the dude supposed to do to make you happy?

  22. 22.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Doug R:

    Yup. Go all in on white anxiety. Can’t lose. Which makes me marvel more with every passing day at the miracle of Barack Hussein Obama’s two landslides

  31. 31.

    Capri

    So conservatives are going for Trump because they aren’t actually conservative? Just like the reason evangelical Christians support Trump is that it turns out they aren’t particularly religious.

  35. 35.

    different-church-lady

    Completely over-thinking it: they like him because he insults people and blames all woes on brown people. Everything else is unnecessary detail.

  40. 40.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Doug R:
    This. They cheered Trump when he said the rich should be taxed more. They cheered him when he said the rich should be taxed less. Most of the time he doesn’t propose anything. They don’t give a fuck. He has delivered the most open hate speech we’ve heard in a long time, and they’re lapping it up.

    Hell, it should have been obvious they didn’t care about issues and policies years ago. They didn’t care jack about the deficit until a black man was spending their money to help other blacks. Dog whistle policies were good while they could get them, but fuck that when Trump is offering the real deal.

    EDIT – @Capri:
    It’s as if those were all excuses for resentful bigots.

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant):
    Take what comfort you can that she has helped others even in passing. I’m sorry. Don’t go too deep in the political weeds for awhile. Rest, and most importantly, take care of yourself.

    …and I’m sorry.

  42. 42.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): Ahh, I misunderstood. For some reason I thought this was your mother and that you had to travel for the funeral. In which case, please don’t travel in that manner for a while. But do remember to be good to yourself.

  43. 43.

    Pogonip

    For those–all two of you–interested in the Pogonip agenda, here it is.

    Tomorrow: overdue haircut. Usual Saturday errands. Cook chicken if sufficiently thawed.

    Sunday: cook the chicken if it wasn’t sufficiently thawed the day before.

    Monday: to dentist about lost filling. Hoping his boat is paid off so he will just re-fill and not push a nice expensive crown instead.

  44. 44.

    MomSense

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I’ve said it before here but supporting Trumk is like playing the lottery. The fun is imagining how good your life would be. He’s promising them a beautiful life, winning, prospertity, and a return to a mythological history that was simpler where they could feel special, more secure in their world and more in control of their lives. Then you add that you can say hateful and derogatory things that make you feel superior and it is vey appealing to a certain set of people.

  47. 47.

    jl

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I agree with that. When GOP reactionaries tried to nail Trump when he said single payer worked, Trump didn’t back down, he just said that was obvious that it could work, just go to Europe and look, stupid. Trump of course also said it would never work in the US.

    Trump doesn’t give a fig, and probably a good enough marketer to see through the GOP BS machine and understand what the GOP voters really care about.

    While the GOP is a long con, there is probably enough delusion in the leadership that they thought something would come of their unregulated free market fantasies. Sure, they wanted to grind the faces of their white GOP supporters just a little bit to get them riled up enough to fall for racist and xenophobic BS, but they probably didn’t count on the Walker, Brownback, Jindal experiments to be such complete disasters. Then Snyders threw in his special little contribution. So, they are desperately hoping that pulling the same levers with Jeb, and Chirs and Marco will do the trick. Donner Party conservatism, like compassionate conservatism is a marketing gimmick that only works if there is a bait and switch. the GOP voter doesn’t want to see those goods. Donner Party conservatism may be all that the GOP has to offer even their base now, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to hide. Trump wants to advertise that he is NOT offering Donner Party conservatism.

    Tribalism, racism, xenophobia are more like tools used to distract their rubes. Probably only the Xtianists are really committed to it.

    The real problem for GOP is the contempt for information and critical thought, and faith in a trusted authority figure that they have instilled in their base. What kind of person would follow someone who says:

    ‘ I am very capable of changing to anything I want to change to ‘

    That’s a Trump quote from the clip at the end of AL’s link.

  51. 51.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @jl:
    Never underestimate the con man’s ability to fall for his own grift, and the rich and powerful’s ability to be just as crazy as the poor and weak. I’m sure there are cynical manipulators in there, but Romney’s 47% speech wasn’t about manipulating the rubes, it was about how odious the Others are.

  53. 53.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant):

    Mrs. Cisco saved three lives. Both kidneys and liver.

    That is awesome. I hope my tired, old body can do that one day, after my wife inevitably kills me. Liver may not be in good shape, but I can give something to help people.

  54. 54.

    Anoniminous

    The astonishing thing is Trump is only polling 36%. The other part of the ignorant, bigoted, ressentiment fueled GOP base are the 20% religious whack-a-doodle ignorant, bigoted, ressentiment fueled GOP base support Cruz is pulling in.

    I don’t know what “nationalism” has to do with anything.

    When I listen to Trump I’m reminded of the German speechifier who orated “We National Socialists do not want higher bread prices. We National Socialists do not want bread prices to remain the same! We do not want lower bread prices. We want National Socialist bread prices.”

    And the crowd went wild.

  57. 57.

    Doug R

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: It’s the democratic rainbow coalition. NO Democrat has ever won the White House without it. The states Bernie is doing well in are setting records for republican turnout while democratic turnout is down. But those were monochromatic states at least.

  58. 58.

    jl

    @Capri:

    ” So conservatives are going for Trump because they aren’t actually conservative? ”

    The existence of large numbers of conservatives in the US who want government programs that benefit them cut is a myth promulgated by the Establishment GOP.

    Just like the existence of a large group of moderates who want that is a myth promulgated by the corporate centrists like Bloomberg and Peterson, and various Third Way and No Labels groups.

    Difference is that the GOP has been successful, while the corporatist centrists have been miserable failures.

  59. 59.

    Tegdirb

    @Tommy: He could tell his bros to lay off John Lewis and point out he doesn’t need their racism either.

    And he could not wait six months to do this.

  60. 60.

    gwangung

    @Doug R: I’m following a meeting of Sanders with the black community in MN on Twitter. It does not seem to be going well….

  62. 62.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Tommy:

    But I honestly have to ask what is the dude supposed to do to make you happy?

    Develop some foreign policy chops.

  64. 64.

    Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA

    Spending the weekend in Asheville for a photography workshop. Upgraded to the Nikon D7200 — love it, love it, love it. It’s so nice to have all these settings at my fingertips rather than digging through menus.

  74. 74.

    guachi

    @Tommy:

    My gosh can Bernie get a break.

    Saw a transcript of an interview with Sanders that he did with Fox about the immigration bill in 2007. Guess what Sanders didn’t fail to mention? Money in politics (probably from those ebil bankers!). And then he attacked immigrants for taking jobs from Americans.

    I don’t think he can help himself. Sanders is obsessed with money and sees basically everything through that lens.

  75. 75.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    I thought this article was the best take yet, and put into words the way I pretty much saw it. The gist is that Trump isn’t so much part of the usual propaganda machinery like most Republican politicians, paid pundits, and think tankers are, he’s better seen as a perfect example of their audience. A selected quote from it:

    But Trump does have something very much in common with everybody else. He watches TV. That’s his primary experience with reality, and just like most of his voters, he doesn’t realize that it’s a distorted picture.

    If you got all of your information from TV and movies, you’d have some pretty dumb ideas. You’d be convinced blowing stuff up works, because it always does in our movies. You’d have no empathy for the poor, because there are no poor people in American movies or TV shows – they’re rarely even shown on the news, because advertisers consider them a bummer.

    Politically, you’d have no ability to grasp nuance or complexity, since there is none in our mainstream political discussion.

  82. 82.

    Adam L Silverman

    @mike in dc: If I remember correctly something like that happened in France or Germany a couple of years back. A company announced either a relocation or layoffs and the workers got a hold of the executive making the announcement, ripped his suit off, and put a beating on him. And then there were the workers at that factory and warehouse in Chicago that occupied it and wouldn’t let the stock be moved.

  84. 84.

    Felanius Kootea

    Infuriating article, How Right Wing Billionaires Infiltrated Higher Education (an excerpt from Jane Meyer’s book, “Dark Money,”) in the Chronicle for Higher Education. It’s behind a paywall. By the way, I didn’t realize that Tom Jones, the leader of the black Cornell students referenced below, was the same Tom Jones who became COO and CFO of TIAA-CREF and now runs a hedge fund. His younger self would not understand how conservative he’s become.

    Excerpts:

    If there was a single event that galvanized conservative donors to try to wrest control of higher education in America, it might have been the uprising at Cornell University on April 20, 1969. That afternoon, during parents’ weekend at the Ithaca, N.Y., campus, some 80 black students marched in formation out of the student union, which they had seized, with their clenched fists held high in black-power salutes. To the shock of the genteel Ivy League community, several were brandishing guns. At the head of the formation was a student who called himself the “Minister of Defense” for Cornell’s Afro-American Society. Strapped across his chest, Pancho Villa-style, was a sash-like bandolier studded with bullet cartridges. Gripped nonchalantly in his right hand, with its butt resting on his hip, was a glistening rifle. Chin held high and sporting an Afro, goatee, and eyeglasses reminiscent of Malcolm X, he was the face of a drama so infamous it was regarded for years by conservatives such as David Horowitz as “the most disgraceful occurrence in the history of American higher education.”

    This is the guy (Olin) who gave us The Bell Curve and other similar hits…

    “The catastrophe at Cornell inspired Olin to take his philanthropy in a bold, new direction,” according to John J. Miller, whose authorized biography, A Gift of Freedom, provides a treasure trove of original research on Olin’s life and legacy. Olin “saw very clearly that students at Cornell, like those at most major universities, were hostile to businessmen and to business enterprise, and indeed had begun to question the ideals of the nation itself,” a memo from his foundation recounts.

    As a result, according to Miller, instead of continuing to direct the bulk of his charitable contributions to hospitals, museums, and other standard patrician causes, as he had in the early years after he set up the John M. Olin Foundation in 1953, Olin embarked on a radical new course. He began to fund an ambitious offensive to reorient the political slant of American higher education to the right.

    His foundation aimed at the country’s most elite universities, the Ivy League and its peers, cognizant that these institutions were the incubators of those who would hold future power. If these young cadres could be trained to think more like him, then he and other donors could help secure the country’s political future. It was an attempted takeover, but instead of waging it with bandoliers and rifles, he chose money as his weapon.

  85. 85.

    Doug R

    @gwangung: If he eventually gets some kind of breakthrough, it’ll make him damn near unstoppable. Like Propane Jane says, it’s been SIX months and we haven’t seen it yet. Hillary knows how it works.

  86. 86.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Adam L Silverman:

    If you refuse to leave when its over, let me know and I’ll get Michelle Fiore to negotiate your egress out of the restaurant.

    She’s pretty unstable, as indicated by the law degree. You’re going to need Graham fils as well.

  89. 89.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Felanius Kootea: This is not a very well kept secret. The Mercatus Center at George Mason is not just funded by the Kochs, but they have a say in its governance, hiring, tenure, promotion, and firing. And since almost all the Mercatus faculty are also faculty in the Econ department, they control that as well. They’re trying to do the same thing at FSU and a number of other universities. There’s a Philadelphia radio magnate named (I kid you not) Buddy Lee who funds U Penn’s crim program through the Buddy Lee Center of Criminology and Criminal Justice – or whatever its called. He travels with the faculty to all the professional meetings and I would not be surprised to find that he has a say in hiring, firing, tenure, and promotion. He also looks like the Buddy Lee statue from the blue jeans commercial, so there’s some comedic value.

  91. 91.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Tegdirb: This, especially.
    @Omnes Omnibus: This would be nice is well. OT, when you wandered down from Cowlumbus, did you go to the Hyde Park Graeter’s (the first parlor) and/or see the old place in in Walnut Hills where it was first sold out of a building? Or were you speaking generally of an Ohio store? Pedantic inquiry, of course.

  92. 92.

    revenant johnny aquatard

    @srv:

    From the ash heaps of these parties, a phoenix will rise to build a new, populist order.

    Dunno if you realize this but that’s also what fascism promises. Roger Griffen identified this myth of rebirth as a core component of fascism.

    It’s just one of those strange ironies that Griffin’s “palingenesis” happens to have “palin” in it.

  98. 98.

    Tommy

    @guachi: Yeah I can’t argue with that he sees one thing and won’t let it go.

    First off Vermont is a “strange” state in a good way. My best friend in college was from there. We were working on our Phd’s. This was LSU, Baton Rouge, La. in the early 90s. His brother at the time at Texas A&M.

    His wedding I took the train to Brattleboro, VT. His mother ran the Senate in her state. I will never forget a few things. The first is we’re pulling bong hits and his mother comes into the room. I am about to freak out. She could care less and just told us what we needed to do. Bongs hits might have been taken while talking to an adult.

    The wedding happened and it was stunning ……

  99. 99.

    msdc

    But others probably do still identify as conservative yet have no problem identifying Trump that way too because their definition of conservatism is thin and consists in great part of opposition to the left…

    Wow, more than a hundred comments in and nobody has cited Cleek’s Law?

  103. 103.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Omnes Omnibus: I cheated; I know some Graeters. You simply cannot trust Columbusites. Unless they are my friends; I would not lead you astray.

    @Steve in the ATL: I wonder if that’s why I’m teaching in the psych department…

  105. 105.

    Steve in the ATL

    @p.a.: Fair point. One of my friends (a good liberal, of course) is there and talked to Grover Norquist as she wanted to ask him about Burning Man. He said it was one of the three greatest experiences of his life (I assume the other two were watching Reagan get elected and reelected); he likes the whole no-government aspect of it and the whole surviving without money for a week, just cooperative good will. Sounds like a typical libertarian dimwit.

  108. 108.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @MomSense: Look me up. FLS, at fuse.

    This weekend won’t work, but I have a girl’s night cocktail date where we’ll close the restaurant. I could patch you in if you asked really nicely.

  110. 110.

    gwangung

    @Doug R: Well yeah, but he’s taking opportunity after opportunity and just throwing them away. You do not tell a black community group the country needs reparations for white people, too.

  116. 116.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mike J: Fuck if I know. I lived there for years and never really cracked the cliques. It is a city where the high school you attended matters well into your 30s.

  118. 118.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Adam L Silverman: No, but I would be staving off your withdrawal symptoms and I thought you might want to help out. I take it you want me to damage my liver and my bank account. You seem like a total bastard and I withdraw my offer.

    /sob

    ::flounces out::

  120. 120.

    ruemara

    @gwangung: I saw that statement and could not believe he was that tone deaf. Then I saw the video clip. Oh. Good. Lord. Can someone get Bernie into that how to talk to black people class?

  121. 121.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Omnes Omnibus: Sadly, that’s common throughout the state. If someone asks where you went to school, and you answer “undergrad or professional school?” you might discover they really meant high school. It’s quite annoying, though it rarely happens to me these days. Plus, it’s often an attempt to gauge social status – some people ask locals specifically to peg them. I often lie, because both true responses will provoke an undesirable response.

    I introduced myself to a woman and told her I’d gone to school with her brother. She asked, “high school or college.” Her father told her, rather sharply, “law school; she worked at the firm.”

  125. 125.

    Steve in the ATL

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):

    Sadly, that’s common throughout the state. If someone asks where you went to school, and you answer “undergrad or professional school?” you might discover they really meant high school. It’s quite annoying, though it rarely happens to me these days. Plus, it’s often an attempt to gauge social status -some ask locals specifically to peg them.

    Back in Idaho, is the question “which militia do you belong to?”

  127. 127.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Plus, it’s often an attempt to gauge social status -some ask locals specifically to peg them.

    Back in college, we did that to the people from Highland Park in Dallas and Mountain Brook in Birmingham–“oh, isn’t that a *public* school?”

    Wow, I’m starting to get why some people don’t like W&L….

  128. 128.

    Redshift

    @different-church-lady:

    Completely over-thinking it: they like him because he insults people and blames all woes on brown people. Everything else is unnecessary detail.

    Yeah, but I still think it’s not a bad thing for a True Scotsman to have his bubble burst and realize it’s actually true that a lot of those “conservatives” it there don’t care at all about the things he cares about, they just hate liberals (and more importantly, brown people, even if he won’t admit that to himself yet. Baby steps.)

    Kind of reminds me if the strategy session a couple of years ago where a strategist tried to explain to GOP bigwigs that they shouldn’t make their entire economic message dependent on entrepreneurship, because most people don’t want to be entrepreneurs and business owners, and they just couldn’t believe it.

  130. 130.

    Mike in NC

    Sorry, but I keep confusing Allahpundit from Instapundit, considering both are extreme right wing pricks.

  131. 131.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Steve in the ATL: I thought it might be “are you LDS?” W&L? That’s kind of a shock, I mean, because of the L and all. I was surprised when I read it initially.

    @Omnes Omnibus: Handy up there, I’d imagine. Also I’m guessing your buddy is one of the few tolerable Bexleybred. And if debbie is from there, clearly there’s another.

  139. 139.

    p.a.

    @Steve in the ATL: Your friend could have out-conservatived Grover by asking him about his membership in a Muslim sleeper cell. “Well Grover I heard it on hate radio so it must be true.”

  143. 143.

    Steve in the ATL

    I am still stuck on the on the Malheur armed occupation. Glad the occupation part is over, and I hope that the prosecution of these nutballs has a chilling effect on the movement, and I really hope that these idiots finally learn that the “take land from the federal government” plank in their ideology will result in a “transfer public land to rich people and large corporations who won’t let you graze your cattle on it for 10% of the market rate” reality.

    Good article, if you can get past the “try and” about two thirds of the way through:
    https://www.hcn.org/articles/malheur-occupation-oregon-ammon-bundy-public-lands-essay

  144. 144.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    Happy weekend folks. Steve in the ATL, I hope your friend made a bath tub joke at least. as much as the hate radio sleeper cell report would have been awesomesauce.<- for Omnes.

    @Steve in the ATL: I’m kind of having withdrawal myself, though I try to cope. Thanks for the link. Now I’m really off. And in addition, I’m leaving.

    Please tip generously.

  146. 146.

    PeakVT

    …since it would force nationalists to recognize that they can’t win without conservatives any more than conservatives can win without them…

    Seriously not understanding the distinction, but glad that it’s so important it’s worth handing the Presidency to the Dems over.

    Bring on the Republicans in Disarray!

  148. 148.

    ruemara

    @Gex: he also complained that he said black 50 times, when someone pointed out he kept all lives matter questions they were asking in regard to the black community forum. At this point, I wish I were his advisor on blackness, because he is not being prepped.

  149. 149.

    Cacti

    At last night’s debate, did Bernie really say that he’d “absolutely” be better for race relations than President Obama, because he’d give jobs to minority youth, rather than tax cuts to billionaires?

    No way. He can’t be that tone deaf.

    Oh shit. He can be.

    Sounds like something Newt Gingrich or Paul Ryan would say.

  150. 150.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @gwangung:

    You do not tell a black community group the country needs reparations for white people, too.

    There’s something really wrong with him.

    He pulled this shit last night when he said he would be better at race relations than the man who broke the color barrier. It would be like Pete Rose saying he would be better at race relations than Jackie Robinson.

  152. 152.

    Cacti

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    He pulled this shit last night when he said he would be better at race relations than the man who broke the color barrier. It would be like Pete Rose saying he would be better at race relations than Jackie Robinson.

    The Bern’s starting to sound like he believes his own white savior hype.

  153. 153.

    barbequebob

    @Adam L Silverman: went to a Ruby Tuesday’s salad bar two month’s ago, in NJ.

    in terms of what was offered at the salad bar, thought I had gone back in time to the early 1980’s

  156. 156.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Chris Rock’s net worth $70,000,000 million dollars. And he gets constantly pulled over by the cops for driving black.

    Chris Rock took a selfie after being pulled over by police while driving Tuesday, marking the third time in seven weeks he’s posted while being stopped by a cop.

    Rock posted the photo to his social media accounts early Tuesday, writing: “Stopped by the cops again wish me luck.” In the shot, the comedian can be seen behind the wheel of a car with blue police lights shining through his rear window.

    Sanders just doesn’t get.

    Worse, it seem like he doesn’t want to get it.

  157. 157.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @debbie: I lived in a shithole to live there. Jimmy from Easy Street opened a new place on High Street. I hope it is doing well as well. I liked Jimmy and George. I’ll tell my mugging story someday. :P

  158. 158.

    mclaren

    @srv:

    From the ash heaps of these parties, a phoenix will rise to build a new, populist order thousand-year reich.

    There, fixed that for ya.

  159. 159.

    ruemara

    @Omnes Omnibus: you need to allow that he’s a decent person, with really fantastic views, who also has a massive blind spot on race. Trust me, people who are less willing to make allowances than me have noticed that when he references blacks, he speaks only of jobs & prison. We’re all some characters from Good Times in his head. It’s a more benevolent prejudice that fails to deal with the reality of people as people.

  160. 160.

    Truegster

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:
    I think Sanders plan is to ignore the Tea Party babies and maybe pull in some small r-epublicans. There are some conservatives in the rural that also blame a noun, a verb, and wall street( I think some of it might be code for “Jews”, however). There is a populism in his message that crosses party.

  162. 162.

    Cacti

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    This isn’t it. I think he is a truly decent person who believes that the fixing economic inequality will fix everything.

    There is always an easy solution to every human problem – neat, plausible, and wrong.

  163. 163.

    p.a.

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: re:Bernie. I hope no one takes personal offense, I’m 56 and I know my mental processes are not what they were 20~30 years ago, but from my observation of personal acquaintances and family, after about age 65 the fastball goes pretty quick.

    I’m ambivalent about term limits, but a set retirement age may be a good thing for the political and judicial system.

  166. 166.

    Marc

    @Omnes Omnibus: I guess that people think that trashing Sanders is magically going to make his supporters switch to Clinton, as opposed to getting angry. The single worst habit that we learned in the online left was the joy of demonizing.

    I see two candidates that I like, either of whom I’d like to see in the White House.

  167. 167.

    mclaren

    : @Tommy:

    But I honestly have to ask what is [Bernie] supposed to do to make you happy?

    Drive very slowly in an open convertible past the Dallas Book Despository while a dedicated, creative and industrious ex-Marine Corps marksman lines up with a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle using a telescopic sight.

    We will surely all express our total amazement when the inevitable Lone Sniper strikes…

  171. 171.

    Mike J

    @p.a.:

    but from my observation of personal acquaintances and family, after about age 65 the fastball goes pretty quick.

    My aunt was hospitalized this week. My mother spoke to her on the phone yesterday. Aunt was convinced that tomorrow they were going to put her down. Convinced everyone is out to kill her. No idea what triggered it.

  172. 172.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Marc: Do you people realize that if Bernie wins, you need Clinton supporters in the autumn?

    Look, he isn’t good with racial issues. I know he marched and organized for civil rights. I don’t think he has a racist bone in his body, but I also don’t think that he gets modern racial issues. I am fish-belly white, but I’ll just defer to ruemara here.

    @Marc: Where did I demonize anyone?

  173. 173.

    Cacti

    @Marc:

    Do you people realize that you need Sanders supporters in the autumn?

    Do you honestly believe that anything anyone says here has the power to sway a national election?

    This is just a place where politics nerds come to puff out our chests and piss in the wind.

  174. 174.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    “Because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they’re not hanging out on street corners,”

    Obama didn’t give any tax breaks to billionaires. He ended the Bush tax cuts for the rich. He raised the capital gains tax from 15% to 24%. He raised the Medicare tax on rich people 4.7% and cut deductions their deductions.

    He always attacks this fictional strawman of Obama. It’s one thing for idiots of Fox and Hate radio to be clueless, but he’s a sitting Senator who voted for the bill.

  175. 175.

    Jim, Foolish LIteralist

    @Marc: I think you’re overestimating the readership of these threads, as well as the persuasive power of prim sanctimony.

  177. 177.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Marc:

    I guess that people think that trashing Sanders is magically going to make his supporters switch to Clinton, as opposed to getting angry.

    Normally, the projection comes from rightwingers. All the hate I’m seeing is coming from Bernie bros, not Hillary supporters. Any Bernie supporter who’s not an idiot will vote for Hillary if she’s the nominee. Any who doesn’t isn’t a leftie at all.

  178. 178.

    mclaren

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    There’s something really wrong with [Sanders].

    Ah, now we get to it!

    Yes indeedy, Bernie Sanders clearly needs some serious stereotaxic surgery to burn out the brain areas causing his severe mental problems. Carve out a few hundred cubic milliliters of frontal lobe tissue, insert cortical electrodes to stimulate the amygdala and thalamus unctrontrollably, and Bernie Sanders will be ready for polite society. No more of that annoying social justice twaddle or proposing insane notions like going back to the tax rates and antitrust polices we had under Dwight Eisenhower.

    And the best part of it all is that Bernie might even be able to count all the way up to five after the procedures are completed.

    Bernie Sanders, mentally ill focus of evil in the modern world and Great Satan of politics. It’s reassuring to learn that the Hillary supporters haven’t lost their moorings in reality just because she’s gotten clobbered in two Democratic primaries in a row.

  179. 179.

    Marc

    @Omnes Omnibus: If that was all it was (e.g. ruemara), no worries. Instead we have stream of consciousness Sanders-as-demon stuff. Whatever – I guess there is a crowd here now enjoying the five minute hate. Outa here.

  181. 181.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Mike J:

    My aunt was hospitalized this week. My mother spoke to her on the phone yesterday. Aunt was convinced that tomorrow they were going to put her down. Convinced everyone is out to kill her. No idea what triggered it.

    Fox News? Rush Limbaugh? Sean Hannity?

  182. 182.

    mclaren

    @Steve in the ATL:

    All the hate I’m seeing is coming from Bernie bros, not Hillary supporters.

    But of course. Whenever we hear “There’s something wrong with [Sanders],” this is meant as a compliment.

  183. 183.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Marc:

    Do you people realize that you need Sanders supporters in the autumn?

    Which ones of us are “you people” bro?

  184. 184.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Marc: Do you ever tell the DudeBros attacking Blacks and women on social media for daring not to support Che to step on the brakes?

  185. 185.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Marc: Oh for fuck’s sake. We also have people who come in and say the same kind of shit about Clinton. Learn to tune out the morons.

  187. 187.

    p.a.

    @Mike J: I’m sorry, and I’m not being flippant, but does she watch Fox news? My wingnut cousins, in their 70’s, went on a Caribbean cruise and never got off the boat from fear. They could have gone to Chichen Itza or Tulum! We go to a game dinner every year, and they drive 10 miles around to avoid a neighborhood that is sketchy but not dangerous in broad daylight; they think there’s running gun battles in the streets.

  188. 188.

    mclaren

    @ruemara:

    you need to allow that she’s a decent person, with really fantastic views, who also has a massive blind spot on race. Trust me, people who are less willing to make allowances than me have noticed that when Hillary references blacks, she speaks only of jobs & prison. We’re all some characters from Good Times in her head. It’s a more benevolent prejudice that fails to deal with the reality of people as people.

    Yes…yes that works equally well for Hillary, doesn’t it?

    Let’s face facts…both Democratic presidential candidates are rich white people only talk about black folks (when they talk about ’em at all, which ain’t much) in terms of jobs and prison.

    That’s the reality of fucking white America in 2016. I don’t like it, but we have the candidates we have and the Democratic party we have. Where are all the black Democratic National Committee chairpersons? There aren’t any. Where are all the black senators? Tim Scott and Cory Booker, and that’s it. 2 out of 100.

    America is a deeply racist country and that’s the reality we have to deal with. Any Democratic presidential candidates in the near future are likely to be rich and white and not have a whole fucking lot of experience with the problems of black people. So let’s stop talking as though this is some unique issue affecting only Bernie Sanders.

  190. 190.

    Steve in the ATL

    @mclaren: There are criticisms of Bernie that are fair, such as his confusion on race issues and his pro-gun votes. Likewise, there are criticisms of Hillary that are fair, such as her pro-war vote and her closeness with Wall Street. But what I get from the posters here is that while many prefer Hillary, all of them will vote for Bernie without any hesitation if he is the nominee. many of our new Bernie-centric friends, however, display more of a Bernie-or-nothing mentality, which is counterproductive. Either Hillary or Bernie will govern much closer to the way that Hillbots and/or Berniebros want than any Republican, so you are hurting yourself if you don’t vote or vote R.

  191. 191.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Domenica Stone
    ‏@domenicaxx66xx

    @Russian_Starr he just said his 1 trillion $ plan to lift up the country wasn’t only reparations it was all inclusive.

    Retweets
    2
    Likes
    3

    6:24 PM – 12 Feb 2016

    He says his proposed infrastructure bill are in reality reparations and they should go to both decedents of slaves and slave owners? [Jaw drops open]

    Yᴏᴜɴɢ Hᴜsᴛʟᴜʜ ‏@YoungHustluh Feb 10

    Do white people get #Reperations from black africans for being slaves for 300 years?

    Good question.

  192. 192.

    Ruckus

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    From my experience living in the Columbus area, your HS is important for your entire life and falls into second place only if you attended OS. That makes you. After that I think it’s against the law to ever leave.

  193. 193.

    mclaren

    @Mike J:

    My aunt was hospitalized this week. My mother spoke to her on the phone yesterday. Aunt was convinced that tomorrow they were going to put her down. Convinced everyone is out to kill her. No idea what triggered it.

    Was it on a Tuesday?

    Ever since Obama put the ACA through, you know, Tuesdays are when the hospitals burn the cripples and terminally ill and gypsies and homosexuals. Those pesky death panels.

    You really have to stay away from the crematoria behind the hospitals ever since Obamacare, the ash coming from the chimneys could choke a medium-size horse.

  195. 195.

    mclaren

    @Steve in the ATL:

    many of our new Bernie-centric friends, however, display more of a Bernie-or-nothing mentality…

    Don’t know where you’re getting that. I’m about as gung-ho pro-Bernie as anyone here, and I will crawl over broken glass to eagerly vote for Hillary if she is the Democratic nominee.

    And as far as I’ve heard, that’s the attitude among all the Bernie supporters I know, all the Bernie supporters I’ve encountered phone-banking, and all the Bernie supporters I’ve seen making posts here on this forum.

    Can you give some specific citations of actual posts where Sanders supporters said on this forum that they won’t vote for Hillary if she’s the nominee?

    I’ve heard some third-hand gossip that “young people say it’s Bernie or nothing,” but that’s just hearsay with not a shred of evidence to back it up.

    I honestly can’t recall a Democratic election where everyone was holding hands and singing “cumbaya” as much as this one. That’s why we’re going to win this election.

  196. 196.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ruckus: Yep. For a city as large as it is, it is stunningly parochial. Because I was there for law school and had a connection to “posh” Columbus, I was seen as marginally acceptable, but not really a member of the club. Weird town.

  199. 199.

    Ruckus

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    When I first moved there from LA I thought it was nice. Housing a whole lot cheaper but so was the average pay. After maybe a year it started to wear. Fortunately I traveled more than 6 months a year and then decided that moving away would be a very sane thing. Never regretted that decision.

  200. 200.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ruckus: It is a very, very big small town.

    ETA: The High Street corridor is interesting, but once you get six blocks away, the city gets small town fast.

  201. 201.

    scav

    Generally, a “you people” tucked into a statement rather indicates an adversarial stance, a lack of common cause / feeling of underlying fellowship as well as that slight sneer of superiority. Conversational caltrops, but hey, amusement on the interwebs.

  202. 202.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Steve in the ATL: I’ll have some updates over the weekend. I’ve got the charging document for Cliven saved as a pdf. There are four currently unindicted co-conspirators in it that it references being indicted in Oregon. Three of them are Ammon and Ryan Bundy and Ryan Payne. Not sure who the fourth one is, but its probably Pete Santilli – apparently he was foaming at the mouth insane at the Bundy Ranch standoff. Also, the crazy sovereign citizen common law grand jury judge from Florida has issued a writ or something declaring Grant County Sheriff Palmer sheriff for life (King of Grant County). And he’s issued an indictment. Mrs. Hammond has made a statement that this isn’t over because her husband and son are still unjustly imprisoned. And the Pacific Patriots Network are a wee but put out because Harney County Executive Judge Grasty told them to pound sand in his reply to the list of demands they sent in.

  203. 203.

    mclaren

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    Obama didn’t give any tax breaks to billionaires.

    Better be careful about that one.

    First, Bernie Sanders doesn’t mean Obama when he says “we give tax breaks to billionaires,” he means “the U.S. government.”

    Does Barack Obama preside over the U.S. government?

    Yes?

    Okay, then — does the U.S. government currently give massive tax breaks to billionaire agribusiness farmers? Yes it does. Does the U.S. government currently give 600 million dollars of tax breaks to Exxon-Mobil, one of the most profitable corporations in the world that made 71 billion dollars in 2011? Yes it does.

    Now ask yourself: what marginal tax rate does Exxon Mobil pay on its earnings? 13 percent. Are you aware that a self-employed single individual pays a self-employment (substitute for FICA) tax of 13.3% before paying state and federal taxes?

    What was billionaire Mitt Romney’s marginal tax rate in the last year he reported his taxes publicly? It was 13%.

    That’s what Bernie Sanders is talking about.

    The whole U.S. tax setup is massively unfair. It is horribly tilted toward the wealthy and it crushes ordinary people — especially self-employed ordinary people. A self-employed person who has to pay self-employment tax + state + federal tax can easily wind up paying 51% of their income in taxes, while a billionaire winds up paying 13%.

    If you don’t think this is why America is in a deep deep deep shithole of trouble with no money for infrastructure and no money for social programs and no money for higher education and no money for federal job training or federal daycare programs or federal health care programs, then you need to think again. Because this is exactly why America is broke and there’s no money for any of that stuff.

    There was a shit-ton of money for all that stuff back before 1980 when Ronald Reagan slashed the top marginal tax rate down to 28% and gave a boatload of tax loopholes and corporate welfare perks for billionaires.

    You need to wake up and smell the latte, buckaroo.

  207. 207.

    Mike J

    @p.a.: This was beyond just normal old white people fear and into the territory of psychotic break. She had a kidney infection with a high temp and this followed.

  208. 208.

    ruemara

    @mclaren: when Hillary was bullshitting about hard working white people, she lost my support. She has a consistent record of mostly good and some very bad acts. When she has the temerity to attend a black community forum and say Latinos and whites need reparations too, I will be all over that hot mess. But it’s Mr. Revolutionary, the heroes of civil rights, sounding like the most textbook example of liberal condescension and the general academic experience of “equality” I have ever seen. So, take a few million and buy a stadium of seats. Bernie needs to adjust faster or he won’t go much farther. Killer Mike & Cornell West can’t vote for all blacks.

  210. 210.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    Being this is an open thread, on my last trip to Costco, I saw some pho and decided to pick up a package and see if the Mrs and I would like it. It was yum. Gonna get some more next time.?

  211. 211.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @scav:

    Yup. “you people” reeks of privileged entitlement, dismissive of all of Hillary and Obama’s hard work like there’s nothing to learn from the two most admired, accomplished people in the world. Bernie will figure it all out, because everyone knows that a 74 year old guy can change everything by himself, because Bernie.

  214. 214.

    mclaren

    @ruemara:

    Well, howdy doody, folks! Let’s all repeat verbatim:

    “America needs a more assertive foreign policy.” — Hillary Clinton (source: “The critical foreign policy debate that America needs to have,” Washington Post, 10 September 2015)

    “Bashing the bankers is unproductive, and it’s got to stop.” — Hillary Clinton, speech to Goldman Sachs, 2013 (Source: “Why Liberal Democrats Are Skeptical of Hillary Clinton, in One Paragraph,” The Atlantic magazine, 12 December 2013)

    “In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al Qaeda members, though there is apparently no evidence of his involvement in the terrible events of September 11, 2001. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons. Should he succeed in that endeavor, he could alter the political and security landscape of the Middle East, which as we know all too well affects American security.” — Hillary Clinton, October 10, 2002

    “The last time I actually drove a car myself was 1996.” — Hillary Clinton (source: “Hillary Clinton: Last time I drove was 1996,” The Washington Post, 27 January 2014)

    Two can play at that exact quote game, buckaroo.

  215. 215.

    mclaren

    @ruemara:

    No arguments from me on this point. Both Hillary and Bernie need to sharpen up and stop sounding like rich fucking entitled white people. And they both need to do it toot sweet.

    The good news is that folks like Ta-Nehisi Coates are not-so-gently pushing Hillary and Bernie in that direction.

  216. 216.

    NotMax

    @BillinGlendaleCA

    The one glaring negative about Costco (at least here, it may differ on the mainland) is that there’s little assurance something you found last time will be there next time. Or show up ever again.

    Still, it’s where I do 95% of my grocery shopping.

  217. 217.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @mclaren: You miss, as usual, the point. Quoting someone is not trashing that person. ruemara did not trash Sanders, nor did you trash Clinton assuming your quotations were accurate.

  218. 218.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @mclaren:

    Every white person needs to stop sounding like fucking entitled white people. Oligarchs count on white people racism to cement their grip. If you want to dismantle the oligarchy, dismantle racism first.

  220. 220.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @NotMax: Gawd this is so true, they had a garlic chicken and noodles dish there and they only had it for a few months. We absolutely loved it, and now it’s gone.?

    (I did check the manufacture’s website and they no longer make the “club” size of the garlic chicken, though I’ve been unable to find the “non-club” size in our local markets.)

  221. 221.

    gwangung

    @mclaren: This is not a game. These are peoples’ lives. Don’t excuse Sanders’ major blunder today. The black community he talked to tonight have aright to be majorly pissed.

  223. 223.

    mclaren

    @gwangung:

    Please don’t tell me whether an off the cuff remark by someone who campaigns 24-7 is a “major blunder.” Also, you need to get a grip and figure out whether disproportionately improverished black single monthers and unemployable black young males will be better off under a president fiercely committed to reducing economic inequality, or under a president who is vomiting out the same-old same-old Clintonian Republican-lite triangulation tinker-around-the-edges stuff as a solution to our problems.

  225. 225.

    Anne Laurie

    @Mike J:

    She had a kidney infection with a high temp and this followed.

    For some reason medics have never adequately explained for me, kidney issues can mess with your brains out of all proportion to their “seriousness”. (Even bladder infections tend to make both people & pets weirdly snappy and paranoid.) Ambient Fox News doesn’t help, but once she’s cleared out the infection, her temperament may well improve to match.

  226. 226.

    Monala

    @mclaren: maybe there are source articles that say more than the liked one does, because the experts quoted basically say, “the numbers add up because other countries make it work.” They don’t address how to make it work in our country.

  227. 227.

    cokane

    trump really is going to be a gift to the democrats. this is why i don’t buy bernie-is-unelectable think pieces. dems are going beat trump if he’s the guy.

  230. 230.

    moderateindy

    @mclaren: I honestly don’t understand black people’s love for the Clintons. His administration’s economic policies did them no favors. His policies that helped fill the jails with young black men has helped to destroy black communities. His welfare reform push made life harder for many poor people, including those in the African American community. His push to pass NAFTA resulted in many decent jobs that benefitted urban communities to be shipped elsewhere. Can anyone name any legislation Bill or Hillary championed that was specifically targeted towards making the black population’s lives better? Feeling your pain ain’t the same thing as trying to heal your pain.
    Someone here actually suggested that we need to fix racism first before economic injustice. I actually laughed out loud at the stupidity of the idea. How exactly does one go about “fixing ” racism? Please suggest some kind of workable legislation, that will magically stop people from being racist? Most gov’t policies that can mitigate racism are already in place. Doing things that help eliminate economic inequality will in fact have a huge impact on poor black communities. They won’t do anything that will destroy racism, but can you give me a single poicy proposal from Hillary that will seriously improve the plight of Black folk?
    Also keep in mind that Hilz has a very cozy relationship with some of those in the private prison business.

  231. 231.

    magurakurin

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    Worse, it seem like he doesn’t want to get it.

    He’s 74 he’s not going to have any sort of epiphany like change in thought. He is what he is, and he will be that until he dies. Which judging by how he looked and sounded at the debate might be before the election in November. I’m not sure Bernie is going to make it all the way through the campaign. But what can we do, it’s either him or Clinton and each of us only have one vote to influence the choice. He’s not looking too good though lately.

  232. 232.

    magurakurin

    @Marc: I’m voting for the nominee. It’s on them if they choose not to vote or vote for someone else. And if the election in November is to be decided by some dumb ass shit some of us miscreants on this blog say…well, then the world is just fucked from the git go anyway.

  239. 239.

    Applejinx

    Yeah, the trouble with Bernie saying ‘white people need reparations too’ (if he even DID say that, which I won’t believe secondhand from blogposters but could picture him saying) is this:

    He’d be saying, ‘everybody is now a slave to the wealthy, it’s just the same, the rest of America has JOINED you in being maltreated’

    Whereupon black people say basically ‘fuck you, are you completely crazy?’

    And they’d be right, because reparations is talk about payback for truly heinous acts that LED to the second-or-third-class condition that, sure enough, hispanics and whites now also share in a colorblind injustice.

    Reparations is a special case. It’s so special that it may be impossible to do: it’s sure as FUCK impossible to do with things as they stand, and half the country wanting to herd differently-colored people into camps and/or deport them.

    It is NOT the same as the 0.001% seizing power and bringing everybody down to the status of economic serfdom, that came later and the current installment of that movement got going long after the legal basis for slavery was discredited. We have new forms of injustice now and they’re not the same.

    Bernie’s made me sad over this, though props I guess for not trying to triangulate or bullshit the black audience. He’s not going to lie to you, guys, he just doesn’t understand: and when he does understand, he might not agree with all your ideas. That’s just how he’s going to be and if he doesn’t agree with you he will say so, no matter who he’s in front of.

    Make a case for how only blacks and not his constituency need economic relief in the form of reparations, if you can. He’s telling you that whites have JOINED blacks, awful recently, in being completely stifled because now it’s only money and nothing else, money alone is privilege. It’s obviously not true but there’s more truth to it than people are willing to admit.

    Something I’ve noticed myself is that it ain’t just white male-ness: if you are TALL and stand up straight, you get to pull rank on even other white males much less women and so on. It’s not that you get to overrule your boss, but that people automatically look to you, or look at you to confirm what the boss said, underscore it, and that’s very effective. It’s because we’re pink animals with instincts for social behavior.

    Do we have reparations for short people because of this ridiculous, unjustified unfairness?

  241. 241.

    Immanentize

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): I am very sorry for your loss. As you hint, the death of one so close and loved leaves a persistent space that sometimes one might stare at or at other times only glimpse sideways. My cousin was a liver transplant recipient and for his (extended) life I thank you both. And as someone above said, please take time to take care of yourself.

  245. 245.

    Matt

    TBH, I think this is the endgame of the Southern Strategy – the high-level GOP wheels have entirely forgotten what the underlying pitch behind the whole “small government” charade and convinced themselves the base really *does* want those policies. Meanwhile, the base is still the same frothy mix of would-be theocrats, racists, and people who’d burn the whole country down just to lower their own tax rate.

  247. 247.

    Steeplejack

    @Germy:

    Huh. I’ve been seeing Sue Johnston a lot lately on one of the lesser PBS stations here, on reruns of a British police show called Waking the Dead. She plays a profiler.

    I wonder if she was a leggy model bird.

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