Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Second rate reporter says what?

No one could have predicted…

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

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

I was promised a recession.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Bark louder, little dog.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / Cruz-ifiction / Open Thread: It Can Always Get Uglier

Open Thread: It Can Always Get Uglier

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From the Post & Courier article:

… The call is identified as coming from the Courageous Conservative Political Action Committee, a pro-Cruz supportive group. It does not mean the message came with the knowledge or approval of an individual associated with the Cruz campaign.

Cruz’s camp said it was not behind the call. “This is from someone not affiliated in any way with our campaign, and it is not something we condone” said spokeswoman Alice Stewart…

… The Wall Street Journal reported this week that many supporters of Trump and Cruz still have the flag’s symbolism in mind as a backdrop to the primary fight. At least 16 of the 23 legislators who voted to keep the flag flying say they support Trump or Cruz, a survey by the newspaper found…

The Trump-Haley robocall is one of several campaign tactics deemed questionable by Post and Courier readers, who have been reporting similar activities on the newspaper’s web feature Whisper Campaign. The site is collecting examples of messages delivered to voters by phone, mail, signs, TV and other platforms…

Remember, voters, the Repubs are the ones determined to bring civility back to our nation’s politics.

Reader Interactions

158Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    “Trump talks about our flag like it’s a social disease.”

    That’s a lie. Trump would say “venereal disease.”

  4. 4.

    Frankensteinbeck

    This is EXACTLY the flaw built into Citizens United. I totally believe Cruz would be too smart to approve this. Super PACs are beholden to no one, and give everyone wealthy and crazy enough to dump a few million dollars into politics a chance to wage the campaign they personally think is best. Picture the arguments here about what is or is not good politics. Multiply that by vast arrogance and entitlement. Now, make lots of political commercials out of it.

  5. 5.

    Mike J

    @Baud:

    In my opinion, this child don’t need to have his head shrunk at all. Juvenile delinquency is purely a social disease!

    Hey, I got a social disease!

  7. 7.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud:

    Trump would say “venereal disease.”

    He’s more familiar with that subset of “Social Disease”.

  8. 8.

    Mark k

    as this is an open thread, reading this:

    apple-this-mess-couldve-been-avoided-if-the-government

    But there is one thing the government and Apple agree on: It is technically possible for Apple to write the kind of software in demand. In fact, the executive admitted that the Cupertino company would be able to write this software not only for its newest phones but also for all phones it has in use. And that’s one of the reasons Apple insists that the burden of writing the software is far too great—any software it creates could act as a master key.

    Apple hasn’t revealed exactly how far it will go before it acquiesces. However, this will likely have an impact on how it designs security measures in the future. Apple may design them to make it technically impossible to force the company to comply.

    I can’t help but think Apple is genius in making such a loud protest of this, and then give in, would be marketing gold to insist everyone upgrade to the new iPhone 7s with rewritten- unsolvable security programming. then even more secure with a surprise iPhone 8 with brand new iOSX, “built from the ground up” – the upgrade rate would shoot up, along with profits. and share prices

  11. 11.

    Baud

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Picture the arguments here about what is or is not good politics. Multiply that by vast arrogance and entitlement. Now, make lots of political commercials out of it.

    Lots of ads featuring people dying in various fires.

  13. 13.

    Hildebrand

    Big sigh. (My apologies if this has been covered in a previous post.) My favorite author, Umberto Eco, died today, age 84. I love his books and essays. Foucault’s Pendulum is my favorite of his fiction, an utterly absorbing and bizarre novel. The short essay collection, ‘How to Travel with a Salmon and Other Essays’ was a favorite of our family whilst traveling around Italy a number of summers ago. I loved being challenged by his writing – always worth it.

  17. 17.

    Mary G

    I think the general election will make this look like pattycake. Both sides are going to see it in apocalyptic terms because of the Supreme. Court and the Republicans will use the nuclear options to be the winner.

  21. 21.

    Villago Delenda Est

    “It’s not something we condone”

    Oh, bullshit, Alice Stewart. No one buys that at all.

    This is the equivalent of waving the Hackenkreuz in South Bavaria. In fact, in Germany, the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia is routinely waved as a surrogate by those who would otherwise be waving the Hackenkreuz.

    “Your flag” is the clap.

  26. 26.

    Germy

    http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/news/a42268/race-jesse-owens-1936-olympics-movie/

    How [the film] Race Recreated Jesse Owens’ Victory at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany

    Perhaps the trickiest scene to shoot was the one in which Hilter enters his viewing box as the crowd salutes. “You’re not allowed to do the Hitler salute in Germany,” Hopkins says. “It’s actually against the law—you go to jail if you do. There was one point where we had Hitler’s box full of all of those guys and we were shooting and we were supposed to have the stadium to ourselves but somehow some tourists got in. So there was all this saluting going on and all these tourists were watching and it was really creepy and strange.” The same held true for the swastika flags, which had to later be added digitally. All swastika armbands on the Nazi costumes were required to be covered between shots.

  27. 27.

    SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel

    @Baud:

    I like to be in America,
    Okay by me in America,
    Everything free in America
    For a small fee in America!

  28. 28.

    GregB

    On the bright side, after spending 40 years calling diversity a terrible thing they are now embracing the concept as a virtue.

  31. 31.

    scav

    @Hildebrand: Travel with a Salmon! So that’s it! All I could see was the cover but with the Salmon of Doubt attched, which I knew was Doug Addams. I can also see exactly where it lived in Prairie Lights, but not where I may have shelved it at home. Hyperreality for some reason never went walkabout. I’ll have to chase them down and virtually join @Emma with my nose in a book tomorrow.

  35. 35.

    jl

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    ” Personally, I think Purple Haze would fit better with the spirit of the Baud!2016 operation. ”

    Probably that will have to do. I don’t think bath salts has an anthem.

  36. 36.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    “Benneton ad”, Christ.

    The Republicans forgot to bring any diversity of thought along with all the inclusiveness. Except Trump of course, but he’s like Paul Atreides, a mutant resulting from their losing control of the experiment.

  37. 37.

    El Caganer

    So what’s the problem with the robo-call? Cruz is running to be president of the Confederacy, isn’t he?

  38. 38.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @jl: The Baud! campaign had a drug problem, but it was trying to snort coke with a straw in a 12oz can of Coca Cola.

  39. 39.

    WarMunchkin

    I’m a bit saddened by the opposition to DeBlasio’s BQX thing. Not because the streetcar is a good idea, but because it exists because Cuomo is a dick and more people need to realize that instead of haphazardly blaming DeBlasio for the whole thing.

  40. 40.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mark k: Given that Apple’s already done this about 70 times for the Feds, someone doth protest too much.
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/17/apple-unlocked-iphones-for-the-feds-70-times-before.html

    Don’t get me wrong, they shouldn’t be doing this anyway. And the 3 letter agencies are supposed to have the talent to do it if necessary. The only good thing to come out of any of this is that its being done in the open, in a regular court, with transparency. Not in a FISA court or with a National Security letter or something.

  43. 43.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @efgoldman: I vote for a bakelite iPhone 7.

    Being able to cook as well as make calls would be awesome.

    Oh wait, I’m thinking of the Easy Bake Oven. Bakelite is something else.

  44. 44.

    fuckwit

    In other news, Obama is visiting Cuba.

    I love this man. Best President ever.

    He’s totally trolling. And having hella fun.

    Cruz and Rubio’s heads explode.

  47. 47.

    rk

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Super PACs are beholden to no one, and give everyone wealthy and crazy enough to dump a few million dollars into politics a chance to wage the campaign they personally think is best.

    Actually a super PAC can also do this if it wants Cruz to lose. What stops me from setting up a super PAC (other than money) which I claim to be pro-Cruz but use to actually try to derail Cruz.

  49. 49.

    Ben

    Sanders can’t attract Reagan Democrats and neither can Clinton. That puts the party in a real bind electorally.

  50. 50.

    jl

    @Adam L Silverman: Thanks for that link. Local news had interviews with experts at a SF Bay Area tech privacy and security conference. Many were against Apple complying. But some said that Apple had done it before, and they thought making a fuss now for marketing reasons rather than principle. Interesting that some of the views were offered on condition of anonymity.

    DiFi promised to legislate this. And she is not going to want any magic trunks and boxes that cannot be unlocked. I agree on that point, but not sure I want DiFi to be the one behind the legislation. I don’t see advantage of trusting my privacy to either a huge corporation or the feds, but I dislike the idea of products that can contain inherently unsearchable and unrecoverable evidence in criminal and national security cases.

  51. 51.

    PeakVT

    Hoping Trump will utter another unpopular truth, this time about the flag of treason in defense of slavery. That would be yuuuge and classy and pretty much awesome, at least after I scraped the exploded wingnut heads off my car.

  53. 53.

    Ben

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Over 70s vote, especially in midterms. Under 30s don’t .

    Greatest Gen was solidly Democratic to the end , FYI. They’re mostly dead.

    Our party has made older blue collar white voters feel in welcomed. I’d say 60+ years white voters feel like the Democratic Party blames them for what’s wrong with the world.

    We need to fix this.

  55. 55.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Ben: I understand that, but they aren’t going to change. Most of the Greatest Gen have died off and many of the Silents are starting to get up there agewise.

  56. 56.

    Ben

    Democrats who appealed to Greatest Gen didn’t demonize them for being white while still attracting minority voters.

  57. 57.

    Ben

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    People are living longer than ever. What’s more, the fact is whites vote more often than minorities as well.

    Demographics in the larger population won’t change this. Guess who runs Latin American politics in ex Mexico or Brazil? Whites.

  59. 59.

    Ben

    FDR and JFK didn’t give speeches about the evil sinfulness of white people. They appealed to the better angels of our nature, offering minorities a chance to share in America, unlike politicians today on both sides who engage in racial Balkanization.

    If you don’t want to see this country end up like the Yugoslavia of the west, we need unity not division.

  60. 60.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Ben: As you said the more liberal Greatest Gen has been dying out and replaced by the more conservative Silents. The Boomers are somewhat more liberal than the Silents, though I’m sure Millennials would find them very conservative on social issues. Boomers, in general, are not the Reagan Democrats.

  61. 61.

    satby

    @Ben:

    I’d say 60+ years white voters feel like the Democratic Party blames them for what’s wrong with the world.

    Excuse me kid, but no. Lots of the “Greatest” Gen are still alive and kicking and voting Republican. And lots of 60+ folks, like me and my friends, would use a nail gun on our temples before we’d ever vote Republican. And I’m so white I glow in the dark. Try again.

  67. 67.

    Ben

    @satby:

    You can find the occasional black Republican so this doesn’t prove anything . The pour of anecdote is not data.

    The Republican Party is becoming the White Party.

    The Democratic Party is becoming the Non-White Party.

    This is extremely dangerous for the future of our nation, it’s the stuff civil wars and ethnic cleansing are made of if it goes far enough. And both sides are egging the process on.

  71. 71.

    satby

    @Ben: wow, so you’re new to politics, huh?
    The Republicans have been the white peoples party since 1964.*

    * but I’m old so I watched IRL as it happened.

  72. 72.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @Ben: The vast bulk of life expectancy gains since the start of SocSec have gone to the upper 33 or 40 pct income bracket. (I forget which.)

    Seems that being poor isn’t so good for the health, and that only adds to the right’s demographic base spiral.

  75. 75.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @satby: True, the 60’s turned a good number of FDR Democrats into first Nixon voters and more into Reagan voters(my dad was one of the Reagan Democrats, though he’s been gone for almost 35 years).

  76. 76.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @efgoldman: I always think “Reagan Democrat” was more palatable to the media than the truer appellation of “Nixon Democrats”, at least among the ones I knew.

  77. 77.

    jl

    @Frankensteinbeck: Trump will tell unpopular truths or popular untruths or any other combination, depending on what sells.

    The Philippine rebellion, by Moro forces and others, against the US only ended in the sense that we turned it over to loyal Filipino forces, and didn’t have to worry about it directly.

    But, the GOP primary base loves that kind of fantasy. I think there were some tall tales about how if you were a US citizen, all you had to do was advertise it by wearing a US flag pin and no one would dare touch you, anywhere, back in the good old days. Trump is just peddling same version with the violent and brutal fantasy subtext spelled out.

  79. 79.

    Ben

    My point is as the country diversifies explicitly racial politics may be the death knell of the USA if we don’t stop it.

    If we don’t, best case scenario is a kind of Austria-Hungary.

    Worst case? 1990s Balkans.

    That’s not worth a few short term electoral victories.

  81. 81.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Ben:
    As a white person, I think I’ll live if the Democrats don’t offer me a White History Month. Racial differences in the parties are because Republicans court racists. Period. The most anti-white the Democratic Party gets is usually admitting minorities get shafted and need a leg up. Fuck getting any more white friendly than that, thanks. The GOP can keep its racism.

  82. 82.

    frosty fka Bro Shotgun etc etc

    @Mark k: Even better marketing for Apple than “Error 53” bricking your phone and forcing you to buy another. I think I’ll stick to something else for the time being.

  83. 83.

    ? Martin

    @Mark k:

    I can’t help but think Apple is genius in making such a loud protest of this, and then give in, would be marketing gold to insist everyone upgrade to the new iPhone 7s with rewritten- unsolvable security programming. then even more secure with a surprise iPhone 8 with brand new iOSX, “built from the ground up” – the upgrade rate would shoot up, along with profits. and share prices

    I don’t think so. The details coming out are a bit odd. Apple has been working with the FBI for some time now to access the information from the phone, and it’s all been kept quiet by both parties. Their best plan was to connect the phone to a known network (such as the one where the gunman worked) and grab a cloud backup off the wire, except that the password for the phone was changed since the last backup – which is very odd. Apple came up with 4 potential ways to get the information they wanted without needing to build a backdoor and all 4 failed. Given that Apple has experience at this, it’s odd that every technique other than the one the FBI has been asking for failed.

    This whole thing went public when the FBI made it public.

    But I don’t think 99% of the public cares about the deep details of how hackable the iPhone is to law enforcement. Apple’s pitch here from day one is that your data isn’t part of their business plan and that they just want you to be a repeat customer, and building trust is the best way to get there. So I don’t think the outcome of this case will have much of a bearing on that. It’s clear that Apple isn’t accessing your data, it’s clear that they are reasonably protecting your stuff from hackers and malware and shit, and I think that’s all that people really care about.

    Apple’s bigger worry here is that China will ask for the same access that the US government has – and that’s a much bigger problem for Apple’s sales here and abroad.

  84. 84.

    jl

    @BillinGlendaleCA: @Frankensteinbeck: (and others) Do you think all the white Nixon Silent Majority and Reagan Democrats were racists who just followed the party that most appealed to them on that point. Or were some of them go over because of confused and ignorant suspicions (gunned up by cynical political hacks) about Democrats grinding their faces to help out undeserving Others?

    How many will still follow the racist siren song to the bitter end, and how many would change if they got suspicious that they have been played for suckers?

    Or is racism a fatail disease, and once contracted, even if not the main illness, takes over the mind and soul and can never be wrung out of a racist white guy?

    I don’t have a firm opinion myself, but seems to me those questions need to be considered seriously before we commit ourselves to good old BJ ‘No We Can’t-ism”

  86. 86.

    SFAW

    @satby:

    Or, as we sometimes say here: Concern troll is concerned.

    But the sheer volume of his afactual posts is enough to convince me that he’s absolutely, completely, 1000 percent right. Anne Laurie, can you please send “Ben” the coveted Billy Kristol Award? He’s worked hard to earn it.

    [Well, I guess technically, he should get a Third Way Award.]

  87. 87.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Ben: Most of the “Reagan Democrats” can’t vote anyway, because they’re dead.*

    *This may or may not apply in Cook County, IL.

  88. 88.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @jl: I think that Rick Perlstein’s Nixonland has pretty much established all that. Nixon considered George Wallace to be a far greater threat to him in 1972 than Edmund Muskie or George McGovern.

  89. 89.

    fuckwit

    The Republicans are the white, straight, christian men’s party.

    The Democrats are the everyone party.

    In a democracy, the Democrats win. Getting all the people we represent out to the polls is OUR job, as activists.

    This racial split has been so since LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act (“we just lost the south for a generation” — or several), and Nixon’s Southern Strategy.

    But it’s not a split unless you’re feeling bitter and privileged. Which the R’s do, and the D’s do not.

    I smell troll too in this line of concern.

  90. 90.

    p.a.

    @efgoldman: Hey pal watch how you treat em. Those phones are company property.

    (I actually got hired maybe 2 years after techs still had to go and take the sets back for DNPs (disconnect non pay)). The more sadistically inclined had fond memories of it. Lots of guys would just take the ‘no access BFD’ code (Big Fuckin Dog) instead.

  92. 92.

    catclub

    I think the series of primaries is working out ideally from the perspective of Trump and Cruz.
    (And Democrats who think either Trump or Cruz will be general election poison)
    If Bush does well in SC he does not leave the race. Rubio has been fluffed by the media, so he does not leave, even with a bad showing in SC and NH. Kasich got his up in NH and stays a bit longer.

    No unified respectable GOP candidate. Cruz and Trump continue 1-2

  93. 93.

    SFAW

    @jl:

    Although Tricky Dick’s Southern Strategy certainly had a heapin’ helpin’ of racism in it, I think his “appeal” (so to speak) went beyond that. He was big into the “Dems are soft on crime/commies” and Vietnam was also a factor. (Yes, I realize that “soft on crime” has a racist undertone, to some extent, but I don’t think it was as large as with similar Rethug memes these days.)

    Reagan was a different matter.

  94. 94.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Ben: That certainly explains the tranquil 2016 Republican primary season as no one dares to run against the incumbent of their own party.

  95. 95.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Neither of my Silent Gen parents have ever voted for a Republican president, but my uncles, some of my aunts, probably never looked back after ’68. One of my uncles told my dad after Nixon resigned, “I guess you were right about him.” I’m sure he forgot all about that in time to vote for Ford.

    @jl: before we commit ourselves to good old BJ ‘No We Can’t-ism”

    You are one weird fuckin’ dude.

  98. 98.

    frosty fka Bro Shotgun etc etc

    @Baud:

    Purple haze all in my brain
    Lately things don’t seem the same
    Actin’ funny and it feels so odd
    ‘scuse me while I vote for Baud

    FTFY (OCD: gotta get the rhyme and rhythm right)

  103. 103.

    SFAW

    @Gin & Tonic:

    My cell phone will be 10 years old this year.

    Why, when we were kids, we had to snip the cord on our Model 5000 handset, and carry it around, to have anything CLOSE to a cell phone. AND we had to dial! None of this pushbutton rubbish!

  104. 104.

    jl

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: And I think you have a very appropriate handle.

    A lot of comments here seem to me to be rather defeatist about making any significant changes in US politics. I was interested in whether that was true and what some of the commenters assumptions were.

    I got one serious answer and what looks like one attempt at an insult

  107. 107.

    rikyrah

    Powerful Nevada Latino Group is Sitting Out Caucus
    by Amanda Sakuma

    LAS VEGAS – Minority voters on Saturday will play a critical role for the very first time this election, and yet, the major powerhouse that typically drives Latinos to the polls is instead staying out of the process almost entirely.

    Nevada’s influential Culinary Union has shied away from activating its massive voter mobilization machine, leaving the bulk of its political organizing on ice after union leaders decided to hold back on endorsing a presidential candidate just yet.

    But Culinary is not just declining to chose sides. In fact, the union has done uncharacteristically little to ensure that its 57,000 members — nearly half of whom are Hispanic — will turn out to caucus on Saturday.

    …For Clinton, the Nevada caucus will be a major test to her
    stronghold on support from minority voters. Bernie Sanders could
    dramatically reshape the race moving forward if able to prove that his
    support extends far beyond white voters.

    There are signs that the Clinton campaign is feeling anxious about its lock on Latino voters without Culinary to draw members to caucus.

  108. 108.

    p.a.

    @ThresherK (GPad): Hell vinyl records are coming back, there’s even a laser player for them. There was a brief trend among hipsters a few years back for salvaging typewriters.

    The dirty little secret of the old phone system is that residence service was heavily subsidized by business service. We’re on our own now. The Ownership Society: find yourself an owner quick.

  109. 109.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Ben:

    FDR and JFK didn’t give speeches about the evil sinfulness of white people. They appealed to the better angels of our nature, offering minorities a chance to share in America, unlike politicians today on both sides who engage in racial Balkanization.

    And the moment LBJ signed the big civil-rights acts of the 1960s, those voters were gone, gone, gone. They were fine with minorities being invited into the party as long as they weren’t actually given anything.

  113. 113.

    SFAW

    @Ben:

    FDR and JFK didn’t give speeches about the evil sinfulness of white people

    You seem to be implying that someone IS giving speeches like that, these days. Who, pray tell, might that be?

  115. 115.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Ben: My reading is that the country was around 11.4% nonwhite in the 1960 Census (10.5% black).

    I don’t see how that supports your claim that “by definition” the parties were “non racial” in 1964.

    You seem to be arguing against general impressions that you think are held by people here, without pointing to particular comments that you’re arguing against. That usually doesn’t work too well.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  117. 117.

    sigaba

    @Ben:

    “The Republican Party is becoming the White Party.

    The Democratic Party is becoming the Non-White Party.”

    This rule only holds if we exclude people with a college education, and people who live in cities.

  118. 118.

    Luthe

    @Ben: I’m starting to smell a concern troll here. There are plenty of white Democrats out there. Who do you think is voting for Bernie Sanders?

    As for one party becoming the “white” party and the other the “non-white” party, all I gotta say is ‘majority-minority.’ It’s slow going with all the gerrymandering and voting restrictions the GOP are throwing out there, but whites are soon going to be the minority. How is it bad for our side to have the larger share of voters?

  119. 119.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gin & Tonic: I saw it mentioned that it had been changed since the last synch or something. I honestly haven’t been following it that closely. As I’ve said in the thread below: it was a strange week.

    Just read the link: apparently someone at Farook’s employer did the reset as they owned the phone. Genius!

  120. 120.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @efgoldman:
    Like Iowa, Nevada has been one of Sanders’ good states, the ones he has a chance of winning. It’s only ‘Clinton’s Firewall’ in the imagination of people who want to believe Clinton is screwing up and Sanders is staging a come-from-behind win. If Sanders wins South Carolina, then I will applaud him and make drastic changes in my predictions.

  121. 121.

    SFAW

    @p.a.:

    If you damage it, I can’t steal it.

    Don’t be silly. Of course you can steal it.

    You just won’t make any money “re-selling” it.

  124. 124.

    Omnes Omnibus

    It can always get uglier?

    I just read the DougJ thread below and I am not sure about that. Now to read the comments.

  125. 125.

    frosty fka Bro Shotgun etc etc

    @efgoldman:

    Remember, there essentially was no Republican party in the South before the 70s. All the old segregationists were nominally Democrats.

    My Mississippi grandmother told us she didn’t know there were elections in November until she moved to Chicago in the 20s.

  135. 135.

    p.a.

    @efgoldman: I don’t think the ‘New Left’ actually had much to do with the Democratic party of the time, but Republicans and the mainstream media certainly managed to conflate the 2 in the eyes of the working class.

  136. 136.

    chopper

    @Ben:

    FDR…didn’t give speeches about the evil sinfulness of white people. They appealed to the better angels of our nature, offering minorities a chance to share in America

    long as you ain’t Jewish or Japanese. wooooooo.

  137. 137.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @chopper: FDR was fine with Jews withing the US, he just didn’t take in Jewish refugees from Europe. Just a quibble.

    OTOH, Social Security originally didn’t cover domestic workers and farm laborers. As a result, AA workers were largely excluded. Was FDR being racist? Or was he getting what he could? We all have our opinions, but we also know the end result. I think he was our greatest president, but he sure as fuck had feet of clay.

  139. 139.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Luthe:

    As for one party becoming the “white” party and the other the “non-white” party, all I gotta say is ‘majority-minority.’ It’s slow going with all the gerrymandering and voting restrictions the GOP are throwing out there, but whites are soon going to be the minority. How is it bad for our side to have the larger share of voters?

    I doubt it, actually. The US is going to be minority “non-Hispanic white”, but by then that’s probably going to be as irrelevant a classification as “non-Italian white” is today. Most Hispanic Americans are going to consider themselves white, as many do today.

    The question is just whether the Republicans can quit picking on Hispanics. In the short term, they’re having a tough time of it.

    None of these quibbles are really relevant to Ben’s concern trolling, of course. I am concerned myself that neither Sanders nor Clinton may be able to quite assemble something quite as strong as Obama’s coalition, and racial divisions figure into that, but this is a more specific thing having to do with those candidates. If the Democrats were becoming the Non-White Party you’d think they could manage to run someone non-white this year.

  142. 142.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Frankensteinbeck: Nationally, Sanders is coming from behind; his support in popular polls is nearly equal to Clinton’s now and the increase shows no sign of slowing.

    In the delegate count, he’s way behind, and is going to get crushed in SC and on Super Tuesday, except in Massachusetts. I suppose that could give Clinton enough media buzz to bring her numbers up in the national polls too.

    I’d wanted a competitive primary but now I’m just hoping for a clear winner by convention time. I am a bit worried about what happens if Sanders picks up an unambiguous national lead over Hillary Clinton, but, since we don’t have a national primary, still gets crushed in the delegate count. These national polls are big news, especially when they say something surprising. Does the party nominate someone they know most Democrats don’t support? Will the voters get behind her in the fall?

  143. 143.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Matt McIrvin: The national election works on a state by state basis. Right now HRC seems to be following the BHO strategy of looking to maximize delegates. How is this wrong?

    Do voters in SC who will not have a voice in the General not get to have a voice in the primary?

  146. 146.

    Turgidson

    @Ben:

    Is this Ron “Severe Dementia” Fournier? Both sides are egging on the process, my chapped white Democratic ass. The GOP is exploiting racial resentment to make themselves the white party, come what may. The Democrats are receptive to minorities’ concerns, but to say that they are actively driving white people out of the party is some kind of noxious bullshit, straight from the fever swamps Trump is swimming in currently. If it freaks white people out so much to be in the same political party as non-whites, that’s their fucking problem.

  147. 147.

    Andrey

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Does the party nominate someone they know most Democrats don’t support?

    There’s no “don’t support” here. There’s “#1 choice” and “#2 choice”. Almost all Democrats support both Clinton and Sanders.

  153. 153.

    Applejinx

    Speaking of primaries getting ugly, a Clinton loyalist just bought the Onion in order to convert it to comedy like ‘superawesome woman who was Secretary of State and First Lady told to be more inspiring’.

    I didn’t hear about this, it’s my millennial friends who were talking about it, and turned out to be true. I’d seen links to the ‘more inspiring’ article in question but didn’t realize it stemmed from a Clinton partisan deciding to go all Murdoch. RIP Onion I guess. That’s a loss. I think even Onion snipes at Sanders are likely to be less funny and more clumsy now that they are essentially PAC speech for attacking a rival politician, not comedy for highlighting the ludicrousness of the world.

    “Onion can’t out-satirize Republican campaign, becomes existential joke in attempt to break fourth wall”

    Thanks Hillary ;P

  155. 155.

    SFAW

    @Turgidson:

    If it freaks white people out so much to be in the same political party as non-whites, that’s their fucking problem.

    But there’s so many of … you know … those people, in the Democrat Party! (Well, technically, voting for the Democrat.)

  156. 156.

    Kilgore Trout

    @efgoldman: The two year contract for cell service is dead as a doornail. Virtually all carriers now offer plans with no contract. So it’s now simple to buy your your phone (Nexus 6P for the win) and take it to any carrier for a no contract plan, and cancel that one if somebody else offers a better deal. The upgrade cycle caused by the two year contracts was totally artificial. Profitable but artificial.

  157. 157.

    Nethead Jay

    I’m reminded of the tagline for known cesspit FreeRepuplic on another forum: “There’s always more and it’s always worse”

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