Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

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

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

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

Trump should be leading, not lying.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

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

The revolution will be supervised.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

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

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

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

The willow is too close to the house.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2016 / Thursday Evening Open Thread: So Much for A GOP “Third-Party” Run

Thursday Evening Open Thread: So Much for A GOP “Third-Party” Run

by | 133 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

Any cause for which Bill ‘Always Wrong’ Kristol makes himself the mouthpiece is pretty well doomed. From the NYTimes article:

Spurred by Donald J. Trump’s mounting victories, a small but influential — and growing — group of conservative leaders are calling for a third-party option to spare voters a wrenching general election choice between a Republican they consider completely unacceptable and Hillary Clinton…

Two top Republicans, Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, said this week that they would not vote for Mr. Trump in November…

Unquestionably there are many decent Republicans for whom Trump is the last straw. I know at least among my longterm circle of friends! But Chickenshit Charlie is a slender reed; should Trump lock down the GOP candidacy, Baker will be standing right behind Chris Christie, mouthing pap about preserving centrist interests or teachable moments for the Hingham crowd. I suspect this is true of most of his fellow anti-Trump Republicans.

… Among religious conservatives, too, anxiety about Mr. Trump is spreading. Russell Moore, head of the political arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, said he had been deluged by evangelicals asking his guidance on what to do in a race between Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton.

A Trump-Clinton race would have no palatable choice, Mr. Moore said. He said it would be impossible for him to support any candidate “who stirs up racial animosity” or supports abortion rights…

My translation: We need those brown immigrants to keep tithing our mega-churches. Also, while Trump is a sexist, he doesn’t hate and fear female sexuality nearly enough for our satisfaction.

… But even as Republican leaders have denounced Mr. Trump in increasingly forceful terms, few of them have suggested they would shun him. Mr. Rubio has come the closest, describing Mr. Trump as a fraudster whom the party cannot afford to embrace.

Still, when the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, rebuked Mr. Trump on Monday for his evasive response to Mr. Duke’s endorsement, Mr. Ryan added that he would support the eventual Republican nominee…

Remember the old joke about the little man who shows up at his doctor’s office with a terrible, disfiguring, painful rash? After many tests, the doctor advises him that he’s allergic to elephants — he just needs to avoid pachyderms and his condition will heal. Alas, the little man cries, it’s his job to clean up after the elephants at the local circus!

Well, the doctor tells him, you’ll just have to find a different job.

AND LEAVE SHOW BUSINESS? the little man cries, in horror…
************
Apart from tonight’s elephant-clown show in Flint, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

Reader Interactions

133Comments

  1. 1.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    I’m not the expert on state by state ballot rules but neither side in the Crazy Uncle In Racist Family Saga can afford to wait for the end of July to launch an independent bid. That appears to be too late.

  2. 2.

    dmsilev

    what’s on the agenda for the evening?

    Waiting at home for a delivery. It’s an iron law of the universe that when you are home for a 5 hour delivery window, they show up at hour 4.5 (at best), but if you don’t come home on time, that’s when they show up right at the beginning of the window. I’m now at hour 4.

    Well, at least I got some work done while waiting.

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    @Just Some Fuckhead: What about write-in campaigns? Also, even if he wasn’t on the ballot in enough states to matter, Trump would run hard against the GOP purely out of spite. And he has a lot of spite.

  6. 6.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @dmsilev:

    What about write-in campaigns?

    Yeah, I didn’t think of this because I don’t associate his supporters with writing.

    Trump would run hard against the GOP purely out of spite

    My opinion is he was always going to run in the general, one way or the other. And why not? He’s paying himself to run and he’s making millions doing it. He gets all the free publicity he wants and all he has to do is stand up and say stupid shit on the teevee, something he’s been doing for years and years already.

  7. 7.

    Archon

    A 3rd party run from a conservative would guarantee a Clinton win but it would be bad for Democrats down ballot, might even allow the GOP to hold on to the senate.

  8. 8.

    dmsilev

    @Just Some Fuckhead: There used to be write-in campaigns that distributed stickers with the candidate’s name on it. I can imagine the hilarity of trying that with a touchscreen voting machine…

  9. 9.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @dmsilev:

    I can imagine the hilarity of trying that with a touchscreen voting machine…

    I just googled how to write-in a candidate on an electronic voting machine.

  12. 12.

    JustRuss

    ..head of the political arm of the Southern Baptist Convention,

    I’m no expert, but doesn’t endorsing candidates nullify their tax-exempt status?

  14. 14.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Adam L Silverman: Even if people figure out how to write-in a candidate, no one counts those votes any way. Have you ever seen Mickey Mouse actually win an election?

  15. 15.

    The Sheriff Endorses Baud 2016

    But Chickenshit Charlie is a slender reed; should Trump lock down the GOP candidacy, Baker will be standing right behind Chris Christie, mouthing pap about preserving centrist interests or teachable moments for the Hingham crowd. I suspect this is true of most of his fellow anti-Trump Republicans.

    That’s all well and good now, but what of two years from now when the Dems are raiding the airwaves with Charlie ‘n Donald’s greatest hits. Not to mention the Republicans who have to hold their seats this November.

    If it was a matter of falling in line, the good soldiers would be doing it now and not running Romney out there to save them all.

  16. 16.

    MomSense

    @Mnemosyne:

    Ugh. I have the same cold. At some point today I just wanted to crawl under my desk and go to sleep. Hope you feel better tomorrow.

  17. 17.

    Adam L Silverman

    @JustRuss: He’s actually the head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty section of the SBC.
    https://www.russellmoore.com/about/

    Basically, he’s the highest Southern Baptist authority on what is ethical in a religion based on the belief that every individual is a priest unto themself and no one needs anyone else to interpret the Gospel for them. Consistency, little minds, hobgoblins.

  19. 19.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @PaulW:

    Pretty sure the GOP are in Detroit tonight. The Dems are doing either a debate or town hall in Flint sometime this weekend.

  20. 20.

    NotMax

    Pre-summary of tonight’s on-stage palaver:

    “I’m rubber, you’re glue! Neener, neener, neener.”

  23. 23.

    Mnemosyne

    @MomSense:

    I was okay yesterday, but I didn’t get enough sleep last night because people were wrong on the internet, damn it.

    Also, too, I quoted “The Schulyer Sisters” in the Ruth Bader Ginsberg thread below. It made sense at the time.

  24. 24.

    Big Ol Hound

    Elephant shit cleaners will be very much in demand this November just cleaning out the offices of the newly removed GOP congress.

  30. 30.

    Keith G

    David Axelrod had an interesting conversation with Lindsey Graham. For me the most interesting part of it was Graham saying that Trump will lose to Hillary, but political parties do lose election and they do recover from those losses.

    He seemed to be saying that if Trump did win enough delegates to become the nominee, the GOP would be better off by letting Trump carry out the campaign without the usual institutional party support. The GOP should do what it can to save the down-ticket races.

    In my paraphrase: Let Trump go ahead and be the “non-party” demagogic bully who has hijacked the party for one election cycle – Let Trumpism meet its predictable unsavory end. If Trump has enough delegates and he is stripped of the nomination, the resulting fratricide will be worse than losing an election to Hillary Clinton under other circumstances.

    I assume Senator Graham is not alone in this.

  31. 31.

    Mnemosyne

    @dmsilev:

    If so, and if Hillary is the eventual nominee, I have a joke for the occasion:

    A little boy and a little girl are playing at the playground, and the boy starts feeling a little competitive.

    “My family has two Priuses,” he says.

    “So does mine,” she says,

    “My family has a plasma TV,” he says.

    “So does mine,” she says.

    He pulls down his pants and says, “Do you have one of these?” She looks in her own pants and runs home crying.

    A few days later, the same kids are playing again.

    “I have Disney Infinity,” he says.

    “So do I,” she says.

    “I have an iPad,” he says.

    “So do I,” she says.

    He pulls down his pants again, and she says, “My mommy says that when I grow up, I can have as many of those as I want!”

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    @dmsilev

    That will be held in abeyance until just prior to March 15.

    Michigan looks like a mitten, so tonight it will be hand measuring.

    Florida looks like….

  33. 33.

    LAO

    @beltane: thanks. Romney’s profound lack of self awareness is amazing. Although, that description can apply to most, if not all, of the republican elite.

  36. 36.

    beltane

    @Keith G: Graham is neither crazy nor stupid. By allowing Trump the nomination while offering him zero in institutional support and distancing themselves from him at every opportunity, the GOP can maintain or even increase their majority in Congress. The media will offer them a big assist in this endeavor.

  37. 37.

    Nate Dawg

    This is exactly how Hitler came to power……a bunch of people did something as stupid as listening to Bill Kristol. :-)

  38. 38.

    srv

    You people need to get over your Trump Derangement Syndrome. I’m trying to find rational reasons to explain irrational feelings, and that’s never a good sign.

    Wake up, there is other news:

    After spending what felt like forever in limbo, Stephen King’s Dark Tower is finally starting its film production—with Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey as the leads.

    It’s official: The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed. #DarkTowerMovie @McConaughey @IdrisElba
    — Stephen King (@StephenKing)

  39. 39.

    Jeffro

    @Keith G:

    In my paraphrase: Let Trump go ahead and be the “non-party” demagogic bully who has hijacked the party for one election cycle – Let Trumpism meet its predictable unsavory end. If Trump has enough delegates and he is stripped of the nomination, the resulting fratricide will be worse than losing an election to Hillary Clinton under other circumstances.

    This is exactly right – the smallest of the potential atom bombs going off here is letting him have it and doing nothing to campaign for him. Take the nom from him at the convention and you have multiple mushrooms clouds going off over the prez race, the Senate race, possibly even the house, and it does nothing to either ‘rehab’ the R brand or start a new non-racist, free-market-worshipping Freedumb Party.

    but hey, let Romney be Romney, I say…

  41. 41.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Nate Dawg:

    a bunch of people did something as stupid as listening to Bill Kristol.

    It is possible the evening of November 8th, 2016 will be a Kristol night?

  42. 42.

    beltane

    @LAO: After his humiliation at the hands of Trump, Jeb at least is probably more self-aware than at any point in his life. Romney’s head is wedged so firmly up his ass that any amount of self-awareness is impossible.

  43. 43.

    PsiFighter37

    I am excited to see tonight’s debate. Alas I will be sober, which may make it less enjoyable.

  45. 45.

    LAO

    @beltane: I am a bad person (if that is not obvious) because jeb’s humiliation has been the high point of 2016 for me so far.

  46. 46.

    gogol's wife

    @Mnemosyne:

    Tonight’s TCM’s series of films condemned by the Legion of Decency. Leading up to it, I’m watching Personal Property (1937). Hard to believe, but Robert Taylor has zero chemistry with Jean Harlow.

  48. 48.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @LAO: Jeb had once chance to be President and that was election night 2000. He chose to throw Florida for his brother and wiped out his own chance.

  49. 49.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    To My President,

    I sincerely hope that this reaches you, as far too often praise is hard to come by. Apologies to people who deserve it perhaps even less so.

    I did not vote for you. Either time. I have voted Republican for the entirety of my life.

    I proudly wore pins and planted banners displaying my Republican loyalty. I was very vocal in my opposition to you–particularly the ACA.

    Before I briefly explain my story allow me to first say this: I am so very sorry. I understand written content cannot convey emotions very well–but my level of conviction has me in tears as I write this. I was so very wrong. So very very wrong.

    You saved my life. I want that to sink into your ears and mind. My President, you saved my life, and I am eternally grateful.

    I have a ‘pre-existing condition’ and so could never purchase health insurance. Only after the ACA came into being could I be covered. Put simply to not take up too much of your time if you are in fact taking the time to read this: I would not be alive without access to care I received due to your law.

    So thank you from a dumb young man who thought he knew it all and who said things about you that he now regrets. Thank you for serving me even when I didn’t vote for you.

    Thank you for being my President.

    Honored to have lived under your leadership and guidance,

    Brent Nathan Brown

    A lifelong Repub. who voted against Obama 2x and “cursed his name” – before his life was saved by ACA

  52. 52.

    Mnemosyne

    @gogol’s wife:

    Sadly, I’m probably going to fall asleep on the couch as soon as I get home. I’m assuming you’ve seen “Design for Living” already since you love Miriam Hopkins.

    “I know we had a gentleman’s agreement, but” (flops on bed) “I’m no gentleman.”

    And, of course, “Baby Face.” That’s one of the movies that made G understand why Barbara Stanwyck was a star. She got suppressed by the Code.

  53. 53.

    Eric S.

    I’m prepping and packing for a quick weekend jaunt to the Tampa area. The Lady is already there, her mom lives in Largo. It’ll be a quick turn but a needed break.

  55. 55.

    Central Planning

    So a theoretical question: many Republicans are burning the Trump bridge. Let’s say Trump wins. I suspect he will not forgot those who disrespected him (on both sides).

    Would a Trump presidential win actually cause better cooperation and comity between Democrats and Republicans? Do we have strength to carry off this mighty task…

  57. 57.

    MomSense

    @Mnemosyne:

    You can never go wrong quoting the Schuyler sisters. I’ll have to go look for it.

    I was okay yesterday, but I didn’t get enough sleep last night because people were wrong on the internet, damn it.

    That and the nerds/geeks Venn diagram are my two all-time favorite XKCD strips.

  58. 58.

    gogol's wife

    @Mnemosyne:

    I was disappointed in Design for Living, but they’re all three so gorgeous.

    Baby Face is one of my favoritefavoritefavorites.

  59. 59.

    Patricia Kayden

    Wow. The GOP is cracking up right in front of my eyes. Best. Election Season. Ever.

  60. 60.

    Villago Delenda Est

    So, seeing as how media reaction to Mitten’s anti-Trump presentation is so lukewarm, at best, do you suppose Ready/RtR is prepared to smell the fail?

    Probably not. The derp is so strong with him.

  62. 62.

    LAO

    If someone is looking for something to watch tonight instead of the shit show in Detroit, “Finding Vivian Maier” is on Netflix and it’s fascinating.

  63. 63.

    Calouste

    @Just Some Fuckhead: Lisa Murkowski from Alaska won her Senate seat as a write-in candidate in 2010 after she had been defeated by a tea-party loon in the primary. And if someone with a name like Murkowski can do it, it should be easy for Trump.

    Trump can also just bribe the Libertarian or Constitution party or whatever to call an emergency party congress, drop their candidates, and put him on the ticket instead.

  65. 65.

    Mnemosyne

    @gogol’s wife:

    “Design for Living” isn’t my favorite Lubitsch, but it has its charms. The combination of Coward and Lubitsch doesn’t work quite as well as one would hope. I keep meaning to sit down and watch the Norma Shearer version of “Private Lives,” which is supposed to have handled Coward a bit better.

  66. 66.

    Mike J

    @beltane:

    Well, if his brother had not been such an abject failure throwing the election to him would not have hurt Jeb’s chances one bit.

    David Frum Verified account @davidfrum
    None of this would be happening if we’d let Al Gore win that blinking recount

  70. 70.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    John Cassidy at the New Yorker nails the dismount:

    [The stop Trump effort], at its core, is people satisfied that the Republican Party is fundamentally sound.” And that, in the final analysis, is why they are unlikely to be able to see off Trump’s insurgency.

  71. 71.

    Thoughtful David

    @Jeffro:
    I still don’t think this works, though. Problem is that the Trumpenproletariat will still want the heads of the RNCers, for not having supported Trump enough.
    I think the Trumpenproletariat are going to be around for a while. They want what they want (rainbow-farting unicorns for themselves and for shit sandwiches to be force fed to Those People) and they want it now. They’re not going to got rid of easily. They’re going to be damaging the R brand for a while, if they don’t split the party altogether.

  72. 72.

    bluehill

    Didn’t Obama caution repubs about the dangers of demonizing dems and minorities because they would not be able to compromise when needed to move forward on legislation or other important matters like saving the Republic.

    The less crazy faction of the repub party realizes the looming disaster of a Trump nomination, but because of their demand for strict adherence to conservative orthodoxy the alternative repub candidates are despised, weak or boring with no meaningful policy differences.

    There have been a few repubs that have said that they would vote for Hillary if Trump is the nominee. Waiting to see if more will make a similar pledge. The dem challenger to McCain in Arizona has an ad out hanging him by his dumb@$$ “Country First” slogan since McCain said he would support whomever the nominee is.

  73. 73.

    Aleta

    Seems like the Repubs are trying to torment Trump with contradictions until he bursts at the seams. Didn’t they make Trump promise he would not run as a 3rd party candidate after he (inevitably) lost in the primary? Now, on the day of the debate, Kristol talks about backing a 3rd party candidate to remove him ! Meanwhile Romney taunts his business ability and all kinds of stuff dear to his heart, but the more Trump loses his temper tonight, the more he proves Romney’s other point that he’s too volatile and vulgar to be President.

    He was already losing his focus at his speech this afternoon. Any minute now I expect five women to appear out of nowhere and explain to the cameras that Trump was the worst sex they’ve ever had. That should finish him off right before he walks on stage and implodes.

    If all this fails to take him out, I suggest Republicans make it much harder for the Trump delegates to check in to the convention and cast their votes.

  79. 79.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Thoughtful David:

    They want what they want (rainbow-farting unicorns for themselves and for shit sandwiches to be force fed to Those People) and they want it now.

    This is the most beautifully accurate description of Trump’s support I have ever heard.

  84. 84.

    Jeffro

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Wow. The GOP is cracking up right in front of my eyes. Best. Election Season. Ever.

    We’re definitely living through a paragraph in a future history book.

    Maybe even a full page?

  85. 85.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Eric S.: I highly recommend Terra Mar Brazilian Steakhouse in Pinellas Park. Let me know if you want recommendations for some other restaurants.

  86. 86.

    dr. bloor

    @Calouste:

    And if someone with a name like Murkowski can do it, it should be easy for Trump.

    I might be thinking of another race, but I seem to recall the loons trying to have all the write-in ballots that misspelled her name disallowed.

    And I wouldn’t bet a counterfeit nickel on any of Trump’s supporters being able to spell his name.

  87. 87.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Villago Delenda Est: Where was the redemption? He’s thrilled HE was saved because of one provision that’s popular on both sides of the aisle. Redemption is writing, “too late I realized everyone is only one major illness away from financial ruin and someone’s life should be more important than the cost to save them. I’m sorry I’m too selfish to see past my own narrow self-interest.”

  88. 88.

    amk

    @Keith G:

    trump has this far not only with zero ‘institutional support’ but also with 100% #dumptrump movement from that so called institution.

  89. 89.

    O. Felix Culpa

    I’m watching “Selma” courtesy of Netflix DVDs. Don’t have cable or airwaves for the teevee machine and insufficient bandwidth for streaming. Sometimes the infrastructure in New Mexico makes me feel like I’m back in Uganda. On the bright side, I’m spared even having to consider whether to watch the R-Crazy “debates.”

  90. 90.

    dr. bloor

    @Aleta:

    trying to torment Trump with contradictions until he bursts at the seams.

    If by “torment,” you mean “load his blunderbuss with a high-ammo clip,” yes. Trump should come out tonight reminding the audience of the contempt with which the Party Elders view their voters’ choice.

  91. 91.

    Steve in the ATL

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    Sometimes the infrastructure in New Mexico makes me feel like I’m back in Uganda

    Lots of people on BJ have posited that Susanna Martinez is the Idi Amin of the Southwestern United States

  92. 92.

    Aleta

    @Mnemosyne: How about Clare Boothe Luce’s (play) The Women with so many fun actresses: Joan Fontaine, Joan Crawford, Butterfly McQueen, Ros Russell, and some comic character actresses I can’t name.

  93. 93.

    Jeffro

    @Thoughtful David:

    They (Trump supporters) are not going to got rid of easily. They’re going to be damaging the R brand for a while, if they don’t split the party altogether.

    Totally agree and if I were an Establishment R, I wouldn’t be trying to get the nom or even the party back from Trump. Start a brand-new Freedom Party with all that sweet, sweet Koch cash and leave the racists behind. The GOP will die out really quickly with almost no donor support, and in an election cycle or two, you’ve got the Democrats running against Freedom, Freedom itself, I say! lol

  94. 94.

    Calouste

    I’m pretty sure there are some very recent tweets from Bill Always Wrong Kristol stating that a Trump nomination would never happen.

  95. 95.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Jeffro: Starting a new party is really difficult; that is why the Kochs gave up on the Libertarian party and instead bought the Republican party

  96. 96.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Steve in the ATL: “Lots of people on BJ have posited that Susanna Martinez is the Idi Amin of the Southwestern United States.”

    Naah. She’s a lightweight. I’m from Illinois via New Jersey. We know graft – and what to do with political enemies – in those states. Now Chris Christie and Idi Amin, on the other hand…hmmm. Have you ever seen them in the same room? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.

  97. 97.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Central Planning:

    Would a Trump presidential win actually cause better cooperation and comity between Democrats and Republicans?

    Yes, it will be a positively cordial impeachment.

  98. 98.

    beltane

    Rubio is putting out ads saying that Donald Trump’s pilot was a drug dealer. Isn’t that a risky strategy for a man whose brother-in-law was a convicted drug dealer? How stupid are these Republicans?

  100. 100.

    Mnemosyne

    @Aleta:

    I’m kind of obsessed with a specific era of Hollywood where the censorship rules weren’t as strict called the Pre-Code Era. Norma Shearer is very nicey-nice in “The Women,” but track down a copy of “A Free Soul,” with Clark Gable, and she’ll knock your socks off. She plays a lawyer’s daughter who has an affair with a gangster but isn’t interested in marrying him, which pisses him off in a very dangerous way. Gable was still in his villain period, so don’t expect a happy ending for him because he doesn’t deserve it. She does get a happy ending that would not have been allowed by the censors only two years later.

  103. 103.

    Adam L Silverman

    @beltane: Yes, but… At this stage what else is he going to do. He’s won one state. He’s got half as many delegates as Trump and its not clear he’s going to win anymore states and earn any more delegates. And Donald Trump does have a long list of associates that were involved in criminal activities at the time they were also working for him.

  105. 105.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    It’s still around, but I haven’t written on it for a long time. I was trying to sync it with the TCM schedule and just couldn’t keep up. Now that WatchTCM means the movies are available for up to a month after airing, I really should get back to it.

  107. 107.

    dww44

    Not withstanding all the unrelenting focus on the GOP Presidential race, Trump still getting unbelievable amounts of air time and Romney referring to Hillary as the most untrustworthy and dishonest political candidate of all time, I’m compelled to deal with my anger from this piece on NPR’s All Things Considered this afternoon just after the 5 p.m. headlines.

    Since when is Larry Sabato considered to be non-partisan and Mara Liasson an objective political pundit? Other than a one sentence statement by Ed Rendell about the party shift in his state’s Congressional delegation after 2010, no Democratic politicians or leaders were interviewed for this piece.

    The stakes in the November election are higher for Democrats than Republicans. Democrats currently hold fewer elected offices nationwide than at any time since the 1920s, and the Obama years have decimated the party’s bench.

    http://www.npr.org/2016/03/03/469083152/democrats-face-real-political-crisis-ahead-of-november-election
    Never once was there any acknowledgement of the real reason that Democrats lost seats in 2010 and why the “take my country back” Tea partiers arose from the ethers within a couple of months of Obama’s inauguration. Liasson ignores the real issue (racism) and lays the blame on Obama and his policies. I’m beyond angry with the piece, but mostly with NPR for presenting this as something wholly objective.

  108. 108.

    Aleta

    @dr. bloor: This afternoon he pointed out (several times) how gentle he was as he called for removal of protestors. He’s in a bind because he doesn’t know how to show power without aggression, but he wants to “disavow” his ugliness. Protestors from the last few days are beginning to press charges for assault, maybe against him too.

  110. 110.

    nutella

    Two top Republicans, Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts

    Top Republicans? Has anyone outside of Nebraska or Massachusetts heard of these guys?

  113. 113.

    beltane

    @dr. bloor: All the Gotti fans I knew, and there were way too many of them, were also admirers of Trump. Some people really love assholes.

  115. 115.

    jl

    Larry Wilmore joke about Trump: He is the kind of guy who thinks something is true just because he just heard himself say it.

    I remember that from a month or two ago. Will be interesting to watch Trump try to position himself for the general and find out how much truth in that joke.

  116. 116.

    lamh36

    the young man who introduced POTUS today, Brent wrote the following letter to President Obama about being a Republican and the ACA saving his life.

    This is what scares the GOP…the legacy that PBO have for being the President who brought Healthcare to millions of Americans, not a perfect system, but one that can and has literally saved lives of ordinary Americans!

    The letter here: “You Saved My Life”

    Here is the young man introducing the Pres today…
    @WhiteHouse
    “The Affordable Care Act saved my life” —Brent, a Republican who just introduced @POTUS in Milwaukee

  117. 117.

    Renie

    where are you all watching debate; fox site keeps showing me a circle rotating around and around

  118. 118.

    nutella

    @dww44 :

    Since when is Larry Sabato considered to be non-partisan

    He’s been a Democrat since high school. Did he switch sides at some point?

  120. 120.

    Daulnay

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Taibbi’s piece was good, but what’s really swung me into the “Trump must lose above all else” camp was this from Vox and this from The Atlantic.

    A lot more is at stake in this election than normal. I’m someone who’s been leaning towards ‘liberal purity’ and dislike of corporatist Democrats. I’ve been thinking of ignoring the presidential race and just working on getting better Congressional rep and local liberals elected.

    I was wrong. If Trump is the nominee, we have to work like mad to keep him out of power, and do our best to recruit every other half-sane American to help.

  121. 121.

    debbie

    @beltane:

    My favorite part of Mitt’s speech was his putting Trump down because he had inherited all of his money. As if none of his fellow 1%ers had either.

  122. 122.

    JMG

    The networks, if they had any guts or brains, but why do I bother saying that, would make all debates audience free like Kennedy-Nixon. But of course they want the “drama.” I’d vote for a President who called for demolishing the mass media oligopoly of Fox-Disney-Comcast-Viacom-Time Warner. I bet it’d get a lot of votes, except it would never be reported.

  123. 123.

    Anoniminous

    The only candidate other than Trump to break 20% national support in the HuffPo Poll of Polls was Carson and he only managed it for about 3 weeks. Trump broke 20% on July 19th and is now at 43%. Trump holds leads in Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio (barely,) North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New Jersey, and Arizona.

    The GOP is out of time and out of luck. Trump is going to be their guy and they can forget the presidency. The chances are now really good Dems can flip the Senate.

  124. 124.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @debbie: Including a certain former candidate himself, whose wife lamented that they had to sell stock during college to make ends meet. Irony has been dug up, revived, and then killed again.

  125. 125.

    Anoniminous

    @Daulnay:

    Working like mad to elect the Dem presidential nominee goes a long way to electing down ticket Dems. It’s not an Either/Or when pounding the pavement and knocking on those doors.

  127. 127.

    shomi

    Buh but wrong way Cole said yesterday that we should be worried about a Trump nomination. Same with Mistermix and those two are never wrong…..HAHA!

  129. 129.

    dww44

    @nutella: Well, I believe he casts himself as a non-partisan political scientist and is a frequent guest on Fox and conservative media outlets. He’s written for Real Clear Politics and Politico. He may have been identified as a Democrat early on as he worked in the administration of a Virginia Dem governor, but he’s never espoused any serious Democratic bona fides that I’ve been able to document. And he’s had a bee in his bonnet about Obama being the losingest President vis-a-vis his political party. Never once does he ascribe any of this to the racist nature of the GOP and the electorate. IMO, he’s not much of a Democrat if he ever was.

  130. 130.

    low-tech cyclist

    Hey, if the GOP wants to abandon their own party for a third-party candidate, John Anderson is still alive!

    Of course, since he hasn’t been in suspended animation since his 1980 run, he’s 94 years old, so he wouldn’t exactly be the most vigorous candidate, but he’s available!

Comments are closed.