Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s a doggy dog world.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

No Justins, No Peace

So many bastards, so little time.

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

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Everybody saw this coming.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

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

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Peak wingnut was a lie.

I was promised a recession.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Evening results open thread

Reader Interactions

357Comments

  4. 4.

    Baud

    Is it time to engage in the debate over whether we would prefer to face Cruz or Trump?

  6. 6.

    sophronia

    My relative who used to work for Heritage Foundation rarely sends out anything political on Facebook … but today, I noticed four separate posts, all linking to anti-Trump articles in the conservative media. So I guess the ground troops have been mobilized.

  7. 7.

    PaulW

    I just want to see a majority of Florida Republican voters put in a protest vote for Lindsey Graham, and screw the pollsters.

  12. 12.

    JPL

    @sophronia: haha.. You should add a note mentioning that Bobby Jindal said that Americans were ready for a President who spoke in 3 word declarative sentences.

  15. 15.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: I did spend two nights in an Ivy’s dorm(one that I’m sure Ted would approve of), but I’m totally a public school kind of guy.

    (My roommate of 3 years from undergrad went to an Ivy law school and I visited.)

  16. 16.

    PsiFighter37

    The Republicans absolutely hate Cruz, though.

    Given that it appears Rubio is sinking like a stone, they’re probably going to have to swallow their pride and get behind Tailgunner Ted if he manages to pull it off.

    I think that Trump probably wins Louisiana running away, and Kentucky shows a slight Trump lead. But if it comes down to a Trump v. Cruz bonanza, I think Trump still wins based on the states left – and the establishment will still be in absolute chaos.

    Lulz. They deserve an asshole like Cruz or a liar/fraud like Donald.

  17. 17.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @PsiFighter37: It could get better, especially if Marco wins enough votes to deny either tRump or Failgunner Ted the nomination of the first ballot and Marco and Ted gang up on tRump.

  18. 18.

    scav

    Stong signs of political Global Warming “Why, this is very midsummer madness.” and it’s only March. We’ve also got Snout walking about

    In this same interlude it doth befall
    That I, one Snout by name, present a wall;
    And such a wall, as I would have you think,
    That had in it a crannied hole or chink,
    Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby,
    Did whisper often very secretly.
    This loam, this rough-cast and this stone doth show
    That I am that same wall; the truth is so: 2005
    And this the cranny is, right and sinister,
    Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.

    Can’t wait for the other mechanicals

  19. 19.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    For the record: I will have nothing to do with Ted Cruz.

    I have Tuesday off for the MI open primary. I know I should get a R ballot and vote for Cruz but these are my neighbors at the polling place. I’m not sure I could look anyone in the eye after that.

  20. 20.

    debbie

    @PsiFighter37:

    I don’t think the GOP is capable of forgiving Cruz for his transgressions. It might be fun to watch them faking enthusiasm for him as a nominee.

  21. 21.

    The Dangerman

    @PsiFighter37:

    They deserve an asshole like Cruz or a liar/fraud like Donald.

    Maybe Rubio and Kasich have to stay in to pick off a few states so they can get to a brokered convention somehow. Cruz or Trump is roughly a cianide or bullet choice for many on the Right.

  22. 22.

    West of the Cascades

    @PsiFighter37: Kasich could win Michigan on Tuesday and winner-take-all Ohio, Cruz might do well in North Carolina and Mississippi (maybe not beating Trump but siphoning off some delegates). It seems there’s a pretty good chance that Trump won’t get the majority of delegates needed for a first-ballot win at the convention if Cruz, Kasich and Rubio stay in through March, and then Cruz stays in through the convention.

  25. 25.

    Joel

    Cruz takes Kansas, but from the AP, it looks like Trump is going to win Kentucky and is currently leading in Maine. Not sure this week’s events had any effect (other than forcing Rubio further out into third place).

  28. 28.

    Felanius Kootea

    @Baud: Only a Republican could love Cruz’s punchable face. I’d much rather have Hillary face him in the general. There’d be debate questions like “What will you do to help people who have cancer and no insurance in medicaid non-expansion states?” and he would reply “Remove the last sixty years of failed left wing policies, especially the job-killing Obamacare.” It would be a blowout. Trump would at least have the sense to say something that made him look human.

  29. 29.

    scav

    @scav: oh oh, more stand-ins for the debates! (only less painful)

    “Puppet”? Why so?—Ay, that way goes the game.
    Now I perceive that she hath made compare
    Between our statures. She hath urged her height,
    And with her personage, her tall personage,
    Her height, forsooth, she hath prevailed with him.—
    And are you grown so high in his esteem
    Because I am so dwarfish and so low?
    How low am I, thou painted maypole? Speak.
    How low am I? I am not yet so low
    But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.

    “Get you gone you dwarf!”

  32. 32.

    Van Buren

    That sound you hear is me screaming at the thought that Cruz ‘ s chances for the nomination are getting better, and that many Democrats think this is a good thing.

  34. 34.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Felanius Kootea:

    Trump would at least have the sense to say something that made him look human.

    So basically, he’d lie. His healthcare plan is essentially the same as the other Rethuglicans.

  35. 35.

    sigaba

    Be excellent to each other.

    Jim Sikking behind the podium telling me to be safe…

  37. 37.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Ruviana: No, we still have the “Jungle Primaries” which are open. Presidential primaries are party operations and have always been closed.

  39. 39.

    JMG

    Winning Kansas and Maine doesn’t Cruz closer to the nomination (Louisiana might). It just keeps Trump from getting closer himself. A

  42. 42.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @Van Buren:
    The idea of Dems voting for Cruz is to c0ck block Trump from getting enough delegates to win on the first ballot. Chaos and hilarity ensue. But not all of us have stomachs that strong.

  45. 45.

    Miss Bianca

    @Joel:

    Trump is leading in Maine? I thought I heard that Sen. Cruz was leading there. Not that I *want* him to be leading there, mind.

    And what’s this about Kasich leading in MI? Kasich is the one that scares me worst of all – because he could, just possibly, sell himself to the general electorate as the “not insane” Republican.

    Oh, and best political button I’ve seen so far (at the local caucuses): “Vote Democrat. We may not be perfect, but they’re nuts”.

    @scav:

    Where/who the hell is Bottom? ; )

  47. 47.

    Felonius Monk

    Rage Furby claims to have identified Marco Rubio’s mistresses(2) and has named names. Given his propensity for being both a fvckng Idiot and totally wrong, I wouldn’t put much credence in it, but you never know.

    No links, because. You know why.

  56. 56.

    hilts

    Louis C.K.’s appeal for people to stop voting for Trump:

    “Please stop it with voting for Trump. It was funny for a little while. But the guy is Hitler. And by that I mean that we are being Germany in the 30s. Do you think they saw the shit coming? Hitler was just some hilarious and refreshing dude with a weird comb over who would say anything at all.

    And I’m not advocating for Hillary or Bernie. I like them both but frankly I wish the next president was a conservative only because we had Obama for eight years and we need balance. And not because I particularly enjoy the conservative agenda. I just think the government should reflect the people. And we are about 40 percent conservative and 40 percent liberal. When I was growing up and when I was a younger man, liberals and conservatives were friends with differences. They weren’t enemies.”

    … Trump is a messed up guy with a hole in his heart that he tries to fill with money and attention. He can never ever have enough of either and he’ll never stop trying. He’s sick. Which makes him really really interesting. And he pulls you towards him which somehow feels good or fascinatingly bad. He’s not a monster. He’s a sad man. But all this makes him horribly dangerous if he becomes president. Give him another TV show. Let him pay to put his name on buildings. But please stop voting for him. And please watch Horace and Pete.”

    h/t http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/louis-c-k-donald-trump-insane-bigot-dangerous-1201723679

  59. 59.

    Felanius Kootea

    Just got an email from Bernie’s campaign (I get emails from both Dem campaigns since I’ve donated to both) – he won the Kansas caucuses.

  60. 60.

    Kay

    @Miss Bianca:

    And what’s this about Kasich leading in MI?

    Every time I count on one of these people to stop another, they cannot. It doesn’t matter which one it is- I was counting on Trump to stop Kasich. They’re all useless to me in every way :)

  61. 61.

    danielx

    Open thread, eh?

    Why are cliches called cliches? Because they’re true all the time….

    Bayh to co-chair No Labels

    Color me unsurprised, except that in my man Evan’s case the label ought to be plutocrat apologist. No Labels, my ass….

    …After leaving the Senate, he became a partner with the law and lobbying firm McGuireWoods in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office,[1] and also became a senior adviser with Apollo Global Management. He was hired as a Fox News contributor in March 2011.[2] In June 2011 he became a messaging adviser for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.[3] On October 27, 2011, it was announced that Berry Plastics Corp. appointed Bayh to its board of directors.[4] Bayh also serves on the board of directors of Marathon Petroleum, the 2011 spin-off from Marathon Oil..

  63. 63.

    Ruviana

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks, that was what I was thinking of. And note to @Raven–the picture person is “Marvel.”

    ETA: the “garden picture” person if it wasn’t clear.

  66. 66.

    Mike J

    @Felanius Kootea: Nate says the KDP called it, but google doesn’t have results yet.

    528 also says that if Sanders and Clinton were tied nationally:

    Sanders would win Kansas by 18 percentage points and Nebraska by 17 percentage points, but lose Louisiana by 28 percentage points. Keep in mind, however, that Sanders has fallen well behind pace in the delegate race and will need to not just match but beat those targets as we go forward through the primary calendar.

  76. 76.

    Jeffro

    @debbie: Remember nominating Cruz does not mean the end of the GOP but nominating trump does … They will be enthused enough

  78. 78.

    MomSense

    @Baud:

    No it was a dumb Where’s Waldo joke.

    BTW Cruz won the same week our Governor endorsed Trump.

  84. 84.

    Ruviana

    @raven: Anne writes the posts but Marvel seems to be credited with most of the pictures. I often wish Marvel would comment more.

  86. 86.

    Anoniminous

    @Kay:

    HuffPo has Michigan Mar 8 (Proportional):

    Donald Trump 37.0%
    Ted Cruz 16.5%
    Marco Rubio 15.5%
    John Kasich 13.4%

    The story about Kasich leading in Michigan comes from one ARG poll that is a total outlier.

    and Ohio Mar 15 (Winner Take All):

    Donald Trump 31.0%
    John Kasich 27.5%
    Ted Cruz 20.9%
    Marco Rubio 7.0%

  87. 87.

    Davis X. Machina

    L@MomSense:

    LePage endorsed Christie, then Trump.

    Given that half of his own party hates LePage, there’s a non-trivial anti-Trump tranche of GOP voters to be won. Cruz would appear to be winning them.

    No obvious moderate in the race, either.
    (Rubio’s no moderate, Kasich is unknown, and Cruz was here last week.)

  88. 88.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: oh absolutely…he terrifies me, but I’m coming around to the thought that he’d be the easiest GOP loon to beat this fall.

    But whew, the stakes…

  91. 91.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    I got a new printer yesterday. I spent 4 hours last night trying to get it to take my Kirkland photo paper.

    (I figured out how to get it to work.)

    ETA: I guess I also figured out why it was half price.

  92. 92.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    he’d be the easiest GOP loon to beat this fall.

    Yup. That’s why he’s too much to hope for :)

    One of the pundits described him as “sour”. I think it’s the perfect word for him.

  94. 94.

    The Dangerman

    Cruz easier to beat than Trump? I don’t think so. Cruz, to me, is far more electable.

    Recall, there was a time when we probably all said “George W. Bush? NFW”.Cruz could be Dubya.

    Trumps just a clown.

  95. 95.

    Mike J

    The important contests today:
    Tottenham 1 – 1 Arsenal
    Watford 0 – 1 Leicester City

    That puts Leicester 5 points clear of Tottenham (and eight clear of Arse) at the top of the table with nine games to play.

  99. 99.

    MomSense

    @Baud: @Davis X. Machina:

    Probably in York and Cumberland counties it did.

    It’s impossible for me to “get inside the minds” of Republicans. At this point I don’t even want to drive by. My Mom just called me. She is NOT a Republican so she doesn’t have to decide between these jerks but she honestly can’t decide whether she hates Trump or Cruz more.

  100. 100.

    Mary G

    I just want to see the Republican primary go as long and as messy as possible, because you know voters have short memories and won’t remember the fail after months of anti-Hillary ads.

  104. 104.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    Berniacs are upset that Kansas has been declared for Bernie but with no numbers. One across the room from me is convinced that it’s an attempt by the Party to help Hillary in Louisiana. And she’s furious with the press for not covering Bernie’s win.

    Grr.

    I’ll be happy/happier when we have a nominee. I hope anyway! :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  105. 105.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Kay: True; Ted’s a standard issue Republican with an extra helping of God thrown in.

  107. 107.

    Anoniminous

    @debbie:

    One of those jerks has to get above 20% support otherwise Trump is going to walk away with all the Michigan delegates.

  109. 109.

    Calouste

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Ted’s not a standard issue Republican, considering that Republicans are willing to violate Saint Ronnie’s 11th commandment with regards to Ted.

  110. 110.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @The Dangerman: I think even the most partisan Teabagger will think twice before giving the most powerful elected office in the world to someone who has never held any elected office.

    But I might be dreaming…

    I recall that the GOP fought Reagan like mad for quite a while before it was clear that he was going to be the nominee in 1980. Just like their voters, most of the party apparatus would fall in line behind Cruz if he wins, too. Reagan mended fences by picking GHWB as his running mate. Cruz could do something like that too, or something that appeared to be fence-mending.

    Politicians, no matter their stripes, want to win. They’ll do what they can to maximize their chances. Cruz is no different.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  111. 111.

    Chris

    @hilts:

    I like them both but frankly I wish the next president was a conservative only because we had Obama for eight years and we need balance. And not because I particularly enjoy the conservative agenda. I just think the government should reflect the people.

    Ah, fucking Christ. I can’t even with this shit.

  113. 113.

    Kay

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    He wants to cut Medicare and has a huge tax cut for the top. Huge. He’s also extremely.. unappealing :)

    I would be thrilled if he were the nominee.

    Clinton is promoting Party-building at her speech Michigan, which is smart. “In every state…”

  114. 114.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Calouste: I disagree, he’s a standard issue Republican but his personality is so vile that Republicans are willing to violate St. Ronnie’s 11th commandment(which was actually first formulated by the head of the CA Republican party back in the early 60’s, not St. Ronnie).

    ETA: Reagan’s 11th Commandment

  115. 115.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @Chris:

    “I just think the government should reflect the people”

    Yeah I read the whole thing. If 25% of the public are dunderheads does that mean we have to have an idiot President one term out of four? Come on, let’s think through this.

  117. 117.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Anya:

    red state wins don’t matter.

    Guy running for President in 2008 DIDN’T believe in that, wonder what happened to him?

  121. 121.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Why in the ever-loving blue-eyed world would my comment at (roughly) #118 be in moderation? Does FYWP have something against links to Disney? Or the word “Caucus”? WTF, FYWP??

  123. 123.

    Anya

    @Chris: Such a stupid thing to say. What is he proposing, that Dems and Republicans take turn running the country? Does he not pay attention to republican’s destructive policies?

  126. 126.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @SiubhanDuinne: I guess Richard wanted comment #118, it’s his thread and all…

    (You may have gone over the link limit, or FYWP doesn’t like the real name of GEC(Giant Evil Corporation)).

  130. 130.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Always good to use a reply link to the offending comment, because you never know what number it will come out, but the link persists.

  131. 131.

    Ben Cisco

    Me, I’m TIRED of stupid people.
    TIRED of them being catered to by the GOP and the media.
    TIRED of having to be concerned that one of these assholes is going to assault/shoot somebody b/c their precious feelings aren’t being addressed sufficiently.
    TIRED of people nominally on “our” side (looking at you, DWS and Jim motherfucking Webb) showing their ass for all the world to see.
    TIRED of the ratfucking.
    TIRED of the trolling.
    TIRED of the complete and absolute fucking STUPIDITY of it all.

  132. 132.

    The Other Chuck

    @Chris: I guess Louis wants to see a house burned down for every one a firefighter saves. Gotta have that balance.

  134. 134.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Davebo: I’m a computer professional, why would I RTFM? The problem turned out to be a thing on the paper tray designed to keep extra pages from feeding, I put tape over and it feeds fine(though only one sheet at a time). I guess there’s too much friction on the high gloss paper for it to pull it from the paper tray.

  135. 135.

    debbie

    Sanders winning in Nebraska and Kansas can’t be good news for Hillary. She can’t win without the flyovers.

  138. 138.

    Jasmine Bleach

    @Anya:

    Sanders won Nebraska & Kansas but Michael Moore told me red state wins don’t matter.

    Yeah, my thought after he said that was “Well, then most of Clinton’s wins don’t matter . . .”

  139. 139.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @amk:
    But most of the rest of what Louie C.K. says in that makes sense: take an hour to find out what Trump is really about before you back him purely as a protest candidate. Know what you’re buying into. That’s reasonable. And completely pointless when directed at a Trump supporter unfortunately. Their support is not based on objective facts. You’d do no worse teaching algebra to a sloth.

  142. 142.

    scav

    @Baud: And definitely an ultra liberal replacement for Scalia. Because, democracy is not at all about determining what the populace wants by holding elections, it’s about making assumptions about their opinions and building a teeter-totter based on those assumptions.

  143. 143.

    magurakurin

    @BillinGlendaleCA: ballots? You mean the slips of paper the over flowing crowds of people were writing their “preferences” on? They didn’t announce the total because by these first glances the Kansas Dem caucus was a cluster fuck of the first order.

    Caucus needs to die. Just have elections and the whole process gets several magnitudes better.

  144. 144.

    Miss Bianca

    @Chris:

    Yeah, I like Louis CK but this just makes me want to say, “you know that white male privilege thing you were riffing on? Well, guess what…”

  149. 149.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Miss Bianca: Because a blowout win by Bernie in Kansas would make people think twice about voting for loser Hillary. Or something. I don’t understand it myself. I’m just hearing things like “It’s anti-Democratic!” “It’s what you’d expect in the Soviet Union or something!!”

    “What are they doing!”

    :-/

    She’s quite upset about it.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  150. 150.

    JMG

    I just saw CNN’s delegate numbers cruncher explain very patiently to supreme idiot Wolf Blitzer than Clinton’s win in Louisiana was of such a margin she would get more delegates than Sanders because of his wins in Kansas and Nebraska because people vote, not geographical entities. CNN promptly ran the graphic “Sanders wins two states, Clinton one.” If the American people are misinformed, it is because the people giving them information are too stupid to do the job.

  151. 151.

    Jeffro

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Dubya you could have a beer with; with Cruz, you’d want to throw the beer in his face and then punch him in the face.

    You put it much better than I could’ve.

    Cruz is so obviously nasty and wacko…so detested in his own party, so hard line far right…
    Kay’s right, he’s too much to hope for this cycle. But a guy can dream…

  154. 154.

    magurakurin

    @Baud: but the delegate count is 14 to 10. Sanders missed his targets again. And LA looks to be a rout. But delegate math is hard so, on with the Revolution, I guess. Fair enough, I suppose as long as he has the cash and the stamina.

  156. 156.

    Chyron HR

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    If 25% of the public are dunderheads does that mean we have to have an idiot President one term out of four?

    Well, two out of the last seven terms, close enough.

  160. 160.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @Baud:
    NYT as well, though their map and chart are buggy. Two states are called but show 1% or <1% reporting.

  161. 161.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Iowa Old Lady: Seconded.

    Don’t let this stuff get to you Ben. TV wants viewers and they’ll rile up their audience if they can. Politicians want to be in the news, likewise.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  162. 162.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @amk:
    Yeah, like I said: not well thought out. A decent first-order concept that fails utterly when applied.

    ETA: This isn’t intramural soccer where everyone gets to play, because fairness.
    This is for leader of the free world and nuclear codes.

  164. 164.

    Jasmine Bleach

    @debbie:

    Sanders winning in Nebraska and Kansas can’t be good news for Hillary. She can’t win without the flyovers.

    She can. This weekend was expected to be very good for Sanders–he should win Maine tomorrow as well. Three of four ain’t bad at all.

    But the next week will likely be rough for Sanders. Michigan and Mississippi on Tuesday, neither of which is likely for Sanders. Then a week later on March 15, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina, and Missouri–only the last of which is “in the bag” for Sanders.

    After March 15, however, the vast majority of states will go for Sanders unless his campaign somehow implodes. The only question is if Clinton hits the magical delegate count (with pledged delegates) before the end. She has a lot of Superdelegates, but they can change their minds. If the popular vote ends up in favor of Sanders, they might be pressured to reconsider.

    I think it’s probably only a 30% likelihood that Sanders pulls it out winning more pledged delegates (really, it all depends on who wins California and by how much), but it is a real potential. Either candidate could still win it.

  166. 166.

    redshirt

    I’m a bit surprised Cruz won Maine. I’d a figured Trump is perfect for the nut ass Republicans we’ve grown over the last 10 years. But as MomSense said, trying to figure out the Republican mind is an abyss you don’t want to stare too long at.

  167. 167.

    magurakurin

    @debbie: uh, by all accounts it’s a 55 45 split in NE, more than likely the same in KS. So, Sanders has an edge among white people. Meanwhile, it’s a 50 point spread in LA. I think it is Sanders that has the problem winning over certain demographic groups. He is still 20+ down in Michigan, which is 3 days away now. But yeah, Clinton needs to panic about a delegate split in NE/KS.

  169. 169.

    lamh36

    Bernie supporters have essentially become the HRC ’08 supporters…when it comes to not understanding the delegate math when it comes to Dem primary.

    As for the La results, I know more than a couple of Republican voters who are willing and ready to support Hilary. They don’t mention Bernie.

    not that HRC would ever turn La blue, but I can certainly see a scenario where more parishes are closer than usual at top ticket

  173. 173.

    I Am Not Jon Snow

    It’s shaping up to be another spectacular night for Marco. I can’t wait to hear his speech claiming victory when he finishes 3rd or 4th in each contest, and is totally shut for delegates in Maine.

  174. 174.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @magurakurin: When she makes up her mind about something, it’s a sight to behold. ;-)

    “I’m tempted to write in Bernie in the fall!!”

    She’ll probably come around – she does have a good head on her shoulders. She knows how important it is. But it might depend on what Bernie does… :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  176. 176.

    Mike in NC

    So Louis CK doesn’t just play a dickhead on TV, he’s actually one in real life. He’s got enough money to survive a GOP presidency, unlike most of us.

  177. 177.

    danielx

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    If 25% of the public are dunderheads does that mean we have to have an idiot President one term out of four?

    Actually there’s evidence to suggest the correct figure is 27%, but close enough.

  179. 179.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @lamh36: Yay, Maddie! The cutest kiddo ever, while getting some competition for efggranddaughter.

  180. 180.

    Tripod

    Undertaker Ted is losing in LA. He has a limited demographic appeal.

    Hillary is up 50+ points. That’s going to leave a delegate mark.

  182. 182.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @hilts: When I was growing up and when I was a younger man, liberals and conservatives were friends with differences. They weren’t enemies.”

    Sweet dancing christ. Never mind the Iraq War, torture, Roberts, Alito, Citizens United, Hobby Lobby, disenfranchisement of voters, the locketep anti-environmentalism, the race-baiting and homophobia, the determination to gut the New Deal.

    That’s not how things used to be.

    What an asshole.

  183. 183.

    Kay

    @I Am Not Jon Snow:

    Republican voters don’t like him :)

    That’s how we could end up with Cruz if they actually have an open ballot at the convention- Republican delegates won’t switch to Kasich. They’re the base of the base.

  184. 184.

    magurakurin

    @Jasmine Bleach:

    After March 15, however, the vast majority of states will go for Sanders unless his campaign somehow implodes.

    facts not in evidence.

    New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland are going to go for Sanders? not likely. And even if they did, they won’t go for bigger margins than in Nebraska. Sanders lost Massachusetts. He’s about to lose Michigan in 3 days. Yet, somehow he will pull off miracle wins in NJ, NY, PA, and MD? Plus, Clinton is polling ahead of Sanders in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico right now. The vast majority doesn’t mean what you think it does. And even if it did, it won’t matter, because the vast majority of delegates won’t go for Sanders after March 15. At best he manages splits or slight gains. He’s is 201 delegates behind right now, and that deficit will more than likely expand today, despite “winning 2 states.”

  186. 186.

    Kay

    Chris Matthews admitted he loves Kasich earlier. MSNBC is awful in so many ways. It’s about 80% bad.

  187. 187.

    Miss Bianca

    @magurakurin:

    But yeah, Clinton needs to panic about a delegate split in NE/KS.

    Not sure I understand that (unless that’s some snark I’m not picking up on). So, Clinton and Sanders both could be going to the state meetings with delegates, right? Then, depending on how things stand by the time the state meetings roll around, the pledged delegates can change. Don’t see any need for her to panic, but then I’m very new at this game, myself.

    ETA: OK, I think what you’re saying is that she *doesn’t* need to panic. My snark-o-meter needs to be recalibrated, methinks…

  188. 188.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    Well, he’s partially right. 30 years ago you could maybe be an actual centrist, and Democrats and Republicans agreed on some things. Then of course a wheel fell off the GOP machine and it veered into the righthand ditch and flipped over. ‘Sharing’ isn’t going to right that disaster.

  189. 189.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Looking around the internets….

    Mother of mercy! Could this be the end of Rubio?

  191. 191.

    lamh36

    And now from Cap’n Obvious…

    @ajjaffe
    Rubio reax to results tonight, @ presser: “This map only gets better for us. Many of these states are states my opponents do better in.”

    You don’t say…

  194. 194.

    I Am Not Jon Snow

    Yikes. Rubes down to 14 percent in LA and dropping like a rock. Sell your Rubio stock. Quick.

  197. 197.

    Jasmine Bleach

    Sanders’ superdelegate count just went from 19 to 32 tonight (according to wikipedia). He gained roughly double that of Clinton tonight. (13 vs. 7)

    That’s a first.

  206. 206.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @magurakurin: I’ve learned today that Red States count and Superdelegates count; I’d been informed otherwise in the past. Live and learn.

  208. 208.

    PurpleGirl

    @Ruviana: Marvel takes pictures — glorious pictures of her garden — but it is Anne Laurie who puts together the Sunday morning garden thread. If Raven has pictures for a garden thread he should send them to Anne Laurie. ([email protected])

  209. 209.

    Jasmine Bleach

    @magurakurin:

    so, now Superdelegates count? I’ll make a note of that.

    Of course they count. Why wouldn’t they. The trick is–they can change their minds (and often do).

    This is the first night Sanders has won more superdelegate endorsements than Clinton. That’s all I pointed out. If that makes you nervous or something, well . . . ;-)

  210. 210.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Could a kind FPer please release this comment from moderation? It’s been over 45 minutes, and honestly, there’s nothing bad in it, I swear. TIA.

  211. 211.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: CK and I are about the same age, so when he was a young man so was I, and on most issues I’d take Jim Jeffords or even John Warner over Heidi Heidkmap or Joe Minchin, but that has fuck all to do with the Bush/Cheney Republican Party, never mind Cruz/Rubio/Ryan/McConnell. It just stupefies me that someone who cares enough to put out a statement like this could/would be so insistently uninformed about political reality.

  212. 212.

    magurakurin

    @Jasmine Bleach: It was a vote of 39,000 people. Because the caucus system is so inherently undemocratic that the vast majority can’t participate. 39,000 people. Sanders got 26,450 votes in Kansas. But Clinton is on track to get 160,000+ in LA. She will net more delegates and more popular votes tonight. But keep hope alive, I guess.

  213. 213.

    chopper

    @magurakurin:

    if all the states after 3/15 sanders is likely to take were all winner-take-all (and the rest weren’t) then maybe he’d have a chance.

  214. 214.

    Miss Bianca

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    That’s the second LOL from you today, Mister. Watch it now!

    Yes, on the wacky tobacky. Now I guess you’ll tell me I need to stop guzzling laudanum!

  218. 218.

    chopper

    @magurakurin:

    red state voters don’t matter! caucuses are anti-democratic! super delegates are anti-democratic!

    wait, Bernie won a red state caucus and picked up some super delegates? WOOOOOOO

  222. 222.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Matthew Yglesias ‏@ mattyglesias 56m56 minutes ago
    Hillary Clinton speaking in Detroit about party-building and improving Dems’ emphasis on down ballot races.

    Verily, she is evil incarnate

  224. 224.

    magurakurin

    @chopper: indeed. I feel for the Sanders people, I know they must feel like crap, but, someone has to lose. Pretending that things aren’t the way the are doesn’t seem to go a long way to easing the pain. The Clinton campaign and supporters did the same thing in 2008. It was a bad look then for them, it is a bad look now for the Sanders people. It has always been thus, I guess.

  229. 229.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Kay:

    Thanks, Kay! It did, and I hope others enjoy it as much as I do (one of my fave scenes from Alice in Wonderland).

  230. 230.

    redshirt

    @Ben Cisco: I’m sure. But at this point there’s so much of it and I have no means of watching it other than buying it, I’m prepared to accept that as my loss. Pip-pip, cheerio!

  231. 231.

    magurakurin

    @Jasmine Bleach: From Tad Devine’s lips to your ears. And he’ll get you to send him some more money, too, I’m sure. Money wasted just like the third wave over the top at the Somme. Money wasted, better spent on the general. But, whatever wiggles your waggle. The real battle is in November and the force to wage it is assembling now behind Clinton. You are welcome to join at any time. We’ll be waiting with open arms.

  232. 232.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @magurakurin:
    I want and should be a good winner, because 99% of Sanders supporters are good Democrats fighting the good fight, but damn it’s hard after listening to so much ‘Hillary is cheating to win’ crap. When I found out about the Sanders campaign stealing Hillary’s data because Sanders supporters were claiming this was a plot to shut Sanders down, it broke my patience.

  233. 233.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    To me it’s just more evidence of how far the GOP establishment is from their voters. They hate Trump and Cruz. GOP base voters love them.

    They could form two Parties- elected Republicans and donors and then Republican voters.

  237. 237.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Kay: “They could form two Parties- elected Republicans and donors and then Republican voters.”

    AKA: the Politely Racist Republican Party (PRPP) and the Rabidly Racist Republican Party (RRPP).

  239. 239.

    Bob In Portland

    Clinton keeps racking up delegates south of the Mason-Dixon line. The racial divide is apparently still holding up. Bernie should start buying huge blocks of time on BET.

  244. 244.

    I Am Not Jon Snow

    According to my Twitter feed, Trump carried Louisville by 1.5 points. Probably safe to give him KY now. And LA also looks safe, although it got a little close.

  246. 246.

    magurakurin

    @redshirt: That is a bad point of the States, eh? There are little villages in Japan that seem like something out of the 19th century from the outside…but inside all those grannies and grandpas that live there are surfing the net with 1giga fiber optic lines for 40 dollars a month with tv and phone bundled in. But somehow America can’t get that done. Thanks, Obama.

  247. 247.

    James E Powell

    Checking for results and immediate responses from the online partisans of H & B. Looks like everything stays the same for now. We wait for March 15 – Day of Reckoning!

    The Rubio campaign moved from sad to funny.

  249. 249.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    I have been listening to some studio-era golden age radio adaptations of movies, on ye olde internet radio. Fascinating to wonder how few Hollywood films today have actual scripts one could do this with.

  250. 250.

    Chris

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    CK and I are about the same age, so when he was a young man so was I, and on most issues I’d take Jim Jeffords or even John Warner over Heidi Heidkmap or Joe Minchin, but that has fuck all to do with the Bush/Cheney Republican Party, never mind Cruz/Rubio/Ryan/McConnell. It just stupefies me that someone who cares enough to put out a statement like this could/would be so insistently uninformed about political reality.

    Another little thing – the Democrat/Republican divide might not have been that important until recently, but being a Democrat or a Republican meant nothing until recently, since both parties had liberal and conservative wings.

    Were things really that much more cordial fifty years ago between LBJ or Nelson Rockefeller’s supporters and George Wallace or Barry Goldwater’s? Somehow I doubt it.

  251. 251.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @magurakurin:
    Amazingly, it’s even worse in most parts of Canada than here. And the cell service is a decade behind us. Painful.

  254. 254.

    redshirt

    @magurakurin: Who pays for laying wire in Japan? Private companies or the government?

    I get why a private company has no interest in wiring for broadband in America’s rural areas – where’s the profit?

  255. 255.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I’d still rather have Cruz than Trump.

    It goes Cruz, Rubio, Trump, then Kasich for me- in order of most likely to lose to Clinton :)

  256. 256.

    Baud

    @Chris:

    People claim they long for the old days and then they claim that the parties should stand for something. The only consistency seems to be that the Dems should always be at the short end of the stick.

  257. 257.

    gogol's wife

    @Kay:

    Yes, Trump has a kind of charisma. It doesn’t work on me, but neither did Dubya’s or Reagan’s — but they had it for a lot of people. I just don’t think Cruz or Rubio has a shred of charisma.

  258. 258.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Kay: What do you think caused that divide? I’m guessing a combination of factors: the establishment’s failure to deliver on the culture war issues, permanent restructuring of the labor market, and Obama Derangement Syndrome. I’m sure there are others…

  259. 259.

    I Am Not Jon Snow

    @Kay: Agreed. I think Cruz is an easier mark in the general than Trump because Cruz’s support is much easier to predict. Trump probably loses big but there’s a wildcard in that you don’t know how blue collar voters in rust belt will respond to Trump’s message.

  261. 261.

    magurakurin

    @redshirt: Right now, NTT, which is the now private, former public telephone monopoly (think ATT) is laying fiber and the electric companies are also laying fiber along their right of ways on the power poles. Many places have a choice a two fiber providers. The electric company service tends to be cheaper and better. Not sure if there are any subsidies in place to help the companies lay the fiber lines.

  263. 263.

    Chris

    @Kay:

    Bush was a once-in-a-generation candidate in being a guy that the elites and the base both saw as one of their own. The heir to a Northeastern royal house that had already produced one president, and a born-again Bible thumper who spoke fluent Authentic Frontier Gibberish. That’s not going to be easy to repeat, even if it’s not the only reason the divide has grown.

  264. 264.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Kay:
    Bush II, The Dynasty Strikes Back, had many many MANY flaws, but he was a fantastic political campaigner. He knew how to be just every Republican wanted, and wasn’t that far off to begin with. Still, you’re right – all post-2008 elections have been a different world. Republicans went absolutely bugfuck nuts when a black man was elected president.

    @Chris:
    I like to go back to 1984, when Reagan won 49 out of 50 states in reelection. That is unimaginable now, and was even before Obama. Our political climate has shifted dramatically!

  265. 265.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @O. Felix Culpa:
    I’d add constant tax cuts for the wealthy and unnecessary wars causing disastrous consequences for people that the middle class voters know personally.

  268. 268.

    GregB

    Louis C.K. must be abusing some serious drugs these days. First at the Oscars he rambles on about how documentarians are losers who don’t make any money and now he’s running with the fair and balanced gibberish. What a flapping shitheel.

  269. 269.

    Chris

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    Probably doesn’t help that the establishment promised the money would trickle down, but at this point, anyone who’s old enough to remember Reagan has seen a lifetime of nothing but diminishing returns, income stagnating while cost of living goes up, up, up.

    That doesn’t mean they’re going to wake up and become Democrats – concluding that it’s all counterrevolutionary sabotage from a party structure infiltrated and compromised by the liberal elite is more their speed. But it still leads to a major “fuck the party.”

  270. 270.

    Mandalay

    Rubio’s communications director this evening….

    “Marco has done well in primaries so far. We beat Ted Cruz in Virginia. We beat Ted Cruz in South Carolina. We beat Ted Cruz in Georgia, a state that Ted Cruz originally thought he might actually win….So we feel really good about the map moving forward”.

    He makes Iraq’s Comical Ali look like an amateur when it comes to putting lipstick on a pig.

  271. 271.

    redshirt

    @magurakurin: How many truly rural areas of Japan have such service? For example, way up North? I’m not very familiar with Japan so I don’t know. But where I am, there’s only one other house within 2 miles of me, so I can’t really blame the local cable company for not sending a wire miles up a road just for me. That is, until the internet is treated like electrical service.

  272. 272.

    I Am Not Jon Snow

    Trump seems to be holding fairly close to his polling percentages. Close races in KY and LA probably due to Rubio voters dumping him for Cruz. But if that occurs in FL, Trump carries the state easily.

  273. 273.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: I totally agree that the tax cuts for the rich and wars hurt the R base – and the country at large – badly. I wonder, though, if the base has diagnosed these policies as a cause of their pain yet.

  275. 275.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @Baud:
    Anecdotally I hear more GOP backers complaining about the rich (“CEOs”) paying low taxes. But that’s the guys with steel toed boots and pickup trucks that make up my office. It does end up in every Republican’s plans, whether they publicize it or not.

  276. 276.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @redshirt: It sounds like a rerun of wiring ruritania for electricity or phones. Lester Beale’s posters are recommended.

    Not only did the right once care about governance, we got some great illustrations from it.

  277. 277.

    Felonius Monk

    Looks like Marco is going to carry a lot of Loser Stink with him back to Florida. Will Floridians hold their noses and vote for him or will they Trump him?

  278. 278.

    JMG

    BTW, in very red state Louisiana, with 70 percent of the vote in, only 15,000 more total Republican than Democratic votes. Enthusiasm gap? Clinton is ahead of Trump by 3-2 and Cruz by 5-3 margins. Best of all, Sanders,who’s getting slammed in his own primary, has more than twice as many votes as Rubio! The establishment choice! Maybe they’ve should’ve stuck with Jeb.

  279. 279.

    redshirt

    @redshirt: And just FYI, even electrical service is no guarantee. In planning my MOUNTAIN FASTNESS, I learned that if you have to get new electrical lines put into an area where there were none previously, you, the homeowner, can expect to pay about 1K per pole. I was looking at 20K just to get electricity to a house. No thanks!

  281. 281.

    Chris

    @redshirt:

    Well, apparently not, or at least not exclusively. They wouldn’t be this pissed off at the party leadership if they didn’t think it shared in the blame. (Granted, what they think it should be blamed for is being too much like the Democrats).

  282. 282.

    James E Powell

    (Granted, what they think it should be blamed for is being too much like the Democrats).

    Which is amazing – stunning – given the reality of the last 7+ years.

  283. 283.

    I Am Not Jon Snow

    I think this may be the end of the road for Rubes. It’s very difficult to see how he competes going forward, and his money has got to be drying up.

  284. 284.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Based on google reporting, Bernie takes Kansas and Nebraska, while Hillary wins Louisiana.

    However, Hillary still gets more delegates: 51 (KS 10 + LA 31 + NE 10), with 45 for Bernie: (KS 23 + LA 8 + NE 14).

  285. 285.

    benw

    Tech’s basketball team pulled out a tough win over Pitt today and Bernie won some primaries. I’m in a good mood!

    SANDERS/GEORGES-HUNT 2016

  286. 286.

    amk

    LOLGOP

    For the hundreds of millions donors spent to watch Jeb and Marco fail, we could have built a giant statute of Nelson Muntz laughing at them.

    47 retweets 125 likes

  291. 291.

    magurakurin

    @O. Felix Culpa: and it will get worse for Sanders before the night is over. There is one delegate left in NE and it looks like it will go to Clinton, and LA still has 12 delegates yet to allocate. Clinton will get most of those as well. So, Bernie’s big night….yeah…not so much. Tomorrow they can party like it is 1999 one last time. Maine should go big for Sanders. But Tuesday will be grim with a big loss in MI and and rout in MS.

  292. 292.

    Amir Khalid

    @O. Felix Culpa:
    Yep, that’s what RealClearPolitics’ tables say too. Incidentally, I notice that RCP has Hillary leading Bernie in the popular vote count by 4.15 million to 2.65 million — giving her 61% of votes cast. As I understand, if there’s to be a case for her superdelegates switching over to Bernie, he must make it by winning more votes in the primaries than she.

  294. 294.

    SFAW

    After tonight’s stunning string of third-place “victories” for Rubio, what’s the over/under for how long it takes RtR to jump on the Cruz Ship to Nowhere? Or will he go Trumpster Diving instead?

    Inquiring minds (don’t really) want to know.

  295. 295.

    cokane

    prob saying the obvious, but looks like a 2 man race now. i’d still say trump has a big lead, but cruz now appears like his only semi legit challenger

  298. 298.

    SFAW

    @efgoldman:

    If one bid 13 cents a post, and the other 23 cents,

    Now why would anyone in their right mind bid for RtR’s “services”?

    [And if you don’t use the preceding question as it was intended, then you’re not the efgoldman I know and love (in a purely platonic, manly way, as General J.C. Christian might say.)]

  300. 300.

    cokane

    more on cruz v trump, cruz is actually not far behind in estimated delegates, per RealClearPolitics. A gap of 80ish, and theres about 2400 total.

  301. 301.

    SFAW

    @Chris:

    My money’s on Cruz.

    You might be right, but part of me says RtR will go for someone with “Brinks trucks full of class.” Or was it “crass”? I can never remember.

  305. 305.

    magurakurin

    @Cacti: so, +11 more for Clinton with 3 more states done. Sanders narrow path is become a slender wire. It’ll be a thin thread by Tuesday night and a puff of vapor by next Tuesday night.

  313. 313.

    redshirt

    @Cacti: I enjoyed the drive through Nebraska. Watching the geography change from west to east was interesting.

    But then, like a dog, I just like looking out the window.

  323. 323.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Omnes Omnibus: Most excellent.

    And I’ll leave you all to discuss the virtues of The Boss whilst I shuffle off to slumberland. G’nite all.

  326. 326.

    magurakurin

    @redshirt: try it on a bicycle. in the rain. in a headwind.chased by tornadoes. covered in mosquitoes when you stop to piss. Montana was cool. North Dakota…no thank you.

  327. 327.

    SFAW

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Yeah, it’s a choice between that and “My Father’s House” for me. Atlantic City for the music/lyrics, My Father’s House for the theme.

    ETA: Just to be clear: I like every, or almost every, song on the album. But some more than others.

  328. 328.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @SFAW: Nebraska and The River are my favorite Bruce albums.

    ETA: The River probably wins. The musical contrast between Sherry Darling and Independence Day is is marked, but the theme of the album flows through each song. It is a masterpiece.

  332. 332.

    Amir Khalid

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Ah, the video with with scenes from The Indian Runner, Sean Penn’s movie of the song. Penn met Springsteen’s sister Pam on the set of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which I think was shot around the time Bruce was recording the demos that wound up as the Nebraska album. Their IMDB bios say Penn and Pam Springsteen were briefly engaged thereafter. Her acting career didn’t pan out, and she’s a photographer now.

  334. 334.

    Amir Khalid

    @SFAW:
    Bruce Springsteen has said that song is inspired by the life of his other sister, Virginia.

  340. 340.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Cacti:

    I once drove all 450-some miserable miles of I-80 through Nebraska in the dead of winter.

    I wish I could forget it.

    I did that one summer. It was no better.

  341. 341.

    Steve in the ATL

    @redshirt:

    Tangentially, is anyone familiar with Sean’s brother Michael Penn? He made one of my favorite 80’s albums, “March”. I’m unaware of anything after.

    He beat out Madonna for the MTV new artist of the year award. Arguably a bad call by MTV.

  344. 344.

    Steve in the ATL

    @redshirt: According to MTV she was. I’ll leave it up to you guys to debate the merits of MTV’s decision to include Penn and Madonna in the same new artist class.

    Anyway, it’s 2:30 am and I’m just back from seeing the Dropkick Murphys who are an excellent live act.

  348. 348.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Omnes Omnibus: They are a blast live, as you apparently know. The Tabernacle is a great venue, too–used to be a church in downtown Atlanta. Last concert I saw there was Flaming Lips. They are a great live act too though I’m not a huge fan of the music. Like you, I prefer the ‘Mats!

    I was with a friend from Queens tonight. He was visibly agitated by the DKM fans wearing Bruins, Celtics, and Red Sox jerseys. Oddly, saw none for the Patriots.

  353. 353.

    Steve in the ATL

    @redshirt: Indeed! And always nice to people old enough to remember this stuff still awake and posting at this hour–especially on a dead thread!

  356. 356.

    PaulW

    @SFAW:

    I once woke up to “Point Blank” playing on the radio. It was an odd type of song to wake up to, still in a haze of dreamtime and so lying there listening to the lyrics and realizing I was losing my girlfriend and then my heart broke and I woke up for real and remembered I never had a girlfriend.

  357. 357.

    Matt McIrvin

    @magurakurin: I’ve been hearing that from other Sanders supporters, that after March 15th the tide is going to turn and Sanders will start racking up huge delegate numbers everywhere. Is it coming from the campaign?

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