The other day I was listening to a political show on the radio, and a guy called into say that, although he was “Cruz guy”, he believed that Trump could beat Hillary because of Hillary’s sordid past, as detailed in a book by Roger Stone.
That’s when it hit me: if Trump is the nominee, it will be five months of Vince Foster, the Mena drug operation, the Clinton body count, and so on. I hope the Hillary campaign wishes a motherfucker would, but they’d best be prepared for a media that says “some say the Clinton personally murdered upwards of 50 people, some say they do not, the truth lies in the middle.”
As crazy as the last eight years of anti-Obama have been, I don’t think it quite touches the insanity of the anti-Clinton stuff in the mid-to -late ’90s, at least within mainstream political discourse. The Republicans never even got around to impeaching Obama the way I thought they would.
It’s all coming back if Trump is the nominee, and maybe to a certain extent regardless of who the GOP nominee is.
debbie
This can’t be news to you.
Elie
It would be like that no matter who the nominee for the Republicans is. That is their shtick. Hopefully, the fact that the Bernistas have held nothing back in that regard, maybe there will be some inoculation of some of that stuff…It also does not address what will be coming back at both those very weird and deficient candidates. They will be easy to set up in some ways…
Dread
To impeach Obama would be to concede that he is a legitimate president, and that would just not be possible for them.
Ann
Agreed: Anti-Clinton years were over the top. However: Anti-Obama era has significantly raised the threat level against the President and his family and has exposed depths of racism in the US that are seemingly bottomless. I want to argue that the “insanity” of the 21st century has fallen to new lows.
scav
going forwards through the inevitable a damn sight more attractive a proposition that ceding any ground whatsoever to the whiners. Because it’s indeed only a change from the old standards and the old standards with cosmetic changes to names.
Matt Rogers
What we really need to be the talking about during the election is (1) our astronauts local national debt and (2) the entitlements crisis and ways to reform them.
We can’t keep kicking the can down the road. Interest on the national debt will soon be our largest government expenditure.
Just something to think about.
dmsilev
It’s not their fault. Have you _seen_ the delivery fees for getting a pizza to the Space Station?
Major Major Major Major
@Matt Rogers: I too worry about our Astronauts’ Local national debt. I mean, their union can’t even keep their books straight, how are they supposed to keep the space station straight?
Trabb's Boy
So looking forward to “bitch” being utterly mainstreamed, with faux horror being reserved for “the C word”. It will all get unfathomably ugly. It will generate violence. It will end marriages. It’s an inevitable consequence of the toppling of the white male proprietorship of the most powerful job on the planet. But firsts only happen once, and we’ll all be better for it afterwords. Hope, anyway.
scav
Speaking of retreads and singing the oldies, the speed bump is back.
MattF
Remember Michael Kelly? Key source of anti-Clinton venom, Villager par excellence— in fact, I think Kelly’s extensive personal and professional connections with DC journalism and his unbridled contempt for the Clintons was the basic source of the ‘Villager’ concept. There’s no one around quite like that now, thankfully. The whole ‘Clinton as evil witch’ meme is now much more obviously partisan.
JustRuss
Maybe to a certain extent? Are you kidding? Admittedly, Cruz will leave most of the Hillary-smearing to surrogates, but it’s not like there’s shortage of them between Fox, hate-radio, the Sunday shows special guests, etc. And once it’s “out there”, well everyone just has to talk about it. Trump would be a bit worst since he’d be happy to launch the smears himself, but either way, get ready for a shitstorm. It’s coming.
BR
@Trabb’s Boy:
It already has happened, btw. So it will be a second not a first… But agreed that this is what we have to look forward to.
dmsilev
@Major Major Major Major: Do space scabs cross a picket wall or picket sphere?
Technocrat
Obama never gave them an opening. As much as I like(d) Bill Clinton, he did lie very publically and under oath.
All of Obama’s “scandals” have been made-up, blatantly partisan chimeras, or situations where there was legal ambiguity either way. This is funny though:
Top 20 Obama Scandals
Matt Rogers
Astronomical national debt. iPhone error.
We can’t keep kicking the can down the road on entitlements and debt.
thruppence
@Matt Rogers: You can’t even write your first sentence correctly. Are we now outsourcing even our trolls to cubicles of ESL drones with Koch scripts?
Major Major Major Major
@dmsilev: You know, I was looking for an idea for a short story set in space. May I?
Frankensteinbeck
I think it’s exactly the opposite. Mainstream discourse of the Clintons was that they were corrupt, Bill was sleazy, and Hillary was frigid. Vince Foster was fringe stuff. Mainstream discourse of Obama is that he wasn’t born in America and deliberately let the Benghazi consulate die. The movement of lunatic speculation to issues that Republican candidates have to address is the increase of crazy during the Obama years.
I will not be surprised if all the shit that was reserved for Rush’s rants becomes sincerely discussed talk show material and campaign messages with Hillary Clinton. The right wing is not going to stop freaking the fuck out that a black man was elected president any time soon, they think a woman is inherently vulnerable and fair game for any attack, and they’ve had decades to ferment their hatred of Hillary herself.
MattF
@Matt Rogers: So, you’re not actually human. Good to know.
Major Major Major Major
Now I want to write a (wingnut | Principled Centrist) Markov bot to posts here.
aimai
@Technocrat: They never put Obama under oath. Its true Bill had a life and a past and some sexy times with women not his wife. But the main difference between Bill and every other president before him (and Obama) is that they managed to sue and bring Bill into a lawsuit so they could investigate his private life and catch him in a perjury trap.
Sly
@Matt Rogers: So I see you got tired of not being taken seriously at LGM, and decided to have a go at not being taken seriously here.
Just something to think about.
Technocrat
@aimai:
True. They certainly maneuvered him into that arena. But that alone would not have been grounds for impeachment.
ETA: Do any of us imagine Obama lying under oath?
JMG
If the Republican strategy is “all we’ve got is to keep whipping the base into a frenzy” they are going to lose decisively. It’s not like new voters or voters capable of switching are going to go “Vince Foster, huh? Yeah, there must be something to that.” It’s old news to those who remember and silly news to those who don’t. Besides, if the nominee is Trump, vigorous personal attacks on Clinton are hardly going to improve his standing with women, already wretched.
Honoré De Ballsack
@thruppence: Are we now outsourcing even our trolls to cubicles of ESL drones with Koch scripts?
Apparently so. What’s sort of weird is that I haven’t seen the “Can Kick Debt Road” rhetorical wording since about 2011…possibly “Matt Rogers” has been a bit lax in updating to the newer codebooks?
Van Buren
I have to believe that if one looks hard enough, one can find a skeleton in Mr. Trump’s closet. Getting the media to care will be the pesky little problem.
Similarly, if one descends into one of the inner circles of Hell, bad stuff about Cruz might be shared by those who know him best.
Betty
i anticipate at least 4 years of unending “scandals.’ The hatred runs deep among the RWNJs for the Clinton family.
Wag
One advantage that Hilary will have is that Clear Channel is deeply in hock and Rush’s audience is a fraction of what it once was. I don’t see any way that CC can reverse its slow motion downfall and nobody on the right seems to apt attention to Rush anymore.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
This was the main reason why I dreaded Clinton being the nominee – all of the old media hacks running their macros from their 90s reporting, and filling in the blanks with new insinuations around emails and Benghazi. But, it is what it is. As it turns out when you really start asking people what she’s supposedly guilty of, no one can cite a law that was broken, or what she was accused of in the Benghazi matter. All the reporting about her being investigated falls apart and has to be walked back. Her speech making was revealed by releasing her tax returns, so that wasn’t even “uncovered” by the media. I think she’ll actually drive Trump crazy, because she’s already stated she’s not getting in the gutter with him, which leaves him sputtering and small looking. She just needs to stick to it.
eemom
Told ya so.
JMG
The political media will always hate Clinton because she and her husband beat them back in 1998 by refusing to roll over and play dead in the Lewinsky deal. The media can deal with the right wing hating them, because that feeds its sense of self-importance. The Clintons revealed that nobody of any political leaning gives a damn what the media thinks, an unforgivable sin.
scav
@Honoré De Ballsack: I’m thinking it’s sort of the K-Tel school of low-budget programming. There are the 60’s bots, the 70’s bots, the 80’s bots and so on. Haven’t seen the one stuck on Ma Ma Where’s my Pa, Gone to the White House HaHaHa but I live in hope.
Lizzy L
No doubt they will try their damnedest to bring it all back, but the question is, will anyone other than their base care? I’m thinking, maybe not. And if the media sees that no one is clicking on stories about Whitewater or Benghazi or whatever, they may decide to talk about other things. Maybe.
gf120581
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: I expect Hillary will deal with Trump much the way she dealt with Gowdy and his stooges on the Benghazi farce.
Technocrat
The problem isn’t so much that the wingers hate the Clintons, it’s that the media hates them. RWNJs have been producing scandals at a steady clip for 8 years – they just never got traction. Benghazi. Fast And Furious. Solyndra. IRS targeting conservative groups, etc. Mainstream media never really covered them seriously.
Would a string of scandals like that get more airplay if Clinton was President? Maybe.
@JMG:
Also, too, this.
Jeffro
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
So incredibly true. You ask wingers about HRC’s various crimes, and by this point even they know that the “emailzz!” and “Benghazee!!” charges don’t hold water. I think the latest is a sputtering “she got paid $28M for speeches!”…oh my, really? That’s all you’ve got? The GOP is about to nominate an uninformed blowhard scam artist who gets paid to slap his name on buildings (half of which he doesn’t even complete!) At least Hillz finishes her speeches, lol
CarolDuhart2
I think one advantage Hillary has is this very fact: the right wing threw up so much stuff that nobody can really keep track of it all, and none of it is NEW. Even Benghazi is four years old, and after that-nothing. And bringing back stuff from the Nineties only reminds people just how old this stuff is-and there’s nothing new to add to them, either.
If you remember it, you stopped caring about it, if you are too young to remember-it’s too boring except for Monica stuff.
trollhattan
Wait, this just occurred to you? Republicans have had the game plan since 1992 and like all Republican innovations it cannot fail, it can only be failed.
They’ll probably find the whitey tape in October.
rikyrah
I disagree with you.
There was a fundamental lack of respect for the Office of the Presidency during the Obama Years that wasn’t there , even during the Clinton Years.
Never forget….Bill gave them rope for impeachment.
What were they gonna impeach Obama for – Being President While Black?
Major Major Major Major
@rikyrah:
That was my guess.
Villago Delenda Est
Roger Stone: Diehard Nixon loyalist.
All you need to know about the vile motherfucker.
rikyrah
The thing is…..
bringing up all the mess from the Clinton years….makes them look crazy….because, if there was anything THERE..then they shoulda been able to put the Clintons in jail over it.
scav
It’s essentially just more of the same with a slightly different dressing depending on which of the unwashed unworthy is currently inhabiting their White House, Their County or Their Jobs. Becoming more entrenched at the congressional (and other governmental levels) because they keep getting away with it and they’re forgetting other gears.
Villago Delenda Est
@Wag: Limbaugh destroyed himself with the entire Sandra Fluke thing. He’s radioactive to advertisers now, and that will not do especially that Clear Channel/iHeartCommunications has been fucked over big time by Bain Capital.
Baud
I look forward to being impeached for Presidenting While Baud!
Cuz they ain’t got nothing else.
sm*t cl*de
@Van Buren:
A single skeleton?! It’s like a Ray Harryhausen movie in there.
Baud
@Villago Delenda Est: Yes. I haven’t his name in a long time.
Matt Rogers
Obama has run up more debt in his administration than all previous presidents combined. What does that say about his place in history, and the future of this country?
Just something to think about.
Tom Q
@JMG: True, except it goes back six years earlier, to when Bill refused to fold when the press went after him over Gennifer Flowers. The fourth estate had every expectation he would sheepishly depart or be roundly defeated, the way Gary Hart was. This defiance of media power set up everything that followed, including Ken Starr and the war on Gore. The idea that Clinton must be punished for not respecting their authority infects them unto this day.
berliner2
@Matt Rogers: Deficits don’t matter, so long as they are Republican deficits.
cleek
i’m sure the country will be very interested in retrying 25 year old non-scandals. very very interested.
Villago Delenda Est
@rikyrah: Jeff Gerth needs to be boiled alive in oil for Whitewater and the Wen Ho Lee things.
Tim C.
@Matt Rogers:
Here… let me help you.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2186rank.html
That’s the ranking of every nation of state entity of public debt as a percentage of GDP. It’s a good, apples to apples comparison of the current debt ratio. Keep in mind the US gets to borrow money at much much lower rates than a lot of countries. You have to scroll down to the US at #39. I get the argument we might want it lower, but in terms of crisis? Outside GOP fever dreams it doesn’t exist.
Now, part two:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2221rank.html
Here’s the grand final number on taxation. Nothing about fairness or distribution, just total percentage taken in taxes out of the GDP Our national unwillingness to tax capital gains, keeping loopholes wide open, and hamstringing the IRS mean you are going to have to scroll down….. keep going…. keep going….. keep going…. yep…. further…. it’s at 173. The US… as a percentage of GDP… has the 173rd highest taxes in the world.
Maybe… maybe…. just maybe…. the “entitlement crisis” is the 129th incarnation of an excuse to cut taxes…again… for the super high income brackets?
MattF
@sm*t cl*de: It’s an ossuary– right below the wine cellar, I assume.
Villago Delenda Est
@Tom Q: Reason for my nym.
Wipe them out. All of them.
Baud
Balloon Juice welcomes the Pete Peterson Foundation to our friendly blog.
Now GTFO.
Uncle Cosmo
@Matt Rogers: Back again, fuckhead?? Time to fire that wood-chipper up…
aimai
@rikyrah: The fundamental lack of respect for Bill Clinton started long before he became President and got hotter and hotter right as he took office. Read The Hunting of the President (Conason and Lyons) for a horrifying description of the years long war against Clinton by the far right wing. Both the Clintons were a trial run for the kind of hatred aimed at Obama and Michelle–right down to accusations that they were (all four) “low class” “trashy” sexually voracious or anomalous, lesbian, big spenders, marie antoinette, know it alls, with trashy/crooked friends etc…etc…etc…The right wing smears began with accusations that the Clintons didn’t know how to treat the White House staff/murdered their friend Foster and ended with accusations by the incoming Bush team that Clinton’s staff had “stolen all the W keys” and “trashed” the White House.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: You forgot “Just something to think about.”
Does Baud! hate thinking about things?
Would President Baud! ban giving us things to think about?? He’s given us things to think about before!!
#whichbaud #thinkgate
MattF
@Uncle Cosmo: I think you’re arguing with a bot. Don’t bother.
dslak
@Baud: Your post did not end the way that all serious posts do:
“Just something to think about.”
CarolDuhart2
I read somewhere about the ways in which Barack and Michelle learned from the Clinton’s example.. First early in thier cmpaign they adoped a “no new friends” policy. The Obamas hve stuck on that policy. Only old friends for their earlier lives socialize with them. If I reccall correctly, the day of the Osama raid, Obama went for a round of golf with some old friends from Chicago..And oh by the way, the Villagers and some politicians hated this-but Obama didn’t do the DC party circuit, or hold many events for the crowd, preferring to spend time with his kids. The result was has been there have been no real openings they could exploit.
Villago Delenda Est
@Technocrat: I don’t imagine Obama being as stupid as Clinton was, getting himself into a situation where he might try to lie under oath. It was obscene what Starr’s staff was asking Clinton, but it was the only thing they had to try to maneuver him into a perjury trap. Remember that Starr was going to just end the entire investigation, but he was compelled to find SOMETHING, ANYTHING to get Clinton under oath about SOMETHING, ANYTHING.
They managed to do it, and Clinton still survived their effort. Contrast with Richard Nixon, who wasn’t impeached because it was obvious he would be, and would be convicted and removed from office.
joel hanes
As crazy as the last eight years of anti-Obama have been, I don’t think it quite touches the insanity of the anti-Clinton stuff in the mid-to -late ’90s
I think that in a decade or so, we’ll have access to the Secret Service records, and we’ll discover that the hatred of the Clintons was and will be “professional” and political, while the hatred of Obama has been more personal and dangerous. I predict that the data will show that Obama has received at least 2X as many credible threats of violence to his person and family as was received by either Clinton in any comparable period.
I have been shocked and apalled by the depth of the personal hatred that about 27% of the nation appears to hold for the current President.
dslak
@MattF: Yeah, the kind of folks who really spend time worrying about the long-term deficit don’t read Balloon Juice on a Sunday afternoon.
raven
@joel hanes: So you were asleep before Obama was elected?
Villago Delenda Est
@Matt Rogers: Um, no. Try your hero the deserting fucking coward, who put his entire war of aggression “off budget” so it wouldn’t appear so bad. Obama said fuck that noise and put it back on the books where everyone could see it.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
@dslak:
JSTTA as you GTFO.
Better?
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: Baud! has a whip-smart and lightning-fast Web 2.0 team!
Villago Delenda Est
@Matt Rogers:
Nope. Can’t.
Confiscate all trust funds, all inheritances, now. Inheritances are very much an entitlement. Confiscate them.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@joel hanes:
Yeah, I don’t like to think I’m naive, but I was raised by kind parents and we never heard racist comments growing up. The way that racists just dropped the masks when Obama was elected was next level wake up time for me. I know Clinton was hated, but I always felt that it was more ideological. The hate for Obama is visceral – beyond all reason, as racism is.
Technocrat
I’ll tell you though, as much as I cringe at the upcoming election, I look forward to seeing Obama on the stump. After the ass-whupping he gave Trump at the Correspondent’s Dinner, I think he has The Donald’s number. Sad!
dmsilev
@Major Major Major Major:
By all means, of course.
(sorry for late reply)
Steeplejack (phone)
@sm*t cl*de:
LOL funny.
rikyrah
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
yep
scav
@Villago Delenda Est: Any monies stored outside the US are not fully contributing to the ‘merikan economy and are unpatriotic to boot. If not signs of fraud and possibly contributing the the economies of our enemies directly or indirectly. Impound them especially and plough them back into the economy. Flat Tax? 100% of anything not deposited locally belongs to the government. It’s not as though they made any objections to civil asset forfeiture at the local level when it benefitted cops.
gogol's wife
@sm*t cl*de:
Laughing out loud here.
CarolDuhart2
@Villago Delenda Est: And his audience is 20 years older and 20 years smaller.
Those were the days when the conventional press and the AM talkers had all of the power to move millions. Now? the audience is scattered, fragmented, and less powerful than they once were. Once they could drive Congress to impeach. Now they couldn’t even prevent Obama from winning and serving two terms.
Also, let’s not forget that Congress abolished the Special Prosecutor position to protect Baby Bush from investigation. And the Dems also took back Congress for a crucial 2 years, and held the Senate for six. There has been no path that the Dems couldn’t block, and now there’s no time left and even less interest.
Redshift
@Tim C.: Yep. Any deficit-obsessives who want to start by acknowledging that the primary cause is Republicans cutting taxes, then we can talk. Otherwise, they’re just patsies (or willing supporters) of the conservative long game to hamstring government and any Democratic initiatives.
John
@Matt Rogers:you know, I thought about it. And then I realized that you were wrong. And just add an aside, what is the consequence of a higher national debt? Inflation? Higher interest rates? Please explain, in detail.
rikyrah
Watching my DVR of the C-Span re-cap of the President’s speeches at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner.
Last year with Luther – the Anger Translator – BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA H AH HA HA
The Sheriff Endorses Baud 2016
@Matt Rogers: I see Peggy from Prime Credit found a new job.
dmsilev
@Matt Rogers:
We should have run up more debt. Interest rates at historic lows, and it was a golden opportunity to rebuild and upgrade our national infrastructure.
raven
@Matt Rogers: It says you are a dumb fuck.
trollhattan
@Matt Rogers:
Holy crap, I just realized RtR has been downsized to writing bumper stickers. These are so long they’ll only fit on the back of BRINKS TRUCKS but you keep working on it, li’l fella. Pro tip: one topic, max four words per, three is better.
trollhattan
@dmsilev:
Doesn’t Krugthulu say the stimulus was too small by about two-thirds? I’m not actually curious about what our new-old friend has to say about Bush the Lesser obliterating our budget surplus, but before there was 9-11 that was his sole accomplishment.
Brachiator
It’s funny. The GOP keeps wringing their hands over whether Trump is the right guy to represent their party, but I’m sure they are wetting their pants over the idea that The Donald will go Full Trump over Hillary.
As a bonus, the GOP has learned that Trump is immune to any negative push back. Ironically, we are talking about Bill Clinton level immunity. Trump’s base just don’t care.
So, yeah, the November campaign could unleash all kinds of nastiness. And while the GOP may pretend to be a reluctant bride, in Trump they have found the perfect mate.
trollhattan
@Brachiator:
When the viable alternative is Cruz, how can the campaign be any less vile? Trump at least can conceptualize schmoozing, it gets him things and wives, but Cruz is like a fixie bicycle, the only available speed “run over the poor” and there are no brakes.
Mnemosyne
@CarolDuhart2:
That makes total sense. I think the press would have loved to be as nutso about the Obamas as they were about the Clintons, but the Obamas were too smart to give them any openings. So, bad as it has been, it would have been even worse if the Obamas had not been as intelligent and disciplined as they are.
rikyrah
Once again, I will point out that our Elders are STILL being punished for Jim Crow.
……………………..
Obama’s dance partner is persona non grata in D.C. government
By Courtland Milloy
April 23 at 5:10 PM
Virginia McLaurin, who recently turned 107, was still basking in the glow of her dance with President Obama in February. A White House video of the meeting has been viewed nearly 66 million times. The attention has resulted in invitations to New York and Los Angeles for media interviews.
To board an airplane, however, McLaurin needs to replace a long-lost government-issued photo ID.
To get a D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles non-drivers’ photo ID, she needs a birth certificate from South Carolina, where she was born. To get the birth certificate, she needs the photo ID. A classic bureaucratic Catch-22.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get that face card,” McLaurin told me during a recent visit to her apartment in Northwest Washington. “I was birthed by a midwife and the birthday put in a Bible somewhere. I don’t know if they even had birth certificates back then.”
………………………………………….
But roughly 30 states have adopted an array of restrictive voter ID laws, and elderly citizens who live in those states seemed particularly at risk of having their rights denied.
“I’d pray long and hard to my God if they ever tried to do something like that to me,” McLaurin said, her voice rising in righteous indignation. So much for my notion of the bright side.
In Asheville, N.C., a state DMV office denied 86-year-old Reba Miller Bowser a photo ID in February even though she had a birth certificate, Social Security card, a Medicare card, cable bill and apartment lease.
The reason given: Bowser needed a document that showed she had legally changed her maiden name to her married name.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Brachiator:
I think Bernie’s “unqualified” remark turned woke women away from him in a measurable way – so, yeah, Trump’s sexist attacks on Hillary should work out just great.
raven
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Turned work women. . .it has a nice sound.
oldgold
You want crazy? Here is some:
“Republican presidential candidate John Kasich said Sunday his campaign is looking at potential running mates for if he secures the nomination.”
rikyrah
@CarolDuhart2:
I think it has as much to do with the Obamas living their lives by the code of Black Professional Sensibilities.
Do your job. Do it to the best of your abilities. But, work is work.
And personal is personal.
And neither should mix.
But, the Obamas sticking to it has upset the Village intensely. Because the Obamas didn’t let those vipers near their inner circle. So, they couldn’t tell all the Obama’s business.
trollhattan
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Oh yes, literal centuries of pent-up anger and frustration are there for the harvesting by the lucky Republican candidate. Whoever it is, he won’t be able to help himself. Pretty sure only Trump will proclaim, “The women LOVE me!”
Major Major Major Major
@rikyrah: Heartbreaking!
trollhattan
@oldgold:
I fear for Ohio when he returns, pissed, with nothing else to do but governating.
Brachiator
@Villago Delenda Est:
People may not even realize how irrelevant Rush has become. Los Angeles is one of the biggest and most important talk radio markets in the US. But years ago Limbaugh was bumped from the main English language station, KFI, to a smaller sister station further down the radio dial. KFI hosts never mention Rush, nor do they run any promos or bumpers for his show.
As the old Soviets might say, he is officially a non-person.
Rush may still show up on some Facebook pages, but I don’t think he makes a splash on social media anymore.
trollhattan
@Brachiator:
Lost track, who’s ahead in the wife count between Rush and Donald?
raven
woke
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@trollhattan:
The first black president followed by the first woman president – 12 consecutive years of white men not being the boss of us? That’s some revolutionary shit right there. Batten down the hatches!
James E Powell
@Villago Delenda Est:
Jeff Gerth needs to be boiled alive in oil for Whitewater and the Wen Ho Lee things.
Agreed. And I am in no way suggesting that he not be held accountable, but we really need to look first and foremost at his editors and publisher. It was they who had the ax to grind, they who continued to create the illusion of scandal long after investigators found nothing at all.
And – as Mr Somerby always reminds us – these pitchforks & torches came from the “liberal” NYTimes and “mainstream” WaPo. I’m expecting those two to go full anti-Hillary any day now.
Iowa Old Lady
It’s interesting how a person goes along, seeming to shed all the criticisms we might make, and then something crystalizes how horrible they are in the general public’s mind: Fluke for Limbaugh, Katrina for W, 47% for Mitt.
Eric U.
if we want to reduce the debt, which seems like a decent enough idea, the people with money are going to have to pay more taxes. Let’s start with corporations and work our way up to the executive suite
MattF
@Iowa Old Lady: At least Mitt met his fate before the election. W, on the other hand held on that frat-boy image and got through the election. With some help from the Supreme Court.
Brachiator
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
So far, Trump has been slamming Hillary as being crooked and untrustworthy. This excites the GOP base and maybe some other voters.
He can work this angle hard before he gets to anything sexist.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Iowa Old Lady:
Katrina explained the Iraq clusterfuck. McCain and his “suspended” campaign, then showing up on Letterman. Palin and her “all of them, Katie”, and Tina Fey’s evisceration. Things that could never be anticipated, but provide a tell that the narrative settles around – those little things that turned into moments that saved the Republic.
CarolDuhart2
@rikyrah: So true. And sticking to it has helped him in other ways, too. He’s had time to do his work. He’s had time to really relax. His kids know him as a father-he’s used the time to go to school events and get to know their friends, help them with their homework and have family dinners. The result is that his kids are at least (publicly) well-behaved and will grow up to be assets to their community like him as well. During a time where there is so much that can go wrong, the girls are doing fine.
Brachiator
@trollhattan:
No idea. I’ve never had any interest in Rush’s personal life. I just assumed that he was a loathsome worm away from the microphone.
A loathsome worm on the air, too, now that I think about it.
Redshift
@Mnemosyne: True, but it still infuriates me that Democratic presidents have to be perfect to avoid having their administration completely undermined by ratfvckers, but Republican presidents can be objectively awful in both personal and official behavior, and just laugh off any criticism.
chopper
@Matt Rogers:
shut up, Doug.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Brachiator:
He’ll get away with it, until he has to make a stand on policy – like on Planned Parenthood, or Social Security or health care. He’s an out of control clown car careening down the highway at 100 mph, and he’s going to hit something big. Remember, he’s got a convention to maneuver through without beclowning himself and everyone associated with him. Hillary has Obama and will have Warren and a lot of other surrogates who will help take him on. Who does Trump have?
JGabriel
DougJ@ Top:
If Clinton came out in the general campaign and said, “Yeah, I shot 25 people to death, but they were all Republicans and they all fucking deserved it,” l’d still vote for her.
Probably with even more enthusiasm.
JGabriel
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Not Charles Koch.
Bob In Portland
Not all right-wingers are unhappy with Hillary.
Mike J
@JGabriel:
ThresherK (GPad)
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: “Beclowning”? Is that the ceremony where he kneels and some taps him on each shoulder with a balloon-sculpture sword?
Mnemosyne
@Mike J:
Yep. You don’t have to accept an endorsement if you don’t want it.
lollipopguild
@JGabriel: At this point she should start saying things like that. Once the general election starts she should politely take trump or cruz apart then rinse and repeat.
Major Major Major Major
testing 1234 (sorry)
WaterGirl
@aimai: What they have done with President Obama is totally and fundamentally different from their treatment of Bill Clinton.
They have treated President Obama and his presidency as if the man and the office were completely illegitimate. Total disrespect from day 1.
That is a far cry from what they did with Bill Clinton. And I say that as someone who acknowledges that their actions with regard to Bill Clinton were a travesty for this country. But it doesn’t even begin to rise to the level of disrespect shown to Barack Obama. They have accused him of treason, for god’s sake.
Mnemosyne
@Bob In Portland: u
But when all is said and all is done
Clinton has beliefs
Trump has none
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Bob In Portland:
The Kochs contributed to Super PACs that supported Sanders – their preferred candidate to run against. Any Republican could beat Bernie, once the economic assumptions and disruptions behind his socialist proposals are vetted and the taxes it would require to implement them are demagogued. Trump would get under Sanders’ skin in ways that even a jigger couldn’t.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: Oh my gosh, is that going to play again on C-SPAN? I would record that in a heartbeat. On Luther and a million other things: Barack Obama has some serious stones. One of the many reasons I am crazy about him.
CarolDuhart2
@oldgold: He really has gone around the bend, hasn’t he? Only won one state and a handflul of delegates, and he thinks he’s going to win? All of it? What is he thinking? Personally, I think nominating anyone but Cruz or Trump is going to be a party fail. First of all, both Cruz and Trump will feel cheated, and will feel no compunctions in saying so especially about someone who they beat so badly.
Secondly, try really generating enthusiasm from the very people who had the opportunity to vote for you and passed, even the people who sat out the primaries did so for pretty good reasons. Combine them with the red-hot hatred of the passed-over two, and it looks like winning the Captaincy of a ship that’s on it’s final voyage, being towed to the ship graveyard.
He’s also the most uncharismatic candidate ever and least tactful-both traits are deadly to voters who are getting to know you. If getting to know you is getting to think you are a jerk, then there’s not chance you can win cross-over votes.
Hillary could sleep in until mid-October on this one.
Brachiator
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
A local talk radio host recently said something that nails Trump’s appeal. He said that with Trump, his supporters hear the music, not the lyrics. They don’t care whether he knows the details of foreign or domestic policy.
What they hear, or think they hear, is someone who listens to them, who hears them and who understands them. And he keeps it simple. Bernie talks about political transformation. Hillary wonks out and talks about how hard she will work. Trump says I’m gonna get your jobs back, build a wall and kick Muslim ass.
Simplistic. Racist. Effective.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: Reading about that, all I’ve got is swear words and tears in my eyes. At the same time. What they are doing is so very wrong.
joel hanes
@raven:
So you were asleep before Obama was elected?
I don’t think so; I’ve been pretty engaged with the Dems since RFK, and I think I was paying attention during the Clinton years (our national nightmare of peace and prosperity). The names Richard Scaiffe Mellon and Lucienne Goldberg are still evocative, and I know about The Arkansas Project and its backers.
I think there’s a big difference between “They trashed the place, and it’s not their town” and “Die, nigger, and your nigger wife too” death threats, and I suspect that Obama has received many of the latter, but has not himself stooped to notice them. I also suspect that the Secret Service keeps track of such things.
In the comment to which you’re responding, I propose that we look at a specific data set ten years hence to find out if my claim is supported or falsified.
srv
I didn’t know that Doug was Capt. Obvious too.
WaterGirl
@Brachiator:
I am having a flashback to Ronald Reagan. I thought the country was too smart for that the first time they elected Reagan, and I thought for sure they would be too smart the second time around. So I just don’t have the confidence that many seem to have – that Trump can’t get elected.
Gimlet
This is what they are setting up.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2016/04/22/grassley-fbi-could-leak-clinton-email-investigation/83385362/
Grassley, Iowa’s senior senator and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said an anonymous and unauthorized release of FBI investigative materials could result if officials at the agency believed prosecution of Clinton was stymied for political reasons.
“Is there going to be political interference? If there’s enough evidence to prosecute, will there be political interference?” Grassley wondered aloud during a breakfast meeting with the Des Moines A.M. Rotary club on Friday. “And if there’s political interference, then I assume that somebody in the FBI is going to leak these reports and it’s either going to have an effect politically or it’s going to lead to prosecution if there’s enough evidence.”
D58826
@JGabriel: Heck I’d chip in to buy her a rife with a larger magazine!!!!!!!!!!!:-)
AkaDad
The times have changed much
Lamestream media sucks ass
Hillary got this
Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap
@Gimlet: They might even be able to pull if off, who knows? But, “Bernie, I’ll raise your taxes thousands of dollars” doesn’t stand a chance in the general.
joel hanes
@joel hanes:
It’s Lucianne, not Lucienne, amd Richard Mellon Scaife, so apparently I wasn’t paying perfect attention.
Or my neurons are damaged. I’m guessing it’s the neurons.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
IIRC, the statistic I saw in 2012 was that Romney got the same percentage of the white vote that Reagan did, but he still lost the election. The demographics of our country have changed enough in the past 30 years that it’s basically impossible to win the presidency without a sizable chunk of the minority vote, and Trump has virtually no chance at that.
Turnout is going to make the difference. If we can get our side to turn out in droves, we can crush Trump like a bug.
Uncle Cosmo
@MattF:What, me argue? I’m just getting some practice in the art of inveigling a drive-by poseur into a self-guided tour of the inner workings of a wood chipper. Good practice when a real waste of organic chemicals pokes its snout in, ¿verdad?
lollipopguild
@WaterGirl: Lots of people are paying attention this time around. People like trump because he says all of the hateful racist things out loud in public. A lot of the white racist rear ends feel that they are the real victims in this country and the trumpman is going to get even with reality for them. I cannot imagine trump becoming prez because i think the country would come apart at the seams-literally.
Applejinx
@Eric U.: Decent enough idea? I dunno.
If you owe the bank a hundred dollars, it’s your problem.
If you owe the bank a trillion dollars, it’s the bank’s problem.
If you’re the reserve currency of the world and ‘owe’ the ‘world’ a hundred trillion dollars, nobody dares fuck with you lest the economy of the entire world collapse.
I think go right on printing money, thank you. It’s strategically useful. What are we supposed to do, austerity? Everyone who has done that has seen their GDP collapse and owes more as a percentage of GDP than they did before.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Tim C.: Nice links.
There’s a bunch of good graphs at FRED too. Federal Outlays: Interest as Percent of Gross Domestic Product – 1.24% in 2015. As low as it was in the mid-60s. Funny how the peak was at the end of the glorious Reagan-Bush years, huh. :-/
I wish people like “Matt” would stop and think deeply about the following simple proposition:
The problems in the United States are not due to the poor and middle classes having too much money.
Yes? No?
Cheers,
Scott.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@WaterGirl:
Reagan had a sunny disposition and was a governor of a state larger than some countries. He dog whistled his racism with a smile (nudge nudge wink wink) played the political game, and you could picture him as president. Trump’s literally a racist orange clown who has nothing to offer anyone not a hateful racist orc. I like our chances with Hillary, especially with Obama stumping for her, and his legacy.
Like I’ve said before, it’s going to come down to “Daddy’s scary, I want Mommy!”
Uncle Cosmo
@WaterGirl:
H. L. Mencken, 1926. (Emphasis added.)
(The first sentence is often paraphrased as “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.” (The Yale Book of Quotations, 2006, p. 512)
Matt McIrvin
@Mnemosyne:
He got more of the white vote than Reagan got in 1980, less than in 1984. He might have been able to barely pull it off if he’d matched Reagan’s white vote in ’84.
Redshift
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
I don’t think it’s either/or. I think they have the same ideological hatred for Obama that they did for Clinton (socialist! Bill Ayers!), and the racist hate is layered on top. And it’s all on a foundation of believing that any Democratic president is fundamentally illegitimate, no matter how many of the rabble voted for him/her.
Tom Q
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Not to mention Carter had the worst re-election environment of any incumbent president this side of Herbert Hoover — high inflation, recession in the campaign period, an ongoing foreign policy humiliation, and a drawn-out, vituperative intra-party challenge that went to the convention.
That last is the only thing in any way possible this year (and it’s not likely): the clearly improved economy, foreign policy successes with Cuba and Iran, and the party uniting behind Hillary make this a likely Democratic year whoever the opposition is. Trump’s odiousness to so many is just a bonus to stretch the margin.
D58826
@Gimlet:
Leaking that information isn’t that some kind of a crime. And isn’t it some kind of a crime for aUS Senator to be suggesting it?
On the other hand Grassley has probably performed a public serviced here. Just like Congresscritter McCarthy removed all doubt as to the intention of the Benghazi committee, Grassley has made it plain that any leak will be politically motivated. The information will be edited just like the planned parenthood tapes.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Tom Q:
I think Obama’s support is really the X factor. No one has Trump’s number like that guy does. Obama has more investment in not having Trump follow him in the WH, than Hillary does in winning. No Fucks Left To Give Obama is the best Obama.
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne: Here’s the numbers:
Romney got 59 percent of the white vote in 2012.
Trump is probably at a huge disadvantage. However,I keep saying, and the stat sites are coming around, that the white vote ain’t a monolith. Gender may play a large factor as well. And if young voters do not come out for Hillary the way that they came out for Obama, then things could be closer than many expect.
I also don’t know whether Trump could do for the nation what Governor Arnold did for California and pull off an electoral surprise.
All the smart money insisted that Arnold was a clown, that he had no chance, that the experienced politicians would chew him up and spit him back to Hollywood. Didn’t quite work out that way.
Bob In Portland
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Well then I guess everything is swell.
SRW1
Please, please, tell me you don’t mean that we’re going to have to look at that sanctimonious Backpfeifengesicht Ken Starr 24/7 again!!
trollhattan
@Bob In Portland:
Only some things are swollen.
Brachiator
@efgoldman:
I thought Trump did well in at least one other state besides New York. In any event, you can’t make strong correlations between primary and general elections.
I can understand that people feel good about Hillary and it is even reasonable to feel that way. But I also think that a lot of people here fail to give sufficient weight to the sense of voter discontent that Trump, and even Sanders, has tapped into.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Brachiator: But isn’t it true that Arnold won mostly because of the recall of Gray Davis? It was a combination recall/who-would-replace him election that Arnold won (the first time). If there were some huge Democratic scandal now, or if Barack had 20% approval, then agreed Trump would have an easier time. Now, though, …
Cheers,
Scott.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Tom Q:
Remember when “black Jimmy Carter” became a tag here? I think it was before the ACA passed – after Kennedy died and Scott Brown replaced him, and we were all doomed – doomed! for thinking a Democrat could ever pass another landmark piece of legislation.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Bob In Portland:
Glad to hear it! Now you can go back to wherever sea lions go when they’re done sea lioning.
Matt McIrvin
@Brachiator: Non-whites and Hispanics are gonna turn out against Trump, with any reasonable amount of effort from Hillary and maybe even without it.
Non-Hispanic whites might not turn out. But Trump needs to win with essentially no non-white votes, and for that, he’s actually going to need Reagan ’84 numbers or better with the whites who do vote. I think the threshold is actually higher; I recall calculating it as something like 67%, and it’s higher if white turnout is lower.
It’s not outside the realm of imagination (some kind of crisis or scandal might do it), but it’s a tall order. Reagan himself couldn’t have managed that in 1980, when he wasn’t the incumbent. His win in ’80 was such a blowout because Anderson was also taking votes from Carter (though Reagan did end up with a popular-vote majority regardless).
Elie
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
You are right but in my opinion, what would drive down Trump’s numbers are not direct attacks or calling him names. Its putting him in a position where he looks weak, IS weak and can’t do anything but take it. In fact, it is best to let him over react to something that he can’t do anything about and looks like he is a fool. The WH correspondent’s dinner just blew him up because he had to take it and couldn’t really do much about it. So he got(to his mind), humiliated in a very public forum and none of it he could do anything about… and after trying to minimize the President with the whole birth certificate hoo ha. And then to make it EVEN worse, the President whipped his ass on a night that he was taking major risk, was totally vulnerable, with the Osama Bin Laden capture. Looks like Obama was “settling all the scores” that night — ala the spirit of the Godfather….
Trump will always be vulnerable to being made to feel helpless or unimportant…
Brachiator
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
I think that you fundamentally misread voter sentiment here, even among Democrats, but certainly among Republicans and independents.
On the other hand, I think you absolutely nail it when you note that Obama is going to go after Trump hard.
But the November election could still bring surprises. I looked forward to seeing Bill Clinton out campaigning hard for Hillary, but he is looking frail and has made some odd gaffes. They may have to bench him.
D58826
@efgoldman:
Yes that immunity is in the Constitution.
I guess we just have another Clinton impeachment to look forward to. I’m sooooooooooooooooooo glad that we are represented by such patriots Grassley, Cruz, McCarthy, Goudy, etc.
Matt McIrvin
@D58826: Which all comes back to wishing a motherfucker would.
trollhattan
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
I forget how many candidates on the ballot–dozens, including the pron star (hur-hur!). The vote was two-step: 1. Recall Gov Davis yes/no 2. In case Davis is recalled, vote for one candidate for governor.
In retrospect it’s easy to see how Arnold happened and that doesn’t let the Dems off the hook for mishandling the petition drive and election. They certainly did not rally behind Davis. The recall and Prop 8 are the last big tricks Republicans pulled on California. I hope to hell their trickbag is still empty, but they’re nibbling away at U.S. House seats same as in the rest of the country. Sac County’s gun-humping sheriff is attracting a huge war chest to snag Ami Bera’s seat. Watch this space.
Elie
We also have to remember that Trump or Cruz will have to work with whatever bad taste their convention leaves in everyone’s mouths as they battle it out. Trump is not being advised by professionals and would not listen to anyone with any sense anyway. He is his own boss and as much as he has had it his way till now, that won’t last and he will find himself way way way above his capabilities. His complex and unsavory relationships with white supremacists as well as any relationship dirt will swirl around him like an unflushed toilet after food poisoing. He truly has no idea. Cruz is a very brittle man and candidate. I don’t see him being able to do much beyond his core constituency with the conservative Christianists.
Noskilz
I’d expect that the GOP candidate – whether Trump or Cruz – will be relying heavily on as much bullshit as possible, packed into as many media channels as possible, 24-7 until the actual election results are announced because they simply have nothing else left – but still have a crippled monster to sell.
Whether the Democratic candidate is Hillary or Sanders won’t really matter very much except in the particular details of the nonsensical attacks. With Hillary they already have a cottage industry in place, but that stuff is so old few who don’t actively want to believe it are likely to. With Sanders I’d expect them to dust off their red-scare material, but how far is that likely to get with anyone outside of the Red Dawn set? However, I’m sure they’ll try to punch things up with whatever random accusations they think they can get away with. All we can be sure of is that there is a tiresome, fugly campaign season ahead.
Elie
@Brachiator:
Bill is easily provoked these days and needs to be minded. I wish that were not true, but she could spend more time fixin’ his eff ups than it is worth. Ditto after the election and during the her administration. He will have to opine on everything he is asked and the media will ask often.
Matt McIrvin
@Brachiator: In some of the previous years that Hillary Clinton might have become President, there was always some fraction of people who thought that she was just a stalking horse for a third Bill Clinton term.
I don’t think anyone’s thinking that now. You can’t hear Bill Clinton talk today and really think he wants to be de facto President again. He’s off in the clouds somewhere.
A Ghost To Most
@Bob In Portland:
Something to think about.
Brachiator
@Matt McIrvin:
True. And the Latino vote may be very important in Arizona, Illinois and a couple of other states, but not so much in California, which is a lock for the Democrats anyway.
Despite some lazy analysis, the fact is that more white women voted for Obama than did white men in almost every state. I keep hearing that Hillary is disliked by many white women, but is that really true and does it take Trump hate into account? I read that white men really hate Hillary, but I also heard crap that no white people would ever vote for Obama, which was nonsense.
But gender may be a factor, and Hillary must recapture younger voters. Right now there are too many variables in play for me to pay any attention to early speculation. I like the Democrats chances, but it is not a stone cold lock.
debbie
@efgoldman:
For me, the best part of the primary were the local results. We booted three Blue Dogs out of city and country jobs. At long last!
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Elie:
Bill’s role should be FGOTUS – First Grandfather of the United States. With Chelsea’s second child due, it would be a great look for him, and relieve him of any real duties other than stand behind Hillz when appropriate, and next to her when appropriate.
Brachiator
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
This was the initial factor. And Congressman Darrell Issa, who was behind the recall, thought that he could exploit it to his benefit. Then Arnold came out of nowhere.
But the major point here is that Arnold’s and Trump’s celebrity are confounding factors which neither politicians nor pundits seem to be able to grasp. I don’t think that Trump has got it made. I just don’t think he should be underestimated.
sacrablue
@trollhattan: Have the local dems decided whether they will support Bera, yet? Last I heard they weren’t planning to.
Tripod
They can flog Benghazi and whatever, but re-fighting 1994 is a terrible idea for the GOP. The numbers in the electorate that remember that shit is receding to the horizon ( sorry Xers, yer gettin’ old).
The backwards looking political stuff (glory of St. Reagan, retro-FDR Democrats), sells for shit outside of the hardcore fanbase.
Elie
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Yep — I agree. He really needs to fade back a bit even during the campaign. Besides not being effective, I also imagine its pretty stressful for him…
Van Buren
@sm*t cl*de: One is all the media can handle at a time.
trollhattan
@sacrablue:
Some kerfuffle with union backing was a problem last I read, but I’m not current. Just that Jones is a horrorshow who would totally buddy up with McClintock to nobody’s benefit, so hopefully Bera and the state party can right the ship. Thank goodness for Doris Matsui.
sacrablue
@trollhattan: Good old do nothing Doris. I’m just about ready to unsubscribe to Bera. I volunteered the first two times he ran, but the last time they only called me once to do any work. I actually like his wife way more than him, but hey, she has a job and a kiddo to raise.
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
@Tripod:
I’m an older Xer, and I’m only 47. We’re not receding any time soon.
I’m perfectly happy to be outnumbered by younger voters who don’t care about the 90s, but they need to actually vote.
It may be true that re-fighting 1994 is pointless, though. At least, I hope so. I think people my age have made up our minds; I’m just worried about younger voters who might hear the old accusations for the first time and suspect there might be something to them.
Applejinx
@efgoldman: That was my big worry over Sanders. He’s not going to lie, and there is pretty much no room to ‘keep cutting taxes for everyone forever’, and we gotta buy ourselves more of a working government: you get what you pay for.
I absolutely know a bunch of dumb people (even here!) cannot handle the word ‘tax’ much less ‘tax more’, so that was going to be a serious problem. I’m actually happier having Hillary lie about it and win, because I’m concerned Bernie would’ve told the truth and that America can’t handle it.
We’re a nation of toddlers, sometimes. People wouldn’t mind getting taxed nearly so much if GE also was paying taxes, if Warren Buffet etc. weren’t paying an even lower rate than they are. But somehow we have to pretend we’re going to cut taxes for everybody forever and still have things paid for. Not a good environment for a cranky old guy who says he’s going to raise taxes, but he could keep hammering on that and let Hillary pretend she will cut them?
Meanwhile the Republicans will promise to disband the IRS, and send all the government home. Except them, I guess. They get a pay raise, for leadership.
I wish America WASN’T a nation of toddlers, sometimes ;P
Applejinx
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA: I’m an older Xer at 47 too, and it depends on if you’re rich (or just optimistic?)
Phife Dawg was a year younger than us. Let that sink in. (of course, his health was bad and he was broke because of healthcare costs)
rikyrah
GOP Clerk Who Wiped Thousands Off NY Voter Rolls Suspended Without Pay
By Karoli Kuns
4/24/16 7:00am
It looks like some chickens are coming home to roost in the mysterious case of the purged voter registrations in New York.
Republican clerk Diane Haslett-Rudiano has been suspended without pay “pending an internal investigation into the administration of the voter rolls in the Borough of Brooklyn,” according to Telesur TV.
The board may fire her as soon as Tuesday, and the New York Daily News reported that colleagues said she is being “forced out.”
“Why is it alleged that 125,000 people have been removed from the voter rolls? Why did 60,000 people receive notices to vote that didn’t have the primary date? Why were people told they were in the wrong polling place time and time again?” New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer told CBS 2. “The next president of the United States could very easily be decided tonight and yet the incompetence of the Board of Elections puts a cloud over these results.”
The New York Attorney General said he received over 1,000 voter complaints, compared to 150 complaints in 2012. Haslett-Rudiano is thought to have skipped a step in a regular protocol of updating the voter list with deaths and changes of address.
The error resulted in nearly 8 percent of Brooklyn’s registered voters being denied their ballot.
The Sheriff Endorses Baud 2016
@Brachiator: Schwarznegger won with a whopping 48% of the vote as the rare ‘sane moderate conservative’ in a field that made the Republican clown car look well-controlled. Trump’s unfavorables already have him blacklisted from any ‘sane moderate conservative’ lists outside of Village green rooms.
eemom
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Lolz. Whatever “role” he ends up with, it’s gonna be hilarious to watch.
Back in ’08 there was a comic that showed him sitting with a bunch of foreign “first ladies” at some WH state dinner, and one of them asking politely “And what do YOU do?”
rikyrah
LUVVIE has weighed in on Lemonade
……………….
Beyoncé’s LEMONADE is Sweet Tea
Awesomely Luvvie — April 24, 2016
This is a far cry from “Crazy in Love” Bonnie and Clyde Beyoncé. Hell, it’s a ways away from the FLAWLESS Beyoncé. She had a growth spurt. You know when your kid goes to summer camp in June and when they return in August, you barely recognize them? Yes. Bey. And LEMONADE is proof of this growth.
Beyoncé takes us through the stages of life, love, heartbreak and healing (and more) in LEMONADE.
………………………………..
I also enjoy how she LEMONADE ends, with displays of love in all forms. Black love, love amongst people of different colors, queer love, straight love and HER love. She shows her mom, Tina Knowles Lawson and her husband Richard Lawson. She shows home footage of her, Jay-Z and Blue, looking as cute as they can. We see video of her and him getting their IV tattoo on their ring fingers. Because things that fall apart can still come together again. At the end of all of this, she is still Beyoncé Knowles Carter, so “Ashes to ashes, dust to side chicks.”
LEMONADE is Beyoncé’s tea and it’s the perfect type of sour that ends sweet. Redemption came and it’s made me appreciate her so much more.
…………………………………….
P.P.P.P.S. White journalists or writers who are about to whine about LEMONADE, please stop right there. Put the pens down because NO ONE CURR
shomi
Haha….you ball juice bloggers with your little mental masturbation pieces are hilarious. Oh noezzz. The zombie Clinton lies are coming back. Like they even worked that well 15 friggin years ago other than give the new frontier Cable news something to talk about 24/7. Oh no but we should fear the zombie lies.
Meanwhile Trump will “pivot left” (TM Wrong way Cole) and we must fear that too. Because what did Trump ever do that we could attack him on. Other than declare bankruptcy multiple times, suggest all latin immigrants are rapists and criminals, and muse about having sex with his daughter if they weren’t related. That’s just off the top of my head.
Please continue with your masturbatory comedy pieces.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@eemom:
LOL. Gender bending is apparently the cultural moment we’re at now. Bill looks too weak at this point to fight it, so he should just join it.
Uncle Cosmo
IMO Bill Clinton is, like Bernie Sanders before him, angling for a role that he shouldn’t get & can’t play, when the one he’s suited for is right out in front of him.
Bernie started out as the DemSoc Moses, leading his people out of bondage. Then Weaver &/or Devine convinced him to hold out for Pharaoh. Now it sounds like he’s getting back to being OK with just moving the nation across the Red Sea & wandering fitfully toward a Promised Land he’ll never live to see.
Bill thinks he’s Hillary’s Mariano Rivera, the quintessential “closer”–but he’s lost some of the movement on his fastball & the splitter rides up in the strike zone too often for safety.* He needs to get comfortable with being a specialist who’s called out of the bullpen in specific situations to face one batter & get him out. Use him sparingly but strategically & he will reap dividends.
——
* I say this with a heavy heart & no complaint–heart surgery is tough for anyone to bounce back from.
Villago Delenda Est
@Gimlet: They are grasping at straws at this point.
J R in WV
@Matt Rogers:
You are a mindless bork with nothing valuable to say. Our current debt situation is normal for a nation. National debt isn’t like a revolving credit line, an Amex card, or a mortgage.
National debt is how money is created. If there was too much money, inflation would be roaring like it was in 1979-82. There is effective no inflation in the US today. None.
The effective interest rate for national debt is ZERO right now. How is it stupid to borrow at an interest rate of ZERO?
We should borrow 2 trillion dollars and spend every penny on infrastructure – light rail inside metro areas, real high-speed rail between metro areas, brand new sewer systems that generate methane as they treat waste, brand new water systems without lead.
Solar electrical generation systems, a brand new power grid protected from hackers and weather. There are so many things we have needed for so long, and a period of ZERO INTEREST rates is the perfect time to build all of them
If I was using the pie filter, you would be the second person I added to it, after Bob in Portland. Maybe the first if I ran across you mindless babble before Bob’s. Worrying about debt on a national level is crazy right now.
ETA: Seriously, “Our astronauts national debt…” !!! Please!!!
I know what you were trying to say, and you didn’t even get close. Go away and study English until you understand the words and what they mean, and how to string them together.
Brachiator
@shomi:
I am not sure what your point is. Trump has already been attacked on this stuff, and no one cares. It is not going to move, add or subtract a vote. What else you got?
redshirt
@J R in WV: You tell ’em!
Marc McKenzie
It’s all coming back if Trump is the nominee, and maybe to a certain extent regardless of who the GOP nominee is.
Excuse me? It’s already come back with many of the hardcore Sanders supporters bringing up Monica, Vince Foster, Hillary ordering murders, the whole Mena nonsense. Someone should have given them all copies of Conason and Lyon’s THE HUNTING OF THE PRESIDENT.
Here’s the thing–will the media call bullshit on all of this? That’s what I’m interested in seeing–but I have the sinking feeling that the media will not do that.
Marc McKenzie
@Matt Rogers: Just stop, please…knock it off.
This isn’t Brietbart.com.
redshirt
@Marc McKenzie: You tell ’em!
Marc McKenzie
@Tripod: @joel hanes: Joel, a question–have you ever read THE HUNTING OF THE PRESIDENT by Joe Conason and Gene Lyons? It is the best book to read on the GOP slime machine that went after the Clintons.
shomi
@Brachiator: But attacking Hillary on a 15year old zombine lie again will? In other words. Fuck off with that bullshit.
Paul in KY
@MattF: Was pretty happy when he got killed in Iraq. He & Barbara Olson were the 2 worst.
Hope both are rotting in Hell.
Paul in KY
@JMG: We are talking about people who whether they ID themselves or not ARE the right-wing media.
Major Major Major Major
“ON DEMAND” FUNDING “ON DEMAND” FUNDING “ON DEMAND” FUNDING!!! sunday sunday sunday.