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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

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Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

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

In after Baud. Damn.

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You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / Cruz-ifiction / Monday Evening Open Thread: Twice Zero, Still Zero

Monday Evening Open Thread: Twice Zero, Still Zero

by Anne Laurie|  April 25, 20165:56 pm| 118 Comments

This post is in: Cruz-ifiction, Election 2016, Open Threads, Republicans in Disarray!

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cruz kasich undynamic duo telnaes

(Ann Telnaes via the Washington Post)
.

So a couple of failing enterprises combine forces in a totally legal manner to protect assets. Sounds like how Trump explains bankruptcies.

— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) April 25, 2016

cruz kasich ap via politicoYeah, Politico‘s photo choice does kinda recall the old Adam West/Burt Ward tv show, but that was (mostly) intentional farce:

Ted Cruz and John Kasich have begun coordinating their campaign strategy to stop Donald Trump, an abrupt alliance announced Sunday night that includes Kasich quitting his efforts in Indiana and Cruz clearing a path for the Ohio governor in Oregon and New Mexico…

The new Cruz-Kasich pact is an acknowledgment that neither man can overtake Trump in the race, and both know their best shot at preventing Trump from clinching the nomination outright is to team up to block his path and force a contested convention. And it may still be too late: Trump is closing in on the number of delegates he needs to win the nomination…

One hopes, for his family’s sake, that Kasich has made out a will. For once in her career, Jen Rubin may actually be correct:

…[I]t emphasizes the degree to which the most likely alternative to Trump — Cruz — has failed to unite the GOP… The consolation for Cruz is that news of the pact will overshadow and help put in perspective expected losses tomorrow in all the primary states.

Cruz’s perceived weakness in turn leads to another unintended consequence of the deal: It will heighten interest in a third candidate. It is now evident that neither Cruz nor Kasich is a sterling candidate. The odds of a Trump nomination are high, so shouldn’t backers of a third candidate get cracking?

The pact likewise opens the door to other candidates entering or reentering the race in Cleveland. Essentially the pact is recognition that the party has failed to come up with a single not-Trump alternative. If so, why then not try someone else who might unite the party?…

Yeah, I said she was correct in her assumptions, not that I think bringing in a a ‘third’ (fourth? third-and-a-half?) candidate would do anything more than further roil the RNC convention waters. I’m just happy it’s not us Democrats’ problem to settle!
***********
Apart from popcorn, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

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Previous Post: « In fact, it was a little bit frightening
Next Post: Shit You Can’t Make Up (But if you did you’d be a sociopath) »

Reader Interactions

118Comments

  1. 1.

    Lamh36

    April 25, 2016 at 5:59 pm

    long day at work I’m hoping to get to bed early and on time tonight. I’m still listening to my playlist and to be honest I’ll probably be listening for awhile unless, God forbid, someone really big passes this year…smh

    Lenny Kravitz & Prince American Woman

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC34ZcDiCag&sns=tw via @youtube

  2. 2.

    Baud

    April 25, 2016 at 5:59 pm

    I should partner with Bernie.

  3. 3.

    redshirt

    April 25, 2016 at 6:00 pm

    Holy contested convention!

    I wish.

    Seems far more likely Herr Drumpf is the candidate.

  4. 4.

    22over7

    April 25, 2016 at 6:01 pm

    Does Rubin really think this could happen, like Zombie Eyes could just walk in there and claim the nomination? Has anybody played the tape through to the end? I really don’t want to read about the Battle of Cleveland…

  5. 5.

    Lamh36

    April 25, 2016 at 6:02 pm

    in other music news I checked out Beyonce “visual album” Lemonade and it was visually very interesting. Of course I loved all the NOLA scenes and imagery.

    of course since they’ve had what 24 hrs to process it now u got the think pieces and stupid commentary.

    Taylor Swift can write cutesy songs about all her MANY exes in her shirt dating life & it’s cool. Beyonce writes songs about her one and only husband and marriage and folks in they feelings?

    Oh and Carrie Underwood can write about busting out headlights with a bat and it’s a “woman’s anthem” but Beyonce does basically the same and (mostly white) folks are shocked!!!

    Some idiot called Beyonce an “urban terrorist”…really, really…

    https://media.giphy.com/media/CE5LPDMZP73l6/giphy.gif

  6. 6.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 25, 2016 at 6:02 pm

    There’s still hope for JEB!

  7. 7.

    Lamh36

    April 25, 2016 at 6:04 pm

    A Cleveland police union head told Tamir Rice’s family to use part of its settlement to educate kids about guns. s.cleveland.com/CNOAx9a
    3:53pm – 25 Apr 16

  8. 8.

    redshirt

    April 25, 2016 at 6:06 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA: IS THAT JEB’S MUSIC?!?!

    (Jeb walks through a curtain on the 3rd ballot to “Rock you like a hurricane”)

  9. 9.

    Trollhattan

    April 25, 2016 at 6:08 pm

    Two completely unrelated items (or are they?).

    Maisie Williams crashes GOT premiere party at UCLA, brings snacks. Like probably everybody else, she’s my favorite character.

    Michael Rogers retires from cycling due to heart condition.

    Former time-trial world champion Michael Rogers has announced his retirement from professional cycling due to a heart condition. The 36-year-old Australian had not raced since pulling out of the Dubai Tour in February. A worsening heart condition has forced the Tinkoff rider to call time on his 16-year professional career.

    “Recent cardiac examinations have identified occurrences of heart arrhythmia which have never been detected beforehand,” added Rogers in an open letter.

    “This latest diagnosis, added to the congenital heart condition I was diagnosed with in 2001, means that my competitive career must end.

    “In hindsight I’m grateful my original cardiac condition, a malformation of the aortic valve, remained stable until recently, allowing me to compete from my humble beginnings in the Australian outback town of Griffith, all the way to top of the professional ranks.”

    In his prime he was a beast. Sorry to see him forced out; hopefully still to live a long life.

  10. 10.

    cmorenc

    April 25, 2016 at 6:09 pm

    Move along now, nothing to see here. But…but…but…LOOK OVER THERE! Hillary email scandal! Indictment by sometime in August! And Hillary cyberbullying Monica Lewinsky!

  11. 11.

    smith

    April 25, 2016 at 6:10 pm

    With their Loser’s Pact, dividing up the states because neither could be competitive in all of them, haven’t Cruz and Kasich tacitly admitted that neither could manage a national campaign in the GE?

  12. 12.

    gogol's wife

    April 25, 2016 at 6:14 pm

    @Lamh36:

    You should read the NYTimes piece. I haven’t had time to read it yet but it looks very sympathetic, based on the few paragraphs I saw.

  13. 13.

    dollared

    April 25, 2016 at 6:15 pm

    Gawd, this is great. With all these campaign spiraling through so many machinations, you can only imagine how many farms in the Shenandoah Valley have been paid for out of consulting and brokerage fees……

  14. 14.

    gogol's wife

    April 25, 2016 at 6:15 pm

    @Lamh36:

    The piece is by Wesley Morris.

  15. 15.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 25, 2016 at 6:17 pm

    @cmorenc: …the Democrat Party nomination contest is soooo corrupt(Joe of the Morning, this morning).

  16. 16.

    germy

    April 25, 2016 at 6:19 pm

    Pierce is hilarious on the subject:

    Cruz and Kasich Are Playing Poker with Trump. They’re Losing.
    In which the two most desperate men around completely telegraph their big move.

    Of course, because these people can’t really do anything right, the two campaigns made sure that God and all the world knew what they were up to before they actually did anything. This had the effect of handing He, Trump a gift that perfectly dovetails with the only real argument that he has presented for his candidacy—namely, They’re All Out To Get Me…And You, Too. He jumped on it because, whatever his shortcomings as a prospective president, the man has the combative instincts of a wolverine.

  17. 17.

    p.a.

    April 25, 2016 at 6:19 pm

    Can’t the Kochs or Shelly use their vast sums to reanimate Ronnie Raygun? The thought of der Trumpenführer’s supporters backing him as he pukes on Zombie Ronnie is schwing worthy.

  18. 18.

    scav

    April 25, 2016 at 6:21 pm

    @Lamh36: Every single time a police union official opens his mouth, I am further not only convinced but stunned by their arrogence, insensitivity and fundamental inhumanity.

  19. 19.

    germy

    April 25, 2016 at 6:22 pm

    Does anyone know what happened to the comments section on Pierce’s Esquire blog?

  20. 20.

    piratedan

    April 25, 2016 at 6:22 pm

    @redshirt: if it is Jeb!’s music, you probably be assured that he didn’t procure the rights to use the song from the artist, that’s just how the GOP rolls.

  21. 21.

    Rommie

    April 25, 2016 at 6:23 pm

    @redshirt: What’s he doing, King? No – NO! Don’t do it Jeb, DON’T DO IT! (crunching sound) OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!

    Seriously, we’d have fisticuffs if JEB! got the nomination – there’s no way Trump takes that meekly. We’d approach, but still not quite get to, Peak Wingnut, Peak Media Freakout, and Peak Internet all at once.

  22. 22.

    Shana

    April 25, 2016 at 6:23 pm

    Hey, Rubio could get back in couldn’t he? Don’t they all “suspend” their campaigns instead of actually quitting nowadays?

  23. 23.

    benw

    April 25, 2016 at 6:23 pm

    @gogol’s wife: there’s no way Wes Morris wasn’t going all in on Bey’s new album. But “Lemonade” is pretty kick-ass.

    Also, Cruz and Kasich, working together? Baaaaaaaarf.

  24. 24.

    redshirt

    April 25, 2016 at 6:25 pm

    @Rommie: So many chairs to the backs of heads. Except replace chairs with guns.

  25. 25.

    Shana

    April 25, 2016 at 6:26 pm

    @germy: I don’t know what’s happened to comments, but he did say something in his last post on Friday about working on getting them back. It’s been pretty annoying lately with all the work from home make a fortune spam posts that happen, but it’s worse to not have any comments. They’re always good and frequently hysterical.

  26. 26.

    Cacti

    April 25, 2016 at 6:29 pm

    Unhappy confederate memorial day to anyone living in the State of Alabama.

    Or as I call it: Happy second place in the Civil War, you losers Day!

  27. 27.

    MomSense

    April 25, 2016 at 6:30 pm

    @Lamh36:

    Did you see this MHP article in Elle about Lenonade?

    Call and response.

  28. 28.

    lamh36

    April 25, 2016 at 6:32 pm

    @gogol’s wife: Read, it great article.

  29. 29.

    MomSense

    April 25, 2016 at 6:33 pm

    @Lamh36:

    That makes me boiling mad. How dare he.

  30. 30.

    SFAW

    April 25, 2016 at 6:35 pm

    @benw:

    Cruz and Kasich, working together?

    Almost as bad as dogs and cats, living together.

  31. 31.

    Leaving Texas

    April 25, 2016 at 6:42 pm

    Just had a conversation with some real honest-to-god real Americans at a housing project in subarban Maryland and I just have to say 1) people are good, 2) liberal values are good. This atheist says “God bless America”.

  32. 32.

    Shana

    April 25, 2016 at 6:42 pm

    @SFAW: And about as productive.

  33. 33.

    ruemara

    April 25, 2016 at 6:46 pm

    I think I’m the last black woman on earth who hasn’t watched Lemonade. Hate to say it, but I also don’t have much interest. My blackness is a different, but I support all of it. The imagery I’ve heard described is interesting. Formation was good. We’ll see, maybe later.

    In car news, I removed my fuel relay regulator. I also found that it their is such a thing as a fuel regulator. Didn’t fix it. I now also know what a ignition coil and a fuel pump are. I’m treating this whole mess as an adventure in new learning horizons

  34. 34.

    Roger Moore

    April 25, 2016 at 6:50 pm

    @benw:

    Also, Cruz and Kasich, working together?

    Mass hysteria!

  35. 35.

    Tripod

    April 25, 2016 at 6:51 pm

    He can’t win, doesn’t have any voters or donors, yet soldiers on. Kaisch is a stalking horse for JEB! He was always running for the VP slot.

  36. 36.

    SiubhanDuinne

    April 25, 2016 at 6:51 pm

    @Lamh36:

    Dafuq?

  37. 37.

    Origuy

    April 25, 2016 at 6:52 pm

    Until John Oliver did a show about it last night, Puerto Rico’s financial problems hadn’t been talked about much here on the mainland. Except in Utah, where Congressman Bob Bishop, the Republican point man in the talks to bail out PR, has been the focus of an attack from the right, conducted by a group called the Center for Individual Freedom. The CFIF was founded by tobacco companies to fight regulation.

  38. 38.

    WaterGirl

    April 25, 2016 at 6:56 pm

    @Origuy: John Oliver has become a national treasure.

  39. 39.

    Leaving Texas

    April 25, 2016 at 7:00 pm

    @ruemara: Seriously glad you mentioned not being “true to type” Makes me feel less alone as someone who doesn’t like the things she’s supposed to like based on race/gender/age. Real communication depends on bravery in spite of social norms.

  40. 40.

    Emma

    April 25, 2016 at 7:03 pm

    For whomever was interested in yesterday’s Shakespeare links. BBC Radio 3 has an original play called A Play for the Heart: The Death of Shakespeare by Nick Warburton. It “speculates” on the last day of Shakespeare’s life, and it is fascinating! Here

  41. 41.

    lollipopguild

    April 25, 2016 at 7:06 pm

    @SFAW: Mass Hysteria! I see where Rodger beat me to it.

  42. 42.

    msdc

    April 25, 2016 at 7:13 pm

    not that I think bringing in a a ‘third’ (fourth? third-and-a-half?) candidate would do anything more than further roil the RNC convention waters.

    I can only assume you meant to type “soil.” Because that’s exactly what it would do.

  43. 43.

    raven

    April 25, 2016 at 7:14 pm

    @WaterGirl: More for you back yonder.

  44. 44.

    rikyrah

    April 25, 2016 at 7:15 pm

    @germy:

    BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

    Pierce is so funny

  45. 45.

    scav

    April 25, 2016 at 7:16 pm

    @Emma: There’s also a different one about essentially the same day, only Cevantes shows up. It’s called Big Time and can be downloaded for a while.

  46. 46.

    WarMunchkin

    April 25, 2016 at 7:26 pm

    I had a comment removed by a moderator for being racist on reddit. It was that famous quote, and nothing else, from Martin Luther King about the failure of white moderates, in a thread hating on BLM.

    I laugh and I cry.

  47. 47.

    WaterGirl

    April 25, 2016 at 7:27 pm

    @raven: I am saving the high school story links for tomorrow, but I read the rest. I know some of the people who were interviewed, but I had no idea that they were involved with that stuff. Interesting to learn about all this. Thanks a bunch.

  48. 48.

    ThresherK

    April 25, 2016 at 7:33 pm

    @Emma: Better them than NPR’s On the Media, who wasted precious airtime on Shakespeare when the coulda been, I dunno, doing media crit in the middle of an election season?

  49. 49.

    geg6

    April 25, 2016 at 7:35 pm

    All I know is that tomorrow’s primary can’t come soon enough. So sick of the constant ads with Trump and Cruz and Bernie screaming at me from my teevee. Sestak, McGinty, Fetterman and Hilz are comforting by comparison. At least they don’t shout. Hilz has a really cute one with a little girl at a town hall asking if she would be paid the same as male presidents. McGinty and Sestak are showing their regular people bonafides. And Fetterman has very artistic, gritty ads that really highlight his “outsider” status and issues. The rest are just annoying and horribly shouty.

  50. 50.

    redshirt

    April 25, 2016 at 7:36 pm

    @WarMunchkin: What was the subreddit?

  51. 51.

    JustRuss

    April 25, 2016 at 7:41 pm

    @Shana: Yeah, hope they get the comments back soon. The spam was getting out of hand though.

  52. 52.

    Bjacques

    April 25, 2016 at 7:42 pm

    Cruz and Kasich?
    More like Creutzfeld and Jakob!

  53. 53.

    Poopyman

    April 25, 2016 at 7:45 pm

    @geg6: I met Fetterman at Netroots Nation when it was in Pgh (’09?). Guy definitely had an agenda to pull Braddock out of the gutter. Can’t tell from this distance if it ever happened. Seeing him in the Senate would be a hoot, though. I suspect he would turn out to be pretty effective despite people’s expectations, a la Franken.

  54. 54.

    chopper

    April 25, 2016 at 7:46 pm

    @Bjacques:

    nice.

  55. 55.

    Mnemosyne

    April 25, 2016 at 7:54 pm

    @Emma:

    I discovered today that apparently Mark Rylance is a Shakespeare Troofer. I am disappointed.

  56. 56.

    Iowa Old Lady

    April 25, 2016 at 8:01 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Who does he think wrote the plays?

  57. 57.

    geg6

    April 25, 2016 at 8:06 pm

    @Poopyman:

    He’s the real deal. Braddock is slowly pulling out of the depths of despair, much thanks to him. He’s a really interesting guy. Came from a somewhat wealthy family, master’s in public administration from the Kennedy School, not from Braddock but somehow he embodies the town. I’m voting for him tomorrow but he’s not going to win. Not this time anyway. I’ll happily vote for Sestak or McGinty in the fall, though I’d rather it was Sestak. McGinty is too insider-y for me.

  58. 58.

    Mike J

    April 25, 2016 at 8:07 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady: Rachel Ray.

  59. 59.

    Central Planning

    April 25, 2016 at 8:09 pm

    @Baud:

    I should partner with Bernie.

    I think if you started your pivot now, you could win the Republican convention.

  60. 60.

    Frank Wilhoit

    April 25, 2016 at 8:12 pm

    I have been predicting right along that Trump would be kicked out, by any means necessary, but at the latest possible moment (i.e. at the convention), so as to give him the shortest possible time in which to try to rig up an independent run.

    I have also been predicting right along that the eventual nominee would be someone who did not run, and was not even mentioned, in the primaries. This will actually look more fair than anointing someone who “lost”. (I do not assert that the Party concerns itself with fairness; I speak only of appearances, in the eye of whomever chooses to behold them.)

    I will now go out on a further limb and predict that the eventual nominee will be a member of the House. I suspect that it will be a member of the Freedom Caucus, but I will not today elevate that hunch to the status of a prediction. The choice will depend upon whether immigration or the person of Mrs. Clinton is thought to be the chief obsession ofg the Republican electorate. If the former, Steve King? If the latter, Trey Gowdy? (It will not be Xtian Dominion; if it were, the easy out would have been to stack the deck for Ted Cruz. If this had been done from the beginning and with a will, he would now be leading in the delegate roundup.)

  61. 61.

    germy

    April 25, 2016 at 8:13 pm

    NY times: Cruz-Kasich alliance against Trump quickly weakens
    The temporary alliance between Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, formed to deny Donald Trump the Republican presidential nomination, was already in danger of fraying to the point of irrelevance Monday, only hours after it was announced to great fanfare.

    The agreement, in which the two candidates agreed to cede forthcoming states to one another — Kasich would, most crucially, stand down in Indiana’s primary next Tuesday to give Cruz a better chance to defeat Trump there, while Cruz would leave Oregon and New Mexico to Kasich — carried the stench of desperation, but initially it seemed like a breakthrough.

    Cruz trumpeted what he called the “big news” in Indiana, a state that appears pivotal to stopping Trump from winning a majority of delegates. “John Kasich has decided to pull out of Indiana to give us a head-to-head contest with Donald Trump,” the Texas senator said.

    But at his own campaign stop in Philadelphia on Monday, Kasich tamped down Cruz’s triumphalism. Voters in Indiana, Kasich said, “ought to vote for me,” even if he would not be campaigning publicly there. He added, “I don’t see this as any big deal.”

  62. 62.

    Iowa Old Lady

    April 25, 2016 at 8:18 pm

    @Mike J: Certainly has the virtue of originality.

  63. 63.

    Mike J

    April 25, 2016 at 8:21 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady: Not as original as one would hope.

  64. 64.

    geg6

    April 25, 2016 at 8:21 pm

    @germy:

    These guys are the Keystone Cops of politics.

  65. 65.

    hovercraft

    April 25, 2016 at 8:25 pm

    I think this may not end well. I’m thinking “War of The Roses”

  66. 66.

    Mnemosyne

    April 25, 2016 at 8:28 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    He claims to be keeping an open mind, but he seems to be an Oxfordian (ie thinks the Earl of Oxford wrote them).

    I have to admit, I generally read the claims of the anti-Shakespearians and think, You guys have no idea how writing works, do you? They really seem convinced that people can only write about things that they have directly experienced, which should mean (among other things) that science fiction and fantasy couldn’t exist as genres.

  67. 67.

    feebog

    April 25, 2016 at 8:28 pm

    @germy:

    But at his own campaign stop in Philadelphia on Monday, Kasich tamped down Cruz’s triumphalism. Voters in Indiana, Kasich said, “ought to vote for me,” even if he would not be campaigning publicly there. He added, “I don’t see this as any big deal.”

    So now it will be lyin’ Ted and backstabbin’ Kasich?

  68. 68.

    Mnemosyne

    April 25, 2016 at 8:30 pm

    @Frank Wilhoit:

    I keep telling you guys: Alan Keyes. Rested, (pre-)tanned, and ready.

  69. 69.

    redshirt

    April 25, 2016 at 8:34 pm

    @Frank Wilhoit:

    I have been predicting right along that Trump would be kicked out, by any means necessary, but at the latest possible moment (i.e. at the convention), so as to give him the shortest possible time in which to try to rig up an independent run.

    I have also been predicting right along that the eventual nominee would be someone who did not run, and was not even mentioned, in the primaries. This will actually look more fair than anointing someone who “lost”. (I do not assert that the Party concerns itself with fairness; I speak only of appearances, in the eye of whomever chooses to behold them.)

    I will now go out on a further limb and predict that the eventual nominee will be a member of the House. I suspect that it will be a member of the Freedom Caucus, but I will not today elevate that hunch to the status of a prediction. The choice will depend upon whether immigration or the person of Mrs. Clinton is thought to be the chief obsession ofg the Republican electorate. If the former, Steve King? If the latter, Trey Gowdy? (It will not be Xtian Dominion; if it were, the easy out would have been to stack the deck for Ted Cruz. If this had been done from the beginning and with a will, he would now be leading in the delegate roundup.)

    Your predictions intrigue me and I’d like to subscribe to your newsletter.

  70. 70.

    dmsilev

    April 25, 2016 at 8:34 pm

    How the GOP Plans to Stop Trump:

    * Combine inspirational charisma of Ted Cruz with raw sexual magnetism of John Kasich
    * Gradually win over Trump supporters by posting subtle pro-establishment messages in YouTube comments sections of chemtrail conspiracy videos
    * Stress how Trump’s most ludicrous-sounding policies really not all that different from Cruz’s and Kasich’s

  71. 71.

    scav

    April 25, 2016 at 8:35 pm

    @Mnemosyne: It would be fun to use their rules of logic against most of the book and script writers and come up with alternative authors. Richard Nixon and Jack Kennedy collaborated and wrote The West Wing. etc.

  72. 72.

    rikyrah

    April 25, 2016 at 8:36 pm

    What do they have against Sestack? He seems to be willing to fight.

  73. 73.

    Iowa Old Lady

    April 25, 2016 at 8:37 pm

    @Mnemosyne: They also usually believe only some with a university education could have written the plays. There’s way too much contemporary evidence that Shakespeare wrote them, though if you look slantwise, you can make a fun conspiracy theory.

    @Mike J: People are not always as perceptive as one might hope.

  74. 74.

    catclub

    April 25, 2016 at 8:37 pm

    @Shana:

    They’re always good and frequently hysterical.

    I have Moved On on to the Alicublog comments. I think Esquire comments required facebook or some such.

  75. 75.

    redshirt

    April 25, 2016 at 8:39 pm

    @rikyrah: Sestak = Sleestak = Do Not Want.

  76. 76.

    Mnemosyne

    April 25, 2016 at 8:41 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    IIRC, there’s pretty good evidence that, as a middle-class merchant’s son, young Will would have gotten a pretty thorough classical education that would be the equal of a modern university education.

    It’s the snobbery of the claims that really annoys me, frankly. An educated middle-class man couldn’t possibly be the intellectual equal of an aristocrat because reasons.

  77. 77.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 25, 2016 at 8:41 pm

    Follow

    Daniel Drezner
    ‏@ dandrezner Daniel Drezner Retweeted Sahil Kapur
    So he’s saying that he can’t will a political revolution into being? Huh.
    –Sahil Kapur @ sahilkapur
    –Asked if he’d back Clinton if she wins, Sanders says on MSNBC town hall he can’t “snap my fingers” & turn voters to her bc they won’t listen

  78. 78.

    catclub

    April 25, 2016 at 8:44 pm

    @Origuy: I do not know the details, but I know the main basis for the problem is that PR does not have access to any normal kind of bankruptcy proceedings. It was left out of laws for either cities or states.

    I do not see the solution as a bailout from the feds.

  79. 79.

    Mnemosyne

    April 25, 2016 at 8:45 pm

    Also, too, Shakespeare fans should track down Fritz Leiber’s affectionate modern ghost story, “Four Ghosts in Hamlet.” Leiber himself spent some time in a Shakespearean touring company and combines that with his ghost story.

  80. 80.

    redshirt

    April 25, 2016 at 8:47 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Have you seen Whedon’s “Much ado about nothing”?

  81. 81.

    gf120581

    April 25, 2016 at 8:49 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: At this rate, if Sanders wants to keep any shred of his reputation intact, he needs to pull the plug on his campaign soon or do some serious soul searching, because he’s rapidly becoming a parody of himself.

    At least muzzle his idiot surrogates. Tim Robbins is now screaming that because exit polls were off, of course NY was stolen. Where does he find these clowns?

  82. 82.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 25, 2016 at 8:50 pm

    @rikyrah: I read the other day that he has a history of being undisciplined and disorganized as a candidate after knocking Specter out

  83. 83.

    Mnemosyne

    April 25, 2016 at 8:50 pm

    @catclub:

    I’m not sure what the other options are. As a US territory, we do have some responsibility towards them.

  84. 84.

    Mnemosyne

    April 25, 2016 at 8:51 pm

    @redshirt:

    Not yet, but it’s in our queue.

  85. 85.

    Mike J

    April 25, 2016 at 8:53 pm

    @gf120581: http://i.imgur.com/3akry82.jpg

  86. 86.

    Miss Bianca

    April 25, 2016 at 8:55 pm

    @Lamh36: I have no words.

  87. 87.

    redshirt

    April 25, 2016 at 8:55 pm

    @Mnemosyne: It’s great, but then I am a Whedonite.

  88. 88.

    burnspbesq

    April 25, 2016 at 8:56 pm

    @Lamh36:

    My only beef with Beyoncé is that she sucks all the air out of the room and prevents other African-American female artists like Rhiannon Giddens and Esperanza Spalding from getting the attention they deserve.

  89. 89.

    Mnemosyne

    April 25, 2016 at 8:59 pm

    @burnspbesq:

    This is snark, right? Because they’re not in the same genre. It’s like being pissed that Jay-Z is drawing attention away from Wynton Marsalis.

  90. 90.

    Major Major Major Major

    April 25, 2016 at 9:01 pm

    @gf120581:

    Tim Robbins is now screaming that because exit polls were off, of course NY was stolen. Where does he find these clowns?

    It really is peculiar. It’s like they’re completely new to the whole political process. Including many, I would say most of the (now quite silent) Bernie fans on my Facebook feed. Arizona was stolen by Hillary because there were voting problems, never mind that the SoS is a Republican and the areas with problems were Hillary-supporting demographic areas. Voting machines had some minor quirky results in Chicago, no shit, voting machines are stupid. Ballot-counting is a little off here and there, no shit, that’s why we have automatic recount thresholds, also we all know there’s a little room for error baked in as a result, etc. Sometimes people get tossed off voter rolls (see Brooklyn), we 1) have an investigatory process for this and 2) this is what provisional ballots are for. And so on. Rrgh. Hanlon’s razor, people.

  91. 91.

    Miss Bianca

    April 25, 2016 at 9:02 pm

    @redshirt: @Mnemosyne: Seconded on that one. One of my favorite comedies, and Whedon gets at the heart of its dymanic much more effectively I think, than Branagh’s did.

    ETA: I was going to correct “dymanic”, and then I just decided to leave it as is.

  92. 92.

    burnspbesq

    April 25, 2016 at 9:03 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    No it’s not snark. As Mister Ellington once said, there are only two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. When good music gets overlooked, that’s a tragedy. “Genre” limitations are inherently stupid.

  93. 93.

    Matt McIrvin

    April 25, 2016 at 9:05 pm

    @Origuy: I’ve seen it used by libertarians as an argument against national minimum-wage laws. That’s about it.

  94. 94.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 25, 2016 at 9:09 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I haven’t seen the movies yet, but I love the scores of Vishal Bhardwaj’s Shakepeare adaptations, Omkara (Othello set in western Uttar Pradesh) and Haider (Hamlet set in mid 90s Kashmir). AL front paged a number from Haider, about a couple of weeks ago.

  95. 95.

    Anne Laurie

    April 25, 2016 at 9:10 pm

    @Frank Wilhoit:

    I will now go out on a further limb and predict that the eventual nominee will be a member of the House. I suspect that it will be a member of the Freedom Caucus, but I will not today elevate that hunch to the status of a prediction. The choice will depend upon whether immigration or the person of Mrs. Clinton is thought to be the chief obsession of the Republican electorate. If the former, Steve King? If the latter, Trey Gowdy?

    Interesting theory, but no way Steve ‘Cantaloupe Calves’ King is giving up, or even risking, his extremely secure Congressional seat in pursuit of what would clearly be a sacrificial run. At this point, it looks to me like the Permanent Republican Party is convinced they’re not gonna regain the Oval Office come November, so they’re just trying to block as many down-ticket losses as possible.

    If your hunch comes through, I’m guessing some True Believer Teahadi newbie like Tom Cotton or Mike Lee is encouraged to jump in, on the grounds that (a) a young nutball can afford the hit better; and besides (b) if someone like Cotton or Lee is fatally wounded by a last-minute highly controversial Presidential run, it’s not gonna make any of Reince Preibus’s handlers weep big salty tears.

  96. 96.

    catclub

    April 25, 2016 at 9:14 pm

    @Anne Laurie:

    Interesting theory, but no way Steve ‘Cantaloupe Calves’ King is giving up, or even risking, his extremely secure Congressional seat in pursuit of what would clearly be a sacrificial run.

    So why is Paul Ryan still in the House after the 2012 election? I presume he ran for both VP and his house seat. Could not King do the same?

    Different state rules?

  97. 97.

    geg6

    April 25, 2016 at 9:20 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    No, he was not liked by the PA Dem establishment. He ran a very good campaign with little support from the usual suspects here and lost only by about 3% or so. I had donated and done some canvassing for him back then and to this day, I get Christmas and birthday cards from him. And I was just a small donor and only did a few shifts during the primary and general. Does that sound like someone who is disorganized?

  98. 98.

    david10

    April 25, 2016 at 9:23 pm

    @germy: Whatever happened to SECRET backroom scheming and skullduggery?
    One of the things that made Jeb? so pitiful was his campaign constantly announcing the devastating things they were going to do next week or next month, to all of which Trump answered immediately-usually by laughing at the poor bastard.

  99. 99.

    Anne Laurie

    April 25, 2016 at 9:26 pm

    @catclub:

    So why is Paul Ryan still in the House after the 2012 election? I presume he ran for both VP and his house seat. Could not King do the same?

    Different state rules?

    Haven’t researched the rules, just thinking about the ‘reputational’ hit. Right now King’s got his seat for life because he’s King of Pigmuck Mountain — he pops up to make vile comments about those people on a regular basis, but that only endears him to the majority voting percentage of people in his district.

    If he “runs,” however late and nominally, for President, there’s a much brighter media light shining on him. Even horse-race-tout reporters start asking questions about what this guy is doing for those of Iowa’s voters who aren’t agribusiness beneficiaries, and what he’s gotten from the CAFO lobbyists in return. And his natural homespun charm (/sarcasm) is not well-suited to a broader market… he’ll embarrass the state of Iowa as collateral damage. By the time he limps from July to November, there will be one or more hungry much-more-personable young Repubs lined up to challenge him, and he knows that. From what I’ve read, part of his ‘unlikely’ tenure is that nobody’s cared enough to challenge him from the GOP side — he’s not a smart man, but he’s smart enough not to draw unneccessary attention from potential enemies.

  100. 100.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 25, 2016 at 9:27 pm

    @Anne Laurie: I still owe you those garden photos, will send them to you this week.

  101. 101.

    Miss Bianca

    April 25, 2016 at 9:30 pm

    @Mike J: OMG – that’s funny.

  102. 102.

    david10

    April 25, 2016 at 9:33 pm

    @Mnemosyne: @geg6: And they have no idea about genius-which really is inexplicable. Reading the reactions of his contemporaries, it’s obvious they thought he was pretty amazing.
    What the troofers have in common is snobbery-how could this commoner possibly do this-has to be a noble because, you know, NOBLE.

  103. 103.

    j.a.m.

    April 25, 2016 at 9:33 pm

    @burnspbesq:

    My husband just saw Rhiannon Giddens at the New Orleans Jazz Fest yesterday and said it was the best show he saw all weekend.

  104. 104.

    Anne Laurie

    April 25, 2016 at 9:43 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Thanks, I’ll keep an eye out for them!

  105. 105.

    Emma

    April 25, 2016 at 9:55 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Really? Well, hell.

  106. 106.

    Mnemosyne

    April 25, 2016 at 9:55 pm

    @burnspbesq:

    Hate to tell ya, but you lost that argument right around when Elvis’s first single debuted.

  107. 107.

    catclub

    April 25, 2016 at 9:58 pm

    @Anne Laurie: Ah. Thanks for the long winded explanation.
    Helpful!

  108. 108.

    Emma

    April 25, 2016 at 9:58 pm

    @scav: Thank you, got it.

  109. 109.

    Mnemosyne

    April 25, 2016 at 10:02 pm

    @Emma:

    Sadly, yes. Here’s a debate between Rylance and stage director Trevor Nunn. Rylance basically has the same arguments as every conspiracy theorist: my ideas should count as facts, but your counter-ideas are only ideas!

  110. 110.

    Miss Bianca

    April 25, 2016 at 10:16 pm

    @david10: Well except for this guy, of course – Mr. Groatsworth of Wit (name says more than he thought it did, don’t it?)

    …an upstart crow, beautiful with our feathers, that with his tiger’s heart wrapped in a player’s hide supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you, and being an absolute Johannes Factotum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in the country.

  111. 111.

    Tom

    April 25, 2016 at 10:38 pm

    @redshirt: We love it. Amy Acker is amazing. Plus I finally got the joke about “I am an ass” thanks to Nathan Fillion’s performance as Dogberry.
    The whole thing is charming, funny and stylish but still accessible.

  112. 112.

    Don Kasak

    April 25, 2016 at 11:39 pm

    Cruz and Kasich teaming up this late in the game makes me think of a similar merger. A similar level of success is guaranteed.

  113. 113.

    daves09

    April 25, 2016 at 11:49 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Greene wasn’t it? Dying, drunken, a failure and at the very beginning of Shakespeare’s career. Written in response to the success of Henry VI-it’s a reference to the description of Queen Margaret.

  114. 114.

    Scott Alloway

    April 25, 2016 at 11:50 pm

    @Lamh36: Fuck them and the horse they they rode in on.

  115. 115.

    Amir Khalid

    April 26, 2016 at 12:26 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    IOW, “I have no power base which I can use to negotiate to put my ideas in the Democratic party platform, or indeed to make any demands on Hillary at all.”

  116. 116.

    Paul in KY

    April 26, 2016 at 8:48 am

    @Frank Wilhoit: Darth Creepy would be displeased with your scenario.

  117. 117.

    Paul in KY

    April 26, 2016 at 8:50 am

    @burnspbesq: Rhiannon Giddens is quite a talent. Saw her at Bonnaroo. Very, very impressed.

  118. 118.

    Paul in KY

    April 26, 2016 at 8:52 am

    @j.a.m.: Does not surprise me.

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