This headline over the weekend cracked me up:
Here’s the deets:
Even as Donald J. Trump trounced him from New Hampshire to Florida to Arizona, Senator Ted Cruz could reassure himself with one crucial advantage: He was beating Mr. Trump in the obscure, internecine delegate fights that could end up deciding the Republican nomination for president.
“This is how elections are won in America,” Mr. Cruz gloated after walking away with the most delegates in Wyoming.
But it turns out that delegates — like ordinary voters — are susceptible to shifts in public opinion. And as the gravitational pull of Mr. Trump’s recent primary landslides draws more Republicans toward him, Mr. Cruz’s support among the party’s 2,472 convention delegates is softening, threatening his hopes of preventing Mr. Trump’s nomination by overtaking him in a floor fight.
With each delegate Mr. Trump claims, he gets closer to the 1,237 he needs to clinch the nomination outright, and Mr. Cruz’s chances of stopping him — even if he pulls out a victory in Tuesday’s Indiana primary — shrink.
Before Mr. Trump’s crushing victory in Pennsylvania last week, Mr. Cruz’s campaign boasted that it had 69 people devoted to acquiring as many as possible of the state’s 54 unbound delegates — who are free to vote as they please on the first ballot, making them potentially decisive players in a contested convention.
Mr. Cruz won only three.
The more they know about him, the less they like him.
Mike J
Carly falling off the stage.
LAO
Following his freshman year roommate on twitter, has been the best part of this election for me.
MattF
Jen Rubin has a hilarious new post up at the WaPo– all Ted Cruz has to do to beat Trump is not be Ted Cruz. It’s so simple.
Wag
Thanks be to FSM
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I saw your human costumes line on your twitter feed. That is a great fucking line/mock-up and you should use it on open threads for as long as we are blessed with this ersatz ‘ticket’. Also, is that gif of Fiorina falling down real? I almost feel bad for laughing, then I remember she got stinking rich by firing people and destroying their pensions.
I saw Cruz on TV this morning talking about the need for a President who will bring us together. Seems the rather obvious question would be about his colleagues who say if he were murdered in front of them, they’d pretend not to see it.
cokane
The races are pretty much over. If Trump wins Indiana, and odds are he will, he’ll get the delegates needed. Hillary has basically had it in the bag since she won Massachusetts, only perverse media incentives have stoked Sanders’ hanging in there.
trollhattan
@Mike J:
Trap door! I blame Obama.
trollhattan
@MattF:
He should become Willard? Jen still doesn’t understand why we’re not anticipating the second Romney term. Must be nice, being paid for writing nonsense continuously.
SteveinSC
Well, “Cruz-Kasich to stop Trump” is giving the Republican/Conservatives an IQ test, and surprise, surprise, they’re failing.
Germy
@Mike J: And the weird thing is, Ted never skipped a beat. He never noticed.
Agrippa
The GOP talent pool is pretty shallow.
Those people are the best that the GOP can do.
raven
@Mike J: Just like the previous post trailer!
MattF
@trollhattan: Profitable. But one may wonder where, exactly, all that cognitive dissonance goes.
BlueDWarrior
@Agrippa: But if you listen to the RWNJ, Trump is an unstoppable hurricane of political force, and will restore the nation to the Shining City that existed in the fevered dreams of the 1950s.
Calouste
The title of this post should simply have been “HaTed”.
rikyrah
Election-year divisions rock North Carolina’s GOP
05/02/16 10:40 AM—UPDATED 05/02/16 10:53 AM
By Steve Benen
Things could be better for North Carolina Republicans right now. After significant victories in 2012 and 2014, GOP policymakers are in a dominant position in the Tar Heel State, but as things stand, the right’s hold on North Carolina may not last much longer.
The debacle surrounding the anti-LGBT HB2 continues to haunt the Republicans who rushed the law through, and the consequences are likely to linger. Gov. Pat McCrory (R), who was apparently caught off guard by the entire controversy, continues to struggle with the mess he helped create.
Voters have noticed. A conservative group released a statewide poll on Friday that found McCrory losing his re-election bid to state Attorney General Roy Cooper (D) by 10 points, 46% to 36%. And while Mitt Romney won North Carolina four years ago, this same poll showed Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump in North Carolina by 12 points.
Sen. Richard Burr (R), meanwhile, is also seeking a second term this year, despite a low approval rating and a dwindling lead over his Democratic challenger.
Perhaps the state Republican Party can help calm the waters and get the GOP slate back on track? Not anytime soon they won’t: WRAL reported over the weekend that the state party just fired its own chairman.
Members of the North Carolina Republican Party’s nearly 600-member member executive committee voted Saturday to remove Hasan Harnett as chairman, ending a months-long leadership struggle that focused GOP establishment on its own internal drama rather than campaigning against Democrats.
Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse made the announcement shortly after 5 p.m., saying that the proceedings had been “somber.” The committee found that Harnett was responsible for violating the party’s plan of organization and “gross inefficiency.”
rikyrah
Listening to the radio this morning, and Trump’s lead in Indiana has grown. Seems like Rafael’s deal with Kasich didn’t go over with the Midwestern folks.
rikyrah
Conservatives in Congress urge shutdown of tax-collecting IRS
Reuters 5 hours ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – It’s a U.S. taxpayer’s dream: make the Internal Revenue Service go away, and the largest conservative group in Congress is endorsing just that.
The Republican Study Committee, which counts over two-thirds of House of Representatives Republicans as its members, called recently for “the complete elimination of the IRS.”
The committee’s support for this idea, once confined to the fringes of conservative ideology, suggests it is more widely accepted on Capitol Hill than ever. But many in Washington, including some Republicans, have trouble taking it seriously.
Calls to abolish the IRS have not been well thought through, said Republican Representative Charles Boustany in an interview.
“Before we start making blanket statements about abolishing the IRS, I think it’s important to focus on what the tax code for the 21st century should look like,” said Boustany, who does not belong to the 172-member study committee.
In an election year of dramatic rhetoric that is often short on details, the committee’s proposal, released April 22 and echoing language from a March budget plan, is brief.
As part of a wider appeal for federal tax reform, the committee says simply: “This proposal takes the bold step of calling for the complete elimination of the IRS. Tax collection and enforcement activities would be moved to a new, smaller and more accountable department at the Treasury.”
No further specifics were offered for how to replace an agency that is already part of Treasury, collected $3.3 trillion in revenue in 2015, and processed 240 million tax returns.
JPL
@Mike J: Cruz’s daughters might be better as first ladies, than Heidi. just sayin
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@rikyrah:
Cruz screwed the pooch on the basketball thing – he was in a friendly crowd, and I don’t think he could have gotten a cooler response even if he’d pulled out his wang and yanked it to completion while yelling “I’m sorry, mommy!!!!!”
Grumpy Code Monkey
Heh – just had an image of Ted and Carly as the Slitheen from Doctor Who. Fitting.
dr. bloor
@Mike J: Looks like one of Cruz’s kids pushed her.
Or maybe it was Mrs. Cruz.
MattF
@rikyrah: “Not well thought out”. What is this ‘thought’ thing? I suppose that, in order to demonstrate their seriousness, they can go back to repealing Obamacare.
bystander
After all the comparisons between Trump and Sanders, it’s starting to look as if Sanders is more like Cruz, at least in terms of turning more and more people off.
I’m standing by in Rome this week, but feeling the BernOut. Time for a Purity Pony ride into the sunset.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
Facebook meme I saw this weekend: when he gets out of prison, Dennis Hastert will be allowed to use a public men’s room, but not a transman. How does that make sense?
Of course, conservatives are the kind of idiots who will then decide there should be a list that determines who is and isn’t allowed to use a public restroom, because that’s totally workable and easy to do!
Mike J
@Grumpy Code Monkey: I was thinking more, “moisturize me”.
peach flavored shampoo
I’ve heard from orange men that he’s a fleshy Loo Cipher. Secret poo or something.
MattF
@dr. bloor: It was the Dolchstoß.
starscream
The OH poll that someone was crying about that had Hillary +3 over Trump also had Sanders as +4. Both candidates are also way underwater in favorability (-16 BS, -18 HRC. Trump is -22). I guess it’s possible that Trump over-performs in states like OH and PA, but gets blown out in FL and VA, and loses NC/AZ.
Punchy
I can’t wait for this GOP Convention to devolve into a tweadle beetle battle in a puddle with a paddle on a poodle eating noodles.
No sir, I cannot wait, sir.
Tom Levenson
@Punchy: Where would you like your Intertubes delivered, Hon. Punchy?
NickM
@Mike J: That video of Fiorina falling off the stage is interesting – Ted obviously sees her go down but doesn’t even feign concern – just keeps on robotically shaking hands. It’s a weird reaction.
raven
@NickM: Why, it’s no reaction at all. . .
maryQ
Given the news of the weekend, I think it might be officially time to suspend Democratic schadenfreude about the GOP nominating process, and prepare for the aftermath of a group of angry liberals partying like it’s 1968 in Philly.
Keith P.
I’m still baffled as to why Republicans hate Ted Cruz so much. I had this conversation with a friend who is hard-core GOP but is torn because he doesn’t like Trump’s politics but hates Cruz. What is it about Cruz they hate? He checks off all the boxes for their ideal candidate (minus Canada), and as far as him being unlikeable, HE’S A REPUBLICAN. Half their party’s psychology is based on being an asshole. All these “dirty tricks” they’re flipping out over are standard operating procedures for the party. I mean, seriously, what is the difference between Ted Cruz and George W Bush other than a difference in goofiness/intelligence?
raven
@maryQ: The people in the streets of Chicago were no liberals.
Booger
@Agrippa: And there are no lifeguards, either.
Elizabelle
The picture and caption are perfect. LOL.
Fled to sea to avoid the end of the primaries. Hello from some dot in the Atlantic; heading to Europe for a few weeks. And then back to get a job, moocher. Planning to bounce around Europe a bit and meander south to Salamanca, Spain to do some immersive language training. Have not set that up yet. It’s sunny and breezy and warm at sea now, but we’re told it gets colder and even rainy once we draw nearer to Ireland (in about a week!), so hello internet time then.
Caught a bit of the WHCD on CNN. Obama is a once in a lifetime president. But I will be happy with Madame President, building on his legacy (and learning some 21st century coalition-building skills).
The Spanish language training is a lot so that I can communicate better (however rudimentarily) with Spanish-speaking voters this fall. I hope not to insult them unintentionally!
Appreciate rikyrah’s putting up the North Carolina update — uh huh. Hope to move there for the fall ** and volunteer for Roy Cooper. Time to take that state back, and the Teabangelicals and restroom sniffers just gave us a ginormous assist. Great issue to organize around, and it’s actually the squid ink issue — just as importantly, the state legislature banned localities raising minimum wage on their own and enacting environmental (?) protections. Will be easy to talk about that with voters at the doors.
[** depending, of course, on an elderly relative situation. Watching that one.]
Carry on. Have missed you!
And I love that baud “shits hope, son” comment. Tagline entry, fer sure.
trollhattan
@maryQ:
I have had the help draw my schadenfreude bath, it’s the correct temperature and I’m having a good long soak, at least as long as the beer and fajitas hold out.
Bernie is a footnote by convention time, regardless of what his tender ego might think.
scav
@Keith P.: No shoulders you can land a 747 on? There’s usually a necessary totally straight homoerotic tingle, either real or projected. Maybe his projection screen is fatally flawed.
starscream
Right on cue, Rasmussen (lol) out with a poll showing Trump beating Hillary 41-39. I don’t get how there could be 20% undecided.
eclare
@Elizabelle: Enjoy, have a wonderful time! Come back energized to take back NC…can’t believe what has happened there…
AkaDad
RejecTED/ParticipaTED 2016
maryQ
@raven: Fair enough. Still.
Lizzy L
I don’t know if everyone hates Ted Cruz, but I sure do.
I was in Chicago in 1968. Unless someone’s found a way to resurrect Richard J.Daley, I’m not too worried about the convention in Philadelphia. There may be a lot of argle-bargle and some arrests, yeah, but I don’t think you’re going to see the Philly cops ordered to crack heads. Different time, different breed of politicians.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Mike J:
Holy shit I had to watch it twice – she was there, then she wasn’t, like a trap door opened under her feet. I hope she thinks losing whatever dignity she has left for Canadian anchor baby Ted Cruz is all worth it.
Uncle Cosmo
@Calouste:
Face
Pretty sure I know the problem they have with this guy.
schrodinger's cat
Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina are the Founders. Remember even Odo couldn’t get the human face, right?
AkaDad
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Can’t lose something you never had.
Gelfling545
@Grumpy Code Monkey: I was wondering if they also had a problem with the gas exchange.
Peale
@rikyrah: This is not that difficult. The income tax, the IRS and the Fed are all unconstitutional power grabs and we’ll go back to collecting taxes via trade and customs duties and fines for pot smokers and maybe a tax on Windows.
Applejinx
@srv: Catastrophic failure of wealth distribution, confirmed.
I don’t doubt it, but how do you think it got that way, and what’s going to help? Cutting taxes on the 1% more?
D58826
@Mike J: JUMPED OR PUSHED:-)
Miss Bianca
@Calouste: Or would that be Ha!TED?
@Elizabelle: All the best!
SuzieC
And delusional Kasich has garnered a grand total of 3 delegates since winning Ohio. Anyone seen his hallucinatory new ad? http://www.wcpo.com/news/political/kasich-pacs-web-ads-target-delegates-with-vision-of-victory
WaterGirl
@Mike J: I laughed so hard I actually snorted, which makes me officially a bad person.
Just watching her speak when she was announcing Cruz & family – ugh – the word shrew ran through my mind. Then I looked up shrew to see if that was sexist and sadly, most of the unflattering synonyms fit her, was well. She looks and sounds like the personification of the dreaded evil stepmother your dad might bring home to be your new mom. I would for sure cast her for the part of Cruella Devil.
shortstop
@Mike J: The best part is Heidi looking momentarily concerned, then resuming her grinning wave while Carly remains on the floor.
Russ
hey, last I knew Cruz and Kasich had some sort of pact going on to stop Trump. I’ve been out of the country since the 20th.* so how did that work out. Is Trump still leading?
*been here all along, just wondering.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: So this was your secret plan that you alluded to, that was either awesome or crazy. Do I get a vote? If so, I’m going with awesome! Are you doing all this traveling on your own or do you have a travel buddy?
WaterGirl
Okay, so I laughed out loud every time someone on this thread even mentioned the video of Carly falling off the stage. So I had to watch it again, of course, and then decided this was the perfect time to experiment with the new “pin tab” feature in Safari. So I have Carly officially pinned now for viewing whenever I need a good laugh.
I have never liked slapstick, but man, I do enjoy seeing that. I don’t think even Dick van Dyke could have pulled off that move.
Germy
@WaterGirl: On one of the youtube videos the first viewer comment is:
That’s what happens when you mention his name. Lucifer drags you down to the underworld.
rikyrah
@Keith P.:
Yeah, I wonder about this. This is the party that still likes DICK CHENEY
yet, they can’t stand Ted Cruz.
Bill
@Keith P.:
Ethnicity.
rikyrah
@Face:
Pretty sure I know the problem they have with this guy.
You are on the right track..
But, he’s not Arab…he’s BLACK.
rikyrah
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner and the Obama Effect
Vanessa Friedman
MAY 2, 2016
…but also, and possibly more important, the Michelle Obama effect. Mrs. Obama has been a canny user of fashion since her family entered the White House, leveraging her position and her profile to promote local industry and emerging designers, engage in some subtle cross-border diplomacy, and even challenge some classic assumptions about American first ladies having to wear only American designers.
She has been gradually raising the glamour stakes at the Correspondents’ Dinner over the years — going from a simple hot pink Michael Kors sheath in 2009 and a red Prabal Gurung with a draped neck in 2010 to strapless Naeem Khan in 2012; embroidered, off-the-shoulder Marchesa in 2014; and platinum-beaded Zac Posen in 2015.
This year, however, she wore a beige silk spaghetti-strap dress with lace and crystal embroidery and a tulle cape on top sprinkled with Swarovski crystals by Givenchy haute couture. That’s about as elite, and elaborate, as fashion gets. It’s very, very French. It’s very, very 1
percent. It took the old rules and tossed them out the window and dared everyone to get upset.
And no one blinked.
Indeed, the Internet mostly applauded the choice, using words like “full glam” (Fashionista), “stuns” (The Huffington Post) and “glistens”
(E! online) to describe the effect. Personally, I found the cape oddly
matronly, but the choice, and the reaction, especially its lack of skepticism about either the origin of the dress or its cost, was notable. After eight years, Mrs. Obama has changed expectations
completely about what a first lady should wear. And it has apparently
changed the tenor of what everyone around her wears, too.
Paul in KY
@NickM: He was probably calculating what poll increase he might get if she died or was seriously injured.
Paul in KY
@Keith P.: I think you have to meet him in person to get the true flavor of Ted.
Ben Cisco
@schrodinger’s cat: Odo was a vastly superior being to those two troglodytes.
rikyrah
Malia Obama’s ‘Gap Year’ Is Part of a Growing (and Expensive) Trend
By MIKE McPHATE
MAY 2, 2016
It sounds awfully nice: A yearlong postponement of schoolwork.
The White House announced on Sunday that Malia Obama, the president’s older daughter, would be among the thousands of students to take a so-called gap year between high school and college.
The hiatus from classrooms, textbooks and tests has become an increasingly popular choice. The idea is that university-bound students go on an adventure, do something meaningful and, if all goes to plan, arrive at campus a year later more mature, focused and attuned to their goals.
Still, despite growing acceptance of the gap year, or bridge year, by university administrators — and its ready adoption in other parts of the world — many Americans continue view it with trepidation.
…………………………..
n the reaction to Malia’s decision on social media, some people have pointed out, occasionally with a note of contempt, that the financial barriers to embarking on a gap year can be too much for some families. A yearlong, immersive, international program, for example, can run about $35,000.
But university administrators also note that gap-year plans come in a variety of forms, some of them at no cost. AmeriCorps’ City Year, for example, pays students stipends to teach. Another popular program, Global Citizen Year, provides financial support — more than $6 million since 2010 — for students to pursue experiential learning.
But those programs can be highly competitive. City Year, for example, says it selects only about one in four applicants.
“It’s hard to do it if you don’t have the resources,” said Chris Yager, the founder of Where There Be Dragons, which leads international programs.
Paul in KY
@Lizzy L: I’m sorta worried about Cleveland. Don’t want our Trump-Haters to do something that allows the GOP to play the victim card.
Sad_Dem
@rikyrah: Ted Cruz is that guy at the bar who tells you right away that he went to Harvard.
jackie
@Keith P.: Probably because you have never had close contact with him. I worked with him closely for several years. And believe me, anyone with that experience with Cruz will tell you he is the worst. Not human about covers it.
rikyrah
sigh…
Malia Obama Rebels, Sort of, by Choosing Harvard
White House Letter
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and NICHOLAS FANDOS
MAY 1, 2016
WASHINGTON — So much for President Obama’s fatherly advice on college.
Malia Obama, his older daughter and perhaps the nation’s most scrutinized and sought-after college applicant, has opted to attend Harvard University beginning in the fall of 2017, apparently disregarding her parents’ counsel that she need not choose a school with a big name and reputation.
The White House announced Malia’s choice, and her decision to take a gap year, on Sunday in a short statement from the first lady’s office, ending a season of speculation and surveillance on her college search process. She will become the latest in a long line of presidential children to attend the highly ranked Ivy League university.
The president suggested that, with his own daughter, he had weighed into the national angst over the increasing difficulty of getting into prestigious colleges, and said that he had made it clear there were other options for Malia, whom he has described as a capable, conscientious student who is ready to make her way independently in the world.
Last fall, the president said he had told his daughter “not to stress too much” about being accepted to a particular school, adding, “Just because it’s not some name-brand, famous, fancy school doesn’t mean that you’re not going to get a great education there.”
But in the end, Malia, 17, a daughter of two academic overachievers who both attended law school at Harvard, gravitated to an institution with not only a well-known name, but also plenty of experience hosting — and, to some degree, protecting — the children of some of the world’s most powerful people.
“The challenge of being a first child is to be normal within the context of all the scrutiny, and the challenge of everybody around them is to pretend like they’re normal and nothing’s out of the ordinary, which puts an enormous amount of stress on both the kid and the school,” said Gil Troy, a presidential historian at McGill University and the author of “The Age of Clinton: America in the 1990s.” “The larger the institutional ego of the place, the more comfortable you can feel about the ability to cope with that and still have as close to a normal experience as possible.”
Harvard has long been a destination for the children of American and foreign leaders as well as those of celebrities and the ultrawealthy; its police force even has a three-person dignitary protection unit.
Mike J
@rikyrah: When I hear “gap year” I think Australian bartender in London, not a $35,000 study abroad program.
schrodinger's cat
@Ben Cisco: Yes Odo was one of the good ones bu the Founders on a whole were a genocidal race of beings.
Ken
Those smiles… grimaces… rictuses … whatever you call them… I often see people smile like that, but they’re five-year-olds when you say “Smile for the camera.” After a couple more years they usually figure out how to do it without strain.
Ben Cisco
@schrodinger’s cat: Good point.
Paul in KY
@Ken: I think the problem for them was that usually when they ‘smile’ that way, they are also saying ‘buwahahahahahaha’. Since they couldn’t do that at that point, they come off as a bit forced.
The Golux
@D58826:
A spooky premonition.
Trollhattan
Did’ja worry at all when Sully quit blogging that he’d lose his mind with all those unused words building up inside to the point he’d explode?
Well, kaboom. A selection showing his panic mode is intact and ready for action.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@Keith P.:
I think the main reason he is so loathed by his colleagues is that he repeatedly crossed the Capitol and actively undermined Boehner’s leadership in the House, allowing the Freedumb Caucus to bring House business to pretty much a standstill. Believe it or don’t, there are Congressional Republicans who actually do want to govern effectively and are willing to make compromises to do so, and they call out Cruz specifically for rendering the House more dysfunctional that it usually is.
In the Senate, my understanding is that he’s that guy from the debate team, the master of parliamentary procedure, whose sole goal is to score points at any cost. He doesn’t care about the party, he doesn’t even really care about the country as a whole, he only cares about his own standing.
For the rest of us, we’ve listened to him speak for more than five minutes.
Trollhattan
@Grumpy Code Monkey:
The two are genuinely a match, temperamentwise. Last weekend in the Golden State, Ted:
And picking up the (disco) ball and running with it, Carly:
Ladies and germs, the new face of tyranny: little old ladies in Honda CRVs with “Save the Delta” stickers.
Cat48
Ted Cruz reminds me of a creepy Evangelist. He justifies his policies by implying God would approve”…….Creepy!
D58826
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: There is an old joke about old married couples growing to look alike. These two have been politically married for 4 days and they look so much alike – reptilian. Frightening.
And since we are
talking STAR TREK, I guess Ted could not get the Gorn as a running mate
cokane
@Trollhattan: hmm Sullivan is very mockable, but that essay isn’t half bad. To be fair, the R party has been dangerously disappointing in its governing philosophy for at least the past decade, so Trump isn’t threatening anything that Palin failed to do. But still, it’s important to note that there’s some deeply popular stupidity running pretty rampant right now in the US, so Sullivan isn’t wrong to be a li’l worried.
Paul in KY
@Cat48: That’s why I call him ‘Darth Creepy’. Took a lot of work to come up with that moniker.
LAO
Speaking of Rightwing shitheels — looks like Curt Schilling’s have some difficulty landing a new gig. LOL. couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
http://deadspin.com/fox-sports-curt-schilling-approached-us-but-we-passed-1774255064
Ruckus
@Sad_Dem:
Not only that he went to Haaavaard, but that he was in the best dorm, was the smartest, got the most women (to hate him, but still), took the hardest classes…….
He’s every bit the narcissist that drumph is, without as much money and a strange, unidentifiable animal on his head but he does have a preacher for a father.
starscream
@Trollhattan: Is he wrong? PPP was the best pollster in 2012 and has Trump in shouting distance of either Dem candidate in Ohio.
D58826
@cokane:
No I would say since 1980 when St Ronulus the Unready gave us gov’t is the problem not the solution and the supply side Laffer curve (well named if it hadn’t caused so much damage).
jonas
@WaterGirl: Which reminded me of one of the best “Clickhole” bits ever.
rikyrah
John McCain’s son to the ‘ignorant racists’ criticizing an Old Navy ad with an interracial couple: ‘Eat it’
By Emily Heil May 2 at 3:33 PM
Sen. John McCain’s son, Jack, had a blunt response to the people criticizing an Old Navy ad featuring an interracial couple: You are “ignorant racists.”
The controversy began when the low-price fashion chain tweeted an ad on Monday featuring a good-looking, adorably dressed couple with their “child.” Dad’s white, and mom’s black.
Predictably, there was nasty backlash on Twitter. And backlash to the backlash.
Which is where Jack McCain came in. The fifth of the Arizona Republican’s seven children, Jack McCain is a Navy lieutenant and helicopter pilot — and he’s married to a black woman, Air Force Reserve Capt. Renee Swift. “To the people upset about the #OldNavy ‘Scandal’ of an a picture of a mixed race marriage, eat it,” he tweeted on Monday, along with a picture of the couple in military uniforms.
D58826
@rikyrah: A salute to Jack McCain and sure looks like his old man.
jonas
Ted’s problem is that almost all the states where the GOP base consists primarily of Talibangical loons have already voted. Indiana was his last hope, but it looks like even there Trump’s Chinese and Mexican bashing economic populism is way more appealing than his religious scold schtick.
rikyrah
Considering it’s FOX…just, how bad did it get?
Vile Racism Forces Fox News To Close Comments On Malia Obama Article
May 2, 2016
President Obama’s oldest daughter Malia has decided to attend Harvard but will take a gap year before beginning her college education. While the college announcement of a president’s daughter is not life-or-death news, it has been deemed as newsworthy by the media and will receive a short story on most sites. Fox News mirrored the brief AP story on their site and you would think it wouldn’t receive a ton of attention from the Obama-hating racist trolls. And you would be horribly wrong.
If you take a look at the Fox News post, you might notice there is no comment section at the bottom of the article. The reason: they had to take down the avalanche of racism that ensued below the harmless story.
cokane
@D58826: sure, why i said “at least”. I will say though, Reagan and Bush era criminality at least had a level of competence that I cannot envision in a Palin nor a Trump administration.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
At the start of this election cycle when there were 16 (not counting Gilmore) Repubs running, I found Cruz and Walker to be the most inherently foul and loathsome… The conservatives really have a talent for generating toads. Cruz is a condescending, smirking scold who clearly believes himself to be superior to everyone else.
And Florina, with her livid, disdainful eyes and bobble head, snarky delivery, is creepy-scary.
D58826
@rikyrah: Man chrome is smart. When I clicked on the link I got a ‘site blocked – contains vile and malicious content’
Faux wasn’t much better when Whitney Houston died.
WaterGirl
@jonas: I had never seen that. Fun! But seriously, who hasn’t see 101 Dalmatians???
D58826
catclub
@rikyrah: Steele was head of the RNC in 2010 when they had landslide wins in the elections.
He lost the Job. Reince Priebus was head of RNC in 2012 when they did NOT win the presidency OR take the Senate. he kept the job.
Dmbeaster
@Agrippa:
Their bench is deep because they have no starters.
jonas
@WaterGirl: You know Clickhole is a sister site of the Onion, right? It parodies clickbait stories of the kind found on Buzzfeed and Upworthy. Here’s another classic.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
Never seen it.
But then, I avidly avoid the vast majority of Disney’s treacly, simplistic output.
FlipYrWhig
@Sad_Dem: @Ruckus: Cruz went to Harvard LAW. He went to Princeton for undergrad. At Harvard Law he refused to let students from inferior Ivies into his study group. (With notably rare exceptions, I tend to find Princetonians to be significantly more obnoxious than Harvardians.)
Mnemosyne
@Mike J:
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking, too. Malia herself probably will do something a little fancier, but plenty of people actually WORK during their gap year to save up some extra money for college. We should be encouraging that, not making people feel like a gap year is only for the rich.
tones
@Grumpy Code Monkey: they didn’t like the human suits either
WaterGirl
@jonas: I had no idea. I have to get out more!
Joel
@rikyrah: dude in the Old Navy ad looks a lot like Jonathan Ames.