Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A Senator Walker would be an insult to the state and the nation.

I really should read my own blog.

Come on, man.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

A dilettante blog from the great progressive state of West Virginia.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

John Fetterman: Too Manly for Pennsylvania.  Paid for by the Oz for Senator campaign.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Thursday Night Open Thread: Let’s You and Them Fight!

Thursday Night Open Thread: Let’s You and Them Fight!

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As a famous Republican strategist would say: Let. Us. Savor…

Any chance Trump will actually offer Sean Hannity his VP ticket, or is that a dream too far for us luzers & haterz?


Reader Interactions

170Comments

  1. 1.

    Tara the Antisocial Social Worker

    If you’re for Trump you dysfunctionally are for a man unfit to be president

    Fixed that for ya, Bill.

    This is the way the GOP ends, not with a bang but a whimper.

    Since Bill Kristol is always wrong, brace yourselves for a helluva bang.

  3. 3.

    Corner Stone

    Any chance Trump will actually offer Sean Hannity his VP ticket

    It’s clear he is going to ask Megyn Kelly to be his VP.
    .
    .
    .
    And if he does I am going to vote for the R ticket. Or wherever.

  5. 5.

    Cacti

    Trump’s candidacy reminds me of Brad Pitt’s opening monologue from Inglorious Basterds:

    “Now I don’t know about y’all, but I sure as hell didn’t come down from the goddamn Smokey Mountains, cross 5,000 miles of water, fight my way through half of Sicily, and jump out of a fuckin’ air-o-plane to teach the Nazis lessons in humanity.”

    There will be certain, stupid, Jim Webb sort of Democrats who will tell us we need to “understand the anger” of the new American fascist movement.

    Bullshit. Their anger isn’t complicated. They hate anyone who isn’t them, and wish harm on all of us who aren’t them.

    Fascism needs to be fought, not hugged. And the reverse is true of fat slimy Newt’s observation. If you’re not for the Democratic candidate, you’re functionally for the fascists. Either the Dem or the fascist will be elected POTUS. It’s time to stand with the good guys (or gals as the case may be ). :-)

  6. 6.

    Corner Stone

    That picture compare/contrasts Trump and McCain both look like post nuclear America hellscapes.

  7. 7.

    shomi

    Let me save you all the trouble. Hillary in a landslide. The size of the landslide will probably break records and she will bring the Senate with her. Also a huge landslide there.

    May even get some surprises in the house although that is pretty much locked down till the next redistricting in 2020. Good news is 2020 is a presidential election year so dems should do well at the state level and then get the house back after redistricting.

  8. 8.

    p.a.

    When your enemy is drowning you throw him an anvil. When your enemy jumps into deep water holding his own anvil, wearing lead boots, you start a fire and toast marshmallows.

  9. 9.

    burnspbesq

    Meanwhile, the Bernie-or-Busters are doubling down. Thanks a whole fucking lot for that front page, Boston Globe.

  12. 12.

    Tara the Antisocial Social Worker

    @Sasha:

    Up until this campaign, my defining moment in “rooting for injuries” was when Jerry Falwell sued Larry Flynt.

  16. 16.

    The Sheriff Endorses Baud 2016

    Paul Ryan is going to support Trump. It’s just a matter of time

    I said it elsewhere, I’ll say it here: Paul Ryan will still be in elected office in January. He’s in all likelihood still going to be Speaker. He could very well be the leading light of the party past the Il Douche implosion. I can easily see him giving zero fucks in keeping as far away from the Trumpster fire as possible.

  17. 17.

    Anoniminous

    After running the numbers through my trusty HP 12C I get the popular vote at:

    Trump: 40.4%
    Clinton: 59.6%

    Figure a 2008-like Obama 365 to 173 and it could go even higher depending on Latino turnout in Texas and Arizona.

  20. 20.

    gf120581

    @The Sheriff Endorses Baud 2016: My sentiments exactly. Plus, he now has to entertain the possibility that he won’t be Speaker come January. It’s still not likely, but Trump does make there a legit chance of the GOP losing the House and my guess is Ryan is going to try and do anything possible to contain the fallout. (I doubt McConnell’s cares; I think he’s given up any hope on keeping the Senate and is looking ahead to the more favorable 2018 map.)

  23. 23.

    Villago Delenda Est

    The fratricide…I love it to pieces. Hannity and Kristol going after each other in twitter slap fights…it is to die for!

  24. 24.

    ? Martin

    @Anoniminous: Maybe Arizona. Texas only if they remember how much they hate New York, which I wouldn’t count on.

    I’ll be pretty happy if they have to dump money into Georgia.

  27. 27.

    JCJ

    Trump reminds me of that Microsoft Twitter bot that turned into a racist, misogynistic asshole after one day of interacting with others on Twitter. Trump is like a Twitter bot that interacted with Republicans and after a few days we have the ideal Republican candidate.

  30. 30.

    Anoniminous

    @? Martin:

    48% Hispanic turnout in Texas in 2012. If the turnout rate equaled white participation (66%) plus in the increase in Hispanic voters since 2012 means Texas flips. Granted getting people who have never voted in their lives into the polling booth is a hard job but Trump could manage to git her done …

    as we say in these hyar parts

  31. 31.

    TriassicSands

    @Cacti:

    I don’t know if Trump’s “politics” are consistent or coherent enough to be satisfactorily described by any one word. Is he a fascist? Well, there are certainly elements of fascism in his statements, at least when he’s not contradicting himself.

    Republicans are right to say that he’s not a conservative, though there are elements of his politics that align nicely with some parts of Modern Republicanism. He’s not a socialist, though he has made statements that leaned in that direction. Some of his comments have fit with a limited aspect of liberalism.

    In short, the man is an idiot with no coherent political, ethical, or moral philosophy. That said, it wouldn’t be unfair to dress his followers in nice, freshly pressed brown shirts.

  32. 32.

    ? Martin

    @Anoniminous: Oh, I know those numbers. But you won’t hit that without Dems investing in the state, and I’m not seeing that happening yet. I’d love to see it – I’d love to see a full press in Texas. Having to defend Texas would fucking terrify the GOP.

  35. 35.

    starscream

    Trump will spend all of his time in OH, WI, MI, and PA. That is his only path to victory.

  36. 36.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Matt LewisVerified account
    ‏@ mattklewis
    “I’m thinking maybe we need a new Speaker.” – Hannity

    somewhere John Boehner is chuckling into a large scotch. And he can chuckle into his bloody mary in the morning when he sees that again and thinks it’s the first time

  38. 38.

    NonyNony

    @srv:

    If you’re on the same side as Bill Kristol… maybe should rethink that.

    Who’s on the same side? Kristol is upset that Trump is kicking the GOP in the nads. None of us are unhappy about it – the GOP has needed a good nad kicking for a very long time.

  39. 39.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    So what’s with the weirdness about the Marla Maples cheesecake photo under the taco bowl? What does he sit at his desk and do, for gods sake?

  41. 41.

    Emma

    Can we pool and send flowers to Boehner? He must be overjoyed to miss the pissing party.

  42. 42.

    Anoniminous

    @? Martin:

    Georgia had a 59% turnout rate in 2012 and Romney carried it by 304,861 votes and 8 points. So there’s that. On the other hand pundits are saying the state is becoming less rural and less white. So there’s that. AFAIK, no Democratic presidential contender has put time or money into Georgia since Jimmy Carter’s win in 1980 and AFAIK there’s been no reason for a Presidential campaign to throw money into the state. Looking forbackwards there’s no reason for the Clinton campaign to throw money into the state either.

  45. 45.

    ? Martin

    @TriassicSands: He is perfectly aligned with conservatism. Every aspect of returning to the 1950s is there – the racism, xenophobia, sexism, dominance, authoritarianism.

    Previous approaches to this ran through jesus-humping, but thats more of a signaling mechanism than a goal. The only reason Ryan and company are saying they oppose Trump is that they know that base conservatism is deeply unpopular with the broader population. They need to move the party forward without alienating the base and Trump undermines that completely. Trump is the perfect conservative, but a terrible strategic Republican.

  46. 46.

    Jeffro

    I think our number-one mission at this point has to be…well, nothing. Let these rather repugnant folks slap each other around for a half year, it’s awesome!!

    Having said that, if you have a hand-wringing Dem in your office or social club or whatever, please reassure them that The Don’s numbers are unbelievably bad across the board and HRC has ‘got this’. Then let ’em know a little about current events – 41 and 43 sitting out the convention and not endorsing Trump, Ryan unable to endorse at this time, etc.

    Good times, folks…

  47. 47.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Lawrence O’Donnell bring scary kewpie zombie Kellyanne Whatever out of storage to chirp obnoxiously about how Trump can win.

  49. 49.

    A Ghost To Most

    Anybody think the opossum top will choose Joe Scar as his veep? Dude has been fellating tRump for months.

  50. 50.

    Tara the Antisocial Social Worker

    @eclare:

    My opinion of Flynt was formed when his magazine ran the spread mocking the victim of the gang rape at Big Dan’s Bar. More recently, he ran a photoshopped picture of a female commentator being forcibly “shut up” with oral sex, because she was a woman who’d expressed an opinion he disliked.

    If there’s a hell, I’d be perfectly happy to see him and Falwell locked in a room there together.

  53. 53.

    Anoniminous

    @Percysowner:

    Trump is a buffoon. Our nominee (Clinton) is going to chew his ass up and spit it out.

    If you want to panic worry about some TeaBagging shitheel we’ve never heard of who isn’t a buffoon looking at what Trump did and how he did it. That’s the guy to worry about.

  54. 54.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @amk: she proposed Marsha Blackburn as a Trump veep and counter to Hillary. I haven’t heard such brilliant political thinking since 2008

  55. 55.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Adam L Silverman: OT question. You’ve spoken of the TRX gear. I’ve looked at it and it seems to be a good fit for somebody who travels or spends a long time in an environment where there isn’t a gym nearby. But if I have regular access to a well-equipped gym, what’s the benefit?

  56. 56.

    Fair Economist

    @Anoniminous:

    Georgia had a 59% turnout rate in 2012 and Romney carried it by 304,861 votes and 8 points. So there’s that. On the other hand pundits are saying the state is becoming less rural and less white.

    An 8-point swing from 2012 is very possible. That’s 55-43 – not even close to a landslide.

  59. 59.

    Tara the Antisocial Social Worker

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I figured Trump’s probably narrowed his list to Cliven Bundy or George Zimmerman. Though somebody at the GOS suggested that he’d just name his own Twitter account as his running mate.

  60. 60.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Cacti: Well said! It will be an easy choice in November. Trump’s fascism has been on full display all throughout his campaign.

    He recently said that within the first 100 days of his presidency (shudders), he’ll ban all Muslims from entering the US. Straight Up Bigot.

  61. 61.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    O’Donnell– Obama decides exactly what intelligence is shared with nominees.

    thank god

  62. 62.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    @shomi:

    There are no guarantees. there’s still a voting base of Far Right wingnuts for the GOP. And there’s a serious problem of voter suppression efforts in 22 (!) states.

    The Democrats still need to push a massive Get-The-Damn-Vote-Out effort to ensure that landslide, to ensure that Trump never gets anywhere near the Oval Office and that whatever’s left of the Republican Party gets driven out at the Senate, House, and state legislative levels.

  64. 64.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Anoniminous: I wonder why someone who is eligible to vote wouldn’t do so. Fingers crossed that Trump does everything in his power to piss off minority groups and women more than he already has during the next 6 months. That should be more than enough motivation.

  65. 65.

    Tara the Antisocial Social Worker

    @eclare:

    The Big Dan’s Bar one was pre-internet. Here’s the other one I mentioned, but it’s hardly unique – misogyny is what he sells.

  66. 66.

    TriassicSands

    I think the Republican hand-wringing about Trump being the end of the GOP is nonsense. Both parties have taken horrendous drubbings in presidential elections and it hasn’t led to either the dissolution of the party or even major revisions in beliefs or practices.

    Goldwater was crushed by Johnson, but the Republican candidate won the next presidential election and Goldwater’s extreme conservative politics not only didn’t go away, they came to be the mainstream of the party — in the sense that the mainstream became extreme, not necessarily that the extremism in 2016 is the same as Goldwater’s in 1964. As abhorrent as it was, Goldwater’s conservatism was a lot more coherent than the mess at the core of the GOP these days. He was conservative — the Modern Republican Party isn’t conservative so much as it is radical and in a philosophical shambles. They stand for nothing more than tax cuts for the wealthy, but that hardly qualifies as a conservative philosophy. It’s just greed. Goldwater and today’s Republicans (especially Tea Baggers) do have one thing in common — a perverse reading of the Constitution. The difference there may be that I’ll bet Goldwater actually knew what was in the Constitution, he just interpreted it in a noxious manner. Modern Republicans behave as though they’ve never even seen the Constitution, let alone studied it.

    The Democrats lost big in both ’72 (McGovern) and ’84 (Mondale), and Ronald Reagan pummeled incumbent president Jimmy Carter in ’80, yet the Dems have now held the White House for sixteen of the last 24 years and could well add another four years come January 2017.

    Trump’s lack of a coherent political philosophy makes him a poor model on which to redesign a “new” Republican Party. If the hand wringers are worried that Trump’s interlude could cause their present brand of Republicanism to fall out of favor and necessitate some deep soul-searching, well, folks, that is nothing new. Every time the Republicans have suffered a defeat in recent years there has been a call for a change of direction. We need to be more inclusive, they cry, and then turn to more and more nativist and xenophobic candidates. The change they’ve claimed they need just hasn’t happened. The current crop of Republican office holders is too wedded to their core beliefs — racism, success through division and suspicion, nativism, tax cuts for the wealthy, and a big helping of social conservatism to sucker in the religious fanatics. They whine endlessly about the size of government, but it never shrinks when they’re in charge — it just becomes more and more dysfunctional. They’re killing government through their own profound incompetence. In truth, they don’t have a political philosophy anymore; rather they have a strategy to win elections.

    Trump won’t kill off the GOP. Win or lose in November we’re stuck with the Republican Party. If Trump could kill the Republican Party it would be a monumental service to humanity and the planet. No such luck.

  67. 67.

    Anoniminous

    @TriassicSands:

    [Peter Drucker] saw a mob on the streets of Frankfurt cheering wildly for a Nazi Party official who was explaining, ”We don’t want lower bread prices, we don’t want higher bread prices, we don’t want unchanged bread prices — we want National Socialist bread prices.”

    Fascism is a political ideology that is as much Dada street theater as anything else. Trump plays well in and to that.

  68. 68.

    AkaDad

    Shamelessly stolen from the Twitters

    Trump is building a wall between Republicans and Hispanics. And the Republicans are gonna pay for it.

  69. 69.

    TriassicSands

    @efgoldman:

    In defense of ol’ Roman, he was worried about all the “mediocre” Americans who needed representation on the SCOTUS. There is no record of his being concerned about representation for the buffoons, although that may have been because he saw that as his job.

  71. 71.

    Patricia Kayden

    @shomi: Love your optimism. Secretary Clinton has been through the fire for decades so I don’t know what Trump or GOP PACs could throw at her which would stick. This may be her election to lose.

  72. 72.

    Anya

    I don’t want to savor these little grandstanding points. I want the republican establishment to rally around Trump so that the whole ship can sink together. I don’t want him running an outsider campaign. If the republicans abondon him then he’ll claim he’s independant thinking. I want Paul Ryan to make him a deal he can’t refuse. I want them shackled together with the horrible republican policies along with Trump’s open racism, sexism and xenophobia. That’s when I will savor.

  73. 73.

    Anoniminous

    @Fair Economist:

    In 2008 Obama lost Georgia by ~5 points, 52.23% to 47.02, in a year of overwhelming Democratic victory. It is very, very, rare in my experience for an 8 point deficit to be overcome without some other factor coming into play. Trump may very well be that factor. On the other hand Georgia – and Texas, alas – may be our equivalent of the GOP thinking Pennsylvania is forever within their reach … and never is.

  75. 75.

    ? Martin

    @TriassicSands:

    Trump won’t kill off the GOP. Win or lose in November we’re stuck with the Republican Party. If Trump could kill the Republican Party it would be a monumental service to humanity and the planet. No such luck.

    Well, California is still sending 14 Republican representative to Congress (39 Dems). We’ll still have a GOP in November but maybe we can flip another 14 seats. No gerrymandering here. No voter ID. Some pretty pissed off latinos, though.

  77. 77.

    catclub

    @Anoniminous:

    Looking forbackwards there’s no reason for the Clinton campaign to throw money into the state either.

    The Obama campaign in 2008 had things mostly sewed up and looked around and put money into NC and Indiana.

  78. 78.

    Redshift

    @Jeffro:

    I think our number-one mission at this point has to be…well, nothing. Let these rather repugnant folks slap each other around for a half year, it’s awesome!!

    Our mission is volunteer, donate, organize, and GOTV. HRC has “got” beating Trump. Crushing him like a bug and bringing along the Senate and as much as possible the House is partly our job.

  79. 79.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Daniel Dresser ‏@ dandrezner 10m10 minutes ago
    I can’t believe I’m going to have to listen to at least six more months of this shit.
    — Byron York @ ByronYork
    — In WV, Trump is discussing the decline in quality of hair spray. ‘It used to be good.’

  80. 80.

    NonyNony

    @Omnes Omnibus: Trump’s not going to win PA either.

    He might have a shot here in OH, but he’d need to run the table with white voters here – including the women – because nobody else is going to vote for him.

  83. 83.

    Anoniminous

    @efgoldman:

    Aren’t buffioons entitled to representation?

    No.

    :-)

    @ Patricia Kayden

    There’s an active sub-field within Political Science beavering away, writing learned tomes and obscure monographs, seeking to answer that question. While I do not claim I’ve done an exhaustive search through the literature my impression is the consensus is:

    People don’t vote because they don’t vote and since they don’t vote they won’t vote because they’ve never voted.

    ;-)

  85. 85.

    Ken

    @starscream:

    Trump will spend all of his time in OH, WI, MI, and PA. That is his only path to victory.

    Maybe, though I think the list needs to be longer. But do you think he knows it; and if not, do you think he’ll listen to anyone who tries to tell him?

  87. 87.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @catclub: The exact calculus of where to put campaign funds at this point in the primary will vary from year to year. The point is that it should be put where it can do the most good. HRC isn’t going to spend much if it provides not bang for the buck. California matters. She got a virtual delegate tie without any effort in IN. Money not spent now is available for the general.

  88. 88.

    The Sheriff Endorses Baud 2016

    @NonyNony:

    He might have a shot here in OH, but he’d need to run the table with white voters here – including the women – because nobody else is going to vote for him.

    We were the only state with any real name recognition for Kasich, and the governor ran Il Douche out of here on a rail. He’s not winning Ohio either.

  89. 89.

    Wag

    @srv: we aren’t on the same side as Kristal. He is on Donald’s right and we’re on his left. Donald is a wall between us. We share a common enemy but that doesn’t make us allies.

  90. 90.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gin & Tonic: Without sounding tautological its the same benefit you get if you use it while traveling, at home, in a park, etc. While the equipment was originally developed by former Special Operations personnel, specifically SeALs (IIRC), so that a workout could be done anywhere, the applications are way beyond that. The system is designed to allow you to do three things at once, or in combinations depending on how you structure your workout. These three things are: 1) functional strength training – getting muscular development equivalent to using weights (though you can add weights to certain exercises if you’re particularly creative); 2) core training – almost every TRX exercise requires a proper activation of the core, not just the exercises one would specifically consider being for one’s core; and 3) cardio-vascular benefits – because one has to activate their core for every exercise, and because of the interaction dynamics of that working in conjunction with the functional strength training component and the necessity to maintain balance, one can get a proper cardiovascular workout and its benefits from just doing a properly constructed workout. Additionally, because of how the system works, while one builds muscle mass, one also tends to get a better balance of developing longer muscles, not just larger ones, which for some is an important aesthetic consideration. This is especially true of the exercises that are part of the TRX yoga and pilates (without a reformer) workouts.

    In my case my workout is structured with 28 exercises – two of which are for initial warm up (4 count jumping jacks) and to maintain the work load between the first and second halves of the workout (touchdown/floor jacks). The remaining 26 exercises are broken down by body component: chest, back, legs, shoulders and neck, arms, and core. Some of these focus on a specific body part, for instance TRX chest press (equivalent of a bench press), but still require full and proper core activation – so they are still compound exercises. Others are multi-muscle group compound exercises and my workout jumps from area to area so as not to complete exhaust a muscle group/body area and/or part all at once. The result is that by the fourth exercise I’m starting to drip sweat heavily and breath hard, by the time I get to the eight exercise – the TRX Burpee (these are the exercises of el Diablo…), which is a multi-muscle group compound exercise requiring maintenance of balance through three planes (standing, plank, and return to standing) I’m sucking wind and sopped.

    Overall I find that use of the TRX does less wear and tear to my body than using a combination of free weights and selected machines. And when I do decide to cycle back to weights for a few weeks to change things up and confuse my system, I find that I’ve had increases in the amount of weight I can lift. Also, on a lot of exercises, I’ve largely maxed out what I can do. Especially with my legs. I’ve maxed out the leg extension machine, as well as the multi-hip (high glute/abductor, adductor, quad lift), I have yet to do an exercise on the TRX that if I get the angle and length of strap correct that I don’t find challenging. The other great advantage is that the structure of one’s workout is limited only by one’s imagination. I have at least two exercises in my workout that I’ve never seen in any TRX manual that I started with: I wonder what happens if I do X? Oh! I like that. Another thing that I like is that if you want to simply structure your workout like a normal weight split, say a three day chest/back day 1, legs/abs/shoulders day 2, arms day 3 – you can. I’m actually doing that right now. Partially that’s because I was out of the gym for almost three weeks with a sinus infection last month and I wanted to build back up to my high difficulty level regular workout. But I also wanted to do something else for a bit as I’d been doing my normal workout, even with occasional tweaks, without a change up for about six months and it was starting to feel like a chore. So I’ve been pulling the exercises out per body part and just focusing in on their particular day. And I’ve also been trying some new things to work into the rotation.

    Finally, as with everything, you may try it and decide it is definitely not for you. I’m a big believer that people should develop a workout that appeals to them and they’ll stick with, even as they mix it up. There are some programs that aren’t for me. For instance, Crossfit and Zumba – largely because I don’t like to work out in groups (outside of doing aikido, which is all partner training). While I’m happy to chat a bit, I’m not going to the gym to be social during my workout, rather I’m going to workout. I hope that helps and if you’ve got further questions, please feel free to reach out off line. Alain put up a contact email for me off to the right with the other front pagers, and I’ll be happy to try to answer any and all of your questions to the best of my ability.

  91. 91.

    ? Martin

    @Anoniminous:

    Looking forbackwards there’s no reason for the Clinton campaign to throw money into the state either.

    Here are the Senate races that Dems have a shot at:

    Burr (NC)
    Murkowski (AK)
    McCain (AZ)
    Isakson (GA)
    Coats (IN)
    Grassley (IA)
    Blunt (MO)

    None are easy wins, but if you can press the GOP on all of these races (as Obama is working to do) then you may pull off a few of them, and you force the GOP to pull resources from places like Ohio and Florida.

    I would go after all of them. I’d also go after Mike Lee in Utah and Vitter in Louisiana for different reasons.

  93. 93.

    Mike J

    @Omnes Omnibus: I would like nothing better than to live in a world where Democratic candidates had the money to run commercials in every stop set in every media market across the US.

    Of course any Democrat with that much money would be a corporate whore and not deserving of the votes that should go to Jill Stein.

  94. 94.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: That’s inline with the tradition. Truman started it with the two nominees to succeed him. He was astonished when he became President how little he knew about what was going on (the Manhattan Project for instance). And he wanted both of the people who might follow him into office to be up to speed on the first day.

  97. 97.

    Dog Dawg Damn

    To echo someone above:

    I’m going to be in panic mode until Clinton puts this thing away.

    Off/On topic, but what kind of meltdown would it take for this country to *actually* start to give a crap about small-d democracy. Mandatory voting, more equitable districting, abolishing the Senate all seem out of the question. Are we going to have to utterly crash and burn Third Reich style before any action is taken to address the wildly volatile nature of our “democratic” system.

    Even the Big D Democratic party doesn’t seem to care–with caucuses and superdelegates and Iowa and New Hampshire and broken voting machines and long-lines–so really, who is there to give a fuck?

    We are playing with fire, and we can’t continue to run the table forever. Drumpf should be a wake-up call, but we are such slow learners. Globalization is going to kick our ass hard, that’s for sure.

  99. 99.

    SciNY

    @TriassicSands: Agreed. Trump and Cruz — the evil bizarro version of John the Baptist and JC (not you, Cole). Cut the head of one, and the other will come and get you down the road. (Or something like that.) The follow-up will not be as much of a shock to the system, and thus more palatable to the masses.

  100. 100.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Prescott Cactus: Not sure that’s really a problem. Almost no one knows about it and I think the one person that was obsessively flogging it on the Internet stopped. I’m not saying the optics couldn’t be spun, but does anyone really care if the VP has something that probably isn’t, but someone might try to spin into, a skeleton in their closet?

  101. 101.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Adam L Silverman: yeah, I think the great obstacle to Scarborough’s national ticket ambitions (and I think they’re real and free-floating) are that he doesn’t strike anyone but himself, and maybe Mika, as very impressive.

  102. 102.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Dog Dawg Damn: I think there are two distinct issues in your questions: 1) what will it take to make enough people care to create reform and 2) what will it take to actually get the reform. I’ve broken them out for a reason. In the case of the former, I’m really not sure anymore. If the financial and economic crisis that began in 2008 wouldn’t bring enough people out to bring enough pressure to bear to actually move the needle, with the exception of the astro-turfed and coopted Tea Party folks who pushed the needle in the other direction, I don’t know what will. In regards the latter, which may have a partial dampening effect in regards to the former, the manner in which we can actually create the institutional and structural changes you’re talking about at the Federal level were designed to be a very, very heavy lift. And even worse, should you get a Constitutional amendment through Congress, you won’t get enough states to go alone with it. If you manage to get a Constitutional convention convened, you can kiss the republic goodby. It can’t really be limited and it would be easily hijacked. Together you’d find the entire thing fall apart.

    So unless you want a real coup or revolution or rebellion or insurgency, all of which will entail a lot of violence, likely spin completely out of control, and create a significant possibility of the republic coming apart as a consequence, we’re where we always are: incremental change in a system that is built around process more than progress.

  105. 105.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m also not sure he really wants it. I always got the impression he got out because he’d had enough. And he’s much happier being a commenter who can pick and choose just how conservative/ideological he wants to be on each specific issue as opposed to always make sure he was appropriately ideologically aligned. Between the constant fundraising and the need to maintain ideological adherence and purity, I can’t imagine why anyone really would want to be a member of Congress as a Republican. Its reached the point where you can’t even do the constituent service portion of bringing back Federal funds without being accused of ideological impurity.

  106. 106.

    ? Martin

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    The seats Dems *should* be able to get most of are FL, IL, NH, OH, PA, WI.

    Most of these are battleground states or relatively blue states that Dems should have an advantage in. I’m assuming Dems were always all-in on all of these states. The states I previously listed are places they probably weren’t considering investing big in, but I think they should go big there as well now that Trump is the nom. They should have pushed Vitter up, simply due to the colossal shit-show that Louisiana has revealed itself to be after Jindal. Utah, not because Lee is vulnerable there, but because Trump is so deeply unpopular there that the GOP could have a really low turnout and you might just get lucky. Plus it’d have to be utterly demoralizing for the GOP to have to dump money into fucking Utah.

  107. 107.

    srv

    Mobile flash unlocked! I can’t wait for 6 months of Trump Flash ads!

    I hope all y’all’s hero Kristol does put something together just to make it more interesting. Punisher vs Hillary might get pretty boring.

  108. 108.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gin & Tonic: You’re quite welcome. The wellness center I work out at, which is where I was first exposed to the TRX, has a dedicated TRX area with 8 of their own sets. I always bring my own because I’m a big fan of using one’s own equipment. I know mine is maintained properly and isn’t abused. Also, I have the military kit, so the foot stirrups are a but bigger, which I like over the regular one. The only other thing I can say is try it. If its not for you, its not a crime against fitness or anything.

  110. 110.

    Mike J

    @Adam L Silverman: There are five gillion and three stupid rumours about Clinton that have been disproved over and over again, but always sound really good if somebody unconnected with the campaign wants to drop some innuendo.

    Morning Joe has the dead intern story. Not true, he didn’t actually do anything wrong, but if he ever runs for anything again you will hear dead intern dead intern dead intern dead intern dead intern dead intern dead intern dead intern .

  112. 112.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @? Martin: Thank you for explaining this to me – I would never have thought through any of this on my own. I had simply asked burnsie why he left WI off his list.

  114. 114.

    Anoniminous

    @? Martin:

    I agree we need to do a full court press of the GOP Senate and House. Strictly speaking, that’s not our nominee’s (Clinton) problem or job.

  115. 115.

    smith

    @? Martin: Speaking of GOP money, how much do you think it’s going to be available to Trump? It would be perfect revenge on him for crashing their party to make him spend his own money.

  116. 116.

    burnspbesq

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I had simply asked burnsie why he left WI off his list.

    You can’t pin that one on me. I was on the FinCen website at the time, looking for a copy of the new Customer Due Diligence rule that was supposedly issued today.

  118. 118.

    Splitting Image

    @Anoniminous:

    In 2008 Obama lost Georgia by ~5 points, 52.23% to 47.02, in a year of overwhelming Democratic victory. It is very, very, rare in my experience for an 8 point deficit to be overcome without some other factor coming into play. Trump may very well be that factor. On the other hand Georgia – and Texas, alas – may be our equivalent of the GOP thinking Pennsylvania is forever within their reach … and never is.

    I can’t find the article, but I seem to recall Nate Silver analyzing the state back and 2008 and him saying that Georgia would probably go Democratic if the vote could be restricted to people 65 years and under. Polling that year seemed to show Obama leading slightly in all age groups except for the 65 and ups, which is to say people who were already 20 years or older when the Civil Rights Act was passed. That group was as hardcore Republican as anywhere in the country and was giving the G.O.P. its entire margin of victory.

    Eight years later, that 65+ bracket is now 73+. Georgia is almost certainly on its way into the Democratic camp, but whether this is the year it happens may be another matter.

  119. 119.

    Adam L Silverman

    @smith: He’s set up a finance committee, has a Super PAC working, and is now coordinating with the RNC’s finance guys. Now the RNC’s funding is currently at its lowest levels comparatively to previous presidential election years, and its not clear they’re going to pull a bunch in, but Trump has transitioned from financing his campaigns with 0% interest loans to himself, which thanks to the tax codes will almost never have to be paid back and he’s likely also able to write off his taxes or at least defer, to doing the normal campaign finance thing.

  120. 120.

    Tara the Antisocial Social Worker

    @SciNY:

    Trump and Cruz — the evil bizarro version of John the Baptist and JC (not you, Cole).

    Jimmy Carter?

  121. 121.

    Prescott Cactus

    @Adam L Silverman: My first knowledge of it came when Kos got the banhammer from MSNBC and thought of the irony. Skeletons don’t seem to matter as much unless your own skin is too thin.

  122. 122.

    srv

    The olds and greatest generation will turn out for Trump like they did for Omaha and Inchon.

  123. 123.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Prescott Cactus: Ahh, that’s who it was. I remember he got banned, couldn’t remember for what. And Scarborough wasn’t even heavily involved with MSNBC yet. If I recall correctly he was just doing part time commentary on their election coverage. I remember the add: him, Olbermann, Ventura, Buchanan, Maddow and the tag line – “they’re really tall”.

  125. 125.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @srv: My grandmother, born in 1922, voted for Obama twice. She knew the Great Depression and WWII personally. Learn facts.

  127. 127.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    @srv:

    Too broad a claim: there are many from the Greatest Generation who are life-long Democrats, having survived a Republican-borne Depression and served under a Democratic wartime administration.

  128. 128.

    Suzanne

    I should be scared of Trump, but right now I’m still in shock that they actually nominated the dude who talked about the size of his junk.

    Any time they want to be taken seriously as an intellectual movement, I can hang it on them. Forever.

  129. 129.

    Anoniminous

    @srv:

    The “oldest and greatest generation” are mostly dead. Of of the ~16,000,000 members of the United States Armed Forces during World War II it is estimated 700,000 are still alive. So unless you plan on unleashing the Great Zombie GOTV Drive of 2016 I’m afraid you are off in La-La Land.

    Per usual.

  130. 130.

    FlyingToaster (Tablet)

    @srv: Like Omnes, my D mom, a precinct captain for Jack Kennedy in ’60, phonebanked for Obama both times. And she’s in FL.

    You should go read Sam Wang or fivethirtyeight for a while.

  131. 131.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    There are a lot of factors at play here:

    1) Trump is hugely unpopular with Hispanic voters (77 against, 11 for),

    2) Trump is hugely unpopular with Women voters across ethnicity (near 70 against),

    3) Trump is already losing Black voters due to anti-Republican sentiment among that demographic, with no sign yet of winning any of them back,

    4) Trump does not have a lock on White voters, his last polling number for them was 49 percent support. Mitt Romney had 61 percent… and still lost.

    5) There are no guarantees in anything. DEMOCRATS MUST GET THE DAMN VOTE OUT.

  133. 133.

    NonyNony

    @Adam L Silverman: Joe Scar has been on MSNBC forever. He did a prime time show for them starting in 2003 and switched to the morning show in 2006. By the time he got Kos banned he’d been a fixture on the network for 7 years.

  134. 134.

    smith

    @Adam L Silverman: Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if the big money spigot were turned way down this time, especially since very few believe he has a chance of winning, so why throw it away? It will be channeled downticket, and Trump will find himself limited in what he can do at the presidential level. It will be exacerbated by the number of R candidates who will distance themselves from him in their campaigns, so he won’t even get any reflected boost from the money going downticket.

  136. 136.

    Tara the Antisocial Social Worker

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    In 2008, my mom drove a 90-year-old woman to the polls. She’d been born before women could vote, and never missed an election. She proudly cast her vote for Obama.

  137. 137.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NonyNony: Okay, I clearly didn’t pay any attention to his prime time show. I was clearly mesmerized by Alan Keye’s cardigan.

  138. 138.

    Adam L Silverman

    @smith: All the reporting I’ve seen indicates its going down ticket and to state and local races.

  139. 139.

    ? Martin

    @burnspbesq: Yep. But if there’s ever a year to try and run the table, this is it.

    The name of the game here is money. The GOP have already blown through nearly half a billion dollars trying to stop Trump. The voters will mostly come around but the donors may not. This is the year that the GOP will be most vulnerable to spending – so force them to spread it wide. Make them choose what they want to win because they won’t win it all. Make them defend the House – that’s what they are most likely to keep. Make them sacrifice the WH and the Senate, and do that by making they pay dearly to keep the House. This is the year you can get latinos to vote, to volunteer – particularly here in CA. The GOP has no ground game here – they need cash to win. Meet their cash with manpower. Make them burn money.

  140. 140.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @srv: You don’t have that many living relatives from that generation. If I am wrong, drop the stats that show that you have 11 aunts and uncles older than 90.

  141. 141.

    Adam L Silverman

    @? Martin: You are familiar with the DNC? The actual DNC we have?//

    Honestly its an excellent strategy. I don’t see the DNC, the DNCC and DNSC being remotely interested in it.

  142. 142.

    Mnemosyne

    @srv:

    Pre-1940 is Silent Generation, dumbass. Greatest Generation needs to have been at least age 18 by 1945.

    ETA: If they were born after 1928, they’re Silent Generation.

  143. 143.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman: You and me both. Though no flight to catch tomorrow. Just a project to put to bed and a letter of reference to write.

  146. 146.

    Seanly

    Crap, crap, crap. One of our new pups got out of the house this evening. If anyone lives in the Boise, ID area & finds a black dog with very cute ears (tips point forward), about 50 lbs, please feel free to email me. She is chipped but doesn’t have her collar. She answers to Cricket.

  148. 148.

    Adam L Silverman

    @? Martin: In this case the flaw is that none of the people involved with running the institutions that need to implement have ever demonstrated the slightest interest in doing something like it. Because that might actually lead to some real success.

  149. 149.

    Mnemosyne

    @srv:

    My mistake was in assuming you had any clue what you were talking about and responding before I double-checked your most basic premises. I’ll be sure not to do that again.

  150. 150.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @srv: Cite?

    @efgoldman: I know. But sometimes the fact that this election matters so much makes me snap a bit at shitheads who use it to play games online.

  152. 152.

    oldgold

    Camille Paglia has a terminal case of Clinton Syndrome. From her post at Salon today.

    And is there anything creepier than that current Hillary meme, the campaign slogan “I’m with her”? The blurred borderlines of those pronouns (“I” numbly dissolving into “her”) and that ambiguous preposition (“with” her like a child, a lover, or a nurse’s aide with a geriatric patient?) are close to pathological. The Hillary acolytes are joined at the hip to “her”, the Great Leader Who Needs No Name, the Maternal Tit daubed in wormwood, the bitter toxin left by men–those spoilers of the universe who created the master structures of modern civilization that provide us put-upon gals with jobs, transportation, abundant food, clean water, housing, electricity, and a magical disease-spurning municipal sewage system that only men seem required to clean and repair.

  153. 153.

    The Sheriff Endorses Baud 2016

    @srv: They were certainly at Omaha, but the Waffen SS was disbanded by Korea.

  155. 155.

    smith

    @oldgold: To be fair, Paglia would say that about any woman. She’s long labored under the delusion that if she’s sufficiently misogynistic the MRAs will award her an honorary dick.

  158. 158.

    ? Martin

    @Adam L Silverman: The problem with political leadership is that everyone is an expert at winning one race, but never more than one at a time. Obama could run this play. Hell, they pretty much did in 2008. Not sure if Clinton can or not this round. Her 2008 team sure as shit couldn’t.

  159. 159.

    RK

    “Happy MLK Day. Trump Grill makes the best fried chicken. I love the Blacks!” Ever wonder if Trump really wants to win? Who’s going to be surprised when he picks Kim Kardashian for veep?

  163. 163.

    msdc

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, the WW2 generation were the most reliable Democratic voters until the millennials came along. Sadly, there aren’t that many of them left. Our current cohort of reactionary deathbed douchebags hail from the Silent Generation.

    PS. Thanks for commenting so I didn’t have to respond to the troll.

  164. 164.

    sherparick

    @TriassicSands: The triumph of Trump is more of a shock to the pretensions of Village Media Class and their “Both Sides” meme and deep seated belief that the Republican Party is the “cohesive” Governing Party, as the “say no” party to all the harebrained “liberal” schemes the Democrats come up with. They have been avoiding the fact that the Republican base votes Republican because it has been the White Identity party since Ronald Reagan, Lee Atwater, and Karl Rove put the final touches on Richard Nixon’s “Southern Strategy.” There is a reason that 90% of the white people in Mississippi and Alabama vote Republican, just as 70 years ago their Grandfathers and Grandmothers voted Democratic. They are voting for he party of White Supremacy and they don’t give a fart about “limited Government” and “free markets.” They are voting to retain and defend a hierarchical social order, where whites are privileged over other groups, where men are privileged over women, and where bosses are privileged over workers so that everyone knows their place, and knows what will happen to them if they try to move out of it. Trump just makes it so obvious that the Republicans are the White Identity Party that the Village can’t pretend or “both sides” their way out of it.

    The question for Trump is that can he match Romney’s 59% of the white vote. Although he may pick up more non-college educated whites, particularly males, he may lose just as many college educated whites and white women of all classes. The minority vote will be about 30 to 31% of the electorate this year and even a slight fall in Black turnout and votes for the Democrats will likely be offset by Hispanic and Asian votes for Hilary (or Bernie).

  165. 165.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @TriassicSands:

    Trump’s lack of a coherent political philosophy makes him a poor model on which to redesign a “new” Republican Party.

    The GOP has always been an alliance of contradictory political movements and always required top down leadership since Lincoln. Trump’s lack of coherence is just going to aggravate the splits the GOP has had since the collapse of the Bush admin.

  167. 167.

    NobodySpecial

    @smith: Lynn Sweet reported in today’s Chicago Sun Times that the Ricketts family is pretty much committed to not one dime for Trump, after their dustup during the primary.

  168. 168.

    Tara the Antisocial Social Worker

    @oldgold:

    And is there anything creepier than that current Hillary meme

    Yes. Camille Paglia is by definition creepier than anything.

  170. 170.

    Terry chay

    @srv: those olds werent old enough to have served in Omaha or Inchon.

    Math. So. Hard.

    (Please go back to troll school. You’re losing your touch. Miss the old you.)

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