A little while ago I was on a business call about a meeting scheduled for Thursday, and the person I was talking to subsequently referred to the meeting “tomorrow.” I said, “I thought the meeting was Thursday.” She said, “Tomorrow IS Thursday.” Shit! She’s right! Anyhoo, busy, busy, but here’s a quick news round-up:
So that’s why Carlson left Fox News…
Gretchen Carlson is suing Fox News boss Roger Ailes for sexual harassment and wrongful termination. Is anyone surprised to find out Ailes is skeevy, leering, sexist asshole? Probably not.
Sunk cost fallacy
Earlier today, President Obama announced that a planned draw down of troops in Afghanistan will be curtailed — fewer soldiers will come home than originally planned. Keeping troops in that benighted hellhole for going on 15 years is pointless bullshit, IMO. But it will be continued under Clinton and would be worsened under Trump. So here we are.
House Democrats allegedly boo Senator Sanders
It’s Politico, and the juicy parts of the story rely on unnamed sources, so season accordingly, but supposedly the House Dems are as sick of the protracted Sanders campaign as I am:
Sen. Bernie Sanders is still talking like a guy who’s running for president. But frustrated House Democrats — who booed him at one point during a morning meeting — say it’s time to stop.
With the Democratic convention just weeks away, Sanders still hasn’t endorsed one-time rival Hillary Clinton and dodged questions about when he would during a tense meeting Wednesday morning with House Democrats.
“It was frustrating because he’s squandering the movement he built with a self-obsession that was totally on display,” said one senior Democrat.
A prediction: Sanders will NOT take the hint.
Paul Ryan wants to block Clinton from receiving classified briefings
The Granny Starver thinks Hillary Clinton shouldn’t receive classified briefings because the FBI said she and her staff were careless with emails several years back. But he’s okay with a racist, sexist, xenophobic demagogue who openly admires despots and cultivates neo-Nazis on Twitter getting the nuclear codes. What a fucking joke.
Open thread!
Corner Stone
I thought was fucking precious.
And adding in the House calling in FBI Director Comey tomorrow this should be the clearest signal to everyone on the fence what has to happen. HRC has to smash Trump and there needs to be a vicious down ballot tidal wave so D’s not only take back the Senate but give the House hell.
Corner Stone
HRC speaking in Atlantic City. It’s a good speech. A little dry, a little wonky but she’s making the repeated case of how Trump is bad at business and bad for business. She also took a nice shot at Gov Christie.
WarMunchkin
Regarding the Sanders story, there is a juicy part in there you should be sure not to miss:
Bernie:
LORETTA LYNCH DOESN’T VOTE UNTIL JULY
Nate Combs
I thought that the carelessness she had with those 100 or so emails was the fact that she received them at all on a private server… how is this different from receiving any email with classified info in it on a non-government email server? Honestly, I don’t know, but it seems like this same ‘carelessness’ would be happening with the candidates unless they were given .gov email addresses to receive their classified briefings in.
Corner Stone
I am still blown away by Trump’s speech yesterday. Unfortunately the only thing I am seeing blowback on so far is his praise of Saddam.
The whole thing was wreck so maybe they are having a hard time singling any specific trash out.
Roger Moore
I assume this is just getting in ahead of questions about whether Trump should get classified briefings, given how Paul Manafort has spent so much time working for skeevy dictators like Viktor Yanukovych.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Read Carlson’s statement and the cognitive dissonance is, well typical of Republicans. Run thru her work at Faux and Friends and see how many times she either stfu or said nothing when topics turned to sexual harassment. I wonder if anybody has quotes from her regarding fellow Faux stablemate O’Reilly’s problems.
Should she be free of sexual harassment in the workplace? Yes. Should I be sympathetic to her specifically? Not on your fucking life. She’s probably aware that if it weren’t for legislation passed by Democrats, she wouldn’t be able to do this. The best we can hope for is that she’ll “see the light” because like all true Republicans, if it’s not a problem for her, it’s not a problem. I’ve seen any number of former/embarrassed Republicans over the last decade nominally switch party affiliation because something finally managed to burst their total-lack-of-emphathy IGMFU bubble, be it an economic IGMFU bubble or a social IGMFU bubble. The ones who had the bubble burst but who still remain true believers all now claim to be glibertarians.
tobie
Okay…my unscientific poll of my last two Bernie supporting friends is that they’re still convinced the primary was rigged, Wasserman-Schultz and the sclerotic DNC need a major kick in the pants and this is good for the DNC and the election in November because it will reform the institution and keep people excited and engaged, and Sander’s is the reincarnation of FDR, which is what America wants and anything good that HRC has proposed has come from him so he should keep up his campaign.
Oy vey! I don’t know what to say about this. It will not end well.
schrodinger's cat
@Corner Stone: You should have live blogged it. Your comments were pithy and I am sure smarter than the actual speech.
Corner Stone
Andrea Mitchell is a ruthless fact checker when it comes to Clinton “scandals”. Otherwise…not so much.
Felonius Monk
Paul Ryan =
Frankensteinbeck
In the last months of his campaign, he put his policy goals in second place to demanding changes to the Democratic Party process. Those changes were not the changes that would make it more honest and fair. Their only consistent element was that they changed things that did not support his win. There is no other explanation for that than a toddler tantrum.
I am giving him until the convention to turn this around, but he’ll have to go way beyond a mere endorsement to make up for it, and someone who would throw that kind of tantrum at all is unlikely to ever walk it back.
Paul in KY
Read that NSA declined her request for a coded blackberry (which is totally fucked up, IMO). I wish she or someone had asked Pres. Obama to tell them to give her one.
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
It’s the old Karl Rove strategy, take an opponents strength an turn it into a weakness. Regardless of this great nothing burger the republicans were always gonna make it into the Pentagon Papers. They never learn, white water, fast and furious, travel gate, Vince Foster, all their attempts to find something equivalent to Watergate to tear down a democrat have failed. E-mail gate has been beaten to death over the last year along with Benghazi and still she leads. The fact that they now want to investigate the investigators for not coming to their desired conclusion makes their aim more apparent. She has to be guilty of something, she must be!
Trusting drump with classified material is a national security threat. But Ryan is just blowing smoke, the briefing are at the Presidents discretion, not congresses.
schrodinger's cat
Dead Ender Bernie is pathetic. He is not going to endorse Hillary. Period.
Paul in KY
@Corner Stone: Are they getting overwhelmed by the wackiness? Thinking about the non-Fox channels.
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
The beltway wants a race, too much scrutiny of the drump train wreck will be bad for ratings. But don’t worry there are interns right now mining all his utterances for campaign commercial gold.
Emma
I have been sitting here trying to get my work done and slowly building up a head of steam about Ryan. That third rate political opportunist has been built up by the MSM in spite of all his brainless spouting off. I hope to God the Democrats in Congress fight back. If they don’t I’m done with them.
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
Someone needs to get her on a couch and find out where the mean lady touched her. Her hatred is just so intense, there must be a cause, or is it just old fashioned jealousy?
dogwood
I guess this explains Carlson’s decision to advocate for the banning of assault weapons. It was her parting shot. No one should have to put up with sexual harassment. I don’t care who you are or where you work.
Corner Stone
Looks like Corker has taken himself out of any Trump VP consideration. He probably watched the same speech last night that I did.
germy
Ailes is Alfred Hitchcock and Carlson is Tippi Hedren.
Warren Terra
Lest we forget: Roger Ailes’s tendency for sexual harassment and exploitation of underlings has a history.
Also: as the network’s head (And for that matter its visionary founder) he’s responsible for the entire Fox News design, in which (often older, frumpier) dudes in business suits co-host along with young, attractive women in brightly colored short cocktail dresses, often sitting on low couches – a visual aesthetic Gretchen Carlson helped to embody.
D58826
I’m getting Clinton fatigue and it’s only early July.
The GOP wants a special prosecutor for Benghaz and now the e=mails. They will hold hearings on the e-mails. Ryan is suggesting legislation to make what Hillary is supposed to have done a crime. Maybe he should read that little Constitution he has in his pocket about Bills of Attainder.
And the there is the FBI director. While I agree that he crossed the line, most of the pundits are saying the FBI shredded Hillary’s e-mail explanations. The question is did the FBI investigation shred her story or did Comey’s comments w/o any documentation to back them up ‘shred’ her story. The media is accepting every word he said as gospel truth w/o any documentation or cross examination. On Thursday the GOP will give him unfettered access to all of the networks to continue his campaign against the Clintons. He has been at it since 1996.
If Hillary wins in Nov. I suspect the House will have impeachment papers drawn up before Inauguration day ends.
The most merciful thing that could happen is the asteroid land sooner rather than later.
dmsilev
The Republicans just can’t help themselves. They didn’t get their ideal outcome of an indictment (or, rather, a recommendation from the FBI to DOJ in favor of an indictment), so obviously the process was rigged and the fix was in, etc. They’re going to take what was ostensibly a non-partisan investigation and run it through the House Committee Farce-o-matic, probably stepping on several rakes and shooting themselves repeatedly in their feet in the process. I’m sure they can find a Rep with even stranger hair than Trey Gowdy to lead the process as well.
Barbara
@Paul in KY: What is really fucked up about this (there is no other word) is that this was most likely how the NSA thought it could do an end run around a civilian agency if it needed to, by making it much harder for State, even the Secretary of State, to deal with and act on intelligence. It’s part of how NSA keeps itself relevant and distinctive. Now, State is big, and I am sure it is harder to keep information secure at an agency like State, but I doubt if that is what motivated this entirely dickish power grab by NSA.
Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap
@D58826: If it wasn’t Clinton they’d be doing it to someone else. As some one pointed out yesterday, the one thing that is certain in all of this is that the Republicans will overreach. It’s what they do. How that overreach plays out remains to be seen, but it worked quite well for Bill.
gene108
@Corner Stone:
There’s nothing Trump can’t get away with at this point. He could go on stage and say “I want to put niggers back in their place” and the MSM wouldn’t care enough to call him racist.
Right now it’s like having a crazy uncle* around. You know he’s nuts and what he’s saying is nuts, but damn you are just used to having him around and figure what else is he going to say? That’s just my crazy uncle acting like he normally does. We love him anyway because he’s generally a nice guy.
The media is going out of its way to normalize Trump’s statements, as “that’s just Trump being Trump”, and compared to the lying, murdering, traitorous Hillary, Trump’s just saying words and jeopardizing national security by having a private e-mail server, while SoS.
MattF
Ryan turns out to be a partisan hack, in spite of those tender blue eyes. There goes my shred of synpathy for another Republican. Bye bye. Back to work.
Corner Stone
@D58826: Chin up, Lil Buckaroo.
hovercraft
@D58826:
The republicans want the ‘Clinton fatigue’, they hope it turns off enough people so that they tune out and don’t vote. Everyone of these ‘scandals’ has turned out to be nothing. Is their judgment perfect? No, but I guarantee that if millions of dollars were spent investigating you, you would come out looking somewhat sceevy. Ignore the hype, she made a stupid decision, but did not break the law. Benghazi was a clusterfuck, but no one committed a crime.
dmsilev
@schrodinger’s cat:
I’m kind of looking forward to all the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the BernieOrBust folks when they find out that the DNC has a decades-old rule stating that nobody who is an active candidate for the nomination can speak at the convention before the roll call, and that after the roll is taken, the nominee (presumptive no longer) and their running mate are the only main speakers.
There will be some minor slots open for after the roll; maybe if he’s lucky, Sanders will get five minutes at ten AM.
germy
@Warren Terra:
The esthetic is right out of the “Basic Instinct” interrogation scene.
The clothes, the hair, the crossed legs…
D58826
@efgoldman: Actually I disagree even though I have been a HILBOT since day one. Running against Bernie sharpened her message, kept her on her toes and did show that there is a progressive element in the body politic. The problem isn’t that he ran, it’s that he didn’t know when to stop running.. He should have given a graceful concession speech and then enjoyed the gains he made in the platform.
Instead it has become a petty settling of scores and ego trip for him and Jane.
bemused
Eeew and gag. Ailes and Doocy should be damn grateful if any woman have ever given them a spin…without being bullied into it.
Patricia Kayden
@Corner Stone: I’m hoping this invigorates our side to come out in droves in addition to President Obama and VP Biden campaigning for Secretary Clinton. Democrats need to get on top of this story and push back vigorously against the Republican onslaught against Secretary Clinton. The email and Benghazi “scandals” are nothing but partisan muckraking and Republicans need to be called out when their own Presidential candidate is such a dangerous buffoon.
@dmsilev: They may be overplaying their hands though (as is their practice). After awhile, the public gets tired of the boys who cry wolf one time too many. Republicans have been crying wolf about Clinton “scandals” for over 20 years. We’re beginning to tune them out.
Patricia Kayden
@schrodinger’s cat: I’m trying to figure out how it would benefit Senator Sanders not to ever endorse Secretary Clinton. He’ll just look childish and bitter (and perhaps a little sexist as well). He needs to put aside personal feelings and do what he can to help defeat Trump. That’s what is important now.
MattF
@gene108: Truth to tell, I had a crazy uncle. Remember the fine print on the back of old stock certificates where they’d list the crank lawsuits filed against the corportation? He’d be on those lists.
Also, he’d go off on racist rants in public. Not so easy to deal with– my father (his brother) felt protective towards him.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage: So true. Anyone who claims to my face to be a libertarian, I simply tell them I’m sorry they’ve chosen to lead a life without principles, civic responsibility, or any claim to constitutional rights. This tends to offend them, but it’s true, and has the additional benefit of insuring they’ll never speak to me again.
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck: This.
MattF
@Patricia Kayden: I’m sure he’s been offered mutliple more-or-less honorable ways out and apparently has turned them all down. It’s on him now.
catclub
Also, Whose campaign manager has close ties to Vladimir Putin.
I bet Obama is giving Trump nothing sensitive in those briefings.
nonynony
@Patricia Kayden:
And for Hillary Clinton at least – none of the Republican scandals have led anywhere at all.
Seriously – name one actual scandal that she was involved in that Republicans have screamed about. One that has panned out to actually show scandalous behavior on her part.
There aren’t any. The closest she actually gets to a real scandal is that her husband cheated on her. Not even her scandal, but Bill’s.
I’m not saying she’s pure as the driven snow – there’s stuff in her actual voting record that I’m not on board with and there’s stuff she’s said in the past that I don’t agree with, and I will grudgingly concede that listening to State Department IT guys on how to get her e-mail to work the way here predecessor did has in retrospect turned out to be a bad idea (never listen to IT guys – they’ll steer you wrong every time) – but as far as scandals go she’s got very little on her. Except for a metric fuckton of allegations that inevitably lead to nothing that is.
D58826
@hovercraft: I know. One of the things that pushed me in the direction of Obama in 2008 was the hope that he would not draw the same kind of opposition that Hillary would. That Clinton derangement syndrome was just confined to the Clintons. Obviously that turned out to be a false hope. And so now rather than talking about real issues confronting the country the media spends days validating Comey’s unsubstantiated assertions. Even if ‘old little hands’ is a fool and can’t stick to the script there are issues that the media should be asking Hillary about. Climate change, income inequality, etc.
Betty Cracker
@efgoldman: I also regret my early receptiveness to the Sanders campaign, but could the Democrats have really stopped him from running? Once he registered as a Democrat, what grounds would they have had to prevent him running for president as a Democrat?
nonynony
@catclub:
This is exactly why Ryan is making hay about it now. Because inevitably when word gets out that Trump is shut out of security briefings because of his campaign manager’s ties to Putin and Putin cronies, the Republicans can scream about how Clinton is the real security leak because the FBI said she was sloppy.
That’s all this is – politics as usual. I’d wonder what the old guard anti-Commie Republicans from the 50s would say about Ryan setting it up so that security secrets can be transmitted directly to the former KGB director and current leader of Russia, but I’d assume more than a few would say something like “is it to stop a Democrat from getting elected? Well then good!”
Shell
y
Yes, they can’t be bothered to have hearings on a new Supreme Court justice or gun violence or funding for the Zika virus….But a chance to mug for the cameras over total bull shit, okay!
nonynony
@D58826:
This has been true since 1994. At least.
schrodinger's cat
@efgoldman: His wonkiness is a myth created by MSM, the media arm of the GOP.
dmsilev
@D58826:
Definitely agreed. Most of the primary campaign was fine; he didn’t really start to go off the rails until New York and the mid-Atlantic states made it clear that Hillary was going to win. Thats when the focus of his campaign increasingly became about the process rather than the policy. He would have been well advised to have followed Hillary’s 2008 timetable and bowed out of the race a few days after the last primary. He could have then used his support as a strong bargaining chip to push for the policies he wanted. Instead, that’s lost among the pettiness.
Paul in KY
@germy: Don’t have any sympathy for her. If her allegations are true, hope she hurts him bad.
She is a nasty piece of work, IMO. Played right along with the I’m a not-so-bright, math is hard, pretty girl who likes it when the men explain stuff to me & go kill bad guys.
nonynony
@Betty Cracker: Any attempt to stop him would have only made his campaign more attractive. And it would have turned off a lot of Dem voters who feel like the open and honest exchange of liberal ideas is crucial to the health of the party.
No, not putting up any barriers to his candidacy was the right call. Nobody could have predicted he’d go off the deep end like he has though. I keep hoping he’ll wake up and realize he’s being an ass, but according to some folks I know who are formerly from Vermont he’s been an ass his whole life so I’m not holding my breath. (They actually see “being an ass” as a good characteristic in a legislator, but tellingly they both voted for Clinton in their primary because they didn’t think he’d make a good president.)
Paul in KY
@CONGRATULATIONS!: I just tell them they’re a Republican who’s too weeny to call themselves a Republican.
Generally has the same effect.
My Truth Hurts
Here’s a hint. Sanders knows his supporters want more influence on the DLC led Democratic Party and this year’s platform. He’s in it to the end to make the war mongers and Wall Street Democrats uncomfortable. To remind them their hold is fleeting and loosening. And people like me support him 100%.
Quit your bitching about the democratic process or people might start to think you and your kind are authoritarians. Like Trump and the GOP. It makes you look really, really, really bad.
Jesus, baby boomers are the biggest fucking cry babies in the country. On both sides of the aisle.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Patricia Kayden:
Haven’t you been saying all along that Bernie will do the right thing? Why do you keep giving him any benefit of the doubt? Stop it. He won’t, because he doesn’t know what that means. He’s a party of one and always has been – the Bernie Sanders Tantrum party – and he’s hanging on to his endorsement poop like the babyman he is.
Betty Cracker
@Tilda Swinton’s Bald Cap: I wish the DNC or some deep-pockets liberal donor would rent a screen in Times Square or some other prominent spot that features a live digital tally of all the taxpayer money House Republicans have squandered on meaningless hearings on pseudo-scandals, symbolic votes to repeal Obamacare, etc. The party of fiscal responsibility has spent untold millions on these idiotic displays.
J R in WV
@hovercraft:
Just a little addition for ya’. To clarify things.
Lamh36
it’s been a bad 24 hrs in the BR area.
Here’s the story about the girl I grew up with.
my aunt and her mom are best friends so my cousin is REALLY close to her as well.
Baby in back seat when Gonzales man chased down fiancée in car, shot her to death http://theadvocate.com/news/police/16313845-123/donaldsonville-man-walks-up-to-car-shoots-kills-fiancée-after-following-her-ascension-deputies-say
Barbara
@Patricia Kayden: I don’t think he understands power dynamics very well, which helps explain why he hasn’t gotten more done over the last 25 years. Someone who did would have known that he had maximum leverage right before the California primary, when the results were in doubt, and still some leverage, though less, right after. Now, he is increasingly irrelevant and his ability to get something diminishes every day. By the time January rolls around, he will not be able to negotiate for whatever Senate committee chair he was hoping for and it won’t matter to anyone else except him and Jane an those who travel in their personal orbit.
MattF
@catclub: Or, sneakier, giving Trump false information. Then when the Russians act on the false information, Trump’s goose is cooked.
Paul in KY
@My Truth Hurts: Will you just fuck off. We’re trying to win an election.
Lamh36
been a bad 24 hrs in the BR area. not only the police shooting, but this a bit closer to home for me…
Here’s the story about the girl I grew up with.
my aunt and her mom are best friends so my cousin is REALLY close to her as well.
Baby in back seat when Gonzales man chased down fiancée in car, shot her to death
Paul in KY
@Betty Cracker: I like that idea!!!
Paul in KY
@MattF: Like that idea, too! Doing it for National Security reasons (good intelligence about a highly placed mole, etc.). The Repubs couldn’t say shit!!!
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
It’s Ok – Jill Stein will save us!!11
(roll-eyes)
She’s telling us who she is and what she believes. She wants the Teabaggers and Trump to win.
Let’s believe her and our own lying eyes, and not the feel-good nonsense that she’s some kind of Progressive Savior or other.
The Democratic nominee is the sensible choice of people who want progress, who want more liberal policies, and who want a government that reflects reality. Let’s make it happen with her.
Cheers,
Scott.
Taylor
Chilcot report out today damns Blair for not exhausting other options before going to war, and for keeping his cabinet in the dark.
Reaction from Bush spokesperson:
That fucking turd is using wounded servicemen as a prop (again!) to shield himself on the day this report comes out.
Punchy
WHOA!!
From this article on the pollution prob in Rio w/r/t the Olympics, this blurb:
Wait….they’ve already said that infections for the swimmers, rowers, sailers, and triathletes are all but assured, but now they’re saying that said infections from this strain of bacteria result in death FIFTY PERCENT of the time? Holy saltines and chili. Wow. This is waaaaaaay worse than just an upset stomach or projectile pooping…
Paul in KY
@Lamh36: Wow, I am so very sorry for the young lady’s relatives & the poor little boy. When it rains, it pours. Please be careful down there.
eclare
@Betty Cracker: I’ve asked before, is there any sort of proposal at the convention to require some sort of “tenure” as a Democrat to be able to run as a Democrat? How was he able to just up and one day say, I’m a Democrat, and everyone just go ok?
catclub
@Taylor: Actually no one has read it since it is 6000 pages. But this gives the impression he might try to read it.
Shell
Unfortunatelly, do you think these people waste a moments thought on him or his message? Whatever ‘leverage’ he might have had has evaporated.
dogwood
Anyone who watched the president’s endorsement yesterday is mistaken if they think that performance was aimed at swing voters. It was his first shot at trying to repair the serious damage Sanders inflicted on her with democratic voters. The Sanders campaign was completely cynical. Target whites, ignore Hispanics, insult AA’s. And when that doesn’t work call the Democratic Party corrupt whores.
Betty Cracker
@Lamh36: How awful. I hope the baby won’t remember what happened — he probably won’t since he is so young. But now he has to grow up without any parents, and life is hard enough without that.
Cacti
Bernie’s post-primary conduct has been an unintended boon to Clinton.
His petulance and need for ego stroking have shown him to be manifestly unqualified for the highest office in the land.
Keith P.
Jason Chaffetz inadvertently released classified information in the middle of a hearing. He’s still got his clearance, and Paul Ryan definitely did not push for it to be revoked.
Betty Cracker
@eclare: I have no idea. It seems reasonable to me for a party to require a candidate for president to have a track record within the party that he or she wants to represent at that level, but as far as I know, no such requirement exists.
Miss Bianca
@Lamh36: Oh, I am so sorry to hear this. What a dreadful story.
Paul in KY
@Betty Cracker: Grow up without a mother. Evidently the biological father is a murdering POS & probably for the best that he won’t be around him.
Kay
I’m weirdly proud of Gretchen Carson :)
You knew Steve Doocey was gross. That’s just gut- first 5 seconds.
peach flavored shampoo
Serious question — you have a job? I thought you were a SHM, with all the posting you do.
Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap
@My Truth Hurts: You’re mother tried to love you, but she just couldn’t.
Corner Stone
@dogwood:
I agree it was not aimed at swing voters, but disagree about the other half of the conclusion. Obama’s full throated, no holds barred, all in preachin’ mode performance yesterday was aimed not at unifying BS dead enders. It was an Obama coalition speech, telling those voters to get fired up, and ready to go for another round if they like what he brought and want more of the same. Sanders did not damage HRC with Obama coalition voters. PBO made sure to bring the kitchen sink on the first of many campaign events because he wants no doubt or lost conviction in his voters.
Corner Stone
@peach flavored shampoo: She’s a CEO and creative type person who is gracious enough to share her wisdom and wine foil art with us mere commenters.
Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap
@srv: You’re so fucking stupid.
catclub
Good news everybody! Whites leaving the GOP – well, college educated whites, – well college educated white women and maybe a few men.
two cheers!
SAB
@Corner Stone: So what am I supposed to do about my icky congress critter (Tim Ryan) who is 99 percent with NRA and hates Syrian refugees although my stepdaughter is Syrian from three wars back.I think vote against him this time because we are a solidly Democratic district that will revert to the Democrat but I hate Cori n g strategically. Why can`t Tim Ryan stop being an as whole.
Gin & Tonic
@Corner Stone: Mere?
Kay
@srv:
Have not seen fit :) JUST perfect.
Taylor
@catclub: I don’t give a shit if he reads it or not. I object to him plonking down some wounded vets behind him as a prop on the day report comes out, as an obvious way of deflecting any criticism of himself.
Betty Cracker
@peach flavored shampoo: I am a job creator who has created one job — mine. If I were a stay-at-home mom, I wouldn’t have this much time to post.
Chat Noir
@Corner Stone:
I just love when he does that. He was on fire yesterday.
Technocrat
@Corner Stone:
Yeah, I agree with this. I think this is why it was NC, instead of, say California. Californian Dems are liberal, but NC Dems are partisan. They’re an army.
What was very interesting, is how much the crowd boosted Hillary up, despite how much they obviously loved Obama. You put Obama and Hillary on stage, you don’t typically expect the crowd to start chanting “Hillary”. But they did. It felt like they were acknowledging the baton pass..
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@dogwood:
Bernie’s motivation was to act out his resentment of Obama’s accomplishments which were achieved with absolutely no help from Bernie fucking Sanders. I mean, Cornel West as a surrogate to the AA community? Bernie’s a petty petulant fraud, and Obama’s voters sniffed that out early on. Obama’s appealing to everyone who voted for him in 2008 and 2012, because it’s his legacy on the line, and basically he told Bernie that we’re all going around him.
D58826
@Taylor: Sounds like one more count of a war crimes indictment against Blair/Bush/Chaney/Rummy/et al.
Corner Stone
Trump announces $51 million fundraising in June
Bull. Fucking. Shit.
Trollhattan
@My Truth Hurts:
Aww, a cute li’l Republican troll. Let’s give it some kibble, a blankie and take it to the shelter.
Villago Delenda Est
Hillary Clinton has been briefed on and forgotten more classified material than Paul Ryan has ever been briefed on.
Paul Ryan remains a dipshit.
Film at 11.
rikyrah
not one shock.
Cacti
All that needs to be said about the political acumen of Senator Sanders can be found in his own words:
“The goal isn’t to win elections, the goal is to transform America.”
How the blue f**k does someone transform anything in a democratic republic without winning elections?
Villago Delenda Est
@Corner Stone: I’ll believe it when the FEC reports are released.
schrodinger's cat
@Patricia Kayden: His purity of essence will be unsullied, what else matters?
rikyrah
@Corner Stone:
yep
Absolutely.
Miss Bianca
@Technocrat: Loved that. Moments like that are going to keep me sane in the months to come – I hope!
Corner Stone
@Gin & Tonic: Meh.
rikyrah
@Cacti:
Pony and Unicorns….
Pony and Unicorns…
Mike R
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Seems like a very fair assessment.
Villago Delenda Est
@My Truth Hurts: Your current hero Teh Donald is a baby boomer.
Mike in DC
@My Truth Hurts:
1. The DLC technically no longer exists.
2. He’s already won major concessions in the platform.
3. The TPP plank he wants is not going in for reasons that have nothing to do with Clinton and everything to do with not embarrassing the sitting 2 term democratic president who supports it.
4. If he endorses, he remains relevant. If he doesn’t, the chances of another successful insurgent leftie candidate will asymptotic ally approach zero.
5. I’m a gen xer who voted for Sanders but now I am a little bit regretful about that. I expected better from him than this bullshit.
Matt McIrvin
@D58826:
And ex post facto laws.
Gin & Tonic
@MattF: I know David Frum came in for a rasting earlier today, but here’s his tweet on the subject.
Mike R
@Villago Delenda Est: Another accurate assessment.
D58826
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
Hate to be a broken record about this but do we really know what the FBI agents/investigator found? We only know what James Comey, a life long GOP lawyer and chaser of Clinton scandals SAID the FBI found. Not a lawyer but if this had been referred for prosecution wouldn’t the FBI/DOJ have to prepare and publish a bill of particulars with at least some evidence? Clinton’s lawyers then would demand access to the entire investigative file to rebut the charges. Comey’s comments should carry no more weight than Darryl Issa’s unless backed up with documentation.
Glaukopis
@Patricia Kayden: maybe it innoculates Jane against a lawsuit for her role in Burlington College. It would look like political payback if it were pursued. Or just ego and living inside a bubble.
gogol's wife
@germy:
AACK! I resent both halves of that comparison.
Trollhattan
@D58826:
Whoever this Jill Stein person is, I’m unimpressed by her jib and its cut. I suppose she has an open invite on “Democracy Now.”
JPL
@Lamh36: How sad!
D58826
@Matt McIrvin: Yea thought of that one also but the way the article was written it sounded like the legislation was aimed specifically at Clinton. Either way since it has nothing to do with the 2nd amendment, the Constitution is irrelevant. Maybe that’s why Ryan’s copy fits in his pocket – it only has the 2nd amendment in it.
dogwood
@Corner Stone:
I didn’t say it was aimed at dead enders. It was aimed at the Obama coalition voters who went with Sanders and bought into his divisive rhetoric. If you remove white voters from the coalition then you can argue that Sanders did no damage, but you can’t dismiss white voters that way. I don’t know many Sanders dead enders, but have have numerous white friends who are willing to vote for her, while still mouthing the anti-Clinton rhetoric that came out of his campaign. Bernie’s not going to ever discourage that, but these voters love Obama and he can make a difference when it comes to seeing her in a different light.
Mike in NC
@Taylor: I thought that Bush sold the “ranch” as soon as he left office.
Cacti
@Trollhattan:
The Green Party can always be counted on to do what’s best for Republicans.
MattF
@Corner Stone: Question #1 is how much of that went directly into the Trump Family bank account.
Betty Cracker
@Villago Delenda Est: Exactly. Trump is a shady development salesman, and those scumbuckets overcome buyer resistance by shouting from the rooftops about how much others have invested.
Trollhattan
@Gin & Tonic:
Heh-heh, he said “penetrated.”
Assuming he knows who it is, I’m expecting Trump to say admiring things about Augusto Pinochet any day now. “He did many great things, believe me!”
Villago Delenda Est
@Trollhattan: For all practical purposes, Ralph Nader with tits.
rikyrah
@gene108:
They would spend their time that you didn’t hear what you heard, and it doesn’t mean what you think it meant.
Chyron HR
@My Truth Hurts:
A recent poll showed that about a quarter of Sanders supporters are voting for Trump in the general election. What sort of influence should the Trump-Sanders axis of progress be allowed to exert on the Democratic party’s platform? Building a wall around Mexico? Shooting down any jets that Trump identifies as belonging to the Mexican Air Force? Be specific with your demands, little BernieBro.
Kay
@Mike in DC:
He’a getting on my nerves because he’s not the only liberal in the Senate and the other liberals are endorsing Clinton whole-heartedly:
He’s taken this “I’m the only liberal Senator” position that isn’t true. He’s not even the most powerful liberal, or the most effective liberal. Democrats were putting together a group of liberal Senators from a variety of states and now prima dona Bernie is sucking up all the air in the room.
Technocrat
@Trollhattan:
Yeah, the phrasing on that can’t be accidental.
Villago Delenda Est
@rikyrah: The Revolution will not be televised.
smith
@Corner Stone:
Bet that includes the $45 mil owed to himself that he supposedly forgave.
Technocrat
@rikyrah:
“I don’t agree with Mr. Trump’s unfortunate phrasing, but the truth is we need to bring jobs back to middle America”, or just
“I do not agree with that statement. Next?”
Kay
@rikyrah:
I feel like Trump had a bad June so Clinton has to have a bad July, no matter what. They like even-steven. They would have evened it up some way if nothing had happened.
D58826
@Trollhattan: She is running for President on the Green Party ticket. Probably would love to rope Bernie into giving her an endorsement or maybe VP slot.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@D58826: But Jill is a genius lawyer, and expert on US rules and regulations on the handling, transmittal, and storage of classified information. How could you doubt her?
Oh, sorry, she’s a physician, activist, and politician.
But that’s really the same thing, amirite?!?!
Cheers,
Scott.
MattF
@Corner Stone: And, btw, Trump has yet to file paperwork with the FEC that would convert his ‘loans’ to his campagn into contributions. Despite claims that he’s done it.
dmsilev
@Corner Stone: That probably counts Trump’s writing off of a year or so’s worth of campaign loans as contribution. Subtract out those 45 million, and you’re left with $6 million, which is a lot more plausible.
Regnac Kcin
Long overdue cr/ edit
scav
@Taylor:
Well, it’s not at though reading or a considered investigation of evidence has ever played into GW Bush’s worldview, let alone actions. It’s the Preemptive Drag Out the Soldiers ploy every time.
MattF
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: She’s anti-vax, right? So, forget the ‘doctor’ part.
Peale
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Where we left off with Jill Stein.
Seriously, if she couldn’t be bothered to give her own concession speech four years ago (and oh, what a doozy of a speech it was), how the hell are we supposed to believe that she is capable of running anything for four to eight years? “I’m tired and emotionally upset”. Buck up and deal. Third party, schmird party. The Greens fail to gain ground because they are spiteful and disdain pretty much everybody but themselves.
Kay
@srv:
Well, but they all but said it was illegal for a year. The dummies set the bar too high. Now they’re reduced to babbling about “norms” or whatever. No one orders them to hype these things too much. They do it willingly. They consistently jump the gun. They lack restraint.
Shell
How long before we get to the inevitable “He made the trains run on time.”
Gin & Tonic
@dmsilev: In June of 2012, Barack Obama, who is generally recognized as having had a state-of-the-art fundraising operation, raised $45M. Mitt Romney raised $32M. If Donald Trump raised $51M then I’m the fucking King of Siam.
Bill
Anyone else notice Ryan’s (and the media’s and every wing nut’s) willingness to believe Comey knows exactly what he’s talking about when he says Secretary Clinton was “careless,” yet they think he’s completely incompetent in his assessment that she committed no crime and shouldn’t be prosecuted. Which is it folks? Does he know what he;s doing or not?
kindness
@My Truth Hurts: – Ha Ha Haaa Ha Ha, Stop it! You’re killing me with your satire!
What? You are serious? You’ve got to be kidding.
Trollhattan
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
“Dear Lord, I don’t ask for much but please, do not let Jill Stein and Ron Paul ever be in the same room together. You have this within your powers, right? Thanks, and amen. Also, too, deliver us from weasels.”
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@D58826: On a more serious note, there’s more about the process and findings in Comey’s statement to the press:
Presumably some sort of report will be prepared for the DOJ and/or the IG, but he seemingly didn’t say anything about that.
Cheers,
Scott.
Kay
Oh, God. Donald Trump’s enemy list must be getting longer and longer. Why did he have to WITHDRAW? Who cares?
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Kay:
Bernie Sanders isn’t even the most effective liberal Senator from Vermont.
smith
@Gin & Tonic: Hillary raised $68 mil in June, a number I believe. But Trump’s total probably includes some funny money, as several of us have noted above. We’ll find out soon enough — IIRC the FEC reports will be issued during the Repub convention.
MattF
@Kay: It’s like a kind of musical chairs. Trump keeps pulling the rug out from under Republicans. Pretty soon, no more rug.
MattF
@smith: It’s already been noted that the $51 million includes a week in May, so it’s fishy even before you look at where the money ended up.
Kay
@Bill:
I personally feel Mr. Comey behaved badly and is a hack. No one will care but he’s not supposed to deliver sermons with 50 subjective personal opinions.
I didn’t know a thing about him before this but I saw all I need to see. Hack.
scav
@MattF:
So that’s where he’s getting some of that stuff on top of his head.
Quinerly
@Kay:
Corker probably listened to that insane speech of Trump’s last night. Oh, wait, Corker introduced him and praised him. Interesting timing.?
Kay
@MattF:
Republicans are pulling the rug out from under Trump. He felt he had to withdraw in a Washington Post interview? Why? Did anyone care that he was “under consideration”?
Kay
@Quinerly:
Trump admired Saddam? Now there’s a shocker. When will they figure out that Donald Trump is a bad person?
MattF
@Kay: The difficulty is, R politicians can’t fully support Trump and still call themselves Republicans. I think that’s a real problem for them.
Percysowner
Apparently Joni Ernst is flattered and all that, but Iowa is so important to her right now. She just couldn’t accept an offer to be Trump’s Vice President. Also, too she has so much to learn from Chuck Grassley. Possibly she also has to wash her hair a lot.
smith
@Kay:
He was most likely doing that to defend against the Rs coming down on him like a ton of bricks. Hah! Now he’s going to spend the rest of his tenure being dragged in front of endless Star Chambers to explain in exhaustive detail why he didn’t recommend capital punishment for her.
I do hope Hillary breaks with Obama’s tradition of appointing R hacks to pivotal positions. It’s a losing game — it gains no love from the Rs and sets up situations exactly like this, where they use those positions for partisan purposes.
inventor
@srv: Should the server have been with the DNC instead? That was the precedent set by the Bush Administration using the RNC; so, is that the system you’re advocating?
Technocrat
@Percysowner:
Joni Ernst turned him down?
Man, you have some stank on you when the hardcore wingnuts think you’re toxic.
Frankensteinbeck
@smith:
He has enough history of and reasons to attack the Clintons (Republican, involvement in Whitewater investigation, turf wars between State and Intelligence) that no other explanation is needed. It’s more impressive that he couldn’t find any hard evidence against her.
rikyrah
DA PHUQ?
Questionable tax-free payments to Trump staffers raise ‘red flags’
Lori Ann LaRocco
Tuesday, 5 Jul 2016 | 10:26 AM ET
A series of filing anomalies point to a Donald Trump camp that is either unaware of campaign finance law, or is actively funneling donors’ cash to insiders, according to several experts interviewed by CNBC.
These “red flags,” as one expert deemed them, include a total lack of disclosure on which vendors staffers for the presumptive Republican nominee are paying, an “unusual” six-figure payout to campaign staff for nontaxable expenses and what appeared to be double reimbursements for some employees’ expenses.
When asked about the apparently unusual filing practices, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in an email that “the report speaks for itself.”
Bex
@Kay: @Kay: Trump probably asked him to withdraw because they looked like Mutt and Jeff last night. As someone here asked, is Corker four feet tall? Trump doesn’t like short.
MattF
@Percysowner: Campaigning makes her hair greasy.
germy shoemangler
Gretchen Carlson is suing Fox News boss Roger Ailes for sexual harassment and wrongful termination. Is anyone surprised to find out Ailes is skeevy, leering, sexist asshole? Probably not.
Villago Delenda Est
@srv: NPR = Nice Polite Republicans. Villager Vermin.
Wipe them out. All of them.
Betty Cracker
Now even Bread Bag Joni Ernst has declined to be Trumpenfuhrer’s veep. He’s gonna have to settle for Newt or Krispie.
Mnemosyne
@My Truth Hurts:
Hillary got 4 MILLION more votes than Sanders, but you think your candidate should be allowed to override the will of the majority. Who exactly is the authoritarian here?
geg6
@efgoldman:
Thanks but I’d prefer that I was the one who was wrong. He isn’t a Democrat and he should never have been allowed in. This is also why all primaries should be closed.
Villago Delenda Est
@Percysowner: Those bread bags aren’t going to get on her feet by themselves, you know.
Corner Stone
@smith:
Nobody ever seems to learn. Inoculation against insane R actions never protects anyone from anything. NPR trying to cozy up so they won’t lose funding? They cut their funding. Anyone laying cover to not be dragged? They get dragged.
You can’t appease these fuckers.
Quinerly
@Bex:
A plus would be if Corker’s hands were really tiny, though.
Calouste
@Gin & Tonic: Something that could explain the numbers (could, not would) is that Trump hasn’t raised much during the primaries (only $17 million until the June report) and that there is a reservoir of contributions that is waiting for him that he just hadn’t tapped into.
Villago Delenda Est
@MattF: Why not? Drumpf is just taking the last 50 years of racist dog whistles to the logical conclusion. Drumpf is absolutely a Rethuglican in every way.
Trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
Or Sarah ™. I’ve rewatched her endorsement speech with Trump just standing there with his permasmirk and imagining thought balloons forming above his floofy pate as she utters one inanity after another. I want them to take this on the road, Jerry!
MattF
Fred Kaplan says what needs to be said about handling classified material. Slate, but worth reading.
Villago Delenda Est
@efgoldman: I know it’s coming.
Quinerly
@Kay:
With the day Trump is having…Corker declining and the Pig Castrator declining, Paul Ryan and Priebus might be the last two who haven’t realized how toxic Trump is.
Mnemosyne
@Lamh36:
I’m so sorry. I know the police have to say we don’t know the motive yet but, hello, abusive boyfriend shot his girlfriend in the head. Figuring out that motive doesn’t take a whole lot of police work.
And that poor grandmother. I’m assuming she had no idea her son would do something like that. What does she tell her grandbaby when he’s enough to ask?
Calouste
@Mnemosyne: Washington State caucus: Clinton 27%, Sanders 73%, number of voters: unclear, but significantly fewer than:
Washington State primary: Clinton 52%, Sanders 48%, number of voters: 800,000.
We know which “democracy” Sanders supporters prefer there.
scav
Also, gotta love Kansas who vows to fight ever onward in it’s right to “protect women” by defunding Planned Parenthood, but has to be reminded by the Feds that Universities really do need to investigate rapes in recognized fraternities, even if they are “Off-Campus”.
dmsilev
@Mnemosyne: Well, yes, but many of Clinton’s votes were the wrong sort of voters, so they don’t count. If you apply proper BernieMath, in which caucus voters count 50x each and African Americans in the South count for less, and where Bernie actually won California by ten points, it is obvious that Bernie is actually ahead and should be the nominee.
The proof is left as an exercise for
the studentthe Salon columnist.Gravenstone
@My Truth Hurts: FOADIAF chode
geg6
@Betty Cracker:
Easy. Change the rules to make it impossible for him to hijack the party like he tried. Tell states that only closed primaries/caucuses will have their delegates added to the count. States are still free to choose to have open primaries, but there will be consequences. Similar to the rule that says a state the jumps the established line for when a primary can be held loses the voice of those delegates when it comes to determining the winner. You Floridians are familiar with this rule, I believe.
dmsilev
@Quinerly: Ryan and RNC PR BS probably both realize how toxic Trimp is, but they probably think he can be controlled or managed by the proper handlers. We’ve seen this movie before; it really doesn’t end well.
? Martin
@Corner Stone:
I think ‘squid cloud of derp’ might apply, to borrow a phrase.
jl
@Corner Stone:
Your link says:
” But Trump’s skeletal campaign still trails far behind Hillary Clinton relied on the Republican Party and the billionaire’s own wallet for about half its haul. By comparison, Clinton raised $68.5 million: $40.5 million to the campaign, and $28 million to the Democratic National Committee and state parties through the Hillary Victory Fund. Four years ago, the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, raised more than $100 million in June. ”
So, the haul from rich money bags and regular people was more like $25 million, a quarter of what Mitt Romney did four years ago.
raven
futbol?
Barb2
@Paul in KY:
Thank you, I needed that laugh!
Paul in KY
@Technocrat: the Great Grifter of the North is tanned & rested, youbetcha. Wonder if der Trumpenfuhrer is looking at that number & thinking ‘God, do I call that crazy bimbo?’.
gogol's wife
@germy shoemangler:
Looking at you, Megyn.
Paul in KY
@rikyrah: One of them would have had to put 8,000 miles on their car in a month. In a 31 day month, that is 258 per day, every day.
Calouste
@raven: Here you go.
Villago Delenda Est
@dmsilev: Just ask some German Junker industrialists how well it worked previously.
Keith P.
@efgoldman: They’d have to remember further back than 1 month for that to happen.
jl
@Corner Stone: Corker and Ernst, the normal and somewhat more normal people and politicians of those discussed for veep nom, took themselves out of running. That may be the blowback of Trump spouting crazy shit in his speech. They decided they didn’t want to be part of that.
But I am sure ‘Lil Newtie had fewer problems. But, then Gingrich probably sees himself as part of the same industry in which Trump is a master (grifting off sad marks), and Corker and Ernst, for all their problems, don’t see themselves quite that way.
rikyrah
@Lamh36:
Both stories are tragic.
Simply tragic.
Barbara
@efgoldman: Well yeah, that’s true in a lot of negotiations. People can walk away. The point is that Sanders might have been able to give Clinton something she actually wanted in exchange for getting something he wanted. The longer it goes on, there is less and that Sanders can give that she would actually want or could use. Whether it’s an email list or an endorsement or whatever, it’s worth a lot less now than it was then, and it will be worth next to nothing in about three weeks.
Paul in KY
@Mnemosyne: You tell him the truth.
raven
@Calouste: :0
Gin & Tonic
Kelly Ayotte is also just too darn busy for Il Donaldo.
dmsilev
@Villago Delenda Est: Yeah, that’s what I was alluding to.
Betty Cracker
@geg6: The Dems could institute such rules going forward, but as far as I know, nothing like that was in place last year to stop Sanders from running as a Democrat.
The Sanders campaign has made a great case for closed primaries, IMO, but I’m not convinced that decision should be taken away from states or that states should be subject to punishment for holding open primaries. In some states, open primaries might make more sense from a party-building perspective.
PaulWartenberg2016
Given the number of young blond female employees in front of the cameras at Fox, how many of them faced the same situation? She can’t have been the only one…
Gravenstone
@Gin & Tonic: If you wish to despair for the world, try reading the first few responses to said tweet. Putin supporters, one and all.
dmsilev
@efgoldman: Those don’t get released until July 20th, so we’ll have to wait until the middle of the GOP convention to see it.
hueyplong
Kids, please! Just get off Mr. Sanders’ lawn so he will STFU and go back inside.
jl
@Barbara: We should check in with what Sanders is saying after Friday, when the whole Dem platform committee meets in Orlando. Let’s see how satisfied Sanders is with what he gets there.
Kay
@smith:
I don’t accept that. He doesn’t have to do all that thinking. The best approach was for him to just do the job, no more, no less. He chose to turn it into a stump speech. It’s improper. No one will care but he acted unprofessionally. The whole point of these standards is so one can just do the job within set guidelines. If he throws them out the window when he’s faced with a sticky situation then he failed. They are FOR sticky situations. It’s easy to follow them in ordinary situations. The older I get the more I believe any work dilemma can be resolved by asking “what is my job?” Lecturing Hillary Clinton is not and was not his job.
sherparick
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage: I still can enjoy the Schadenfreude of this wonderful moment. Really, Hilary must have been saying her prayers this week because between this and Trump singing Saddam’s praises, its “email, shmail, who the heck cares anymore.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/07/business/media/gretchen-carlson-fox-news-roger-ailes-sexual-harassment-lawsuit.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
Paul in KY
@jl: I know if Ernst thought he had a good chance of winning & winning Iowa (cause who wants to see their home state whup on them), she’d be all over that. Corker, probably the same, although I know TN will vote for the Combover Caligula.
Villago Delenda Est
@Technocrat: Joni has her entire political career ahead of her. She’s not going to destroy that by being Teh Donald’s running mate.
dogwood
@Paul in KY:
Trump should go with Ben Carson. He’s black, proving without a doubt he doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. He’s incoherent, but quiet, so he’ll never upstage him, and he knows how to raise money. What’s not to like? I think Carson is heading up Trump’s Veep selection process, whatever that means, so maybe we’ll get a clueless version of the Dick Cheney pick.
Villago Delenda Est
@efgoldman: Nick Fury had a far greater chance of collecting a $10 wager from Steve Rogers.
jl
@dogwood:
“[Carson] is incoherent”
Carson also has something in common with Trump that will make for a great working relationship in the WH.
They could be a real championship working team like Barack and Joe.
Mike J
@Calouste:
About 200k, down from the 250k when Obama ran.
Villago Delenda Est
@dogwood: Also, too, Carson has been claiming since last winter that only a ticket with Ben Carson on it has any chance at all of beating Ms. “Careless Crooked” Hillary.
Kay
@smith:
Roger Ailes could use it too. What’s his job? Sexually harassing Gretchen Carlson? No? Then he shouldn’t do it at work. It’s easy and foolproof :)
Mike J
@Betty Cracker:
Many states don’t even have party registration along with voter reg. It would require the parties to set up their own private registration system that would disenfranchise more people. There are serious problems with requiring closed primaries at this point, and I say that as somebody who thinks open primaries are one of the dumbest thing ever done in American politics.
Ella in New Mexico
@D58826:
A small one hitting the part of the Capital where the Republicans hang out to plot new things to investigate would be nice.
Miss Bianca
Remember that Jesse Williams speech at the BET Awards that was just made of win? Apparently there is no limit to the butt-hurt of white America when called on its shit – can you believe there’s a petition to get him kicked off Grey’s Anatomy?
Not to worry, apparently – his job is safe. But I may have to start watching the show just for the sake of solidarity!
scav
@hueyplong: Yeah, but Old Man Sanders is wandering all over the school grounds and park muttering that it’s his all his and must be transformed. Sally says he even stuck his head in her bedroom and told her she needed to get a new babysitter even though her parents will be home in an hour.
Kay
Translation: “improper stump speech when one paragraph would have done the job”
Felonius Monk
@Percysowner:
What balls.
Technocrat
@dogwood:
Honestly, Carson would be ideal, except for the whole “my voter base is virulent racists” thing.
He needs a tall, blond Ubermench or Valkyrie. Someone who he is obviously inferior to, yet pays him homage and fealty.
Megyn Kelly might do as VP.
Captain C
@dmsilev:
I’m guessing somewhere in the vicinity of 2/5 less.
Ella in New Mexico
@Lamh36: Worked in the Domestic Violence field for almost 15 years, left in 2001.
Nothing seems to have changed when it comes to terrible, horrible stories like this. I’m so sorry for your loss and for that little boy.
geg6
@Betty Cracker:
Gotta be rules for the party and why have rules if they don’t have teeth? States are free to do as they wish, just like they have non-binding caucuses and primaries. As for open primaries, fuck that noise. Not requiring even the smallest commitment does nothing for party building and it’s delusional to think so. Labels matter. Bernie had to declare himself a Democrat to run (however mendaciously). Why should the party allow people who aren’t willing to call themselves Democrats, even if only doing so on the day of the primary, be required to do less?
jl
@Kay: I think Comey was trying to send some signals to the GOP House that they shouldn’t bother him anymore about it, he couldn’t tell them the story they wanted. But it did no good, and he should have known it would be pointless. Comey will called to testify, and GOPers may try to string out the investigation further, the example of Hillary’s 11 hour testimony not teaching them a lesson.
Mnemosyne
@Miss Bianca:
His boss is Shonda Rimes and the head of the network is a protégée of hers so, no, he’s not going anywhere. Whiners gonna whine.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: I met Steve Doocy when he was the end-of-broadcast joke boy on the local TV news in Washington, DC. He was gross then.
AnotherBruce
@Calouste: 26,299 caucus voters statewide
Felonius Monk
Sounds like Trump may have to resort to running Help Wanted ads in the Classifieds for a veep candidate.
AnotherBruce
Actually that was the number of delegates. Caucus participation was estimated at 230,000 by the Stranger.
Trollhattan
@jl:
Carson would be Trump’s James Stockdale. Could work.
Quinerly
@dmsilev:
Actually, it’s how it was created.
Mike J
@AnotherBruce: No, that was number of delegates to the LD caucuses. There were 200k people in the first level.
Kay
@jl:
Not to beat a dead horse, but that’s too much thinking. It isn’t complicated. He just has to do the job. His anticipating what the GOP will or will not do and then shaping some “message” around that is a bad idea. That all by itself means he’s outside his job description. He doesn’t have to do double back flips in response to political pressure. All that means to me is he’s manipulated by political pressure.
Iowa Old Lady
The House Republicans are showing themselves to be every bit as demented as their candidate. A different kind of dementia, but dementia nonetheless.
I’ll be interesting to see if they’re hostile to Comey or if he and they wind up on the same Clinton-hating page.
Kay
@Matt McIrvin:
FOX in the morning is horrifying. I sometimes hate-watch Morning Joe but Fox in the morning is a whole other level of bizarre. It makes me a little sad because Gretchen Carson had a very traditional female role on the show- she was always tasked with either prim disapproval of national goings-on or reining in the male media celebrities. I know they’re paid really well but she must know the show itself has a sexist set-up. The assigned roles are very narrow. She was the girl role.
Percysowner
I admit to having mixed feelings on open Primaries. I support closed primaries in general. I also live in Ohio and every time I vote in a primary I get the question Democrat, Republican or issues only. It’s never made a big difference in how Ohio turns out. Part of the trick is that we vote early enough in the election cycle so no crosses party lines to try to get a weak candidate in, since parties are still trying to seat their strongest candidate. Bernie was an anomaly. I do support a party rule that states that in order to run for PRESIDENT under the party banner, the person must have been a member of the party for at least one year. Suddenly deciding that you have been too good to be a Democrat, but now you want to get a message out so you will use them for that should not be allowed.
Felonius Monk
@efgoldman: I’m looking forward to seeing the moldering corpse that is the Sanders campaign finally being buried in an unmarked grave.
raven
@Iowa Old Lady: Joe said over and over that he “lacked courage”.Them’s fightin words where I’m from.
Joel
@My Truth Hurts: Hardly anyone cares.
Agree with this, though:
AnotherBruce
@Mike J: Yes, I tried to edit my comment and it got sucked into the ether. Thanks tho.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Did you ever see Jon Stewart’s take-down of Carlson’s morning show persona? Oldie but goodie!
dogwood
@geg6:
We are at a point where national party committees are pretty powerless. Losing things like earmarks made Congressional party leaders much less effective. Politicians are independent contractors, with their own mailing lists and fundraising apparatus. Unfortunately voters on both side of the aisle seem to think this is a good idea, despite the fact that it’s this loss of party power that has heavily contributed to the dysfunction in Congress. The DNC and the RNC aren’t supposed to be ideological think tanks. They’re supposed to support candidates capable of winning elections. Help deliver a majority for your party, and let the sausage factory move the agenda forward as much as possible. If the Democratic Party isn’t lefty enough for many democrats, I’m pretty sure it has nothing to do with the fact DWS was chairman of the DNC.
rikyrah
@Percysowner:
I support closed primaries.
dogwood
@Kay:
How was Carlson’s role any different than the role Mika B plays on Morning Joe?
Iowa Old Lady
@rikyrah: I can support registering at the door. That at least helps the party build a list of contacts.
To me, the closed/open question becomes most relevant when one party’s candidate is an incumbent that most party members like. Then they can mess with the other side and not lose anything because their candidate is going to win anyway.
Also, I’m trying to picture Iowa ever doing away with the caucuses, for which you can register at the door….Nope. Can’t see it.
Barbara
@jl: He grows smaller day by day.
philadelphialawyer
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: The complete lack of principles is amazing. One would think that Greens, of all people, would not bow and scrape to abstract notions of “national security.” Plus, I’m pretty sure that they are all about transparency and accountability and so on, and, in every and any other case, would scoff at the notion that secrecy was even necessary.Not to mention a general skepticism of the trend toward criminalizing everything. Whistleblowers who openly defy “national security” and “classified information” rules, they are heroes. But a SoS who, at the very worst, was negligent? Hang her high!
I actually agree with what I assume are the official Green positions about over classification, over emphasis of national security, and over criminalization. But Stein’s opportunistic, Clinton-specific stance here makes a mockery of all that. She, and perhaps the Greens generally, are just full of shit, cosplay revolutionaries. They don’t actually have any principles.
Put Hillary in jail because…..reasons. Yeah, I don’t think so, asshole.
jl
@Kay: I agree. It was a pointless performance, and I’ve heard enough people who should know say it was unprofessional to believe that is the case. IANAL, but from what I heard and read, there were enough fudge words in his statement to indicate that the whole case for an indictment may collapse into the ridiculous if more details come out. Particularly on the points of what previous State Dept. practice was before her tenure, and what ‘classified matters’ means (was a lot stuff ‘classified at the time’, so that the rules say discussing reports on drones in the NYT is ‘classified’?). The GOP House don’t care and would have kept on trying to flog the story anyway.
Maybe HRC did do something really reckless, maybe it will look like bureaucratic national security classification nincompoopery of the lowest order. Maybe something in-between. But Trump and House GOP decided to jump all-in for crazy talk and smearing people about bribes, so, we will see, whether we want to or not. I think good chance another cigar that will blow up in the face of the House GOP and Trump.
Barbara
@efgoldman: In my opinion, neither appointing people to help draft the platform nor promising a speaking opportunity at the convention should have been on the table without first getting an endorsement. Serious malpractice on the part of DWS, and if she had not personally been the target of so much opprobrium she probably would not have done it.
geg6
@rikyrah:
Yup. There is no argument in favor of open primaries that isn’t total bullshit. Same day registration is fine with me if you want to go that far. I don’t but some people are always happy to open up the party to ratfucking in the name of liberal purity. This is at least some disincentive to ratfuckers like the Bernie deadenders. Of the few I still see on my FB page, every one of them proudly proclaims that they are not, never have been and never will be Democrats. Fuck them. Why should they have a voice in my party equal to mine?
raven
@dogwood: Mika isn’t playing a role,she really is a fucking dumb ass scold.
Corner Stone
@dogwood:
White people? I am either misunderstanding you or you have no idea what the Obama coalition is.
Matt McIrvin
@Percysowner:
My experience is that crossing party lines to get a weak candidate in is more convoluted strategery than most voters are willing to entertain; the more common thing is that people cross party lines just to vote against the candidate they hate the most (even if that gets in a stronger candidate as a side effect).
I heard about people doing this in Massachusetts this year just to vote against Trump, even though we voted on Super Tuesday. But I also think a lot of Trump supporters voted for Sanders in the late Democratic primaries just so they could vote against Hillary Clinton twice.
Iowa Old Lady
@jl: Making the FBI report about bribery is equivalent to making the Benghazi snit about talking points. The indignation veers off into side tracks rather than substance.
Barbara
@raven: So I don’t agree with Comey’s handling of this situation, and to be honest he brought this on himself by extemporizing his personal opinion on the matter, which I am guessing he now regrets having done because it has now brought him to this situation, but there is one thing he does not lack and that is courage. He stood up to Bush and Gonzales. But, basically, anyone with a brain should realize that congressional Republicans are the political equivalent of flesh eating bacteria, and they don’t care whether this particular flesh actually votes for their side of the aisle most of the time. They are voracious.
goblue72
Meanwhile, outside Betty’s paranoiac world of butthurt, Sanders enthusiastically embraced Clinton’s college student financial aid plan today, as part of Sander’s intentional pivoting towards supporting Clinton in response to Clinton’s embracing of more liberal policy positions –
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-trailguide-updates-bernie-sanders-welcomes-hillary-1467817805-htmlstory.html
The pivot will increase the closer we get to the Convention. Clintonistas will continue to be butthurt WATBs. News at 11.
Chyron HR
@goblue72:
Why is the Holy One triangulating? Why won’t he denounce the evil c-word who stole the nomination? SAD. #JillSteinorBust
Emma
@goblue72: What a pity nobody cares anymore except those who won’t vote for her at any price.
Trollhattan
@goblue72:
Had me, then you lost me.
Grow the fvck up.
dogwood
@Corner Stone:
There are millions of white voters in the Obama coalition. Plenty of them got sucked in by Sanders. Obama will help to increase their enthusiasm. I read a piece the other day that indicated the Clinton campaign plans to use Obama in the white suburbs where the Obama voters went more heavily for Sanders in the primary.
Aleta
@Lamh36: I’m sorry for this grief. This terror. Sympathy to her family and yours.
negative 1
@geg6: It comes down to the argument that political parties are essentially a public good rather than a private fundraising group. As a whole in this country we can’t seem to wrap our head cleanly among either concept, truthfully, so we straddle the line and as a result neither party really wants to be the one to tell a single voter that they’re not welcome to participate.
When you get right down to it they’re not beholden to anyone to even have primaries at all. Both parties are well within their rights to just name their guy/gal and get on with it. Or use the primaries as a non-binding survey. However I think cynically the calculus is that no one really has much appetite for being the one to point out that individual voters have very little say in who becomes their representative, unless they quixotically want to challenge either of the two established private organizations who nominate.
geg6
@goblue72:
Why would I be butthurt? My girl won. I’m upset with the fact that he pissed away any opportunity he had to make positive change. Now the dreaded corporate whore gets to take all the credit. I don’t give a damn whether he endorses or not at this point. His stupid process arguments will fall on deaf ears and any good policy Hillary appropriates and makes happen, even incrementally, will go down in history as her accomplishments. That she gets the chance is all I care about.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@goblue72:
WATB butthurt is Babyman Sanders and his cult followers whole campaign. His graceless refusal to concede and endorse is classic poop holding toilet training failure, and everyone except his cult of whiny deluded tantruming idiots understands this.
negative 1
@dogwood: You say this like it’s a bad thing. Basically the party wants a popular sitting president to explain why the nominee cares about the priorities of its voters who voted for a primary opponent who lost. They’re not “sucking them in” they’re listening to their constituency.
Quinerly
With bonus “Bloody Bill” Tweet: http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2016/07/hes-really-really-pivoting-this-time-no.html?m=1
jl
@efgoldman: @Felonius Monk: @Barbara:
(Sorry, I forgot about @the Conster, la Citoyenne: , though I detect more than spleen in that comment)
Some food for your spleens:
Full Interview: Bernie Sanders Can’t Stop Calling Wolf Blitzer ‘Jake’ | July 6, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvetpmOlRRA
@goblue72:
I think you are right. Sanders wants to make the strongest issues-based case for voting D in the general. He said he expects to speak at the Convention, and is announcing victories at the platform negotiations, which will wrap up next week (not tomorrow as I mistakenly said above).
If Sanders has a brain in his head, and really wants his revolution, the biggest negotiating chip HRC probably has is to yank his speaking slot. He’s said more than once that he expects to speak at the convention.
My personal opinion is that a deal was struck at the HRC/Sanders meeting. I think Sanders is acting quite predictably, assuming one was struck. If things go well, I think Sanders will make an effective speech at the Convention, as infuriating as some here will find it.
D58826
@Kay: Seems the FBI director has some problems with his facts:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-james-comey-email-servers_us_577d35cbe4b0a629c1ab7bdb?section=
Mary G
@Lamh36: What a tragedy. Poor baby. Let us know if there is a GoFundMe for the funeral or the baby’s education. It is the worst helpless feeling to watch a friend or family member deal with an abuser. Condolences and prayers for everyone involved.
D58826
help in moderation again
dogwood
@negative 1:
I didn’t say it was bad, it’s just necessary for Obama to work harder because Clinton’s primary rival isn’t willing to get on board. It’s unfortunate for Sanders and his supporters that Obama has such high standing in the party, otherwise Bernie could really be a spoiler.
Rex Everything
So is Greg Sargent a persona non grata around here yet? https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/07/06/democrats-are-booing-bernie-sanders-but-his-movement-is-succeeding/
EriktheRed
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
I get and agree with the first 2, but how is being a gLibertarian leading a life without principles. I believe it to be a wrong-headed and juvenile principle, but a principle nonetheless.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@geg6: New York is a example of what happens with overly-restrictive party registration rules:
I think primaries that are closed yet have same-day (same-time) party registration are fine. I think closed primaries that have party registration deadlines 6+ months before the primary are nuts and undemocratic.
Like it or not, for the foreseeable future candidates from one party or the other are almost always going to win elections for national office. The people should be able to express their opinion on who those candidates should be. Yes, it’s fine for them to have to declare for a party to do so, but that declaration shouldn’t be months in advance.
Now candidates to be on the ballot should, surely, have to go through some sort of screening process before getting on the ballot of a party. No party should have to accept some sort of Manchurian Candidate.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
D58826
On wolf today: Bernie –
Maybe better late than never but……..
Original Lee
@dmsilev: The part I have tried to get across (with very little success), is that email is not like mstrbtn (disenvowelled so I don’t go into moderation). Secretary Clinton was not sending all of those emails to herself. Someone had to send them to her, or she had to send them to someone else. Comey said flat out that they retrieved emails to and from her from other people. So I like to ask the rabid anti-Hillary folks, why are the people at the other end of these emails under investigation, too? If it’s that bad and that serious, I for one would like to make sure these people who were sloppy with classified email were only sloppy with Clinton and not with, say, the personal secretary of the Iraqi ambassador. And wouldn’t we hear about more people being prosecuted if the bar is low? I would expect the news services to be all, “And Secretary Clinton is the 538th person to be brought up on charges for improper classified email use this year.”
So far, crickets. They just shrug it off. Maybe I need to refine my argument more.
negative 1
@dogwood: I’m not so sure that I would go with ‘spoiler’. It’s an election. By definition they are winner take all. Other than the media and comment sections I’m not sure there’s this contingent of democratic voters who want to sabotage the party. The last poll I heard had the amount of people who voted for Sanders who are not voting Clinton was 8%. That’s pretty low.
D58826
@Original Lee: If the Clintons and 50 other people broke into a bank at 4am and blew up the safe, the only ones guilty of a crime would be the Clintons. The other 48 folks were just tourists who wandered by to see what was happening. Move on nothing to see.
Original Lee
Bother. I meant, why AREN’T the other people under investigation. Sorry.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@D58826:
He admits to
JakeWolf that Hillary won fair and square, but doesn’t have the grace to make a public statement conceding to Hillary, to Hillary???? What a classless asshole.Original Lee
@D58826: You know that, and I know that, and most of the people here know that. I’m just trying to get a couple of folks to have a bit of a Terri Schiavo moment.
John D
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: You can think whatever you like. These laws were put into place to PROTECT minor parties from poaching by the Big Two, have been in place since the Boss Tweed era, and work just fine. They are in no way undemocratic.
dogwood
@D58826:
I admire your positive outlook, but when people show you who they are at their core, you should believe what you see. When he says elections don’t matter, then accept it or reject it, but understand that he means it. I doubt the Clinton campaign wants anything to do with him at this point. Get through the convention and get going is probably their philosophy. Babysitting Bernie if he were to endorse seems like more trouble than it’s worth.
EriktheRed
@srv:
That lack of predicted indictment sure has given you a sad, eh?
D58826
@dogwood: Well I guess if they can nurse him along with a minimum of fuss its better in the end to have him inside the tent pissing out rather than outside pissing in.
Miss Bianca
@D58826: At this point, it’s the worst of both worlds – he’s both in the tent *and* pissing in the tent. The man ain’t got no culture.
gex
@Miss Bianca: Beat me to it. Now we’re debating whether or not we will give him a treat for doing so.
dogwood
@D58826:
Of course they can nurse him along and keep their fingers crossed. But he’s never going to be inside the tent.
Betty Cracker
@goblue72: What, no sexist comments this time? Glad you’re learning to rein that obnoxious part of your persona in. The Middle-Aged Barristers People’s Revolution Cosplay Group must’ve held a clinic on the patriarchy. Good on ’em.
@Rex Everything: Why would he be persona non grata? I sincerely hope the leftward policy drift Sargent describes takes hold, but as he suggests, we’ll have to wait and see. Most folks here don’t have a problem with Sanders supporters working within the party to influence policy. We have a problem with threats to burn it down or label it corrupt.
D58826
And on the e-mail front things are getting more interestuing. Issa wants to shut the government down if Hillary isn’t indicted. Rove wants the FBI file made public (but his 5 FBI interviews should remain secret, privacy you know). GOP strategists outside of Congress are wondering why the GOP is going to have a hearing tomorrow featuring Comey. He is the only thing Trump has at the moment. If they have a hearing and burn the guy for not charging Hillary, they look stupid (I know it comes with being a GOOPER) and it gives the democrats (if they have the backbone to use it) a chance to poke holes in what Comey said.
dogwood
@Miss Bianca:
Quite awhile back I got to thinking about a Trump/Sanders general election. One candidate arguing the country used to be great but now it’s a shithole, and the other asserting it used to be a shithole, but now it’s a colossal sewer. Two real classy characters.
dogwood
@gex:
Actually, one of the things I found most amusing in ’08 was Hillary and Barack trying to court the oh-so-pseudo-lefty blue dog John Edwards and his handfull of delegates and his angry white voters. Good times. As much as I have no use for Bernie Sanders, John Edwards will always top my list of democrats I just couldn’t stomach on any level.
EriktheRed
@Rex Everything:
You seem to be under the mistaken impression that disgust with Sen. Sanders’ behavior=no support for his positions or any desire for him to influence the Dem platform.
Not so, sir.
EriktheRed
@goblue72:
Are we supposed to think this is a bad thing?
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@dogwood:
Two shouty old white dudes vying to rip up all of Obama’s hard work by the roots. That’s how I see it.
LanceThruster
Not endorsing her is what gives him credibility with his supporters. I hope he gets the nom at the Dem convention, but if not, I hope he runs as a Green.
Betty Cracker
@LanceThruster = Trump supporter. Sad!
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@LanceThruster:
When he asks you to drink the Green kool aid, please do it.
Plantsmantx
@WarMunchkin:
Sorry, Bernie.
LanceThruster
@Betty Cracker:
https://soapboxie.com/us-politics/FALSE-Not-Voting-For-Hillary-is-a-Vote-For-Trump
Mike in DC
CNN reporting at least 10 women contacted Gretchen Carlson’s attorney within hours of the filing of her complaint against Roger Ailes. Good. I hope this destroys him.
Rex Everything
@EriktheRed: Sargent’s point is that Sanders’ “disgusting behavior” is the very means by which he’s influencing policy, and quite effectively too.
Paul in KY
@dogwood: The Veep debate (with him) would be comedy gold.