Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

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

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

T R E 4 5 O N

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

People are weird.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

A fool as well as an oath-breaker.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / Hillary Clinton 2016 / The Kaine Mane

The Kaine Mane

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Tim Kaine gave a pretty good speech today in Miami. He was warm, earnest and self-deprecating. He fulfilled the VP’s traditional attack dog role without a hint of meanness.

Overall, I’d call it a great roll-out. I was especially moved by what he had to say on guns. He nearly choked up at one point, recalling the Virginia Tech shooting when he was governor.

Kaine seems like a great fit for the Clinton campaign. But one unique Kaine asset I haven’t seen noted by Democrats was raised by Peggy Noonan nearly eight years ago when Kaine was being considered as a running mate for President Obama: Kaine’s haircut. No, really:

I end with a thought on the upcoming announcements of vice presidential picks. Major props to both campaigns for keeping it tight, who it’s going to be, for by now they should know and have, please God, fully vetted him or her. On the Democrats, who are up first, I firmly announce I like every name floated so far, for different reasons (Joe Biden offers experience and growth; Evan Bayh seems by nature moderate; Sam Nunn is that rare thing, a serious man whom all see as a serious man.) But part of me tugs for Tim Kaine of Virginia, because he has a wonderful American Man haircut, not the cut of the man in first but the guy in coach who may be the air marshal. He looks like he goes once every 10 days to Jimmy Hoffa’s barber and says, “Gimme a full Detroit.”

That settles it then. I suspect Noonan finds Kaine’s no-nonsense ‘do especially reassuring when contrasted with Trump’s gravity-defying quadruple-combover. We can count on at least one cross-over Republican vote on the Upper West Side.

Reader Interactions

283Comments

  1. 1.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    My only problem with Kaine isn’t his fault. It’s all the HILLARY IS WORSE THAN BUSH SHE STABBED US IN THE BACK from the Sanders deadenders.

    Which was going to happen no matter who she picked, tbh

  9. 9.

    Emma

    Better get her a mail-in ballot, pre-filled. Noonan’s probably so sloshed by 11 am she couldn’t find her way to her own bathroom, much less a voting booth.

  12. 12.

    burnspbesq

    The first time Kaine goes on with Jorge Ramos is the day that the Republicans have to start putting resources into defending Texas.

  14. 14.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    He looks like he goes once every 10 days to Jimmy Hoffa’s barber and says, “Gimme a full Detroit.”

    Good god, wet brain is the kindest interpretation.

  15. 15.

    geg6

    Well, if they’ve lost Nooners, they must certainly will lose George Will, Kathleen Parker, Michael Gerson and Jennifer Rubin.

    Oh wait…sorry. Old news.

  19. 19.

    msdc

    Peggy Noonan, in 2008:

    Major props to both campaigns for keeping it tight, who it’s going to be, for by now they should know and have, please God, fully vetted him or her.

    God hates you, Peggy.

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    Noonan is such a tool. Shallower than a patina of piss on a flat rock. And doubtless a maudlin, sloppy drunk.

    @Betty Cracker

    No love for the timeless (not) Boggle?

  22. 22.

    Quinerly

    What? She paid no attention to his foot? I heard his feet might be Reaganesque. Peggy is so out of touch.

  27. 27.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Recall that Noonan, unaware that a mic was live, blurted out her true feelings about the Palin pick.

    “The election is lost” or words to that effect.

  28. 28.

    Jeff Spender

    So my Berners were all atwitter that the DOA class-action lawsuit was delivered today. They’ve been using that as “evidence” that the primary was rigged.

    I can’t wait for it to be dismissed so I can use it as proof that it wasn’t.

  31. 31.

    different-church-lady

    Oh for pete’s sake, we’re liberals: isn’t one person going to show up and scold us for making fun of drunks?

  33. 33.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    Tim Kaine has every progressive principle a white guy could possibly have in this time in this America, currently in thrall to white supremacist patriarchy. He’s accomplished more than any 10000 progressives tweeting and farting could ever hope for. The failure of our progressive betters to accept the reality that politics is the art of the possible, in a country where approximately half of the population is eager to vote for a fascist psychopath, is an indictment of their understanding of politics, government, and human nature. They’re worse than the tea party, because as stupid and ideologically out of step with the changing country as they are, they know how to win and force their revanchist agenda into the legislative process. The left ideologues hate politics, hence, they’re worse than useless.

  34. 34.

    geg6

    @msdc:

    And not long after, Nooners gets caught on camera and a hot mic telling the truth about the Snowbilly Shit Show. I’ll never forget and will always cherish the memory of that moment that I witnessed in real time. One of the most satisfying moments of my political life to hear that. I LOLOLOLOLed for real.

  36. 36.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Patton Oswalt is having trouble keeping to his summer twitter hiatus

    Patton Oswald ‏@ pattonoswalt 9h9 hours ago
    I figure we’re about a month away from time travelers from our future constantly appearing and trying to kill Trump.

    @Howard Beale IV: Trump has promised 40% of the country what they’ve always wanted: a racist welfare state.

    That’s perfect.

  37. 37.

    dmsilev

    It was discussed a bit a couple of threads down, but bears repeating. Josh Marshall has been putting together a summary of the whole Trump/Putin thing. Even though some of the evidence is circumstantial, it’s a pretty damning story, and is a nice way to attack people caught up in the “he’ll make America GGGGGGREAT again” nonsense. Ask those people why he’s apparently bought and paid for by Putin and his minions.

  41. 41.

    The Sheriff's A Ni-

    @Jeff Spender: That’ll just mean the conspiracy goes even farther. Can’t reason someone out of something they didn’t reason themselves into.

  47. 47.

    jacy

    Hey, I have an off-topic request to any esteemed lawyers in our midst. I just found out that the judge for my upcoming child custody case is friends with my ex-husband’s mistress (whose family are HUGE Republican donors in the parish.) Do I have any recourse — and if so, where should I start?

  48. 48.

    BR

    @burnspbesq:

    The first time Kaine goes on with Jorge Ramos is the day that the Republicans have to start putting resources into defending Texas.

    While I know you’re overstating it, you reminded me that Trump kicked Ramos out of an event and made a big deal out of it — that whole ugly episode seems so distant given all of Trump’s new ugliness.

  50. 50.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @jacy: Do you have a lawyer? If so, tell your lawyer immediately. It sounds like a conflict that should cause the judge to recuse his/herself. Specific rules vary from state to state. If you do not have a lawyer, I suggest that you get one.

  51. 51.

    JPL

    @redshirt: My brother is visiting and because he has the mlb channel, he signed on yesterday and today to watch the Sox… It was me who jinxed them. I’m so sorry and I promise not to watch them again this season.

  52. 52.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Miss Bianca: that’s our Peg trying to sound Runyonesque, I suspect, with as much success as she has with that affected accent she seems to have copped from a 1950s MGM B-picture about high society

  53. 53.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @Howard Beale IV: One in ten of 60 pct is 6 pct, plus 40 pct. He needs 1 in 6 of the rest. That gives him exactly 50 pct.

    I love the “racist welfare state” note, and I am not dismissing the warning, but this doesn’t even talk about the EVs.

  55. 55.

    jacy

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    I just shot off an email to my lawyer — because I’m kind of freaking out. this woman has waged a shadow campaign against me for two years. She has had inappropriate contact with my children. Her family is very powerful — basically the Koch Brothers of our parish.

  58. 58.

    Mary G

    I only had seen Kaine in action as DNC chair, and he seemed like day – old oatmeal. Everything I’ve seen today makes me love him. Hillary has upped her chances to win.

  63. 63.

    redshirt

    @Mary G: I’ve had that impression too; I wonder if the Dems failure in 2010 had nothing to do with the DNC;

    I’d like to know more about that election year, since it was so catastrophic for our country.

  64. 64.

    JPL

    @redshirt: Last night was the worse, and I learned my lesson after tonight, so no worries. The brother is leaving tomorrow along with his sign in.

  66. 66.

    Quinerly

    @redshirt:
    I really should do it more often. Sigh…of contentment. Going downstairs for a “Beast Light”….I’m a known tightwad, but I digress

  68. 68.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @redshirt: my general take: Enough old people got more freaked out by a black president than by the Republican threat to their safety net

  69. 69.

    Gravenstone

    @Kwame: Do you never get tired of outing yourself as an incompetent troll? Now you’re just boring. Goodbye.

  73. 73.

    jacy

    @JPL:

    Yes, Louisiana. This guy is the only family court judge in the parish. I’ve already had one court case go unexpectedly against me, much to the dismay of the assistant DA. We’re trying to re-litigate it, but she’s bankrolling my ex’s lawyers with unlimited cash.

  74. 74.

    redshirt

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yes. I also think there’s a large percentage of people who are on autopilot. They’re voting R because they’ve always voted R as their parents voted R and their parents voted R.

    Consider Maine. One of the two states in the Union (VT the other) to never vote FDR. Think about that for a moment and what it means for the Dem/Rep divide. Since each state is now solid Blue with VT being like a high point.

  77. 77.

    RandomMonster

    @Kwame: Michael Moore said something so it must be true. The theory of mind you have for liberals is both funny and sad.

  79. 79.

    Big R

    @jacy: Your first step should probably be to hire a lawyer. They can tell you what options you have.

    ETA: I see others beat me to the punch on that one, and that you have a lawyer. So never mind.

  80. 80.

    Roger Moore

    @hilts:
    Michael Moore is the kind of “liberal” who at least halfway wants to lose because it’s more satisfying to be in righteous opposition than actually be forced to govern. Not to mention that Trump is likely to provide much more fertile material for his documentaries than Clinton.

  81. 81.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @redshirt: I always think Wisconsin, at the moment, best represents the off-year/presidential electorate divide: Obama won twice by solid margins, Tammy Baldwin elected in 2012; off-years get you Ron Johnson and Scott Walker.

    I think Maine has gone Dem in every presidential election since ’92 (I looked it up a long time ago), but still gives the world Susan Collins, and I suspect Olly would still be in the Senate if she wanted to be. And then, there’s LePage. Fucking LePage.

  82. 82.

    Quinerly

    Great piece up at WAPO about her process in picking the man of the hour. Behind the scenes stuff (John Podesta’s input…don’t hate me, I’m a Podesta groupie from way back…a bestie went to college with him in Illinois and Podesta was the campus radical, long hair and all..my buddy has fun stories from those days at Knox College)

  86. 86.

    SoupCatcher

    @redshirt:

    I’d like to know more about that election year, since it was so catastrophic for our country.

    It was the first Citizen’s United election.

    My guess, based on nothing more than the flora in my small intestine, is that unlimited corporate cash has its biggest impact in small elections: house seats, state races, off-year, etc.

    And, also, too, what Jim, Foolish Literalist said.

  87. 87.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    You can tell Michael Moore is very sincere in his bed-wetting because he wears a sport coat over a sweat shirt, with a baseball cap. It’s not an all an affectation as pointless as Ann Coulter’s little black dress and Cornel West’s turn-of-the-last-century (I think) collar (which I actually think is pretty cool and I wish I could pull it off)

  90. 90.

    Quinerly

    Unrelated.I’m a music nut…”American Routes” is exceptional tonight. John Hall’s version of “Stagger Lee” is great. Who would have thunk??

  92. 92.

    AnotherBruce

    God, I can’t wait until Hillary exposes Trump’s love for Putin. I think we’ve gone around the bend when the nominee of the Republican party is good with serving the interests of Russia.

    From now on, we should call Republicans Stalinist. Make those bed wetting cold war shit stains wear it.

  93. 93.

    pseudonymous in nc

    Will re-post here because the thread I posted in has been infested with trollovirus:

    I think a lot of people went from meh to yay today. There’s an ease and a lack of front about Kaine — it’s the confidence of someone who has worked bloody hard for the right to be confident. And he’s just a nice person with no spite about him, which is backed up by the GOP senators who were offering personal congratulations today. I can see that working really well in NC and the Rust Belt and Midwest. Send him to Greensboro, send him to Pittsburgh, send him to Indianapolis, send him to his hometown of Kansas City and let’s see how the Missouri poll numbers look, because if Missouri starts to look competitive, then that’s going to chafe Trump’s rear and make him blame Pence.

  95. 95.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Roger Moore:

    Michael Moore is the kind of “liberal” who at least halfway wants to lose because it’s more satisfying to be in righteous opposition than actually be forced to govern.

    His movies do better when Republicans are in power, so it’s better for his bottom line.

  96. 96.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Roger Moore: Sort of like how David Letterman told Al Gore in ’92 that it was difficult for Letterman to vote for Clinton/Gore, because, well, Dan Quayle jokes practically wrote themselves.

  99. 99.

    hilts

    @Roger Moore:

    I think there’s a lot of truth in what you say about how Michael Moore operates.

    @Xecky Gilchrist:

    As November gets closer, I think a lot of Sanders supporters will line up behind Clinton because they’ll accept the fact that Donald Trump is a fucking lunatic. He’s a malignant cancer in the soul of America and a victory for him would be a crime against humanity.

    PS Fuck Chris Matthews and all the other douchebag talking heads for slobbering over how wonderfully Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Jr performed at the convention and how Donald Trump can’t be such a bad guy if he raised these kids who have such poise and dignity. They’re not great human beings, they’re malevolent assholes for trying to humanize their scumbag father and they deserve to rot in Hell right alongside him.

  100. 100.

    pseudonymous in nc

    I think the story of 2010 was one of a) crazy batshit Tea Party summer, where people started taking AR-15s to town hall meetings; b) exhaustion with process over the ACA; c) frustration with Blue Dogs who were given all kinds of leeway by Nancy Pelosi but ran away from their party identification in the election.

    I think Samantha Bee is ahead of historians here in going back to 2010 again and again, because in the long run it may have even greater significance than 2008 in American 21st-century politics.

    And I’ll say this now: even if we get off our arses to ensure that Hillary Clinton wins, we have to start thinking about 2020 and the consequences of another decade of census-driven gerrymanders locking up state legislatures and the House, and I’m sure that Madame President would also be thinking hard about that.

  101. 101.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Quinerly:

    Bad visional. But oddly pleasing.

    You know he has a dodgy combover there as well. Or perhaps grows it for transplanting.

  102. 102.

    Heywood J.

    Moore’s “5 reasons why Drumpf wins” don’t hold up to scrutiny. Drumpf will keep it closer than it should be, because this is ‘murka and there’s a lot of mow-rons, but he can’t help himself. He’s going to try to riff his way through the debates and fuck it up royally. That insult comic dog schtick that plays in East Overshoe won’t be as effective face-to-face. At least some of his cult followers are going to stay home once their Red Bull and crank high wears off.

  107. 107.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Sahil Kapur ‏@ sahilkapur 2h2 hours ago
    Trump defends Roger Ailes, telling @chucktodd he has helped the women accusing him of sexual harassment. “Very sad.”

  109. 109.

    Felonius Monk

    @Kwame:

    Michael Moore shows why this election may already be

    How can you believe anything Michael Moore says? He’s white. Last night you didn’t want any white people talking to you. Has something changed or did you just forget your troll schtick?

  110. 110.

    Quinerly

    @efgoldman:
    Trump is already setting Pence up for taking the rap for defeat. Read a blurb this morning…quoting Trump’s speech yesterday…the byline basically was “will Trump sue Pence if he loses.” Fun times ahead!

  117. 117.

    OldDave

    @efgoldman:

    That assumes he knows that Indiana is one of the bordering states

    Bordering Missouri? I think Indiana and Illinois must have swapped places on your mental map of the US – or my reading comprehension is shot all to hell and I should call it a night and go to bed.

  122. 122.

    hilts

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Also very sad that Fox News Channel has dumbed down millions of Americans into believing that a knuckle dragging neanderthal named Donald Trump is qualified to be President of the United States.

    All this Trump speculation is so fucking depressing that I need to post a link to something that lifts my spirits and takes my mind off of the nightmare scenario of this putrid scumbag becoming the next commander in chief

    youtube.com/watch?v=JMbuJXQCIvo

  123. 123.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @redshirt: Thanks, I’m getting better at it.

    @sacrablue: True, I hadn’t heard about any losses last I checked. It was burning out in the forest, also really sad.

  124. 124.

    Quinerly

    @OldDave:
    Actually Missouri oddly borders 8 states (I’m a transplant here, there was NO test?). Indiana is not one of the 8.

  130. 130.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @redshirt:
    It went almost exactly the way the election patterners said it would, a Republican wave in response to Democrats holding the presidency and both houses of congress, and having passed major legislation. I remember very well those warnings, and the number crunchers proved to be exactly right. It was also exactly the year a wave let them gerrymander the crap out of things, which is how they’ve kept the House even though they’ve technically gotten less votes every election since.

    @jacy:
    Even if what you’re saying tonight is dark, I want you to know how happy I’ve been to see you commenting more.

  132. 132.

    cckids

    Is it just me, or does Kaine look a bit like a hobbit? Not stature, but his cheeks & eyes, and general demeanor. He looks like Merry’s uncle or something.

    I’ve had a bit too much wine tonight.

  136. 136.

    ruemara

    @redshirt: you’re cheering a fake black man who decries white men, but is currently boosting a dumb post by a dumb fat white guy.

  138. 138.

    cckids

    @Mnemosyne: YES. Even without a beard.

    ETA: For a politician I couldn’t have picked out of a lineup last week, I’m liking Kaine quite a lot. His speech was excellent.

  139. 139.

    Tom Q

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Do you remember the scene in Bowling for Columbine where he returned to the store expecting to humiliate then but instead they announced they were discontinuing the sale of guns? He tried desperately to pretend he was joyful — as he should have been, over a policy victory — but was transparently faking it; all he wanted was to display his moral superiority over the rubes.

    There is, as has been said, a sort of liberal who really does think only losing connotes true moral superiority. I’ve used the expression here before, that they’re To Kill a Mockingbird liberals — you lose your case and your client is killed, but you have the satisfaction of knowing you’re the most righteous man in town,

    And for Moore, like a few too many Bernie-ites, it’s OK if Hillary loses because it PROVES they were right and we all should have gone with Bernie, who’d have sailed to victory.

  140. 140.

    AnotherBruce

    @Quinerly: It’ a quiz. Let me try. Iowa, Illinois, Arkansas, Nebraska, Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma.

    Not sure about the last one.

  143. 143.

    divF

    Before I heard his speech tonight, I knew almost nothing about Kaine. Then his shout-out to his Jesuit training (high school and the year in Honduras), including citation of the Jesuit high school motto of recent decades, “Men for Others”, put him solidly in the Catholic social justice tradition. Teaching Honduran kids carpentry and metalworking, pointing out the commonalities between his Catholic beliefs and Hilary’s Methodist ones – absolutely pitch-perfect.

    A Jesuit education is not a guarantee of a moral compass (see Pat Buchanan), but if you get your moral compass from that tradition, it is rock-solid. I’m convinced.

  144. 144.

    Matt McIrvin

    Shirky’s warning/call to arms is pretty good, but I think he exaggerates the effect that vote suppression will have on the minority vote over what it was already doing in previous cycles.

    Michael Moore is just being Michael Moore. I agree with him that Hillary Clinton has a genuine problem enthusing people who are similar to Michael Moore. But he projects to the whole country.

    I’ve been watching polls pretty carefully; Trump has a shot at winning the election if he runs the table of all the states where he’s competitive. He could win Iowa, Ohio and Pennsylvania, with the right breaks. But this idea that he can win Wisconsin and Michigan is a complete delusion, and I don’t know why pundits keep talking about it.

  147. 147.

    Matt McIrvin

    @redshirt: In the presidential election? Yes. Scott Walker was elected and reelected with a midterm electorate in huge Republican waves; the 2012 recall election he survived was in June, not the November general election, and a lot of people seem to have thought the process was illegitimate. He’s not popular now, and Clinton is leading Trump with substantial margins there in the polls.

  148. 148.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: New Yorkers are the ones who know him best, and loathe him as a result. California in play? Muahahaha, spend Drumpf spend.

    The man is the ultimate in all hat no cattle. He’s sold his soul to Putin. Fuck him, fuck his family (get Barron out now, before the kid’s life is ruined through association).

  150. 150.

    Matt McIrvin

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I’ve heard people insisting that that has to be some kind of feint; nobody is that delusional. While it would be foolish to bank on it, I think it’s entirely possible that Trump is that delusional.

  151. 151.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jeff Spender: Michael Moore spent 2000 explaining why it would actually be a good thing if Nader spoiled the election and got George W. Bush in.

  152. 152.

    Darkrose

    @Howard Beale IV: This amuses me. The only reason I know about Clay Shirky is because I did a review of one of his books for a class last semester. I was pretty harsh, mostly because he was rather dismissive towards fan fiction writers in a way that showed he knows nothing about that segment of fandom. He seemed like a smart guy, so I’m glad to see him getting this right.

  153. 153.

    Barb2

    @ruemara:

    You covered the faking faker toll’s lying ways quite nicely.

    He is not who he pretends to be. He is playing at being. He has externally taken on a role, but his words aren’t coming from his soul.

  156. 156.

    Major Major Major Major

    I like the phrase Shirky used, ‘bringing fact checkers to a culture war.’ Kevin Drum (I believe) coined the term “hack gap” for a cynical phrasing of basically the same concept. I prefer Drum’s, but it’s SO DAMN HARD TO SAY OUT LOUD!

    It’s very true though. Some people seem to think that being right is enough. Some, like Moore as we’ve been discussing, even seem to prefer ‘being right’ to winning.

  157. 157.

    jacy

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I maintain that there’s something mentally wrong with Trump. If you compare his syntax now with his syntax from years back, there’s a huge difference. I think he’s also a pathological narcissist, and that’s been a constant his whole life. Combine the narcissism with cognitive decline and you get a whole bowl of crazy.

  158. 158.

    Ruckus

    @Matt McIrvin:
    People think he can’t possibly be that delusional, that they have never met anyone who is close to that delusional and they can’t understand how someone who walks in public without a straight jacket or a mental heath professional accompanying them can be that delusional. But he does. His money hides a lot of who he really is, even though he doesn’t have near as much as he says he does. Another one of his delusions.

  159. 159.

    mike in dc

    DWS “disinvited” from speaking at DNC. In light of the email revelations, she’s been booted from a speaking slot in an effort to not inflame tensions. Hopefully followed by a notification post-convention that her services are no longer required.

  163. 163.

    Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill

    @jacy:

    Are we talking real friends or just acquaintances? Do you live in a smaller town or rural area?

  164. 164.

    Heywood J.

    @jacy: This. Decades of hairspray lacquer have soaked through his scalp and brined his noodle, giving him a terminal combination of Alzheimer’s and Dunning-Kruger.

  167. 167.

    Aleta

    @Ruckus: Heads on TV were repeating the Tr campaign talking point that his kids prove he must be a good solid guy. Actually his kids showed that they are simply under his influence. Either isolated inside his delusional bubble, or liars for the Tr greater good, or without any understanding of what the presidency and country are about. They acted like they were in a TV reality show, nothing more. Ivanka’s support for her father proved her lack of independent judgement instead of anything about his sanity. Yes he’s delusional, and competitive in a deranged way, and a compulsive liar and manipulator. Based on two people I’ve known for years who resemble parts of him, it’s impossible to know how much he believes of what he says .

  168. 168.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Aleta:

    it’s impossible to know how much he believes of what he says

    That’s the sign of a great con man.

  169. 169.

    Aleta

    @Heywood J.: The rabid animal that years ago nested on his head has been excreting its musky juices down his forehead, ears and neck. The murk has naturally clouded his thinking and vision.

  171. 171.

    jacy

    @Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill:

    Real friends. Her family publicly supported his election campaign. Her family is the wealthiest in the area and donates tons of money to Republicans. You can’t walk into a local restaurant without finding a dish named after them. They are very politically powerful and it’s a small fucking pond.

  172. 172.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Matt McIrvin: He shares blood soaked hands with Nader for that. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis would not be dead if the deserting coward’s victory was not enabled by Nader’s megalomania.

  173. 173.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    Insomnia again.
    I read all the internets and can’t bring myself to actually think about the wicked mop headed orange muppet until it’s light out.
    Gonna listen to She Said She Said on headphones and think about what I want to do today for my 57th birthday.

  175. 175.

    jacy

    @Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill:

    And she hates me with a white hot passion. They’re big muckety-mucks in the Catholic church here, and when I found out she had been having an affair with my husband for a year (our 9-year-olds where in the same class at the Catholic school this judge’s kids go to), I made it public. She did not take it well.

  177. 177.

    Ruckus

    @Aleta:
    There are tons of “great” men through out history who are delusional to the degree that drumpf is and their children believe in them just like drumpf’s. A great con has no limits on the people who it can capture and the kids are close and malleable. Drumpf’s problem is that his dad was as not a good role model and drumpf learned all the old man’s tricks and all of the “charm.” He just didn’t learn to be good at the making money part, probably because he never had to actually accomplish anything but be an asshole. And that came naturally. Of course he believes his bullshit, what would cause him not to? He’s gotten away with his crap for his entire life. Getting away with his crap is his entire life. Even if he didn’t believe it decades ago, that slight problem has long ago resolved itself.

  180. 180.

    Matt McIrvin

    @AnotherBruce: Not only that, I am increasingly thinking Putin is also now manipulating a segment of the US left in a bid to split the Obama coalition and elect Trump. He’s been feeding his line to contrarian foreign-policy progressives via RT for a while now, and now he’s got hackers selectively feeding data dumps about the Democrats to Wikileaks to inflame Bernie-or-Busters and threaten mainstream Dems with identity theft. You’ll notice that Snowden has been primarily picking on Hillary Clinton too. And here we have the DNC actually on the defensive, pushing DWS out of the spotlight in response to this stuff.

    Trump’s organization is too ramshackle and stupid to have a proper dirty-tricks squad, but Putin has a Nixon-level organization going already in his service. If Trump wins this will be the reason why.

  181. 181.

    Anne Laurie

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    Gonna listen to She Said She Said on headphones and think about what I want to do today for my 57th birthday.

    Happy birthday, and many happy returns!

    One thing I’ve found that doesn’t actually cure insomnia, but does keep my mind occupied enough to let my body rest in the dark: I pick out a dream project involving one of my not-blogging hobbies — like buying the patch of junk-dotted brush behind our back yard that extends from a neighbor on the perpendicular — and plan exactly how I’d go about turning it into a useful fruit-tree and berry-bush orchard; where I’d buy particular cultivars, and how many plants I could realistically fit in, and how we could fence things so the little dogs could use ‘their’ part of the back yard without getting beyond the patio lights…

    Our is that kind of plotting too much like your paid job to be relaxing for you?

  182. 182.

    Barb2

    @Ruckus:

    Yes Trump is mentally ill. From experience I can tell you that the shrinks probably can’t agree on a diagnosis.

    But logically – those of us who are sane can see when someone’s reality isn’t in the here and now. There are culturally normal ways to behave – Trump is clueless.

    Very often families enable the mentally ill person to live in an alternative reality. Untreated and undiagnosed mental illness is a massive problem in American.

    My sister is bipolar – just part of her diagnosis. Her med shift depending on a 15 minute consult with a shrink. My parents denied that she was mentally ill until the day they died.

    No sane person will continue to beat down a political opponent like we see Trump doing to Cruz. Trump should be doing something else. But that’s fine for our side.

    He is showing who he is – mentally ill. Believe what your social brain is telling you.

    One sign that my sister was going manic was her writing and illogical babble. To me Trump’s word salads – throwing in every random thought out there unfiltered indicates he has gone manic. Reporters had a couple of paragraphs of Trump’s manic ramblings. They tried to diagram the sentences. Impossible. Mother Jones, Kevin Drum had an article with the Trump word vomit. Now the press seems to be covering up Trump’s manic episodes.

    Narcissism – this is where there is wide spread agreement on a diagnosis. The Atlantic has an article about crazy Trump. Sociopath, lots of agreement.

    Trump needs a full mental health review. Neurological, psychologically, etc.

    The obvious guesses may be the tip of the iceberg.

    What we don’t need is him in the white house being Putin’s Puppet.

    Mostly my behavioral science degrees are used to understand animal behavior. Growing up with a sister who was dangerous gives me another way understand human mental illness.

    Americans are mostly ignorant of the symptoms of mental illness. And cops shoot the mentally ill. Reagan shut the mental hospitals. Jails now serve as holding facilities for the mentally ill, and jailers torture and kill the mentally ill. Google it – there’s lots of research and articles. Whole websites infact.

    Trump could serve a useful purpose – getting everyone to talk about his mental illness. Another thing – many people who are mentally ill – have no self awareness that they are crazy. That’s my sister problem. She fine – everyone else is crazy.

  183. 183.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    I’m surprisingly happy about Tim Kaine. Maybe just relieved that the choice is made and that hurdle is successfully cleared. One more step toward the White House.
    Thanks for the b-day wishes.
    I will have a good one.
    Enjoy your Sunday.

  184. 184.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @Anne Laurie:
    Project planning is a good way for me to fall asleep. I get exhausted by association.
    My paid job is fixing industrial lasers so not much use thinking about that until one breaks.
    My mental occupation for driving, airplanes and other idle times is designing vacuum tube amplifier circuits and doing the math. It’s simple arithmetic and keeps me occupied. Plus it gives me something to test in the shop when I get home. I even wrote a magazine article about how to do stuff like square roots of small numbers in your head for electronic math. Pro tip: remember 0.032.
    I might as well get up. It’s gonna be light soon an Doglius will want a walk before it gets hot.

  189. 189.

    Baud

    MSNBC

    The mother of the U.S. ambassador killed in the 2012 attack in Benghazi has asked that Donald Trump and the Republican Party stop the “opportunistic and cynical” use of her son’s name and death.

  190. 190.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    I went back and listened to the whole thing except Yellow Submarine. 50 years of this record and I still can’t tolerate that.
    Recently I listened to a documentary about Revolver. Very informative and I recall the stoned Peter Fonda anecdote.
    Got to Get You Into My Life was the first Beatles song that got my attention on the radio in ’66 and I’m still digging it.

  192. 192.

    Barb2

    @Baud:

    No caucuses? Please kill the caucus.

    Does Primary mean real ballots?

    Washington state does both. Sanders bots ran up the vote for idiot face. The real primary with real ballots went to Hillary. In fact Washington is the poster kid to show how evil caucuses are.

    Thankfully our superdelegates were pledged to Hillary. Bernie bots were extra nasty misogynistic creeps to our two female Senators.

    Evil bots.

  193. 193.

    Baud

    @Barb2:

    There’s going to be a commission to look at things. Didn’t propose to eliminate caucuses here, but there’s this.

    The other guidelines for the commission included a mix of Clinton and Sanders ideas, including expanding “eligible voters’ ability to participate in the caucuses” in caucus states (a gripe of Clinton’s campaign) and encouraging “the involvement in all elections of unaffiliated or new voters who seek to join the Democratic Party through same-day registration and re-registration” (a Sanders demand).

  194. 194.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: I actually like ‘Yellow Submarine’, the kids across the street and I used to sing it while my mom drove us to church(I don’t think she knew it was a Beatles song). They let George Martin go back to his comedy roots with the sound effects.

  195. 195.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @Barb2: instinctively I dislike the caucuses because this year they narrowed the margin and put my preferred candidate at risk. Logically I dislike them because they are inherently less democratic. The Democratic Party is fighting for more inclusive voting nationally. They should be improving the inclusiveness of the primary process as well. Direct voting just involves more people than caucuses do so that’s the way it should go.

  196. 196.

    Keith G

    #comment-5917076″>hilts:

    Michael Moore is a defeatist bed wetter who needs to STFU for the next few months

    Actually, Michael Moore is a cheerleader for Hillary Clinton it. He personally likes her and thinks that most of the criticism against her is a bum wrap. He does have policy difference is with her and he was a supportive Burnie Sanders. Now, he wants Hillary Clinton elected and he is rising his voice to that end. I am using as much of his own wording in the this statement as I can remember.

    His concern is that too many people will not vote because either and they think this is already in the bag or they are folks like him who never were kindly disposed to the thought of a Clinton presidency in the abstract.

  197. 197.

    Kay

    He’s a great negotiator who makes great deals:

    While developer Donald Trump was busy getting the Republican Party’s presidential nomination this week, he was losing big in a Miami-Dade County courtroom.
    Circuit Court Judge Jorge Cueto, presiding over a lawsuit related to unpaid bills brought by a local paint store against the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort, ordered the billionaire politician’s company to pay the Doral-based mom-and-pop shop nearly $300,000 in attorney’s fees.
    All because, according to the lawsuit, Trump allegedly tried to stiff The Paint Spot on its last payment of $34,863 on a $200,000 contract for paint used in the renovation of the home of golf’s famed Blue Monster two years ago.

    The judge tacked on additional legal fees because the dope’s lawyers wouldn’t settle and made the Paint Spot lawyers prepare for trial. It cost at least 300,000 in legal fees because Trump wouldn’t pay 34,000 he owed.

  198. 198.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: it’s a fun song but seems out of place on this record. The rest of the record is so abstract and indirect but in the middle there’s that Ringo vocal cartoon song. We used to sing it in the car on trips too.
    My parents let us. They get sainthood for that.

  199. 199.

    Keith G

    @Keith G: How can I not have permission to edit? It is 4:30 in the bloody morning and I haven’t had coffee yet.

    Of course I need permission to edit. FYWP!

  201. 201.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Kay: Jorge Cueto? Obviously biased against TRUMP because TRUMP wants to build a wall.

    /Trump

  202. 202.

    Kay

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    The argument FOR caucuses was anti-establishment. The idea was they allowed less well known and well funded candidates to come from behind thru on the ground organizing rather than national name recognition and funding.

    I don’t care if Democrats get rid of them but they were considered more inclusive in terms of candidates.

  204. 204.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @Kay: valid point but I wonder if lack of name recognition and exposure is such a problem anymore in the modern mainstream 24×7 media and social media environment.

  205. 205.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I love, love, love that the judge set the auction date on the property and Trump had to put 34,000 in escrow.

    Is that in The Art of the Deal, I wonder? “What to do as auction date approaches”

    Don’t stiff the Paint Spot, is the lesson here. They don’t mess around :)

  210. 210.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: It’s primarily the adjustment of the whites and blacks in Adobe Camera Raw along with adjusting the sharpness.

  211. 211.

    Keith G

    @Kay: I like the caucus system as part of a mixed process. Cater and Obama both were helped by the intimacy and reduced costs of caucus campaigning. Pretty good outcomes.

  212. 212.

    Kay

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    They go thru a similar thing in Ohio with electing judges. A lot of people hate electing judges because they have to campaign and that introduces all the problems with money in politics, but we always keep the elections because appointed judges tend to come with big law firm backing or are politically connected anyway. Supposedly elections allow “little guys” a shot. Occasionally it works. We have a come from behind, small shop lawyer on the state supreme court. He’s the only liberal.

  213. 213.

    Elizabelle

    I am so happy about the Tim Kaine pick. He’s a marvelous, pragmatic person.

    Relieved, because I worry sometimes about what happens if something happens to Hillary. All this ugliness stirred up, in a long hot summer.

    Maybe Tim can be a bit of a healer, too. He’s sincere, a good listener, and has a good heart.

  214. 214.

    Baud

    @Kay: Too anachronistic in this day and age. How do you promote more candidates without disenfranchising voters?

  215. 215.

    Batgirl

    Re 2010 midterm election. Don’t underestimate the freak out, especially of old white people, of a black man in the White House.

  217. 217.

    Keith G

    @Elizabelle:

    I worry sometimes about what happens if something happens to Hillary.

    From this point on….one of the top 3 safest people people in this country.

  219. 219.

    Kay

    @Elizabelle:

    I think it will be really interesting. I watched Kaine’s speech and I hope Trump interprets that kindness and decency that came thru as weakness. I bet he does. I feel like it puts him off-balance. He won’t know what to do with it. He seems to see the threat in “love trumps hate”- he was insisting the GOP convention was all about love yesterday.

  220. 220.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @Kay:
    That’s an interesting example. I’m conflicted about elected judiciary because the idea of judges raising money from donors bothers me. But appointed judiciary seems to be a lever for the people with political power, as you say.

  221. 221.

    Keith G

    @Baud: I not sure that there is a way. That is why I liked a mixed process. If some states want to hold caucuses, let them. As a Democrat, I really do not mind Iowa’s part in this. It is a more liberal Democratic Party than most and acts a a decent (not perfect) vetting stage.

    If the earliest rounds were primary states in larger media markets, early money would be an increasingly decisive factor.

  225. 225.

    Baud

    @Keith G:

    I can’t get behind the exclusionary aspect, no matter the other benefits. I’m opposed. Or at a minimum, delegates awarded should reflect turnout.

  226. 226.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay: Interesting point, to look at speeches through Trump’s perspective. No doubt many are written with snaking him out in mind.

    Haven’t seen Tim’s speech, or any Hillary speeches this week, but will try to catch up. Glad to hear the man’s basic decency shone through.

    I think it will be hard for our mediacrap betters to tear him apart (looking at you, concerned Mrs. Greenspan and the Morning Joe mean kid kindergarten set). Tim Kaine comes across as a real person, only smarter and more kind and decent. So that will probably bother the mediacrap types too.

    Decency and inclusiveness vs. money and fantasy world. Bring it on.

  227. 227.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Publicly funded elections with strict campaign finance limits, of course!

    I participated in caucuses once- it’s how Ohio elects delegates- and it was fun. it’s probably “fun” for a tiny subset of weird people though. I bet the national Party Democrats would prefer primaries just because more people get registered and come out. Caucuses don’t make a whole lot of sense other than the one benefit I mentioned.

  228. 228.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Publicly funded elections with strict campaign finance limits, of course!

    Can you do that with primaries?

  229. 229.

    Kay

    @Elizabelle:

    Kaine’s speech was very good. It’s the moral grounding for Clinton’s candidacy.

    It’s ambitious, really. The opposite of “safe”. It’s a much bigger idea than “practical Hillary who gets things done”. It was about WHY they do those things. That’s brave to me because it’s a direct rebuttal of the “crooked Hillary” or “conniving Hillary”. She’s refuting that larger idea directly and taking the higher ground. It’s bold.

    It could get really interesting- clash of two big themes.

  230. 230.

    Elizabelle

    I’d get rid of caucuses too — they’re not representative.

    And I’d make the deadline for registering as a Democrat nearer to the primary. Far enough out to deter ratfuckers; close enough that an actual swing voter could make his/her choice pretty close to election day.

    New York state’s 6-month previous deadline for registering as a Democrat to vote in the party primary is nondemocratic, IMHO. Needs to be way shorter. Actual voter interests over party, please.

  231. 231.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I don’t know- maybe. Ohio has the state tax check off box for one dollar political donations. I guess the Parties themselves could set that towards money for each candidate.

    Connecticut reformed their state campaign finance system. The first couple of years were a big success.

  232. 232.

    amk

    @Elizabelle: msm morons and shills seem to hold their mouths against uncle joe. Because he is a decent man or because he will pay them back in double or even triple doses by calling out their stupidity or eager shilling for gop?

  233. 233.

    Keith G

    @Kay: Yes, if we could get publicly financed elections then a lot of problems would be worked out. Caucuses would in my mind be less necessary.

  234. 234.

    Elizabelle

    @amk: Mmmm. Had not noticed re Uncle Joe. (And love that we call him that.)

    Maybe your speculations, or maybe because he’s plugged into permanent Washington. Maybe also because he’s got a rep as a straight shooter (McConnell apparently trusts him…)

    Don’t know.

  235. 235.

    Barb2

    @Keith G:

    That is just stupid.

    Dem party leaders in caucus states are whores who sell themselves to the highest bidder.

    Then they allow outsiders to be bused into the precincts to “vote”. The Dem party’s bussed in “voters” overwhelm the local voters. Local voters who actually live in the precinct. Dumb bussed in voters tried to act rural wearing new jeans as sweat shirts.

    Caucasus discriminate against voters. There are no checks and balances. They are a prime example of dirty politics.

    Washington State side by side comparison of ballot voting and dirty caucus voting shows a bought and paid for dirty caucus.

    The caucus for choosing Presidential candidates has no place in a democracy.

    Superdelegates are necessary in dirty caucus states.

    Bernie is dirty.

  239. 239.

    Another Holocene Human

    @jacy: Why are big muckety mucks in the Catholic Church always the biggest sinners you ever met?

    Kind of makes you nostalgic for the middle ages when all the big celebri-Catholics were famous for being continent. “She doesn’t eat! He won’t masturbate! We’re not worthy!”

  240. 240.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Not only that, I am increasingly thinking Putin is also now manipulating a segment of the US left in a bid to split the Obama coalition and elect Trump. He’s been feeding his line to contrarian foreign-policy progressives via RT for a while now, and now he’s got hackers selectively feeding data dumps about the Democrats to Wikileaks to inflame Bernie-or-Busters and threaten mainstream Dems with identity theft. You’ll notice that Snowden has been primarily picking on Hillary Clinton too. And here we have the DNC actually on the defensive, pushing DWS out of the spotlight in response to this stuff.

    Putin has been hard-core riling up the left and splitting them off since Snowden, the biggest gift he’s ever been given. He overreached a bit with Ukraine, though. The mask came off RT there.

    What kills me is these lefties believe they are too smert to fall for manipulation, so they ignore signs of Putin’s naked manipulation of them. Hubris!

    Of course Putin would support Trump. Like he supports RW nationalists everywhere. The rubes are too damn stupid to catch on.

  241. 241.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @satby: It was all done in Adobe Camera Raw, bump up the whites until the sky starts to wash out, bump the blacks down until the shadows start to get black, set clarity and vibrancy; set sharpness controls.

  242. 242.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @satby:
    Thanks. We’ll probably go to the new Star Trek movie because why not, then ice cream.
    I passed through your neck of the woods twice last week on 94 from Detroit to Chicago and back. Still a lot of downed trees in the highway right of way. Must have been some storm.
    Hope things are going well with your relocation. I was mostly out of touch last week and missed any updates.

  243. 243.

    Gator90

    Further reporting from yesterday’s Miami rally. Someone in the campaign really likes my wife (a part-time South Florida volunteer), so we got VIP wristbands. It was interesting to see how politicians treat people. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (who is very short) was posing for pictures with person after person and could not have been more gracious and friendly. She gave my wife a minute and it was like they were best friends. I hung out for a while with Rep. Alcee Hastings, who had given one of the warm-up speeches and was very nice. When DWS said during her speech that she had two words for Trump (“stronger together”), I whispered to Hastings that I had two words for Trump, and he laughed and said “I’m with you.”

  244. 244.

    Barb2

    @Another Holocene Human:
    Why isn’t this story getting more attention?

    Imagine if Hillary had a close 1 degree of separation from Putin & lots of money was involved. According to the reports there is literally 1 degree of separation between Trump and Putin.

    Never mind – Jon Stewart covered this. If Obama or Clinton does it- BAD BAD. If Trump does it – good.

    Those video clips side by side would make a great ad for Hillary.

  246. 246.

    gogol's wife

    @Elizabelle:

    With Vladimir Vladimirovich involved, I’m hoping they don’t travel on the same plane or drink any tea poured for them by strangers.

  248. 248.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @Barb2:

    Then they allow outsiders to be bused into the precincts to “vote”. The Dem party’s bussed in “voters” overwhelm the local voters. Local voters who actually live in the precinct. Dumb bussed in voters tried to act rural wearing new jeans as sweat shirts.

    I believe caucuses are undemocratic, but I have no idea what you’re talking about here. I can only assume the state you live in runs their caucus differently than mine does. Here, you caucus in your precinct and your name is checked off the voter registration list at the door.

  249. 249.

    Gator90

    Also, on the way out of the arena there was was this small clutch of rabid protesters braying maniacally about Satan and Saul Alinsky, But nobody seemed to be giving them much attention.

  250. 250.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: I have a fatwa on JJ Abrams after that last abomination of a “Star Trek” (scarequotes) movie. I didn’t watch Star Wars and forbid my friends and family to bring it up around me. I never watched “Lost” but now I understand their pain.

    Ghostbusters for me.

  251. 251.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Kwame: Most minority voters will vote for Clinton/Kaine over Trump/Pence. Plus scores of Republicans have already said they’re not voting for Trump. Cool it, Dude. Not sure what you’re trying to do by denigrating the Democratix ticket.

    I would have much preferred Perez or Castro as the Dem VP, but shrugs. I’m With Her.

  253. 253.

    Barb2

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    I live in Washington state.
    No checking off names a door.
    No checking addresses – to determine if we could even vote.
    Just sign a form, name, address, candidate choice.
    The Dem precinct people had candidate badges.
    Banners for the candidate supported by Dem party leaders visible inside the gym,as well as outside.
    Busses hidden, sort of, at the side of the gym.
    Imported voters stayed together.
    The professional facilators did not live in the precinct, carried back packs. Because they were an outside mobile team.
    These facilators used unethical methods to push votes to their candidate.
    What happened in my precinct happened all over the state.

    The caucus vote per delegate is very small – compared to the much larger number of primary votes per delegate.

    It would be very easy for a Trump like candidate to steal an election. Bernie seems to be trying to set up a take over by some candidate in the future.

    I believe the US House Black caucus members have the same fear. African Americans know what it feels like to be shut out and denied their vote.

    Caucasus shut out voters. Bernie gamed the system. His bots went wild at the NV State Convention.

    The time for caucuses is gone.

    The primary voters in Washington made the right choice.

    I’ve experienced the caucus system – but now it is being gamed.

  254. 254.

    Barb2

    @Aimai:
    I agree – Bernie bots are a mob. They are easily whipped up using hate as the emotional trigger.

    They frighten me because their hate and rage is focused on not only Hillary but also all women. I’m saying Bernie is pulling their strings. Someone is.

    You know what? I just realized that hate is a powerful tool.

  255. 255.

    J R in WV

    @redshirt:

    I bet it felt Great! directed at “Kwame” – whoever that is, really. At least our Trolls all smell different . . .

    Keep up the good work Q.

  257. 257.

    J R in WV

    @efgoldman:

    Indiana stubbornly wants to be next to Missou, but Illinois continues to be between the two states, keeeping them from ever bordering one another.

    Sorry.

    You can get to Indiana without going through Illinois for more than a couple hundred yards by driving south along the Mississippi River and crossing the little Mississippi on US Route 62 into Illinois and immediately crossing the Big Ole Ohio on US Route 51/60/62 into Kentucky. You get way less than a mile in Illinois. These are old 2-lane bridges, too. I was scared a little until I realized that big 18 wheelers were using them to avoid weigh stations and doing OK.

    Here’s a link to a Google Earth view of approaching the bridge over the Ohio, which really is a much larger river than the MS is where they meet. I’ve never tried to link one of these, let’s see if it works!

    Yay! It did work. This is a lot of bandwidth, just FYI. You can click some and go right across from Ill to KY. It’s much higher than it looks too.

  258. 258.

    LAC

    @Heywood J.: if Michael Moore wants to be of any real use, he will run that baseball cap of his through a wash cycle. Then he can join cornel west and have a few seats.

  259. 259.

    J R in WV

    @Darkrose:

    I believe Clay Shirkey is a very deep thinker… I’ve been reading his stuff for years with interest.

    I thought he was a Computer Science guy back then, it appears he’s more into policy than I thought.

  260. 260.

    Shawn in Showme

    @pseudonymous in nc:

    Kansas City is already a Democratic stronghold. And the areas outside of Kansas City and St Louis hate Hillary Clinton’s guts. Fox News is the default media source out there. Tim Kaine will just be added to the enemies list.

  261. 261.

    bystander

    @Shawn in Showme: When I looked up how the KCStar was handling Kaine’s nomination, they seemed to accord less interest in that native son than they did in Paul Rudd.

    I guess winning Overland Park would be too much to hope for.

  262. 262.

    aimai

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I don’t think Moore cares that much about money. But I think that something in Kaine’s speech hit Moore off to a T:

    Kaine said “My mother asked me do I want to be right, or do right. Because if I want to be right, I’ll be a cynic and if I want to do right, I’ll be an optimist.”

    Moore wants to be right, be seen to be right, be acknowledged to be right. He is always going to see the world as fallen and people in it as largely weak and/or bad. The world, as he sees it, needs him to fix it. But if he just wanted to “do right” he’d push past that and work harder with other people to fix it, and stop moaning on and on about how everyone else is doing it wrong.

  263. 263.

    Miss Bianca

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: “Got to Get You into My Life” enjoyed a sudden, unexplained spasm on popularity on the radio again the summer of ’74 up in Maine. For some reason that little factoid always sticks in my head.

    Happy birthday to you!

  264. 264.

    bystander

    @Barb2:

    You know what? I just realized that hate is a powerful tool.

    Have you thought of working for the Trump campaign?

  265. 265.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @Barb2: My issue with caucuses here is access, not fake voters. That would be hard to do here, given how the caucuses are run. But they require you to be physically present for two hours on a Tuesday night in the dead of winter. For years, I worked in a town where I didn’t live, so I couldn’t participate. Anyone with child care issues, or shift work, or physical disabilities has a hard time.

  266. 266.

    Barb2

    @bystander:

    Fuck you, Bernie bot.
    Male chauvinistic pig.

    Or are you a Ruskin hacker?

    Or one of the Bernie bots who did his master’s evil?

  267. 267.

    Kwame

    It’s interesting to see white liberals so upset about Russia “interfering” with American elections and European nations, while the USA has been doing the same thing to black and brown nations for years.

    And accusing the anybody who supports WikiLekas, Snowden, or Assange for heir heroic work on free access to information as being tools of Russia is rank McCarthyism, as Glenn Greenwald has pointed out again and again on Twitter.

    We’ve been messing around on Russia’s doorstep for years why are you surprised they now fight back?

  268. 268.

    Miss Bianca

    @Barb2: You know what – you’re talking out your ass. Democratic Party leaders in CO are not “whores”, thank you very much, for all that we’re a caucus state.

    Who pays for caucuses? The parties.

    Who pays for primaries? The state.

    Now, what do you do when your state legislators refuse to approve legislation for primary elections? Gee…I guess you have to HAVE CAUCUSES.

    Your word salad is getting on beyond drivel, now it’s become offensive.

  270. 270.

    Barb2

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Ours are on Saturday. Not an easy day to vote for some religions folk.

    So yes they discriminate against all who work Saturdays. Some people have no private transportation.

    If you happen to be in the hospital yout can’t vote. That happend to several. There are so many reasons why people can’t get to a caucus. I don’t understand people who deliberately make it impossible for the majority to vote.

    We are a state that does mail in ballots. And we have a mail in primary. The Democratic party leaders refuse to use the Democratic ballot and instead the corrupted caucus count is used.

    You are being discriminated against. Bernie didn’t care.

    Voting should be fair and easy, not crooked and rigged against the majority.

    Voting is a right.

  272. 272.

    Barb2

    @Miss Bianca:

    Dear Miss – please read. I have stated several times that my decades of caucus experience is in Washington State.

    Our leaders must be corrupt because the choose the vote count that discriminates against the majority. They won’t use the primary ballot count.

    Even the most perfect caucus discriminates against people who have to work etc etc.

    Is that so hard for you to understand?

    Party leaders who refuse to allow people to vote are corrupt. This is bad. These party leaders are getting something in return for their assistance in fixing the vote for one candidate. In WA State it is access to mailing lists plus other unspecified goodies.

    What is there to understand? People who want to vote can not because of the party bosses. We voters who can’t vote have no say in choosing the Presidentual candidate. We have had our voting rights stripped by corrupt party bosses.

    Are you one of the party bosses? Did I hit a nerve? I am sorry. You aren’t in my state so you can’t help.

    But any state party in any state that refuses to let voters VOTE is bad.

    What is so hard to understand?

    Caucasus must go – the modern era is here.

  275. 275.

    Barb2

    @Miss Bianca:

    You are offensive.

    In Washington state we have 1. A caucus. 2. A mail in primary.

    Your state could have a mail in primary.

    Something has got to change to allow everyone who wants to vote gets their chance.

    The caucus vote is unreliable, and should be invalid.

    By the way I am dyslexic – I am not stupid.

    I am trying to explain how democracy works. Voting is part of democracy. Caucasus steal people’s right to vote.

    The Democrats could have their very own Trump sometime in the future as long as the easy to rig, caucus system is used. Hell we could have had Bernie who would have lost to Trump.

    If you love the caucus – do it. But also do a mail in vote as well – let that one count.

    Caucasus exclude voters. A few people force their choice on the majority.

    Never mind, I doubt that you understand. So sorry.

  276. 276.

    Emma

    @Barb2: Then work with fellow Democrats to change the system. There’s nothing that says the system is set in stone forever.

  279. 279.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Kwame: We need a classier variety of trolls. You are an imbecile.

    And I can prove it: You just admitted that Vlad The Shirtless is fucking around with the US election. And your lame accusations of tu quoque* insinuations prove you’re completely OK with it.

    Now shut the fuck up & get the fuck out, cretin.

    —-
    * Not that an idiot like you would know what that means. (You’d probably pronounce it “too crocky”, a good description of your posting history here.) FYI it’s the “so’s your old man!” argument–or in current parlance, “I know I am, but what are you?”

  281. 281.

    sukabi

    @Barb2: it’s the Calvinball rules that the parties have enacted to ensure party leaders preferences are the ultimate outcome of an election that are a huge part of the problem in both parties.

    Also, while we have both caucuses and primaries, the caucuses choose the nominee via delegates and the primary is done after and has no effect on delegate appropriation, which is a great way to reinforce the notion people have that their votes don’t count.

  282. 282.

    Hob

    @J R in WV: Shirky has never been “a Computer Science guy” in the sense of doing any computer science or programming or technical research. His career has been mostly writing about technology from a sociological perspective.

    To me, his stuff (though I’ve only read it in small excerpts – haven’t picked up his books) always sounds like generic essence of TED Talk / Malcolm Gladwell / thinkpiece wankery. He’s a smart guy but whenever he starts trying to turn specific technologies into metaphors for whatever, the more I know about that particular technology the more I think his description of it is bullshit (e.g. his idea that distributed version control is the key to a healthier form of public debate – I think he is way too easily impressed by the quasi-religious fervor that some engineers have for this tool, and is hand-waving away the reasons why it is well adapted for the programming tasks it was designed for but very badly suited to use by non-engineers).

    But I may be biased because I briefly worked in the same office with him 20+ years ago, at an ad agency that was trying to reinvent itself as a Web marketer, and (like almost everyone there) it was impossible to tell what he actually did there. The mid-’90s was a great time to start careers in vaguely defined Internet-related fields where no one cared what your credentials were or had any concept of what they should be.

  283. 283.

    Miss Bianca

    @Barb2: No, you infinitely stupid but somehow still condescending creature, I am not a party apparatchik. I am objecting to your coarse language, your simplistic mode of thought, and your willingness to generalize.

    If you want to characterize your Democratic party apparatus on the state of Washington as “whores” – all whilst protesting what a good Democrat you are – be my fucking guest. I am pointing out that you are grotesquely oversimplifying matters when it comes to other states. Learn some humility and lay the fuck off. Just because I defend good people working in a faulty system doesn’t mean I approve of the system, for the record. Take your snotty, holier-than-thou attitude and shove it.

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