Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This blog will pay for itself.

T R E 4 5 O N

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

“But what about the lurkers?”

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

When I was faster i was always behind.

Bark louder, little dog.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

So many bastards, so little time.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2016 / Late Night Open Thread: Early Reviews of the Evening

Late Night Open Thread: Early Reviews of the Evening

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Interesting side note:



Quite literally, Bloomberg can afford to say it. He’s an actual billionaire; Trump’s not gonna threaten him, because if he goes too far Mike could buy Trump Tower, evict Donald, and never even bother to take a victory lap in public. Donald knows this. Mike knows Donald knows this. Donald knows Mike knows Donald knows this, and I sincerely hope it’s driving him (even further) off balance!

Reader Interactions

62Comments

  2. 2.

    hellslittlestangel

    Trump is going to have to work hard to capture 30% of the vote. And he’s not a hard worker.

  3. 3.

    JGabriel

    Rich Lowry, 2008:

    I’m sure I’m not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, “Hey, I think she just winked at me.” And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America.

    Rich Lowry, 2016:

    American exceptionalism and greatness, shining city on hill, founding documents, etc–they’re trying to take all our stuff

    That’s American stuff, Rich, and we’re taking it back from the conservatives who have been hogging it all up for themselves.

    But you can keep Sarah Palin and her starbursts.

  4. 4.

    Keith P.

    It is pretty spectacular how easily and far Trump is dragging the GOP. Paul Ryan has endorsed a guy who is now flirting with allying with Russia, asking Russia to engage in cyberwarfare with us, AND bump minimum wage up to $10 nationwide. I (and most everyone else) thought Trump would embarrass them, but this is straight-up crazy. I can very easily see Russia invading some Baltic states with Trump’s tacit approval, and Saudi Arabia gets hit with an overthrow attempt after weakening themselves with a price war. At that point, you have WWIII, with Russia seeing opportunity to expand in the instability.

  5. 5.

    EconWatcher

    Apologies for double-posting, but I just put this on an apparently dead thread. In his great speech, Obama never said “I’m with her.”

    There’s a reason for that: Obama pointed out all of Trump’s self-referential and narcissistic slogans, claiming he is the only one who can restore order and fix things, and contrasted them with Obama’s own slogan of “yes, we can.” Obama said democracy is about what we can do together, not what one person promises to do, especially an aspiring strongman. Obama suggested that the slogans Trump uses expose him as an authoritarian with contempt for self-government. Just so.

    But that discussion also shows that “I’m with her” is flawed, especially for a fight with Trump. Trump scored some points when he sneered at “I’m with her,” saying instead that “I’m for you.” I think Obama recognizes that, and was providing some gentle guidance.

    Hillary needs to dump “I’m with her” and adopt some kind of slogan that includes “we” as the subject and an active verb, to incorporate that notion of self-government that Obama emphasized.

  6. 6.

    JGabriel

    hellslittlestangel:

    Trump is going to have to work hard to capture 30% of the vote. And he’s not a hard worker.

    Don’t gloat, not yet. Wait until after Election Day for gloating.

    After all, we’re Democrats – if we try really hard, we can still fuck this up:

    “We are entirely capable of bungling this opportunity to regain control of the House and Senate and the trust of the American people,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said to scattered applause. “It will take some doing, but we’re in this for the long and pointless haul.”

    “We can lose this,” Reid added. “All it takes is a little lack of backbone.”

  7. 7.

    JGabriel

    EconWatcher:

    Obama said democracy is about what we can do together, not what one person promises to do, especially an aspiring strongman. …

    Hillary needs to dump “I’m with her” and adopt some kind of slogan that includes “we” as the subject and an active verb, to incorporate that notion of self-government that Obama emphasized.

    Something like, We’re Stronger Together?

  8. 8.

    EconWatcher

    @JGabriel:

    Good point. But I see “I’m with her” everywhere, at least as a logo. “We’re stronger together” would be better as the main thrust.

  11. 11.

    JGabriel

    EBT:

    “We’re stronger together” would be better as the main thrust.

    Agreed, I think that’s what we’ll be seeing going forward after tonight.

    Although, honestly, with an opponent like Trump, I think I’m With Her still has its merits.

    [Lowry] isn’t even using American Exceptionalism right.

    Conservatives never do.

  12. 12.

    Pangloss

    The GOP gave up on actual policy years ago. Their policy aims and tactics are almost exclusively informed by how it damages, impedes, or confounds their political opponents. They routinely stock important federal government jobs with partisan hacks who often carry out the By the beginning of GWB’s second term, FEMA was managed by horse show judge and Bush Pioneer Michael Brown, Alberto freakin’ Gonzales was Attorney General, Harriet Miers was on the SCOTUS short list, and Monica Goodling was investigating GOP party loyalty among prospective United States Attorneys. In this election cycle, they ceded authorship of their party platform to people like Tony Perkins– that’s why their 2016 platform has insane planks like disapproving of co-habitation, citing porn as a public health crisis, promoting implementation of gay conversion therapy for kids, elimination of all federal funding of public transportation, and bible study in public schools (look it up).

  13. 13.

    Schlemazel Khan

    @amk:
    You give Lowery too much credit. The GOP started down this road in 1980. They have a pretty, more sophisticated face on the monster but its the same one. Buchanan’s ’92 “it sounded better in the original German” speech was publicly rejected but it is of the same cloth. Celebrating ignorance as a basic tenet of the GOP can even be seen in St. Reagan’s dismissive comments about scientists & “so-called experts”

    They have spent years building this titanic.

  14. 14.

    Keith G

    Last night I watched the best set of multiple speeches I have ever witnessed and then spent an hour or so on an energy high gabbing with friends. Now up am getting ready for work after barely four hours of sleep.

    Thanks Obama!

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Fuck Rich “starbursts” Lowry and the Republican flag waving curb stomping of gays/blacks/hispanics/muslims/boogieman of the day elephant he rode in on.

  17. 17.

    Poopyman

    @OzarkHillbilly: Day elephant? Man, you missed the G by 2 letters.

    Not often that I miss having TV. Last night was one of those times. Add to the fact that I needed to be in bed by 9:30. Watching in real time beats the hell out of watching a day later.

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I loved this from the guardian:

    At times, the great orator of the age felt oddly flat too: upstaged by the energy of Biden and, above all, by the uplifting address of Michelle Obama two nights earlier. Aides backstage revealed that the president had been through six drafts of the speech in the last week, staying up until 3am to rewrite it after watching the first lady’s.

    “Gotta up my game after that.”

  19. 19.

    Aimai

    @EconWatcher: “gentle guidance?” Oh for fucks sake could you be any more condescending? Thanks for implying that hillary and her team had nothing to do with their own convention and were not consulted sbout obama’s approach-/by the way obama used the phrase “im with her” in his original endorsement.

  20. 20.

    PurpleGirl

    Bloomberg made two very good comments: (1) that Trump is one of the stingyist and cheap billionaires as concerns philanthropy. And Bloomberg knows — while he prefers to give quietly and anonmously (to the extent permitted by law), he GIVES. Twenty-five million a year is not uncommon for him; (2) I loved the comment about Hillary knowing the difference between reality television and reality.

  22. 22.

    amk

    @PurpleGirl:

    I read somewhere that bloomberg’s charity has given 5 billion while the deadbeat’s gave literally zilch.

    How could so many murkans be so easily get conned by this pos?

  23. 23.

    TheMightyTrowel

    Dan Munz up top (racist cantaloupe tweet) was my little sib at college. Small fucking world.

  26. 26.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @PurpleGirl: $25 million a year would be change Bloomberg found in his sofa. I saw somewhere that in the past 10 years he’s given $2.5 billion to charity and Trump, $0.

  28. 28.

    amk

    About a hundred Hollywood actors and music stars, from Lena Dunham to Moby, have signed a petition against what they say is the “hateful ideology” of Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump.

    “We are a coalition of artists who, today, are joining millions of Americans in our commitment to defeat the presumptive Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump,” the online pledge called “United Against Hate” reads.

    “We believe it is our responsibility to use our platforms to bring attention to the dangers of a Trump presidency, and to the real and present threats of his candidacy.”

    Among others on board: actors Mark Ruffalo, Kerry Washington, Julianne Moore, Bryan Cranston, Patricia Arquette, Jane Fonda, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Woody Harrelson, and music stars Russell Simmons, Michael Stipe and DJ Spooky.

  29. 29.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @amk:

    How could so many murkans be so easily get conned by this pos?

    We don’t have a functional news media.

  30. 30.

    TheMightyTrowel

    @raven: it’s a mentoring thing. Upper classmen are the big sib(ling) to lower classmen to help them settle in, make friends and generally get some peer support

  33. 33.

    Schlemazel Khan

    @raven:
    I believe it is a fraternity term for the younger student you mentor in the frat.

    EDIT: mighty beat me to it!

  35. 35.

    amk

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: True. The media mofos continue to give him all kindsa passes even now. “Russia, get her mails” should have killed this treasonous punk’s campaign yesterday and yet crickets.

  38. 38.

    raven

    @Schlemazel Khan: My old man came home from WWll and walked up to the Sigma Nu house with his seabag on his shoulder. He wanted me to pledge when I came home and went to school but. . . .nahhhhhh!

  39. 39.

    Eric S.

    @hellslittlestangel: Trump should have to work hard to get 30 total votes but he’ll get over 40%. Probably 45% to 48%.

    Prove me wrong, America. Sincerely, please prove me wrong.

  40. 40.

    PurpleGirl

    @amk: One reason is that Bloomberg personally and then when the Foundation was finally finished being set-up gave quietly. When the non-profit I worked for received a series of special gifts from Bloomberg I was told not to write the usual thank you letter and receipt. The gifts were transmitted electronically, not with paper checks. There were often news articles but he tried not to tout his generosity. In many ways he is a private man.

    Trump is only a braggart and a lying one at that.

  42. 42.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @raven: Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of the passing of our beloved Wendy(our first cocker); it would have also been my mom’s 90th b-day.

  44. 44.

    Caravelle

    Listening to that Donald Trump press conference. About the emails and the Horrible Things they said about Sanders and his religion :

    If I would’ve used language like they used about religion, about race, about everything else that they discuss in those emails, I would’ve had to run and hide and probably drop out of the race.

    HAHAHA right Donald.

    For that matter the whole beginning of this speech is so thick with projection it’s hard to believe it could possibly not blow back on him – indicting Clinton’s disloyalty to people who work for her by talking about Debbie Wasserman Schultz and saying she’s like “you’re fired”… I’m firmly of the belief that the people who are inspired by Trump are inspired by his manner and authoritarianism and don’t care about what he says, or most of the usual things people who are into politics feel are obvious failings… But even I have trouble seeing how one can look at this and not immediately think “wait, that’s HIS catchphrase” and why he wouldn’t think that’s a problem.

  45. 45.

    Eric S.

    By decree today is Ozzie’s birthday. He’s 5. A friend of a friend find him in their back yard around Halloween and couldn’t keep him. He was judged to be about 3 months old at the time. We’ve already celebrated some by chasing a milk ring and belly rubs. We decide on July 28 so he and I could celebrate together.

  46. 46.

    J R in WV

    @JGabriel:

    Anyone who says

    [Palin’s]… smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing.

    is so obviously in the tank for the authoritarian party of America. Rich Lowry is a complete ass, and doesn’t deserve to have an opportunity to make his stupid points to a huge media audience.

    Palin wasn’t doing well, her smile was a dumb simper, and she trashed the campaign she was recruited to rescue. One of the few smart things Trump has done was tell her to go back to Alaska.

    I hope that Trump’s near treason yesterday will put the election our of his reach. Bloomberg was right – the man is completely and totally incompetent to run a nation. He can’t ever run his business without going into bankruptcy repeatedly,4, 5, 6 times? With total control over every variable.

    Running a huge nation in the giant world, with uncontrolled variables jumping up constantly, Trump wouldn’t make any sense right off. Much less a year into it, and still not sure what NATO was and why it was important. Another Republican sociopath after G W Bush and Richard M Nixon may just ruin any chance of recovery from the ruins Trump would leave us in.

  52. 52.

    D58826

    @JGabriel: As Nicole Wallace, on MSNBC enthused about Obama’s speech I half expected her to say that if Obama could run for a third term she would vote for him

  54. 54.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Lowry is just mad because ‘American exceptionalism’ is supposed to mean ‘white people are the best!’

    @amk:
    Conned? He’s giving them what they want. So, you can throw ‘claiming to be generous while being a selfish asshole’ on the pile of things they either don’t care about, or actively get a thrill from.

  55. 55.

    sdhays

    @Keith P.: I can see Russia invading Baltic states with Trump’s tacit approval only for Trump to panic and change his mind because of a world-wide freak-out that he’s too stupid to anticipate. And then we’re at war with a nuclear power in Europe.

  56. 56.

    msdc

    @EconWatcher:

    Hillary needs to dump “I’m with her” and adopt some kind of slogan that includes “we” as the subject and an active verb, to incorporate that notion of self-government that Obama emphasized.

    You mean like this one?

  62. 62.

    Splitting Image

    @EconWatcher:

    But that discussion also shows that “I’m with her” is flawed, especially for a fight with Trump. Trump scored some points when he sneered at “I’m with her,” saying instead that “I’m for you.” I think Obama recognizes that, and was providing some gentle guidance.

    I think that Clinton is a stand-in for all women where “I’m with her” is concerned, especially since Trump voters are using him as a stand-in for all white men. Trump really doesn’t have much to recommend him on his own, and you don’t have to be all that great of a feminist to think that you should vote for the woman when the man in the race is as toxic as Trump is. This election is going to be among other things a referendum on whether Americans will vote for a woman at all, given such a nasty alternative.

    That said, I do agree that balancing the phrase with “She’s with us” is a good idea. It follows from the first and continues the contrast with Trump.

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