Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

No one could have predicted…

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

The lights are all blinking red.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

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

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

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

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

“Alexa, change the president.”

You cannot shame the shameless.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

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

Second rate reporter says what?

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Victory Lap

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Victory Lap

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Winning so much, and yet still not tired of winning. Alex Goldstein, “former press secretary & senior political advisor to former MA Gov. Deval L. Patrick“, in Politico:

… As Team USA shatters world records and scores win after historic win, Trump’s Twitter account, his favored megaphone, has been virtually mum. Since the one awkwardly worded meme he blasted out to his feed on August 5, with his own photo in front of an American flag, Trump has tweeted about the Olympics exactly zero times. He’s attacked the media, retweeted compliments to Donald Trump, pumped up his rallies. Not a word about the events that people are tuning into every night.

Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is seizing the opportunity to ride the wave of these feel-good Olympics…

Why has Trump hit the mute button on the Olympics, while Clinton has pumped up the volume? There’s a good reason for that, and a surprising one. The spectacle of America vanquishing its global rivals is—ironically, amazingly—utterly terrible for the “America First” candidate.

A big part of his political message, the one you hear at his stump speeches, is that America has grown weak. America doesn’t win anymore, he says. “Crippled America” is the title of his most recent book. He alone can Make America Great Again. As someone who’s been around a few campaigns, believe me: The Olympics is about the worst thing that could have happened to the Trump train. Here’s a candidate whose message depends entirely on convincing Americans that they’re living in a failing nation overrun by criminal immigrants. And for the past two weeks, tens of millions of Americans have been glued to a multi-ethnic parade of athletes, winning easily. “Make America Great Again” has never felt more out-of-touch than it does against the backdrop of tenacious, overachieving American athletes driven by their own journeys in pursuit of the American dream…

Since the Olympics started, the polls have delivered Trump increasingly worse news: He’s struggling in states that traditionally skew Republican; his campaign is in yet another shakeup. That’s not because of the Olympics; polls don’t work that fast. But it’s hard to miss the way the nightly show has snapped his spell, and drawn the public attention to a version of America that even the most persuasive salesman can’t really convince us needs improvement…

Reader Interactions

159Comments

  2. 2.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    Good morning. It’s no wonder Trump ignores American athletes. They worked hard for their success, something he wouldn’t recognize.

  4. 4.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    Or maybe the Russian doping scandal was too embarrassing and his handlers in the Kremlin told him to avoid mentioning the Olympics.

  5. 5.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    I got home to Detroit from CA at midnight. Have 36 hours to get used to EDT again then off to Connecticut on a redeye.
    So much to do today I had better get moving.

  7. 7.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @Burt Hutt:
    One mile away from what we call the Redneck Traffic Jam. Been dealing with it for years by staying on our side until it’s over.
    ETA: the upside is I can bike over there in about 5 minutes and gawk at cars. It really is amazing what people will pull out of their garage to parade up and down Woodward.

  8. 8.

    LosGatosCA

    Oddly, Trump University athletes not represented on the Olympic team. Unskew the freedumb hating coaches who ignored Trump U winners!

  10. 10.

    Central Planning

    That Village Voice article is both entertaining and sad. I can’t even imagine being a person feeling that much outrage every day. Sad!

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    According to local officials, who have pressed for years to build a diversionary canal near Baton Rouge, much of the calamity and cost could have been avoided. The canal project was blueprinted but has been delayed since the 1980s. Its proponents say it would have prevented at least a quarter of the flooding if the US Army Corps of Engineers had acted sooner.

    “We see it over and over again in government,” said US representative Garret Graves, who represents southern Louisiana. “We end up spending billions of dollars after, instead of millions before.”

    Guess which political party the estimable Garret Graves belongs to.

    Finally talked to my son yesterday. They did in fact escape the worse case scenarios, but their car did go partially under (it’s running just fine but it will begin to stink in 3,2,1…). Their biggest problem right now is that as 2 people who work in the restaurant biz, they are suffering from a severe shortage of tipping customers. They may be making that move to New Orleans sooner than they had planned.

    Which could end up like “out of the frying pan and into the fire.”

  12. 12.

    Waldo

    Good point about Trump’s silence on the Olympics. Any evidence of American greatness undermines his campaign theme, so he’s got to ignore it or root for failure. What a dick.

  13. 13.

    satby

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    We see it over and over again in government,” said US representative Garret Graves, who represents southern Louisiana. “We end up spending billions of dollars after, instead of millions before.”

    I hope there’s a Democratic opponent to him in his next election and that they use that quote and every vote Republicans made against the canal and other infrastructure to hammer him with.

  14. 14.

    Thoughtful David

    I’ve been wondering about what happens to moderate Republican women after Clinton wins in November and the right wing trashes her in the most hateful ways for the next four/eight years.
    I know some of these women. One I’m thinking of is as near as I can tell in no way a racist sexist religious kook bigot. Her reason for being Republican as near as I can tell is for strong military and low taxes. I suspect she and some of the others I know like her may secretly vote for Clinton once they get in the booth.
    So, once they’ve voted for Clinton, they’ll have an emotional stake in her presidency. When they see the person they voted for being trashed because she’s a woman, what will happen?
    Will they make a complete break with the Republican Party? The one I’m thinking of I’m pretty sure will vote Republican in downballot races this year, even if she votes for Clinton. But will seeing Clinton treated abominably break the fever and get her to start voting Democratic in general and in the future?
    If so, it could be the start of a major change. Right now she’s still a fool, believing things that are untrue. Could breaking the Republican fever in her get her to open her eyes and get in touch with reality?

  16. 16.

    satby

    @Thoughtful David: How does someone believe in a “strong military” and vote Republican? They shaft the vets and active duty in vote after vote. They don’t support a strong military, Republicans support strong defense contractors pillaging the budget.

  17. 17.

    Mustang Bobby

    Good morning from Blue Ash, Ohio, where I’m staying the weekend while the whole family gathers to celebrate my dad’s 90th birthday. It’s the first time in a long time that we’ve had all the siblings together, and they’re bringing their kids, the fiancees (get out now while you still can!) and a huge photo shoot on Sunday. Fortunately we’re all on the same page politically so there won’t be any crazy uncle or miscreant son-in-law to spout Trumpisms.

    Speaking of photo-ops, I’m noticing the snarkery around President Obama’s not showing up in LA until next week when the logistics for security won’t be taking them away from doing essential recovery efforts. But that’s not good enough for Fox, so the hero of the day is the Donald unloading Play-Doh for 49 seconds and making snide comments? To quote the immortal George Carlin, give me a fucking break.

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    A probable cause statement said Marc and Nancy Cooper were sitting inside their home in an affluent Springfield neighborhood Wednesday night when Gutting came in through the back door wielding a large knife. Gutting chased Marc Cooper through the kitchen into the living room, knocked him down and stabbed him to death, according to the statement.

    Nancy Cooper was also cut several times as police say she tried to fight with Gutting. The statement said Gutting told Nancy Cooper at one point “it was between him and Cooper,” and he didn’t want to kill her — but he would if he had to.

    Nancy Cooper was eventually able to call for help, and Gutting was arrested after officers found him walking in the street outside of the Cooper residence covered in blood, according to the statement.

    Holland said Cooper and Gutting knew one another, but he could not say if they were friends.

    I think I can answer that question: No.

  24. 24.

    Matt McIrvin

    That nice young Ryan Lochte fellow seems like he’d fit right in at the Trump campaign.

  25. 25.

    one_particular_harbour, fka Botsplainer

    So Ivanka has so charmingly had some of her unpaid interns put up a blog piece on her style and fashion blog about getting by on being unpaid interns – advice included getting a second job.

    These people are a fucking bunch of chiselers that make me really wish that this were 1792 France.

  26. 26.

    Thoughtful David

    @satby:
    I think that’s what she would tell you, though, that “Democrats want to gut the military.” I did say she’s still a fool, believing stuff that isn’t true.
    I guess my question is really “will voting for Clinton and seeing her trashed by the Right be enough to cause some of these moderate Republican women to reassess their worldview? ”
    Probably no, but an interesting question, I think.

  27. 27.

    WereBear

    @one_particular_harbour, fka Botsplainer: So Ivanka has so charmingly had some of her unpaid interns put up a blog piece on her style and fashion blog about getting by on being unpaid interns – advice included getting a second job.

    It’s one thing to be a remorseless vampire, and it’s another to not know that is who you are.

  32. 32.

    Sloane Ranger

    Hate to boast guys but you are only 40th in terms of medals per capita while Team GB (2nd in standard medal table) stands at 18th, beating you by 22 places.

    Big cheer to our Womens Hockey Team, Gymnasts, Divers, Horsepeople, Rowers etc. Particular kudos to our Track Cyclists, all of whom come home with a medal!!!

    Just to break both our bubbles of national pride, Grenada, New Zealand and Bahamas are 1st, 2nd and 3rd based on per capita calculations so they are the most successful nations per head of population.

    Mustang Bobby – Congrats to your Dad. Have a great day!

  33. 33.

    one_particular_harbour, fka Botsplainer

    @WereBear:

    I mean, Christ, a girl approached me last year to intern with my tiny office. She comes from a home with a fuckton of money more than I have, and most of what she did was watch me in court and sit through meetings and mediations and phone calls, yet I paid her for every minute she was there.

  35. 35.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @satby:

    How does someone believe in a “strong military” and vote Republican?

    Really good marketing by the GOP over years and years.

  36. 36.

    satby

    @Thoughtful David: well if that’s the question the answer is no. Because she’s an unempathetic conservative and will probably assume any trashing Clinton gets she deserves. Women can be some of the harshest critics of other women; they need to make bad treatment the other person’s fault so that they can pretend that their personal virtue would protect them from bad decisions, straying husbands, and other vicissitudes of life.

  41. 41.

    WereBear

    @satby: Women can be some of the harshest critics of other women; they need to make bad treatment the other person’s fault so that they can pretend that their personal virtue would protect them from bad decisions, straying husbands, and other vicissitudes of life.

    Stuck the landing!

    Some people’s response to being crammed in a box is to lure others into smaller boxes. Ha! Look at them!

    I don’t understand it myself, but Authoritarian thinkers just love it. In answer to your question @Thoughtful David, in order for her to think for herself, she needs an event which is so stark about the flaws in her worldview she can no longer support it.

    Just as some Evangelicals realize their LBTQ bigotry when their own child is involved (and not before) some Evangelicals cling to the bigotry instead of their child.

    It all in how much they want to keep Reality at bay. And some of them want it very very much.

  42. 42.

    satby

    @WereBear: It’s helped along by the MSM, who doesn’t deign to fact check Republicans and lets them get away with “literally” murder of our troops.

    I used to vote occasionally for the pro-choice Republican over an anti-choice Democrat, but the day I had to pay for body armor for my Marine son before his first combat tour was the last fucking day I would ever consider voting for anyone wearing the label Republican for the rest of my life. Thousands of service personnel wounded and killed because they rushed into a war without adequate armored vehicles and equipment for the people they sent into harms way. And they got away with that, because the MSM let them, and continues to let them wash that down the drain.
    Edited for typo.

  43. 43.

    Betty Cracker

    @Thoughtful David: It’s possible — and I hope your acquaintance does see the light. It took the Terri Schiavo debacle to tip Cole over the edge. Every Republican who isn’t a complete tool has his or her particular breaking point, I guess. Maybe 24/7 sexism will knock the scales from your friend’s eyes.

  44. 44.

    Thoughtful David

    @satby:
    Well, I’m slightly more optimistic than you, but not much. Besides the reason you give, which I agree is part of the issue, there’s always another one: tribalism. All of these Republican women’s friends are also Republicans, and becoming a Democrat, or even a non-Republican, would be betrayal.
    It’s really rare to have someone do a complete reassessment of his worldview, as did our esteemed bloghost.

  45. 45.

    OzarkHillbilly

    On Monday, children who live a mere 9 miles apart will have a very different experience as they seek that most basic of needs, a sip of water to quench their thirst.

    At Mann Elementary School in the city of St. Louis, drinking from the hallway water fountain won’t be allowed. There will be yellow tape around the drinking fountains, almost marking the water sources as crime scenes, which is what they are. Thirty school buildings in the city of St. Louis have elevated lead levels in their drinking water, according to a summer study sparked by the Flint, Mich., lead poisoning crisis. At Mann and 29 other schools, students will be provided bottled water until the problem is fixed.

    About 19 minutes away, at Reed Elementary School in Ladue, in the 63124 ZIP code that often ranks as one of the wealthiest in the country, the water will be cold and clean. In fact, the drinking fountain might soon find itself practically gold-plated, with the inscription of a generous donor’s name reminding thirsty students that they live in a place where clean water is a privilege.

    Last year, the voters in Ladue passed an $85 million bond issue to build new schools and update already first-class facilities. But that wasn’t enough money to satisfy their parched sense of entitlement. So the Ladue Education Foundation decided to seek hundreds of thousands more dollars — maybe even millions — from the region’s deep-pocketed elite by selling naming rights to rooms and hallways, performing arts centers and football stadiums, and, yes, water fountains. The price to name a drinking fountain in your honor at the public schools in Ladue is $3,000.

    It’s a pittance. Naming the cafeteria or football stadium will cost a donor $600,000. The performing arts center lists for $1.5 million. A biology lab retails for a mere $10,000.

    This monument to excess, while children two ZIP codes away have been sucking poisonous lead into their tiny bodies for who knows how long, brings to mind the words of Judge Byron Kinder in his landmark decision in 1993 declaring the Missouri school funding scheme as “irrational” and unconstitutional. Pointing to the wide disparity in school funding in the state, where areas with financial means raise their property taxes to provide the latest in technology, while poor districts get by with borrowed textbooks and leaky roofs, Kinder wrote that school funding in Missouri, and in St. Louis specifically, ranged from “the golden to the God-awful.”

    ….

    St. Louis remains a city divided. Two years ago, I seethed with anger as I looked at images night after night of armored vehicles seeming to lay siege on young protesters in Ferguson. “This is not St. Louis,” I screamed into the digital recorder on my phone.

    I was wrong. This is St. Louis. As long as children in Ladue have gold-plated drinking fountains while children in the city’s poorest neighborhoods have crime tape surrounding theirs, this is a region divided by race and class in the most despicable of ways.

  46. 46.

    ThresherK

    Just sitting here reminiscing about the GOP lost their heads cheering for LiberatedIraq’s Olympic team. (Or was it mens’ national soccer team?)

  47. 47.

    Kay

    Patrick Condon ‏@patricktcondon 11h11 hours ago
    Michele and Marcus Bachmann are here. She told reporters she’s met privately with Trump and is advising him on foreign policy.

    The best people…

    There’s the GOP, there’s the GOP base, and then there’s Trumpsters- the worst part of the GOP base. He brought Ann Coulter back too. By the time this is over Pat Buchanan will have a job again. They’re the faction who still refuse to believe Obama was elected twice.

    I went to the Republican lawyers end of summer cocktail party last night. That’s not the official name but they are literally all Republicans, so I think of it like that. I kept bringing up Trump but they have all gone quiet. There was a GOP candidate for a state ct of appeals seat there though and she said flat-out she thinks she could win if Trump weren’t on the top of the ticket. Now that’s probably not true- the Democrat is the favorite for that seat because her voters cover a huge geographical area that includes Toledo- most of the votes come from that one city- but I thought it was honest of her to admit.

    My husband was talking to another group and I heard him say “I have 500 dollars in my pocket…” he wants to bet on Clinton winning. I would be really surprised if he had “500 dollars in his pocket”- he’s turning into Donald Trump :)

  48. 48.

    Emma

    @Raven: Excuse me, but he’s bloody well not. His mother may be Cuban, his father is very much American, and with siblings with names like Kristin, Megan, Devon, and Brandon, it’s obvious that his Cuban heritage is not exactly front-and-center. Keep the shit where it first stank.

  49. 49.

    Thoughtful David

    @WereBear:

    she needs an event which is so stark about the flaws in her worldview she can no longer support it.

    That’s the crux of my question: is this a stark enough event?
    I’m not very sanguine about it. It will change few worldviews. But how many? Not many is my guess, satby’s is even lower.

  51. 51.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @WereBear: I don’t know, the kid generally thinks Republicans are better on defense; a view she got from her time in the Air Force. She’s, of course female, and a POC(Korean).

  52. 52.

    satby

    @Thoughtful David: I think the salvageable ones already left that party.
    And fuck tribalism. Yes, I know that’s what most of it is, but it’s time to hammer back hard with the reality that the Republican tribe is the party first, not country first tribe. They deliberately skate just on the edge of sedition and treason just for partisan advantage. And I say so, which makes me really popular at parties.

  54. 54.

    satby

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: So does my military kid, but the Marines brainwash them. That’s all they hear from military news for the entire time they’re in. Of course now that he’s a vet and getting screwed by Republicans voting against benefits, he’s starting to wobble a bit.
    But I suspect he doesn’t vote at all, which he’d never admit to me.

  55. 55.

    Emma

    @satby: Lord, yes. Nothing like the first time one comes up face-to-face with that attitude to realize that simple categories won’t do while one goes through life.

  56. 56.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @OzarkHillbilly: Graves belongs to the Stupid Party? The one blocking all expenditures that might interfere with tax cuts for zillionaires? That party?

  57. 57.

    Kay

    @satby:

    I think the salvageable ones already left that party.

    They could still lose a lot more. There’s a whole group of loosely attached Republicans, just like Democrats. They vote GOP because their family did or their neighbors do or because they have vague leanings in that direction. They only pay attention every 4 years. I was trying to find out last night if one moderate Republican I know is voting for Trump and his wife volunteered that she’s voting for Clinton. She thinks Trump is “disgusting”. He got her attention.

  58. 58.

    MJS

    @Thoughtful David: If she has a tendency to believe things that aren’t true, she’s not voting for Clinton. And she won’t care about the misogyny to come, because it will be directed at Clinton.

  59. 59.

    satby

    @Kay: I agree they could lose more with Trump at the top of the ticket, but they’ll vote R downticket and go right back in 2020. They just think Trump makes them look trashy.

  62. 62.

    one_particular_harbour, fka Botsplainer

    @Kay:

    Hillary is going to overperform polling, particularly among white women over 50. Women who skew conservative routinely vote gender despite ideology.

  64. 64.

    Kay

    The funniest part of “teleprompter Trump” to me is he’s mimicking John Kasich. Kasich’s base is white suburbanites. That’s his real strength. He’s able to keep the rural counties and get the suburbs and that’s enough to overcome less than blow-out numbers for Democrats in urban areas.

    Kasich is much, much better at it. He’s a much better politician than Donald Trump.

    They could have the real thing and they chose this moron who is awkwardly stumbling thru “compassionate conservatism”, an idea that has been around for 30 years but was just introduced to Trump by handlers. Now Trump has to try to meld his base, people who chant “lock her up”, with Kasich’s much more subtle appeal.

  65. 65.

    WereBear

    @Kay: Nay, they are choosing their “real thing.” Like all con artists, Trump is telling them exactly what they want to hear and convincing them they can really have it.

    I was hoping this development would occur sooner rather than later. The veneer of actual legislator was getting thinner and thinner, and now it isn’t even there.

    They wanted the Big Con. That is what they are getting.

  68. 68.

    Peale

    Thanks to the Edroso story, I am now familiar with the concept of the rainbow party, and realized I somehow missed the moral panic about them. Honestly, parents, I don’t have kids. But I can’t imagine if I did that I’d believe such horrible things about them.

  69. 69.

    Kay

    @one_particular_harbour, fka Botsplainer:

    I agree partly because they’re so often not asked. I’m guilty of it myself. I asked her husband, and I know both of them. He is my lawyer- he does the legal work for our house-buying and wills and such- so it’s somewhat forgivable but I don’t know why I didn’t ask her too.

    You can see the bias in the analysis- how many words have been written about Trump’s white male base? Clinton may well have a part of her base that is “older white women”- indeed, polls seem to show she does because she’s under-performing Obama with younger people and equaling him with AA yet she’s putting up a big gender gap. It’s under-analyzed, IMO. I think it goes back to the idea that white men are the “real” voters- the standard to which all other voters are compared.

  70. 70.

    debbie

    @satby:

    the day I had to pay for body armor for my Marine son before his first combat tour was the last fucking day I would ever consider voting for anyone wearing the label Republican for the rest of my life

    I remember that, and my outrage at Rumsfield. It was the most craven display of the disregard for human lives since Haig’s WW1 jackassery.

  71. 71.

    Punchy

    So I almost went to the Royals game yessahday. The mothrafrackin’ game went 3.75 hrs PLUS a 3.25 rain delay. Considering had I gone, the tailgate started at 4 (game at 7:15)…woulda been 10+ hrs at the stadium, with a “got home” time past 3AM. And almost 12 hrs of drinking.

    Sigh…reminds me of college

  72. 72.

    Cat48

    @Kay:
    Oh, Kay, Kasich didn’t insult black people the way Trump does. His message for blacks is everything you have sucks so you might as well vote for me. It makes me angry.

  73. 73.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    Kay, I’ve enjoyed your posts the past couple days on Trump, but I wish you’d direct some of that metaphorical vinegar at the Ohio Democratic Party. What a bunch of do nothings! Where is the response to the $36,000,000 PAC-funded ads blaming the financial crisis on Strickland? It’s one thing not to have the funds to run counter-ads, but they can’t even issue press releases?

    David Pepper may be a nice guy, but he has been the worst. Sticking with the current, as in old and tired, Democrat pols and choosing Strickland over Settenfeld. Losers all.

  74. 74.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: I know Nancy Cooper – we were both in NOW when Springfield still had a local chapter. She is a nice woman who has suffered an unimaginable tragedy. I keep thinking about the horror of trying to subdue a knife-weilding madman who is trying to stab your husband to death, and my mind recoils. The paper said they didn’t know who he was when he came in their house, but I find that impossible to believe. I’m sure they’ll eventually figure out the reason Gutting killed Marc Cooper. What a way to start the school year!

  75. 75.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Soprano2: It’s beyond saddening. I can’t imagine how I would react to the loss of my wife except to say “Badly”. I hope she is made of stouter stuff.

  76. 76.

    Kay

    Did you know Donald Trump has a model agency?

    Trump ModelsVerified account
    @TrumpModels
    For over 10 years, Trump Model Management has been at the forefront of cultivating and nurturing a wide range of innovative and vibrant model talent.

    So it’s a Trump Family deal so it may just be a PO Box or something, but the fact is no one knows the first thing about Donald Trump’s business interests. Imagine if he won. I don’t know what the federal employment rules are at that level but there would have to be an insane rush to vet all this shit.

    It’s just breathtaking how reckless it is. He could be an actual criminal. No one knows anything about what these people do all day in Trump Enterprises. What we DO know would indicate it’s a godammned sewer of scams and rip-offs and shady characters. I bet you could spend a month going thru docs on Trump Models alone, if it actually exists in some tangible way.

  78. 78.

    Kay

    @Cat48:

    That’s what I’m saying. Trump is too stupid to pull it off but it’s the Kasich message. It’s like they gave him a crash course that is supposed to make up for 30 years of not reading anything and not actually being a Republican.

    Kasich is a schematic and Trump is drawing with crayons.

  80. 80.

    NorthLeft12

    @Mustang Bobby: Yes, I saw Trump’s relief efforts in Baton Rouge. Distributing a semi full of toys? Really? Does he think he is Santa Claus?
    I can’t understand why he has not been roasted by the media over this self promotion tour. Strike that, I have a pretty good idea why………moron overdose/idiocy fatigue/horserace fix.

  81. 81.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I think it’s simpler than that, less coordinated. They didn’t “choose” Strickland. Portman was considered strong (because he is strong) so younger and more ambitious pols stayed out. They have their own analysis. They pick their races. It’s not a coincidence or ineptitude that a strong Republican so often gets a weaker Democratic opponent. The people who run have an analysis they do themselves prior to the race. Why didn’t Cordray run against Kasich? Because Kasich was strong and incumbents usually win. He can pick a better time. These people who run aren’t passive chess pieces. They CHOOSE when to jump in. They’re wildly ambitious and self-interested actors.

  82. 82.

    NorthLeft12

    @debbie: Yes, the whole “go to war with the army you have, not the one you wish you had” schtick was so flippant and reckless that I was gobsmacked. And then his cold remarks were backed up by the rest of the craven cowards of the Republican party. Awful and shameful.

  84. 84.

    Schlemazel

    @satby:
    I have voted for Republicans in the past but none since the 1980s. My list of grievances with them is long and buying our sons body armor id high on that list. A subheader on that note was we bought Dragon skin, which the Army officially forbade on some trumped up testing (but was mostly because the incumbent manufacturer was more embedded in the DoD). Except I noted from photos that all of Gen. Franks bodyguards wore the stuff.

  85. 85.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I thought Strickland was a weak governor and he’s not a good candidate for anything really, but I have to say I laughed out loud that he told that labor audience Scalia died at a good time. That is objectively true. They were getting ready to deal a huge blow to labor unions. It’s just a fact.

    Those audiences are rowdy, too. It’s an “among friends” feeling. There’s a lot of yelling and stamping. I have been standing in rooms with labor audiences where I actually got nervous- I think “jeez, if Fox News got footage of this they would run it for days”.

    I was at one where they would periodically chant “Fuck the Tea Party”. There was a Toledo Blade reporter there and I was nervous because it so goes to “union thugs”, right?

  86. 86.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    Regardless, that’s two candidates in a row (Fitzgerald and Strickland), left to twist in the wind (to use a Nixonian phrase). They should have gone with Denny Wojtanowski instead of David Pepper.

  87. 87.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    I was at one where they would periodically chant “Fuck the Tea Party”.

    Pretty representative of the country though, the counterbalance to “Lock her up!”

  88. 88.

    hedgehog mobile

    @Punchy: Heh. mr. h and I went Thursday night. Great game, cool stadium, friendly people. Have been enjoying Worldcon; I’m on staff so have been busy.

  90. 90.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I know but Kasich begat Fitzgerald. A weaker Kasich would draw a stronger Dem. I just think Strickland is a 1990’s politician. His coalition didn’t hang together. He can’t put together 70 year old miners and my middle son (younger labor people) and suburbanites and AA’s.

    He might still win. If Clinton pulls far ahead in Ohio (a big if) she might carry him. I don’t believe there are that many ticket-splitters. She has room to grow with Ohio Democrats.

  92. 92.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @satby:

    I’m popular at parties too. My rant on American white supremacist patriarchy and the unexamined, unearned privilege that my white male peers enjoy, which is like explaining water to fish, is always a big hit.

  93. 93.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    Lock her up is worse. They were talking about beating the Tea Party in an election. Republicans want their political opponents jailed without charges or trials.

    “Lock her up” really bothers me. Maybe I’m alone in that but this conservative penchant for prosecuting their political opponents gives me the creeps. They’ve done it all thru Obama’s two terms. It’s not enough to say they disagree with him. They have told their base for 8 years that everything he does is unlawful. Their base believes them.

    That to me means they don’t think they can beat him with ordinary politics. They’ve been doing this a long time. They couldn’t beat Bill Clinton so they tried to remove him. They installed Bush Jr. with a court order.

    It’s not “politics”. It’s not Teamsters chanting “fuck the Tea Party”. It’s refusing to use the political process and going immediately to painting their opponents as unlawfully in power.

  94. 94.

    satby

    @MikefromArlington: That was another thing that riled me up as a born and bred Chicagoan. That bunch of traitorous fucks cheered against an American city because it was Obama’s hometown. I despise them.

  97. 97.

    scav

    @satby: The electrocuting showers of 08-09 were a nice touch then too, the inerrent superior wonders of the free market to behold added to the mix.

  98. 98.

    J R in WV

    @Mustang Bobby:

    Happy family reunion. My Dad’s maternal side of the family did family reunions down in Giles county VA several times. I knew quite a few of the cousins, and enjoyed them a lot.

    Enjoy your family!

  99. 99.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @NorthLeft12: Especially considering that the entire Great Mesopotamian Adventure was a totally optional war, not one forced on this country, as WWII was.

  100. 100.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It was during Issue Two. Feelings were running high :)

    I was also 100 degrees in there and we had hot dogs and a lot of drinking. I’m no fun. I’m there worrying someone is taking this on a cellphone to give to Fox. Most boring rally participant ever. I knew they were going to win and I get antsy toward the end – “oooooh- don’t blow it!” I very much wanted them to win.

  101. 101.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    That to me means they don’t think they can beat him with ordinary politics.

    To me, that’s when the GOP first lost its way, when it resorted to dirty tricks over principles. It kept escalating and escalating, election after election, and Trump’s the natural result. I’ve told my Republcan brothers to start packing for a very long sojourn in the wilderness. The GOP won’t begin to recover until they see their own role in the sorry mess they’ve found themselves in. But because there’s something in the GOP DNA that won’t let them (honestly) acknowledge any error, that recovery will not come anytime soon.

  102. 102.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: I cheered against it too. Of course in my case it was because they are money sinks with little to no value in return.

  104. 104.

    MomSense

    Good morning everyone. ☀️

    Chores and crap to deal with today but at least it is sunny and lovely.

  105. 105.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: I would have guessed. No Union in my field but —

    I work for the union ’cause she’s so good to me
    And I’m bound to come out on top
    That’s where she said I should be
    I will hear every word the boss may say
    For he’s the one who hands me down my pay
    Looks like this time I’m gonna get to stay
    I’m a union man, now, all the way.

  108. 108.

    scav

    @OzarkHillbilly: I was very apprehensive about what they’d do to the parks and the forest preserves. Little extra money going into the ‘l would have been nice, but spending it would have been a pain, especially as they’d be rushing. So, somewhat mixed feelings although then and now probably generally of relief.

    Entirely unmixed feelings of relief today as I’ve got the entire weekend scheduled far far away from the annual strafing of the waterfront — I’m basically at one of their favorite turns. Four days of it (although they’re practicing less and less because it used to go for eternal hours). ETA. did lead to the short tradition of going to the entire end of one of the ‘l lines every August. Today is BNSF.

  109. 109.

    amk

    @Kay: I don’t get all the negativity about strickland, especially in the era of possible dangerous donnie dick presidency. Why do the dems fell the need to be ‘excited’ by their political candidates all the time beats me.

  110. 110.

    Grung_e_Gene

    @satby:
    “When you give a speech, you talk about things you think are important… I didn’t use the word troops, I used the word military, and I think [giggles] they refer to the same thing.” – Mitt Romney.
    The Military-Industrial-Complex are People, my friend

  111. 111.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @Kay: Among friends? Unions may chant ” Fuck the Tea Party”. R’s chant “Hang her” “Jail her”, and worse. Or open-
    carry assault rifles (yknow, for civil defense) 100 yards outside Obama’s Secret Service perimeter..

    So, both sides!

  112. 112.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Kay:

    The New Yorker‘s Jane Mayer was born to investigate and write about this kind of stuff. I’d bet real money that she’s on it.

  113. 113.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Mustang Bobby: Happiest of birthdays to your dad. It’s great when you have the opportunity to get the family together for a joyous occasion. My mother’s 90th birthday party was one such, & even the one we threw her when she hit 100 (she was surprisingly, gratifyingly lucid that day despite a years-long slide into dementia).

    Too often as we get older, such reunions are sad impromptu affairs occasioned by death. We’ve had 2 of those in the last 13 months (Mom, & Dad’s last surviving brother) & will have a third as we lay my nephew & godson to rest early next week. Every time we reflect on how bittersweet it is that we only see each other at times of sorrow, & we always vow to find happy occasions…but then life (i.e., death) intervenes…

    Have a great time & make wonderful enduring memories!

  114. 114.

    Tripod

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    The rural Democrats of yesteryear loved their Corp of Engineers pork. Current GOP dipshits blather on about Sharia law or whatever the fuck, with not much interested in the public weal.

    But as every true proggy knows, fuck those Blue Dogs, right?

  115. 115.

    Thoughtful David

    @Kay:
    It’s also important to point out that campaigning for a statewide office is a hell of a lot of work. It’s 15 to 20 hour days, 7 days a week, for a year. If a candidate doesn’t think he has some chance of winning, he’s not going to subject himself to it just to lose. So it’s hard to get good candidates for a losing race.

  116. 116.

    Wapiti

    @Kay:

    That to me means they don’t think they can beat him with ordinary politics. They’ve been doing this a long time. They couldn’t beat Bill Clinton so they tried to remove him. They installed Bush Jr. with a court order.

    It’s not “politics”. It’s not Teamsters chanting “fuck the Tea Party”. It’s refusing to use the political process and going immediately to painting their opponents as unlawfully in power.

    It’s like South Carolina seceding based on Lincoln’s election. They didn’t wait for him to be inaugurated, or to actually do anything. They lost the election, so they had no use for democracy. The modern Republican demagoguery is a descendant of the Confederate Slaveholder demagoguery.

  117. 117.

    mike in dc

    Is #Trumpto95by2020 a meme yet? I’m sure the twitterverse, particularly Black Twitter, would have plenty of helpful suggestions.

  119. 119.

    Doug R

    @OzarkHillbilly: Sure you get a lot of almost useless infrastructure, but here we got a train to the airport and Richmond (Finally!) and the road to killer road to Whistler finally got upgraded.

  120. 120.

    Kay

    @amk:

    it isn’t that. It isn’t that we aren’t “excited”. It’s that he runs horrible campaigns and loses even when he might win. It’s almost the opposite of “purity”. It’s wholly practical.

    Ted Strickland waited until August to take Kasich seriously in 2010. We have a model for winning state-wide elections in Ohio. It’s Sherrod Brown. HE runs great campaigns. He’s also really talented and smart but Strickland could run like Brown does and he doesn’t.

  121. 121.

    Aleta

    @Kay: I read somewhere (some months ago) that his model agency had run afoul of visa regulations. (I got the impression this happened years ago and that the visa-related part of the operation had stopped.) Unfortunately I don’t remember the details or source. In my imagination I can see him peddling visa help to women he has a use for.

  123. 123.

    Kay

    @amk:

    Main stream Democrats here were mad at Strickland for a very practical reason. He didn’t appoint liberal judges when there was an opening. That’s bench-building, right? You can’t ask people to remain Democrats their whole careers and then pass them over when they finally get a shot at a judicial appt from a D governor.

    His administration was like “we’re looking at both Republicans and Democrats because Ohio is a 50/50 state”. What. The. Fuck. Democrats were furious. They wait years for a D governor.

  124. 124.

    slag

    Thanks to this Washington Monthly post on the TPP, I’m reading up on the subject.

    We talk a lot about the costs of international trade, but I think the Singapore Prime Minister’s point that we don’t discuss the benefits is relevant. Part of the challenge is that trade proponents frequently point to consumer choice as a major benefit, and since I think what’s considered progress in the consumer choice arena typically boils down to having more—and not necessarily better—choices, I am relatively unmoved by that argument.

    But I’m curious what people think about the whole argument that world trade helps promote world peace.

  125. 125.

    Steeplejack

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    Glad I caught you here. I heard back from my friend about baseball-related charitable organizations in the Baltimore area.

    My friend, Bruce Adams, is the founder of the Bethesda Big Train, a team in the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League. He recommended that you contact Dean Albany at RBI in Baltimore. RBI is major league baseball’s program Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities.

    Albany is an Orioles scout and former pitcher. He went to Cuba earlier this month with the Riplen League all-stars on a barnstorming tour. They took a load of baseball equipment down there and donated it to Cuban programs.

    The website for RBI Baltimore is here.

  127. 127.

    Mike J

    Bernie ran on the same America sucks platform as Trump, but America’s victories would be good for him. He’d frame it as a symptom of what was wrong with America, like having too many choices in shampoo.

  128. 128.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    The only people who kill each other more than friends are family and lovers. The closer the relationship, the easier it turns to anger.

    @WereBear:
    Do not underestimate the power of cognitive dissonance. The human brain operates on rules that seem to make no sense. Having voted for Hillary, she may invest in that choice emotionally far more than her previous belief system justifies.

  129. 129.

    Kay

    @slag:

    the consumer choice

    I think consumer choice is a bad argument because people have fixed costs- food, housing, healthcare and only then do they reach “cheap big screen tv”. Cheaper consumer goods are just not a replacement for higher wages because there are needs and wants. The consumer choice argument is preaching to the faithful- it’s offering a benefit to people who already benefit and then telling the people who don’t benefit on wages that wants and needs are the same. They’re not.

    I hate when the President uses it because it’s oddly clueless. Yeah, yeah. we can get more stuff. That’s an add-on for people who are already secure. The big screen tv sitting in a foreclosed living room comes to mind. He’s acting as if this is a good trade. It’s not. It’s often presented as kind of a challenge “you like that big tv,right?” Well, sure, but I also like to make my mortgage. Needs first, wants second.

  130. 130.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Wapiti:
    There’s a reason they didn’t wait, and it’s closely tied to their actions now. You have to rig the system before it takes away white superiority. The Confederates saw abolition getting closer. The Republicans see minorities creeping towards the majority.

  132. 132.

    amk

    @Kay:

    Main stream Democrats here were mad at Strickland for a very practical reason. He didn’t appoint liberal judges when there was an opening.

    And electing kasich did how? It sounds to me as purity pony cut off of my nose to spite my face point.

    He did win a statewide governorship once, horrible campaign or not. So, he is not clueless.

    He is a strong supporter of Hillary. OH dems need to get a clue.

  134. 134.

    Miss Bianca

    @Wapiti:

    It’s like South Carolina seceding based on Lincoln’s election. They didn’t wait for him to be inaugurated, or to actually do anything. They lost the election, so they had no use for democracy. The modern Republican demagoguery is a descendant of the Confederate Slaveholder demagoguery.

    I think this is an important point to hammer, and the people who need the hammering most are the so-called “moderate Republicans”. It’s not so much that the danger is Trump himself winning the Presidency – no, the danger is, now as always at least since 1992, what the Republican response will be to losing. Trump has got his followers so ginned up on white resentment, and a pre-emptive “we was robbed” narrative, that I think we’re in for turbulent times.

    Who knows? Maybe the reaction – whatever it may be – will be the thing that gets Frum et al. and people who like him to really start saying, “wow. Movement Conservatism is actually fucked – as morally and ethically bankrupt as the Republican Presidential candidate. Maybe it’s time we buried it with the crazies, before the crazies try to bury *us*.”

    Yeah, I know – not likely. If I didn’t have the example of the blog host before me, I’d call it impossible. But hell, even Red State is slowly waking up. If you’ve lost Erik son of Erik, then you’ve lost a lot of others by that point as well.

  135. 135.

    Kay

    @slag:

    Cars are more reliable and safer and maybe they would be more expensive if labor costs hadn’t stayed stagnant or gone down and it wasn’t wildly competitive as far as choices, but “more reliable and safer” assumes one can buy one of the newer ones in the first place. If all you can afford is an ancient beater on high interest credit because your wages haven’t gone up in ten years you’re not actually benefiting from this. There’s “better car” and then there’s “a car”. That has to be recognized.

  136. 136.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Frankensteinbeck: Pretty sure that the very instant a “friend” pulls a gun on another “friend”, they would stop being “friends”, that at that very moment they would in fact become “enemies”. And all this long before any shooting actually occurs.

    Jus sayin.

  137. 137.

    slag

    @Kay: I couldn’t agree more with your argument. Totally on board.

    But the Prime Minister’s point about trade keeping us from a Cold War-like scenario with China is interesting and one I’d not thought about deeply. So, I’m curious how reasonable that argument is.

  140. 140.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Doug R: And I still don’t know where you are!!! :-) Actually, I preferred the winter games back when I still paid attention (saw every single US hockey game in 1980!) and was always a fascinated viewer of the skiing competitions. But when I moved out here (’02) I just altogether gave up watching TV.

  141. 141.

    Kay

    @amk:

    Well, we just disagree. He won statewide in a wave year and then he lost when it was much tougher. The truth is he was kind of a backbencher in the House. I worked hard to try to win in 2010. He was ahead in June and he waited too long to recognize how bad it was for him.

    I know he’s a strong supporter of Hillary. Ohio Democrats need AA voters. Going after Obama in ’08 so publicly hurt him. I cannot tell you how bad that appearance with Clinton where they accused Obama of lying on NAFTA looked here in ’08. AA’s weren’t crazy about him anyway because he was in the law and order Dem faction in the 1990’s. He was aligned with the crowd who ran on raiding drug houses in AA neighborhoods. Ridiculous shit. Inviting media along to break down doors. He was in that older white pol group. it was a straight-up appeal to white, older Democrats. There’s a history there.

  143. 143.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Steeplejack: Thanks so much for the RBI Baltimore link. We are thinking about them & the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation. I will get in touch with Albany.

    There’s a third intriguing possibility that comes out of a GoFundMe page posted by Michael Rosenband, the baseball coach at Carver Vo-Tech HS in Baltimore. He notes the paucity of baseball fields in West Baltimore, which affects all the schools there, & proposes a project to identify candidate properties with the goal of turning them into usable fields while involving the vo-tech students in design & construction as in effect part of their training.

    My nephew was not only a fierce beisbol fan but a graduate of the UVA School of Architecture who never shied from the down&dirty of actual construction, so IMO this sort of project sounds really a propos. Also it looks like a small amount of cash (they’re about $20K short of their goal for the first phase) could jumpstart it to where RBI or Ripken could be persuaded to jump in & really get it rolling. And who knows, we might persuade some of his former classmates–or even the school–to provide some of the landscape/architectural expertise.

    I would love to talk to Coach Rosenband about this but it seems he is only accessible through Facebook & I am one of the Defaced, or Unbooked, or… I dunno, maybe it’s time I signed up….

    Thanks again for the help.

  144. 144.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @slag:

    But the Prime Minister’s point about trade keeping us from a Cold War-like scenario with China is interesting

    That is a point I have been making for years. It does not mean that differences will not come up, they certainly do, only that those differences will be resolved peacefully. Both the US and China are heavily invested in our trade relations.

  145. 145.

    amk

    @Kay: A dull, older white pol like strickland beats any day a tea party toomey. Ironically AL’s next thread seems to address this issue of why dems have lost the congress, senate, state leges and governorships. It all boils down to no vote, no power.

  146. 146.

    Glidwrith

    @Kay: Rethugs painting their political opponents as unlawfully in power is present in Deadbeat’s campaign as well. Talking about the Obama administration as a regime and offering a peaceful transition of power waved all kinds of red flags for me.

  147. 147.

    Kay

    @amk:

    Okay. I;m just saying that it isn’t all “excitement”. He didn’t shore up his base and his base isn’t Lefties. It’s a specific coalition of groups with whom he has a history of underperforming on practical matters.

  149. 149.

    Kay

    @slag:

    The “quality” part might be a better argument. My middle son is an apprentice in skilled trades. He might want to buy my house (which cracks me up- the rest of them fled this town like it was on fire). He fixes things here for me. The house was built in the 1940’s and he was telling me how much better materials for plumbing, electrical and heating are now. He likes plaster walls and oak floors but he’s not a fan of old-time systems. He says he would replace all of it if he bought it. If they actually do the work they have fewer romantic notions of olde timey goods :)

  150. 150.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:

    If they actually do the work they have fewer romantic notions of olde timey goods :)

    Heh, too true. But I’ll bet he feels the exact opposite about tools (in general).

  152. 152.

    debbie

    @amk:

    Purity, schmurity. Here’s all you need to know about Strickland: He focused more time on touting his NRA rating than on voicing support for ACA.

  153. 153.

    Hal

    The media is flat out saying Trump in Louisiana is a pure political move all the while praising him for “looking presidential.”

    And what’s Obama doing? Playing golf! Is fema not there and responding? That’s what should matter about the federal government response.

  155. 155.

    wuzzat

    @MJS:

    And she won’t care about the misogyny to come, because it will be directed at Clinton.

    That’s where it will start. It won’t stay there, though. It never does.

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