Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I really should read my own blog.

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

No one could have predicted…

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

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

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

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

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

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

We are aware of all internet traditions.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Late Night Open Thread: “Deplorable” Optics

Late Night Open Thread: “Deplorable” Optics

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I still think the lady was right — and I think she’s handling the nontroversy well, too. Per the Washington Post:

… Clinton issued a statement Saturday afternoon saying that she regretted using the word “half” to describe the Trump supporters she was referring to.

“That was wrong,” Clinton said. “But let’s be clear, what’s really ‘deplorable’ is that Donald Trump hired a major advocate for the so-called ‘alt-right’ movement to run his campaign and that David Duke and other white supremacists see him as a champion of their values.”…

In her remarks at the fundraiser, Clinton also called for empathy for the other “half” of Trump’s supporters.

“That other basket of people are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they’re just desperate for change,” Clinton said on Friday night. “It doesn’t really even matter where it comes from.

“Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well,” she added…

Ta-Nehisi Coates, at the Atlantic, “Hillary Clinton Was Politically Incorrect, but She Wasn’t Wrong”:

… One way of reporting on Clinton’s statement is to weigh its political cost, ask what it means for her campaign, or attempt to predict how it might affect her performance among certain groups. This path is in line with the current imperatives of political reporting and, at least for the moment, seems to be the direction of coverage. But there is another line of reporting that could be pursued—Was Hillary Clinton being truthful or not?

Much like Trump’s alleged opposition to the Iraq War, this not an impossible claim to investigate. We know, for instance, some nearly 60 percent of Trump’s supporters hold “unfavorable views” of Islam, and 76 percent support a ban on Muslims entering the United States. We know that some 40 percent of Trump’s supporters believe blacks are more violent, more criminal, lazier, and ruder than whites. Two-thirds of Trump’s supporters believe the first black president in this country’s history is not American. These claim are not ancillary to Donald Trump’s candidacy, they are a driving force behind it…

Open and acknowledged racism is, today, both seen as a disqualifying and negligible feature in civic life. By challenging the the latter part of this claim, Clinton inadvertently challenged the former. Thus a reporter or an outlet pointing out the evidenced racism of Trump’s supporters in response to a statement made by his rival risks being seen as having taken a side not just against Trump, not just against racism, but against his supporters too. Would it not be better, then, to simply change the subject to one where “both sides” can be rendered as credible? Real and serious questions about intractable problems are thus translated into one uncontroversial question: “Who will win?”…

Reader Interactions

151Comments

  7. 7.

    Schlemazel

    Saw 2 local evening news shows, both highlighted Clinton apologizing with the indication she regretted the statement & was wrong to have said it. Does not matter that is not what she said that is how they reported it.

    So the WaHoPost exposes the phony Trump Foundation . . . and then what? Nobody is paying attention it seems.

    This nation deserves a Trump Presidency but I hope they won’t get one.

  14. 14.

    Adam L Silverman

    @SiubhanDuinne: What people don’t realize, because its largely been scrubbed from the history when the term was rebranded to attack tolerance, acceptance, polite and civil discourse, is that the concept and term politically correct originated with the crypto-fascists. The idea was when dealing with those who were not crypto-fascists or who you weren’t sure were crypto-fascists, that you spoke and behaved in a politically correct way so as not to draw attention to yourself and your real beliefs.

  17. 17.

    Ivan X

    I just donated what for me was an unprecendented (compared with elections past) amount of money to the Clinton campaign. I’m suddenly feeling a little woozy and anxious about that outlay, though it seemed like the right thing to do at the time, because Trump. Soliciting supportive comments telling me I did the right thing.

  20. 20.

    Ivan X

    @Emma: No, not at all, that never crossed my mind. It’s just the dropping all that money at once. It was an impulse donation, but I felt that shit, if the country’s not worth it, what is.

  21. 21.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Schlemazel: No it doesn’t. Think about the number of people that will be put at risk: woman, ethnic/racial minorities, all immigrants regardless of documented or undocumented, Muslims or anyone that someone thinks looks Muslim – basically anyone from North Africa, the Middle East, Central and SE Asia and the subcontinent, and then, ultimately Catholics and Jews. Regardless of the common cause that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and a lot of the ultra-Orthodox rabbis have made with Protestant Christian Conservatives, there is tremendous intolerance for the two former groups barely lurking below the surface of the latter. It took just over 200 years for us to make our first meaningful forays into actual pluralism. A Trump victory moves us immediately back to a populist system heading quickly for a monist one.

    (I”m using Seymore Martin Lipsett’s terms for civic society here. A pluralist system is one where there are multiple groups – some large, some small, some in between – that recognize the legitimacy of the others and the political system and all of them are permitted to contest for political power. A populist system is when there is one large or powerful group has control of the system and while it allows the other groups to exist and, perhaps, even participate, it dominates them and the system. A monist system is one where there is one powerful group that dominates the system and represses all other groups.)

  30. 30.

    PhoenixRising

    I just don’t get this one. Trump’s value proposition, as we say in marketing, is Asshole Who Isn’t Afraid To Say It*. His supporters clearly state through their words that what they like is that he’s bold, not afraid to say It. They scream racial slurs, misogyny and hate for immigrants at his events.

    Why is Hillz supposed to be sorry for describing them as they describe themselves–and why do they of all minority groups of Americans get a trigger warning and politically correct speech that is concerned first with their feelings and only after that prime directive with the health of the republic?

    Fuck ’em if they want honest, direct dialogue up until someone calls them what they are: deplorable bigots who are normalizing violence against people of color, Muslims, Jews and women as fast as they can.

  32. 32.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Ivan X: Thank you for contributing. It’s unfortunate that national campaigns are so expensive, but that’s the world we live in. The way the press is wired, it seems to be the case that Democrats need to raise more money than the GOP simply to level the playing field. Rest easy knowing that your contribution won’t be used for a larger-than-life portrait. ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  37. 37.

    Emma

    @Ivan X: Heartfelt apologies. It’s been a hard couple of weeks this campaign season. Watching the “press”/”media” fail us again fills me with rage, and sometimes it bounces off the wrong person. Again, sorry.

  39. 39.

    amk

    Where are the dem whites in the dem ‘establishment’ on this? I have seen only Tim Kaine having her back. Reid? Biden?

  44. 44.

    SenyorDave

    I’d like to see Clinton have a press conference and just state that Trump is a racist, sexist bigot. And then give all the reasons why. Let him try to defend refusal to rent to blacks, his rapists and murderer remark, his remarks about women, etc.

  45. 45.

    amk

    bbc fp now – from shouty hillary apologizes to trump supporters to clinton regrets trump supporters jibe. Guess the sohal media push back did that.

  47. 47.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Major Major Major Major: No, she didn’t. Her statement was very quickly: it was wrong to generalize and she regretted it, then she doubled down on her point and tied it right back to Trump via Bannon, Duke, etc. This is why Fournier is right now pulling what remains of his hair out because she didn’t apologize. Here’s her full statement:

    Last night I was ‘grossly generalistic,’ and that’s never a good idea. I regret saying ‘half’ — that was wrong. But let’s be clear, what’s really ‘deplorable’ is that Donald Trump hired a major advocate for the so-called ‘alt-right’ movement to run his campaign and that David Duke and other white supremacists see him as a champion of their values. It’s deplorable that Trump has built his campaign largely on prejudice and paranoia and given a national platform to hateful views and voices, including by retweeting fringe bigots with a few dozen followers and spreading their message to 11 million people. It’s deplorable that he’s attacked a federal judge for his ‘Mexican heritage,’ bullied a Gold Star family because of their Muslim faith, and promoted the lie that our first black president is not a true American. So I won’t stop calling out bigotry and racist rhetoric in this campaign. I also meant what I said last night about empathy, and the very real challenges we face as a country where so many people have been left out and left behind. As I said, many of Trump’s supporters are hard-working Americans who just don’t feel like the economy or our political system are working for them. I’m determined to bring our country together and make our economy work for everyone, not just those at the top. Because we really are ‘stronger together.’”

    That’s not an apology. And check out Podesta’s statement:
    https://twitter.com/aseitzwald/status/774798643501080578

    Her campaign isn’t backing down. The media isn’t covering her statement accurately and the GOP are doing their normal dominance tantrum, but it doesn’t appear, as of now, that she or her campaign are panicking or backing down.

  51. 51.

    amk

    @Adam L Silverman: Podesta is her campaign chair. I was talking about the establishment dems. Cat got their collective tongue? Look at the rethugs from the granny starver to every other rethug jumping in to defend that racist pos.

  52. 52.

    Anoniminous

    @Adam L Silverman:

    IMO the main reason we are moving to a more pluralistic society is the percentage of whites in the US is dropping. The Obama coalition relies on 39% of whites (2012 totals) and ~90% of POC; probably about as good as it is going to get for the next 50 to 100 years as xenophobic fear of The Other is a historic and deeply ingrained trait in white America.

  55. 55.

    Tripod

    @Anne Laurie:

    It’s a fable. Part West Wing, part Shaft, part West Side Story. I suppose it depends on how you feel about Baz Luhrhmann. I found it worth a watch for the deconstruction of Ed Koch alone.

  56. 56.

    Adam L Silverman

    @amk: If she and her people hold the line it will give the rest a reason to do the same. She’s trying to retrain the system so to speak.

  61. 61.

    Jean

    @Adam L Silverman: I agree. She did not apologize for the substance of what she said. She only regrets saying “half.” Could be 40%, could be 60%, but the % doesn’t matter. I thought the non-apology allowed her to repeat the substance –backacha, Trump.

  63. 63.

    RaflW

    I’m still fuming over that pile of crap that the new “public editor” at the NYT deposited on us readers this weekend. Her prickly defensiveness and basically partisan dismissal of the wave of criticism over false equivalence is infuriating. We see what they are up to, and that apparently can’t be tolerated, rather it is labeled as attempted ‘intimidation’ of journos.
    Which is rich, given that the main reason we have all this false equivalency bullshit is that the media was cowed by decades of RW bullying on how librul and unfair they are!
    Urgh!

  69. 69.

    Anoniminous

    Modern Communication Theory tells us once a message has been planted in the Public Sphere any mention of it, up to and including 100% refutation, only serves to support the message. So in a very real sense, Clinton in her “regrets” was restating her original remarks.

  72. 72.

    Amir Khalid

    A question of semantics: when did “racism” get renamed “white nationalism”? I don’t recall seeing the latter term used in America before this presidential election cycle.

  77. 77.

    piratedan

    @Adam L Silverman: and even thouygh I am simply one lone blog post comment on the internet, I’m glad she’s not backing down. Call these people who they are. If the media ever decides to look at a comments thread of damn near any politician post on nearly any media outlet, the evidence is there for all to see. Hell, follow up the retweets and twitter comments, there is malignant, racist, traitorist, sexist shit everywhere and Trump is THEIR fucking candidate. We’re getting tut-tutting from the village about Hillary’s tone after enduring a year of the screeds that roll out of the Trump and GOP camps and we’re having a moment about this. Talk about Clinton rules….

  78. 78.

    patrick II

    When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

    When that paragraph is the key idea in Trump’s presidential announcement and he immediately shoots to the top of the republican presidential polls, I don’t see how any neutral observer can argue that race should not be mentioned as a driving force in Trump’s presidential run. I am sorry if it hurts someone’s feelings, and somehow breaks the “both sides do it” rule but a vile racist is a vile racist by his own words.

  79. 79.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Amir Khalid: White nationalism and white supremacy have been long used technical terms that are more specific. Often they originated within the community that adhere to those beliefs as they thought they were much more respectable sounding terms. And then got picked up by those studying those who use the term for themselves. Recently some have started calling themselves race realists or Euro-centrists or Euro-Americans.

  87. 87.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Amir Khalid: “White nationalist” sounds worse than “racist” to me. People are racist in little ways all the time, and it needs to be fought, but it can be subconscious or unthinking; but “white nationalist” means you’re a fucking Nazi and want to fire up the gas chambers.

  88. 88.

    Amir Khalid

    I remember an AFS exchange student from North Carolina at my school (in 1980) saying his dad was a self-described “racialist”: Dad didn’t hate black people, he just thought they and white people shouldn’t mingle.

  90. 90.

    Petorado

    In a way it’s genius of Hillary to attack the proudly “politically incorrect” Trump supporters with a “politically incorrect” statement of her own. Not that Trump supporters are self-aware enough to get the cognitive dissonance aspect, but it’s amusing for the rest of us.

    Hill is spot-on that Trump’s campaign is essentially defined by its hatred of their fellow Americans, and violently so. If you hate people due to their skin color, ethnic heritage, political affiliation, religious identity, gender identity, genitalia, or other fashionable hatred suitable for the American far-right, then you’re one of them. Hill should point out that Trump has yet to release a complete list of all the people he believes it’s OK to hate: it’s probably such an impromptu and extremely wide swath of the American public that they are incapable of releasing it (but the vast majority of this nation would be on it).

  93. 93.

    Anoniminous

    @Amir Khalid:

    To my certain knowledge it goes back to the late 1970s when I ran into (and then very quickly ran away from) some Nazi types in Southern California who were using “White Nationalism” as a conscious riff off of the “Black Nationalism” of the Black Panthers Party.

  94. 94.

    eemom

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Don’t quite know what’s going on here anymore, but I have this to say: FUCK ANYBODY who thinks Hillary should apologize for what she said, including but not limited to “explaining,” “walking back,” “qualifying,” etc. Apologize, against Trump….are you fucking kidding me?

    Maybe I’m missing something, or the rest of y’all here are smoking something and haven’t passed the pipe my way….or maybe this is some cyber-invasion of the body snatchers…..but if I’m hearing what I think I’m hearing, fuck this crowd.

  95. 95.

    Matt McIrvin

    @PhoenixRising: I freaked out when the whole thing dropped because I could see the standard political-campaign “fatal gaffe” script playing out over the coming week. The press was going to jump on her for slandering millions of hard-working Americans, Clinton was going to retract her remarks and fulsomely apologize, people would be asking “what were you thinking?”, there would be all these post-mortem analyses of where this horrible gaffe came from, infighting in the campaign, and after she’d lost it would be the thing people looked back on as the turning point, like Ford talking about no domination of Poland or Carter’s hostage rescue mission. (Never mind that Trump can get away with this shit every day; he clearly plays by different rules.)

    Instead, the press jumped on her, she basically retracted the word “half” (naming no replacement fraction) and otherwise more or less doubled down, and a bunch of people at least in Internet media immediately hauled out the poll statistics pointing out that she was right in the first place anyway. I honestly did not expect that.

    Barack Obama was never able to say “you know what? A very large fraction of my opposition really is completely fucking racist and is freaking out because I’m black.” And it became kind of taboo to point that out if you were sufficiently establishment. It was always supposed to be this little fringe thing at best; most Republicans just had perfectly legitimate ideological disagreements with him. But I guess Trump has ripped the mask off just by being there, by removing all pretense of having a principled ideology-driven conservatism. It’s maybe not as taboo to say it any more.

  96. 96.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @eemom: In my view, she did not apologize. She said, “You say the 1/2 is off, okay. What percentage of his supporters are fascists? You tell me?”

  97. 97.

    Adam L Silverman

    @eemom: Neither Omnes nor anyone else here so far is in favor of her apologizing. M4 got a bit confused based on how things were being reported in the news media about whether she had done so, we explained it, he’s now following, and everything is good.

  99. 99.

    SFAW

    @Amir Khalid:

    A question of semantics: when did “racism” get renamed “white nationalism”? I don’t recall seeing the latter term used in America before this presidential election cycle.

    I’d speculate that it was partly in response to the (semantic) distinction by the Trump idolaters that hating on Messicans (for example) is not truly “racism,” because “Messicans” aren’t a race unto themselves. Same thing with Moooslims. So don’t call them racists — just bigots. [Because being called a “bigot” is so much more socially acceptable than being called a “racist,” in certain circles, apparently.] Technically, I guess they’re correct, re: the race thing when applied to particular groups.

    [Ignoring, for the moment, the argument/concept that “race” itself is a social construct, as opposed to a fundamental something-or-other.]

  100. 100.

    Ruckus

    @eemom:
    There are people here who think she apologized, because most of the reporting stated it that way. Also some who think it’s not time to make a fuss about racism. It’s not. It’s way, way past time.
    And there are others who are trying to parse her every word and that she should not have use certain words in the first place and how this one speech is the end of the campaign.
    It’s uptight night at BJ

  101. 101.

    Anne Laurie

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Instead, the press jumped on her, she basically retracted the word “half” (naming no replacement fraction) and otherwise more or less doubled down, and a bunch of people at least in Internet media immediately hauled out the poll statistics pointing out that she was right in the first place anyway. I honestly did not expect that.

    Call me a Pollyanna, but one small bright spot this year has been how much effect “social media” is beginning to have on the Very Serious Conversation between the paid political analysts & the media village idiots. Even the political/media professionals can jump outside the newsroom suits’ we’ll-tell-you-what’s-news constraints, and speak up when facts are bungled and false narratives are constructed. (Genuine) grassroots-up, not top-down, networking.

    Seems to me like we’ve reached one of those much-mooted tipping points… I hope!

  102. 102.

    SFAW

    @efgoldman:

    I was incognito for awhile — how’s your bride doing? Last I saw (which was Friday sometime), tests were negative, but (I think) more testing was going to be done? I hope everything is OK with her.

    ETA: And, although you probably figured out my little Spass, “incognito” was used in place of “incommunicado,” because I’m weird.

  103. 103.

    Mnemosyne

    @Amir Khalid:

    As others have said, a white nationalist is a racist who’s banded together with some buddies to take some kind of action. You can be a garden-variety racist just bitching about other people in your kitchen, but once you start a “news” organization or website where racists can congregate, you’re a white nationalist.

  104. 104.

    Ruckus

    @SFAW:
    A bigot is a wider definition than racist. The word racist sounds stronger so using bigot sounds less than what you know the people to be. But it is a more inclusive word, it can be anyone who hates a member of any sub group of humans.

    a person who strongly and unfairly dislikes other people, ideas, etc. : a bigoted person; especially : a person who hates or refuses to accept the members of a particular group (such as a racial or religious group)

    That’s from Websters.

  105. 105.

    eemom

    @Ruckus:

    And there are others who are trying to parse her every word and that she should not have use certain words in the first place and how this one speech is the end of the campaign.

    Thank you for the clarification.

    Those people are fucking idiots. OTOH, they’re wasting their time concern trolling for free on this lil ole blog, when they could be making millions as emmessemmbots.

    @Joeff:

    Because too many of *her* supporters are, shall we say, “a basket of pussies?”

    This too, times a thousand

  106. 106.

    scav

    The vision of tender little white supremicists suddenly turning even paler and swooning immediately upon being called deplorable (couldn’t even finish their chant of “hang the bitch!”, the fragile dears) is so charming. Mexicans, BLM activists, women, believers in Islam, refugees, all such dregs need to pull up their socks and be covered by blanket statements and smile while treated to good old american free speach, but lily whites maligned with half measures of unadmired wicker-work?!

  107. 107.

    SFAW

    @Ruckus:

    I’m not the one needing convincing, etc. — I agree with your point(s) — I was just trying to provide a possibly-helpful-but-probably-not response to Amir’s question.

  109. 109.

    SFAW

    @efgoldman:

    Thinking of you and your wife, sorry that the lawyer is making things worse, not better (or at least neutral).

    Best wishes for as stressless a trip as is possible.

  111. 111.

    Bobbo

    This Sean Spicer numb nut is really bad at the maths. How does half of Trump’s supporters = 40 million? 80 million votes would be about 2/3 of the total electorate. Unless he’s trying to say that all of Trump’s supporters are deplorable

  116. 116.

    SFAW

    @Bobbo:

    Probably just his way of shrieking about Hitlary, and how she hates half of America. It’s a “literary” (so to speak) device.

    On the other hand, it’s so unlike wingnuts to make up shit to demonize their opponents

  117. 117.

    jl

    Nauseating contrast. For months I saw a bunch of (mostly) old white farts, along with some white fart-ettes, objectively and calmly horse racing toxic bigoted, racist, xenophobic BS that slithered out of the Trump campaign, and Trump supporters, as if it were all like a really cool new logo or campaign slogan. Gosh, will it work? Leeeettssss seee? So interesting…

    HRC says the damn obvious, that a good chunk of Trump supporters are manifold and general purpose bigots, sexists, xenophobes, racists, and scary authoritarians, and these whitey tighties get the vapors. I heard some news actor taking the hideous, dishonest and cynical Pence seriously when the incompetent and rancid VP nom was all outraged.and hurt. I had to run to turn the damn TV machine off.

    The whole noxious display is nauseating. Hope HRC doesn’t back peddle on the core truth of what she said. Because it is true. You see it at Trump rallies repeatedly in how they act and how they respond to Trump bigot and violent authoritarian act, you see it in poll after poll of in the contrast between what supporters of the two major candidates believe.

  118. 118.

    SFAW

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Remember when Hillary was terminally ill?

    “Was”? I thought the severe brain trauma she suffered when she had her Gingrichesque coughing fit last week resulted in her being put on life support, and it’s being covered up by the MSM.

  119. 119.

    eemom

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Who are you calling out?

    Anybody who doesn’t think that “basket of deplorables” was a fucking awesome thing for Hillz to say; with particular, utmost contempt directed to anybody shitting their little panties in terror over her having said it.

  120. 120.

    SFAW

    @jl:

    I had to run to turn the damn TV machine off.

    Modern TVs have these things referred to as “remotes,” you know. Or, a well-thrown brick can work in a pinch.

  122. 122.

    FlipYrWhig

    She pretty clearly was saying that there are two kinds of Trump supporters, gross hateful ones and economically anxious ones. She proceeded to say nice things about the latter. IOW, she said “half” as a casual way of saying “one of two kinds.” Non-story, affects nothing, barely even a gaffe even just verbally/rhetorically.

  123. 123.

    sukabi

    @SFAW: national enquirer is on it, she’s apparently had 3 strokes, Alzheimer’s, dementia and a couple of other ailments all with a really nice photoshop job on their cover… current supermarket issue…

  125. 125.

    jl

    @eemom: I like the various subtexts and insinuendos.

    Basket: basket cases,
    And a basket brings to mind a cheery homey olde tymey container with a variety of interesting goodies from the garden or the farmers market: a litle bunch of bigotry, a spary of xenophobia, a handful of hate, a little this and a little that.
    rhymes with a tisket a tasket, a green and yellow basket: Oh yes the white nationalists have little love letters of their hate and they keep dropping out the Trump campaign for others pick up and get infected with the bug
    Deplorables: those deserving strong condemnation, which is perfect.

  126. 126.

    jl

    @SFAW: I hate them damn remotes. Mine is someplace I don’t know. Haven’t seen it in a while. Probably put it one of the kitchen drawers by mistake.

  130. 130.

    jl

    @Mike in NC:

    ” Can I order a Basket of Deplorables from the Harry & David catalog? ”

    Hell, maybe Trump will come out with a Monthly Deplorable Club. This month racism, next month general purpose bigotry about anything that Fox News told you it took your money, sexism (maybe for mating season?), religious hatred, authoritarianism. The box of ignorance would be fun, I wonder what is in that. Should the shipments of boxes full various kinds of lying (already in the mail, we promise!) be scattered around the year, or should there be a special season for those?

  131. 131.

    SFAW

    @sukabi:

    Thanks!!! I’ll run right out to get it!

    Myself, I think it’s all a psychosomatic response to her guilty feelings over murdering poor Vince Foster.

    @jl:

    Oh, quit whining. And stop making excuses.

  134. 134.

    scav

    On the upside, I may have just discovered a new mash-up between worry and voodoo dolls with a bit of anti-easter thrown in. Work up little figures of despised individuals, solemnly consign them to a prominently displayed basket of deplorables with a little ritual. Clears up brain-space having to contemplate about how seriously deplorable they truly are. Could also be handy I supposed when I need to work out my impulse to bounce certain people off walls.

  137. 137.

    jl

    @SFAW: @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Go to hell. I’m trying to lose weight and get into shape. Running around the house because of the damn TV and radio helps with that.OK?

    Not an excuse, part of my clever plan.

    Edit: and I can play the Star Spangled Banner with my cellophane.

  141. 141.

    Ruckus

    @SFAW:
    No worries, some think that the word bigot is too “soft” when it is actually more inclusive. They’d rather use racist, which is great when you mean racist but if you want to cover the whole hateful side there is a better word.

  144. 144.

    SFAW

    @jl:

    I’m trying to lose weight and get into shape.

    Yeah, that’s nice and all, but here’s a pro tip: doing 12-oz curls does not, in the long run, get you in shape.

    Well, “pear-shaped” is a shape, I guess.

  148. 148.

    Matt McIrvin

    Just saw an online friend in Minnesota saying he thinks Trump might carry Minnesota, because some drunk idiot pulled his Hillary sign out of his front lawn. We’re getting into crazy days of nervousness.

  149. 149.

    Matt McIrvin

    @FlipYrWhig:

    She pretty clearly was saying that there are two kinds of Trump supporters, gross hateful ones and economically anxious ones. She proceeded to say nice things about the latter. IOW, she said “half” as a casual way of saying “one of two kinds.” Non-story, affects nothing, barely even a gaffe even just verbally/rhetorically.

    Except it’s been twisted into a gaffe by people determined to misinterpret it in the most malevolent manner possible, and most people haven’t read even the excerpt from the speech, they’ve read secondhand and thirdhand reports and headlines. I’ve had it explained to me that it’s bigotry to characterize all Trump supporters this way, which is diametrically opposed to the literal point of what she was saying.

    I really don’t think there’s anything Hillary Clinton can do that is “right” in the face of this.

  151. 151.

    Elie

    What do people make of Hillary’s fainting spell today? Sheesh… not what she or we need right now….

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