I think after this morning it's pretty clear that Trump didn't renounce birtherism so much as the GOP has clumsily tried to weaponize it.
— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) September 18, 2016
In this bit, @reince literally says birtherism is the fault of Clinton, her staffers, interns and supporters. Wow. pic.twitter.com/KwWQhBUPyd
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) September 18, 2016
This is a good reminder that it's not just Trump – the head of the RNC is a liar too https://t.co/jmduUSiPoH
— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) September 18, 2016
Conway on MTP: "It makes a huge difference as to who started [birtherism]." Totally agree. It was Trump. pic.twitter.com/0JhRBvkIj3
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) September 18, 2016
"There is an 'otherness' to this President"
—@alexcast on @MeetThePress, sinking to sickening depths to try to defend Trump's birtherism— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) September 18, 2016
Putting Trump aside for a sec. It should be a bigger story that the official Republican position is to push a new debunked conspiracy theory
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) September 18, 2016
Mark Halperin 2/25/08: "Emphasize Barack Hussein Obama’s unusual name and exotic background through a Manchurian Candidate prism." #Birthers
— Bob Cesca (@bobcesca_go) September 17, 2016
OBAMA: "Hope is on the ballot, and fear is on the ballot too." pic.twitter.com/cnF0mOkScH
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) September 18, 2016
Election 2016 in a nutshell. Go vote people. This shit matters. A lot https://t.co/UqtA1AYFPi
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) September 18, 2016
Peale
That “otherness” quote is a summary, no?
Trentrunner
@Peale: Alex Castellanos is now head of a Trump superPAC.
BGinCHI
Orley Taitz must be testing the waters for higher office right now. The media seem poised to help.
BGinCHI
@Trentrunner: There is an “otherness” to this President.
Compared to the GOP racists, idiots, white supremacists, and cowards, he’s completely other.
NobodySpecial
“There is an ‘otherness’ to this President”
I can see why GOP hacks wouldn’t be able to recognize brains and capability. It’s fucking magic!
Botsplainer
@BGinCHI:
Shit, I haven’t thought about Orly in a couple of years.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@BGinCHI: She’s already run for US Senate here in CA, she lost in the “Jungle Primary” to DiFi.
BR
Anyone have the ability to do this?
Felonius Monk
This shit will be going on well into President Hillary Clinton’s second term in office.
hovercraft
@Peale:
Not a summary.
From Media Matters
EDIT: Sorry you were talking about Alex “HANDS” Castellanos, not Good News For John McCain. My mistake, but no Alex boldly stated that there is an otherness to Barack Obama, today!!
Trentrunner
@Felonius Monk: Fine by me. I just want my 2-4 liberal SCOTUS justices.
hovercraft
@BGinCHI:
Someone has already asked her about Trumps about face, and she’s okay with it, so long as it helps him win.
Splitting Image
The main target audience for the “Hillary Clinton started Birtherism” game is the same as the audience for the “Robert Byrd was in the KKK, so Democrats are the real racists” game.
If a Democrat did it first, it absolves Republicans from blame until the end of time.
Keith P.
I’m somewhat bewildered that Reince Preibus is supposed to be a shoe-in for reelection to his post. He’s an impotent little troll (personal observation), but more than that, he’s pushed the “Love Trump or get out” line harder than just about anyone. He’s leading this push for the GOP nominees to endorse Trump, but has he ever – EVER – pushed Trump to *apologize* to them first? Trump crossed line after line in his insults, but Preibus seems to expect those insulted to just turn the other cheek based on Trump winning (plurality, not majority, mind you)
Mai.naem.mobile
Just go to twitter. The racist stuff is just so godawful I don’t have the words. I can’t believe people think this stuff in 2016, never mind put in down in a digital format.
oldster
I know this is not really the point at issue on this thread, but when the Republicans (or anyone else) do something shameless and despicable, I do wish people at BJ wouldn’t say that they have “balls.”
Attributing “balls” to shameless despicable people is not only an insult to us ball-havers, it will also sound to the despicable people like a compliment.
My point is: the title of this post is a *compliment* to the birthers–that is how they will hear it, and that’s how they’ll take it. If you do not want to compliment them, then don’t say that what they did “was ballsy,” “took balls,” and so on. You might as well say, “those birthers, they sure are a bunch of bad ass tough-guys!”
(There’s also the fact that it is biologically inaccurate, i.e. that the possession of testes is neither necessary nor sufficient for despicable, shameless behavior. But I’m less worried about the inaccuracy than I am about the fact that this sort of talk *encourages* the people you think you are criticizing.)
SFAW
@Keith P.:
It’s all about power — gaining it, maintaining it, doing whatever you need to do, no matter how vile, to retain it. It would not surprise/amaze me to hear that Priebus
soldgave info to Putin and/or Kim Jong-Un, if he thought it would help the Rethug Party gain/keep power.Brachiator
@BGinCHI:
@NobodySpecial:
This is an old smear got up in new rags and paint.
in the old days, racists could code talk about the Jews being “other” because they were “cosmopolitan,” and so did not hold American values.
This kind of thing rolls off the tongues of racist conservatives so naturally.
This entire episode of “Meet The Press” was especially slimy. Folks should check out a video replay or podcast. This Castellanos guy and Maureen Dowd were in rare form, as was the Trump strategist in an interview segment.
JaneE
There is a whole lot of “otherness” about the president. The things I think of I consider good things for a president to be. Smarter. Reasonable. Thoughtful. Even tempered, even when pressured. Willing to take risk, if necessary. Honors prior commitments, even those of his predecessor. It wasn’t until Obama was elected that I realized just how unusual that must seem to Republicans.
Mary G
Have they no shame? No.
Trentrunner
@oldster: I support this.
? Martin
Here’s the calculus from both parties:
Lose black voters forever.
Lose racists forever.
Which will be the electoral winner? I know which is the moral winner, but history is written by the victor.
Matt McIrvin
@oldster: People were just passing around an interview with Jane Goodall in which she compared Trump’s behavior to a chimpanzee dominance display. She didn’t mean it as a compliment, but the comments on the articles were often from alt-rightists who took it as one.
Matt McIrvin
@? Martin: Why didn’t this work against Obama?
tofubo
All I want for Christmas is teh meadea to say these two phrases when confronted with a known falsehood:
You know that is not true
You know you can’t prove that statement
And I want my present early
oldster
@Matt McIrvin:
That’s the problem. I’m sure that Anne Laurie does not *think* that she is complimenting the Birthers, and does not *intend* to compliment the Birthers.
But that’s how they will hear it. “He’s got balls,” “that took balls,” “it was a ballsy move,”–those are all major compliments in most of male America. Unambiguous compliments–not even two-sided or left-handed compliments. Just major props. If you don’t know the rules of the language you’re trying to use, then you send unintended messages.
? Martin
@Matt McIrvin: There was more positive support for Obama. That’s the opportunity for Trump. They’re counting on the Clinton smears keeping her unpopular. I think for all the talk of economic losers in this election, there was real economic fear in 2008 that in many ways disqualified McCain based on his behavior. We don’t really have that economic fear today – we can afford to vote over stupider matters.
There was a good article some months back about a town in Indiana that went for Obama and which he visited repeatedly talking about the need for a turnaround as unemployment was 20% or something. Well, the town turned around, is doing well, and they went back to interview people there. They’re going to vote for Trump. Why? Because abortion. Honestly, you couldn’t beat the sense into these people with a pile driver.
geg6
@? Martin:
Maybe I’m naive, but I do not believe that the majority of Americans are bigots. And I will continue to believe that until proven the November.
tofubo
@tofubo:
And ask that person to come back with the proof, if they show up and don’t have it, end the interview right there.
I know, I know, it’ll never happen…
Botsplainer
@Brachiator:
Did Castellanos have that insipid smirk on his face, the one that inspires me to punch his teeth out?
RaflW
Best response so far to that groveling, shit-digesting worm Reince:
Can you tell I think Reince is evil? He’d gladly staff Stalin, Pol Pot, or that guy Godwin refers to, if he got a paycheck for it.
Peale
@Matt McIrvin: if I recall correctly, the economy was collapsing and everyone hated the very expensive war and McCain revealed himself to be a complete spazz in a crisis and proclaimed that we must continue the war at all costs. See all of those things that mccain did there is what passes for leadership and resolve in good times, but they are exposed as damning flaws when there are serious problems. Obama picked a good time to demonstrate his “otherness”. Most white people I think have reverted back to form where a guy prone to spazzmatic meltdowns, who is likely to treat every insult as an existential crisis, and makes split second decisions without stopping as being leaderly rather than stubborn and foolish.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@? Martin: I think that Obama went back and the question was asked in 2012, Obama lost that town to Romney.
I don’t think your calculus is inclusive enough, especially given our experience here in CA. It’s not just black voters – racist voters, it’s black/latino/asian/female voters – racist voters. The Republicans have written off(though they’ll deny it) black voters and have since 1968.
Elizabelle
More about Jim Cooley, the Georgia open carry guntoter profiled in the WaPost today (from Betty’s morning thread).
From the NY Daily News in June 2015: Georgia man can legally carry AR-15 rifle in Atlanta airport terminal: ‘It should be no cause for concern for anybody’
This guy was very possibly not fit to serve in the National Guard, and thinks the rest of us should “stay inside” if we don’t like him carrying a loaded assault weapon around the Atlanta airport. Or Wal-Mart, as he did in the WaPost article. Assault rifle tucked into the basket on his scooter.
This open carry stuff is ridiculous. So is the Georgia legislature that would pass laws allowing this insanity.
These people have neither balls nor brains.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Botsplainer: I think he was born with that smirk.
debbie
@oldster:
There’s more than one meaning. “The balls on him.” = “The nerve of that guy.” I knew exactly what she meant.
Elizabelle
@oldster: I agree with you. Ballsy sounds like gutsy sounds like brave. Badass is considered a compliment too.
It’s better to say these folks have no balls.
Geoduck
Open-threadish random comment: As I write this, in regards to the bombings in NY and NJ and the stabbing attack in Minnesota, the CNN website is engaging in more pants-wetting headline splashing than the one for Fox.
Tenar Darell
@oldster: yeah, I can see that. “Unmitigated gall” perhaps fits your criteria better.
Suzanne
@Elizabelle: If that is to be the case, then I will stay inside and stop frequenting businesses that allow this. I suspect that I am not alone. I will also cease to be friendly with people who do that kind of thing (not that I am really friendly with any gun nuts). In the absence of legislative solutions, we should shame ammosexuals and the businesses that allow their dick substitutes to threaten the rest of us. No one has a constitutional right to friends or esteem or business.
Elizabelle
Or we could just call them liars. Leave balls out of it. They are liars. Keep it simple ….
? Martin
@geg6:
Oh, they’re not. But the majority of American’s aren’t black either. But small but reliable voting groups are key for two reasons:
1) They reliably vote when a 50% turnout election is a high turnout
2) They tip the scales even in high turnout elections by not splitting between candidates
Obama won due in large part to the high turnout of black voters and the overwhelming support of black voters. Can Dems afford to lose racist voters in the same way? I suspect so, because I think there are enough white voters who are incensed by racism to reject the GOP over all other matters, but the GOP apparently doesn’t agree, and they have better data than I do.
Peale
@?BillinGlendaleCA: the republicans had that debate with themselves about what to do about (non Aa) minority voters and thought they had won it with W. all you have to do is appeal to those other groups on social conservatism and say that they are hard working and entrepreneurial unlike those, umm, other people, and they might vote against Dems. U fortunately, they had not actually finished the debate. The side that thinks the best thing to do about changing demographics is to drive as many minoroties out of the country as possible, change voting laws, arrest more black people for their own good, prevent mosques from being built, and change citizenship laws to so that large numbers won’t ever be able to vote- well that side won in the Republican Party. It’s up to Democrats to prevent that from happening.
Elizabelle
@Suzanne: My thought exactly. A day without a customer, or passengers, would send a big message. I don’t think there are enough gun humpers out there to keep the local economy afloat if others decide to “stay inside.”
Money talks.
? Martin
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Those other populations are still splitting in large enough numbers to have a smaller effect than the relatively tiny black population that is 90%+ for Dem. They effectively have 5 times the electoral power of a demographic that votes 60/40 like Latinos did 12 years ago. It’s that overwhelming support that makes them so valuable to have, and why the GOP is working so hard to suppress them. It would now appear that the GOP is making as hard a charge on racist voters, and that didn’t used to be the case. The Dems had a lot of racist voters and while we didn’t court them, we didn’t push them out either. That’s changing now. They are now a demographic being courted. Will the Dems lose enough of them to stay ahead? Look at how certain battlegrounds states are surprisingly hard for Clinton to hold – I suspect that’s the GOP getting former Dems to put racial issues above their usual economic/labor etc. issues that caused them to support Dems in the past.
RaflW
@Mary G:
MOST OF US: Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?
REINCE: Nope.
Botsplainer
@Elizabelle:
Low T….
maya
@oldster:
Yup. Agree with that totally. One reason why I am not as” left” leaning as mainstream BJ apparently is, is because of an inherent and obvious double sexual standard maintained here: Must be careful not to use any derogatory words or expressions re female genitalia (brass ovaries, anyone?), but it’s “ball’s away” with the masculine references which in this particular case doesn’t work It ain’t derogatory AL, it’s a compliment to most normal males. Is that what you intended?
AL, and others, could try the “padded codpiece” reference which would clearly invoke the image of GWB in his flight suit immediately after landing aboard the USS Mission Accomplished to get your point across. Meant to look impressive (big balls), at the time,that image later became a joke symbolizing how clueless , ineffective, and padded GWB’s warrior prowess really was.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@? Martin: I’m not sure that Republicans can count on a 60/40 split going forward, it hasn’t been that way in the last two election cycles and Trump if further alienating them(similar to what Gov. Wilson did here in CA).
oldster
@debbie:
“I knew exactly what she meant.”
Oh sure–me too. If it’s a question of Anne Laurie’s intentions, then I knew exactly what *she* meant. The problem is, that’s not what her *words* mean.
Suppose that I am captured by ISIS and tortured, and I say to them, “you’re being highly un-Christian!”
What *I* mean is that they are being wicked and evil and they should stop what they are doing. *I* mean it as an insult. But what my *words* mean is that they are not being Christians, which is not an insult to them at all. They are just going to laugh and say, “right. We are not Christians–that’s not really what we are striving to be, so what you said is not an insult to us. In fact, we are proud of not being Christians.”
Here, the problem is actually a bit worse than that: not only will all of the Birthers and Alt-Righters be happy to be told that they have big balls (doesn’t sound like an insult to them!) but also a very large percentage of the people on Anne Laurie’s side will hear it in the same way. Yeah, I realize she means it as an insult. But it just doesn’t work–it doesn’t succeed in insulting people, given that “look at the balls on these Xs!” is equivalent to “these X’s have prominent balls,” “their actions are ballsy,” etc.
But I’ve had my say, so I’ll drop it now, promise.
Ben Cisco
Should’ve known the Dick Whisperer had a hand in this, you can smell his hoofprints all over it.
Jeffro
I cannot imagine a country run by this psycho, this con man, this man-baby, this MORON…much less having people like Mike Pence and Chris Christie in positions of power with him.
Time to double down on the donations and the volunteering…registering voters this month, canvassing and door-knocking the next. Time to go all out. It would be beyond intolerable having this evil clown as the head of our republic. Can’t do it.
Volunteer. Donate. and GOTV!
debbie
@Elizabelle:
I stopped shopping at Krogers because they allow guns on their premises. Not that it seems to have had an effect yet…
Patricia Kayden
@Elizabelle: How many Black men have been shot dead for doing less than Cooley? It’s amazing what certain people can get away with.
Chris
@Mai.naem.mobile:
I can.
The more I read about history and the longer the teabagger/Trumpist phenomenon goes on, the more the quote that goes through my head is “the past isn’t dead: it isn’t even past.”
Patricia Kayden
@? Martin: Can’t we assume that whatever racists were in the Democratic Party left in 2008 with the ascendancy of Barack Obama? I can’t imagine that anti-Black racists were going to stay in the Party which put a Black man with a Kenyan surname in the White House.
opiejeanne
@Mai.naem.mobile: It’s awful. Some of the people I follow are Jewish or haveJewish-sounding names, and the shit they are getting hit with right now is terrible. They make remarks about the Holocaust and then claim it’s sarcasm or satire, when it is neither.
Laura Silverman has a book that has not yet been released, and the Pepe crowd has been “reviewing” it on GoodReads, giving it a single star and writing ridiculous/nasty comments about it.
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle:
When I was at the Gwinnett County (GA) Democratic HQ yesterday, I was interested to see this card, among all the business cards and candidate campaign leaflets:
There’s a graphic of a handgun behind the red circle/diagonal (“DO NOT”) symbol, but nothing to indicate what organization is responsible for distributing the card. Don’t know whether it’s the Dems, or a gun-control org, or an anonymous individual. But I found it interesting that someone went to the trouble and expense to have it printed up and distributed.
MomSense
@Peale:
Nope. I heard it with my own ears. These people are deplorable.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@MomSense:
I hear there are baskets of them.
NotoriousJRT
@hovercraft:
Mark Halperin fancies himself a player, rather than the tool that he clearly is.
NotoriousJRT
@Mai.naem.mobile:
But they don’t consider their comments to be racist, so that tweet fearlessly.
MomSense
@Botsplainer:
Yes.
Elizabelle
@debbie and Patricia and Siubhan:
I know. Cooley would have had a far different experience as a minority open carry activist — and Jeebus, assault weapon with 100 rounds, in an airport where people back up at the security lines and getting in and out? It’s ridiculous. By the time you figure out someone’s intent is malicious, 100 rounds with an automatic weapon, peeps.
I like the idea of those little cards. It’s printing money well spent, and gets the message across.
I hope Cooley’s “activism” gets blowback, much like the open carry jackholes who ended up getting banned from Starbucks, which initially humored them. These are antisocial people.
Gonna be interesting to see how the school year goes for Texas universities, which have now been forced to allow open carry, even while it’s not allowed to do so in the Texas legislature buildings.
We need to move the pendulum back, and that’s why you’ve got such a fever swamp on the right now.
MomSense
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
We need bigger baskets.
NotoriousJRT
@geg6:
For me the question is, “Will the non-bigots turn out and vote for Hillary?” If I had a dime for every time I have heard how “both choices suck,” well, I would be chiming in from retirement.
Elizabelle
@NotoriousJRT: We need to push back on the “both choices suck.” I don’t let anyone get away with that if they say that in my presence. It’s pernicious.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@MomSense: Especially to fit the hoverrounds in.
Zinsky
@Felonius Monk: Amen, Felonius. Anti-Clintonism is a disease. It drives its victims mad. They will believe the most cockamamie stories, that make Bigfoot and UFOs seem run-of-the-mill. Clintons murder dozens. Vince Foster killed by Hillary in lover’s spat (despite the easily found fact she was in Japan at the time of his suicide). And on and on and on. The most ridiculous and completely disprovable nonsense theories. I blanch at the thought of another eight years of this horseshit. I strongly suggest an engaging hobby!
Chris
@Patricia Kayden:
No, not necessarily. But I’d like to hope that just about everyone who factors their racism into their political decisions is gone from the party.
There’s got to be some assholes out there who don’t like black people, but who still have enough sense to realize that the only way to get decent health care and wages is by voting the same way they do.
opiejeanne
@debbie: I would prefer we use “gall”. The gall of that guy!
hovercraft
@Patricia Kayden:
No we can’t, in addition to the people who tell pollsters that they are democrats who are birthers, or believe Obama to be a muslim, there is the anecdote about the canvasser who knocked on a door in PA, the woman yells back to her husband in the house to ask who they are voting for, and he yells back, “we’re voting for the nigger.” I’m not sure that those people would consider themselves racists, but for them to feel comfortable enough to say that to a canvassers face, says it all. For some true blue democrats, they tolerate the parties diversity because they support it’s economic policies, or it’s pro-union stance. Or more succinctly economics trump racism.
Chris
@Zinsky:
Obama Derangement Syndrome was a disease too, but at least it was a fairly partisan one.
Clinton Derangement Syndrome is a disease that strikes all over the place, which is what’s particularly frustrating about it. You expect Republicans to fall for that shit – they’re racist sexist assholes who still believe Darwinian evolution is subject to popular vote.
Citizen_X
@Suzanne: That’s fine if you’re talking about a coffee shop or grocery store. But, short of never flying, how do you avoid going to the local airport?
hovercraft
@NotoriousJRT:
Halpern is like several other talkers a tool of the GOP, he seems to exist to denigrate democrats and fellate republicans. Useless POS is useless.
Patricia Kayden
@NotoriousJRT: I was disappointed that South Park referred to Clinton as an “excrement sandwich” (words to that effect) and made it seem as if she was just as horrible as Trump who they refer to as a “Giant Turd”. Unfortunately, Sexretary Clinton has been successfully slimed. I’m glad that she’s still leading in the polls which count so I’m very optimistic that she’ll pull this off.
Peale
@shomi: For once, we agree! If this election boils down to “Was Obama Born Here” and “Immigration Crisis!!!!’ and “Hillary E-mails” I don’t think the outcome is what we’d really want. Its letting the Republicans set what gets talked about. I think we’ll need to change that ourselves even if we can’t get the media to stop letting Trump dictate the national conversation.
We don’t have a god damned crisis. Obama isn’t running! The E-mails are old news!
Patricia Kayden
@hovercraft: Ok. Just seems odd to me that a racist would vote for a Black man but I guess it could have happened with President Obama.
Elizabelle
@Citizen_X: I wonder if you could shame the legislators re the airport? Remind everyone of the attack at the Brussels airport — with explosives — and ask why we are putting our residents and travelers at risk? What fool of a legislator voted for this?
It’s lunacy to allow civilians to open carry assault weapons at airports. It’s why we have police and armed security. Shouldn’t be in bars or on schoolgrounds or in places of worship either (hello, Mother Emmanuel in Charleston, and the Sikh temple that got shot up in Paul Ryan’s district).
Cooley would not meet the standards for police, and was discharged from the Illinois National Guard after three years, in what is usually a six-year enlistment.
Make him a poster lunatic for more responsible public safety regulation. Open carry is being taken too far, and it’s imposing fear and danger on the public. Real fear and danger, not what these pocket GI Joes conjure up in their heads.
Turn their rhetoric back on them. He can’t go to WalMart or the airport without an assault weapon? He can’t go to WalMart.
hovercraft
@Zinsky:
The characterization of Hillary as a ambitious, grasping bitch was cultivated from the very beginning of her public life. The press went along with it from the start, she was Lady Macbeth, and every thing she ever said or did was twisted ti fit that characterization. Nothing she has ever said or done can be taken at face value, it is always in service of some hidden nefarious motive. We need to GOTV, this effort to stop her from becoming president has been ongoing for 40 years, we must make sure that it fails, just as the effort to “otherize” Barack Hussien Obama failed.
Emma
@Peale: Only one problem with that. Most “low-info” voters get their info from the media. How do we go around them?
Jeffro
@Elizabelle:
Same here. I like the, “usually we have apples and oranges…this time, we have apples and rotten meat” metaphor myself.
Elizabelle
60 Minutes is profiling “The Libertarian Ticket” tonight.
Great. Cue the chorus for “let Gary Johnson into the debates!” Several Republican-endorsing outlets have already started that chant.
Elizabelle
@Emma: Agreed re low info voters. And lots just see headlines and chyrons and little segments on cable; they don’t get the details or read that the story does not bear the headline out.
Paywalls. He/she who can write a clickworthy headline rules, whether it’s accurate or not.
TS
@hovercraft: Just another racist that the media treats as a distinguished pundit.
He sure underestimated Obama – none of these stood up in the light of day – and still Halperin peddles his biased opinions.
germy
@Elizabelle:
and then even more people can see how uninformed he is.
Elizabelle
@germy: Although the GOP just wants to see it because it will be taking on Hillary in stereo.
I will tune in. Have not seen 60 Minutes for maybe 3-4 years at this point, but curious how they’ll handle this. Steve Kroft reports.
Patricia Kayden
@TS: That’s why Halperin called President Obama a “dick” on Morning Joe and now claims that Trump has run the best Presidential campaign ever.
hovercraft
@germy:
A commentator/reporter with deep familiarity of Johnson said not making it into the debate was the best thing to happen to him. Said that basically it would have been a series of Alleppo moments, this way he gets to bitch about being excluded without exposing himself as a know nothing.
germy
@hovercraft: He seems profoundly ignorant on a wide variety of issues. And his ideas about how to run the country are simple lunacy.
SiubhanDuinne
@hovercraft:
I remember watching a fair amount of coverage of her during the 1992 primaries, and I never could understand why there was such animus against her. I mean, she chose to pursue a career, other women chose to stay home, BFD amirite? In those days I was still naively supportive of the media and I didn’t see the treatment of Hillary as anything systemic or coordinated, awful and unfair as it was. A year into Bill’s first term, of course, and the scales had fallen from my eyes. It’s only got worse, much worse, since then.
(Slight edit for clarity.)
debbie
@Elizabelle:
Hope they start with a geography quiz.
Elizabelle
60 Minutes up. No Lara Logan, thank dog. Only recognized about half of the correspondents (the ancients).
Second segment on the Nuclear Navy (?), and third on China gearing up with a massive facility to make English language films to compete with Hollywood.
But first, pharma ads and cruise ships.
Elizabelle
@debbie: Yeah. Have been laughing at the comments on how, um, selectively informed Mr. Johnson is.
Elizabelle
Leads off with how unpopular Hillary and Trump are. Also that only 70% of voters even know who Johnson and Weld are.
Weld says running is a patriotic duty. Yesh. When Trump is the nominee of a major party.
Elizabelle
Johnson sees this as “the demise of the Republican party.”
If he’s the spoiler who helps elect Trump. Uh huh.
hovercraft
@SiubhanDuinne:
She tipped her hand with the two for one comment. They thought she would run for president from the beginning. The media have been trying to appease the GOP since Nixon, like an abused spouse who treats their abuser better and better in order to stop the abuse, and disdains anyone who tries to intervene on their behalf, the media will never call the GOP on their bullshit and dishonesty. The Koch strategy alongside the Ailes strategy of seeding the “liberal media” with conservatives has been a great success. So between the Jonathan Karl’s who are conservatives (Koch fellow) to the so called liberals who must go out of their way to prove they are neutral journalist and call it like it is.
Matt McIrvin
@geg6:
Trump doesn’t need a majority; he just needs enough dispirited anti-Trump people to stay home or vote for Gary Johnson.
Elizabelle
Johnson gets asked if he’s using marijuana now. Not sure if that means “this year” or “during this interview.”
debbie
@Elizabelle:
I’ve heard him in two hourlong interviews. Johnson’s biggest enemy is his tone of voice. He sounds condescending, and he’s very quick to turn peevish.
Elizabelle
Q: Do you have foreign policy (advisors?)
Weld: “I wouldn’t say that.”
Johnson talks about Hillary and Trump being polarizing. That Mickey Mouse could do well.
Polarizing. Why is that?
Elizabelle
Over. Kroft reports that, in a recent poll, when the Libertarians are added, Trump and Clinton are in a dead heat.
Patriots, Mr. Weld.
Calming Influence
@oldster: I’m with you on this. But I’m confident that “balls” will remain part of the casual slang lexicon, while losing the gender and testosterone specific connotations.
Remember that there are also “dickheads”. And in my time with the Black Rock City DPW, the phrase “suck my dick!” was used as often, and as effectively, by the women as the men.
ChrisGrrr
@oldster: I’m glad you spoke your mind.
If this was a top-ten site, what you pointed out would be a grave cause for concern. You did get me thinking, and I appreciate your courage.
Brachiator
@Elizabelle:
In theory, I don’t have a problem with Johnson or even Stein as part of the debates. After all, they had 75 Republicans in the primary debates. But there should be some threshold, or have them in some primary debates so they can show that they can build a following. Otherwise they are little more than the political lunatic fringe.
The Other Chuck
@oldster: How about chutzpah. Good ol’ Yiddish, gotta love it.
amk
@geg6: yup, birther of a nation.
sinnedbackward
@hovercraft: Great story you have.
Back when I lived in Baltimore, the fantabulous Babs Mikulski and William Donald Schaefer were running for office. I knew a native “Baltimoron” whose parents were a retired fire captain and “homemaker”. Leo asked them on election day where they were off to and his dad replied “off to vote for the fag and the lez”, reflecting rumors of the time.
(I don’t know anything about Mikulski’s preferences, but I do know she has been one of the most effective senators of our time, and used to buy Andre Norton books to give away to other congresscritters – acknowledging their reading comprehension levels, I guess. And Willie Don, after living with his mom Tululu in their west Baltimore rowhouse until she died, later moved his girlfriend Hilda Mae Snoops – you cannot make this up – into the governor’s mansion. So much for stereotypes. Duh.)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Brachiator: The Republicans had “Happy Hour” debates for the folk polling as well as Gov. Johnson and Dr. Stein.
Brachiator
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
And the kiddie table folk were gradually eliminated. I think the minor party folk should make their case during primary season. And that’s kinda being generous, because they are really not much more than spoilers.
El Caganer
@Brachiator: Jeez, is there nobody here who Feels The Johnson?
Ang
I tend to use ad blockers on most websites, and unblock sites selectively if I consider them worth supporting. This site is unblocked, and I can’t decide on the best reaction to some of the ads that pop up – do I go with happy that the bad guys are wasting their ad dollars on a site that so obviously won’t garner any votes, or annoyed by the presence of republican ads?
I just got an ad for “Coffee with Ivanka Trump YES I’M IN!” Paid for by Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. This particular one pushed me far into the side of laughing at the idea of the ferret-wearing shit-gibbon (damn but that phrase is brilliant) thinking that anybody here would be starstruck by the allure what he considers to be his eminently fuckable daughter, and that by extension, the appeal of basking in her presence might actually garner him votes.
(And I’m a doofus and posted this to the NFL open thread, when I meant to do the non-sportsball open thread. Whaddya expect from a lurker?)
sinnedbackward
@Ang: That may be one of those rip-off-the-gullible not-really-Trump outfits. El Donaldo’s minions have not protected many of the nearly right domains.
So morally ambiguous if nicking them for a hit.
nutella
@sinnedbackward:
Most Baltimoreans though Hilda Mae was a beard for Willie Don.
nutella
So Ted Cruz is deplorable in many, many ways but I do admire him for one thing: He has not forgiven Trump for grossly insulting his wife and his father. Not expecting him to endorse because of that.
Brachiator
@El Caganer:
Libertarians are childish fools. I give Johnson a few points for being slightly above the typical Libertarian.
cokane
that this country would even flirt w/ trump is damning
Chris
@Patricia Kayden:
As if on cue, here’s an example from my Facebook feed. One of my good friends from college is from a white working class Rust Belt background. Her brother is at least somewhat less politically liberal and racially… enlightened than she is. Just the other week, he was posting crap about Kaepernick and getting into Facebook fights about whether white people had it better in America, etc.
And yet, I just saw him post a “five presidents have said not to vote for Trump – will you listen to them?” meme apparently in an attempt to convince one of his friends.
Yeah, white people with racial hangups who still vote Democrat are a thing. Not a big thing, but a thing.
Ang
@sinnedbackward:
That would certainly make sense. Either way, I’m all for them spending as much of their ad budget on zero-return sites as possible.
Aleta
@Ang: That contest sure brings up a whole lot of sarcastic thoughts.
Matt McIrvin
@sinnedbackward: Lyndon LaRouche used to run radio ads with animal noises in the background calling Mikulski “the Beast of Baltimore.” Pretty much the same strategy we’re seeing now from the Republicans, I guess. Not everyone LaRouche hated was a good person, but he was generally a good enemy to have.
Also, she’s an indefatigable supporter of space exploration, because of Goddard Space Flight Center and Johns Hopkins.
Cleos
@Zinsky:
The all-time Black Helicopter Classic was the “rumor” about her putting pornographic ornaments on the White House Christmas tree.
This is the time when that silly pickle Christmas ornament fad was going on, and I’m guessing someone had sent her one.
Calming Influence
@Cleos: Apparently you are unaware that the Hussein Obamas have for the past 7 years made it a firing offense for any of the White House staff to call it a “Christmas tree”. It is to be refered to as either “the holiday tree”, or alternatively “Mecca West”.
Calming Influence
@El Caganer: I don’t lean that way, but I don’t think there is anything morally wrong with “feeling the Johnson”.
jc
I don’t care who started Birther-ism, who gives a rat’s ass? But I do care that Mr. Trump would not shut the f**k up about it for months and months. To hell with any Republican who thinks it’s a good idea to keep talking about it now. It was moronic garbage then and it’s moronic garbage now. It’s the kind of thing that people who have nothing of value to contribute … are still talking about. To hell with them!