From the man who gave us Sarah Palin:
I can’t argue with most of his assessment.
Open thread
by TaMara| 68 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Assholes, Our Failed Media Experiment
From the man who gave us Sarah Palin:
I can’t argue with most of his assessment.
Open thread
Comments are closed.
hovercraft
I especially liked the money lenders in the temple.
He still has a lot to answer for, he was a large part of his parties degeneration to this thing we see before us, so fuck him.
Betty Cracker
I’ll admit a sneaking fondness for both Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace, even though they were Palin’s handlers. They at least had the decency to be horrified by their role in mainstreaming that nitwit. Also, some good news:
Think that’ll change the calculus of the cowardly rats who are trying to decide whether or not to abandon the SS Trump?
schrodinger's cat
I had not seen Schmidt in years (no shouty TV for 5 years) he has become old! He is 100% right, of course.
WereBear
They are rather restricted in their abilities, since they have gotten this far with trucks of cash, lying and propaganda, and blatant sucking up. Actual abilities are kinda thin on the ground, much less calculus!
PsiFighter37
52-38. If that holds, this will be a demolition-style blowout. Can we win the House?!
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
Julian Assange is starting to spin madly out of control, judging by the wikileaks twitter.
Hillary is going to get elected. All Ecuador has to do is cut it’s losses and throw him, his luggage, his bathrobe and hypoallergenic pillow out the front gate as they unceremoniously toss his sorry ass out into the street, tripping him while they do it.
As he turns to scream and bang on the gate, New Scotland Yard can cuff him and transport him to a nice quiet cell, where he can not only start answering for his Swedish rape, he can also start singing about his conspiracy to target multiple US data targets on behalf of Mother Russia.
Villago Delenda Est
Slam on the fundigelical Mammon-worshiping scum that are the leaders of the “Values Voters”.
Villago Delenda Est
@PsiFighter37: As Schmidt pointed out, that’s the only thing in question now.
Villago Delenda Est
@Betty Cracker: His performance was on the edge of the dumpster fire, not in it. This means that the base is fired up, and WILL punish any Rethug who dares…dares…to withdraw their reluctant support for Donald. The spite vote will turn on cowards like Ryan and McConnell in a heartbeat…and any of them who are facing an election in November know it (this gives the turtle some breathing room).
sukabi
Todd’s smirk throughout Schmidt’s bit was interesting…almost like a “glad someone said it, glad it wasn’t me” smirk…
Sack up Todd, you’ve got money to spare. Tell the truth for a change, you’ll feel better about yourself.
Gin & Tonic
Warren Buffett, while releasing the basic information from his 2015 Federal tax return (which is being audited):
TriassicSands
“…most of his assessment.”
Hmm. I may have to listen again, because off-hand I can’t think of anything he said I disagree with. He’s obviously a partisan Democrat, who has been paying close attention and is using hard evidence to back up his opinions… …oh, wait.
Trump really is so far out of the mainstream that he can’t reasonably be compared with any past nominee of either major party and I think that includes Palin. Palin was dumb. That isn’t unique. Palin was inarticulate (huge understatement). Again, we’ve seen that often enough, even if her word salads were extreme). She said outrageous things and most of her statements were severely factually challenged. Still not new.
But Trump goes way beyond that. He’s introduced so many new and horrifying elements to this campaign that it’s hard to believe one’s eyes and ears. Thank goodness my computer doesn’t have the capacity to smell.
sigaba
@Betty Cracker: It’s out the morning that Ryan is taking literally the most craven route possible, he won’t unendorse but he’s simply refusing to campaign with him or “answer any questions” about Trump. Individual house members are on their own to do whatever is necessary in their districts.
He’s doing this all, mind you, not for himself he says, but to “protect the majority,” as his Un endorsement could bring the ire of the Deplorables against the House.
hovercraft
@PsiFighter37:
The congressional preference is 49 to 42, in favor of the democrats. All the prognosticators say that 7 is the tipping point, so this is why the rats are yelling save yourself.
sukabi
@WereBear: which is EXACTLY why they are on the SS drümpfenberg, and what Schmidt was talking about re rot.
WereBear
@sigaba: There is no good move here, happily. Lose the “moderates” or lose the deplorables; pick one!
TriassicSands
@sukabi:
I have never watched a single episode of “Meet the Chuck.” I learned to despise him before he took over the show and I simply can’t subject myself to any more concentrated Todd. He makes me ill.
shomi
Everyone including Stevie Wonder is forgetting about….Al Gore. That is all everyone should talking about and wetting their pants over. Go stock up on your Depends. Al Gore is what is going to ruin everything. The polls are all skewed because they are not asking about Al Gore.
Mike J
@Betty Cracker:
Will Jordan @williamjordann 18 hours ago
Married WOMEN who say they are voting for Hillary Clinton: 45%.
Married MEN who think their SPOUSE is voting for Hillary Clinton: 33%
PPCLI
If there were a functioning press in this country, Trump’s threat to imprison Hillary would not be an issue, because the fact that he a) suggested she killed Vince Foster (then dropped it, but he knew that one mention was enough for his base to hear) b) Encourages his supporters to chant “Lock her up” at every one of his rallies c) At the convention he and his people organized, he had his (wartime) consigliere Christie go through various transparently spurious bills of indictment, again accompanied by “Lock her up”. d) Hired a campaign manager who runs a website devoted to stoking, 24/7 the sleaziest accusations against the Clintons, with comment sections who are frankly terrifying in the sheer bloodlust and rage on display. e) Kept on a NY campaign manager who asserted that Hillary ought to be executed, apparently without even so much as an eyelash raise from the national press f) I could go on.
This whole campaign has been hammering the drum about putting Hillary in jail for imagined crimes.
Mike J
@PsiFighter37:
I saw someone retweet Douthat this morning. He said (something close to), “Somewhere Alf Landon is putting champagne on ice.”
debit
@shomi: I think you must be posting in response to the Mirror-verse Balloon-juice that has a goatee.
Baud
@Gin & Tonic:
You only need it if you suffer YOOGE losses.
sukabi
@TriassicSands: I don’t watch him either, other than clips…and there are way too many of him being such an awful, both siderist…and he’s so blatently BAD at it.
Adding, which I guess is a good thing. Easier to spot the steaming pile.
Anoniminous
@PsiFighter37:
Yes.
PPCLI
@Mike J: Married women who either say they are voting for Hillary Clinton or who plan to vote for Hillary Clinton and would have said so were they not aware that their “Trump that Bitch” husband listens in on the other line to all her phone conversations: 70%
RareSanity
Good heavens, they really are this stupid…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/10/juanita-broaddricks-other-debate-night-claim-could-be-trouble-for-breitbart-news/
tsquared2001
@PPCLI: Exactly. Married Republican women will tell Hubby and the exit pollsters whatever the fuck they want to hear.
Bruce K
@Mike J: I wonder: was that in reference to Landon as a self-described progressive Republican, or in reference to an electoral result that would make his run against FDR look like a nail-biter?
sukabi
@PPCLI: if we had a functioning press, his campaign would have been aborted as soon as he uttered the words “Where is his birth certificate?”
At that point a functioning press would have discovered all the evidence of drumpfs utter lack of competence and credibility hiding right under their noses.
Amir Khalid
@Gin & Tonic:
And Warren Buffett’s nett worth is well into 12 figures, whereas the Donald’s claimed worth is at best just touching 11 figures.
hovercraft
@Gin & Tonic:
I’d say Trump is going to strike back, but he’s got nothing to attack him with. Buffet is a real billionaire who doesn’t have to go around telling everyone he’s really rich because everyone knows it.
Mnemosyne
@Mike J:
I’m assuming those are the numbers for married white women. The numbers for married minority women are probably more like 90 percent.
christopher murphy
@Betty Cracker: Unfortunately he didn’t express that horror until after the election. If he was a real patriot he would have stopped trying to get her elected as soon as he realized how utterly unqualified she was.
sukabi
@Amir Khalid: when he gets done, lets hope he’s managed to push it to the negative 11 figures… When this is over NO ONE will ever let drumpf use their money to pull himself out of the ditch again… so there’s that.
randy khan
@Mnemosyne: In that case, though, similar to their husbands.
I’m trying to think of an appropriate gift for rational white people to send to the entire minority population of the U.S. after the election. (Electing Hillary doesn’t count – they will have earned that by their actions.)
SFAW
@shomi:
Always with the projection.
Now, if only you could learn to read English with anything resembling comprehension.
SFAW
@debit:
Wait .. what’s it doing with a baby goat? Eewwww!
Maybe that’s why it keeps needing Depends.
SFAW
@Amir Khalid:
I think he’s merely in the 11-figure range, the poor bastard.
Trump, on the other hand, is a thousandaire many times over. Well, if you don’t count how much he’s in hock to The Bank of Vlad.
tsquared2001
@sukabi: For real. Like Kay, I wonder where the fuck is the ambition with young reporters – some serious props would be coming their way if they actually vetted a guy who has been in the public sphere for nearly his adult life. Not even that hard to win a Pulitzer or just get your byline above the fold.
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid:
If you count the ones after the decimal point, maybe. But even then I’m skeptical.
tsquared2001
Brett Anderson of MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers tweeted, “What kind of f****d up locker rooms has Donald Trump been in.”
I know there are some Twitter haters among the Balloon Juice commentariat but 140 characters be letting you know
hovercraft
Peter King is defending Trump, he says that republicans shouldn’t abandon Trump because of the polls, democrats didn’t abandon Bill Clinton in 1998 when he was guilty of much more serious things.
I hope that republicans heed this advice and cling to their nominee.
MCA1
@Betty Cracker: I agree wholeheartedly. I find it hard to reconcile the Schmidt who was one of the very first to recognize that the GOP’d gone completely off the rails and has been more than happy to (rather eloquently, at times) say so repeatedly for the last several years, with the guy whose judgment was so poor as to think Caribou Barbie was a good idea.
Whatever, though, I’ll take him. That was a pretty well-said eulogy for the Republican Party he gave this weekend.
tsquared2001
@hovercraft: Don’t throw me into that briar patch!!
randy khan
@tsquared2001:
I’m still not rooting for the Dodgers in the NLDS, but glad to see this.
MCA1
@tsquared2001: Good for him. As a man, I’m pissed at Trump for basically claiming last night that all men talk like that. But I can only imagine what a professional athlete thinks after being dragged into his gutter.
@editgrl
FWIW: http://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign/nbc_trump_tapes/?t=1&akid=3624.610445.tNQ3wV
Villago Delenda Est
@MCA1: To be fair to Schmidt, that was a total pig in a poke purchase. They were so desperate for a game change that they didn’t do the vetting they should have, because the head of the ticket wasn’t bothering to lead.
tsquared2001
@randy khan: Aside from NOT rooting for the Yankees, NOT rooting for the Dodgers is almost my favorite thing in the world.
James E Powell
@Villago Delenda Est:
I think there is another question: If the Rs hold the house, is Ryan still the speaker?
germy
@James E Powell:
Who else will do it?
tsquared2001
@MCA1: Nephew once had a friend who told him that “sometimes, you just have to take the pussy”.
Unfortunately, he said it at a family party.
My Brothers kicked the ever loving shit out of that guy.
Rommie
And even if the D’s don’t win the House, what if they are, say, 5 votes short? Peeling off a handful of votes and telling the Freedom Caucus to pound sand might just be appealing to the next Speaker.
Of course, I’d prefer NANCY SMASH, but a narrow gap isn’t horrible for getting things done.
sukabi
@germy: pretty sure at this point any one asked will pull a boener, and those clammering to take the gavel won’t have any support.
Boner is probably laughing his ass off at his own good judgment for retiring when he did.
bemused
@Betty Cracker:
I don’t mind Schmidt and Wallace. They don’t trigger teeth grinding and skin crawling in me like most Republican commentators on cable. Wallace basically said she had ptsd from trying to get Palin up to par on anything or to even listen. Wallace has probably been having some flashbacks watching Trump staffers dealing with Trump.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
@germy: I bet Looey Göehmert would love to be Speaker.
sukabi
@tsquared2001: drumpfs locker room includes such
notablesdeplorables as Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Rudy Guiliani, Chris Christie, ect…Fair Economist
@James E Powell:
It’s quite possible that with a narrow Republican majority the House will not be able to elect a speaker. The speaker must win with an absolute majority of House members, so if the D’s are a minority and enough tea partiers insist on a nutcase there’s a three-way split and nobody can win. By House rules it couldn’t transact business so that could bring on a constitutional crisis.
catclub
@PPCLI:
I think these might be a useful outlet for frustration. I think they virtually all bluster.
Certainly better than the Timothy McVeigh model of expressing dissatisfaction with the world.
MoeLarryAndJesus
Watching Chuck Todd squirm as Schmidt violated the sacred principle of Both Sides is hilarious.
catclub
@@editgrl:
good luck with that.
MCA1
@Fair Economist: Yes, constitutional crisis would be one possible outcome. But so would a Democrat as Speaker, despite being in the minority party. Or an establishment GOP Speaker who can secure Democratic caucus votes in a Speaker election. Or a formal breakup of the Republican Party after the establishment cuts the Tea Party adrift. Any one of those three ensure a legislative agenda largely shaped by Democrats, so I’ll take the risk. Especially given how nonfunctional the House has been for the last 6 years, anyway. All unprecedented, I know. But so would a shutdown because the majority can’t settle on a Speaker, and the pressure placed on them to get someone installed NOW from a President Hillary would be relentless.
Feebog
@Fair Economist:
Let’s say Democrats come real close and we end up with something like R-222, Dem-213. If the nutbags in the Republican caucus won’t vote for Ryan, I can see a few moderate Republicans voting for Pelosi. In the scenario above, it would only take a 6 vote swing.
philadelphialawyer
@tsquared2001: I am actually in a men’s locker room several times a week, at my gym, which is multi ethnic, multi racial, multi religion, with a vast age range too. And I never hear talk like this. In all honesty, and contra to the conventional wisdom/stereotype, women are NOT the main topic of conversation. I would say medical issues (among the oldsters), workout and fitness questions, gossip about other (male) members of the club (this seems like a big thing with the racket ball players!), spectator sports, politics, general small talk and chit chat, and even the weather, are more prominent. When women are mentioned, it is usually only in the sense of discussion of family members…wives, daughters, grand daughters, etc. I have frankly NEVER heard discussion of “hot” women at all. Much less brags about grabbing their……
The last time I heard the topic of women predominate in the locker room was in high school. And even then, it was about how “hot” they were, how desirable they were, not about assaulting them. No man, in my experience, brags about assaulting women. Bragging about how much they “want” him, maybe, again, in the high school/college age range, perhaps. But not about forcing himself on them. Why would that ever be a thing to be proud of, even in the “GAME”/PUA circle?
Uncle Cosmo
@Feebog:
Five votes. 213+5=218, 222-5=217. (Trust me, I was a mathematician once.)
Now finding even five non-BSI GOP House members…well, good luck with that.
tones
@christopher murphy: Exactly this, I will never watch him or Michael Steele, ever again, and change the channel anytime they come on the TV.
They had the nerve to look into the camera and say “yes Sarah Palin is totally qualified to be president.”.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@philadelphialawyer: I played high school basketball, worked on the staff of my alma mater’s team, was also in a frat, played in several leagues in the Air Force, and I NEVER heard anything remotely close to that bullshit Hair Furor was spitting. He’s full of shit.