Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Their shamelessness is their super power.

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

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Keep the Immigrants and deport the fascists!

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

Peak wingnut was a lie.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Bark louder, little dog.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

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

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

So very ready.

No one could have predicted…

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2016 / Open Thread: Bill Explains It

Open Thread: Bill Explains It

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Y’know, Bill’s the one with the raw political talent (aka ‘charisma’), but I can see that he might actually think the woman he’s loved so long is not only smarter than he is, but liable to end up in the history books as the better President, too.

Reader Interactions

199Comments

  2. 2.

    Mnemosyne

    I’m not sure how many of the other total geeks here watched Bill’s speech at the DNC, but to me it really came across as him saying that knowing her for the past 40+ years has made him a better man and a better politician than he ever would have been if they had not met. Hard as it is to understand sometimes (at least for me, who is most comfortable when monogamous), a zipper control problem does not always equal a lack of love.

  3. 3.

    redshirt

    I feel like improbably there is a genuine social movement to not only shout down Trump and his supporters, but to also praise Hillary. Like people are getting into it – fired up, ready to go!

  6. 6.

    lamh36

    So I was watching Return to Me again, and somehow I got to thinking bout one one fav “after sex”/”after meet cute” scenes in a movie.

    500 Days Of Summer – You Make My Dreams

    Back to Return to Me…
    It’s such a rare scenario, but really how would u feel to know that the person you are dating has ur dead loved one’s heart?

    “Grace has Bob’s dead wife’s heart”
    should NOT be a funny line, but Bonnie Hart & Jim Belushi played it soooo well.

  9. 9.

    WarMunchkin

    @Mnemosyne: I loved Bill’s speech, scandals and all. I’ve regularly re-watched some of his greatest hits over the last few years. I ranked him above POTUS/FLOTUS for the DNC and was the only one to do so in my circle of friends. I wish Warren or Sanders were even on the same damn tier to represent the oratory of the economic left.

    Speaking of, I imagine Matt Stoller’s article in the Atlantic will piss off a lot of people here.

  10. 10.

    Omnes Omnibus

    but I can see that he might actually think the woman he’s loved so long is not only smarter than he is, but liable to end up in the history books as the better President, too.

    As far as smarter goes? Eh. They are both pretty damn brilliant. He was lazier because he could coast on his charm a bit. She can’t do that, and I get the the feeling that she couldn’t temperamentally. As far as being a better president, the stars may be aligning so that she has an opportunity to have more positive accomplishments than he did. OTOH, his presidency did a lot of good by simply mitigating the harm that the GOP would have wreaked.

    ETA: Yeah, I am a Bill apologist.

  11. 11.

    lamh36

    @Lyrebird:

    @realtrumplodyte
    @sahilkapur The Trump campaign will have to bring in Ailes to clean this up because Ailes understands how to respect women.

  15. 15.

    Mike in NC

    Drumpf promises to repeal ACA on Day One and replace it with something he hasn’t even given the first fucking thought about. All of his policies in a nutshell. Beat this scumbag like a rented mule (but I deplore cruelty to animals, just an expression, OK?).

  16. 16.

    lamh36

    @AlGiordano 3m3 minutes ago
    BREAKING: California Democratic coordinated campaign just shifted its volunteer caravans from Nevada to Arizona. BOOM!

  19. 19.

    Adam L Silverman

    @lamh36:

    Mr. President, I have the detention slips for Mr. Ryan’s failure to conform to the dress code because he’s stopped shaving in this envelope.

  21. 21.

    GregB

    Fucking Newt Gingrich has the lack of self awareness to complain about people saying inflammatory things.

    Unreal

  23. 23.

    lamh36

    ✨ ‏@EdTheJoker 4s4 seconds ago
    Amazing how Megyn Kelly was a conservative hero just a few days ago when she was grilling Donna Brazile, but tonight she needs to be fired?

  24. 24.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    @lamh36: does that mean they are comfortable with Nevada and moving to AZ or do they think AZ is more winnable/important(11 evs)?

  25. 25.

    Mary G

    @lamh36: Oooh, that’s gotten some more Republican woman onto the Hillary train. Could Newt be any more condescending and mansplaining?

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    @lamh36

    Caravans? That there’s a word from the Persian.

    Alert the nutzoid media: Iran pulling the strings on Clinton campaign!

    :)

  27. 27.

    Jean

    @lamh36: Hope we win both then. I remember working on Obama’s campaign in 2012 when everyone was so worried about Ohio. Every week, I’d ask the organizer how it looked in Ohio. He kept saying, “Ohio is done; don’t think about it.” When I’d tell people that, they would say, the polls don’t show that, etc. etc. But we won Ohio. I’m hoping that’s the case again even though we don’t need Ohio to get to 270 or higher.

  28. 28.

    Elie

    @Mnemosyne:

    I agree totally. Marriage and love is very complex but there is no doubt in my mind that these two are a committed pair who have weathered a great deal and its their business. I know that I have had some challenges in my marriage and that there are things that are just too much to explain to outsiders. I am not being as articulate as I would like to be but I am satisfied that I don’t have any right to judge their or any other relationship that does not include outright violence or cruelty (where I would definitely have to draw the line). Its of course wonderful to have a Barack and Michelle marriage. But those are rare — very rare. The rest of us get to figure it out and work it out while finding and hoping to keep that thread to the bond that endures, somewhere in the complications of our lives…

  30. 30.

    Lizzy L

    @lamh36: @redshirt: Not 10 minutes ago I got a call from a Hillary volunteer, asking me if I wanted to help the campaign. I explained I’ve been calling Ohio, Illinois, Arizona, and Colorado for weeks, and asked what she had been doing. She told me this was her first day, and she’s been calling California asking for more volunteers to call Arizona!

  31. 31.

    Feebog

    When I ran cross country in High School the college course we ran on had a huge uphill grade, then a gradual down grade along the back of the hill, with a couple hundred yards of flat ground to the finish line. Our coach’s strategy was to sprint up that hill like it was the finish line, and then just let go down the hill and flat. The other part of that was to pat the ass of every other runner we passed. I feel like we have reached the top of the hill, and now just let it go and let the downhill grade power us to the finish line.

  33. 33.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Lyrebird: I saw this tweet from that Scavino person

    Dan Scavino Jr. ‏@ DanScavino 1h1 hour ago Washington, DC
    David_Gergen once asked Mr. T to see some of his students & tell them about business & life. Now Gergen does nothing but attack. Low life.

    I honestly wondered why the hell anyone was tweeting about Clubber Lang in 2016

  35. 35.

    Adam L Silverman

    @lamh36: I recently grew my full beard out, for the first time in a very long time instead of the full van dyke I generally have. It only takes me about four days to do so. And even keeping it groomed tightly (about a 3 on the trimmer) and keeping my neck shaved, I didn’t like it. I looked like the CGI susquatch/yeti they use on those expanded cable “search for bigfoot” shows.

  36. 36.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @WarMunchkin: Speaking of, I imagine Matt Stoller’s article in the Atlantic will piss off a lot of people here.

    I’ve read enough Stoller to last a lifetime, and enough to be surprised the Atlantic would publish him

  38. 38.

    hueyplong

    This Scavino guy tweets just like Trump. Two sentences and then a one or two word conclusion (“low life” or “sad” or whatever).

    These idiots want to run the most powerful nation in the world. It’s insane.

  40. 40.

    Lizzy L

    @Mai.naem.mobile: FiveThirtyEight has Clinton’s chance of winning the state at 72% in Nevada. If they’re moving to Arizona, I’m guessing they feel pretty good about the Nevada numbers. Go Team Blue!

  42. 42.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mnemosyne: @Elie: I am a bit bothered by the way that people have been willing to throw Bill under the bus during this election season. He made a couple of gaffes – nothing worse than Biden does on occasion and people decide that he is undermining her (subconsciously). Fuck that. I am betting that he loves her to death, wants her to be president, and advocates for her to the very best of his considerable abilities. The only caveat I offer is that because of his love for her, he occasionally has overstepped.

    Fuck it though, he was a two term Dem. president and he did far more good than bad things.

  43. 43.

    Punchy

    @redshirt: I’d love to know WTF is happening in Ohio. Saw a poll that had The Great Pumpkin 4 pts up. HiRoClin could win NC and Zona but lose Ohio and cracker Iowa? Demos sure arent what they used to be.

  49. 49.

    Cracker and toast

    @lamh36: He didn’t have a fucking meltdown. Thanks for wasting my time clicking on some Faux Noise horseshit clip of bobbleheads!

  52. 52.

    redshirt

    @Cracker and toast:

    He didn’t have a fucking meltdown. Thanks for wasting my time clicking on some Faux Noise horseshit clip of bobbleheads!

    Cracker and Toast is shomi, Adam.

    Since you ban hammered shomi I assume the same applies to Cracker and Toast.

  56. 56.

    hueyplong

    Nevada has early voting, doesn’t it? It’s possible that: (1) the “returns” so far (party affiliation of ballots cast) have them confident of the outcome; (2) the fact that voting is under way means that additional work there has a lower cost/benefit factor; and (3) Arizona (including a shot at Grampy Walnuts) is close enough to try.

    The one thing we know is that they’re applying their judgment to data we don’t have.

  58. 58.

    lamh36

    @Adam L Silverman: on the subject of beards…i like a nicely groomed one but some overgrowth hipster caveman beard …nah…pass.

    i’m. it a fan of ZZ Top-esque beards on guys

    is that even in sure anymore? other than Duck Dynasty rednecks?

  59. 59.

    piratedan

    @Lizzy L: lot of dark money is starting to filter its way into the ads here, so my guess they’re throwing down the gauntlet here. Supposedly the latest poll numbers (from Kirkpatrick via WaPo) say that they’re within striking distance. Plus a couple of R congressional seats may be gettable.

  61. 61.

    Lyrebird

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Bizarre! Mr T still has projects going, but my guess would be that Mr S is dropping his name as proof that he’s said something nice about a Black person. I could be totally wrong – I often am!

    But I am not often up on anything before @lamh36 has the whole story — that was fun! (waves goodnight)

  62. 62.

    divF

    “I really don’t care what they call me as long as she wins”

    Brings to mind the bedroom scenes in The Madness of King George. “Mr. President … Madame President.”

  66. 66.

    dogwood

    @Punchy:
    Ohio has been a close but pretty safe bet for republicans for decades. Obama pulled it off twice, but maybe she won’t be able to. The Clinton campaign seems to be ignoring Iowa. If they really wanted it they might have sent POTUS there.

  67. 67.

    Truegster

    Watching Patrico Guzman’s the Battle of Chile while drinking Dos Maderas rum & Mexican coca cola, listening to Kruder & Dorfmeister’s K&D Sessions. No work tomorrow, on vacation, so might as well enjoy the pre-apocalypse that our election promises. Over the past several years I’ve been using Craigslist, EBay and Audiogon to upgrade my stereo/home theater by buying low, selling high, playing local markets against national markets to where I now have a ridiculous setup.

  70. 70.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @dogwood: I’m guessing they have internal polls that show North Carolina and Florida are a better investment, especially since Patty Judge is so far back

  71. 71.

    hovercraft

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    I agree, I think because he wants it so badly he is more prone to making mistakes. He is trying too hard, and she knows it, so how can she bench him when she knows he is giving it his all. There is a reason that surgeons don’t operate on their loved ones.

  72. 72.

    Lizzy L

    @piratedan: Damn, I hope so. It would be awesome if Arizona turned blue.
    @Punchy: According to Nate Silver, Clinton’s at 54% in Ohio. Iowa is right on the cusp. Iowa was always a long shot and I don’t think Clinton’s put a lot of money/time there.

  73. 73.

    Lyrebird

    @lamh36: Used to hold opinions on beards. Then I spent a few quite happy years dating someone who styled his a la ZZ Top or your stereotypical system administrator guru type. Cuddly!

    Then I also remembered how much I dislike other people telling me how to style myself.

    Of course to most men, somehow I am a “man-hating” feminist in comparison to more conforming women who turn around and tell them what to do all the time. Shrug. Not something I should dwell on at this hour.

    ETA: I do get puzzled by some trendy mini-beard styles, like soul patches or whatever, because they seem to have the upkeep and scratchiness problem of shaving while still being beards. But again – if a person wants to put in the effort, I figure – his facial hair, not mine!

  75. 75.

    trollhattan

    @lamh36:
    Holy shit, Megyn called out Newt on his “anger issues.”

    Newt’s a tapdancer, I’ll give him that. Contract with America, bitchez.

  78. 78.

    hovercraft

    @Cracker and toast:
    I disagree, calling Kelly obsessed with sex and the liberal media, when your candidate is struggling with women is a melt down. His obsession with the Clenis made him lose it, as Kelly pointed out the American people are done with Bill and his women, using that to deflect from Trumps problems, and then exploding when it didn’t work, shows a loss of control and discipline. Nicolle Wallace a republican said that her and her circle of republican women are actively rooting for him to lose for attacking Kelly, as a strategist she said the meltdown was indicative of a campaign is losing and knows it.

  81. 81.

    greennotGreen

    So this happened today.

    I was in Lowes, my second home, and I saw a woman wearing a “Proud Trump Deplorable” tee shirt, so I asked her, “Are you a racist?” She said, “No!” So I said, “Then you aren’t deplorable. Hillary was only talking about the racists and the bigots when she said that.” The woman replied, “No, she said 50%.” I’m thinking, okay, when did 50% become 100%? At that point her husband said something about not arguing, so I started to walk away, but she said, “Do you want to put a crook in the White House?” “She’s not a crook,” I replied. “She’s a crook!” the woman said. “Well, it will all be over Nov. 8,” I said, and then I really did walk away.”

    So, I think Hillary may be wrong about how many Trump supporters we can ever hope to reach. If we take that woman at her word, that she is not a racist, she is so poisoned by the Kool-Aid and/or incapable of logical thought that there’s no chance of ever getting through to her.

  83. 83.

    JJ

    @redshirt: My sister just had her DNA tested and she (I’ll assume we) are 3.8% Neanderthal. Kind of psyched. I’m a woman with a strong jaw line, a big head and I’m good with tools. The gene count in human genome is about 99.5% I think.

  85. 85.

    Adam L Silverman

    @lamh36: Its a combination of having my jaw redone several years ago and keeping my hair cropped short for work appearances. So even a neatly trimmed beard on me no longer looks right to me.

  87. 87.

    Anoniminous

    Newt is still living in 1994 when he was important. Nobody gives a fart what he has to say in 2016. He’s just another old, fat, Conservative.

  91. 91.

    trollhattan

    @hovercraft:
    Hell yes it was a meltdown. That was Fox, not The Daily Show and he was as combative and lying as if it were the latter. No Ailes treatment for you, Newt. Hopefully Rove is next to get the boot and Megyn refuses to wander off to the brain room in her pumps when he orders her to.

  92. 92.

    WarMunchkin

    @Adam L Silverman:

    @WarMunchkin: Not sure Stoller’s thesis is exactly news.

    True, and the headline is clickbaity AF, but I did enjoy the walkthrough of how the Watergate Dems changed how power in congress was allocated.

  93. 93.

    hovercraft

    @piratedan:
    Rachel reported that since Trump stopped raising money, and the GOP was being massively outspent, McConnell and Rove announced tonight that they magically have 25 million to spend on six senate races down the stretch. I suspect Sheldon or the Koch’s, so buckle up, it;s going to be a bumpy couple of weeks.

  96. 96.

    eclare

    @Omnes Omnibus: Could not agree more. Also would add he probably feels like he owes her somewhat. Not saying I agree or not, just saying most people would. But I have no doubt that he loves her and is immensely proud of her.

  97. 97.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Lizzy L: This was my reply to your last reply where you mentioned knowing George. Just checked and you didn’t reply to it as your luggage had arrived. Here’s the link to my comment:
    balloon-juice.com/2016/10/24/open-thread-affirmatively-pro-hrc/#comment-6074433

    Adam L Silverman
    says:
    October 25, 2016 at 1:40 am (Edit)
    @Lizzy L: I’m close with both George and Wendy – they’re buds. Next time you see George ask him about me doing a Wolfgang Puck impersonation for him while cooking for him and his better half. They, and John Messores, were staying with me – I was hosting George for a seminar when I was dojo cho at UF/Gainesville Aikikai. Actually had him in three times. I remember the first time I ever trained with him. Messores Sensei was going to do a seminar at George’s for the first time. I went as John’s dedicated uke (punching bag). We stayed with George. Anyhow, first night/class of the seminar George grabs me for the first technique. I grabbed his wrist and my head moved. I never saw the jab. I felt the jab, but I never saw the jab! About a 1/2 hour in, because of bad traffic, Dan Penrod (like me another one of Messores’s senior yudansha) arrived with his students from Oregon. That was a great seminar. We had great weather in Seattle the entire four days we were there.

    As for Wendy: she’s got a small dojo south of Chicago in the cornfields. The dojo logo is a tsuba where the ornamentation is four ears of corn. I’ve got one of the t-shirts: “Corn Fed Aikido” is underneath the logo/crest. I would do a Wendy Whited seminar over almost every other instructor. She’s both that good and that fun to train with. George too! And I’m always partial to John, just because I came up as his student when we were one of, if not the, most top heavy, in terms of yudansha, dojo in the country. On any given night you’d have between 12 and 20 yudansha. And we were all trying to just crush each other. I once described John to the late Paul Kang Sensei this way: “Paul Sensei, you’re classical music. John is acid jazz!”

  98. 98.

    Jibeaux

    Anyone listen to the 538 podcast? I am a Harry Enten fangirl. I’m a southerner and old enough to be his mother, but there is something about his feminism, nerdery, and weird NYC 1940s throwback accent that just slays me. I feel like I could tell him about what it was really like to see Admiral Stockdale debate live and then maybe he’d rest his head affectionately on my shoulder.

  99. 99.

    andy

    I guess there’s a twitter for assholes now- but it’s invite only, and apparently it’s a bit dull because they’re all part of the MAGA crowd and it’s one big happy boring circle jerk.

  100. 100.

    JJ

    @Mnemosyne: 23 and me. I think she nosed around before she went with them. We found a relative who was given up for adoption. She was looking too.

  101. 101.

    WarMunchkin

    Also, I’m loving this season of South Park. I’d love to make a special “MemberBerries” line that goes through all the greatest hits of the GOP during the Bush and Obama years. ‘member when Megyn Kelly said PBO was doing a terrorist fist jab with Michelle? ‘member flag pins? ‘member tire gauges? ‘member purple heart band-aids?

  102. 102.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Adam L Silverman: @redshirt: Over -caffeinated commenter redshirt is probably right, but the new version has not overstepped any of Cole’s rules as far as I have seen. FWIW, I fully support Cole’s rules on banning. I know that others see it differently, but the charm of this place is that one can say anything one thinks, if one was totally gassed on absinthe and ether, one can say “Shit I fucked up.” and get back in. YMMV.

  104. 104.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    Totally OT, but I wonder what age range we have among posters… We have Gramps Goldman (I say that with all due respect), and a few posters I’d guess are in their mid 30s, but I’m guessing a lot of us are late boomer/early X gen (therefore old enough to be grands, too). Any thoughts? I’m clinging to the first half of mid 50’s.

  105. 105.

    smith

    @Anoniminous: That reminds me of the letter I’d like to send on Jan 20:

    Dear Newt,

    Hillary Clinton is President, and you never will be.

    Love,
    America

    It will be so good to see this asshole defeated by a Clinton one more time.

  106. 106.

    Lyrebird

    @Ruckus: Hey Ruckus sir… On a thread last night I was too late to say, I wish I could swing by and help you pack some boxes! And go you and your health regimen, best wishes to you and your doctors and all.

  109. 109.

    Betty Cracker

    Oh FFS. I flipped over to MSNBC after the baseball just in time to catch Tweety’s “Let Me Finish” segment, which was an inane rant about how Democrats are so elitist and forgot all about the white working class and should emulate Tip O’Neill and worship lunch pails and hard hats blah blah blah.

    That drooling nitwit does about one worthwhile thing a year (this year it was getting Trump to admit he’d punish women for having an abortion). It’s time to give Joy Reid his time slot.

  113. 113.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    economic anxiety, et cetera, et cetera

    Media MattersVerified account
    ‏@ mmfa
    Sean Hannity offers to charter a plane for Obama and his family to leave the country and never come back

    ‏@ politico
    Hannity to Obama: “You want to go to Kenya? I’ll pay for you to go to Kenya”

  115. 115.

    Another Scott

    @WarMunchkin: Apparently it was E.D. Hill who first ran with the “terrorist fist jab” stuff on Fox.

    Her Wikipedia page says:

    On the June 6, 2008, episode of America’s Pulse, Hill asked whether a fist bump between then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, and his wife Michelle, after the final 2008 Presidential Democratic primaries was a “terrorist fist jab”. Hill, introducing an upcoming discussion before a commercial break, posited that the gesture was either “A fist bump? A pound? [or] A terrorist fist jab?,” but never explained the term when the segment continued after the break.[5] The incident set off a controversy among bloggers and television commentators.[6][7][8][9] Hill apologized for her comments the next day.[10] The next week, the Fox News Channel announced that Hill’s show America’s Pulse had been canceled. Martha McCallum’s show The Live Desk would become two hours (1–3 p.m.), and Trace Gallagher would become a co-host with McCallum.[11]

    Karma?

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  120. 120.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker: damn, he’s really reverted to his late-90s persona, maybe it’s been all the exposure to Newt and Rudi and Paula Jones and the rest of the misfit toys Trump has dragged down from the attic

  125. 125.

    Ruckus

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Four days isn’t enough to grow anything unless you have over 20% active neanderthal genes. Had a buddy like that a long time ago. He could grow a full beard in less than 2 weeks. When he was in high school. Passed for older than his dad when he was 17.
    Now if you don’t cut your beard off for 40+ yrs it will be full. Spoke to a high school friend tonight at a viewing for a mutual friend and his beard is about 12 inches long. Strange thing is he recognized me and we haven’t seen each other in almost 50 yrs, I’m 3 inches taller and have that beard.

  126. 126.

    Peale

    @Betty Cracker: yep. Republicans have left large groups of voters around, yet Tweety thinks the Dems need to be tied to the ones who aren’t voting for them, who want us to jettison the ones we have. Republicans are the ones who need to stop and figure out what to do about their demands. We have our own problems and cand really afford to invest billions of dollars in a futile attempt to get Rush Limbaugh’s brigade to vote for us again. What should we do? Buy every radio station in the Midwest and hope they don’t notice when we replace Rush with a Christian?

  128. 128.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ruckus: The beard is fuller at 50+ than it was in 20s. I could still never grow one. I feel itchy and unclean and go for a razor.

  133. 133.

    Matt McIrvin

    @lamh36: Huh, I’m not sure that is really wise. Shifting from NV to AZ sounds like they’re trying to run up the Presidential score instead of getting the Senate–there’s a nearly tied race in NV and no real chance of unseating McCain.

  134. 134.

    eemom

    The attractiveness of a beard, similar to a bald head, is very man-specific, in my humble, old woman perspective.

    I do have a question though — is a van dyke the same thing as a goatee?

  136. 136.

    tobie

    @Jibeaux:

    Anyone listen to the 538 podcast? I am a Harry Enten fangirl.

    This is too funny. You may, though, be in good company. There’s a youtube video entitled, “Harry Enten is looking for a girlfriend.”

  137. 137.

    Ruckus

    @West of the Rockies (been a while):
    I remember seeing a few that said they were in their 20s and all the way up to mid 70s that I know of. A fair number of us are in our 60s but I’m not sure it’s even half. A lot of the regular commenters are on the + side of half a century.

  147. 147.

    seaboogie

    @Adam L Silverman:

    She parked Speaker Gingrich in the cheap seats above center field.

    Megyn was really on point and gave no quarter there. I am respecting her more and more, but wonder if Fox is changing a bit with Rupert’s sons in charge instead of Ailes. I guess we’ll know when we see a woman in pants on set.

  148. 148.

    Ruckus

    @Lyrebird:
    Thanks! Talked to the Dr this afternoon, seems to be going according to plan.
    Packing the boxes isn’t really the problem, getting off my sorry ass to sell stuff is. I’m either terminally lazy or there is some deep mental issues around being a pack rat and not being able to let go. I’m going for toss up here.

  151. 151.

    Jibeaux

    @tobie: great! I’m not a Jewish girl or in New York or single, but I still like him. He sounds like he’s 95 years old but in a GOOD way and damn he knows everything.

  152. 152.

    Anoniminous

    @Matt McIrvin:

    There’s only so many people that can used effectively in a campaign. If they are max’ed with workers and volunteers in Nevada it makes sense to shift some to Arizona.

  155. 155.

    Mary G

    @smith: That’s what was thinking of watching that clip. Hillary won’t let you ride on Air Force One either, ha ha. Clintons shut out Gingrich, version the umpteenth. The scornful look in Megyn Kelly’s eye was the cherry on top.

  156. 156.

    lamh36

    Alrighty i’ve gotsa go to sleep… I really don’t get enough of it to keep up this effervescent personality…lol as if i’ve ever been caked effervescent ??

    Good night BJ!!

  157. 157.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jibeaux: I only read the text discussions on the website, but it’s always seemed to me as if Harry Enten is straining incredibly hard to be neutrally nonpartisan and keeps failing because the Republicans just suck so hard.

  159. 159.

    Adam L Silverman

    @eemom: No, but… A goatee is just a beard on the chin with the cheeks and neck shaved cleanly and no mustache. A van dyke, named for Van Dyke, is a mustache and beard on the chin with the cheeks and neck shaved cleanly. The but is that most people use the terms interchangeably.

  160. 160.

    Ruckus

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    You have to want it. The first week is the hardest. After that it’s just deciding how long to let it grow. I keep my about 2 inches or so, had it about 5 inches at one time but then the hair was pretty long then as well. Now the hair is the number 3 setting and the beard is long. Give me a break, it’s all I’ve got.

  162. 162.

    trollhattan

    @Mike in NC:
    Would be lovely but before sending Tweety to the sun in a rocket can we please first dispense with Moanin’ Ho? Priorities and all.

  165. 165.

    Jibeaux

    @Matt McIrvin: I mean, he’s not neutral or nonpartisan, but like many folks on the left with lots of brains, he wants something to study and analyze and wonk over, and if he has to make that shit up to create mental stimulation, he just might.
    If you follow him on twitter, you can get a sense of it.

  166. 166.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: Why would I do what? I had a neatly trimmed beard from the time I was 17 until I was 30. I shaved it down to a van dyke for a costume party or something and have pretty much kept it that way ever since.

  167. 167.

    Jacel

    @Mai.naem.mobile: Probably that Nevada is not more winnable, but that much has already been won there, based on early voting patterns. On MSNBC an Obama 2012 strategy guy was telling how much they can tell in states where there is early voting. In that year, Nevada was going well enough that resources were shifted to Virginia.

  168. 168.

    Ruckus

    @Matt McIrvin:
    When all you’ve got is bullshit, you go with bullshit, so a flag pin it is because that’s the best they got, a fucking flag pin. They certainly can’t argue on policy, they can’t argue on personality, they can’t argue on charm, they can’t argue on intelligence, they can’t argue on experience, they can’t argue on business results……. Do you need me to go on?

  176. 176.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I was thinking the other day, when someone made a reference to “check their counter tops”, that Michelle Malkin seems to have faded from view, then just now I got an ad here on BJ for her new web series thing

  177. 177.

    Truegster

    @Jacel: LOL, if you read about “Texas man gets arrested eating lunch naked” tomorrow, you’ll know that I ignored the advice went with the bug powder dust.

  181. 181.

    seaboogie

    @Adam L Silverman: There is a saying that goes “Kissing a man without a moustache is like eating an egg without salt”.

    I’ve long appreciated some discreet, not totally gnarly facial hair on a gent. Part of a Van Dyke is the little soul patch. There are a very few who can carry off the solo soul patch without looking quite ridiculous, but the few I’ve met who can have my deep appreciation.

    That said, I haven’t kissed any gent (avec ou sans facial hair) in such a very long while that I currently have no position on the facial-hair issue, even including whether I care to kiss or not. I have become a nun of sorts, and it’s kind of working for me right now.

  182. 182.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    is Hannity having a breakdown, or is this gibberish pretty normal for him?

    Sean Hannity ‏@ seanhannity 2h2 hours ago
    Unlike @ BarackObama I don’t have a spokesperson that refuses to say he’s not leaving if @ realDonaldTrump wins I’ll stay and fight win/lose!

  184. 184.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: I think I figured out that you were asking about having to have my jaw done. When I got to Carlisle Barracks and went to the dentist for a cleaning, I mentioned that the orthodonture I had when I was a kid needed some touching up. My dentist, fortunately, was cross certified in orthodonture (and a couple of other things). It turned out that my orthodontist had been an idiot, which I knew. I didn’t have an underbite, my lower jaw was misaligned completely. As a result it was slowly pushing my upper teeth apart and ultimately up and then out of my mouth. So before the orthodonture part could be done, I spent a year having my lower jaw properly aligned, which changed the shape of my face a bit.

    And now I’m to bed.

  191. 191.

    amk

    LOL. WH spox Josh Earnest trolled the wingnutz by refusing to answer the stupid question of if the kenyan will leave their god given country and now the wingnutz are in a prime froth led by klannity. Well played, Josh.

  192. 192.

    SFAW

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    then just now I got an ad here on BJ for her new web series thing

    Me too. When I saw that ad, I reacted not unlike John Blutarsky when a picture of Kent Dorfman popped up on the screen.

  194. 194.

    Davebo

    Well I’ve learned more about beards tonight than I thought possible.

    Every year about this time I consider growing a beard, mainly because I hate shaving. But there’s always a woman around to explain what a bad idea that would be.

  195. 195.

    Brachiator

    @WarMunchkin:

    Speaking of, I imagine Matt Stoller’s article in the Atlantic will piss off a lot of people here.

    Not at all. It was a good piece, for the most part, if a bit over excited.

  196. 196.

    Ruckus

    @Davebo:
    I’ve found that not listening to people tell me what I need to look like is a lot better than trying to please people who don’t look at me in the mirror every morning.

  198. 198.

    Anne Laurie

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    As far as smarter goes? Eh. They are both pretty damn brilliant. He was lazier because he could coast on his charm a bit. She can’t do that, and I get the the feeling that she couldn’t temperamentally. As far as being a better president, the stars may be aligning so that she has an opportunity to have more positive accomplishments than he did. OTOH, his presidency did a lot of good by simply mitigating the harm that the GOP would have wreaked.

    ETA: Yeah, I am a Bill apologist.

    Hell, I was defending Bill Clinton back before he even got to be President. (And if the ditto hasn’t faded, I’ve even got written proof of that packed away with my sf fanzines in a box somewhere.) I totally agree that he did a lot of good just by not letting the Repubs do as much bad as they intended.

    In a good marriage, both partners are better together than solo — and in my experience both partners suspect they’ve gotten the better deal. Especially since his convention speech, I’ve gotten the impression that — true or not — Bill thinks Hillary is smarter than he is, or at least more focused than he could ever be, and he’s been grateful to use her support to get as far as he has.

    On the other hand (I kept starting a draft comparing Abigail Adams to HRClinton, but it’s been too hectic around here to do it justice), just as certainly as Bill wouldn’t have made it so far without Hillary, Hillary would not have gotten here without Bill’s enthusiastic support. There were a lot of smart, dedicated, politically-aware women in Hillary’s social cohort who spent their lives raising kids and being housewives, support staff for their husbands’ careers. Because that’s how it had always been done, changing the ‘natural’ dynamic required two partners willing to go out of their way to make it happen… as Ruth Bader Ginsburg has said about her late husband. Right now, it’s easy for more conservative viewers to despise Bill for not keeping his wife ‘in line’, and for more progressive (mostly younger) viewers to think he didn’t do enough to give her credit for his successes. But I think that with time, historians will acknowledge how much of a true partnership they had, with both parties reaching goals that would have been unattainable in any other situation.

  199. 199.

    Applejinx

    @WarMunchkin: That Stoller article is very interesting, but nothing Clinton doesn’t already know. I have been saying for months, we ain’t electing 90s Hillary. Why? Because she’s fucking smart. There is MAYBE a chance that if Brexit had not happened, some of that old Third Way stuff might have survived. After fighting off Bernie, after Brexit, no chance. It’s important to remember history but we will not be re-living that history.

    What we will be doing, I don’t know. It’s pretty complicated, and Bernie didn’t actually have solutions, just a spotlight on problems also highlighted by Elizabeth Warren. I think that’ll help, but it’s going to be down to a new generation of liberal politics spearheaded by Hillary Clinton.

    Given what’s out there in the Eurozone etc. and the general state of the world, I think we’ve got a very decent chance at doing well out of Clinton. It makes no difference that the Clinton name was associated with Third Way neoliberalism. We all noticed that, believe me. But of all the political dynasties capable of growing to meet the needs of a new era… yeah, not worried that Stoller’s article foreshadows problems with a Clinton administration.

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