Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

In my day, never was longer.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

When we show up, we win.

Petty moves from a petty man.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

“woke” is the new caravan.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

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

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

Fight them, without becoming them!

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Open Thread: Trump’s Dropping All Pretense

Open Thread: Trump’s Dropping All Pretense

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And you didn’t even know he had pretense! From the Washington Post article:

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has effectively shut down his high-dollar fundraising operation for the rest of the campaign, a highly unusual move that deals another serious blow to the GOP’s effort to finance its get-out-the-vote operation before Election Day.

Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s national finance chairman, said in an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday that Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee between the party and the campaign, held its last formal fundraiser on Oct. 19. The luncheon was in Las Vegas on the day of the final presidential debate.

While Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is headlining her last fundraiser Tuesday night in Miami, her campaign has scheduled 41 other events between now and Nov. 3 featuring high-profile surrogates such as her daughter, Chelsea, running mate Tim Kaine and the entertainer Cher, according to a schedule sent to donors this weekend.

Mnuchin said the Trump campaign decided to keep the candidate’s final weeks focused on taking his message to the voters in person rather than on raising money. There may be a handful of events in coming days featuring Trump surrogates, including his son Donald Jr., according to people familiar with the internal discussions. But Mnuchin said “there is virtually nothing planned.”

… Trump’s decision effectively turns off one of the main spigots to the Republican National Committee, which collected $40 million through Trump Victory as of Sept. 30. The party has devoted a large share of the funds to pay for its national voter mobilization program to benefit the entire Republican ticket.

RNC officials said that party leaders, including chairman Reince Priebus, are continuing to bring in resources for the party. “The RNC continue to fundraise for the entire GOP ticket,” said spokeswoman Lindsay Walters.

Mnuchin said Trump does not need high-dollar fundraisers because his campaign is being buoyed by online donations, which he said are on track to hit a new record in October…. But the RNC gets only 20 percent of the money that Trump raises online in conjunction with the party, while the vast majority of the big checks contributed to Trump Victory are routed to the party…

Trump has no respectable surrogates, and he’s lost interest in doing fundraisers now that it’s clear the party hopes to salvage other peoples’ campaigns rather than pumping up his. Sucks to be you, RNC!

Reader Interactions

187Comments

  2. 2.

    NoraLenderbee

    Tomorrow, let’s remember to wish a Happy Birthday to the next President of the United States. This must be the best birthday ever.

  5. 5.

    dmsilev

    But the RNC gets only 20 percent of the money that Trump raises online in conjunction with the party, while the vast majority of the big checks contributed to Trump Victory are routed to the party…

    Translation: Trump can grift off the direct contributions to his campaign, but it’s harder to do that with money that goes right back out the door to the party, so he’s less interested in that.

  6. 6.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NoraLenderbee:

    I’m scheduled for a stint of phone banking tomorrow. If I get my act together in time, I’ll stop by the bakery and pick up a couple dozen cupcakes to share with the other volunteers and staff.

  7. 7.

    Corner Stone

    Just a note about early voting in TX in The Greater Houston Metro Area. My son and I went to the local early voting place and were in and out in 10 minutes, although the place was packed. Twenty or so people in line ahead of me, mostly women, PoC and women of color. Every booth occupied except a couple set aside for the disability voting needs. Got shoved through very efficiently by a nice volunteer group of older people.
    Left the building and walked down a bit outside the voting area to a HRC/Democrat booth who were lustily (?) yelling at people to “Vote Blue!”. Which takes fucking guts in a heavily R area like we are voting in.
    I was a little saddened, and angry, because as I walked over casually the white lady said something I didn’t catch and then, “unless you’re going to say something mean to me” as she physically started recoiling from my approach. Now, I am ambling up and have my 12 year old with me so not pressing this into her space or saying anything but rather talking to my son as we walk over.
    I say, “not at all” and offer my hand for a shake and tell her thank you for your work, shake hands with a young black man and then a young black woman, repeating the same statement each time. They all smiled very bigly and then we walked off as I wished them, “Y’all have a good evening, and thanks.”
    It made me sad that someone would consider there might be violence or verbal assault at this area, but I guess that is where we are in the here and now.

  8. 8.

    JGabriel

    WaPo via Anne Laurie @ Top:

    Mnuchin said the Trump campaign decided to keep the candidate’s final weeks focused on taking his message to the voters in person rather than on raising money.

    Shorter Trump Campaign:

    We’re not holding any more high-dollar fund-raisers, because high-dollar donors aren’t responding to our invitations any more.

  12. 12.

    Slaughter

    SiubhanDuinne: It’s a photo of Hillary getting a smooch on the cheek by the late Harry Caray, the legendary Cubs broadcaster.

  13. 13.

    Mary G

    Little Donnie taking his ball and going home is the most delicious sight, as are the tears and fears of the GOP. They need to spend another 20-50 years in the wilderness thinking about what they have done. I’m not even sure the big money is going nuclear down ballot, after they lost so much in 2012. The Kochs seem to have changed their strategy to go after minorities and young people to try to turn the big blue tide. They will fail. Or so I tell myself.

  14. 14.

    Chris

    Trump has no respectable surrogates, and he’s lost interest in doing fundraisers now that it’s clear the party hopes to salvage other peoples’ campaigns rather than pumping up his. Sucks to be you, RNC!

    The GOP has spent three and a half decades arguing that being a petulant self-absorbed brat with no regard for the welfare of society or anyone around him was good and the mark of a Great Man. They deserve everything they’re getting here.

  15. 15.

    Corner Stone

    Apparently if Donald had any semblance of sanity, the news about rising premiums in Obamacare would doom HRC and all down ballot Dems. This is devastating like Hannibal crossing the Rockies, if only Trump was capable of not fucking up everything that comes out of his mouth.

  17. 17.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Slaughter:
    @West of the Cascades:

    I would love to see that! Will try to imageGoogle it.

    Am very partial to the Caray family — Harry for the Cubs, Skip and Chip for the Braves. I think there might have been one year when all three of them called a Chicago-Atlanta game together.

    ETA: Found the photo, or at least a photo of HC kissing HC.

  18. 18.

    Nom de Plume

    @Corner Stone: HRC is already running on fixing Obamacare. I think Obama did her a solid here, releasing this news when he did, just before the election, so that the blame falls squarely on his shoulders. Not that this will make the slightest difference to the right, of course, who will backdate everything in the HRC administration same as they did with Obama.

  19. 19.

    debbie

    @Chris:

    Agreed. Trump is the candidate they’ve prayed for. They just didn’t consider the implications of what they were praying for.

  20. 20.

    lamh36

    I’ll be looking forward to Nov 9, when Halperin goes from “everything is a game changer” for GOP hack to his “we all knew it was a lost..” hack.

    I plan to TROLL the hell out of him when he does

  22. 22.

    West of the Cascades

    @Corner Stone: Hardly “devastating” – it affects a small percentage of Americans who (1) don’t get coverage via their employer, Medicare, or Medicaid and (2) don’t qualify for subsidies through the marketplace. I’ve seen 7% (I’m one of them, unfortunately) — if the real facts came through the screaming headline, the story is as much “serious rate increases to 7% of Americans need to be addressed in legislation fixing the Affordable Care Act, while the vast majority of Americans are unaffected by these increases.”

    The story really is about Republican intransigence and willingness to let segments of America suffer (either by denying Medicaid expansion at the state level, or by refusing to do any legislative fixes) in pursuit of their partisan power goals. It’s deplorable, and sad!

  25. 25.

    scav

    I’m still very bad and giggling at the Black Card level membership. I either evilly go off imagining the Gilt, Redneck and Whitehood level Cards and wonder about the discounts offered there (they must have separate lounges at events, no?), or take a side-turn into imagining them somehow like belts in martial arts (with moves like “Diving Rake Face” or “Crouching Pussy Grab”)

  26. 26.

    p.a.

    @Corner Stone: Big premium hikes for only a small (3-4%) of OCare signees. Federal exchange, individual plans, if I’m reading the articles correctly. Other hikes in line with recent history. Of course, depending on the MSM to note this is a fool’s hope.

  27. 27.

    hueyplong

    Starting to realize I have an unlimited appetite for political Schadenfreude. It cannot be sated.

  28. 28.

    West of the Cascades

    @Nom de Plume: I also think the timing of this news is related to the November 1 beginning of open enrollment on the exchanges — and because of that, certainly something the Democrats have been anticipating (because most of these higher rates were approved by state regulators in June 2016) and are ready to counter. Let’s watch for some of the more serious follow-up stories instead of these breathless “first takes” – which I do find sort of ridiculous because any journalist who hasn’t been living in a cave for the last six months knows that these higher rates were coming (because they all had to be approved at the state regulatory level).

  30. 30.

    ThresherK

    Did anyone read Douthat today?

    I didn’t and I’ll be damned if I’m giving him a click. But the Iraq Veterans against the War are buying his pablum?

  32. 32.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven:

    Brickhouse called the Cubbies for twice as long as Caray.

    Yeah, but is there any photographic documentation of Jack Brickhouse smooching Hillary Clinton? Didn’t think so.

  35. 35.

    TaMara (HFG)

    Ok, the Trump ad blaming Clinton for 30 years of failure in DC is irritating me more than it should. But seriously – as the First Lady of Arkansas, I’m sure Mrs. Clinton was responsible for Reagan’s foibles. Amirite?

  40. 40.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @hueyplong:

    Starting to realize I have an unlimited appetite for political Schadenfreude. It cannot be sated.

    I originally read “sated” as “salted,” and had to wonder why political Schadenfreude couldn’t enjoy a little extra seasoning.

  43. 43.

    hovercraft

    @West of the Cascades:
    Mark Good News Halpern says it will prevent Trump from being blown out, which is strange because I’m pretty sure that this morning of the Morning Joke show that Trump was holding his own and was within striking distance. He also thinks it will help the GOP hold onto the senate.

    ETA: The latest wiki dump is the most harmful so far, it shows Cheryl Mills saying we need to “clean this up”, referring to the server issue when it came out, and Neera Tandem complaining that they are not cleaning the mess up fast enough. It also shows Chelsea in a “vicious” fight with Doug Band. Apparently this shows that her people fight, and this is bad.

  48. 48.

    West of the Cascades

    @hovercraft: Ah, good to hear – Halperin’s take on something is only slightly less reassuring to me than when Bill “Always Wrong” Kristol opens his mouth.

  50. 50.

    The Pale Scot

    @ThresherK: Great comment on the Cardinal’s oct 15 column defending conservative x-tian’s support of Littlefingers

    People are free to believe anything they like. But they’re not free to build a fantasy world and make the rest of us live in it and abide by its absurd rules.

    That’s a beautifully concise statement on the proper place of religion in a secular society

  54. 54.

    hovercraft

    @West of the Cascades:
    Every time he says something is good for the other side I feel better. He earned his middle name, Good News for John McCain, through lots of boot licking. Is he as wrong as ole Bill? It’s a toss up.

  57. 57.

    ThresherK

    @The Pale Scot: Who wrote that about Douthat? Now that’s an article I want to read.

    PS I didn’t know Chunky Reese Witherspoon was called The Cardinal. Sounds like something Charlie Pierce would have made up.

  60. 60.

    hovercraft

    Tweety is just really invested in the idea that Trump got where he is because of his 3 issues. I am disappointed that Uncle Joe can’t just say it was not the issues, it was the bigotry and xenophobia. Tweety also thinks that the democrats lost the WWC because they became elitist, and too close to the elite and minorities. I guess I imagined that whole Southern Strategy thing, where the GOP destroyed the WWC by destroying the unions, and blamed their woes on the democrats stealing from them to give everything to the lacks and the women, that had nothing to do with whites leaving the democrats.

  61. 61.

    sigaba

    Fun factoid: Trump’s finance chair, Steve Mnuchin, is better well-known around my parts as a film financier– he produced Suicide Squad.

  62. 62.

    Calouste

    @The Pale Scot: My in-laws just posted on Facebook that they are supporting the Groping Orange Pedophile by linking to this screed.

    For those who don’t want to get out of the boat, a sample:

    7.   This next issue might be one of the most important, but I suspect few will understand its significance. Trump opposes globalism. Hillary thrives on it. Globalism is far more than “geographical” or “eliminating national borders and boundaries.” It is spiritual and demonic at its core. Few—very few—understand this. This is quite likely one of the main reasons why Trump is hated. Do your homework on this one. Think “principalities and powers.” Serious. Extremely serious.

    It really is a fantasy world.

    I’m tempted to reply to the in-laws: “I work for a global company, does that make me demonic?”

  63. 63.

    Steve in the ATL

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Wow! That is really beautiful, raven!

    Now, what are you going to do for your next project?

    Pretty sure he’s coming to work on my house now

  65. 65.

    gene108

    I am going to the eye doctor on Thursday. I have been near-sighted, since I was seven. Now that I am in my early 40’s, I am getting long-sight as well.

    How hard are bifocals/progressive lenses to adjust to and are they worth it?

  66. 66.

    Steve in the ATL

    @gene108: I have progressive lens and your eyes will adjust in less time that it takes for trump to burst into the dressing room for underage girls.

    And yes they are worth it.

  68. 68.

    Vhh

    @Corner Stone: 80% of exchange buyers qualify for subsidies that cap premiums at various percentages of net income. This insulates all but a few to premium inceases. Note also that the tial number of exchange buyers are 3% of the population. Hardly the disaster pushed by the Trumpkins.

  69. 69.

    Baud

    @hovercraft:

    Tweety also thinks that the democrats lost the WWC because they became elitist, and too close to the elite and minorities

    Also known as everybody else.

  70. 70.

    The Pale Scot

    @ThresherK: It’s in the NYT picks of this article

    Other good ones too. I’m fascinated by Ross’s evangelical approach to Catholicism. The converts are always the nuttiest

    PS I ran the link thru google to avoid the firewall, should work

    Edit: Not Charlie, maybe Aliciblog or driftglass

  71. 71.

    Mary G

    @gene108: I have the invisible progressives. When I first got them (15 years ago) they gave me all kinds of dire warnings about them making me feel dizzy, or not being able to judge the height of steps, but I had no trouble at all, and I love them. I always hated that neither the distance glasses or separate reading glasses could see the computer screen well. The progressives are fantastic for that. YMMV.

  72. 72.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Big money boys are saying “We’re dropping you like a dress at the high school prom; you’re a loser, Trump!”

  73. 73.

    eclare

    @gene108: Happened to me a couple of years ago. I just wear contacts to correct my near sightedness and keep reading glasses always, always close by. Since when did fonts get so small?

  75. 75.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @gene108: Not difficult to adjust to, but I ‘d advise that you get one set of glasses just for staring at your computer monitor, because the “sweet spot” for progressives tends to be hard to maintain without keeping your head locked in one place for computer work.

  76. 76.

    Patricia Kayden

    @different-church-lady: Every so often that thought flits across my mind and then I push it away with a big “Naw”. Seems like it though since Trump has been the best campaigner against Trump. He has zero self control which is dangerous when you’re a bigoted idiot.

  77. 77.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Vhh: White Working Cudlips.

    Seriously: White working class, who Tweety is stupid enough to think is entirely populated by assholes like him, when it’s fact majority female who know all about Donald and dipshits like Tweety.

  78. 78.

    Original Lee

    @Corner Stone: Already the propaganda mills are posting that votes for Trump are being turned into Hillary votes. I’m pretty sure there’s a procedure if you see that happen. OTOH, it’s Texas.

  80. 80.

    sukabi

    @gene108: go progressive lenses with wide focal window…there are several “levels” of progressive lenses, they the cheapest ones have a very narrow spot, make near to far transition difficult other than for straight line of sight… more expensive ones have a wider window, makes near far transition much easier. The top of the line lenses have pretty much eliminated transition issues…

  81. 81.

    ThresherK

    @The Pale Scot: Thanks. I read just a smidge of the article,but several of the picks comments in full.

    I’m agog at how this guy landed that gig. Just when I think he’s hit rock bottom, he outdoes himself.

  85. 85.

    raven

    @Steve in the ATL: Making this door was WAY above my pay grade. The guy that built it has a high end shop and learned his trade working in the construction end of the movie biz in LA.

  86. 86.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    Slap you with a backhand for even saying that?

    Heh! I doubt it. Raven seems to me like someone who always needs to have a few projects going on, at various levels of completion. I’m the same way, although my projects aren’t as labor-intensive (or expensive!) as raven’s, John’s, TaMara’s, Satby’s, Ozark Hillbilly’s, and those of so many others who are gutting and renovating houses, barns, and other structures.

  87. 87.

    NotMax

    If Carrot Flop had used Sony’s “My First Campaign” it would have been run more adroitly.

  88. 88.

    The Pale Scot

    @Calouste: It really is all about shoes

    ARTHUR: He has given us a sign!
    FOLLOWER: Oh!
    SHOE FOLLOWER: He has given us… His shoe!
    ARTHUR: The shoe is the sign. Let us follow His example.
    SPIKE: What?
    ARTHUR: Let us, like Him, hold up one shoe and let the other be upon our foot, for this is His sign, that all who follow Him shall do likewise.
    EDDIE: Yes.
    SHOE FOLLOWER: No, no, no. The shoe is…
    YOUTH: No.
    SHOE FOLLOWER: …a sign that we must gather shoes together in abundance.
    GIRL: Cast off…
    SPIKE: Aye. What?
    GIRL: …the shoes! Follow the Gourd!

  89. 89.

    burnspbesq

    Friend of mine voted earlier today in Williamson County, Texas (northern suburbs of Austin). Half hour wait, and the poliing place ran out of stickers!

  91. 91.

    raven

    @SiubhanDuinne: I dunno, after three + years on the renovation, the garden club gathering and the dog parade it’s been full stop around here. Right now I’m immersed in sports and thinking a lot about 2 weeks at the beach right after the election. There’s stuff to do but nothing major for a while.

  92. 92.

    redshirt

    So maybe the diehard Joe fans have mentioned this, but I caught like 10 minutes of Joe today, a bit past 7:30 and then right before 8. Around 7:30 they had some “smart” Republican think tank guy laying on the realistic doom and gloom about the Republican Party becoming the party of anti-logic. He made some very good points and the panel mostly agreed. I was rather shocked that they were speaking in those terms – Joe even said that in 2012, while he loves Romney, he adopted the same “no logic” outlook because he thought that’s what the R voters want. And they do! But it won’t win national elections. Which was the conclusion of this segment – the Repukes are in the wilderness now at the national level.

    Around 8 some maybe British reporter went to maybe Pennsyltucky? (I was in and out) and interviewed people who they’re voting for. One woman said Stein – can’t trust Hillary. A couple split, with the woman saying Stein and the man saying Clinton. Then he interviewed Johnny Redneck who’s got a huge trump sign who after saying why he supported Trump (“He tells it like it is”) also said he wasn’t voting because everything’s rigged.

    Joe’s panel was in vapors. Trump depressing his own supporters now. DOOM!

    It was a quality 8 minutes of Joe for me. YMMV.

  94. 94.

    Kathleen

    @The Pale Scot: I think it was Yastreblyansky who hosts The Rectification of Names (I refuse to experience feeling stupid because I can’t master the linky thingy and I do enough other things to make me feel stupid). He is an excellent writer.

  95. 95.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    Anybody seen the newest scandal [sic]? The Clinton campaign uses polls to plan things! The horror! They don’t understand how campaigns use polls. They think that polls that campaigns use themselves, private polls, where they oversample this or that group to better understand how said group feels about something, are the same polls as the ones that independent news outlets put out to show who’s winning or losing. Also, these assholes don’t understand how this weird thing called “time” works. Their “smoking gun” is an e-mail from January of 2008, which is, if you were unsure, not the same as today, which is October of 2016.

    I have a hard time not feeling sorry for people like this. I don’t know if they’re fat or drunk, but, to paraphrase Dean Wormer, stupid is no way to go through life, son.

  96. 96.

    burnspbesq

    @sukabi:

    Caveat re progressive bifocals: they are next to useless if you sit in front of a big monitor all day. You’ll need a second pair of “reading glasses” with just your close-in correction.

  98. 98.

    redshirt

    Also, re: the tweet embedded above. I noticed Josh Marshall switched to a Kermit photo for his Twitter profile, which made me realize they’re doing a Pepe the Frog protest, right?

    Poor Pepe. I knew him when he as simple, non-racist meme.

  100. 100.

    bemused

    @redshirt:

    Ha, odds are good that the guy has never voted and wasn’t planning to vote this time even if everything wasn’t rigged.

  101. 101.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven:

    I hear you on some time out after the election. I’m heading to Canada in mid-November to spend a week or so with my cousins on the Georgian Bay, and celebrate (American) Thanksgiving with them. Finding a decent travel window after the election, before the next MET Live in HD opera, and at a time when I have a halfway decent chance of avoiding the worst weather was a bit of a challenge. But my point was, there are always plans to be made, even if some of them are fairly soft or with no solid deadlines.

  102. 102.

    The Pale Scot

    @eclare: I’m doing ok with different power lenses. One eye has an astigmatism and is worse than the other that one gets the lower power lense. So I’m not using reading glasses.

    But I wouldn’t want to try skeet shooting or batting practice with em

  104. 104.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven:

    OK, Go Cubbies!

    Did you see the pictures of the Art Institute lions wearing Cubs caps? So cute! I love the way the entire city is coming down with CUBBIES fever!

  105. 105.

    Original Lee

    @gene108: Progressives are better for me, but I wear trifocals. I adjusted quickly to mine, BUT it’s not the same as when I had regular glasses, because then my eye could make an infinite range of adjustments, and now they are more limited and slower. My issue is that I have to choose the distances I want and where I want them in the lens, and I have to have two other pairs of glasses, too. I have a pair of computer glasses, and I have a pair of crafting glasses. The trifocal distances I picked were for driving, middle distance, and for reading. Reading is closer than the computer screen, and because reading ended up on the bottom third of the lens, I was getting a crick in my neck from trying to look up through the bottom of the lens. Crafting is often closer than reading (especially when working with small beads or trying to thread a needle), so after a year of holding things very very close to my face because I couldn’t get the handwork into focus no matter what I did, I had to get another pair of glasses for the close work. My twenty cents.

  110. 110.

    sukabi

    @burnspbesq: mine work just fine for monitor use… all day, when you get them they ask if you’re going to be sitting in front of a monitor and do whatever it is they do to make them work.

  113. 113.

    p.a.

    3 nice shots at the top of my tumblr- I thought my birdseed was lasting longer than usual. 5th shot might be Bob in Portland!

  114. 114.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    @Calouste:

    Looking forward to Pastor Jim’s Skyline Church losing its tax-exempt status, since he seems to be writing/politicking ex officio.

    Eh, I crack myself up.

  116. 116.

    p.a.

    I gave up on progressives: the ‘hot spots’ are too small. Straight Ben Franklin bifocals for me. Just have to be careful on stairs

  118. 118.

    Soylent Green

    @Slaughter: For 25 years Harry Caray was the voice of my St. Louis Cardinals. The story was that he had an affair with Augie Busch’s wife and was booted out of town, then took the job with the Cubs. The affair with Hillary came later.

  119. 119.

    hovercraft

    @redshirt:

    maybe Pennsyltucky? (I was in and out) and interviewed people who they’re voting for.

    Interesting factoid, the place he went to was the town Hugh Rodham was born, where Hillary spent childhood summers, 30 minutes or miles from Scranton, which also is where Joe Biden is from the reporter was Jason Rascone from CA.

  120. 120.

    Nom de Plume

    @gene108:

    How hard are bifocals/progressive lenses to adjust to and are they worth it?

    When I first got bifocals, I was certain I’d made a horrible mistake, and was never going to get used to them. That lasted approximately 24 hours. Can’t speak to progressive lenses.

  121. 121.

    frosty

    @gene108:

    How hard are bifocals/progressive lenses to adjust to and are they worth it?

    Not easy. With progressives, a big chunk of your vision is out of focus. OTOH, if you want to focus on something directly in front of you, just rock your head until you hit the sweet spot of the lens. I’ve got glasses and sunglasses, both progressive, but I’m thinking of changing the sunglasses to just the nearsighted prescription since I never use them for reading or anything closer than the dashboard of the car.

  122. 122.

    Ruckus

    @gene108:
    I was near sighted since I was 12. I recommend laser surgery if you can afford it and your eyes are suited. The best elective medical procedure ever. That was over 21 yrs ago and I still don’t need glasses other than to read. I did buy a larger, higher resolution computer so that I don’t even need reading glasses for that. However my close vision, reading and working require correction. To your original question, I’ve tried bifocal safety glasses for work and I just can’t make them work for me but I know lots of people who wear bifocals or progressives and are very happy. They do take some adjustment, I just couldn’t get there.

  123. 123.

    debbie

    @gene108:

    You’ll never see well again.

    If I had it to do all over again, I’d stick to regular glasses and then get an additional pair of glasses for working at a computer.

    With the different “zones” in a bifocal lens, they go out of whack as soon as the frame starts to loosen up or stretch.

  125. 125.

    p.a.

    Nice article at TPM: Wisconsin city clerk refuses to open polling station for students because they vote ‘Democrat’. Terminate.

  129. 129.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @SiubhanDuinne: There are people on the South Side who will never ever accept this. As one Sox fan put it to me as we sat and watched the Brewers and the Sox in Milwaukee County Stadium in the Uecker seats: “A good day is when the Sox win and the Cubs lose.”

  130. 130.

    LAC

    @West of the Cascades: just remember that corner stone was, up until Hilary ran and Obama ( as we all we knew he would) supported and campaigned for her, the last of the red hot pumas. That urge to put any asterisk on his accomplishments is still a reflex.

  131. 131.

    Another Scott

    @gene108: I got my second pair of progressives a couple of years ago. They take a few days to get used to, but it becomes second nature after a while. Yeah, the “chin pointing” is a little annoying, but it’s not too bad. I didn’t keep my first pair of progressives, purchased a few years earlier, because I couldn’t get used to them in the few days I tried, and it was easier to just have single-vision.

    I’m mid-50s, near-sighted, and was starting to have difficulty reading and with similar close work. I still sometimes find it easier to remove my progressives for close work.

    HTH. Good luck with your choice.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  132. 132.

    andy

    @gene108: bifocals were fairly easy, though i did fall a lot at first because the close up part on the bottom of the lens distorted part of my view of the world. Tip your head down to look for low steps, etc. Progressive lenses gave me splitting headaches and my eyes watered constantly.

  133. 133.

    Pest Bog Mummy, Frakensteinbeck

    @hovercraft:
    Shhh. It’s okay, Chris. When future generations deconstruct the Trump campaign – and boy, will they – you will go down as performing a hero’s work moderating the third debate. That you were unable to save Trump and the Republican Party’s tradition of racist dog whistles isn’t your fault. You did everything within your power to create a strong, conventional Republican ‘polite’ bigoted win.

    @Mary G:

    The Kochs seem to have changed their strategy to go after minorities and young people to try to turn the big blue tide.

    That’s hilarious. The Kochs hate minorities and young people. They are the angry old person’s angry old person. They created and funded the Tea Party.

    However, the tradition of Republicans earnestly believing that they only need the right framing to convince minorities that shutting up and learning their place is actually good for them is long, indeed. I guess it isn’t surprising that the Kochs are sure that they know how to make blacks understand that being told they’re lazy is just paternal love.

  134. 134.

    Mike in NC

    We took a long stroll through our development today for the first time since the hurricane. Saw four Trump yards signs put up by people we know: all 75-80 years old and deeply racist folks. Also was frankly surprised to see a Hillary yard sign.

  136. 136.

    hovercraft

    @redshirt:
    They do occasionally have lucid discussions, and while the sensible serious person is on Joe can be lucid, but after the segment he reverts back to his normal self and turns the conversation back to how it’s the democrats fault or the medias fault that he or his party is behaving badly. I missed it this morning, but
    I think this is the segment you are talking about with Peter Wehner. I’ve seen him before, and generally one of the sensible ones, but even he was slow to condemn this syndrome within the party. Brian Beutler had a piece about this.

    Obama Was Right About Republican Extremism All Along
    They should’ve listened to his warnings about the dangers of right-wing rhetoric. Now they’re going to pay for it.

    It should be alarming to Republican strategists that the outgoing Democratic president has a better handle on what’s happened to their party than GOP politicians and conservative intellectuals—many of whom blame Trump’s rise on the media, or liberal dirty tricks.

    “When I was watching the president,” the conservative radio host John Ziegler told Business Insider, referring to the above remarks, “I was struck by how he seemed to understand the problems with conservative media more than any Republican does. It was frustrating to see him be the voice of reason.”

    What is striking about Obama’s grand-unified theory of Trump is that a number of related forces have interwoven to make a somewhat complicated story seem simple and obvious. Obama’s popularity, and the end of his presidency, give him a degree of moral authority to make this critique that he wouldn’t enjoy if he were unpopular or fighting for his own reelection. Likewise, if Trump didn’t fit the theory so perfectly, it would not seem so intuitively correct to Ziegler and others today.

    The piece about the Pensiltukey voters ran again this afternoon.

  137. 137.

    redshirt

    @hovercraft: I can’t watch the Joe video, so I assume you’re correct as you seem to know what I was talking about.

    Also, I just assume Obama is always right. Why not? He almost always is, isn’t he?

  139. 139.

    Keith P.

    Hehe…Maddow is showing an interview with a Nevada swing county GOP party chairman. The guy sounds pretty bummed out. Says he keeps calling the Trump campaign for signs to post, but they won’t even return his calls. Ground game.

  143. 143.

    hovercraft

    @redshirt:
    Of course Obama is always right, and of course you can’t watch the video, msnbc videos are a pain in the ass. Joe tends to get rid of his fellow process people when he’s talking to “serious” people and so those segments are interesting, then he brings back all of his side kicks who agree with him on everything being the democrats fault. Halpern we all know is stupid, Barnacle has moments of clarity but is generally on the same page. Harold Ford thinks Obama is too far left, Donnie Deusch is an idiot, and Mika is Mika. So most of the show is nonsense, but they set the tone for much of the days coverage. But interestingly much less so than it used to. Joe has become more and more of a joke.

  144. 144.

    Lizzy L

    @gene108: I can’t use them; I’ve tried several times. I’ve been near-sighted since I was 7 years old. My correction used to be something like 10 diopters: it’s now around 7.5 in one eye and 8 in the other. I also have mild astigmatism. I have distance glasses for just living, driving, walking, etc., and reading glasses for reading. The reading glasses also work for my computer, but I have to bulk up the fonts, and I bring the monitor in closer to my face than other people. For close small stuff — like reading the label on a pill bottle — I take the glasses off and bring the label in close. I get my glasses at Costco; Consumer Reports says the quality is tops and the cost is much less than at Kaiser Optical. (I go to Kaiser for my eye exams.) Good luck!

  146. 146.

    hovercraft

    @redshirt:
    We of course will all celebrate when Hillary is inaugurated, but I will cry like a baby to see the Obama’s go. I have never felt such a personal attachment to a president and his family, and I doubt I ever will again.

  147. 147.

    divF

    @Major Major Major Major: Hell, I’m generally willing to settle for knowledge discovery among one researcher. Well done.

    ETA: Today I am learning about neural nets, as explained by statisticians. This is the first time I’ve seen the word “hype” used in a technical monograph (Hastie, Tibshirani, and Friedman).

  149. 149.

    Ann Marie

    @Villago Delenda Est: That’s been my experience with my progressive lenses. I keep my old glasses for the computer and use the progressive lenses for everything else. The sweet spot on my lenses for the mid-length computer view is just too small to be functional.

  150. 150.

    redshirt

    @hovercraft: I’m very happy I can’t watch. I only get about a 30 minute window on Tuesday mornings and that’s usually very intermittent. And the only reason at all I even turn to that channel is all the Joe talk here.

  152. 152.

    redshirt

    @hovercraft: I have become more and more proud and supportive of Hillary as this campaign has chugged along, but I can’t imagine loving a politician more than I have Barack Hussein Obama. I’ve never loved a politician before! And I doubt I will again, but you never know. Sadly, I can’t say I love Hillary in the same way. She’s awesome and I want her to succeed in every degree, but it’s not the same.

    BHO won the Nobel Peace Prize for just being himself. He’s like a Saint.

  154. 154.

    Lizzy L

    @redshirt: Same. The only other politician I felt this degree of feeling for was Robert Kennedy, but he’s been dead a long time, and Barack Obama is here, reasonably young, brilliant, a remarkably decent man in a professional that destroys decent people, and incredibly able. I wonder what he’ll choose to do next.

  155. 155.

    redshirt

    @Lizzy L: I just want to say he’s more than decent. He’s an inspiration. I hope he’s changed millions of lives for the better through nothing more than his example.

  156. 156.

    Jeffro

    @Calouste:From the FB page you were quoting:

    Globalism is far more than “geographical” or “eliminating national borders and boundaries.” It is spiritual and demonic at its core. Few—very few—understand this. This is quite likely one of the main reasons why Trump is hated. Do your homework on this one. Think “principalities and powers.” Serious. Extremely serious.

    Translation of this person: “I’m quite pumped…it’s a means by which I will never run out of conspiracy theories from now ’til kingdom come…it’s almost like free energy, if you know what I mean? Awesome!”

  157. 157.

    Peale

    @hovercraft: gee whiz. The guys who are voting for Trump stopped voting for Democrats 30 years ago. And he’s had a prime time “news show” for 20 years. He could have been having policy discussions on all those issues but all he cares to ever discuss is which side would appeal most to joe lunchbucket and whether or not said policy would help or hurt a particular party with joe lunchbucket. I bet, say, his immigration reform coverage was all about Marco Rubio’s political future with scant time paid for the specifics of the policy.

  169. 169.

    hovercraft

    Does Sean Hannity think this helps Trump, or do you think he’s given up, and is just trolling at this point? TPM

    “I have an offer for the President. I will charter a plane for you and your family. I will make sure it’s as big a plane as Air Force One, what you have grown accustomed to, in other words. Taxpayer-funded plane,” Hannity said, as flagged by Mediaite. “I don’t know where I’m going to get—Maybe I’ll just—Maybe I’ll ask Trump if I can charter his plane for Obama. That’s what—I will charter Donald Trump’s plane if he’ll let me, and I will charter it to the country of your choice.”

    Offering to send Obama somewhere he can’t come back from, especially Kenya, has been a popular refrain of the birther movement that promotes the conspiracy theory that Obama was born outside the United States.

    “You want to go to Canada? I’ll pay for you to go to Canada,” Hannity continued. “You want to go to Kenya? I’ll pay for you to go to Kenya. Jakarta, where you went to school back in the day, you can go back there. Anywhere you want to go. I’m gonna—I’ll put the finest food, caviar, champagne, you name it. I have one stipulation: you can’t come back. That’s fair.”

    This idiot thinks that Obama needs his money, or can’t afford to take his family anywhere they want to go? Yeah, yeah I know that he’s just trying to demean him by implying he’s a bum who can’t afford anything. Someone should remind the jackass that Obama is already a millionaire and he did it with his own intellect, not by relying on some ghostwriter, or by being some right wing blowhard. Obama has contributed more to the nation and the world than idiot boy and his offspring will ever contribute.

  170. 170.

    stinger

    @gene108: I found them quite easy to adjust to–require a little tipping of the head depending on what I want to see/read and how far away it is.

  172. 172.

    Lizzy L

    @hovercraft: Fuck Sean Hannity. He’s not worth a nanosecond of your time or a scintilla of your attention. When tRump loses, I want Hannity to evaporate like one of those ghosts in Night on Bald Mountain in Fantasia. What an a**hole.

  175. 175.

    Nom de Plume

    @redshirt: Not so sure anymore. Newt Gingrich had a proper meltdown on Megyn Kelly’s show tonight, accusing Fox of being “Pravda”. The wingnuts are beginning to turn against Fox. This might all be part of getting Trump TV going, and for once I have to give Donald credit for something, because it appears to be going to plan.

  176. 176.

    Corner Stone

    This is devastating like Hannibal crossing the Rockies

    Christ. Is everyone here as plumb fucking stupid as that moran LAC?

    Derr, I will call him George and I will love him and pet him and squeeze him.

  179. 179.

    Steeplejack

    @Corner Stone:

    I’m talking to my guy at CDW to see about a group discount on new snarkmeters for Balloon Juice. Seems like a lot of them have been blown out in this election campaign.

  180. 180.

    SWMBO

    @gene108: I have been nearsighted with astigmatism since fifth grade. Moved to Florida where the intense UV makes cataracts worse (according to the ophthalmologist). He said that he’d wait until my eyes were 20/50 with glasses before he’d do the surgery. Had my first cataract surgery in Sept. 2012. Had the second eye done in October 2012. We talked a lot about what I do and want to see. He put in lenses that give me 20/20 at computer screen depth. Then I have bifocals for distance and up close for threading needles and other fine work. I couldn’t be happier. I had progressives before the cataract surgery and went crazy trying to find the sweet spot. Wore them for over a year and vowed I’d never go back. While I’m working at the computer, I take my glasses off and don’t have to tilt my head or try to find the exact spot I need to view anything. I do have problems remembering to put them on when I leave to go somewhere.

  182. 182.

    Fred

    That rumor about Bill telling Trump he should run. “Yeah man. Definitely go for it.” Was that Willie being slick or is Trump in on the scam? Anyway, Donald sure is doing a great job and I hope he keeps up the good work.
    Make the GOP crater again!

  183. 183.

    LAC

    @Steeplejack: please, the number of times during this administration that corner stone was shrieking and chicken little wailing about everything Obama was doing? The only adjustment needed is my eyeballs as they roll back. If they had a sensible candidate and this came out, corner stone would be wailing about Obama dragging down Clinton. Context and history is everything with corner stone’s posts.

  184. 184.

    Robert Sneddon

    @p.a.:

    Wisconsin city clerk refuses to open polling station for students because they vote ‘Democrat’.

    Actually if you read deeper into the situation it’s more complex than that. There’s a legal requirement in Wisconsin that special openings of polling stations should not favour one party over others. Opening a polling station on campus as a special case might well favour Democrats more than other parties hence breaking that law which is what the city clerk was pointing out.

  185. 185.

    grumpy realist

    @Ruckus: Laser surgery doesn’t fix the problems later on of hardening of the lenses (which is really what happens when we get older.)

    I had LASIK when I was 40, which corrected me to better than 20/20, then I promptly trashed my eyes again (slightly) by peering over legal Latin from 1560. Which is why now I have driving glasses (clear and sunglasses) and prescription reading glasses for my daily work at the computer.

    The most useful addendum I’ve found for all my sewing and beading projects actually has been a lump of beeswax.

  186. 186.

    JR in WV

    @gene108:

    I took me about an hour to adjust to my Bifocals, I did NOT get progressive lenses, and the line where the close-up part of the lens seemed to make it easier to adjust.

    You can’t get an in-focus look at the sidewalk or steps, but really, unless you’re looking for a lost contact lens, why would you need that?

  187. 187.

    Feebog

    @grumpy realist:

    I had lasik in 1998, with almost perfect results. Unfortunately, I had a torn retina in my right eye a couple years later (completely unrelated to the lasik surgery). As a result I have very limited sight in the right eye. The left eye however, remains at 20/30. I have also had cataract surgery with lens replacement in both eyes. I would strongly urge anyone who has a heavy duty prescription to consider lasik.

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