I’m no longer sure whether or not I’m kidding when I say that establishment journalists (better link for finding quote) should be first up against the wall when the revolution comes:
Trump-Ryan could be the perfect GOP partnership, so long as it lasts – a mix of legislative brawn and brains that delivers.
Paul Ryan is a wonk because he is a wonk.
Jeffro
I’m confused – which one is the “brawn”, and which one is the “brains”?
Isn’t it more like “bluster and barbarism”?
Certified Mutant Enemy
Brains? Where?
hellslittlestangel
Yes, Donald Trump is 265 pounds of 70-year old brawn.
JMG
Mainstream political journalism has pretty much succumbed to the idea that “if lies work, they’re smart politics.” Then said journalists wail that nobody believes what THEY say.
JPL
Corner Stone posted this down below
Are we setting up a pool for betting on when, or where, the missiles will start flying? Another strike on Syria? More bluster at NoKo? A third party to be named later?
Turgidson
@JMG:
Chucklehead Todd would call it “messaging successfully.”
SatanicPanic
@hellslittlestangel: I know it’s wrong, but I would have loved someone to run an ad campaign saying “I bet Hillary can do more pushups than Donald.” Because you know she can. It’s not even a question.
JPL
During the health care discussions, even President Obama called Ryan a policy wonk. Yup former waiter, ski instructor works on the hill, and becomes a policy wonk. Who knew that you could read a few Ayn Rand books and become a wonk.
hellslittlestangel
@SatanicPanic: Trump could beat Hillary, but he’s got his good suit on.
Corner Stone
Damn you, DougJ! I read the whole linked article but could not find that quote. Where is it?
Oatler.
@Turgidson: And let’s welcome George Will to the MSNBC family!
Thoroughly Pizzled
The Republican Party is legitimate because it’s the Republican Party.
schrodingers_cat
Peeps don’t agree when I say that the prestige media are bought and paid for by the R party, they are the marketing arm of the party.
SatanicPanic
@Corner Stone: Me neither. I wanted an object to focus my hatred on and was disappointed I couldn’t find one.
A Ghost To Most
@Jeffro: Cons and coverups.
hellslittlestangel
@JPL:
Well, the ability to plow through turgid, repetitive prose is a qualifier. And for Republican-style wonkery, you’ve got to be able to take specious bullshit seriously.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@schrodingers_cat: I think it’s even worse than that, they sold out because they are so desperate to be on talking terms the cool frat bois.
A Ghost To Most
@SatanicPanic: Real murrikkkins hire someone else to do their exercising.
Corner Stone
@SatanicPanic: Looks like it is Rick Klein from a different ABC Note.
low-tech cyclist
As Matt Fuller abundantly documented, the legislative brawn that passed the abominable AHCA in the House was primarily that of Rep. Patrick McHenry. Trump had almost nothing to do with it – and that’s ‘his’ only major legislative win so far.
And the only ‘brains’ involved was rushing the bill through the House before the CBO could score it, and before the House went into recess where they would have been hammered by their constituents.
dww44
@Corner Stone: I was about to ask the very same question. I sorta do want to know who that was. Presumably it was an ABC reporter or anchor? ABC is not high on my list of journalistic integrity anyways. Just maybe a notch above Fox. But, in fairness, I almost never watch them, so, who am I to judge.
? ?? Goku ? ?
I get the sentiment. They’re either lazy hacks relying on tired cliches or they truly believe the bullshit they write because they’ll never face any consequences from the policies/politicians they support in their reporting
SatanicPanic
@Corner Stone: I now hate Rick Klein, whoever he is.
? ?? Goku ? ?
@low-tech cyclist: Oh don’t worry, they still will be. It’ll look even worse if Reps who voted for AHCA chicken out and don’t show
Doug!
@JPL:
ABC does something weird with their feed, so I had to fix the link. Now it’s there.
Major Major Major Major
I just wanted to say that I really like that song.
schrodingers_cat
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Frat bois are cool?
Doug!
@Major Major Major Major:
Whenever I hear something about brains and brawn, I think of it.
low-tech cyclist
@Oatler.:
Has there ever been a more overrated pundit than George Fucking Will?
Nearly a decade ago, I had a blog called Everybody Laughs At Broder. In addition to making fun of the Dean Of Beltway Journalism, I critiqued the WaPo opinion pages generally. And the one thing that kept hitting me in the face was: what a totally worthless columnist George Will was.
And this was before he ramped up the climate denialism at the beginning of the Obama administration, along with all that talk of how liberals push trains on an unwilling public in order to turn us from individuals into sheeple.
Mnemosyne
@Major Major Major Major:
One of my favorites by them.
Turgidson
@JPL:
Obama was initially as desperate to find a smart Republican to work with as the media was in believing the GOP had an “ideas guy.” Obama learned his lesson fairly quickly about the Granny Starver. The media will probably keep touting his wonkiness until he’s been dead for 20 years.
Wag
@Jeffro:
I think of it as bluster and blather
Mnemosyne
@Doug!:
Though the other part of the chorus is “I’ve got the brains, you’ve got the looks,” which makes one wonder which one Trump really is here.
low-tech cyclist
@? ?? Goku ? ?:
Yeah, but better if the constituent barrage had happened in time to make them scared to vote for the AHCA.
low-tech cyclist
@Mnemosyne:
It’s hard to imagine a public figure who’s as completely disqualified on both counts as Donald Trump is.
Gatchaman
Which is the brains?
Mnemosyne
@low-tech cyclist:
As I keep saying, what Trump has going for him is that, as a narcissist, he will take selfish actions that normal people would hesitate to do, and he thinks this makes him smarter than other people.
schrodingers_cat
@low-tech cyclist: Agreed. We went from model handsome and sharp as a tack President to the triple chinned faux hair piece wearing barrel, whose brain stopped developing when he was a toddler.
The Moar You Know
Paul Ryan is a murderer without the courage to pull a trigger himself.
TenguPhule
@JPL: Compared to the rest of the Republican House, he actually is.
Mind you, most dogs qualify under that low bar as wonks too.
TenguPhule
@The Moar You Know:
Paul Ryan is the depraved fan of serial killers who writes slash fanfics that are exactly what they say on the tin.
Aretino
@JPL: Too easy. Vaenezuela.
Roger Moore
Paul Ryan being called a wonk shows how weak the curve Republicans are being graded on is.
Roger Moore
@low-tech cyclist:
He’s still coasting on his undeserved reputation from 30 years ago.
SFAW
@Roger Moore:
But Hitlary’s speeches to Wall Street!!!
[Since the connection is probably not obvious: Rethugs are given an A+++++ if they can walk and breathe at the same time (or in Shitgibbon’s case, if he makes a poopie and gets all of it in the toilet bowl on the first try); but a Dem must avoid any kind of proscribed behavior — or even the appearance of something which SOMEONE might look askance about — or the shrieking monkeys of the MSM and the Sarandon wing of the Democrats will be all over them like a cheap suit.]
brendancalling
I’m not kidding. I want Chris Cilizza swinging from a gallows.
SFAW
@Roger Moore:
Are you STILL bitter about that bow-tied wearing, polysyllabic, faux-intellectual motherfucker feeding Reagan the actual debate questions before the debate? I swear, you Lie-berals can’t take a joke.
Wait a second, wasn’t the “joking” thing in the other Doug thread? I’m so confused.
SFAW
@brendancalling:
Preferably by his nuts?
TenguPhule
@SFAW: I don’t think we have nanofibers that small or that strong yet.
SFAW
@TenguPhule:
I’m sure I could think of something appropriate
hovercraft
@Jeffro:
Brawn implies strength, Ryan is a wuss who folds like a cheap suit when you poke your finger at him, and Twitler is like all bullies, when you push back on him he shouts and yells but then also folds while claiming that you are sooo lucky he restrained himself. Brains, I guess if you mean that at least one of them knows that a hot stove will burn you, but then touches it anyway, then I guess there are brains there, but even with are already lowered standards this is scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Am I to infer that the passage of TRyancare has restored the luster to ZEGS ? He’s once again the parties grown-up?
liberal
@JPL:
AFAICT HRC and a lot of commenters here would be thrilled that we’re helping radical jihadists with another missile strike.
liberal
@low-tech cyclist:
He’s not worthless: he’s a great specimen of pseudointellectual, as observed in the wild.
liberal
@schrodingers_cat: Huh? Why bought and paid for?
The simpler explanation is that the owners of the MSM—and this was true even long ago, before corporate consolidation—have class interests best represented by the Republicans.
TenguPhule
@liberal:
Try harder, troll.
Origuy
@SFAW:
So can I, but I don’t know what they’re called and I can’t search for them at work.
Uncle Cosmo
Y’all know where “wonk” comes from, doncha? It’s k-n-o-w spelled backwards.
The Zombie-Eyed Granny Killer is a wonk only in that original sense, i.e., everything he (thinks he) knows is backwards. In all other respects he’s a murderous fucking imbecile.