Paul Ryan, who tried to get Clinton’s security clearance revoked, is suddenly indifferent to huge security breaches. https://t.co/ytNTDGBJoM pic.twitter.com/PmcqVAHlQs
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) May 30, 2017
Paul Ryan's "bad faith" has been "laid completely bare…perfect symbol of the broader, corrupt bargain GOP has made with Trump" https://t.co/qCHaAcEf3o
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) May 30, 2017
Back before he enfeebled the House speakership so that President Donald Trump could run a historically corrupt administration without facing pesky oversight inquiries from Congress, Paul Ryan pretended to feel so strongly about the integrity of U.S. government secrets that he would intervene in executive branch affairs to protect it.
“Today I am writing to formally request that you refrain from providing any classified information to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the duration of her candidacy for president,” Ryan wrote last July to James Clapper, who was then the director of national intelligence, after then-FBI Director James Comey described Clinton’s handling of classified information as “extremely careless.”…
At the time, intelligence professionals professed far more alarm at the thought of Trump—erratic, impulsive, lacking any government experience—receiving classified briefings than Clinton. But Ryan inveighed against her rather than him…
… Trump’s election was a catastrophically destabilizing event in and of itself, and people like Ryan were complicit in it. But to an under-appreciated extent, the amount of damage Trump would ultimately be capable of inflicting was a question for Congress as much as Trump himself…
Paulie Blue Eyes thought he was thisclose to his kegger-day dreams of crushing all those mooching kids, crips, and oldies. But the imperious narcissist — err, Self-Made Superman — whose political train Ryan jumped aboard turned out to be just another user.
Molly Ball, in the Atlantic — “How Trump Is Torturing Capitol Hill”:
The speaker of the House strode to his lectern on a recent Thursday to confront another totally normal day on Capitol Hill: health care, tax reform, a president under investigation, rumblings of impeachment.
“Morning, everybody!” Paul Ryan chirped. “Busy week!”…
As Ryan earnestly touted his party’s work on “landmark federal IT reform legislation,” there was a grim, haunted look in his bright-blue eyes, and it wasn’t hard to imagine why. What ought to have been the salad days of Republican-led government had instead become a ceaseless, disorienting swirl of scandal, 120 days of self-inflicted chaos and crisis….Congress, Ryan insisted, was perfectly capable of doing its job. “I know people can be consumed with the news of the day,” he said, as though a potential impeachment were the latest celebrity scandal, or the time everyone was up in arms for 24 hours about avocado toast. “But we are here working on people’s problems every day. We have all these committees that do different jobs, and our job is to make sure that we still make progress for the American people, and we’re doing that. It’s just not what we’re being asked about.”…
Meanwhile Democrats sit back and watch it burn, with no small amount of schadenfreude, and the Republicans who never liked Trump see their worst predictions fulfilled. “You bought this bad pony. You ride it,” the anti-Trump consultant Rick Wilson tweeted recently. A staffer to a Senate Republican who did not vote for Trump told me, “We didn’t have high expectations, so we’re not disappointed. We tried to warn you.”
But Paul Ryan, with his long-cultivated persona as the party’s resident idealist, has always had high expectations. He watched last year as Trump ate his party; now he must watch as the president consumes his dreams. “Paul wants to govern, he’s trying to get what’s possible to get done, and he’s got a lot of credibility on the line,” Ryan’s friend Jimmy Kemp, the son of the late former Representative Jack Kemp, told me. “He’s been working on these issues for so long.”
Kemp, who wrote in Ryan’s name on his presidential ballot, described the speaker as burdened but steady. “He’s frustrated and it’s wearing on him, but he’s not throwing in the towel,” he said. “He just has to answer questions about so many things he doesn’t want to answer questions about.”…
“Resident idealist,” my fish-belly-white arse; good little Objectivist that he is, Ryan just wanted to be the sprucely-groomed funeral director at the death of the American dream. But if only people would just ask him the questions he wants to answer!
Back in April, Bloomberg columnist Francis Wilkinson, “Trump Knocks the Air Out of Republicans”:
The vacuum created by an uninformed president with a policy agenda that maxed out at 140 characters “was supposed to be a feature, not a bug,” said Republican consultant Liam Donovan, via email. Donald Trump would get to tweet, and House Speaker Paul Ryan would get to determine the contours of the American future.
After 11 weeks, vacuums are breeding vacuums. The House of Representatives is riven by factions and paralyzed by Republicans’ inability to deliver on the fantastical promises made by Trump in the presidential campaign, and by Ryan and his colleagues over the course of Barack Obama’s presidency…
It’s vacuums all the way down!
Got another bit of bad news for ya, Paulie: You wouldn’t have liked Ayn Rand any more than you do Donald Trump, not even if she hit on you, as she was prone to do with the more personable young men among her deluded acolytes.
Hey @indivisible_tn & @IndivisibleTeam looks who is coming to TN to take $10k pics rather than talking with his constituents about AHCA. pic.twitter.com/szvnzAiAwD
— Gloria Johnson (@VoteGloriaJ) May 29, 2017
guachi
One thing that irritates me are people who think that simply not voting for Trump absolves them of responsibility. One person in this article didn’t vote for Trump (doesn’t say whom he voted for. Could have been Clinton but probably wasn’t); one person wrote in Ryan’s name.
There were only two people who had the slightest chance to win the election, Trump and Clinton. If you didn’t vote for Clinton then you found the idea of Trump as President perfectly acceptable. Don’t come crying know about things Trump does. You had your chance.
Pinacacci
I believe I might call Erika and scold her about quotation marks.
Big Ole Hound
10K for a picture with the “zombie eyed grannie starver”…just fucking perfect to frame for your grandkids!
PsiFighter37
I’m here drinking beer at a microbrewery in Taipei and enjoying the fact that I don’t have to be in the U.S. for another 4 days.
P.S. Taipei is a very, very cool city. It is basically mainland China but much further along on things like general civil order and politeness. And a lot more English awareness as well.
Droppy
Of all the covfefe politicians out there, Paul Ryan is the covfefest.
PsiFighter37
Also – hope those middle schoolers feel real proud of themselves, throwing away an expensive photo-op like that! /sarcasm
NotMax
Paul Ryan had a little plan
To fleece the average schmo
And everywhere that Ryan went
The plan was sure to go
Ghost of Fitzmas past
Another elaborate fantasy that the repugs won’t steamroll their agenda anyway. How many times are you going to fall for this?
sherparick
But its IOKIYR and like you tax cuts, ending women’s reproductive rights, and gutting social security.
JGabriel
Molly Ball (via Anne Laurie @ Top):
The Trump Administration – Simpleton Salo, or 120 Days of Dumb, Sodomy, and the Rash
ruemara
He needs a lot more pain in his life as payback for his general existence.
GregB
A bit OT, but just hearing the news about that large truck bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan. The bomb went off near the German embassy.
Cheryl Rofer
My caution in the previous thread was justified. The manbaby likes his attention, knows how to get it.
gvg
@guachi: If I had to choose between Hitler and Stalin, then I would probably leave it blank. Clinton versus Trump doesn’t qualify for that. I think there are people who were so steeped in GOP world lies that they actually saw it that way. That problem goes back to finding a way to break the misinformation barrier and supposedly telling them facts that contradict, just makes them cling harder. There are also delicate butterflies who couldn’t bear to vote pragmatic rather than perfect. those are a different problem. Probably better chance with younger fools compared to older ones. This is a different problem than the other. Changing these people is hard. It may be good to consider what we can do to keep new young ens from starting down either mistaken world view.
Anything to derail FOX is good, plus certain other sources.
SFAW
So does the “D” in “Paul D. Ryan” stand for “DouchebaggyAssholeTraitorousMotherfucker”? I’m sure Maggie Haberman will get right on that.
Fuck him, and the blue-eyed horse he rode in on.
Maybe he and Gianforte can “get into it” on the floor of the House?
Major Major Major Major
My friend made this covfefe joke and I just wanted to share.
Betty Cracker
@Cheryl Rofer: Saw a theory on Twitter from @LOLGOP that sounds plausible to me in light of multiple reports alleging that Ivanka is urging Trump to remain in the Paris accord: I think they’re setting us all up for an “Ivanka saves the day” PR stunt.
Jared and Ivanka haven’t done shit to moderate the shitgibbon’s worst impulses, but we’re constantly inundated with stories about them. I’m certain Trump neither understands nor gives a flying crap about climate change. But I can totally see this bunch of shallow assholes recognizing the PR value of the situation.
rikyrah
The ZEGK has ALWAYS been a phucking fraud.
Cheryl Rofer
The White House comment line is (202) 456-1111 if you want to weigh in on the Paris agreement.
It’s hard to know if these premature announcements are trial balloons from Trump, attempts by staffers to influence his decisions, or just generating suspense for the reality tv that is our national government.
Chris
@guachi:
I still can’t get the 2002 French election (first one I followed closely) out of my head simply because the motto for that was literally “vote for the crook, not the fascist.” It seemed like a no-brainer at the time, and the population certainly treated it as such, that when one of the two people in the running is a literal Holocaust denier, you don’t stop and wonder whether the other guy is an embezzler.
(Naturally, the French electorate has gotten much worse in the last fifteen years too. Le sigh).
rikyrah
Trump Just Handed the Reins of Global Leadership to Russia and China
by Nancy LeTourneau May 30, 2017 8:00 AM
Much has rightfully been made of Angela Merkel’s comments following NATO and G7 meetings attended by Donald Trump.
But as Josh Marshall points out, equally alarming is the fact that the new President of France, Emmanuel Macron, compared President Trump to Putin and Erdogan.
Our European allies seemed to be hoping for the best after Trump’s election. But something happened in Belgium and Italy that dashed those hopes. Here are the things we know about:
On more personal terms, Trump also shoved aside the Montenegrin prime minister to put himself in front of a photo op, and complained to the Belgian prime minister about European regulations that had slowed down the construction of one of his golf courses. It is very possible that there were additional confrontations (both personal and policy-oriented) that occurred at meetings behind closed doors.
The comments from Merkel and Macron signal that these events might have triggered a realignment of this country’s decades-old relationship with our European allies. It is hard to escape the idea that Trump’s efforts were meant to, at minimum, destabilize our relationships with NATO and the G7 countries—a strategy that just so happens to align perfectly with what Putin has been attempting to do for years now.
Cheryl Rofer
@Betty Cracker: I think there’s a lot to that.
SFAW
@gvg:
But voting for
Ralph NaderDr. Jill Stein was for the purest of pure motives, and therefore THEY SHALL NOT BE SILENCED! [And Hitlary’s Goldman Sachs/Wall Street connections!!!!!!!!!]Every time I see one of those motherfuckers try to justify him/herself, I think of TBogg’s immortal “Mumia Sweatshirt” post, lo these many years ago. As he said: “You don’t live there. Grow the fuck up.” [The “you” is not you, gvg, in case that wasn’t obvious.]
rikyrah
FBI’s Interest In Kushner Isn’t Limited to Back Channel Access
by Nancy LeTourneau
May 31, 2017 8:00 AM
Peter Stone and Greg Gordon of McClatchy News suggest that the FBI’s interest in Jared Kushner goes beyond his involvement in trying to set up back channel access between the Trump administration and Russia. They note two other avenues of the investigation.
First of all, just as Ryan Lizza suggested, there is Kushner’s possible involvement in obstruction of justice.
But perhaps even more explosive is Kushner’s role in the Trump campaign.
This is the line of inquiry that Sen. Mark Warner, ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is zeroing in on.
rikyrah
Quick Takes: Kushner Camp Leaks Fake News to Fox
A roundup of news that caught my eye today.
by Nancy LeTourneau
May 30, 2017 6:48 PM
Here’s the story Fox News is running with today:
* A lot of the press is zeroing in on the fact that Trump re-tweeted a link to that story, which comes from a one of those law-breaking leakers he’s always complaining about. Sean Spicer was even asked about that during the press conference today. But the Fox story obviously comes from someone in the Kushner camp and is a lie. We know that because the December meeting wasn’t the only time someone from Trump’s team discussed a back channel connection with the Russians. In addition to Kushner, Michael Flynn started talking to Kislyak about it immediately after the election and Erik Prince was dispatched to a clandestine meeting with Russians to talk about it again in January.
hovercraft
@guachi:
Rick Wilson voted for Evan McMullen.
No one with any sense feels sorry for ZEGS, like the rest of the party he sold his soul in exchange for power years ago, he has no principles or ideals except getting and holding onto power so he can take shit away from people to free up as much money as he can for those poor people at the top who struggle every day with the burden of having so much money they get bored and decide that they’d like to run for office and run the country just like a venture capitalist or better yet a slumlord would. Twitler is just so manifestly unqualified and such a disaster that the media is finally noticing that the media is finally noticing just how crave the GOP is. Don’t get me wrong, they are still blinded by “fiscal discipline”, if all ZEGS fantasies were coming true legislatively, they would applaud his brave slaying of our sacred cows and carry him right into the presidency when he ran, but not only is he unable to do anything, his craven mealy mouthed statements about Twitler have disappointment his biggest fans. While he was too busy kissing ass, a new blue eyed boy snuck in behind him, Ben Sasse is looking to grab the “Young Gun”, hope of the GOP mantle, he supports all the same things, but is wiling to call out Twitler, poor Paulie all those years sucking on the government teat and for what? SAD!
rikyrah
Sen. Chuck Grassley is Covering for Jared Kushner
by Martin Longman
May 29, 2017 12:35 PM
If you’re like me, your eyes glaze over a little bit when people start talking about the intricacies of our immigration policies and the various kinds of visas we offer to foreign nationals. I certainly feel that way about the EB-5 visa, although I felt compelled to look into it since it has embroiled Jared Kushner and his family in controversy, and now Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is calling for an investigation.
The EB-5 visa was created in 1990 and put into its current form in 1993. The simplest way of understanding it is that it creates an avenue for foreigners to get permanent residence in the country (and possibly citizenship) if they’re willing to invest a million bucks in a business that will eventually employ at least ten people. There’s a provision for investing in economically needy areas that only a requires that you invest half a million. The changes made in 1993 introduced some problems and changed the nature of the program.
………………………………………………………..
If you’re pitching a foreign millionaire on investing in your “regional center,” you’ll need to convince them that you can deliver on your end of the deal. And since your end isn’t some assurance that they’ll get a good financial return on their investment but that they’ll get the citizenship they desire, you’ll want to gain influence and control over the citizenship approval process.
This is where the Kushner family comes into it.
It’s not unusual for commercial real estate builders to utilize the EB-5 visa. Most major hotel chains have used the program to raise capital, in part because it is cheaper than borrowing from a bank. The Kushner family has a history with the EB-5, using it for example to finance a project in Journal Square in New Jersey. Just last March, Kushner Properties announced that they were abandoning a plan to use EB-5 financing to team up with a Chinese insurance company named Anbang and convert the Manhattan skyscraper at 666 Fifth Avenue into luxury residential units. Still, when President Trump signed his first major piece of legislation on May 5th, it included an extension of the Immigrant Investor Visa Program through September 30, 2017. Whatever else you might say about it, the program has benefitted the president since he has used it to finance some of his Trump-branded building projects.
Chuck Grassley has had problems with the EB-5 for a while now, describing it as a program that “has been rife with fraud and national security weaknesses.” In February, he teamed with Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) to introduce a bill that would terminate the EB-5.
What he wants to investigate at the moment is what he considers fraudulent representations made by a Chinese firm named Qiaowai that was marketing a Kushner Industries project in Jersey City to Chinese investors. That Grassley is concerned about this is understandable, but it appears to be missing the larger point. And that’s a point that is not lost on the president:
hovercraft
@PsiFighter37:
Jersey Strong!
Those kids made me proud to call Jersey home.
rikyrah
The Senate Intelligence Committee is Showing Courage
by Martin Longman
May 30, 2017 1:16 PM
When it comes to the idea that Republicans will aggressively investigate the Trump administration, I’m a pretty hard sell. I don’t have any experience that leads me to believe that the GOP can effectively police itself or put the interests of the country over narrow partisan interests. But, I also have open eyes and I notice when things defy my low expectations. For example, it’s significant when things like this happen:
I think of Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr of North Carolina as a very conservative leader from a state where the Republican Party is setting the land speed record for unconstitutionally naked partisanship. There are other members of the Intelligence Committee, like John Cornyn of Texas, Jim Risch of Idaho, James Lankford of Oklahoma, and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who I wouldn’t trust to watch my kids let alone conduct a thorough and aggressive investigation of a sitting Republican president. But that makes it all the more significant that they just voted unanimously to issue subpoenas for Donald Trump’s “consigliere” and “pitbull.”
One way of looking at this is that the best way to contain an investigation is to not ask certain questions. This would include questions that you don’t already know the answers to. You know this is happening when the minority party is constantly complaining that witnesses aren’t being called and subpoenas aren’t being issued. The House Intelligence Committee’s investigation under the leadership of Devin Nunes had all the hallmarks of a faux investigation. The Senate investigation looks more legit. The unanimity of the Republicans in this case is convincing evidence that they are legitimately concerned. But the more important factor is that they’re taking steps that will lead to places they can’t anticipate. This is a suicidal strategy for a defense team in court, and it’s a sign that they’re not approaching this as defense attorneys for the president.
Paul W.
@Betty Cracker: I don’t care if Ivanka gets credit, as long as we stay in the Paris Climate agreement I can keep a little smidgen of hope for the planet even as the EPA turns into a “gut it/sell it” institution.
guachi
@Chris: My mother was in Louisiana when David Duke was running against Edwin Edwards. “Vote for the Crook; It’s Important”
Sometimes, there are large principles in play.
rikyrah
Yet Another Republican Burns His Credibility to Defend Trump and Kushner. Why?
by David Atkins
May 28, 2017 4:51 PM
t is no longer surprising when Trump and his inner circle are revealed to to have done something corrupt, self-dealing or even borderline treasonous. Their characters are well spoken for by now. Of more interest as a character study are those who throw their credibility onto the fire to defend this Administration, often knowing that they will be burned for it in short order.
The latest Republican to immolate his respectability is Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who is actively spinning away Jared Kushner’s attempt to use secret Russian back channels to Moscow away from the eyes of American intelligence. Kelly knows that Kushner’s attempt to use actual Russian intelligence equipment to talk to Moscow is wrong. He knows that there is no credible innocent explanation for it. He knows what whatever the reason is that Kushner wanted the secret communications channel will almost certainly be revealed in all its seedy turpitude eventually.
So why do it? Why not stay silent? Why not simply resign?
………………………………
Why do they all do it? Few of these people supported Trump against his more conventional challengers in the Republican presidential primary. The judgment of history will not be kind to them. They could make more money in the private sector. Their loyalty to Trump will not be reciprocated by a President who is more than willing to trample subordinates who do his dirty work.
Barbara
Tom Friedman is on fire. I always wondered what it would take, but this is a lot more bluntness than I ever expected him to show. And yes, I really cannot imagine what would ever cause someone like Paul Ryan to find his principles. He is a complete fraud through and through.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/opinion/trumps-united-american-emirate.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0
Jeffro
Meanwhile, there’s J-Rubs, still punchin’ away: Would A Spy for Russia Be Acting Any Differently?
Aleta
@Cheryl Rofer: Other people were trying to possess his headline, his announcement. In all things, dominance.
Betty Cracker
@Paul W.: Agreed — if Trump gets away with selling this as a triumph of that vapid twit, it’ll be a small price to pay to stay in the Paris Agreement. But it’s scary as all hell to think that this pack of ravening grift-mavens is running US foreign policy as a personal branding opportunity.
Ruckus
@rikyrah:
They aren’t doing this for loyalty to dumpf. They are doing it for loyalty to party. They want to be in it in the years to come and loyalty to party is very important to the powers that be. They think power is in everyone pulling on the same shitty oar. It has never occurred to them that getting a better oar is a better path forward.
Jeffro
@Barbara: Wow, you’re not kidding…
sdhays
@PsiFighter37: Taipei IS an awesome city, and Taiwan is awesome in general. I lived there for a couple years last decade and would love to live there again.
Major Major Major Major
I think it’s basically about right that Trump wants to be able to talk to world leaders on the same cell phone where he mistakes the space bar/delete button for the ‘tweet’ button and can’t spell ‘coverage’.
mai naem mobile
@hovercraft: Ben Sasse is dangerous. I’ve seen a couple of interviews with him. He’s a very ‘aw, shucks’ kind of guy, he criticizes Dolt constantly and has this book now whining about how young people are just snowflakes and not manly men and plucky women like they were in his time. Policy wise,he’s conservative as hell. I can totally see this guy connecting with voters with his personality.
James Powell
This stuff is all well and good for entertainment purpose, but Republicans have been hypocrites for decades. They’ve been unprincipled liars and they screw the very people who turn out and vote for them at every election. All of this has been pointed out repeatedly and it doesn’t seem to have any affect on their successful acquisition of power. Just think where we’d be if Wall Street had created the housing crisis and subsequent financial meltdown.
Major Major Major Major
@mai naem mobile: agree. He’s young too. His WSJ article on #adulting was a frightful glimpse of this down-home appeal.
MattF
We’re at the ‘120 Days of So Dumb’.
Aleta
@Ruckus: The promise of payoff for their loyalty after they leave Congress must be quite inspiring.
hovercraft
@Betty Cracker: @Paul W.:
I thin Betty is right, Javanka have been getting quite a lot of negative press recently, and they want to change their narrative. There are two problems with this strategy:
First, Twitler is pissed, really pissed, his first Big Boy Trip* was a colossal failure, with headlines about a clown, laughingstock, not to mention that everyone hated him, he wants revenge. He was briefed about the importance of reaffirming our commitment to Article 5, but in a power-play? he chose to omit it after telling aides he would do it. Then instead of being cowed by his show of force, they basically said fuck you, he refused to sign the communique on the Paris Agreement. Macron and Merkel have continued to give him the bird since his return, they haven’t come crawling on their knees to beg forgiveness and so he doesn’t want to stay in their stupid agreement, Global Warming is a hoax anyway!
Secondly on the Javanka front, planting these stories and trying to change the narrative works on campaigns where no one is digging through your garbage, this is the major leagues, the media can laud you for getting the orange shitstain not to do something petty and destructive while also continuing to investigate your TRussian dealings, your supposed genius in targeting voters, when you have no background in the fields, politics or digital. Getting positive headlines will not stop he investigations, screaming FAKE NEWS will not stop the investigations, threatening to take your toys and “retreat” to Manhattan will not stop the investigations. This is not manipulating the NY tabloids, you all have investigative reporters on your trail now, and they smell blood, they all want Pulitzer’s and to be the next Woodward and Bernstein, they all want some big Hollywood star to play them in the movie. A story on Javanka getting Twitler to stay in the Paris Accord will not bump the real story off the front pages. Lucretia and Chelsea are supposedly friends, perhaps she should have asked Chelsea just how much scrutiny they were signing up for before they chose this path.
dm
@guachi: it depends on what state you live in, thanks to the electoral college. A Massachusetts resident, for example, could write in Obi-wan Kenobi, safe in the knowledge that if Massachusetts’ electoral college votes were going to Trump because of a handful of protest votes, the rest of the country would have already been swept away in the tide. An Idaho voter could do the same.
A Michigan or Wisconsin or Ohio voter couldn’t think that, nor a Florida voter.
hovercraft
@Barbara: The thought of Mr. Just Six More Months, being on fire is intriguing, but I just can’t give them a click on principle, I would for Blow or K-Thug but not for TF, I just can’t.
@Jeffro:
Thanks for that. He’s a hawk, so I’m not surprised he’s aghast at the antics at the Magpie in Chief, dangle a shiny object in his face and he’s enthralled.
Remember how the FP wise men all hated Obama for his naivete? They’d kill to have him back.
MattF
@Barbara: I find it painful to read Friedman’s columns, even when he’s making sense. But I agree, he’s serious here.
Fleeting Expletive
Doesn’t Paul Ryan’s friendship with Kemp seem a little weird? I looked up Jimmy Kemp–he’s involved with something called Group 47, which purports to have a means of storing data in humanly-readable form for 100 years, even with “benign neglect”. Like, you type stuff up on aluminum tablets or what? This is some kind of strange world.
hovercraft
@mai naem mobile: @Major Major Major Major:
I know, we need to take him seriously. The media loves him and will do all in their power to portray him as a real republican, here to take the country in a direction that a real republican common sense conservative would lead us. Never mind that orange nightmare we’ve just lived through, he was a democrat most of his life and not representative of the real republican party, just vote for Sasse he’s the future!
Major Major Major Major
@dm: protest voting, like other ideas, is subject to memetic spread. Doing it in Massachusetts and Idaho because you just can’t bear to pull the lever for Hitlery, if you publicize it, will help increase the likelihood of somebody in Michigan or Wisconsin doing it. Not by a lot, but one vote doesn’t matter a lot either.
Ocotillo
When you think about it, write in voting should be eliminated. Technically, how do we know which Paul Ryan of all the Paul Ryan’s in America said voter was voting for? How many Lisa Murkowski’s are in Alaska? Didn’t she actually when via write in? If I was another Lisa Murkowski living in Alaska, I would be stepping up and saying I want my Senate seat.
hovercraft
@Fleeting Expletive:
Paul Ryan worked for his father Jack Kemp, that was where he got his start in Washington. Kemp was considered a serious “policy guy” and the originator of compassionate conservatism so to speak, and where ZEGS own reputation as a serious guy who wanted to solve problems began.
bemused
@Barbara:
Strange brews. J Rubin and now Friedman so very, very shrill.
catclub
@gvg:
No, they saw it as Churchill versus Hitler, and Clinton was Hitler. They really think (and often say) that ANY Democratic government is an existential crisis for the US.
Uncle Cosmo
@Jeffro: Whenever I click on a link to a WaPo article it is immediately replaced with a blank “You Obviously Love Good Journalism” screen that demands I either buy the national digital edition of buy a subscription. There seems to be no way to close it without breaking the link to the article. Any suggestions?