Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

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

Second rate reporter says what?

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

In my day, never was longer.

Infrastructure week. at last.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The revolution will be supervised.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2018 / Open Thread: Trial Buffoon Balloon

Open Thread: Trial Buffoon Balloon

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Mamma needs a new grift! Per CNN:

… “I’ve had people contact me and urge me to run for that Senate seat,” Bachmann said. “The only reason I would run is for the ability to take these principles into the United States Senate,” she said, later adding, “The question is should it be me? Should it be now? But there’s also a price you pay. And the price is bigger than ever because the swamp is so toxic.”

“We’re trying to be wise,” Bachmann continued, suggesting that Franken was dropped by Democrats because the party wants to be able to hurl false accusations against Republicans in coming elections…

Bachmann has been accused of employing gay conversion therapy at her Counseling Care clinics over the years, and the clinics have been hit with health inspector violations in 2005, 2009 and 2017, according to NBC News. In her interview with Bakker, she referenced the clinics, claiming that false allegations had left her clinics nearly bankrupt twice.

“My husband and I aren’t money people,” Bachmann said, suggesting that political candidates are now even larger targets for “frivolous lawsuits.”

“If you’re a billionaire, you can maybe defend yourself,” she said, later adding, “If you’re trying to go against the tide in DC, if you’re trying to stand for biblical principles in DC and you stick your head up out of the hole … the blades come whirring and they try to chop you off.”…

I suspect that about-to-be-appointed replacement Senator Tina Smith will be duly grateful for Ms. Bachmann’s timely announcement. Because there’s “not exactly the most riveting candidate”, and then there’s “ongoing national punch line”…

Reader Interactions

119Comments

  1. 1.

    West of the Cascades

    Oh I got me a euphoric vision of those whirring blades and Michele’s head …

  4. 4.

    germy

    Russia probe grand jury looks like ‘a Black Lives Matter rally,’ says witness

    The federal grand jury handing down indictments for special counsel Robert Mueller doesn’t appear to include any supporters of President Donald Trump, according to one witness who recently testified before the panel.

    “The grand jury room looks like a Bernie Sanders rally,” my source said. “Maybe they found these jurors in central casting, or at a Black Lives Matter rally in Berkeley [Calif.]”

    Of the 20 jurors, 11 are African-Americans and two were wearing “peace T-shirts,” the witness said. “There was only one white male in the room, and he was a prosecutor.” Mueller was not present.

    https://pagesix.com/2018/01/02/russia-probe-grand-jury-looks-like-a-black-lives-matter-rally-says-witness/

    Minimally, Trump jurors should be members of Mar a Lago. https://t.co/YrqEaMPJMZ— Schooley (@Rschooley) January 2, 2018

  8. 8.

    Mike J

    Did you see what’s got Maggie upset? A Trumpist told a reporter friend of hers that the grand jury looked like a Black Lives Matter rally (or it’s exact opposite, a Bernie rally), and she believes it to be true because the reporter has a lot of contacts with Trumpists.

  9. 9.

    nycmt

    @germy: That page 6 item is 18 USC 1508 material. I am shocked that the New York Post corporate counsel let that be published. Not only is it enormously racist but the act of publicly identifying sitting grand jurors is obstruction of justice itself, If Richard Johnson knows what is good for him he’ll withdraw and retract that item before the special counsel descends on his head with the fury of a million harpies. The source for that page 6 item had better watch his back.

  12. 12.

    mai naem mobile

    Lumpy and his pals should have picked Wyoming or Kansas to do the crime if they wanted a Lumpy supporter only grand jury.

  13. 13.

    rikyrah

    Laurie Crosswell‏ @lauriecrosswell

    So Al Gore is allowed to do an Oscar winning documentary, Bernie Sanders is allowed to belittle Democrats, Mitt Romney is allowed to run again, but Hillary Clinton should knit them all sweaters for the winter?
    11:48 AM – 2 Jan 2018

  14. 14.

    Mary G

    Twitter gave another crazy-eyed Republican, Sheriff David “Look at all my medals, Daddy” Clarke, a timeout until he deletes three tweets about fighting liberals and biting them like the vicious dog he is.

  17. 17.

    Emerald

    @germy:
    So far he hasn’t resigned yet, as far as I can tell.

    Dare we hope that he will recant his resignation speech in favor of going through the ethics investigation? Seems that opinion has recently swung his way. If he resigned because his fellow senators wanted him to, and they no longer do, why not change his mind and stay?

    Won’t happen of course, but I cling to thin hope.

  18. 18.

    rikyrah

    Jared Kushner willing to blow up US alliances: ‘I’m a businessman, I don’t care about the past’
    02 JAN 2018 AT 12:43 ET

    Jared Kushner — the president’s son-in-law, senior White House adviser and “de facto second Secretary of State” — reportedly can’t be bothered to learn about international alliances.

    According to a new Politico Magazine report, Kushner showed little interest in maintaining long-standing U.S. alliances, especially in Western Europe.

    “He told me, ‘I’m a businessman, and I don’t care about the past. Old allies can be enemies, or enemies can be friends,’ so the past doesn’t count,” one official told the magazine. “I was taken aback. It was frightening.”

    Kushner has taken an unusually active diplomatic role, and was reportedly the driving factor behind the controversial White House effort to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

    https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/jared-kushner-willing-to-blow-up-us-alliances-im-a-businessman-i-dont-care-about-the-past/

  19. 19.

    Roger Moore

    @germy:
    Oh noes! A grand jury in Washington DC has membership that looks remotely like the population of Washington DC! How can Trump ever get a fair shake if he can’t have a jury composed entirely of rich white men?

  23. 23.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @rikyrah: Jared Kushner willing to blow up US alliances: ‘I’m a businessman,

    and Prince Charles earned every farthing, every acre and every Rolls

  28. 28.

    Roger Moore

    @rikyrah:

    He told me, ‘I’m a businessman, and I don’t care about the past.

    Because good businessmen are always willing to sell out their longstanding associates for a quick buck.

  32. 32.

    tobie

    @Gex: Damn! With all this shit going down, I’d feel a lot better if I knew Al Franken was still in the Senate. I still haven’t forgiven Gillibrand for the role she played in pushing him out the door.

  37. 37.

    germy

    @Yarrow:

    If Michele Bachmann does run for Senator I wonder what will come out about her husband.

    He’s her biggest booster.

  38. 38.

    Emerald

    @Gex: @Yarrow:
    Sadness.
    I really think the Dems are going to regret this.
    However, ya can’t keep Al Franken down, so maybe this will lead to him getting even more influence somehow in the future.
    Honestly, he turned out to be our most effective senator.

  40. 40.

    Gin & Tonic

    @rikyrah: Some fucking “businessman.” If he didn’t have Daddy’s money or daddy-in-law’s connections he’d be selling rent-to-own appliances in fucking Dubuque.

  41. 41.

    Peale

    @tobie: if Dem voters do their Dem voter thing and sit out voting because they aren’t inspired and we end up with Bachman in the senate I’m not going to happy.

  42. 42.

    Mike J

    @Yarrow:

    I doubt jurors would be wearing “peace t-shirts.” Doesn’t meet the dress code.

    When’s the last time you saw a jury? I was one of two or three with a tie in my jury pool of 100 this past October.

  44. 44.

    Schlemazel

    I think ‘ol batshit has pretty much burned herself out everywhere but Sterns County (the shithole of Central MN & her home base). I honestly don’t think she can win the nomination if there is more than a couple of other candidates. I am more concerned about her Congressional successor, Tom Emmer. He is not crazy, just evil & he plays the wingnuts like a cheap ukulele. Brand new Congresshit Jason Lewis who was the perfect descendant of John Kline in every way is also a bigger concern. I am sure the GOP would love to have a woman but I don’t know any with state-wide recognition or reputation.

    My big concern is that Ms. SMith also has no recognition or reputation but I am sure the Koch whores will create one for her shortly. Because Klobuchar is such a bland wisp of vapor wrapped in cotton candy her seat is safe. I expect the Kochs to ‘sacrifice’ her seat this fall but put a great deal of time & money into the other seat. Batshit would be a perfect sacrificial lamb against Klobuchar & keep the christian taliban money coming in. But they are going to want someone with name recognition and experience running outside of redneckville. (Emmer ran for Governor, Lewis was a radio loudmouth for years)

  45. 45.

    Schlemazel

    @germy:
    People should note that Sen. Klobuchar sits on that same committee. Anyone here remember her searing of sessions BS?

    If you don’t remember that there may be a good reason.

  46. 46.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    to borrow from the Chris Hayes program…
    Thing 1

    @ NateSilver538
    Gotta be honest: On a night like tonight, I’m still pretty pissed at those journalists and news organizations which treated Hillary Clinton’s email server as a matter of apocalyptic importance.

    Thing 2

    Josh Dawsey‏Verified account @ jdawsey1
    She was Secretary of State and communicated almost exclusively over a private email server in her basement.

    yes, that is young Master Dawsey’s direct response to Silver. Today. After a year of this.

  49. 49.

    Yarrow

    @Schlemazel: The two Senators from MN will be Tina and Amy. There’s a real opportunity to get Tina Fey and Amy Poehler in for some great ads.

  50. 50.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Peale:

    if Dem voters do their Dem voter thing and sit out voting because they aren’t inspired

    A year after Trump’s election, Democrats are still motivated enough to have kicked unprecedented, unholy levels of ass in every election. While nothing is ever certain, it’s a good sign.

  52. 52.

    JMG

    @Patricia Kayden: Dawsey is one of the Washington reporters who will never ever admit he was not only wrong (any reporter can be wrong) but made a big deal out of nothing from motives born of sexism and pure nastiness.

  53. 53.

    spudgun

    Interrupting the convo (well, only sort of, since technically this is an open thread) for a quick question: is the link to the 2018 BJ Calendar still borked? I remember the topic being mentioned in a thread from a couple of days ago, but haven’t seen any updates. I just tried a few times and I keep getting an empty page.

  55. 55.

    burnspbesq

    @nycmt:

    I am shocked that the New York Post corporate counsel let that be published

    I’m willing to bet that the lawyers gave the appropriate advice, which was ignored.

  57. 57.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @germy:

    Natasha Bertrand Retweeted Matthew Miller
    I was pitched this “story” about a month back and genuinely thought the person was joking.
    The convo went something like:
    Me: “What are you implying”
    Person: “Just that they don’t seem like they’d be sympathetic to Republicans, that’s all.”
    Me: “I can’t. write. that.”

  58. 58.

    germy

    Sen. Orrin Hatch Was Voted Into Congress the Same Year Atari 2600 Was Released.

    83-year-old Hatch has served since 1977, when the Atari 2600 was released and came with nine games, two joysticks and sold for $199. Hatch has been in Congress so long that he was in office when Saturday Night Fever premiered, starring John Travolta.

  60. 60.

    Gin & Tonic

    @burnspbesq: See, it’s disputes like this that led me to write “Dubuque.” Everybody knows that Dubuque is Podunk.

    Although I could have said Ho-Ho-Kus, just because of the orthography lulz.

  61. 61.

    Another Scott

    @spudgun: Sure seems to be. :-( It’s impossible (for me anyway) to predict the 2018 product URL from the 2017 version, and looking at the page source doesn’t point me to anything useful. Maybe M^4 or some other guru can see what’s wrong.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  62. 62.

    cmorenc

    Who would make the most repulsively sanctimonious, idiotic, destructive potential new female GOP senator in 2018, should we be so unfortunate that at least one wins election – Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, or Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota? That question reminds me of the child’s gross-out one-upsmanship game that goes along the lines: “would you rather slide down a banister made of razor blades or swim across a lake of bloody snot?” (and another kid tries to top that Hobson’s choice). Except we really might have to put up with one or both alternatives if either of these evil witches wins.

  63. 63.

    Adam L Silverman

    @germy: She’s been out of the woodwork for a while. She’s beloved of the 2nd Amendment absolutist crowd.

  66. 66.

    Schlemazel

    @Yarrow:
    Perhaps but it is still a huge loss as MN now has no Senators representing us. One is an empty suit that appears happy to remain that way. The other is an enigma even to people inside the DFL and will not have had time to make a name for herself before November. That means while the alleged Tina Fey ad is running it will be 6 months behind the Kock whores tell us ‘who she really is’.

  69. 69.

    James E. Powell

    All over America people are yearning for reassurance that Tina Smith is nothing like Martha Coakley.

  70. 70.

    tobie

    @Peale: I won’t be happy if people sit out elections either. I have no clue what the enthusiasm level will be for Tina Smith when the Senate seat is on the ballot but I sure wish members of the party had thought about it before pushing Franken out.

  71. 71.

    Jeffro

    @germy:

    One word ambitious followers never hear the Lord say: “No.” Which makes it rather awkward if they lose: to have been so publicly pranked by your Personal Savior. https://t.co/2HkEWWqY0W— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) January 2, 2018

    I know, right? And more generally, why does their god ALWAYS tell them what they want to hear? Little crimes or grand larceny, their god always seems to excuse whatever they want excused.

    Meanwhile, atheist, agnostic, or religious, Dems are basically living The Golden Rule and have their morals questioned by virtue of being…Democrats.

  72. 72.

    Schlemazel

    @tobie:
    The party is going to be working hard to GOtV but MN is close currently, more purple than blue. That is one factor that makes an unknown candidate a problem. Also, with both seats on the ballot this fall instead of just Klobuchar’s the GOPs chances are better because they will generate a lot of noise making it hard for reason to be heard.

    Even if Smith is an Amy level empty suit I will be working for her this fall because what choice do we have? I am praying to Pasta that this falls wave is enormous.

  73. 73.

    eemom

    @germy:

    Hatch has been in Congress so long that he was in office when Saturday Night Fever premiered, starring John Travolta.

    What’s a John Travolta? Some kind of archosaur?

    That was SO written by a millennial.

  78. 78.

    Adam L Silverman

    @father pusbucket: Almost every tweet today has been sent approximately 1/2 an hour to forty-five minutes after the subject of the tweet was dealt with on Fox News.

  81. 81.

    jonas

    @Yarrow:

    If Michele Bachmann does run for Senator I wonder what will come out about her husband.

    One of the greatest bits ever on the The Daily Show with Jon Stewart a few years back was when Jerry Seinfeld was his guest and they did this bit about Marcus Bachman, with Jon insinuating…well, you know, but wanting to know how to stop and Jerry explaining to him that his desire to mock Bachman was a lifestyle choice, and that if he really wanted to, he could stop these urges. Stewart tries to repress himself for a few moments and then blurts out “My God…but he still calls Top Gun ‘that volleyball movie!!”

  83. 83.

    JMG

    The assumption that Lt. Gov. Smith is vulnerable seems to rest on nothing more than the usual Democratic fret and fear that all is lost long before the game even starts. Show me some polling or rest easier.

  84. 84.

    Fair Economist

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Almost every tweet today has been sent approximately 1/2 an hour to forty-five minutes after the subject of the tweet was dealt with on Fox News.

    He thinks slowly or types slowly. Shocking.

  85. 85.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: In this case, because it was after he was done working (whatever that actually means), it was only two minutes. What this tells me is either they left this out of the verbal portion of his PDB this morning in order to not set him off or he wasn’t paying attention when they briefed it. I’m guessing it was the former. They put it in the read book, which he doesn’t read, and left it out of the verbal brief.

  87. 87.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Fair Economist: No. During the work day (whatever that means for the President), he DVRs Fox News’s programming and then watches it in bits and bobs when he gets a chance. Between meetings. During lunch. Things like that. So that’s why the delay from about 8 AM till about 5 or 6 PM. After hours he goes up to the residence, turns on the TV, and catches up while talking on the phone to a variety of folks. So the time between when it is on Fox and when he tweets diminishes.

  88. 88.

    grubert

    It’s almost as if the Democratic leadership *wants* to be ineffective and weak.

    This whole business is smelling more and more like “good cop, bad cop.”

    Yes, I’m still pissed about the Franken thing. Cancel my vote, will ya, you bunch of moral scolds?

    Gonna help the Minnesota DFL, but DNC solicitors will get an earful.

  90. 90.

    hellslittlestangel

    Michele Bachmann: “I can promise the people of Minnesota that my husband Marcus has never grabbed a woman’s ass — not even mine!”

  92. 92.

    father pusbucket

    Is there any way Twitter could be pressured to pull the plug on this guy? (Not a new idea, I know.) He is literally threatening the lives of billions at this point. What if he had to organize a presser every time he wanted to say something stupid?

  93. 93.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: It still blows my mind that with access to, in all likelihood, the world’s best news and up-to-the-minute information, this moron still leans so hard on Faux News. I mean, we all know about his fragile ego…we know that most people prefer to have their biases confirmed rather than challenged…and yet it is still shocking to think of the ‘leader of the free world’ trying to hurry through meetings, policy briefings, and national security updates just so he can get back to watching Pravda Lite.

  94. 94.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @germy:

    “The grand jury room looks like a Bernie Sanders rally,”

    Don’t think they’re Bernie voters. Hillz won DC by 79%

  96. 96.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jeffro: @Adam L Silverman: It still blows my mind that with access to, in all likelihood, the world’s best news and up-to-the-minute information, this moron still leans so hard on Faux News.

    Obama said just the other day, I believe, that he didn’t watch cable TV news, because anything they knew he had known for a while

  97. 97.

    Schlemazel

    @JMG:
    I have 60 years experience in DFL politics. Todays poll will tell you nothing. We have learned from hard earned experience not to count on the voters here since the iron miners stopped having unions and the range went wingnut.

    Franken was known & liked even by some Republicans. There is nothing the GOP could throw at him that was not old news & already well handled. We don’t know anything about Smith but the Kochs had 11 months to tell us all about her. If that does not scare you than the problem is yours.

  98. 98.

    tobie

    @Schlemazel: Thanks in advance for working to get out the vote next Nov in Minnesota. I’m in Maryland and we’ve been having brisk days in the teens but that’s probably like a mild winter day for you folks in the great north. We’ve got a governor’s race coming up and for the first time in a long while I’ll do GOTV in Maryland. Usually PA seems more critical but not this year.

  99. 99.

    Luthe

    As this is an open thread: has there been an update from Lalophobia about their heat situation?

  104. 104.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jeffro: He doesn’t believe in any component of the institutional Federal government. Because he doesn’t understand it. Because he really can’t control it. And he’s incredibly insecure. So having a whole bunch of smart people preparing the information to tell him what he needs to know rubs him the wrong way. He knows what he needs to know and no one is going to tell him otherwise. On top of that he believes the intel community has been and is out to undermine him.

  109. 109.

    Viva BrisVegas

    if you’re trying to stand for biblical principles

    Bachmann wouldn’t know biblical principles if they bit her on the arse.

    Proverbs 29:7
    “The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.”

  110. 110.

    Mnemosyne

    I do not live in MN so the best I’ll be able to do is donate to the Democratic senatorial candidates, but if Bachmann does win Franken’s seat, I reserve the right to come back here and point a finger at all of the assholes who claimed that his resignation couldn’t possibly hurt the Democrats. I have receipts, jackholes.

  111. 111.

    lgerard

    @Jeffro:

    It still blows my mind that with access to, in all likelihood, the world’s best news and up-to-the-minute information, this moron still leans so hard on Faux News

    I don’ think it matters what he watches or where he “gets information” from, he just believes what he wants to believe. I read that he was pleased with his recent interview with the NYT because “everyone was talking about it the next day”. The fact that 99.9% of those conversations were WTF! This guy is crazy! seems to be immaterial to him.

  112. 112.

    Tazj

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: They wanted everyone to believe that there was something especially nefarious about the server being in the basement, implying that it wasn’t secure at all and was just some flimsy set up that any one of us would have. They also skipped over the fact that the most highly confidential information isn’t sent by email at all. They deliberately obscured facts and confused people to make the email story more scandalous than it was.

  113. 113.

    NMgal

    @Jeffro: He would have access to such a trove if he knew enough to seek it and enough brains to trust it, methinks. As Adam subsequently insinuated, his information feed is controlled by people who actually comprehend the facts and how the president* will misunderstand or misuse them. Most likely, they delay, obfuscate, deflect as they perceive best. This sucks in theory, as normally one would want the ostensible leader of the “free world” to get up-to-the-minute information, not have it curated to such an extent by the secret bureaucracy. In Cheeto Ceaucescu practice, this gatekeeping is necessary.

  115. 115.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NMgal: The news reporting indicates that they put material they think will set him off in the read book of his PDB, not in the verbal briefing. This is to prevent him from overreacting, both in decision making and through his strategic miscommunication on twitter and during off the cuff unprepared remarks to media sprays and pools. The other thing that has been reported is that his actual primary intel briefer is Director of Central Intelligence Pompeo, not a dedicated career analyst.

  116. 116.

    Emma

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: no, but he sure as hell uses it all better. The Prince’s Trust raises millions of pounds every year to educate young people and help them start new businesses. Last time I looked, they had helped over 800,000 young folk of every background and race. Can you imagine our little cut-rate would-be princeling doing anywhere as much?

  117. 117.

    Jeffro

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Are you referring to Fake News from the failed media and disinformation from the Deep State?

    That would be them, yup. You know, the ones who are supposedly going to get ‘awards’ from Trumpov Himself next Monday at 5:00?
    /unbelievable

    @Adam L Silverman:

    So having a whole bunch of smart people preparing the information to tell him what he needs to know rubs him the wrong way. He knows what he needs to know and no one is going to tell him otherwise

    Oh, absolutely. His comments in that last NYT interview were astonishing – “smarter than the best CPA, knows more about health care than most anyone”, something like that. Sure thing, mr president*…

  118. 118.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Raven: still riding high from last night! Wish I’d pulled the trigger and gone—you made the right call!

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