Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. don’t touch it.”

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

The willow is too close to the house.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

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

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

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

No Justins, No Peace

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

Let’s finish the job.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

The revolution will be supervised.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / Thursday Morning Open Thread: One Can But Hope

Thursday Morning Open Thread: One Can But Hope

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(Drew Sheneman via GoComics.com)
.

Man’s a known germaphobe, maybe he’ll get an urge to feel clean inside as well as out.

Or he could stroke out, after reading the latest from Hollywood Reporter:

Michael Wolff’s controversial Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House is coming to television.

Endeavor Content — the financing and sales arm formed in October between sister companies William Morris Endeavor and IMG — has purchased film and television rights to the No. 1 best-selling book. The massive deal is said to be in the seven-figure range. Endeavor Content plans to adapt the book as a TV series. A network is not yet attached, as Endeavor will now begin shopping the project.

Wolff will executive produce the series, with veteran Channel 4 and BBC executive Michael Jackson — now CEO of indie producer Two Cities Television — also on board to produce…

… Fire and Fury debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list, based only on the first two days of sales. In less than a week, the publisher reported more than 1.4 million hardcovers on order and 700,000 copies shipped, making it the fastest-selling nonfiction book in the company’s history.

To date, rights to the book have been sold in 32 countries. It is currently the best-selling book of any genre worldwide. (A Spanish-language edition is set for Feb. 28, with subsequent takes in Arabic, Albanian, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Japanese, French, German and other languages also planned.)

Fire and Fury comes to the small screen after HBO canceled a planned series based on the 2016 election in what was poised to be a Game Change sequel of sorts. The pay cabler scrapped the project after sexual harassment allegations emerged regarding source material co-author Mark Halperin, who was poised to pen the script alongside John Heilemann. That opened the door for a Trump tell-all, with demand high for Fire and Fury given Wolff’s cinematic writing and fly-on-the-wall detail…

My only question: Will there be a laugh track? Or is this more of a Stephen-King’s-It-remake deal?

Speaking of heartburn, not to mention scary tales for the GOP:

Reader Interactions

140Comments

  5. 5.

    Gvg

    I think all that executive time is because no one wants to see him. People have learned he doesn’t keep his word and even excessive flattery isn’t any use. Everyone is deciding to just work around him, especially world leaders. Lord, is he bad for US interests.

  8. 8.

    Patricia Kayden

    Trump may still be popular among his smallish base but I don’t see how he will motivate anyone outside of his base to vote Republican. He’s an embarrassment to any rational human being. Which President tweets about “Fake News Awards”? Such a petty bully.

  9. 9.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Charlie Sykes ✔ @SykesCharlie

    Prominent WI Republican: “We are losing independent and educated women in droves.”

    9:10 PM – Jan 16, 2018

    137 137 Replies
    571 571 Retweets

    but, but…. I was told we should target white non college men.

  12. 12.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Quinnipiac Poll — Jan 17 — (link)

    ***Drumpf***

    Approve…………………..38%
    Disapprove………………57%

    ***Oprah Winfrey***

    Approve…………………..47%
    Disapprove………………33%

    ***Joe Biden***

    Approve…………………..53%
    Disapprove………………29%

    ***[Expletive Deleted]***

    Approve…………………..48%
    Disapprove………………38%

    Handsome Joe is the only one with positive numbers among white-non college (42-39). In the same demo Oprah is underwater (33-47) and [Expletive Deleted] is also underwater (35-51).

  16. 16.

    Immanentize

    @Quinerly: And thinking of his son and daughter in law. I truly feel for them and fear such an accident in my own family. Good luck to all.

  22. 22.

    Quinerly

    @Immanentize: I’m trying to find out if our mutual St. Louis friend knows anything. She knows Ozark’s other son very well. Talked to her yesterday. She’s looking after my house while I’m gone. Saw Ozark’s post on a rest area stop late in the day.

  24. 24.

    Chyron HR

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    In the white non-college demo [Expletive Deleted] is also underwater (35-51).

    No, see, he’s their champion and they are his chosen people. They yearn for the democratic socialist policies that only he can provide. Republican voters only vote for Republicans because Democrats aren’t left-wing enough. He would have won.

  28. 28.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Baud: I’m just trying something different cuz too many people show up for the other word.

    beetlejuice! beetlejuice! beetlejuice!

  32. 32.

    Citizen Alan

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    I find the Biden numbers exasperating. People don’t like Joe Biden. People like the amusing genial parody of Joe Biden that is seen in Onion articles and internet memes. In any actual race where Biden is the nominee, you would have to address his role in both the Anita Hill hearing and the passage of the bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005, both of which might will be deal breakers with certain parts of the Obama coalition.

  33. 33.

    debbie

    Someone’s scared. Now tweeting that the Wall was never intended to be an unbroken, solid edifice, and Mexico is still going to pay for it.

    The Wall is the Wall, it has never changed or evolved from the first day I conceived of it. Parts will be, of necessity, see through and it was never intended to be built in areas where there is natural protection such as mountains, wastelands or tough rivers or water…..— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018

    ….The Wall will be paid for, directly or indirectly, or through longer term reimbursement, by Mexico, which has a ridiculous $71 billion dollar trade surplus with the U.S. The $20 billion dollar Wall is “peanuts” compared to what Mexico makes from the U.S. NAFTA is a bad joke!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018

  35. 35.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Immanentize: You’re welcome, I’m checking out some different programs to get these timelapses to work without flickering and reduce the amount of noise* in the pics.

    *You don’t see as much of the noise on youtube as I do since I look at the 4k mp4.

  36. 36.

    Amir Khalid

    @debbie:
    The numbers wouldn’t have been that much different before l’affaire “shithole”, I think. It’s just one of the continuing series of President Trump’s assaults on America’s good name.

  49. 49.

    Amir Khalid

    I’m having a little trouble understanding this “Tide pod” thing. Are there really teenagers eating detergent sachets and getting sick?

  53. 53.

    Patricia Kayden

    @matt: I’m so old I remember Republicans flipping out whenever President Obama went on vacation or golfing or when he read from a teleprompter. They have zero problems with Orange Bigot doing the same which is odd.

  56. 56.

    satby

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Well after the shitshow currently squatting in the WH, I think Joe would do the best he’s ever done. I hope he doesn’t run, he’s too old, but he would be light years better than the other two polled.

  57. 57.

    Peale

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: that’s the thing. They aren’t doing it to get high. There isn’t even a legend that you can get high from tide pods. If they could get high, I could understand the phenomena more.

  61. 61.

    Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    @Citizen Alan:

    In any actual race where Biden is the nominee, you would have to address his role in both the Anita Hill hearing and the passage of the bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005, both of which might will be deal breakers with certain parts of the Obama coalition.

    I had forgotten about that.
    While I would vote for Biden in the general, I would not be able to support him in the primary.

  62. 62.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: Trump, or whoever is writing the tweets, is sub-tweeting Kelly, who rather insulting implied that Trump was talking out of his ass on The Wall during the campaign and “evolved” on the issue once he encountered reality.

  64. 64.

    MJS

    @Baud: Yes, I suspect it’s Kelly. He apparently told the Hispanic Caucus yesterday that candidate Trump was “uninformed” regarding the wall, there was no way it was ever going to cover 2100 miles, and that no, Mexico would not be paying for any portion of it. Based on what I read (and I don’t remember now where I read it), it sounded to me like Kelly was looking for an exit strategy for himself, that’s how diametrically opposed it was to everything Trump ever said about the wall.

  67. 67.

    Chet

    That Gallup poll is good data for refuting wingers who boast about ‘Merca being respected again. Wait, silly me.

  68. 68.

    bystander

    @Patricia Kayden: You have to admit, tho, that when we found out Obama had paid off a porn worker to the tune of $130,000, the news was met with the same sophisticated equanimity accorded Trump. OTOH, the words Obama heard in church spoken by the minister, now, that was worth all the brouhaha.

  69. 69.

    James E Powell

    @Patricia Kayden:

    It will help Republicans because the local press/media will treat him like a celebrity and his arrival will be an event that crowds out all other stories. The coverage will feature interviews with local Trump supporters. He will definitely get his people to come out.

  72. 72.

    Baud

    @bystander:

    You have to admit, tho, that when we found out Obama had paid off a porn worker to the tune of $130,000, the news was met with the same sophisticated equanimity accorded Trump.

    Snarky truth.

  73. 73.

    bystander

    @Betty Cracker:

    …”evolved” on the issue once he encountered reality…

    Obviously Kelly has seen those cartoons showing the devolution of fish to man to twitler.

  74. 74.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    OT: If anyone wants to do light to moderate photo editing(and you know I encourage photo editing), I ran across this program(Photo Editor Pro by Polarr) earlier this month. It works on Windoze, Mac, Chromebook, and Linux and is not overly pricey at $20 right now(it was $10 over the holidays).

    ETA: While I use Lightroom and Photoshop since I’m a snob, I bought a copy when it was $10 and was quite impressed with it’s features and it’s ease of use.

  75. 75.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Quinerly:

    The present situation represents a marked change in the status quo since Obama’s presidency, when the image of U.S. leadership remained relatively strong worldwide. In Obama’s last year in office, for example, the U.S. led Germany by seven points, China by 17 points and Russia by 22 points.

    The current rankings instead look more like a return to the status quo during the last year of the Bush administration — with Germany on top, followed by China, the U.S. and then Russia — except now, the U.S. has even more ground to make up.

    So now Angela Merkel is the Leader of the Free World. Good to know. By electing an egomaniac to the office of the Presidency, the U.S. has given up that role.

  77. 77.

    MJS

    @Patricia Kayden: Germany the leader of the free world? Oy. They’ve historically done poorly when seeking to lead. But America NOT the leader of the free world with Trump at the helm? I’m more than okay with that.

  78. 78.

    Jeffro

    Funniest thing I read all morning (from the normally not-funny Dana Milbank): Is Trumpov’s Doctor Okay?

    Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson was so effusive in extolling the totally amazing, surpassingly marvelous, superbly stupendous and extremely awesome health of the president that the doctor sounded almost Trumpian. “The president’s overall health is excellent,” he said, repeating “excellent” eight times: “Hands down, there’s no question that he is in the excellent range. . . . I put out in the statement that the president’s health is excellent, because his overall health is excellent. . . . Overall, he has very, very good health. Excellent health.”

    And just how excellent is His Excellency’s excellent health, doctor? “Incredible cardiac fitness,” was Dr. Jackson’s professional opinion. “He has incredible genes. . . . He has incredibly good genes, and it’s just the way God made him.”

    Actually that was the only funny part. Then the questions began:

    Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN, making a rare house call to the White House briefing room, offered a second opinion. “He is taking a cholesterol-lowering medication, he has evidence of heart disease, and he’s borderline obese,” Gupta pointed out, citing Jackson’s own findings. “Can you characterize that as excellent health?”

    Oh wait…the really-not-funny part…

    Jackson has been a well-regarded doctor. But since finding himself in Trump’s orbit, he has adopted the hyperbolic style and excessive flattery of the boss that we see in other, previously respectable members of Trump’s court.

    We see it in the once-dignified Sen. Orrin Hatch suggesting Trump is on his way to being a better president than Lincoln or Washington, in Rep. Kevin McCarthy collecting pink and red Starburst candy for Trump, in the lies told by Sens. Tom Cotton and David Perdue and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to cover for Trump’s racist outburst, and in the fawning public performances by White House officials Stephen Miller and Sarah Huckabee Sanders. What makes them trash their dignity?

    I put the question to Bandy X. Lee, the Yale Medical School psychiatrist who compiled the controversial book “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” raising doubts about Trump’s mental fitness.

    Lee said the screening test Jackson gave Trump “gives the public a false sense of reassurance.” Indeed, Donald Trump Jr. used the results of the test in a tweet: “More #winning. 30 out of 30.”

    She said the test, though useful for detecting Alzheimer’s and the like, indicates little about “his high functioning, his frontal-lobe functioning, that we’re questioning.” To figure out what causes the worrisome traits President Trump exhibits — disordered decision-making, an insatiable need for affirmation, little impulse control, confusion about facts, difficulty foreseeing consequences — you’d need more extensive tests, a psychological exam and an MRI.

    But, in a sense, you don’t need a doctor’s diagnosis to see that there’s a lot of chaos and volatility in the presidential brain.

    That, Lee speculates, could explain powerful sycophancy that overcomes those who get close to Trump. “Those close to him are sensing this level of appeasement is necessary,” Lee speculated. They “feel they need to step in as a way to diminish his volatility and rage.”

  79. 79.

    satby

    My trip is coming up fast and I feel like I’m just not ready. After the last two times I went anywhere and the per sitting disasters that occurred, I would rather not go. But I booked it in May of 2016, and I changed the date four times. I have to go or lose all the money I paid. Ugh.

  82. 82.

    satby

    @Jeffro:

    “Those close to him are sensing this level of appeasement is necessary,” Lee speculated. They “feel they need to step in as a way to diminish his volatility and rage.”

    Very reassuring.

  83. 83.

    CarolDuhart2

    Too old? After Orange Cheeto I’m convinced nobody is too old anymore. About Biden’s runs: Back in 1988 he had the aneurysm, and in 2008 I heard he was running more for inner redemption, plus he was faced with Obama and Hillary, so he’s never gotten any real attention or traction.We have never seen Biden in a clear field with real funding and a real chance to make his case.

    Also, I think we underestimate Biden’s appeal to the Democratic base. Eight years of loyal service to Obama trumps a long-distant Anita Hill hearing and even the 2005 bill. As long as he apologizes for the first, and makes it clear there will be no repeat, and that if it makes his desk, a repeal/reform of the 2005 bill will be signed, he won’t have any trouble.

    It’s worth noticing that Trump really fears Biden. He can talk to those Pennsylvanian coal miner guys and the Obama coalition.
    Biden, the poorest Senator can call Trump out on his self-dealing, arrogant life, his bigotries, and his prejudice. Hillary had to be a lady. Biden has no such shackles around him.

  84. 84.

    bystander

    Just heard a panel on Moanin’ Joe decrying the assault on democracy’s? Guess who’s to blame. Right, Congress. Not the repubs in Congress but both sides do it.

  85. 85.

    danielx

    @satby:

    And I suspect it’s going to get worse. After November of this year, it’s almost guaranteed to get worse.

    The only consolation I derive from Trump’s election is that it will probably cause the demise of the Republican party.

  86. 86.

    PVDMichael

    Does anyone else see Trump’s “hush-money”/NDA situations as evidence that one can successfully blackmail Trump in order to keep damaging information from being released?

  88. 88.

    satby

    @danielx: and the clear unspoken statement is that they’re afraid of his volatility and rage, they know he’s unfit, and no one will do a damn thing about it. Including former military officers serving under him. Not a single patriot in the bunch.

  90. 90.

    NotMax

    Cannot be repeated too often.

    This is not normal. This is not the “new normal.” This is aberrant and perverse.

  92. 92.

    sherparick1

    @Magda in Black: Time to throw mine out the window. Alternatively, I will just set it permanently on TCM and MLBNETWORK and go back and forth between old movies and baseball while waiting for the apocalypse.

    By the way, there is an article in the WaPo and MSN on line about the press not printing the Stormy Daniels story before the 2016 election. It ends with this self-congratulatory comment (which also shows how little the Village Media really understands the rightwingers and their mind set – that because you refuse to tell them the fables they want to hear, you guys (MSM) will always be the enemy).

    “…. Although voters were left in the dark about Trump’s alleged relationship with Daniels before the election, news organizations’ reluctance to publish the story suggests a high level of professionalism, said Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute.
    “It is not clear whether any news organization had the hush-money story [or the affair itself] in a verifiable form prior to the election,” he said. “In journalism, you shouldn’t publish what you believe to be true. You should only publish what you can prove.””

    Unless of course it involves the Clintons.

  95. 95.

    Kay

    The NYTimes has more horrible political coverage. They have a piece on how Democrats are going far Left based on their support of DACA. That’s far Left now.

    “Whites only” immigration policy is the centrist position, I suppose.

    Their political team is horrible and it will continue to be horrible for the foreseeable future including the midterms because they don’t see any problems with it, so get used to it.

    In a way it doesn’t matter, because decisions only matter if there’s an actual decision to make and IMO there isn’t one here. Democrats can’t support whites only immigration policy. They shouldn’t make that deal whether they get blamed for the shutdown or not. What’s popular in West Virginia can’t be the center position for Democrats on immigration.

  99. 99.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Kay:

    They have a piece on how Democrats are going far Left based on their support of DACA. That’s far Left now.

    The vast majority of Americans support DACA so I guess we’re all far left now. **rolls eyes**

  100. 100.

    NotMax

    Minor, but good news nonetheless. :)

    Cranked out a loaf of port wine and bleu cheese bread that is to die for. Wasn’t totally pleased with previous attempts. Upping the amount of flour recommended in the recipe by about 20% was the key to success.

  102. 102.

    BC in Illinois

    @CarolDuhart2:

    I think we underestimate Biden’s appeal to the Democratic base. . . . It’s worth noticing that Trump really fears Biden. He can talk to those Pennsylvanian coal miner guys and the Obama coalition.

    We want Joe Biden on the campaign trail. At the side of every candidate for every office.

    In 2016, in St Louis, I heard Bill Clinton speak, I heard Hillary Clinton. Great rallies — they knew how to fire up the crowd. But the most fired-up crowd I heard all year was for a Jason Kander rally (at the “Pageant,” on Delmar), when Joe Biden spoke.

    Jason Kander (who has done magnificent work recently) was impressive, and I signed up that day to go knocking on doors for him. (I wasn’t very good at it.) But Joe Biden did more than impress us; he moved us. He speaks from a heart of conviction that this is all about real people’s lives. I would vote for him in a moment, but he’s seven years older than I am.

    I want him at the side of every candidate we run in 2018. Everywhere. I want someone to make a collection of videos of “the speeches of Joe Biden” and I want every candidate to watch it in their spare time.

    We WANT Joe Biden. We NEED Joe Biden. We will LOVE Joe Biden. On the stump. For everybody else.

  103. 103.

    Kay

    @Patricia Kayden:

    It’s that awful snarky coverage they used with Clinton all of 2016, where everything Democrats do is portrayed as cynical positioning.

    They portray Democrats as motivated solely by their efforts to run Left of each other, which on immigration is just not true. These are the same immigration positions Democrats have had for years. Corey Booker is pro-immigration. He’s never been anything BUT pro-immigration. The idea that Manchin is the “center” of the Democratic Party on immigration is nonsense, but it’s nonsense that helps Donald Trump, because it makes Trump’s position the national standard.

    Anyway. Doesn’t matter. They’ll have to overcome or get around the NYTimes leading crappy political coverage for another cycle because I don’t see them trading California for West Virginia. That’s not a compromise they can make. It’s akin to demanding Republicans all become pro-choice so they can win in …Connecticut. Ridiculous and not going to happen.

  106. 106.

    bemused

    Rightwingers will leave no stone unturned when it comes to increasing their bank accounts.

    Jennifer Carnahan, the new chair of Minnesota Republican party sent out a memo Dec. 14 saying she want a 10% commission on large donations to the MNGOP. The memo didn’t specify the amount of “large” donations but included a chart which would result in immediate payout of $24,500 in addition to her current annual basis salary of $67,000. Campaign finance experts say they have never of such an arrangement.

    Tim Pawlenty who immediately became a wall street bank lobbyist when he left governor office making seven figures was asked by Fox news if he would run for Franken’s seat. Pawlenty said he is “very interested in public service and service for the common good” and “there are a lot of ways to do that but running for Senate in 2018 won’t be part of those plans.”

  107. 107.

    Peale

    @Kay: why, I’ve never heard of a democrat supporting DACA until this week, I tell you. Those Democrats are sure shifty.

  108. 108.

    Kay

    So as far as I can tell that Wisconsin state upset winner won on two things- funding and supporting local governments and institutions and being trustworthy. She said “trustworthy”, is where I got it. That’s a good word you don’t hear a lot.

    This isn’t “genius super maverick businessman” stuff. Seems like a lot of them could follow her lead state-level. She supports the schools, the senior centers and the libraries and she thinks local government should remain within the democratic form of government rather than being run from Scott Walker’s Koch bunker in his basement. We can pull that off :)

  109. 109.

    Weaselone

    @Kay:
    I eagerly await the New York Times article calling out Democrats for going too far left due to their opposition to the Watering the Tree of Liberty with the Blood of Totally Unfair Fake News Reporters, No Really they’re Horrible, Believe Me Bill of 2019.

  110. 110.

    gvg

    @satby: “Not one will do anything about him” is a problem statement. We are a democracy and we are supposed to act by majority votes and such. One of my concerns was Trump clearly didn’t get the Presidency’s real powers and limitations. Anyway, none of the people we are yelling at including most Senators can actually do anything by realizing alone and saying he is unfit. It will make things worse if they say he is unfit to in Trumps face before they have enough agreement among Congress people to actually act. So yes they should oppose him somewhat in public but getting more of them in agreement is how he will be removed and that would have to be somewhat secret…otherwise we will have to find out how self pardons and firing prosecutors actually works out and I am not fond of that risk. Trump could really go wild with illegal orders and attempts to do never done things before if he realizes things have reached the almost definite impeachment point.
    I was wishing Congress could just repeal the debt limit because I don’t like the constant next deadline crisis if Congress was seriously trying to remove him. He could screw things up even more if he decided he hated us all.

  111. 111.

    Kay

    @Peale:

    They’re as evil and manipulative as Hillary Clinton, unlike that plain spoken NYC real estate heir. He speaks from his heart. Ignore the rough edges! He isn’t a “politician”. Underneath that racist, mean spirited exterior is a heart of gold.

    I don’t get the snarkiness. Why is that acceptable at that newspaper? The whole piece is the reporter rolling her eyes at how political they are. Poor Joe Manchin. He’s just try’in to get some stuff done and here comes that ambitious Corey Booker insisting his constituents be represented in Congress.

  112. 112.

    Lee

    Here is the reason for Twitler’s tweets this morning.

    Apparently Kelly told a bunch of people that Trump wasn’t getting his wall.

  115. 115.

    Lee

    Also regarding Trump’s doctor: My theory is was ordered to say & do exactly what he did. Either Trump ordered him as CiC or the doctor’s commander did it.

  116. 116.

    Amir Khalid

    @bemused:
    How is it not corrupt of a state party chairman to claim for herself 10% of all large donations to the party? Even if it’s not illegal because a political party is a private organisation, it smells very wrong. If I were a party member, I would call for a vote of no confidence.

  118. 118.

    BC in Illinois

    @Patricia Kayden:

    We also need the Obamas and the Clintons campaigning for our candidates. All hands on deck.

    Yes. Oh, yes.

    We want the energy, the enthusiasm, the excitement . . . along with the solid, knowledgable depth of the Bidens, Obamas, and Clintons. The devotion to country and empathy toward and delight in all kinds of people.
    We want these at the side of every candidate. Everywhere.

    ( Now. Where will we find news media who are interested in solid, knowledgable depth, devotion, and empathy? Hard to say. )

  119. 119.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @gvg: Even if you got rid of the debt limit, Congress still hasn’t passed a budget in years and has been funding government by continuing resolutions, so a shutdown can still occur if there isn’t an authorization to spend money even if they have the money.

  120. 120.

    CarolDuhart2

    But what if someone else doesn’t catch fire, isn’t ready to go? Would we really turn down old Joe? Yes, he’s old, but if he can reassure about health, or has a dynamic VP or could draw from a good field?

  121. 121.

    Patricia Kayden

    @bemused: Carnahan has been motivated by her Commander-in-Chief who is gritting the hell out of his gig in the White House. He’s so inspirational.

  122. 122.

    bemused

    @Amir Khalid:

    The MNGOP has spent the last 7 years struggling to pay for $2.2 million debt from 2010 guv campaign. Carnahan is touting that she has helped to pay the debt down to below $800,000 saying “the party’s finances are the brightest it’s been in over 6 years.”

    There has been blowback to the memo from both R’s and Dems. Republican chair of 8th district Lovdhal worried it could turn off a lot of big donors and said he has a “sickly feeling” the 14 member exec committee meeting this week will pass it.

  123. 123.

    bemused

    @Patricia Kayden:

    I think there is a lot to that. When the GOP and Trump WH has taken self-dealing to unlimited levels that Republicans from previous eras would not have dreamed possible without major repercussions. They are all going to up their self dealing because their chances of getting wealthier are greater while the risks are at an historic low.

  125. 125.

    J R in WV

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    So did you give up on the one by the bridge? This looks pretty good. I can see how easy it would be for thing to go sideways on those, any little thing and it looks jumpy.

  126. 126.

    J R in WV

    @satby:

    OK, where are you going? Across the pond? Which parts?

    Jackals need to know, so as to know what to demand you report on!

  127. 127.

    J R in WV

    @Ladyraxterinok:

    OzarkHillbilly’s younger son in New Orleans was run over by a car, both legs broken badly. Last report was guardedly optimistic, he was doing OK so far. Everyone would like to see an update, though, for obvious reasons.

  128. 128.

    J R in WV

    @Lee:

    I suspect they handed him a script with “excellent” in it 7 or 8 times, which is what it took to get the script approved by Dump. That would put a sour taste in any doctor’s mouth, even an Admiral.

  129. 129.

    Gelfling 545

    @Waldo: or at least shutting his big mouth for the duration. Will candidates be clamoring for his valuable assistance, do you think?

  133. 133.

    Gelfling 545

    @Amir Khalid: I suspect not. We frequently get these “young’uns on the high road to hell” alarms. Possibility exists that someone did, though maybe not.

  136. 136.

    Gelfling 545

    @Lee: I wonder what the protocol would be if the doctor did actually discover a serious issue. Clearly he couldn’t just announce it at a press conference due to national security considerations. Would he have to keep it quiet until Congress had been alerted? Though, obviously he wouldn’t go out and cheerlead as this guy did.

  137. 137.

    VincentN

    @Amir Khalid:

    I’m having a little trouble understanding this “Tide pod” thing. Are there really teenagers eating detergent sachets and getting sick?

    My understanding is that this is just the latest of stupid internet challenges (e.g., the cinnamon challenge, milk chugging challenge) where people are essentially taking the dare to ingest things that either shouldn’t be ingested or at least not ingested so quickly to show how tough and ‘cool’ they are.

  138. 138.

    SFAW

    @J R in WV:

    Shit. I’ve been intermittent here, missed that.

    Ozark: best wishes to your son, you and the family. Keeping my fingers crossed for a full and complete recovery.

  139. 139.

    tychay

    @Patricia Kayden: The Doug Jones internal polling showed that whenever Trump opened his mouth there was a small but sizeable shift to Roy Moore. Because enthusiasm wins elections in this electorate, Trump can theoretically help Republicans in the midterms.

    However Trump focused all his resources and capital on a single election in a very Red state and still lost. The Republicans are going to be bleeding across the entire map in the midterms and Trump is famously lazy.

  140. 140.

    Bonnie

    Maybe the RNC should pay his salary and other expenses (golf, etc.) instead of the taxpayers.

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