Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

He really is that stupid.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

This really is a full service blog.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: That State Dinner — Early Reviews

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: That State Dinner — Early Reviews

by | 150 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

I guess the good news is that Donny Dollhands didn’t try to return Louisiana to France, in hopes of pocketing the refund for himself…

From the Washington Post‘s style page:

… On an already symbolic evenin that carried the added pressure of being the Trumps’ foray into official diplomatic branding, the first couple managed to pull off the glitzy party in honor of French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, without any major glitches. There were the bigwigs gussied up in black tie, the fine china decorated in gold, the long red carpet, the thoughtful toasts. All in all it was a state dinner, but in and of itself that is something.

Remember back on the campaign trail when then-candidate Trump denounced state dinners altogether? Speaking about “China and others” who allegedly “ripped off” the United States, Trump said that the White House should “forget the state dinners that cost, by the way, a fortune.” Hamburgers, which POTUS unabashedly enjoys, and a conference table were all the pomp and circumstance he needed, so the campaign bombast went, to iron things out.

My, how things have changed…

The list was fairly standard for events like these, filled mostly with White House officials, cabinet members, the diplomatic corps and a smattering of surprise faces.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo breezed past the press without answering any questions about his nomination for secretary of state. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards was one of the few Democrats who made the cut. Apple CEO Tim Cook brought along former Obama administration EPA chief and current Apple environmental director Lisa Jackson. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch arrived with his wife, former model Jerry Hall, who said she was looking forward to “seeing the French president.” Managing head of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde, who is French, was slightly less enthused. “This is my third French dinner,” she said.

The most unexpected (and perhaps joy-filled) moment came when a seemingly unrecognizable couple arrived at the White House. (Don’t worry: their last name wasn’t Salahi.)

“Are we supposed to stop?” asked the man as he conferred with the woman standing next to him. To help jog the press’s memory “in case you guys don’t know who we are,” the pair pulled two giant medals seemingly out of nowhere. Still nothing? Remember the Olympics? In South Korea? Which would have been a “total failure” without President Trump? These two — curler John Shuster and ice hockey player Meghan Duggan — were there and won gold…

The three-course meal — “a showcase of the best of America’s cuisines,” according to the East Wing — featured rack of lamb served alongside jambalaya, a traditional Louisiana dish with heavy French influences. The Post’s food critic Tom Sietsema described the main course as “a lovely nod to the American South.” The wine that was paired with dinner all hailed from the West Coast and not from the president’s own winery in central Virginia…

Incidentally, looks like Ronny Jackson should’ve passed one more illicit dose of Adderall over to his most prominent patient…


(Until, of course, it turns out that Anton’s revenge involved poisoning those shrimp canapes.)

Reader Interactions

150Comments

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    blech.

    “They’re all saying what a great relationship we have, and they’re actually correct,” Trump gushed to the camera as the pair posed for photos. “It’s not fake news. Finally, it’s not fake news. It’s a great honor, a great honor that you’re here, in fact I’ll get that little piece of dandruff, that little piece …” Trump said. He then made a very public show of brushing invisible dandruff off Macron’s shoulder. “We have to make him perfect. He is perfect.” Meanwhile, Macron grinned and appeared somewhat lost for words as he subjected himself to this humiliation.

    Monsieur Macron? My I suggest the next time you reply, “Donald? you appear to have a booger on your shoulder, let me remove i… Mon Dieu!! It is your head!”

  6. 6.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Jimmy Vielkind
    ‏Verified account @JimmyVielkind
    8h8 hours ago

    With all precincts reporting, Steve Stern (D) has bested Janet Smitelli (R) for a Suffolk County #nyassembly seat. Has been in GOP hands since 1978.

    79 replies 1,079 retweets 3,706 likes

    Matthew Yglesias
    ‏Verified account @mattyglesias
    8h8 hours ago

    Assembly District 10 out on Long Island is so thoroughly terrorized by MS-13 that the Democrats flipped the seat running 11 points ahead of Clinton’s margin.

    10 replies 69 retweets 500 likes

  10. 10.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    The hosts of Fox News’ Outnumbered program on Tuesday lashed out at ABC White House correspondent Jonathan Karl after he asked President Donald Trump about the possibility of granting a pardon to embattled Trump attorney Michael Cohen.

    Hilarious – Fox eating their own (in this case, long time gop mole Jonathan Karl)

  11. 11.

    MattF

    Well, Trump’s sour tweet about Obama’s state dinner guests dates from 2012, so it’s only moderately evil. But it would be appropriate to do a fact-check, for the usual Trumpy reasons.

  12. 12.

    J R in WV

    Spring is here, now.

    I’m listening to (I think) Chorus Frogs mating in our tiny water drainage pond by the front door. They

    Pics soon, when Alain does it, from springs past. Tadpoles, salamanders, etc. Even a cat lurking over the water filled with tadppoles.

  13. 13.

    rikyrah

    ICYMI:

    Senator Tester brought receipts against the VA nominee.
    1. Hostile work environment.
    2. DRUNK WHILE ON DUTY TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

  18. 18.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    It is good, thank you. I agree with this:

    And in my case, it was also because a lot of those same people who said, “Don’t talk,” they did not want to face what happened in the 2016 election. So getting me off the stage was a way of ignoring everything that had gone on.

    Because it really is jarring, the difference in treatment- John Kerry wasn’t told to go away, Mitt Romney not only wasn’t told to go away he was actively encouraged to jump back in and we were told over and over how popular he is – he isn’t that popular. I mean he’s fine as far as a fake-centrist Republican goes but he’s just not loved in the way they make it out he is.

    John McCain ran for President several times and he has been in DC forever. Imagine anyone telling him “you’re so old, just shut up”

    I think it comes closest to the treatment of Gore- there was a lot of sighing that he adopted a political cause and wouldn’t just go away. They were uncomfortable with that election too- wanted to forget about it, put all the questionable parts about that election behind us. The public were basically ordered to stop talking about it and embrace Bush. The ink was barely dry on the SCOTUS decision and there was a decree issued that only “losers” would ever question any of it again. So it never was questioned. And voting process got much, much worse in the ensuing years, because Republicans took the 2000 election as a license to start suppressing minority votes in all 50 states.

  19. 19.

    Chyron HR

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    Assembly District 10 out on Long Island is so thoroughly terrorized by MS-13 that the Democrats flipped the seat running 11 points ahead of Clinton’s margin.

    “The fact that other Democrats are outperforming Clinton just proves that she was as terrible as the Armenian genocide hoax.” – The Young Turks, probably

  20. 20.

    Baud

    @Kay: Agreed. They are upset that we aren’t supporting Trump like Dems supported Bush, particularly after 9/11. Unfortunately, the people telling Clinton to go away is broader than the Village. That’s one difference between her and Gore.

  22. 22.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    That might be a productive thing for Democrats to look at- the Gore election and the Clinton election and media’s role in each.

    It felt the same to me a lot, like some decision had been made that they hated him and they were going to promote a specific narrative. Gore was really treated unfairly. He was presented as a liar and that’s just not a striking or stand-out element of that person. He had faults but he wasn’t especially deceptive. The NYTimes did this bizarre thing where they “feminized” him- using this horrible 1950’s version of “feminine”, where it means “like a girl, and girls are lesser”, so there’s a link to sexism there.

  25. 25.

    Baud

    @Kay: I think there are similarities, but you’ll probably always find those. Kerry wasn’t treated especially fairly by the media. Or Dukakis for that matter. Gore and Clinton are probably the most similar, however.

  28. 28.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I always feel bad for my eldest son because he really liked Gore – he was in high school so too young to vote- and he also really supported Clinton. He likes the people they hate :)

    He was nervous about the 2016 election ahead of other people I talked to. I put it down to his innate pessimism- he is genuinely a pessimist, to his core- but maybe he saw the commonality.

  30. 30.

    opiejeanne

    I would like to see more of Melania’s dress from the front. Something about the lighting or maybe she changed her makeup, but I didn’t recognize her because she looks a bit dowdy, and the dress ain’t helping. I saw a rear view and it makes her look wide.

  32. 32.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    He likes the people they hate

    As long as he remains a moral person, that will always be the case.

  34. 34.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Kerry was interesting as a candidate because I don’t think he cared that much. He seems to have a real sense of his weaknesses and an acceptance of them. He has the ability to stand outside himself and see what others see. Obama had it too. I think it’s where empathy comes from, which is amusing because it’s presented as “coldness”. It’s the ability to stand in someone else’s shoes. The opposite of “cold” and not at all arrogant.

  35. 35.

    bystander

    I like that people call out the efforts to normalize these monsters. Today WaPo is breathlessly telling us that last night’s state dinner was pivotal for Melania’s coming into being a real First Lady. A salaried staff member is all Melania is.

  36. 36.

    Baud

    I think it’s interesting that Macron proposed a new Iran deal. I think it’s a ploy to keep Trump from abandoning the current deal.

  38. 38.

    Baud

    @Kay: Kerry’s biggest problem was that he seems awkward on TV. Obama obviously did not have that problem.

  41. 41.

    Central Planning

    @Immanentize: There’s some really good technology packed into that little robot. Good luck out in Detriot. I love FIRST Robotics and have been a mentor on FRC teams for 8 years. If only other groups (like high school sports teams) could pick up the FIRST mantra of “gracious professionalism”…

    http://www.firstinspires.org for those who want to know more.

  43. 43.

    Kay

    @bystander:

    I think they’re going to have to tell people something about her if they plan to direct us to love her. She may as well have landed yesterday from space, for all anyone knows about her.

  46. 46.

    opiejeanne

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: My son went to summer camp at the Methodist camp at Sturtevant when he was about 11. Back then it was only accessible on foot or horseback, and all of the materials to build the camp had been brought in with horses. There was a slide at the pool when he went. Not sure if this is the same pool, and that was over 30 years ago so the slide is probably long gone.

  47. 47.

    Immanentize

    @Central Planning: FIRST has been berry berry good to the Immp. I hope the good tech extends to the very cool programming, because my son is the head programmer….

    FRC? Wow — good on you. We stayed with FTC, because $$$ for FRC. FIRST is big in Massachusetts, but Dean Kamen really wats tpspread it everywhere

  48. 48.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    It was more than that. He just really didn’t connect with Democrats here, which he knew. I thought it was kind of charming that he knew it – he didn’t try. He started one speech in Ohio with this kind of riff on how he was different than “us” but it wouldn’t matter because he shares policy goals. He has that distance- part of something but also watching it. It wouldn’t have worked anyway, pretending he was the same as them.

  53. 53.

    RedDirtGirl

    Good morning, Jackals! Just wanted to again thank all of you that gave advice regarding my cat Alice’s increasingly messy eating habits. I read about “whisker fatigue”, overstimulation of the whiskers caused by the sides of the food and water bowls, and am now using a pie plate for her food and a casserole dish for her water It’s already making a big difference!
    Also, too, my Heart and Soul box from Penzey’s arrived a day early! Have a great day, all!

  54. 54.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:
    You are right, Kay.
    I also think it goes back to, well, if Hillary would just shut up;
    1. Then we can get about the business of normalizing Dolt45
    2. We can floss over OUR role in all of this
    3. By making Hillary go away, then we can just shut up all those folks who won’t just let us have our Dolt45 Administration
    4. Hillary goes away, then we don’t have to acknowledge our professional malpractice in missing the huge story that was in front of our faces – RUSSIA.

    But, as I have said before..
    This isn’t 2000
    This isn’t even 2004, after they lied us into two wars

    This is something altogether different, and those in our side, haven’t given an inch. We wouldn’t let them shut Hillary up. We pointed our the double standard. We would not let them normalize Dolt45. We continue to bring 8 years of receipts collected during 44’s term.

  58. 58.

    Baud

    Sotomayor, yesterday.

    Immunizing corporations that violate human rights from liability under the ATS undermines the system of accountability for law-of-nations violations that the First Congress endeavored to impose. It allows these entities to take advantage of the significant benefits of the corporate
    form and enjoy fundamental rights, see, e.g., Citizens United v. Federal Election Comm’n, 558 U. S. 310 (2010); Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., 573 U. S. ___ (2014), without having to shoulder attendant fundamental responsibilities.

  60. 60.

    piratedan

    @Kay: I guess the question for me is how do you change the narrative? I mean what do the Democrats have to do to change the MSM perspectives and framing from being pro-GOP as a default?

    Do you challenge the reporters to be as informed as you are as a candidate? Does everyone we trot out there have to be well versed in damn near all things? For me the issue is expertise, it doesn’t matter if we have it if we can’t communicate it effectively in a way that average voters can consume… and since Dems are the only ones who are apparently fact checked it feels like its perpetually rolling that boulder up the hill. Conversely, the GOP gish-gallops the crap out of anything they get a great big freaking pass, yet when the Dems were crafting the ACA, suddenly we’re getting nuance in the level of reporting being done (and tbh, I would prefer informed nuance on ALL reporting) regarding what changes are taking place and what they might mean.

    I guess the other related question that nobody ever seems to offer, how the fuck do you stop making the News a revenue generating arm of the public network broadcasting? Why in the hell should there even be the sponsors for News, if there were no sponsors and its forced to be revenue neutral, its part and parcel of the public service for using the airwaves…well, at least in my world with the rose tinted glasses….

  62. 62.

    opiejeanne

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I didn’t realize the church had sold that camp.
    I remember the deer flies were eating us alive at the drop-off spot for the camp trail, at Chantry Flats.

    That parking area or one near it was the big scandalous make-out place when I was in HS. I knew a guy who drove off the side; he had graduated the year before and was dating one of my friends. He went up there to sit on the big rock (I guess that was A Thing then) after a date with her, and coming back down he left the road. It sent some shockwaves through the school and community.

  64. 64.

    BruceFromOhio

    From the FTNYT link above:

    So on Tuesday morning — clad in starched chef’s whites and wielding a knife — Mr. Anton, 48, stood at a table in the middle of a compact, busy kitchen, rows of silver pots hanging behind him. He expertly sliced rows of tiny crescent-shaped puff pastries that would be used to make shrimp canapés.

    This.. is actually kind of cool. Given, he’s another asshole in a party of assholes, and this does not give him a pass on any of that. Jumping in to prep and deliver on a state dinner is one of those things you just have to do, and Anton got his chance. To ask for it as a parting gift speaks to how important it was to him.

  65. 65.

    magurakurin

    @Baud: exactly. Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, Kerry, and HR Clinton all would have been vastly better presidents than the cretins they all lost to. And it was clearly obvious that they were the better choice. Better in every sense and definitely better for the “average Joe’s and Jane’s” that they weren’t able to “connect” with. Voting is a job hiring process not a dating service. The real problem in America is a lot of people suck and they find excuses to vote for others who suck, too. I don’t have any solution for that. I emigrated 20 years ago…

  73. 73.

    Neldob

    @Kay: “Let the banner burn and blow out on the winds of time, shining and streaming”. Love those younglings.

  76. 76.

    BruceFromOhio

    @piratedan: Good question (I know, you were asking Kay). Candidates have to:

    1) Be well-liked – anyone on background says “oh s/he is so great, we’ve been friends for years” and back-stabbers are few or easily dismissed;
    2) Be “likable,” that whole who-would-you-have-a-beer-with myth;
    3) Be consistent – speak to positions, platform, messages, sound bites, and stick with them;
    4) Take some risks – on the trail, after the speech, invite two or three press folk at random to sit down and talk uninterrupted for 30 minutes – no handlers, no lights, no bullshit; and make this a ‘prize’ for the pool;
    5) Take the money and be upfront about it – “Yes I accepted contributions from so-and-so – because of Citizens United, our political process is infused by cash, and I will accept the support of those that support my platform.”

    So basically you are looking for someone who simply cannot exist in the fucked up world we live in. Conclude we are stuck with this mess, and either have to work with what we have, or find some way to end-run around these GOP-loving shitheads in the major press.

  79. 79.

    opiejeanne

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Probably because of that incident and others like it. I never went there after dark but my HS driver class teacher had us drive up there and back down. I had no problem with it but a boy my age was nearly in tears by the time he got down off that hill. He wasn’t in my group when I took the class. The two cars were donated by a dealership and had a brake pedal on the passenger side that could override the driver.

  81. 81.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @opiejeanne: I’m old enough that we still had Driver’s Ed in high school* with the special cars that had the extra brake pedal on the passenger side. Now kids have to pay for private driver’s ed.

    *I think Prop. 13 killed that off, fuck Howard Jarvis.

  82. 82.

    Brachiator

    @Baud:

    I think it’s interesting that Macron proposed a new Iran deal. I think it’s a ploy to keep Trump from abandoning the current deal.

    Very perceptive. This point was raised in a BBC newscast yesterday.

    Unfortunately, this angered the shit out of Iran. A government official said that Iran sees the French president as weak and an unreliable negotiator for trying to please Trump.

    In the US, reporters want to pretend that only what Trump wants or believes is all that matters when it comes to foreign policy. But Iran is doing a little saber rattling, and implying that anything that endangered the current deal will leave them free to ramp up their nuclear program.

  83. 83.

    satby

    @Kay: there’s actually quite a bit of information in the public sphere about Melania, even if the type of “modelling” is a little glossed over in Wikipedia. But there’s been articles throughout the years, not just when bigmouth decided he wanted to play at presidenting.

  87. 87.

    Montanareddog

    @rikyrah:

    Same Iran Deal as 44’s, but will allow 45 to put his name on it.

    Agreed. But it is a dead letter, because Bolton/Pompeo/Cotton/Graham/Miller will get to Fatberg next.

    But what will the US do after repudiating the JCPOA? Reimpose sanctions which would be useless if the other JCPOA parties do not? Do nothing because Fatberg will just claim the win and move on to his next empty symbolic gesture?

    There is certainly no strategy there.

  88. 88.

    germy

    Dems Win New York Races, But Rogue Lawmaker Costs Them Full Control of State Government

    Democrats won two special elections for the New York State Senate on Tuesday, theoretically giving them a one-vote advantage in that chamber, and full control of state government, for the first time in years. However, in reality their dream of turning the state into a progressive haven was crushed by Simcha Felder, a Brooklyn Democrat who said he will continue caucusing with the Republicans.

  89. 89.

    Elizabelle

    The Trumps are imposters. They should not be there. It’s awful to have them in the White House, or flying Air Force One.

    Imposters. Illegitimate.

    And that was a strange WH dinner guest list. Heavy on WH staff and political donors. Not a Mercer in sight though, LOL.

  90. 90.

    guachi

    Looks like the final tally from AZ-08 special election was 5.2% GOP victory. It was 52.6%-47.4% so it rounds to 53-47 and 6% but it was closer to 5% just in case you see different reports.

    A great showing for Democrats and I’m sure you’ll see Cook Report and other handicappers adjusting their Solid/Likely/Lean/Toss-Up ratings in favor of Democrats. Cook Report, for example, has steadily seen an erosion of Solid Republican seats and mostly they end up piling up in the Toss-Up or Lean Republican category. There are currently about 25 Republican seats in each of the Likely Republican/Lean Republican/Toss-Up categories. That’s quite a lot. AZ-08, for example, was listed as a Likely Republican seat before the election and you can see how that turned out.

  97. 97.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    No offense taken. It IS sort of childish to think the President has to be exactly like you, though. Why shouldn’t he talk like he’s from Massachusets? That’s where he’s from. It’s just REALLY narrow to insist that they personally connect with the candidate. I have to say I felt he was going to lose. I worked really hard with his organizer here but I always assumed it was a worthwhile but losing effort. I’m okay with that, losing and trying anyway. It doesn’t really matter in my work- I work just as hard to lose as I do to win :)

    Bush was a better candidate than Democrats gave him credit for. Republicans adored him and low info voters thought he was acceptable- they liked him. But Kerry would have been a fine President. He might have been great.

  98. 98.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Baud:

    Hillary Clinton and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talk censorship, feminism, and Pizzagate

    Thank you for the link to that interview. I was particularly struck by Hillary’s reference to The Odyssey and the long history of the silencing of women. Can you imagine Tr….nah, won’t even go there.

  99. 99.

    opiejeanne

    @NotMax: Mine was a history teacher and a coach for either baseball or football, but not the varsity football coach.

  101. 101.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Immanentize:

    Here is the Immp’s team’s “Robot Reveal” which is now a big thing.

    Wow, that’s amazing. Best of luck to Immp and his team!

  103. 103.

    WaterGirl

    @NotMax: Mine was the math teacher, Mr. Ramsey. I really liked Mr. Ramsey and I loved math, but he smelled kind of like old b.o. and stale cigarettes, so it wasn’t fun to be in the car with him.

  104. 104.

    bemused

    @J R in WV:

    I love hearing the frogs start up their loud croaking in the spring. That’s when I know spring has arrived in the north country. Hopefully, we’ll hear them before the end of April but not likely. The temps just recently went above 50 and snow finally started melting.

  105. 105.

    Baud

    @Kay: Kerry probably couldn’t have stopped the financial crash, so he would have gotten blamed for it. But he would have been able to replace the Chief Justice after Rehnquist died. But I learned in 2016 that our voters don’t really care about the Supreme Court, so no big deal.

    @germy: Always be hawking.

  108. 108.

    Kay

    @ChelseaClinton
    Follow Follow @ChelseaClinton
    More
    Hi @amychozick! Hearing there are more tidbits about me in your book which were easily fact checked and you fact checked…none of them. Here’s an easy one: I’ve never gotten hair keratin treatment. The others would have been equally easy!

    I confess I love this. She deserves an opportunity to give them shit. This has been going on nearly her entire life

    I know, I know, move on. Except she’s a human being in addition to being famous and they earned her scorn and it’s very gratifying to me that she’s letting the tight self control slip and just letting them have it. I don’t even know what “hair keratin treatment” is and I don’t care but she’s right. It shouldn’t just be made up. Give ’em hell, Chelsea. About time.

  109. 109.

    Baud

    @Lapassionara: Yep. You’re not just electing a candidate, you’re electing a whole team of people. And when their candidate wins and ours loses, that means thousands of good people being shut out and thousands of bad people gaining power and experience.

  112. 112.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    It disappoints me about our voters, how they don’t care about the supreme court. They’re supposed to be so smart and that’s just dumb. They coulda had a decades-long majority, and they threw it away for fleeting outrage on Goldman speeches. Bad trade. Bad deal. It kills me. I try not to think about it. You could weep.

  113. 113.

    Aleta

    @J R in WV: @bemused:
    I heard what we call the peepers –the little frogs — about 10 days ago on Cape Cod. To me their sound is silvery, and it seems to get more silvery the further in the wilderness you get.
    I heard them again this week, it was either in NH or on the coast north of Portland –can’t remember where.

  114. 114.

    bemused

    @rikyrah:

    I noticed that yesterday. The evil wingnut mob was swamping her twitter feed. Made me sick. Reid is just too damn good at her job so they are doing a coordinated, all out assault on her.

  115. 115.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Ha, I was just posting the same comment before I saw yours. I so enjoy watching Chelsea drag Chozick around Twitter.

  117. 117.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    They couldn’t find the (public) records on Trump’s properties and bankruptcies but they really nailed that hair-straightening scandal.

    Democrats should hire 4 really hard working and boring people to review every public record Donald Trump has ever filed, or generated. This job is tailor made for me! I would adore that. They have to pay me though. I sort of love reading bankruptcy petitions. Bankruptcy courts are, in my opinion, a real underappreciated jewel in the US court system. Smart people work there.

  120. 120.

    satby

    @Kay: @schrodingers_cat: keratin is mostly what hair is made of. A keratin treatment is basically a conditioning coating that replenishes the hair and makes it more manageable and less frizzy, especially in high humidity. It’s an odd thing to even put in a book, much less falsify. It’s like claiming she uses a particular shampoo. Who cares?!?

  123. 123.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    The Clinton’s relationship with the press is too layered and weirdly personal and fucked up to figure out, but I’m thrilled she dropped her incredible self discipline and is just yelling at them. 30 years of pent up frustration.

    Lurking on twitter is the best. It’s very egalitarian. Mike Huckabee had to block you personally, which means you got to him. Ha!

  125. 125.

    Kathleen

    @Baud: Thank you for that. When I read interviews or her books I always feel comforted, like having conversation with old friend. I don’t think I’ll ever get over how horribly press and Slanders and his cult treated her. I’m still so angry.

  127. 127.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @rikyrah:
    5. They don’t have to listen to a woman. I think for most of the ‘Hillary should stop talking’ crowd, that is more important than anything else.

    @piratedan:
    There is nothing we can do to change the media narrative. Nothing. They are Republicans, and will frame everything from a Republican perspective. There is no winning an abusive relationship. Obama never succeeded. The best he got were backhanded compliments where you could hear how badly they wanted to call him ‘boy.’ Obama also has superhuman charisma and nobody cared how the pundits assured us he was cold and stiff and weak. Unfortunately, that’s not a strategy we can employ long-term. My best guess is, we take the lumps, tell the truth so it gets on the few friendly news spots, and put our effort into other things.

  129. 129.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @bystander:

    A salaried staff member is all Melania is.

    Trump’s live in dominatrix is all Melania is, but at lest she has the decency to step up to role that got dumped on her. Unlike Spanky.

  130. 130.

    Emma

    @Kay: Move on my arse. I hope she kicks them into the ground. I hope WE kick ALL OF THEM into the ground. Politely letting them take pot shots didn’t work. Now it’s time to shoot back.

  131. 131.

    bemused

    @Aleta:

    I’m not a frog expert but our spring croakers are super loud. I think some are gray tree frogs. Our next door neighbor has a low swampy area very near their house and they have to close windows if they want to hear the tv, etc.
    In summer, we will have lime green frogs hanging around, window screens. etc. They seem to like basking in the sun. We hear frog croaking during the day but I’m still not sure what breed of frog it is.

  132. 132.

    gene108

    @Kay:

    They couldn’t find the (public) records on Trump’s properties and bankruptcies but they really nailed that hair-straightening scandal.

    One of the first questions asked to Trump, in the first Republican debate (the one hosted by Megyn Kelly) was about how he can claim he’s good at business but has multiple bankruptcies.

    He blustered through it blaming the lawmakers on stage for creating such laws and enabling him. The sheer audacity on display was jarring and a bit impressive.

    I think that got the media to not worry about how bad he is at running a business, because of that one answer. Where he should of been on the defensive, he turned the tables with his answer jut got the media to think there’s no way we can get him on this because he’ll just bluster his way through and look good.

    Might as well focus on e-mail servers and hacked e-mails.

  133. 133.

    satby

    @gene108: no, that was the same debate where the follow-up discussions were about whether Kelly had “blood coming out of”… Because Drumpf knows how to manipulate the media and they fall for it every time. Discussing what a pig he was supplanted discussing what a failure as a business man he was.

  135. 135.

    Aleta

    @gene108:

    He blustered through it blaming the lawmakers on stage for creating such laws and enabling him. The sheer audacity on display was jarring and a bit impressive.
    Where he should of been on the defensive, he turned the tables
    his answer just got the media to think there’s no way we can get him on this because he’ll just bluster his way through and look good.

    That describes perfectly another thing he did and kept doing after that debate. Like you say, to change the subject. He also blamed Kelly’s question on hormones, and (I think on purpose) was crass and outrageous so the media would go after that story instead. Later when stories began to break about Russia he did something similar.

  137. 137.

    Barbara

    @Damned at Random: My favorite Michelle Obama state dinner gown of all time: Alexander McQueen

    I love it because I can’t think of too many other women who could wear this dress without the dress wearing them. I also like the asymmetrical shape, the full skirt and the fact that it’s patterned, all things that make it distinctive.

  138. 138.

    LanceThruster

    @Baud:

    Pizzagate was essentially dismissed with handwaving. Any interview that doesn’t address the unsavory aspects of the pictures on Alefantis’s Instagram account (or some of the musical performers at his “family” pizza restaurant), the perverse pedophiliac artwork of Tony Podesta, or try to get any sort of explanation/clarification of the pedophilia code words (as identified by the FBI) in the DNC emails, is merely running interference for Clinton. If it’s truly a big nothingburger, then addressing head on shouldn’t be a problem.

    Some of the art/performance pieces by Marina Abramovic are at least as salicious as Trump’s alleged pee tapes. I know there’s a history of powerful people dismissing any controversy over artists by pointing out that artists are a different breed, but it’s still worth delving into.

    I know guilt by association is a stretch, but these people were highly connected with the Clinton and Democratic machine.

  139. 139.

    Barbara

    @LanceThruster: I am not getting pulled off topic but it seems to me if you are alleging that someone is running an illegal activity of any kind from their basement you should at least check to see if they actually have a basement. And you know what? The owner of that restaurant should have sued every party that repeated that allegation for defamation. Just in case you didn’t know, it is per se libel — damages presumed — to falsely accuse someone of a crime. Stop doing it.

  142. 142.

    Emma

    @LanceThruster: Jesus Christ on a Harley. Really? Would you consider you landed in the wrong Universe by mistake? In this one the sky is blue, the grass is green, and Spock doesn’t wear a beard.

  147. 147.

    patrick II

    @piratedan:

    Why in the hell should there even be the sponsors for News, if there were no sponsors and its forced to be revenue neutral, its part and parcel of the public service for using the airwaves…well, at least in my world with the rose tinted glasses….

    I’m not sure that would make a difference anymore while corporations like the profits from news, but have come to value news programs even more for corporate friendly propaganda. FOX and Sinclair being prime examples.

  149. 149.

    patrick II

    @Steeplejack:
    Thanks. I guess it was wishful thinking that something that cool involving student intellectual activities would be televised.

Comments are closed.