Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

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

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Everybody saw this coming.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

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

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Monday Morning Open Thread: Just A Song At Twilight

Monday Morning Open Thread: Just A Song At Twilight

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From NYMag‘s Vulture blog:

There’s no telling what the political effectiveness will be, but in terms of driving President Trump completely up the wall, there are few protest ideas more powerful than Rosie O’Donnell singing show tunes outside the White House. According to the Associated Press, the SMILF star and one of Donald Trump’s many, many arch-nemeses is helping recruit Broadway performers for a musical protest this coming Monday, August 6. The demonstration is being organized by host Seth Rudetsky and producer James Wesley of, appropriately enough, Sirius XM’s On Broadway….

Variety has an interview:

…. O’Donnell is jumping on a bus on Monday in New York City to head to Washington, D.C. to perform musical numbers with a team of Broadway actors at the Kremlin Annex, a three-week-old nightly protest against President Donald Trump in front of the White House that encourages participants to be so loud that they hope the president will have trouble sleeping.

Variety caught up with O’Donnell at her apartment in New York City just hours after having flown home from the Boston set of her Showtime series “SMILF” to talk Trump, Roseanne Barr, LeBron James and why she won’t be running for office anytime soon.

You’re going to Washington to do two of your favorite things — politics and musical theater.

Exactly. Merge them when you can. Look how it helped “Hamilton.”

Where did the idea come from to sing Broadway songs in front of the White House?

I called [Sirius/XM radio On Broadway host] Seth Rudetsky and said, “I am going to rent a bus and I’m going to get as many people as I can on the bus with a drum team and do a drum circle at the White House. But then we got such a great response from the Broadway community that we said we’ll do the drum circle the next time. For now, let’s just get as many Broadway people as we can. We want to remember what is good about this country and what they love while voicing their disgust with this administration and what’s become of our nation’s reputation. I made sure with [Kremlin Annex organizer] Adam Parkhomenko was okay with it and he said, “Of course, that’s what we’re here for.”…

Are you hopeful for the midterms?

Yes, I’m hopeful. I think Americans will turn up in numbers that will astound everyone. And I am hopeful we are going to take the House and if we’re lucky, the Senate and then we’re going to get rid of him as soon as possible — a day after we win. And I think people will be rejoicing all over the place, all over the world.

Reader Interactions

172Comments

  2. 2.

    gene108

    Is Trump really standing next to Blackburn or is it a card board cut out? It is hard to tell.

    @rikyrah:

    Mornin’ sunshine.

  5. 5.

    Platonailedit

    The Trump Tower meeting was so innocent that they lied about it repeatedly during the campaign and again during the transition and then when they were caught lied about it then lied about who dictated the lie.

    All just a big nothingburger.

    — Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) August 5, 2018

    So, another month of breaking your fingers for the fywp login?

  7. 7.

    Joey Maloney

    There was a question downstairs about Tulsi Gabbard. She’s my Representative. And what I tell people is I don’t really need to even reach the question of her possible cult membership to know that she’s a bad fit for Hawaii’s 2nd. She’s from an old Hawaii political family and she got elected on that name recognition plus playing up her military service. But we should be sending someone far more progressive to Congress. That’s why (here comes the pitch) you should donate to Sherry Alu Campagna if you have a few bucks to spare. The primary is this Saturday.

  8. 8.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    I love how Drumpf is trying to save his skin by snitching on his son.

  10. 10.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    One day, the elder Trump showed up to pick up his son for a baseball game and flat-out slapped the crap out of his kid when he wasn’t dressed for the occasion.

    “Don Jr. opened the door, wearing a Yankee jersey. Without saying a word, his father slapped him across the face, knocking him to the floor in front of all of his classmates,” Melker writes on Facebook. “He simply said ‘put on a suit and meet me outside,’ and closed the door.” (link)

  11. 11.

    Joey Maloney

    @raven: Yes, that’s a very Hawaii thing which until recently I thought was completely ridiculous and a waste of time. But I had a chance to speak with the young woman who’s running for the state house in my district. You really have to do it, she said, in order to build name recognition. And if people don’t see folks waving your signs around for a few weeks early in the campaign season they’re not going to think you’re a credible candidate.

    It sounded nuts to me, but I guess it makes some sense in a small state, especially when the local media on the Big Island are extremely limited. All the tv stations are on Honolulu, very little of the radio is locally programmed, and the 2 newspapers are useless.

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Even if you ignore the assault and battery, who the fuck wears a suit to a baseball game?

  13. 13.

    Mustang Bobby

    Good morning, Friends. Been a while, but I’m still around, This time of year is pretty much all work and very little else as we close out one school year and start up the next one — at least on the financial reporting side.

    So, what’s been going on?

  16. 16.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Good evening from Thailand.

    Was at the clinic this afternoon for my twice weekly check-up. I’m generally healing really well, albeit with a spot or two of granulation tissue, which is normal and will resolve itself. Incisions on the outside are almost fully healed, I expect they’ll probably remove the remaining stitches sometime before I leave in less than two weeks.

    Doctor also clipped off a long strip of dead tissue that was coming out, which had been driving me nuts since I first saw it last night. Didn’t freak me out, since I knew it’s also part of the normal healing process (plus I knew the nurse was coming in the morning, and there was clinic check-up in the afternoon. But it still was a bit freaky and annoying.

  21. 21.

    Brachiator

    @Joey Maloney:

    Even if you ignore the assault and battery, who the fuck wears a suit to a baseball game?

    Oddly enough, I was thinking that Richard Nixon would have worn a suit. And Trump is like Nixon, but way more fucked up.

  25. 25.

    Baud

    People actually often wear suits to baseball games of they are coming straight from their office jobs.

  27. 27.

    bemused

    I vote Tea Pain for one of the best tweets if not the best tweet yesterday linking to New Yorker Adam Davidson piece on Trump telling everyone there was attempted Russian collusion,

    Aug 5, 2018: A day that shall live in stupidity.

  32. 32.

    Kay

    ‏

    @darreldrowland
    3m3 minutes ago
    More
    Republican congressional candidte Troy Balderson won’t address John Kasich’s claim Sunday on national TV that Balderson did not invite Donald Trump to central Ohio

    So it’s true. Interesting, huh? Didn’t think Trump was a plus for him. Kasich said “suburban women” don’t like Trump and Kasich would know- suburban voters are literally Kasich’s base- but suburban women consistently disappoint re: voting in Ohio so, grain of salt.

  34. 34.

    Immanentize

    @debbie: I was wondering why Trump called junior “wonderful.”. I just imagine some tearful, high pitched panic call from junior begging his Dad to please make the bad prosecutors go away…. And Trump in disgust hangs up on him. And that thought made me happy.

  35. 35.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    I just heard a clip of his speech at Saturday’s rally. He just couldn’t get close enough to Trump. Kasich, give it up.

  36. 36.

    debbie

    @bemused:

    I can’t find it now, but the tweet suggesting that the GOP would claim Russian collusion in the event of Dem wins in November is very disconcerting.

  38. 38.

    Kay

    This is a good piece on state-based single payer- which many Democrats at the state level are pushing.

    Dave Weigel is great these days, if you are a person who follows politics and not just the twisted, mean-spirited psychology of Donald Trump. Democrats are running on education and health care, issues that were not covered in the 2016 presidential campaign and are again not being covered in the 2018 midterms.

  39. 39.

    Joey Maloney

    @Immanentize: I really don’t know. As you might imagine, polling for the district that doesn’t include Honolulu is pretty thin. Realistically, probably not. Gabbard is one of the most personally popular politicians in the state and that’s probably all she needs to carry the primary.

    If the primary throws a little scare into her from the left and if my candidate for state house is victorious I’m going to call that a win.

  41. 41.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    No, I think it’s true. Kasich said it deliberately, too. Whatever else you say about Kasich, he’s good at Ohio politics. I don’t think he’s ever lost and that’s over a huge span of time- not consistently throughout those years but over decades.

  42. 42.

    Baud

    @Kay: To be fair, Kay, covering those issues would help Democrats, which would be unfair to Republicans.

  49. 49.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    “We’re at a moment when Democrats need to stand for something,” Gonzalez said in an interview.

    I would vote against him just for this quote.

  51. 51.

    evodevo

    @Kay: Yes he is. And I speculate that he’s laying the basis for 2020, when he will present himself as the “sane” Repub candidate, with a record of notrump …

  52. 52.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:
    Sherrod Brown’s wife said on AM Joy that the child snatching policy at the border was the last straw for a nice chunk of suburban women.
    I know her first name is Connie, but forgot her last name.

  53. 53.

    SFAW

    @rikyrah:

    Charlotte Rae, who played Mrs. Garrett on ‘The Facts of Life,’ dies at 92

    She was also Mrs. Peachum in the 1954 (or so) production of The Threepenny Opera. Strong voice.

  56. 56.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    You could be right. But that would make it worse for Balderson, making him look insincere in his “Trump Love.” I hope O’Connor exploits this duplicitousness.

  60. 60.

    SFAW

    @rikyrah:

    I know her first name is Connie, but forgot her last name.

    Schultz, I think. I remember during Sherrod’s last campaign the RWA media “uncovered” the Brown was caught canoodling with a journalist, and thus Teh Lie-beral Media was IN THE BAG FOR HIM! Of course, none of those morons figured out that it was Connie, and that they were married, etc.

  66. 66.

    Amir Khalid

    That “smile” on Donald Trump’s face looks more like a rictus of pain. And has anyone ever told him how tacky that thumbs-up gesture looks? Also, his tie is too damn long.

    I always thought Dolly was one of those showbiz people who were discreet about their politics, especially if they stood to the left of much of their audience.

  67. 67.

    Lapassionara

    @debbie: This is why the people who oversee our elections are so important. The ones I used to interact with before I moved to STL were great. Not partisan, and focused on helping people vote. I recall the Alabama Secretary of State certified Doug Jones’ election, even though his nitwit opponent refused to concede. We need more like that.

  71. 71.

    SFAW

    @debbie:

    I can’t find it now, but the tweet suggesting that the GOP would claim Russian collusion in the event of Dem wins in November is very disconcerting.

    Two thought on that:
    1) They were going to do something like that anyway, it fits their projection-above-all “mind” set
    2) It’s more or less the same bullshit that Lying Littledick tried pulling before Nov, 2016 (“rigged for Hillary”). One hopes that, given his nutzoid behavior (re: losing the popular vote) since then, enough people will just laugh at the Party of Traitors for trying to make that claim

    I know, I know, it’s the American electorate, so who knows how ir/rational they’ll be?

  72. 72.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I have a small writer brag. The library in this building asks residents if they’re willing to donate copies of books they’ve written. I gave them copies of mine, and yesterday in the café, I was talking to a woman who used to be a HS librarian. She picked up DEEP AS A TOMB with some doubt since it’s not her genre. IOW, she started reading it because she knew me. And she said she wound up staying up until midnight to finish it because she wanted to know what happened. Made my day.

  74. 74.

    NotMax

    @rikyrah

    She was also one of the last two surviving members of the regular cast of Car 54, Where Are You?. AFAIK, Hank Garrett is still kickin’.

  79. 79.

    MomSense

    @rikyrah:

    I know her first name is Connie, but forgot her last name.

    That’s funny because she wrote a book called “And His Lovely Wife” I met her when I was volunteering at a fundraiser and she is fantastic. Connie Schultz. I wish she would run for something.

  80. 80.

    bemused

    @Amir Khalid:

    Have you seen the pics of Trump pathetic attempts to control his overlong ties? Scotch tape on back of tie holding both ends together.

  81. 81.

    NotMax

    Pleased to report that the revival of Avenue Q has updated the original lyrics to include a line dissing Dolt 45. The expressions on the actors’ faces when they spat out his name, and the raucous audience reaction, was priceless.

    The level of vitriol of the delivery appeared to be sgnificantly boosted from the same line in the original mentioning George Bush.

  82. 82.

    Amir Khalid

    @bemused:
    It doesn’t take that long to figure out how to tie one properly, especially if you wear them every day. Trump must actually like his neckties too long.

  86. 86.

    NotMax

    @satby

    Yup. Tuesday departure. Looking forward to settling back in at casa de casual (read: no pants). Two weeks of having to traipse outside to enjoy my cigars coming to an end!

    :)

  87. 87.

    hueyplong

    @Amir Khalid: But you have to admit that it is tempting to slap Donald Trump in the face, and the old monster knew he could do it without consequence (to him).

    Had to be irresistible.

  89. 89.

    rikyrah

    @debbie:

    I can’t find it now, but the tweet suggesting that the GOP would claim Russian collusion in the event of Dem wins in November is very disconcerting.

    that’s why the Democrats who have been attacked this elections season, need to come out and make it public.

    Cause, it won’t make any phucking sense.
    If the Russians are helping the Democrats, then why are Democratic candidates being attacked?
    Does not compute.

  90. 90.

    Jeffro

    Good morning everyone! Back from a weekend of hiking and kayaking with friends in central VA (there may also have been a beer or three involved), PLUS saw The Cult and Stone Temple Pilots last night. STP’s new lead singer is awesome, so let’s hope third time’s the charm for those guys (knock on wood).

    Still waiting for a response from my RWNJ dad and brother about Mr. No Collusion confessing to…hey whaddya know!…collusion right there on Twitter. (crickets) as the kids say. =)

  92. 92.

    OzarkHillbilly

    This is just shocking:

    The American college campus, we are led to believe, is a dangerous place: If you say what you really think, particularly as a conservative, a mob of young social justice warriors will come for your faculty position or invitation to speak on campus. Entire books and online magazines are premised on the idea that political correctness is sweeping the American university, threatening both higher education and the broader right to free speech.

    But a brand new data analysis from Georgetown University’s Free Speech Project suggests that this “crisis” is more than a little overblown. There have been relatively few incidents of speech being squelched on college campuses, and there’s in fact limited evidence that conservatives are being unfairly targeted.

    The Free Speech Project’s researchers have cataloged more than 90 incidents since 2016 that fit their criteria for a person’s free speech rights being threatened. Of those 90, about two-thirds took place on college campuses. These incidents range from a speaker being disinvited to a faculty member being fired over allegedly offensive comments to a student-run play being canceled over concerns it would offend.

    The raw numbers here should already raise questions about the so-called political correctness epidemic. According to the Department of Education, there are 4,583 colleges and universities in the United States (including two- and four-year institutions). The fact that there were roughly only 60 incidents in the past two years suggests that free speech crises are extremely rare events and don’t define university life in the way that critics suggest.

    Moreover, there’s a consistent pattern in the data when it comes to conservatives — one that tells a different story than you hear among free speech panickers.

    “Most of the incidents where presumptively conservative speech has been interrupted or squelched in the last two or three years seem to involve the same few speakers: Milo Yiannopoulos, Ben Shapiro, Charles Murray, and Ann Coulter ,” Sanford Ungar, the Free Speech Project’s director, writes. “In some instances, they seem to invite, and delight in, disruption.”

  93. 93.

    A Ghost To Most

    Chauncey DeVega

    President Donald Trump is a symptom of a much larger problem. New research suggests that Trump’s supporters are so motivated by racism and bigotry that they may willing to overturn American democracy so that white Christians like themselves can maintain continued power over our society.

    This. These people are dangerous.

  95. 95.

    bemused

    @Amir Khalid:

    I can’t imagine why he’d want a longer tie that would be more annoying to deal with. Never mind, I momentarily forgot about his hair which is vastly more problematic to deal with. We see a clown, he sees an Adonis.

  98. 98.

    Barbara

    @A Ghost To Most: Salon manages to find people whose barometer for a healthy democracy revolves around large protests rather than voting. That’s what I took from that piece.

  105. 105.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Semi medical help request. I keep finding sticky patches from tape or monitors. It’s hard to get off. Soap and water doesn’t cut it. Suggestions?

    Also, I seem to have to close the site and open it again to see new posts.

  109. 109.

    JAFD

    Good morning, everyone !

    There’s a heat alert here in metropolitan NYC until tomorrow night, 95 F and high humidity. Hope cooler where you are.

    If you, or your loved ones or pets, are not in peak health, sending you some healing-type energy, and if you’ve recently lost someone, my sympathy.

    If you look at pictures of the crowds at sporting events, pre-1960, roughly, you’re likely to see a predominance of men in suits and ties. Clothes were more expensive, relatively, then, and for many men, their ‘casual’ clothes were their ‘old’ suit. Also, many men in blue-collar jobs who wore jeans or overalls to work, wanted to ‘put on the Ritz’ when out having fun.

    The FTFNYT has been having a series recently; “I Moved To NYC Because I Watched Friends / Seinfeld / Sex and the City / …”. If they ever ask for my contribution, will say “Car 54…”

  110. 110.

    Tokyokie

    @raven: Just a couple of days ago at work I sang that little ditty, which, of course, nobody recognized, and it made me wonder how the hell do I remember a title song to a TV series that’s been off the air for more than half a century. I have a brain stuffed with useless information.

  112. 112.

    Ruckus

    @Gin & Tonic:
    Be very careful using the acetone around any actual skin opening. Say an IV site or an incision. Sticky is preferable. Every time.

  116. 116.

    rikyrah

    Uh huh

    Women poised to take charge in Dem majority
    BY MIKE LILLIS – 08/06/18 06:00 AM EDT

    If Democrats win the House in November, 35 women are poised to lead committees and subcommittees in the next Congress — an historically high figure that would put female lawmakers in the driver’s seat for some of the most pressing issues facing Congress and the country.

    That number would almost triple the amount of GOP women currently holding similar positions, and it would mark a measurable achievement for Democratic lawmakers looking to take the “Year of the Woman” to new heights of power.

    ……………………….

    Democratic women are set to take control of six full committees if the House flips in November. They include Reps. Maxine Waters (N.Y.), of Financial Services; Nydia Velazquez (N.Y.), of Small Business; Eddie Bernice Johnson (Texas), of Science, Space and Technology; Zoe Lofgren (Calif.), of House Administration; and Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.), of the Joint Economic Committee.

    Rep. Nita Lowey (N.Y.) would become the first woman in history to chair the powerful Appropriations Committee.

  119. 119.

    Immanentize

    @MomSense:
    I saw your comment yesterday about the weedy part of ground you want to plant. Have you considered solarizing?? Pull or cut the weeds as much as possible. Even till if you can. Then put black plastic garbage bags (even cut in two if you want) over the ground for about a week or two of August sun. It can sterilize ground to 6 inches. Then, although you will have weeds, there will NOT be as many. You will have to rebuild the good soil nutrients, but this will rid you of the weeds.

  120. 120.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I would vote against him just for this quote.

    Really? I feel like it’s standard issue liberal Democrat.

    The establishment has to come to the insurgents because that’s how these things work. The insurgents don’t come to the establishment and ask to be folded in. Then they wouldn’t be insurgents.

    I’m comfortable being the establishment, such as it is, within my very limited powers. We all have our roles. Theirs is a being a Left faction.

  123. 123.

    tobie

    @Kay: I read that article and have to say that the only person who even wanted to talk about the mechanics of switching to single payer over time was Jay Inslee. I guess it helps that he’s had experience governing.

  125. 125.

    bemused

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Recently spouse and I had same annoying problem. Soap and water or acetone can really dry or irritate skin. Not a perfect solution but I found that gently rubbing coconut or olive oil helped loosen stuck on glue a lot.

  127. 127.

    rikyrah

    uh huh
    uh huh

    New Jersey ICE spox has ties to hate groups: report
    BY EMILY BIRNBAUM – 08/06/18 08:53 AM EDT

    The spokesman for New Jersey’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ties to multiple hate groups, according to a Sunday report from The Newark Star-Ledger.

    Spokesman Emilio Karim Dabul has edited and written for multiple anti-Muslim hate groups, and has thrown his support behind anti-Muslim public figures, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and Star-Ledger concluded after an investigation into his history.

    The New Jersey ICE office has reportedly declined to respond to questions about Dabul’s affiliations.

  128. 128.

    WaterGirl

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I don’t know if it works on skin, but sticky patches from evil price tags and labels comes off with application of oil from the kitchen – vegetable, olive oil, etc. Might be worth trying!

    Happy news about your book, even more happy news that you are home and doing well.

  129. 129.

    raven

    Ok so Cole thinks he’s the only one who has insane car stuff happen to him! My retiree is going to Asheville later today so I was getting one of our vehicles ready. I had the warning light come on in the Dodge van so I ran the code and it’s a Evaporative Emission System Leak Detection Pump . We dropped it at the shop and came home in the Lexus where In proceeded to run an under hood check. We’d had a leaky radiator hose earlier this week and I noticed it was still leaking a bit where it connect to the radiator. I bore down on the clamp and suddenly it really started leaking! I took the hose off and found that the goddam radiator tank is PLASTIC and I had crushed it! No problem, right? I always have the 66 chevy truck to run around and get parts. Nope, the truck wouldn’t start either! I sat for a bit and then decided to call the car rescue folks at USAA and they scheduled a tow. I then realized that I could have them jump the truck so I called them back. The guyb showed up and he was thew same guy who towed me after the fellas tried to pull by compost loaded truck with and extension cord earlier this summer! Well, the stuck started so we went back to the van repair and go it but the key was in the overnight slot so I haver to go get it. The retiree decided to rent a car so now we go get that too!

  131. 131.

    satby

    @Kay: @Baud: I agree with Baud, anyone saying that is wilfully ignoring that Democrats have stood for a lot of good things over the years. I don’t really give much of a fuck about insurgents, because they’re unreliable unicorn chasers. Being definitive about the Democratic record of standing for lots of popular policies is what I want to see more of.

  135. 135.

    Kay

    @satby:

    Campaigning is about getting their attention and bringing them in. It isn’t a lesson in Democratic principles. Obama ran in ’08 on how he wasn’t a “red” American or a “blue” American. He wasn’t slagging the Democratic Party. He was bringing people in, especially young people who didn’t then and probably don’t now identify as “Democrats” yet, if they ever will.

  136. 136.

    tobie

    @Kay: @Baud: @satby: I heard Rashida Tlaib last night on TV say that what distinguishes her from other candidates is that she’s not a “corporate Democrat.” I agree: insurgents running explicitly against the party are not helping the only party in the US which has in fact consistently championed things like universal healthcare, worker’s rights, civil rights, quality public schools, free community college, etc. for decades. And, yes, I find it deeply insulting when people like Ocasio-Cortez claim otherwise. Were these people right-wingers, we would call them “historical revisionists.”

  137. 137.

    Kay

    @tobie:

    Democrats have a huge advantage on health care. They should talk about health care. Single payer is a short cut way to do that. We can use the Obama effort as a kind of primer on talking about health care and jump off that. That was actually Obama’s argument- that this was the base effort and it would change. IMO the field is a little more fertile now for very real reasons- people with health insurance are paying out of pocket more. They’re ready to hear this in a way they weren’t.

    People WITH health care are the people you have to reach, because they comprise the vast majority of voters. I think of it like Phase Two. First you get the low hanging fruit- people who have NO health care. Then you get the people who have it but think it sucks and is too expensive and complicated. Those are the college educated voters you need, not because they’re college educated but because they vote.

  138. 138.

    tobie

    @Kay: They don’t want to be brought in. They want to blow the place up. Their only sense of politics is “My way or the highway,” and I don’t see how this ends well.

  139. 139.

    Kay

    @tobie:

    You don’t make social insurance programs broad because you prefer middle class people to poor people. You make them broad because social insurance programs that benefit middle class and poor people are bulletproof. You do it because the broader it is the liklier it is that poor people will keep it. I literally think of it as arraying middle class people in front of poor people like a shield :)

    They need an army. They don’t have enough political juice to get and keep these programs without a bigger crowd along with them.

  140. 140.

    Gelfling 545

    So I’m just back from the hospital where I “got my fluids topped off” as my daughter says. Iron infusions, actually. I found out that there is a national shortage of IV bags which were manufactured in Puerto Rico so instead of plugging you in and going about their other business a nurse has to sit with you and feed the infusion in through a syringe. No big deal for me but there are a lot of people for whom this shortage is going to be a big issue. The infusion used to be administered slowly over a 2 hour period to help avoid adverse reactions. As an emergency measure, the FDA is permitting a more rapid infusion. I wonder how many people are aware that Trump’s inept handling of The disaster in Puerto Rico is causing health care emergencies in the continental 48.

  142. 142.

    Kay

    @tobie:

    I’ll give you the local example I always use. Our school district is 50% poor and low income. When we started public preschool we offered it to everyone. Because we knew that if it was a program exclusively for poor people we would be defending it every single year for eternity. We needed it broad. If they’re IN it they own it and they’ll defend it.

  143. 143.

    tobie

    @Kay: Democrats do talk healthcare. They did it in 2016, too, but the media didn’t want to hear it. The only reason they are hearing it now is because it comes couched in the rhetoric, “We’re going to do what corporate Democrats won’t do because they’re too beholden to their corporate donors.” It’s only because single-payer can be pitched as an anti-Dem establishment move that it’s getting any attention. And the Republicans are waiting in the wings to pounce on this proposal. I see it in Maryland where Ben Jealous is being hammered for a healthcare proposal that will cost the state $24 billion annually. This is a big deal given that the state budget is only $40 billion.

    As someone who had three lumpectomies and multiple scans and medical treatments last year, I have a big stake in this debate. I don’t love my employer-provided healthcare but it worked for me when I needed it. And I am damn frightened of any interruption in service, which may come if we brazenly try to redesign the nation’s healthcare system overnight. So, yeah, a figure like Jay Inslee who understands healthcare delivery and financing is far more compelling for me than gubernatorial candidates like Ben Jealous or Abdul El-Sayed or Cynthia Nixon.

  144. 144.

    satby

    @Kay: Well, I don’t identify as a Democrat. I’ve voted Democratic for better than 35 years except when the candidates I could choose from were either anti-choice Democrats or pro-choice Republicans because I don’t vote for anti-choice candidates. So I think that the pandering to insurgents reinforces the Republican lines about corporate Democrats and Democrats “not standing for anything”. Because the insurgents take their talking points from the Republican playbook. We despair over the media narrative but let people ostensibly on our side reinforce all the negative tropes about Democrats to score points. I think that status quo needed to change yesterday.

  145. 145.

    Aleta

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Or mix a little sugar or baking soda with cooking or cosmetic oil, or with liquid soap (the pure kind w/glycerin or coconut oil, etc). Lemon juice or try the the inside an orange/lemon rind (edited to add) which is acidic but also has orange or lemon oil in it.

  146. 146.

    tobie

    @Kay:

    You don’t make social insurance programs broad because you prefer middle class people to poor people.

    I’ll try not to take offense at this statement but it is, well, borderline in its implications.

  147. 147.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Lots of good suggestions. Thank you very much. I never even thought of something oily.

    People who say Ds don’t stand for anything drive me crazy. Where do they think every social program they like comes from?

  148. 148.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    Speaking of absent Juicers, has anyone seen Bella Q around in the last couple of weeks?

  149. 149.

    satby

    @tobie: “It’s only because single-payer can be pitched as an anti-Dem establishment move that it’s getting any attention. And the Republicans are waiting in the wings to pounce on this proposal.”

    I agree, and the Stein and Wilmer lovers I know use “single-payer” as a litmus test that way. Working out a balanced, nuanced universal health coverage plan is for sellouts.

  153. 153.

    SWMBO

    @raven: Three vehicles, two drivers and you are renting a car? Sounds like our kind of luck. We have nearly been on a bicycle or a cart pulled by dogs. It sucks when everything breaks at the same time.

  154. 154.

    rikyrah

    I don’t believe he cares enough for this to be a motive.

    …………………………….

    If Trump really believes Don Jr. may be in legal jeopardy due to the Trump Tower meeting, even if accidentally, this provides a possible motive for Trump’s obstruction of justice.

    I spoke to a legal expert about this point.

    My new post:https://t.co/LCU4Sxr5Fy

    — Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) August 6, 2018

  155. 155.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Brachiator: Nixon was full generation older and from a time when men were expected to wear suites when in public. Trump however is a child of 60s.

    The thing that I am amazed about is Trump could swing hard enough to knock someone done. He does come a cross as rather physically inept. Then again, sucker punches and pushing.

    Also trying to think what my reaction would have been if my dad had hit me as an adult. He never hit me or my sister and the one time we really got into when I was rebelling we had this moment were we both were staring eat each other thinking now what? because both of us aren’t the lash out types but we both really angry.

  156. 156.

    Aleta

    Sources say pants throughout the WH are bursting into high temperature flames again today. Numerologists say the 562nd consecutive day of fire adds up to 13, which foretells of a bad moon rising for this administration.

  157. 157.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    You don’t make social insurance programs broad because you prefer middle class people to poor people. You make them broad because social insurance programs that benefit middle class and poor people are bulletproof. You do it because the broader it is the liklier it is that poor people will keep it. I literally think of it as arraying middle class people in front of poor people like a shield :)

    not wrong. And, that’s why they really need to get as the Poster Children for Medicaid – Bill and Susan’s Grandmother and Grandfather – because THAT is where the real Medicaid $$$$ go. Cause, we need to shove it into Bill and Susan’s faces that without Medicaid, Grandma and Grandpa would be LIVING WITH THEM.

  158. 158.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Amir Khalid

    : That “smile” on Donald Trump’s face looks more like a rictus of pain. And has anyone ever told him how tacky that thumbs-up gesture looks? Also, his tie is too damn long.

    He really looks like he is servicing himself, which knowing Dotard isn’t accidental.

  159. 159.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @rikyrah:

    Cause, it won’t make any phucking sense.
    If the Russians are helping the Democrats, then why are Democratic candidates being attacked?
    Does not comput

    The other side are conspiracy theorists who think the earth is 6,000 years old, flat, climate change is faked all by Big Science and Trump is in league with Mueler rooting out the real traitors in government. So yes, that is so stupid they will believe it.

  160. 160.

    raven

    @SWMBO: Ha! And I just went to get the van key. This morning I called the Lexus repair dude and told him what was what. Five minutes later a mechanic called and said “tell me what’s up”? I described the radiator issue and he said “ok, well check it out”. I thought it odd that the guy called right after I’d talked to his front desk but I just figured he wanted to talk directly to me. When I went to get the van key the dude asked what’s up and I explained what happened. It was HIS mechanic who called and he had already ordered a radiator for the van! We all got a good laugh.

  161. 161.

    Citizen Alan

    @rikyrah:

    For god’s sake, even if Shitgibbon did actually love his son (assuming arguendo), “I only committed a crime to protect my son who had already committed a crime” isn’t exactly an affirmative defense!

  164. 164.

    James E Powell

    @Kay:

    I wouldn’t vote against anyone just for that quote, but the language is really bad – “The Democrats” (implication that speaker is not one of them) “should stand for something” (implication that Democrats stand for nothing, which is standard Republican rhetoric).

    A candidate who wants to be all insurgent, new voice should say “We Democrats stand for (broad principle) and (specific policy).” Or some similar construction. Everyone wants to be all inclusive and let’s have a debate and so on. But Democratic attacks on Democrats have been helping Republicans get elected for years.

    especially young people who didn’t then and probably don’t now identify as “Democrats” yet, if they ever will.

    If they don’t by now, we are in deep, deep trouble. Voters who were “young people” in 2008 are hitting 30.

  165. 165.

    J R in WV

    @Kay:

    This is a good piece on state-based single payer- which many Democrats at the state level are pushing.

    I’m 100% for universal coverage,it is far past time we stopped trying to patchwork fix things for people who fall through all the cracks and have no coverage. I think worrying who pays for that — as in “single payer” — is studying on the color of paint on the building, while the roof leaks and the foundation is sinking into the ground.

    Corporations and employers who have been paying for employees’ insurance should be paying that in Medicare taxes; smaller governments the same. And the VA should be folded into the same health care system everyone gets. Which should employ all the health care staff in the nation.

    And the drug companies should become non-profit, and those profits should all go to the Medicare tax fund. Those guys are mostly stealing research funded by the government, universities and monetizing it into riches beyond the ken of working people anyway. Private jets for vacation trips… etc, etc. Yachts.

    I’m more for multi-partner payment sources into the big Medicare Fund, what does single-payer even mean? Taxes on rich people? I can get behind that!!

  166. 166.

    James E Powell

    @Kay: @tobie:

    It’s only because single-payer can be pitched as an anti-Dem establishment move that it’s getting any attention.

    Exactly. And it will be one of those deal-breakers for the TrueLeft® who always need some reason to be against the Democratic candidate.

  167. 167.

    prostratedragon

    @Leto:

    Long ties you say? I think there are a few examples of that.

    All across America-a-a-a! /endsinging

    To Site Fixer: I’m getting buttons to edit or delete other people’s new comments.

  169. 169.

    Mnemosyne

    @tobie:

    I think you may have gotten what Kay was saying backwards. She’s saying that you need to give middle-class people a stake in programs that primarily benefit the poor, or else they’ll always be at risk of being canceled. It’s a comment on the selfishness of most middle-class people, not a slam on the poor.

  171. 171.

    Gravenstone

    @Ruckus: Acetone is wonderful for finding all those little nicks and scratches you didn’t realize you had. Hangnails too!

  172. 172.

    Gravenstone

    @rikyrah: He was obstructing before the news about the TT meeting ever came out. It is in no way and excuse or motive for his actions.

Comments are closed.