Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

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

So many bastards, so little time.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

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

“But what about the lurkers?”

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

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

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2018 / Vocal Fried (Open Thread)

Vocal Fried (Open Thread)

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Meghan the Lesser tries a gotcha question on Stacey Abrams, invoking the specter of a black woman coming for Georgians’ shootin’ arns. It doesn’t go so well for her:

The contrast between McCain’s tiresome MillennialCon shtick and Abrams’ warmth and humor could not be more stark. I loved Abrams’ line about hunting: “I don’t hunt because I mostly eat chicken, and that just seems mean.”

I’m 150 miles or so from Georgia, but I’ll throw a week-long party if Abrams wins. The latest poll has Abrams edging Cheato Kemp — who is outrageously still presiding over an election in which he’s running, like the Banana Republican he is — by a point. Go Stacey, go!

Reader Interactions

135Comments

  1. 1.

    Jerzy Russian

    I’m 150 miles or so from Georgia, but I’ll throw a week-long party if Abrams wins.

    Hell, I am all the way across the country from Georgia, but if Abrams wins I will drive over there and join you.

    Also too, why is Meghan McCain on the TV machine? Semi-serious question: what does she actually do for a living, if anything?

  2. 2.

    Nicole

    I swear to God, the worst thing to happen to American society was when it was decided that it was socially acceptable for rich kids to go into performing as a career.

  3. 3.

    Elizabelle

    Meghan is a dimwit, isn’t she?

    Twice: “I appreciate your honesty.” What, cuz her guest was going to lie her socks off? And bringing up “rounding them up” re AR15s (which grates in a week that saw an AR 15 used in a synagogue) and the thanks to Abrams for honesty about wanting to ban them.

    Meghan McCain. Not a smart girl. Fortunate Daughter.

  4. 4.

    pinacacci

    She is so unbelievably snide: Twice, “I appreciate your honesty, saying that you want to ban them.” Trying to put her mean girl spin on it. She lost this round. I hope Ms. Abrams wins.

  6. 6.

    Joe Falco

    Me and the wife are going to work this weekend making food and much needed snack supplies for volunteers in Athens. I was told not to include nuts but also no beans as well which I found odd.

  7. 7.

    cope

    This next week is going to be…interesting, probably in the most depressing way possible. Nest week, I will do my usual election night ritual, eschewing any connection to the internet, television or radio news or incoming updates on my phone, DVDs all night until bed time. My hope is to wake up on Wednesday the 8th to more good news than dire. That is my hope. It certainly didn’t happen for me on 11/9/2016.

  8. 8.

    Raoul

    Slightly remixed Megan, accounting for her tone an innuendo: “I appreciate your honesty, but don’t you just want to round up all the hicks and rightwingers, melt down their guns, and throw them in lefty jail”.

    I had some respect for her dad (pre-Palin, that is). But it’s amazing how tired and weak her stuff sounds. She didn’t inherit his acuity or ability to relate.

  9. 9.

    Nicole

    I do confess, I don’t understand why politicians, when confronted with the inevitable, “SO YOU WANT TO TAKE OUR GUNS, DO YOU?” question doesn’t respond with, “Australia instituted a voluntary buyback program and it worked very well.”

    That said, I thought Abrams did great and was marvelous shutting McCain down.

  10. 10.

    Barbara

    I am so impressed by Abrams. So much warmth and humor. Meghan McCain looks like the pampered and entitled rich kid she clearly is. She does no better than keep her head above water.

  12. 12.

    Floridafrog

    Me too Betty
    I am a hard rock throw from Georgia here on Amelia Island. We wrangled a few of our Georgia friends to vote for the very first time. For Stacy ! I hope we have built some lifelong democratic voters. I Stacy wins, my postcard group will through a huge party. We worked hard for her and still have hope.

  13. 13.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    The contrast between McCain’s tiresome MillennialCon shtick and Abrams’ warmth and humor could not be more stark.

    It really couldn’t be. Abrams seemed so genuine and real in that clip and McCain was just trying to get a soundbite out of it. Her snide, “Thank you for your honesty”, and the look on her face when she said it. Could she not hear the studio audience was on Abram’s side? I hope she wins.

    I also greatly despise MillenialCons. It’s almost like “Jews for Hitler” levels of derangement.

  14. 14.

    NotMax

    @Raoul

    She didn’t inherit his acuity or ability to relate.

    Deluded questioner: “And that Obama, he- he’s an Arab.”

    Meghan McC: “I appreciate your honesty.”

  15. 15.

    geg6

    Now that Daddy is gone and can’t tell Meghan what to think, I’m guessing her pissy attitude is coming from hubby, Ben Domenech, plagiarist and paid-propagandist-posing-as-journalist.

    Fuck that spoiled bitch. She’s only on tv because of her father, not on her own merits. I hope Joy Reid finally goes over the table after her and knocks her dim lights right out.

  16. 16.

    Raoul

    Also seems pretty obvious that Megan did very limited prep work for this (despite what I’m sure even she would understand were high stakes). I can’t imagine that was the first time Abrams used that “it wouldn’t be fair to chickens” line (which was great!). She disarmed Megan and got her to laugh. Which tells me she had no idea that line was coming.

    I am glad she’s an ill-prepared hack. But what a way to own-goal herself, via laziness.

  17. 17.

    Mnemosyne

    @Joe Falco:

    I was told not to include nuts but also no beans as well which I found odd.

    Would you want to be stuck in a car or van with someone who ate too many beans?

    Just sayin’.

  19. 19.

    Nicole

    @Raoul:

    I am glad she’s an ill-prepared hack. But what a way to own-goal herself, via laziness.

    Not that she’ll ever see any consequences for it. Consequences are for people who aren’t members of the lucky sperm club.

  21. 21.

    Jack the Second

    @Joe Falco: Athens? Are you familiar with the teachings of Pythagoras?

    It is more or less agreed that Pythagoras issued a prohibition against the consumption of beans

  23. 23.

    West of the Rockies

    MM thinks she is so clever: “I appreciate your honesty that you want to ban the AR15…”

    Apparently, the curve for mediocre (and legacy) white women is also a thing.

  25. 25.

    JPL

    Just remember folks, we might have to do this again in December because in GA you need 50 percent plus 1 vote to win outright.

  26. 26.

    Barbara

    @geg6: McCain is married to Ben Domenech? Oh, say no more. Domenech is a complete captive of rightwing publications.

  29. 29.

    tobie

    Stacey Abrams comes off as so humane, smart, sensible, and warm. Meghan looks like she’s trying to score points with canned lines and innuendo — using the phrase “rounding up guns” to suggest “rounding up gun-owners” — and doesn’t realize how hard-edged and stupid she ends up coming off. Go Stacey! I hadn’t heard of you before this election cycle and now I’m a fan!

  34. 34.

    Mary G

    I am strangely optimistic:

    The antics and abuses of the past few weeks have been awful and depressing, but take a few steps back and they don’t look *at all* like the behavior of confident people. I can’t actually recall seeing mass desperation quite like this.— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) October 30, 2018

    Of course, I’ve wrong before.

  36. 36.

    Kay

    @JPL:

    Just remember folks, we might have to do this again in December because in GA you need 50 percent plus 1 vote to win outright.

    OMG, really? You’re like the grim reaper, for Halloween :)

  38. 38.

    Brachiator

    Meghan McCain kept saying, “I appreciate your honesty,” as though she was expecting lies or wanted to judge her guest instead of having a conversation.

    But then, I note McCain’s dishonesty. She claimed that the AR-15 was the most popular gun in America, with 61 percent of gun owners having one. But gun ownership itself is a minority practice, with a downward trend. From a fast google search:

    The latest household gun ownership rate in the General Social Survey, in 2014, was 32 percent. The October 2015 Gallup survey showed a higher rate of 43 percent, including guns kept on property outside the home. But the downward trend in gun ownership remains consistent across the national polls.

    And McCain was swift to jump to the idea of confiscation.

    But it was sweet to see Stacey Abrams disarm her so deftly.

  42. 42.

    Marcopolo

    A little off-topic but just finished up knocking an 80 door list for Cort VanOstran in the StL burbs. I think it must have been a straight GOTV list as everyone I found at home planned to vote a straight D ticket.

    My favorite door was where the older person I was canvassing asked if I had a minute then brought her sample ballot out & had me go over it with her because the print on the sample was tiny & she was having problems reading it. Anyways we did it & now she is voting a straight Marcopolo ticket: all D candidates & my positions on all the ballot initiatives.

  44. 44.

    JPL

    @Kay: Just to make you happier, the democrats are going to win big on Tuesday across the nation, and the republicans in GA are going to be demoralized so they won’t bother to vote in the runoff.

  47. 47.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @JPL:
    At this point, that does seem pretty likely. Not guaranteed, but fairly likely. Fingers crossed ?: )

  49. 49.

    Raoul

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    Trump’s ego as rampaging, wounded dinosaur.

    Apparently his WH staff tried to lie to each of the major elected officials in Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, playing the “s/he’s already said yes” game, but no one bought it. Gaaaah.

  51. 51.

    Brachiator

    @cope:

    This next week is going to be…interesting, probably in the most depressing way possible.

    I early voted, so I don’t have to worry about getting to the polls. This feels positively liberating. So I will relax on the day, probably rent a movie.

    There are so many elections happening, and votes on various issues that it is just nuts to think that the results will be uniformly negative, or uniformly positive. I’m hoping that the net gain will be on our side. And no matter what happens, it will be part of the larger effort to restore sanity and decency.

  54. 54.

    geg6

    I can’t watch this shit with the Shitgibbon defiling my city. I guess I can’t even watch local news any more. Good thing I have a bunch of House Hunter episodes recorded. At least it’s entertaining hate watching that.

  55. 55.

    donnah

    I’m watching MSNBC and they’re just showed footage of a peaceful protest by people in Pittsburgh against Trump. They’re singing, carrying signs for peace, and I’m moved to tears. This image is so much more touching than the sight of Trump and his family arriving at the synagogue for their false sympathy.

    Inspires hope.

  56. 56.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Elizabelle: It goes beyond that. Right now both the GOP and conservatives are trying to figure how to either justify and back up or distance themselves from the President’s assertion that he can amend the Constitution by executive order. Which has been the conservative and GOP fever nightmare for decades, but only applied to the 1st Amendments religious freedom clauses, specifically the first part of the clause, and the 2nd Amendment.

  57. 57.

    ruemara

    It’s rare that I toss out the old filthy c word, but she earned it after saying that gun owners were the real victims after the Tree of Life Massacre. She’s disgusting and proof that giving children of conservatives a microphone is a terrible idea. Add in who she’s married to, who seems to have warped her supposed moderate positions into repulsive hardline conservativism, and she’s barely good as fertilizer.

  59. 59.

    TS (the original)

    @Raoul:

    I am glad she’s an ill-prepared hack. But what a way to own-goal herself, via laziness

    None of them prepare – other than to dream up the gotcha questions. From the lowest level GOPer through the VP and the president* they have no idea about the person they are talking to other than assuming they are socialists who want to take away your guns.

  61. 61.

    Betty Cracker

    @JPL: I had the same thought! I bet McMeghan couldn’t hit the side of a barn from four feet away with a scattergun!

  62. 62.

    Raoul

    @Marcopolo: A friend in Austin TX said she had to help an older voter she’d driven to the polls by lending her reading cheaters.

    Makes me wonder if a strategy in the next week should be Dem GOTVs buying out the stock of cheap readers and having them at the ready to give to any voter who might have a hard time reading a ballot.

    If in knocking you find out a voter can’t see so well, say “Here, have these readers – take ’em to the polls with our thanks, and remember us when you vote!” would be a fantastic leave-behind. I’d have to do more research to be sure they aren’t utter crap, but it looks like in bulk they might be like 90 cents each – something to consider for 2020 if it’s too late for next Tuesday.

    (no that last bit isn’t a pun)

  64. 64.

    Cheryl Rofer

    To go back to the topic of an earlier thread, reliable online detectives are tracking down an organization called “Surefire Intelligence,” which seems to be behind the attempts to buy witnesses to nonexistent Mueller harassment. It’s run by Jacob Wohl, a big Trump fan and defrocked securities trader. The mocking is very funny. If Adam doesn’t do it, I’ll try to post a selection of funny tweets later. Got to run now.

  65. 65.

    Adam L Silverman

    @A Ghost To Most: Dermer is from South Florida. He was a Florida GOP operative, which is why he was tapped by Bibi to move to Israel and become the ambassador back to the US. Bibi’s got the same problem that Putin has now: they’ve both made US policy discussions about how the US should interact with both Israel and Russia purely partisan.

  67. 67.

    JPL

    @eclare: Odd story.. After Sandy Hook, I wrote both Senators and Isakson replied with a typical form letter that he’s a firm believer in the 2nd amendment, Chambliss’ office sent back a long note that the Senator was looking into options to stop the carnage. It was shocking to me, but then he voted with the republicans and then quit.
    Max’s loss was when the state took a stance to support those wanting to rid us of democracy.

  69. 69.

    Roger Moore

    @geg6:

    She’s only on tv because of her father, not on her own merits.

    Do you think her dad got into the Naval Academy completely on his own merits? Leaning on family connections for career advancement is an old McCain family tradition.

  71. 71.

    dmsilev

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    NOW: Secret Service has secured the street in front of the Tree of Life synagogue, indicating Trump is likely to visit. On site: Israeli ambassador Ron Dermer.

    Haven’t those poor people suffered enough already?

  77. 77.

    cmorenc

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    @dmsilev: Could be worse, Trump could try to sing ‘Amazing Grace’.

    Trump is more likely to look down a woman’s blouse and say “that’s amazing, Grace!”

  79. 79.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Adam L Silverman:

    they’ve both made US policy discussions about how the US should interact with both Israel and Russia purely partisan.

    So you’re saying they’ve outsmarted themselves, essentially?

  80. 80.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cheryl Rofer: I put an update up on an earlier thread, but WP is screwing with the formatting for the tweets. Alain is out of pocket. So it’s going to stay mucked up for a bit.

  84. 84.

    WaterGirl

    @JPL: I was just thinking that they should lock the doors of the synagogue and post armed guards to keep people out — just for whatever day Trump is going to come.

  85. 85.

    JPL

    @eclare: Abrams has so far proved me wrong. I voted for Evans because I found her a tad more progressive and had a really compelling story that could resonate with voters. Obvious the best woman won, and I hope does so again on Tuesday.

  86. 86.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I don’t always understand the use of the word “alleged” in talking about a crime. I understand that the news people don’t want to convict someone out of hand, but on NBC someone just referred to the “alleged gunman.” The guy was the gunman. No alleged about it. Alleged murderer maybe.

  88. 88.

    TS (the original)

    Chuck todd really should be taken off air – “the president is keeping a subdued stature”. The president* looks like a derp & the woman who on odd occasions goes places with him looks just as stupid. Now he is quoting Sarah Sanders – as being so good as to not to attack those who didn’t travel with him.

    Toad is a nice description of this unbelievable trump apologist

  89. 89.

    tobie

    Has the Rabbi at the Tree of Life Synagogue embraced Trump? I saw him on TV yesterday and he said he would be honored to have the President come as he is, to quote the Rabbi, “my President.” I’m very disappointed in this individual.

  93. 93.

    Dan B

    @Cheryl Rofer: Aren’t these funerals for two disabled boys. I hope the images of Trump mocking the disabled reporter resurface. The GOP’s opposition to Medicaid puts many disabled people and their families at great risk. The GOP have avoided being branded as hurtful to the disabled so far – at least it isn’t the first thing on people’s minds.

  94. 94.

    Adam L Silverman

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: In the long run, yes. The next Democratic majority Congress, let alone Democratic president, will be dealing with Israel and Israeli issues as if they’re just another partisan issue between Democrats and Republicans. That the GOP has encouraged this and gone along with it shows just how far gone they are.

  95. 95.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @tobie:
    People like him are naive fools who think that deep down everybody is good and probably also thinks that the fact that Trump holds the office of the Presidency obligates himself to accept the President’s visit. Like I said, he’s a naive fool. He confuses respect for the office with respect for the person holding that office.

  99. 99.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Dan B: Developmentally disabled brothers. One was 59 the other 52. When I saw that in the reporting I sent the following recommendation to one the security team leaders at my mom’s synagogue:

    As I read through the bios of the fallen in Pittsburgh, the two youngest victims were developmentally disabled brothers. If I’m recalling correctly from helping out over the past couple of years, you all also have a developmentally disabled congregant that lived in walking distance to the synagogue, unless he’s moved on from the area. I’d like to suggest that someone on the security committee organize people to both pick him up and take him home from services if he’s still attending them. Him, on his own, is a far too easy target given his disability.

  100. 100.

    Mary G

    This possibility floated by NY Mag is probably too good to actually happen, but it sure would be nice:

    And yet, despite this long record of overt white nationalist advocacy, Steve King might actually lose reelection in western Iowa this November.

    A poll released Tuesday by Change Research, a firm aligned with the Democratic Party, found King leading his Democratic challenger, former baseball player J.D. Scholten, by the razor-thin margin of 45 to 44 percent. King has held his seat since 2012, and won his last two reelection bids with more than 60 percent of the vote. Iowa’s fourth district is heavily rural, and backed Trump in 2016 by a landslide margin. As of last month, an Emerson College poll had King up by 10 points.

    By all appearances, this data led King to assume that he could win again this fall — even if he spent much of campaign season palling around with his favorite fascists in Austria, instead of shaking hands in Sioux City. As of mid-October, the congressman had a piddling $176,000 in cash-on-hand. Meanwhile, Scholten has spent $1.4 million, and has been airing anti-King advertisements in the district for two weeks. King has yet to air a single campaign commercial.

    I’ve never had the impression that Iowa is full of racists. Maybe he’ll get tossed.

  103. 103.

    ewrunning

    Just found a Groucho Marx quote that seems apposite to our Cheetoh faced leader:

    “Despite his obvious deficiencies, I can truly say that his entire organization (to say nothing of me) loves him with the same fervor that is usually reserved for men like Stalin, Hitler and Torquemada.”

    Just part of my reading as I try to stay sane after occasional dips into the news.

  105. 105.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Mary G: Iowa gets redder as you move from east to west and King’s district is the northwest corner. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if they dump him. But his district got less red after the 2010 redistricting. Iowa lost a representative and the remaining four districts had to be redrawn. In IA , that’s done by an independent commission that has to follow certain rules such as following country lines and including a mix of both rural of urban voters to the extent they can, preferably matching the state distribution of rural/urban residents. All the population growth (such as it is) is in cities. King’s district had to drop down and include Ames, the home of Iowa State. ISU is not particularly liberal. It’s engineering, vet and ag stuff, etc. But it’s more liberal than King’s previous constituency. We’ll see.

  110. 110.

    kindness

    Megan McCain is a greasy little piece of shit. I find myself saying that far to frequently. I mean, she’s only someone because she was John McCain’s devil spawn. She’s done nothing on her own to merit any public presence at all. And her positions are hellish. Why the other women on The View haven’t drawn straws to see who had to off her, I can’t fathom.

  111. 111.

    tobie

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: When I heard him on TV, I was immediately reminded of something the historian Yusuf Yerushalmi said, which is that historically Jews tried to align themselves with whomever they thought was in power to protect themselves. This was no doubt necessary in the past when Jews constantly faced pogroms. I didn’t think it was necessary today…but maybe Saturday’s violence proves me wrong. I dunno. If I were in Pittsburgh, I would be out there with the protestors.

    ETA: I need to correct this comment. Evidently Rabbi Myers has rescinded the invitation based on messages from the congregation. I should have been more up to date on this.

  112. 112.

    Origuy

    @tobie: It’s my understanding that three congregations, and therefor three different rabbis, share the synagogue. The other two want nothing to do with Trump.

  114. 114.

    Roger Moore

    @someone:

    Have you all picked this up yet:

    Yep, I saw that. The post at bellingcat has more detailed pictures of the LinkedIn profiles, and I noticed something glaringly wrong: they all have big gaps in their work histories. Most of them don’t mention any jobs between getting their degree and working at Surefire, even when they’ve supposedly been working for decades. Nobody I know on LinkedIn does that because big, unexplained gaps in your work history looks suspicious as hell to employers. In fact, only one of the “employees” they list has any work experience, and he still has something like a decade missing from his job history. It couldn’t be any more obvious that they tried to fake a real-world presence but didn’t think anyone would dig further than the very surface.

  116. 116.

    Shakti

    @Jerzy Russian:

    Also too, why is Meghan McCain on the TV machine? Semi-serious question: what does she actually do for a living, if anything?

    She’s a tv talking head who gets paid big bucks to say political stuff because of her daddy’s name. She’s either not rabid enough/thin enough for Fox which is why she doesn’t have a gig there. Her mother inherited wealth (which is part of the reason John McCain married her;) so she’s looking to inherit a pretty big trust.

    Yes, I’m mean.

  117. 117.

    guachi

    I’d like to note that Georgia is a runoff state. If neither candidate achieved 50%, and I think neither will, then Abrams and Kemp will go to a runoff.

    So the money you give Abrams will likely be useful through longer than next Tuesday.

  119. 119.

    Steve in the ATL

    @John Revolta: in the legal profession, we call that “assumption of risk”. When you first contemplate playing the bagpipes, you know that people will expect you to play “amazing grace”. Much like a thirteen years old boy given a guitar is expected to play “iron man” and “stairway to heaven”.

  125. 125.

    ruemara

    Oh, in Seattle for PodCon. Any Seattle Juicers wish to do meet, eat foods and generally behave uncivilly & without bipartisanship?

  127. 127.

    joel hanes

    @Mary G:

    I’ve never had the impression that Iowa is full of racists

    I’m sorry to disabuse you, then, but rural Iowa is chock full of latent racists who cherish the idea of a whites-only world — especially in NW Iowa, the last corner of the state to be settled and the least urban. The area is dominated by a conservative Dutch Reformed almost-fundamentalist Protestant religious culture, and it’s where King was born and bred.
    Here are links to Kiron, where King lives, and Odebolt, where he goes to church :
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiron,_Iowa
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odebolt,_Iowa

    Odebolt is 98.5 percent white.
    The Hispanics in Kiron are recent arrivals, primarily work in bad meat-packing jobs that whites don’t seem to want, and are very circumspect because they’re overtly resented.

  131. 131.

    karen marie

    I think Meghan McCain’s hair being pulled back so tightly is contributing to her inability to think rationally.

  133. 133.

    Procopius

    I was particularly pleased by ex-President Jimmy Carter publicly telling Kemp that he should resign from the office of Secretary of State before the election. I don’t believe he will, but unless he gets a surprise landslide he’s going to be regarded by half the people in the state as illegitimate. Of course it would be even better if Abrams gets a large win. I believe President Carter made some disastrous choices as President, and that those choices started the downhill slide that led us to today (stagnant wages, deregulation), but he is a sincere and honest man, who at least seems to try to live by the Christian values he preaches.

  135. 135.

    Procopius

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s got nothing to do with “not wanting to convict people out of hand.” Unless they figure that would annoy some of their advertisers. It’s entirely to avoid libel/slander suits. They don’t want to spend the money defending them even if they can be pretty sure of winning, and even with the way the courts have slanted the defamation laws in favor of the media it’s usually easier just to toss in “alleged” as a precaution.

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