Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

The willow is too close to the house.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Second rate reporter says what?

You can’t love your country only when you win.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

In my day, never was longer.

This fight is for everything.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

After roe, women are no longer free.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Eye-Roll Open Thread: Oh, Yay, Another White Businessman Gonna Save Us!

Eye-Roll Open Thread: Oh, Yay, Another White Businessman Gonna Save Us!

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My guess: Hickenlooper thinks running for a mere Senate seat would be beneath his manifold gifts — if he can’t stroll straight to the throne, he ain’t playing.

Reminder: Some voters are demanding what we don’t want to give, and Mitch McConnell is their spokesman —

Reader Interactions

99Comments

  1. 1.

    Jay

    Big Peener Toilet Salesman Whittaker quit the DOJ over the weekend to spend more time with his lawyers.

  2. 2.

    Brachiator

    Eye-Roll Open Thread: Oh, Yay, Another White Businessman Gonna Save Us!

    Can we make sure that all these goobers run as Republicans?

  3. 3.

    Jeffro

    I’m not gonna worry about the “5 Bs” or whatever nonsense the Czillas of the world are throwing around the Village. Democratic primary voters are going to surprise quite a few folks, methinks. For everything that the Turtle and the Mango Menace have tried to undo…for the sheer racism, sexism, and other nonsense we Dems have had to endure these past three years…I don’t think anyone’s settling for “can’t we just talk to one another?” BS this time around.

    No thank you. There is a majority is this country waiting to be represented, strongly represented, and an agenda that needs implementing by someone who understands exactly what – not even ‘who’, but ‘what’ – these trumpublicans are. THAT’s the person who’s going to win the Dem nomination, and hopefully 8 successful years in the WH, and THEN we can talk about having a nice civil conversation with the fucking MAGAts.

    Actually no, wait: not even then.

  4. 4.

    MattF

    I’m all in favor of Hickenlooper helping to divide up the DINO vote. Go John Go. And don’t forget the John! bumper stickers.

  6. 6.

    Kay

    He’s a dealmaker! He makes the best deals!

    All the business people essentially run on the same promise- that their superior personal skills will magically solve all the problems. It’s amazingly egocentric, as if no one ever fucking thought of it before.

  7. 7.

    Kay

    Thank God we have all these businesspeople to tell us that the secret is to meet with people and make deals.

    That never occurred to anyone before. No one ever tried that, ever, until they brought it up.

  8. 8.

    mrmoshpotato

    From Brother Charlie Pierce’s article:

    Her daughter Angie Hughes, 55, a nurse, had cast the first vote of her life for Mr. Trump.

    Finally someone came along after 35+ years of being able to vote and spoke about her concerns about wages, schools, healthcare, etc! /sarcasm

    Related: Does anyone else want a reporter to track down that baby in that picture whenever it’s 25 years old? Would be damn interesting to ask him/her about Mom.

  9. 9.

    jl

    Why isn’t Hick playing up his craft beer history? Seems like a better hook for his intended audience.
    If these centrist white guy centrist B-people want to compete for their 4 percent share, then fine with me. Let them disappear themselves from the scene.
    Maybe he wants to run the ATF, using beer as a way to get his foot in the door.

    However, if a centrist taco truck and nachos billionaire gets in the race, that might have a chance. I’ll get exercised over it then.

  12. 12.

    B.B.A.

    You guys do realize he was a two-term governor of CO, right? He’s not a clueless political noob, he’s a clueless political veteran.

  13. 13.

    khead

    Lol. Yeah, I said LOL. That’s the proper response to folks like Hickenwhoever. See also Martin O’Maywhoever.

  15. 15.

    jeffreyw

    I’m reminded of the run made by Ross Perot – asked what his ideas were for fixing a problem he said something like ‘Well, I don’t really know just what I’ll do, yet. I’ll get all the experts together and we’ll roll up our sleeves and get under the hood and fix it.’

  16. 16.

    Fleeting Expletive

    I’d just like to note that the earlier thread that touched on the “allegiance” to Israel and good/bad faith therein was excellent. So many thoughtful and helpful opinions. See, that’s why I love this joint and am annoyed when I don’t have enough time in the day (!) to read everything I’d like.

  24. 24.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @B.B.A.: This.

    I”m not thrilled he’s running for president. But he sure did okay for Colorado’s economy, gun control and other progressive legislation. I’m against his frakking position, but this post and the tweets show a complete lack of knowledge of Colorado and feels a lot like pooh-poohing because, I don’t know, you don’t like his name, his clothes, his cowboy boots? I mean seriously, Colorado is doing pretty damn well under this TWO-TERM GOVERNOR. The country could do much worse.

  25. 25.

    Tom Hamill

    Gotta say, you folks are quite ready to jettison anyone for the slightest little thing. Hickenlooper was a very competent governor and he did have a habit of trying to get people together in Colorado. While that my play as naive, it also may still be a message that works for those in the middle. I’m not sure he’ll be my first choice, but he has the chops to be a decent president.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    OTOH, I kind of do want to put a Hickenlooper/Buttigieg 2020 bumper sticker on my car.

  30. 30.

    Aziz, light!

    You look down and you see Senator McConnell, Leon, he’s crawling towards you… You reach down, you flip the tortoise over on its back, Leon… Senator McConnell lays on his back, his belly baking in the hot sun beating his legs trying to turn himself over but he can’t, not without your help, but you’re not helping.

    Damn straight I ain’t helping.

  31. 31.

    ruemara

    @schrodingers_cat: Nope. 11 months expected before any more communication

    Also, I saw this come up but the thread is dead. Bernie went to Selma for the breakfast honoring Hillary and left before the actual event marking the march across Pettus Bridge. Yes, he was there briefly. No, he did not stay for the actual civil rights event. He was in a rally in Chicago where he managed to land in the VT part of Chicago. OUTREACH!

  32. 32.

    bluehill

    What’s the number that have declared officially? I would kindly suggest to the DNC that they figure out how to pare this number down quickly. This many candidates and overlapping policy views sets it up for the worst one to bubble up to the top.

  33. 33.

    Major Major Major Major

    My guess: Hickenlooper thinks running for a mere Senate seat would be beneath his manifold gifts — if he can’t stroll straight to the throne, he ain’t playing.

    This is completely at odds with everything I know about him, and the impressions from when I’ve met him. I’m kind of mystified by the level of vitriol he’s inspiring.

    ETA:

    @TaMara (HFG):

    this post and the tweets show a complete lack of knowledge of Colorado and feels a lot like pooh-poohing because, I don’t know, you don’t like his name, his clothes, his cowboy boots?

    This ?

  34. 34.

    JWR

    Hickenlooper/Kasich? That friendship is what bothers me the most about him, cuz Kasich is truly a very bad faith, bad person whom I’d like to see as an informal advisor to anybody, never.

  37. 37.

    dr. bloor

    @Major Major Major Major: He came out of the gate implying that every Democratic official, including Obama, were too something something to effectively engage Mitch McConnell. Right.

    You can’t avoid the narcissism suggested in such a statement. Even if he’s the salt of the Earth, however, it suggests that he learned all he knows about human nature and communication from books he bought in airport bookstores.

  39. 39.

    different-church-lady

    MORRIE: All right. Sit down, Lurlene, this may be rough…The president of the United States is named Hickenlooper!

    LURLENE: I’m going out there, Morrie! Help me into this parachute!

  41. 41.

    Ruckus

    @ruemara:
    Sounds serious. WDEB. Probably take numerous studies to define it and investigate what it is and what makes it such a catastrophically dangerous disease with it’s major symptom of being a white dude with delusions of greatness because he ran a self serve gas station and didn’t set it on fire.

  43. 43.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    I know I say this every time, but Zoe is my favorite of your nieces. I love her attitude and still think she’s going to be the first MD for your family. Or a rocket scientist at JPL. Whichever she prefers. ??

  44. 44.

    A Ghost To Most

    We could do a lot worse than Hickenloooper.

    I also believe we can do better. He is, in his own terms, a militant moderate. Ruth Marcus may swoon, but he’s wrong for this moment.

  47. 47.

    jl

    @Baud: ‘Hickenlooper/Buttigieg 2020!’ Won’t even be able to read it, it would all be fine print.
    That’s a problem.

    Opening for Baud 2020!?

  48. 48.

    Ruckus

    @A Ghost To Most:
    This is my take as well. If one were to put it in terms of turn, it ain’t his. Put in terms of what we need most, it ain’t him. Put it in terms of basic democratic competence in 2020, he’s OK. But just. We can do better.

  49. 49.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @A Ghost To Most:

    We could do a lot worse than Hickenloooper.

    I also believe we can do better. He is, in his own terms, a militant moderate. Ruth Marcus may swoon, but he’s wrong for this moment.

    This. I do not believe that we can afford a “militant moderate” in this time of encroaching facism. We need someone who can bring the country together in OPPOSITION to facism, not in acquiescence to or accommodation with it.

  50. 50.

    A Ghost To Most

    @dr. bloor: This is how he is. It’s not narcissism; his only real move is consensus building. That lane doesn’t exist. He’ll find out soon enough.

  51. 51.

    plato

    Robert Mueller's office has notified Judge Amy Berman Jackson about an Instagram post from Roger Stone that could be in violation of Judge Jackson's strict gag order on Stone. https://t.co/UNp0Ux1xi1— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 4, 2019

    Mueller: Midnight raids. Pointing out his life threats to you. Citing the lying pos ‘ various gag order violations.

    Jeez judge, what a guy has to do to get this perennial corrupt thug’s ass behind bars, judge?

  53. 53.

    Ruckus

    @ruemara:
    A dose of white dudeitus? What in the hell would you want that for? I’ve lived around it for almost 7 decades and believe me it doesn’t look or smell any better up close and personal.

  55. 55.

    lamh36

    @Mnemosyne: LOL…thx. She’s my first niece, and she knows me by name and calls me “Auntie Nell”…so she’s my fav …lol.

    But it’s gonna be tough soon as Layla, Noah and Joshua learn to talk and say my name…LOL

  62. 62.

    ruemara

    @Ruckus: I’d be able to bluster my way into things I’m actually qualified for. I wouldn’t be constantly denied shit I’m overqualified for. Trust me, a little whitedudeitis sounds good some days.

  63. 63.

    The Pale Scot

    I need advice about florida mental health care, an elderly relative is having an episode. Her sons and husband want to call the cops and commit her by Baker Act. This has happened before apparently and she says the place they take her is a “terrible place” with detoxing druggies etc. She is diagnosed bi-polar, among others she’s prescribed oxyies and valium, yeahm I know..

    In Jersey she’d be sent to the “Flight Deck” for 72 hours of observation and take it from there. Dangerous people aren’t sent there. Are flight decks in FL shitholes in general? Or just this particular one. They’re trying to contact her psychologist, so far he/she hasn’t returned the call.

    Location Melbourne FL, medicare/medicaid. Recommendations for a good hospital to be sent for observation, in that area would be cool.

    Hoping Betty’s around, thanks

    TPS

    Will be on and off the phone

  65. 65.

    Ruckus

    @ruemara:
    You are actually looking for the room down the hall – white dude costumes. You want to appear to be a white dude to gain access that is often denied to people who look like you. In some fields it’s denied almost always.
    White dudeitus is a disease of white males that makes them think they are far more qualified than anyone else to do things they’ve never done or never done better than a 2 yr old who got into dads scotch. Drive in a NASCAR race after uttering the words “Hold my beer!” is an example. Be president after a 50 yr history of being a financial dipshit and a racist fuck is another.

  66. 66.

    piratedan

    well… you see… Hickenlooper has never had anyone object to his very existence because he happens to be white and if anything, perhaps is suffering from a wee lack of either empathy or imagination to understand that anyone dealing with him might be doing so in bad faith… just saying. dude needs an alarm clock politically to understand just what the fuck has been going on in the Nation for the last few years…. I’m sure he’s been doing okay for Colorado, but Colorado isn’t on anyone’s border shit-list and hasn’t had the spotlight upon it because the biggest thing in the national consciousness about Colorado is the legalization of weed.

  67. 67.

    stinger

    Hickenlooper, Inslee, Delaney, Brown, Biden, etc., may be fine people and good Democrats. But it’s disappointing that they seem so unable to read the zeitgeist. I can’t be the only person for whom Nov. 9, 2016, is as raw and bleeding and gut-punched as if it were yesterday — for whom the next Democratic candidate and the next President MUST be a woman. Preferably, a woman of color.

  68. 68.

    Ruckus

    @The Pale Scot:
    Ouch, that’s hard core stuff.
    The horribleness of the place may be as much in her mind as in actuality. Any place that holds a person is not going to be that person’s favorite place. OTOH it may be a major shithole. And a 72 hr hold seems the norm these days although I’d bet it is far more often than not, not nearly enough time to do anything positive with the issues.

  70. 70.

    Joe Falco

    Good god, Hickenlooper is such a horse’s ass. I might have had some respect for him if he had said he would have punched that traitorous turtle’s teeth down his throat if McConnell looked at him cross-eyed. Not really, but it would have been a better response than that gods awful history-rewriting drivel.

  76. 76.

    Ruckus

    @stinger:
    This. I’m an old white dude and I see that at least it’s got to be a woman, and I prefer a black woman, although there seem to be a couple of pretty good pale women who’d most likely do just fine. But a centrist white guy? Thanks, no.

  77. 77.

    Ksmiami

    @A Ghost To Most: I get that but I also think the next Democratic President will need deep institutional knowledge to repair all the damage that has been done to so much of our government, Associated agencies, allies etc and the only one that has that is Biden

  78. 78.

    Ruckus

    @A Ghost To Most:

    I’m not voting for anyone older than me.

    I’m stumbling into my seventh decade and I agree 1000000000%. I’ve met a couple of people a lot older than me who had their shit in the same sized pile as a decent 40-50 yr old, but they are very rare. It’s too hard a job and most of us old farts are far more interested in just getting through the easy days on two feet.

  79. 79.

    Ohio Mom

    @The Pale Scot: Have you tried the local chapter of NAMI —they probably have a help line of some sort (if they only have a suicide prevention number, I would call that).

    NAMI has lots of supports for families like yours with members with severe mental illnesses. Good luck!

  80. 80.

    Yutsano

    @stinger: Trust me: Jay’s doing it for the Cabinet gig. He’s been more than smart enough before on how to count numbers re: his political situation.

  81. 81.

    The Midnight Lurker

    John Hickenlooper is not Howard Shultz. They’re both filthy stinking rich sure, but that’s where the similarities end.

    Hickenlooper started life as a geologist (scientist). After he got laid off, he started a beer business and made bank (American success story). The brewery was the centerpiece to the urban renewal of one of Denver’s crappiest neighborhoods. After that, he ran for Mayor and won. He is considered one of Denver’s best Mayors by Democrats and Republicans alike.

    From there he went on to serve two terms as Colorado’s Governor, had more than his fair share of shit to deal with, and did a great job. He is leaving office (term-limited) with one of highest approval ratings in modern history.

    In 2014, Hickenlooper moved to the center in the face of 2014’s Republican wave, and that’s likely to hurt him with Democratic Party purists. He was the last Democrat standing when the smoke cleared, and I guarantee you, there are a shit-load of Colorado Democrats who wish they had done the same.

    He’s strong on gun control, renewable energy, and universal health care, although he doesn’t think we should get rid of private insurance. He is strong on environmental issues and has tentatively signed onto the Green New Deal, but wants more details.

    In normal times, he’d be a hell of a candidate.

    Unfortunately, these are not normal times. He’s a centrist at a time when the party isn’t looking for centrists. And his coziness with big oil and musings about Kasich as veep aren’t going to help his chances either.

    So yeah… I welcome Gov. Hickenloooper’s entry. He has some good ideas, probably has the best chance of siphoning off a lot of moderate Republican votes, and he genuinely wants to help people. I don’t think he’ll get elected, but he will certainly elevate the level of discourse.

    This is what the primaries are for.

  82. 82.

    Quaker in a Basement

    I’m another long-time Coloradoan who is in line with TaMara and Major (x 4). Hickenlooper is a solid, self-effacing, practical guy. I don’t understand all the vitriol in this thread.

  87. 87.

    A Ghost To Most

    @Ksmiami:
    Make Biden the Fix Corruption and Jail Assholes Czar.

    My generation has truly fucked things up.
    Let the youngs try to fix things.

  88. 88.

    stinger

    @Ksmiami: The 2018 election showed the type of candidate who can galvanize Dem voters. And it isn’t 76-yr-old white guys. It’s people named Alexandria and Ihlan and Katie and Rashida and Ayanna and Cindy and Abby and Kamala and Nancy.

    A Harris/Haaland or Harris/Castro or Harris/Abrams ticket — THAT’S How. We. Win.

  89. 89.

    Miss Bianca

    @TaMara (HFG): Yeah, that’s kind of how I feel, but at the same time, I am pissed at Hick. I want him to declare for Senate, wipe Cory Gardner off the map, and get us another Democrat in the Senate because he could do that so damn easily. Instead of being the 57th guy to say,”Hey, I can haz Preznitcy now?”

    I want a DEMOCRATIC SENATE, dammit, and I want it yesterday!

  90. 90.

    Ohio Mom

    @lamh36: Luke Perry was a Brown family friend — he came back to Ohio to campaign for Sherrod when he ran for Senator the first time.

    I just found that out. So yes, a small world.

  91. 91.

    Anne Laurie

    @TaMara (HFG): Okay, maybe I overreacted! I just loathe McConnell so damned much, and I may have assumed that other people of good will might not hate him with the same intensity.

    @Major Major Major Major: And ditto to you.

    For anyone, especially Coloradans, I have offended — please accept my bulk apologies. I’m willing to learn that Hickenlooper is a very fine Democrat and would make an excellent president… although he still won’t be my first or second choice.

  92. 92.

    randy khan

    @khead:

    Lol. Yeah, I said LOL. That’s the proper response to folks like Hickenwhoever. See also Martin O’Maywhoever.

    O’Malley had a more reasonable plan than Hickenlooper – he wanted to be the alternative to Clinton who everybody who didn’t like her would support when the rest of the field cleared out. It was doomed by Bernie, but it wasn’t crazy.

    Hickenlooper, on the other hand, is aiming for a tiny sliver of the party that he’s not going to be able to expand because the supporters of candidates who drop out will go to one of the leftier candidates.

  93. 93.

    pattont

    I like Hick and think he has done very well by Colorado. Normally I’d be predisposed to back him from the go…however, that statement about McConnel should be a disqualifying statement full stop. The only answer about McConnell is to publicly call him out for what he is; a cancer on our country. I’m sure he could qualify it with some more politically correct language, but McConnell is evil and any hint at “bi-partisanship” with him is a) beyond naïve b) offensive after the last 10 years (and more). I know we need to be mindful of not becoming the Republicans, but the time for niceties and overtures of bi-partisanship is forever gone. The Republicans have been laid bare (and are what many of have said they are since Reagan and before).

    I agree with poster who noted Hick should go for the senate. He would be more helpful there and can actually win.

  94. 94.

    randy khan

    When I read stuff about sitting down with McConnell and negotiating, I wonder why that person hasn’t realized from the last 10 years that McConnell’s one actual negotiating move is to say no and keep saying it. He has shown no skill at real negotiations.

  95. 95.

    Ruckus

    @Ksmiami:
    If Biden had that he’d have done a lot better both times he ran. He’s a great human being in many ways. But he has too many gaffs and blunders under his belt to be the person we need now. His time was over a decade ago and he wasn’t ready then. He hasn’t gotten any better.

  96. 96.

    Ruckus

    @Anne Laurie:
    McConnell is one of the major reasons I’ve banged away at term limits for national office before. He is a national disgrace as a politician and as a human being. He’s ruining this country and only 600,000 people voted for him.

  97. 97.

    boatboy_srq

    Is it just me, or does the sign in the last post read “Thank you, Jesus, for Lord President Trump”?

  98. 98.

    Don K

    @Major Major Major Major:

    This time around, a lot of Dems (including me) aren’t looking for conciliation or reaching across the aisle. ,
    These sound too much like pre-emptive surrender, and anyway the Reps will just keep increasing their demands. I mean, if Dems proposed roasting the poor in coal-fired ovens and serving them as canapes at Davos as a solution to the problem of poverty, Reps would demand the families be billed for the cost of the coal.

    In last year’s open-seat primary in MI-09 (combination of upper-income, middle-class, and working-class suburbia), we had one candidate who touted his ability to reach across the aisle to get things done. IIRC, he got less than 5% of the votes as we nominated and elected the retiring Congressman’s son, who is a good UAW progressive (member of the Progressive Caucus and co-sponsor of the Green New Deal). Point being? It isn’t just the activists who want Democrats to be Democrats and to go for progressive priorities.

  99. 99.

    H-Bob

    @dr. bloor:
    This nonsense about “sitting down and talking out the problem” reminds me of when Professor Gates got arrested for trying to get into his own house — Biden suggested that Gates and the cop should talk it out over a beer so then there had to be a photo op with Obama, Biden, Gates and the cop stiffly sitting at a tiny table in the White House garden, each with a bottle of beer. Why didn’t that lame stunt didn’t kill the “sit down and talk it out” meme?

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