Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Motown is Joe-Town!

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Consistently wrong since 2002

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Be a traveling stable for those who can’t find room at the inn.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Republicans in disarray!

Donald Trump, welcome to your everything, everywhere, all at once.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

There’s always a light at the end of the frog.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

“woke” is the new caravan.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Even though I know this is a bad idea, I’m off to do it anyway!

People are weird.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Rolling Up the Big Guns

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Rolling Up the Big Guns

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172Comments

  1. 1.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    I’m tired of bitching about Dems not impeaching. I don’t think they should now; public isn’t there yet. They need more documentary/testimonial proof. And they’re in the process of getting it! Make a stronger case to the public, _then_ impeach, even if it won’t pass the Senate

    I agree.

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    TCM alert.

    Thursday at 10 p.m. Eastern time, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek. Rarely comes around in TCM’s rotation. If you’ve never seen it and don’t end up falling for both madcap Betty Hutton and feisty Diana Lynn as her younger sister, consult a cardiologist pronto. Goofy and partially bittersweet screwball comedy, daring enough for its time (wartime 1940s) that one wonders upon viewing how the studio managed to sneak it through.

    Should you have enough DVR space, it is sandwiched between two other films handy to have already in stock for a lazy afternoon, The More the Merrier at 8 p.m. and The Clock at midnight.

    Also, found on Prime is Truly Miss Marple – The Curious Case of Margaret Rutherford, a tantalizing yet (fair warning) ultimately somber short film about her life and career.

  4. 4.

    Baud

    Sen. Kamala Harris, who spent her entire legal career as a prosecutor, will introduce legislation Wednesday aimed at helping the other side of the legal scale — publicly funded defense attorneys.

    Harris’ bill seeks to level the playing field between prosecutor and public defender. The bill would set workload limits for full-time public defenders and, within five years, make pay equal between public defenders and prosecutors, funded by a $250 million federal grant program. Dubbed the ‘Ensuring Quality Access to Legal Defense’ (EQUAL) Act, the bill also authorizes funds for training public defenders and reauthorizing student loan repayment programs.

    https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/08/politics/kamala-harris-public-defender-bill/index.html

  5. 5.

    David Koch

    Warren and Biden are attacking the republican nominee, while Wilmer is attacking ….. [checks notes] …the Democratic field.

  12. 12.

    Baud

    Perhaps surprisingly to some, much of Biden’s newfound supporters seem to have formerly backed fellow 2020 contender Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, even though Biden backers are more likely to be more moderate, nonwhite and older than Sanders.’ Obviously, some of this trend towards Biden and away from Sanders is because Biden is now receiving much of the news attention Sanders had been getting.

    But something else is at play: Biden does well among whites without a college degree who, as a group, backed Sanders in 2016. This could help Biden given that other Democrats haven’t been able to break through among white Democrats without a college degree in the primary.

    https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/08/politics/joe-biden-bernie-sanders-analysis/index.html

  13. 13.

    Chyron HR

    @Baud:

    Hey, most of the kids in my social media circle have been “Feeling the Bi” for years.

  14. 14.

    David Koch

    Morning Blow is saying “we always knew he was a fraud”.

    Suuuuuure you did.

    Who’s the fraud, now.

  15. 15.

    germy

    I don’t think many people will take a declaration of contempt of Congress, or being detained, or losing their professional credentials & reputations, for Donald Trump.

    Maybe not for him, but they’ll do it for the Republican party.

  16. 16.

    David Koch

    @NotMax: would you say this movie is as good as Olivia de Havilland in the wartime farce “Goverment Girl”?

  19. 19.

    NotMax

    @David Koch

    Each operates on a totally different plane. Government Girl massages the blatant rah-rah ethos, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek gleefully skewers it.

  22. 22.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: OK, there are so many to choose from it’s impossible to know which one Morning Ho might be speaking of.

  23. 23.

    Immanentize

    Good morning All!
    Another pretty spring day in Boston.

    I hope raven drops by and reposts his fish and peanut picture from last night. Big fish, little girl. On the beach with raven.

    ETA. And there he is!

  24. 24.

    plato

    Would dana houle consider Sen Warren to be ‘bitching about impeachment’? And who is he/she anyways?

  25. 25.

    David Koch

    @Baud: watching Wilmer (himself) and his supporters go into full panic last week over the polling was a delight.

  26. 26.

    Immanentize

    @David Koch: I wonder what’s going to happen in Wilmerville. I just get some sense that they cannot withstand any kind of true drop in their standing. I think they really thought they were the inevitable candidate…. Will Bernie do the work necessary to get back in the race?

  27. 27.

    germy

    How badly does Trump want to tweet, “I didn’t really lose all that money, I just told the IRS that I did for tax purposes like all business geniuses” right now?— Schooley (@Rschooley) May 8, 2019

  31. 31.

    germy

    Meet the Republicans pulling for Bernie Sanders. GOP says Sanders nomination would hand them Senate majority for two more years (Bernie says otherwise) “It would be good for us to have a nominee like that,” says Sen. Ernst https://t.co/UVMtgTp7bw— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) May 7, 2019

  32. 32.

    JWR

    @Immanentize: A few days ago you wrote:

    @JWR: hi JWR (waives). What, does Bobby three sticks have a sqeaky little mouse voice?

    Hi, Immanentize. (Waving back.) Sorry I’ve been so remiss in following the comment threads of late, but yeah, pretty much.

  34. 34.

    David Koch

    @NotMax: well, that settles it. it’s set to record.

    also too, have you been watching “Fosse/Verdon” on FX – holy cow, turns out they were both loathsome in real life. By comparrison it makes “All That Jazz” look a children’s movie.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @RAVEN: Awwwwwwwww….. Oh well, you had some excitement anyway. TBH, I like slot limits. Share the joy of the big one.

  36. 36.

    plato

    An Arab pro-democracy activist says he was whisked away to safety by officials in Norway, where he lives, after being told of a threat from Saudi Arabia.

    Iyad el-Baghdadi told the BBC he believed the threat was related to his work on Saudi human rights projects.

    According to the Guardian newspaper, information about the threat came from the CIA, which then notified Norway.

    “If they don’t want to kill me, then I’m not doing my job,” he wrote on Twitter, after the news came to light.

    The Palestinian author and blogger is outspoken on the social media platform, often criticising leaders in the Middle East.

    This includes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose aides have been accused of ordering the murder of Saudi journalist and critic Jamal Khashoggi, inside the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul last year.

    Mr Baghdadi, who knew Khashoggi, told Al-Jazeera: “A big part of my work these past two years was focused on the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia, especially after the murder of my friend Jamal Khashoggi.”

    The CIA, Norwegian and Saudi authorities have not commented on the case.

  37. 37.

    debbie

    Is it even possible to listen to or read the Mueller Report and get a good idea of what went on despite the redactions?

  38. 38.

    Immanentize

    @JWR: Wow, that is commenter comraderie dedication! Thanks. I will have to check out one of his speeches or former bits of testimony….

  39. 39.

    satby

    @David Koch: @NotMax: second Miracle at Morgan’s Creek, it’s a quirky cute little film. I may just watch it because we’re supposed to get more rain this morning. And season 4 of Lucifer started today on Netflix.
    Plus I still haven’t seen the latest Unforgotten or Blacklist.

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    @David Koch

    Not yet; may check it out once it’s all available. Others here have naught but good to say about it.

    Also, if you liked Government Girl, you might appreciate The More the Merrier (also mentioned above), whose plot hook is also the lodging/housing crunch in D.C. during the war. Jean Arthur struts her stuff as a precious patriotic cutie pie.

  41. 41.

    Van Buren

    @Baud: I feel like Harris is trying very hard to get the Van Buren household vote, as my wife is a public defender, and last month she proposed increasing teacher’s compensation., and I spend my days standing in front of 10 year olds being ignored.

  43. 43.

    Immanentize

    @Van Buren: Yay for your wife! And you are not being ignored, the tykes are just trying to work around you. (Yay for you too)

    Harris knows where the need is.

  46. 46.

    Kay

    @germy:

    I just told the IRS that I did for tax purposes

    This is exactly what his fans are going to say.

  51. 51.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: Yes, but now Bernie has a white paper on how it won’t happen this time. Well, probably won’t. And if it does, it certainly won’t be Bernie’s fault because he has a white paper on how it won’t happen this time…

  53. 53.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: Ben Wittes over at Lawfare was able to conclude that trump is guilty guilty guilty, and he is as cautious as they get.

  54. 54.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: It’s weird about the Guardian/Bernie alignment. That article is five column inches of nothing.

  55. 55.

    Kay

    @Van Buren:

    and I spend my days standing in front of 10 year olds being ignored.

    They’re not ignoring you. They’re going home and citing you as an expert to their parents, with entire, detailed quotes.

  57. 57.

    JWR

    @Immanentize: Yes, I am here. Most of the time, anyway. ;-) As far as Mueller’s voice, I may be overstating it a bit due to Seth Meyers pointing over his shoulder at an image of him and asking of Trump, “you really wanna mess with this guy?”, and I think of this ominously deep, gravelly voice. But we shall see, I sincerely hope.

    BTW, Everybody who missed it should really check out last night’s Late Night with Seth Meyers. (ETA, Megan McCain was a guest) There’s a fun write-up about it at The Daily Beast. (this time, I’m not linking to Mediate, whose comment section had already been overrun with trolls/Ben Domenech Fan Club members.)

  58. 58.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: It took him 3 years to address it. The Guardian is so far thru the mirror for Bernie they are on a first name basis with the Red Queen, so I have to laugh when they report this kind of thing uncritically..

  59. 59.

    JAFD

    Note along with this thread’s title; today is V-E Day, the 74th anniversary of the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of the Third Reich.

  62. 62.

    Immanentize

    @JAFD: Is this the day we kiss nurses on the street? Or is that VJ Day?

    Seriously, I had a friend back in the Reagan 80s who used to say, “Hitler lost, but fascism won.” What a cynic that guy was!

  64. 64.

    tobie

    @OzarkHillbilly: You can add to that list: Booker has a gun control plan, Klobuchar has an infrastructure as well as an addiction plan, Beto has a climate and an immigration plan. There’s no shortage of ideas from what Wilmer would call “the Establishment.”

  65. 65.

    Baud

    @JAFD:

    Cool. Next year will be the 75th anniversary. Our candidates should play it up. Let Trump respond by saying there were good people on both sides.

  66. 66.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: He is a strict constructionist when it comes to the law, especially on matters of guilt.

  67. 67.

    satby

    @JAFD: barely remarked on in my U.S. media feed but well covered in the UK one.
    We’re making the same mistakes here because we’ve allowed the past to fade from memory.

  68. 68.

    Amir Khalid

    I spent most of the day watching match highlight videos from the UEFA Champions League semifinal second leg. (Very satisfying for me.) Barcelona is catching hell from sports media all over the world for blowing a three-goal lead and crashing out of the Chmpions League two years in a row. There is talk of sacking manager Ernesto Vervelde — which seems excessive, considering he’s led Barca to the league title twice in his two seasons, and is on the verge of successfully defending the King’s Cup as well.

  69. 69.

    satby

    @Baud: maybe the other Democratic candidates should ask Wilmer to share his memories of that day, as the only candidate alive then.

  71. 71.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @rikyrah: St Ann is notorious for it’s police chases: Until the wheels fall off: St. Ann is proud of its rep for police chases, but there are costs.

    In the last two years, there has been about one St. Ann police chase a week, and a related crash about once every two weeks, according to police records obtained by the Post-Dispatch.

    The department serves a population of about 14,000 residents and employs 54 officers, but it had more chases last year than the St. Louis County police’s 950 officers and nearly as many as the 1,200 officers with the St. Louis Police Department. Officers with those larger departments, along with most in the region, pursue fleeing suspects for the most serious felonies, but it’s been St. Ann policy for years to chase drivers for minor offenses like expired plates and speeding.

    St. Ann Police Chief Aaron Jimenez sees the pursuits as a point of pride, arguing chases send a message to lawbreakers: Stay out of St. Ann. “Make no mistake, St. Ann will chase you until the wheels fall off,” he said in a recent interview with the Post-Dispatch. “I’ve said it over and over, and I stand by that.”

    But St. Ann’s pursuit practices come at a steep cost.

    Since 2009, two people have died and least 42 have been injured in St. Ann pursuit crashes, according to an analysis of reporting in the Post-Dispatch and other media. Those injured include 11 drivers fleeing police and eight passengers in the fleeing vehicles, but also 17 innocent bystanders and six St. Ann police officers.

    It’s all good.

  73. 73.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Baud:

    Biden does well among whites without a college degree who, as a group, backed Sanders in 2016.

    Hmm. I wonder if whites without college degrees maybe really particularly dislike Hillary Clinton, as opposed to pining for the leftism they know they've been denied by The Establishment.

  74. 74.

    Betty Cracker

    I’m tired of bitching about Dems not impeaching.

    Well, I’m tired of bitching about Dems bitching about Dems not impeaching! How does Houle think this shit works? Public demand drives political action.

    @raven: Damn, that’s a huge fish! Have fun in Apalachicola!

    @Baud:

    Perhaps surprisingly to some, much of Biden’s newfound supporters seem to have formerly backed fellow 2020 contender Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, even though Biden backers are more likely to be more moderate, nonwhite and older than Sanders.’

    I missed the final apostrophe upon first read-through and thought, damn, they’re older than SANDERS? How many of them can there be?

  76. 76.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @tobie: My memory being, well, my memory, I tried googling to see what I could find specifically for others. Turns out my google-fu is just like my memory: Full of holes.

    ETA thanx for the assist.

  77. 77.

    Baud

    @FlipYrWhig:

    You’re being a bit unfair. They obviously hated Hillary because Obama supported the TPP and she was closely associated with Obama. Nothing like Biden at all.

  78. 78.

    Miki

    I listened to the (FREE) audible version of The Mueller Report while doing chores/hanging out last weekend. It’s no exaggeration to say it’s gripping. I was having a hard time finding the time to read the damn thing, so this audio version was perfect. Highly recommend it. (Did I mention it’s FREE?)

  80. 80.

    Another Scott

    @FlipYrWhig: Ding, ding, ding.

    And butter emails, also too.

    Funny how that explanation is ignored in so much punditing…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  82. 82.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I’m catching up on news sites and saw again the news about hundreds of federal prosecutors saying Trump would have been indicted except for the position he holds. This time I was struck by the oddity of that. WTF? Did we decide that someone–anyone– really could shoot someone in the street and walk away? When and why did we do that?

  86. 86.

    Another Scott

    @satby: Hehe. :-)

    My dad was born in ’35 and had memories of Pearl Harbor day. That was certainly a day when history changed. It wasn’t that long ago, but things were so different then.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  87. 87.

    Another Scott

    Reuters:

    WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) – The diplomatic cable from Beijing arrived in Washington late on Friday night, with systematic edits to a nearly 150-page draft trade agreement that would blow up months of negotiations between the world’s two largest economies, according to three U.S. government sources and three private sector sources briefed on the talks.

    The document was riddled with reversals by China that undermined core U.S. demands, the sources told Reuters.

    In each of the seven chapters of the draft trade deal, China had deleted its commitments to change laws to resolve core complaints that caused the United States to launch a trade war: theft of U.S. intellectual property and trade secrets; forced technology transfers; competition policy; access to financial services; and currency manipulation.

    […]

    So much winning, we’ll all be sick of it.

    So much.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  90. 90.

    Chyron HR

    @satby:

    “They weren’t deplorable, they were the noble proletariat being oppressed by the neoliberal Democratic establishment!”

  91. 91.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    I think there’s always been a lack of understanding of the role of AA’s in the Democratic Party. They’re portrayed as an “interest group” and not political actors in their own right, and that’s not true at the local Party level. If I go to the Cleveland women’s Democratic caucus lunch it is run by black women. They have their own political power. Obama was fascinating to watch in Ohio because Clinton went to state-level Democrats (both elected and not) and county chairs, while Obama went to mayors. He knew where black political power was. Mayors were better to have. They drove turnout in the areas he needed, and they did that in ’08 and again in ’12.

  92. 92.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Miki: I wonder (but not enough to check for myself) how an Audible version of that report handles footnotes, of which there are very very many.

  93. 93.

    tobie

    @OzarkHillbilly: No need to apologize. We’re going to have a helluva party platform come convention time because so many policy positions have already been crafted by the candidates.

  94. 94.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    And it’s amusing in Ohio, right, because black mayors were actually getting elected while white county chairs are chosen by committees yet the white county chairs were somehow seen as more legitimate as far as political power. They’re in counties that don’t elect Democrats, yet they’re somehow more representative of the Democratic Party than black people who run and win. Because of their mysterious “power” that somehow isn’t reflected in, ya know, winning.

  95. 95.

    Baud

    @Gin & Tonic:

    My favorite footnote from the Mueller Report (which I have only read a portion of):

    “28. The term “troll” refers to internet users-in this context, paid operatives-who post inflammatory or otherwise disruptive content on social media or other websites.”

  100. 100.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @NotMax:

    Should you have enough DVR space, it is sandwiched between two other films handy to have already in stock for a lazy afternoon, The More the Merrier at 8 p.m. and The Clock at midnight.

    Everybody should watch “The More The Merrier” for a bit of Oscar context. Charles Coburn won Best Supporting Actor 1944 for his performance in the movie. One of the people he beat out? Claude Rains in “Casablanca”. One of the biggest Oscar goofs ever. Nothing wrong with Coburn’s performance but it’s not immortal like Rains’s.

  102. 102.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    So Kamala has an Education plan. Jay has a Climate plan. Julian has an Immigration plan. Elizabeth has a plan for damn near everything. Wilmer?

    Bernie Sanders campaign unveils plan to prevent sexism among staff

    I actually laughed when I read the punchline.

  103. 103.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Baud: Completely random factoid – a report my son wrote as a grad school assignment last year was cited in one of the footnotes. He had no idea until somebody told him. I had no idea there were so many footnotes, on so many subjects.

  104. 104.

    OzarkHillbilly

    A nice profile of Gilda Radner.

    “There was a time at the height of Saturday Night Live when I couldn’t even walk down the street in New York because every single person recognised me. It got so that I didn’t even go out because of that kind of attention. Now I’m someone people shout ‘Hey, you, move!’ at in the parking lot of a hospital.”

  109. 109.

    JPL

    The president is making a visit to Tyndall AFB and then he’s holding a rally in Panama City. Raven should try to greet him.

  110. 110.

    Betty Cracker

    Trump was up early with an astoundingly lame push-back against the NYT story from yesterday that paints him as a big, fat, broke loser. Here’s a summary:

    blah blah blah tax shelter blah blah blah everyone showed losses blah blah blah renegotiating is a sport blah blah blah besides, it was a long time ago blah blah blah fake news hit job blah blah blah

    Even by his subterranean standards, it is weak and watery sauce.

  113. 113.

    Bobby Thomson

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: the people oppose “impeachment” only because they don’t understand what it is. It’s not removal.

    Absolutely take as much time as you need in impeachment hearings. But get it started and stop trying to play both sides. The president is a criminal thug. If Congress weren’t so bad about following through Democrats might trust them more.

  115. 115.

    Miki

    @Gin & Tonic: Yep – all read in-line. Many (most, probably) are citations to testimony/statements, but many are elaborations on statements made in the body of the report. IMO, they didn’t disturb the flow at all but I kind of like footnotes (even if they do make a long read longer).

  117. 117.

    germy

    If YOUR credit score drops below 600 or you miss a loan payment you can't buy a used car or get a department store card. How was Trump able to keep getting loans when for a decade at least, basically all he did was lose his father's money? His tax returns must be fascinating.— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) May 8, 2019

    …or, as some of you have pointed out, you DO get the car loan, but the interest rate is so high you can barely make the payments, and god forbid you miss a few because you get sick or lose your job, you lose it to reposession. And lenders look at you like you have two heads.— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) May 8, 2019

  118. 118.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    “Clearly we need a cultural revolution in this country to change workplace attitudes and behavior,” the Vermont senator said in a statement, following media reports of sexism and harassment on his campaign. “I intend in every way to be actively involved in that process.”

    Hmmph. Having family that suffered through the Cultural Revolution, the senator from Vermont is using a poor choice of words. One might even say tone-deaf. Surprise.

  120. 120.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    If it’s so smart why didn’t his father do it? His father didn’t have to “show” losses for some reason.

    We can go further. We can compare him to a whole set of real estate developers. I know he’s a fake real estate developer but he chose the set, not us – do they all show enormous losses for years and years?

  121. 121.

    geg6

    @Another Scott:

    My parents were born in the mid-20s. They were in high school when Pearl Harbor happened. My dad, the youngest of three brothers, spent much of high school trying to figure out how to enlist. It was particularly difficult because both older brothers were in war zones (one in the Navy in the Pacific and the other in the 101st Airborne in Europe) and both his parents and the military weren’t enamored of having all of the boys in war zones. So he finally was allowed to enlist in his senior year (1943-44) and was sent to train as an airplane mechanic. He never saw a minute of battle but he was, at least, sent to England for the latter part of the war to service bombers there. Which was nice, because both of his parents were immigrants to the US from England and he got to know some of his extended family pretty well while there.

    My parents told me that WWII was life-changing for them, even more so than the Depression had been. Made them liberals forever.

  122. 122.

    Betty Cracker

    @O. Felix Culpa: Haven’t seen any polling data, but something tells me he’s tanking badly with women. Hmm. I wonder why that would be? I’m not thrilled with Biden’s rise, but if he manages to put Sanders away early, he’ll have done his country a service.

  123. 123.

    Gin & Tonic

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    a cultural revolution

    Huh. A familiar phrase. I’ve seen that somewhere before, and I’m trying to recall how it worked out. Let me check:

    In the violent struggles that ensued across the country, millions of people were persecuted and suffered a wide range of abuses including public humiliation, arbitrary imprisonment, torture, hard labor, sustained harassment, seizure of property and sometimes execution. A large segment of the population was forcibly displaced, most notably the transfer of urban youth to rural regions during the Down to the Countryside Movement. Historical relics and artifacts were destroyed and cultural and religious sites were ransacked.

  125. 125.

    geg6

    @Kay:

    If it’s so smart why didn’t his father do it? His father didn’t have to “show” losses for some reason.

    And that’s why he sounds so weak. He knows how bad it looks that Dear Ol’ Dad was making money, hand over fist, and Donnie the Loser was losing so much, Dear Ol’ Dad had to bail him out over and over and over again. Once Dear Ol’ Dad died, who bailed him out?

  126. 126.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’m not thrilled with Biden’s rise, but if he manages to put Sanders away early, he’ll have done his country a service.

    Same here. I also keep reminding myself it’s early days. There’s a lot of time for things to shake out and the one true candidate to emerge (preferably Harris or Warren IMHO).

  127. 127.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: One of my most effective zingers against Trumpster relatives (measured by how quickly they change the subject) is to call Trump out as a crooked real estate developer. Everyone in Florida hates real estate developers! This is new grist for my mill!

    Trump’s entire public-facing brand is “successful businessman.” Anyone with a lick of sense knew he was a gigantic fraud all along, but there’s no denying it now. I don’t think it’ll make a difference; no matter how much they bleat about “successful businessman,” that wasn’t the real reason they voted for Trump. Still, it’s good to see that it gets under the fraudster’s skin.

  128. 128.

    Kay

    It’s the general election, Wasserman maintains, that presents more daunting problems. There, the Trump campaign’s aggressive social media operation could use Biden’s past to depress enthusiasm among key constituencies – as Trump and Russian intelligence agents did against Hillary Clinton in 2016.

    This is my biggest concern about Biden politically. There’s huge resistance among Democrats and liberals to admitting that they were influenced by Trump/Russia operation, because, you know, we’re way too smart for that. They will run the exact same game, and Biden is the most vulnerable to it. He looks fine now but Clinton did too at this stage. We have all the same elements we had then, just add vulnerable candidate, and Biden is that vulnerable candidate.

    I just don’t want to do this again. Yesterday I saw on ordinary news that Biden is mean to political reporters. That’s how it started with Clinton.

  129. 129.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Gin & Tonic: Exactly. I mean, the Chinese voting population in Vermont is probably next to zero, but Wilmer really needs to buy himself a clue. The Cultural Revolution was horrific. Sort of like saying “what we need is a holocaust to change attitudes and behaviors.” SMH.

  131. 131.

    Betty Cracker

    @O. Felix Culpa: Same here. I think either of those two would be a wonderful contrast as nominee to the crooked fraud in the White House. Warren can use Trump as the prime example of how the game is rigged against ordinary folks, and Harris can bring her prosecutorial chops to bear on the crook.

  134. 134.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    This is anecdotal, but this is a 70% Trump county and just as his supporters seem to me to be over-represented in the “insanely angry that they have to pay child support” group, they are ALSO over-represented in the “failing small businesses who don’t really understand taxes, revenue and profit so therefore believe showing a loss is somehow a win against not just the tax man but The Man, in general”.

    You’re like “while it is true you didn’t pay any taxes, it is also true that you had low revenue and no net profit, so why, again, do you have this small business, if we can indeed call it a ‘business”?” They have lost the plot. They’re in their own reality show, except they don’t get paid.

  135. 135.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    We can put Trump’s excuses in the NRA basket, who inexplicably say they have a “40 million dollar deficit”. Against what? Plans they had to purchase politicians? They don’t make or do anything essential to stay in business other than fund raise. They had committed to spending 40 million dollars they didn’t raise? WTF? Are they a government?

    Grifters gotta grift. That’s the “business”.

  136. 136.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    There’s huge resistance among Democrats and liberals to admitting that they were influenced by Trump/Russia operation, because, you know, we’re way too smart for that.

    Truth. We love to criticize everyone else for their failure though. It’s irritating.

  137. 137.

    Baud

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    Sort of like saying “what we need is a holocaust to change attitudes and behaviors.” SMH.

    I have seen similar arguments, especially in relation to how Europe was able to implement a better social democracy after WWII than we have achieved.

  138. 138.

    Kay

    I know this is unpopular because many of you are principled, but would it kill Democrats to just kiss the ass of political reporters? What’s the harm? Give them all the “access” they want. I mean, seriously, who gives a fuck? Give them a nice plane. Go talk to them. They need content. This stubborn refusal seems dumb to me.

    Mayor Pete got all that shit for favorable coverage but what Mayor Pete did was no mystery. He talked to them. It was fine! Everyone was happy! It’s a win/win.

  140. 140.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Kay: Which liberals and democrats? The ones that voted for BS or went to Jill Stein or stayed home. Or the Hillary voters. I am not sure who you are referring to.

  141. 141.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    The harm is that after all that ass-kissing, the reporters still attack our nominee with both barrels, and he or preferably she looks like a dope.

    Not saying you’re wrong, but there is risk there.

  142. 142.

    bemused

    @rikyrah:

    I happened to watch Harry speaking to media after the birth. Made me smile seeing/hearing him beaming and giddy with new father joy. He will be a great dad.

  143. 143.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Baud:

    I have seen similar arguments, especially in relation to how Europe was able to implement a better social democracy after WWII than we have achieved.

    Horrible. Such things can be said only by people lacking any shred of humanity and who believe themselves to be perfectly safe.

  144. 144.

    Baud

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I think there are different levels. Dems who voted third party or didn’t vote are the worst, but even many Hillary voters bought into the manipulation and right-wing culture — they just had enough good sense and morals to realize how much worse Trump was.

  146. 146.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: I know the type, I am surrounded by the older NPR listening, NYT reading, PBS Snooze Hour watching Ds and they did buy into all the bullshit about HRC (BS won the primary here) but HRC got close to 75% vote here in the elections.

    ETA: BS won the primary narrowly and HRC beat T handily in the general.

  147. 147.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Kay: Do we know that Dems are refusing to talk to reporters? HRC was (understandably) reserved due to decades of abuse at their hands, but I’m not aware of that being widespread party policy or behavior. Do you have evidence that this is the case?

    ETA: My point is that I don’t think the MSM would change their GOP-tilt even if the Dems brought them milk and cookies and tucked them in every night. I also doubt that the Dems aren’t trying to play nice with them. They – the Dems, that is – are not stupid. I think. :)

  150. 150.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: Is calling them Fake News and have your followers issue death threats against members of the media, schmoozing? Because T has done some of that, yet they scramble to give him good coverage. Is that how one treats “friends”

  151. 151.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Baud:

    It’s a question of really schmoozing them like they were your friends and part of your clic.

    Ah, so that’s what T is doing when he calls them “the enemy of the people.” I’ll try that the next time I’m schmoozing. //

    It’s *clique*, by the way. ~pedant

    ETA: I see sc got there ahead of me. :)

  152. 152.

    Kay

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    I agree generally with “it doesn’t matter what Democrats do with media” but I do think one has to be careful with that because it shouldn’t excuse “do the same exact same thing over and over”

    Biden apparently has either poorly trained or over-zealous staffers who feel they are protecting him. They shouldn’t protect him. It won’t work anyway. I get it. They want him to say something dumb so they can go with the “gaffe” thing, but this is defense. Biden talks as much as Trump does. If they just let him talk whatever “damaging” thing he says will be buried in an avalanche of words anyway. This is what he is. Either that wins or it doesn’t.

  154. 154.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Kay: Ah, I haven’t been tracking the Biden campaign or what his staffers are doing closely. Well, not at all, really. I’m just hoping he sucks votes away from Wilmer and then fades graciously into the sunset.

    It seems to me that Warren and Harris have been HIGHLY accessible. Doesn’t seem to alter the [lack of] breathless coverage for some reason.

  157. 157.

    Kay

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    But that’s a game with Trump and they all know it’s a game. He’s been doing this for 50 years. He gives them TONS of stuff, which is they need to feed their giant content hopper. That’s how I look at it. He has a job and they have a job. He treats them like celebrities treat media “just leave me alone, except I need constant media coverage or I’m not a celebrity”. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship. Political media. Not the people who get his tax returns and write exposes, but they’re not political reporters.

  159. 159.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Fucking Judy Woodruff on the Snooze Hour

    I used to watch that show religiously when it first came out as the MacNeil-Lehrer Report. Now I can’t even hate-watch. I get most of my news from B-J, plus WaPo. I also get news alerts from FTFNYT, but don’t give them clicks. Because FTFNYT.

  160. 160.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Kay: @Baud: I don’t disagree. But it’s a dangerous game and the reporters are idiots to play it. Leopards, faces, eventually.

  163. 163.

    Kay

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    I’m supporting Warren first and Harris second, but it’s kind of nice because I had really low expectations for Warren winning, so it’s a principled stand with very little risk. I won’t roll over and die if she loses. It’s nice. Sort of…fun, which some of this is supposed to be. It’s not relentlessly grim.

    My youngest is 16 and newly engaged and I’ve been trying to protect him a little from the factions on the online Left he’s drawn to simply because they are so negative. The online far Right is the same. I think it’s a mistake as far as creating or maintaining a successful “movement”. People need hope, or they won’t try. It’s really that simple. I want him to have a chance to try.

  164. 164.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @schrodingers_cat:

    What OFC said.

    LOL. It took me a while to figure out the reference to OFC. [Pours more coffee in the forlorn hope it will fire up sluggish synapses.]

  165. 165.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Kay:

    I’m supporting Warren first and Harris second

    Me too, although my order of support between them keeps flip-flopping. I’d be thrilled with either one. I also hope your young’un avoids the worst of the extremes. I hate the internet for the ugliness it has facilitated. On the other hand, there’s B-J and the good folk therein. :)

  166. 166.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    They’re in counties that don’t elect Democrats, yet they’re somehow more representative of the Democratic Party than black people who run and win. Because of their mysterious “power” that somehow isn’t reflected in, ya know, winning.

    UH HUH
    UH HUH

  167. 167.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    I just don’t want to do this again. Yesterday I saw on ordinary news that Biden is mean to political reporters. That’s how it started with Clinton.

    You mean the same muthaphuckas that haven’t said shyt during the terror of 45…and can’t seem to step up to him all big and bad as they did Hillary and 44?
    THOSE muthaphuckas?

  169. 169.

    J R in WV

    @JAFD:

    …On more serious note, report from a neonatal ICU nurse. you jackals may want to read:

    …
    So yes, there are those in hospitals who are around infants who pass: they are the Bereavement Teams & they provide the equivalent of neonatal hospice to families who are living through absolute Hell. Babies and children die, it’s a sad part of life. But no one, absolutely /7

    NO ONE ever, in any hospital, nor any mother who has just given birth, is conspiring with a doctor on whether or not to commit infanticide. This is perhaps one of the sickest accusations levied by this deranged dictator yet. Don’t believe a word he says about anything important(!)

    I read this back when it first appeared, also linked to by a Jackal here on Balloon-Juice, IIRC. Struck me hard then, and again today. As I age I am more emotional which surprises me a little, you would think the scabs and scars on one’s heart would make it harder, but not.

    I have many friends and cousins who are nurses. Nurses saved wife’s life when she had septic shock in 2011. Nurses are the foundation of the medical community, they do the nursing after doctors do the diagnosing.

    Trump is a cheap real estate fraud walking around in public. Never believe anything he says, nothing!

  171. 171.

    J R in WV

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Judy Woodruff on the Snooze Hour is such a R shill. Apparently she was crying at Bush’s funeral.

    And I agree with you about Ms Woodruff. Not a journalist any more, aged out of the ability to do the job perhaps. Too dim to realize she is no longer being a journalist at all. Or doesn’t care… perhaps even just following the marching orders?

  172. 172.

    arielibra

    @Betty Cracker:

    call Trump out as a crooked real estate developer. Everyone in Florida hates real estate developers!

    OMG yes this is why I have hated Trump since birth (mine not his) — which birth took place in Atlantic City NJ. Hate.

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