Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Second rate reporter says what?

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

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

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

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

We still have time to mess this up!

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

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

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

I was promised a recession.

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

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

Usually wrong but never in doubt

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / This Life Ain’t Good Enough

This Life Ain’t Good Enough

by | 116 Comments

This post is in: 

What a relief: sensible, moderate, no-chance-in-hell-of-winning, Bain Capital partner Deval Patrick is running for President to save us from a wealth tax:

On Thursday, Patrick offered only a cursory view of his issue positions, saying on CBS that he favored a public insurance option over Medicare-for-all and indicating he wanted to “smooth” the tax system rather than invoke a wealth tax. 

Keep whispering your sweet nothings, my muñequita, as you spend a bunch of stupid money and give Chuck Todd and Morning Joe the feeling that you’re their Spanish Harlem Mona Lisa.

Reader Interactions

116Comments

  1. 1.

    BCHS Class of 1980

    My question is where is he getting his money? Does he have a pet billionaire? Clearly it’s another front opened on Warren/Sanders; since Patrick is from MA, probably Warren’s the target.

  9. 9.

    daveNYC

    I guess he’s gunning for the moderate not-Biden slot currently occupied by Pete.  It might work because unlike Pete he might be able to get some African-American support going since he worked for the NAACP and in the DoJ on civil rights.
     
    Flip side is that he’s a current MD at Bain, and getting paid seven figures by the company that killed Toys R Us should go over like a lead balloon.

  10. 10.

    Kay (not the front-pager)

    It’s a good earworm though. Yeah I figured it was all about protecting the rich guys. I don’t think he’s going anywhere though, just like Bloomberg. It just makes them look desperate.
     
    BTW the new site looks really nice on my phone.

  11. 11.

    MattF

    Aaaand… I noticed that Tom ‘Thinker’ Friedman came out for Bloomberg this morning. ‘The world is what it is and not some other thing’. Le sigh.

  13. 13.

    dmsilev

    How is this even going to work? I mean, Bloomberg can self-fund for months while claiming to “focus on the later states”, but Patrick doesn’t have that sort of money. He needs supporters and donors, but isn’t going to be at either of the next two debates (the Nov debate is already set, and the qualification level for Dec is high enough that it’s vanishingly unlikely that he’ll qualify). So, no national stage until January at the earliest. And that gets awfully close to IA and NH.

  16. 16.

    Betty Cracker

    @dmsilev: The only workable plan I can envision is if President Obama endorsed him, but, while I’ve heard Patrick and Obama are friends, I’d sooner expect Trump to throw shade at Putin than Obama to tip his hand in a volatile Democratic primary race. 

     

  18. 18.

    James E Powell

    Bloomberg’s calculation is not the same as Patrick’s but one thing they both see is that no one candidate is catching fire. They each think they can get in now and leap ahead of the pack because . . .

    That part I have no idea about.

  20. 20.

    FlyingToaster

    Alas, I’m acquainted with our former Governor. He has not talked with anyone outside of Bain, from what I’ve seen.

    There’s a weird meme in the moneyed class that you can win the Electoral College with an air war. What 2016 and 2018 showed Democrats was that you win with boots on the ground (and lawyers fighting voter supression). So this is insane and futile and he won’t get any more votes than Bloomberg. And fewer than Cory Booker.

    No, I have no intention of speaking about this if I see him on the ramp. But I may wear a Warren shirt ?

  21. 21.

    The Dangerman

    First phone post. Dangerous. First phone post as first cup of coffee brews. Really dangerous.

    I say let them choose. Wealth tax or eventually they lose their heads. Literally.

  22. 22.

    [Individual 1] mistermix

    @germy: Foreshadowing, I’m sure.  

     

    Also, you can now cut and paste embeds from Twitter into your comments, FYI.  I fixed it for you.

     

  24. 24.

    dmsilev

    @Betty Cracker: Obama is not going to endorse anyone in the primary. He’ll wait until the votes are in and then start campaigning for whoever won. Anyone planning on any other scenario is delusional. 
     

  29. 29.

    germy

    I replied “thank you” to Mistermix, but his nym didn’t appear…

    EDIT: nevermind, others have complained about the same thing.

    Question: If I decide to edit a comment, but then change my mind, is there a “cancel edit” button?

  33. 33.

    Barbara

    My first comment in the new format!  I don’t understand why Deval Patrick or those who feel like him don’t find a candidate that they can support and try to figure out whether they could provide meaningful assistance.  Klobuchar and Booker come to mind.  The chance that Deval Patrick would catch fire when those two have not is infinitesimally small.  Same for Bloomberg.

  34. 34.

    kindness

    That they don’t realize they are helping make Elizabeth Warren’s case for her is what I find most astounding.

  35. 35.

    BR

    I’d really like to see that discipline from Clinton — basically stay out of the race, stop doing interviews.  This is about the future.

    (This was supposed to be a reply, but it seems to not have shown that it was a reply to Betty.)

  36. 36.

    [Individual 1] mistermix

    @germy: The “@” in a reply is hit or miss.

     

    To cancel a comment before posting just click on the X in the upper right hand corner of the comment pop-up.

     

  40. 40.

    Citizen Alan

    IOW, she should go away and take up knitting. To my knowledge, HRC has not said or done anything to show support for any Dem candidate. Despite the fact that, IMO, she would be completely justified in raking Wilmer over the coals every day as much as she does Shitgibbon.

  41. 41.

    PJ

    @FlyingToaster: 
     
    @dmsilev: My assumption is that many Wall St. types are uncomfortable with the way things are looking for 2020.  Of the centrist Democrats, Biden is failing and Buttigieg is rising, but he doesn’t seem to have any minority traction.  To the left, Warren is doing extremely well, and Bernie is close behind her in polls – if either of them gets in, it’s definitely gonna put a crimp in some billionaires’ style.  So I’m assuming that some of them whispered in Patrick’s ear that they were each willing to chip in a couple million to get him in the mix, in the hope that he can be a centrist who appeals to people of color.  It’s a Hail Mary at this point, but, from their standpoint, better to chip in a few million now than to lose a few billion in 2021.
     

  42. 42.

    Fair Economist

    The right man to shut down toy stores and make billionaires richer – and right in time for Christmas! A good villain for a children’s movie.

  43. 43.

    chopper

    in all honesty, clinton doesn’t owe you anything

    ETA: that was in reply to 35. oy with this new system.

  45. 45.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @chopper: Open it once, close it, open a second time works for me in Firefox on a Windows machine.  I assume it is a glitch that will get fixed.  I am not going to bitch though because the overall thing works pretty fucking well. 
     

  48. 48.

    jonas

    “Smooth” tax system? In other words, a flat tax. Yeah, that’s going to really resonate with the Dem voter base. What billionaire-backed dark money group put Patrick up to this, is my question, ’cause it sure as hell wasn’t some grass-roots movement.

  49. 49.

    germy

    The thing that bugs me about the Toys R Us thing is all the news outlets that went with “Young moms killed Toys R Us because they refused to visit the stores, preferring instead to buy toys online”
     

  51. 51.

    Steeplejack

    @[Individual 1] mistermix:

    Checking to see if I can, in fact, embed a tweet.

    Three Year Letterman weighs in on Gym Jordan:

  52. 52.

    Nicole

    @germy:

    The thing that bugs me about the Toys R Us thing is all the news outlets that went with “Young moms killed Toys R Us because they refused to visit the stores, preferring instead to buy toys online”

    You and me both.  Astounding the lengths the media goes to to protect the wealthy from public shame.  Either that or the journalists just don’t understand how venture capitalism works, but do understand how to blame the average consumer, even better if said consumer is believed to be young and female.
     

  55. 55.

    Leto

    There are enough people (read: consultants) whispering in his ear that he can TOTALLY WIN IT ALL. The only thing he needs is their assistance, for a small price of course. I mean, really, who’s looking out for the billionaires? Who really represents their interests in all of this?

    Edit: this was a reply to Barbara @33, but I guess the Reply button isn’t working? Idk. I’m sure we’ll get it sorted.

  56. 56.

    germy

    I mean, really, who’s looking out for the billionaires? Who really represents their interests in all of this?

    Most overlooked and underserved segment of our population, to be sure.

  57. 57.

    CarolDuhart2

    And no other former Dem candidate is asked to “go away” on the notion that she being out in public would somehow rile up people who have never and would never be for her anyway.  Hillary is entitled to live a full public life and if Shitgibbon’s minions don’t like it, and some sexist Dems don’t like it, tough.

  58. 58.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    @chopper: 
     
    @chopper: 
     
    @chopper: 
     
    @chopper: 
     
    It looks like the state of the comment field isn’t getting flushed properly. Every time I click and then close a comment and then click another reply button it gets a new @ reference… but when you click the first time you get nothing.
     

  60. 60.

    MoxieM

    Wait… his wife seriously did not want him to run for Gov, and now he thinks running for Prez is a good idea. Sheesh. No, Deval go back to making piles of money, please. Alternately, emulate Jimmy Carter.

  62. 62.

    Steeplejack

    @polyorchnid octopunch: 
    It’s not a “flushing” problem; it’s just not getting populated the first time. On the old site, if you repeatedly mashed the Reply button you would have gotten multiple @Person gizmos in the same way.
     

  63. 63.

    WaterGirl

    @Steeplejack: Don’t get used to that. :-)  Only front-pagers will be able to embed tweets like that.

    You are catching it as the developers are resolving the blocking issue, before they get back to the detail of who gets to post fully embedded tweets (only front-pagers) and who gets to post stripped down tweets like had on the old site (everybody else).

  65. 65.

    laura

    I’ve finally found my candidate! These last few years and all the sleepless nights worried WORRIED about the state of the US and how our beloved billionaires have suffered. I’m ready to put my shoulder to the wheel for the Patrick campaign and I hope and pray that we as a nation can come together in this moment and support his campaign to get rid of every deduction and send as much wealth as far up to help out a class who’s every action has been for our benefit. \\
    Seriously, fuck him and the private equity fuckers he’s riding in on.

  66. 66.

    germy

    @WaterGirl:  At first I was disappointed commenters couldn’t post fully visual imbedded tweets and youtube videos, but then it occurred to me such an ability could be exploited by trolls uploading porn or other such stuff.
     

  67. 67.

    WaterGirl

    @Leto: & everyone else who had this problem

    If you were having trouble with the reply button, please try again.  We think it is fixed.

    If you hit reply, it should put in @commenter the first time, so let me know whether it’s doing that.

  69. 69.

    WaterGirl

    @germy: Yeppers!

    There are scripts in fully embedded tweets and if everyone could do do scripts we would be in deep doo-doo.

    At first I was disappointed commenters couldn’t post fully visual imbedded tweets and youtube videos, but then it occurred to me such an ability could be exploited by trolls uploading porn or other such stuff.

  72. 72.

    WaterGirl

    @Gin & Tonic: Can you try a hard refresh in your browser and then try reply again?  Or clear cache if you use Safari?  Different browsers hold on to stuff longer than others.

  73. 73.

    Gin & Tonic

    @WaterGirl: Incidentally, if you blockquote in a reply, and you’re in “Visual” mode, you can type text above the blockquote as you did in this comment, but you can’t get below the blockquote without switching to the text-mode edit/comment window.
     

  74. 74.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl:  First, kudos to you and the rest of the team for delivering what you promised.  I am impressed.  Second, you might want to consider a site issues thread that is temporarily stapled to the top of the site.  I know you pointed people at the site issues link, but I doubt anyone here will take direction.  I am sure you don’t have the time or inclination to comb every thread for people’s feedback.  Third, did I mention that you guys did a great job?
     

  80. 80.

    Steeplejack

    @WaterGirl:
    What I posted is a stripped-down tweet such as we mere commenters could do on the old site. But it’s fucked up right now, which I presume is being worked on.
     

  81. 81.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: Thank you so much, Omnes!  That means a lot.

    First, kudos to you and the rest of the team for delivering what you promised.  I am impressed.  Second, you might want to consider a site issues thread that is temporarily stapled to the top of the site.  I know you pointed people at the site issues link, but I doubt anyone here will take direction.  I am sure you don’t have the time or inclination to comb every thread for people’s feedback.  Third, did I mention that you guys did a great job?

    As to your second point, 17 people have submitted site feedback already, and that is by far the most effective way to make sure their concern – or their compliments! – are heard.  You are so right that taking direction isn’t exactly a strong point on balloon juice. :-) I recall Alain asking people to post their issues in a specific thread posted to the top, with rather dismal results.

     

  84. 84.

    JWR

    @WaterGirl: The @nym has been showing up fine for me. For now, anyway. What’s weird is that if I hit the Reply button, and then close the box, and choose another person to reply to, both the @nyms usually show up. I either have to delete the unwanted @nym, or scroll down to the ‘clear comment’ option and start over.
     
    Seems to me that maybe there’s something in the style sheet to clear the text box if the Post Comment button hasn’t been used? Meaning, if I use the X in the upper right to close out my comment, that alone should clear the comment box, instead of acting as a ‘comment draft’ window?
     
    Stay strong, WG. We’re all rootin’ fer ya!
     

  85. 85.

    Steeplejack

    @JWR:

    Seems to me that maybe there’s something in the style sheet to clear the text box if the Post Comment button hasn’t been used?

    But then you screw up replying to more than one person.
     
    Also, “get @Person on first press of Reply button” fix not working for me in this thread. And, yes, I refreshed the page. Guess I’ll try a hard refresh (although I didn’t have to do that in the other one).
     

  87. 87.

    WaterGirl

    @Steeplejack:  Some people used to post what I call the “pared down commenter tweets” by pasting in the embed code, and WordPress would strip off the scripts and the images, leaving just text and links.

     

    Others used to get the pared down commenter tweets through other methods.  Since you got an image to display, it’s not the pared down version.

     

  90. 90.

    WaterGirl

    @jeffreyw: Yay!  Are you one of the people who thinks there is too much white space?  One issue is an extra return at the end of your comment.  As an example, you have one on the comment I just replied to.

  96. 96.

    jeffreyw

    I don’t think Google’s recognition is doing well enough to work 4 comments you should have seen me try to get it 2 recognize the word hominy in my keep grocery list

  98. 98.

    sdhays

    Is there some kind of requirement written into the Massachusetts constitution forcing their governors to be Bain Capital douchebags?

  99. 99.

    Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)

    @WaterGirl: Not fixed. Chrome, Win 10, HP Laptop (But nym AND email are sticky!) 

    eta: it is automatically refreshing and taking me to my comment now!

    etaa:

    If you hit reply, it should put in @commenter the first time, so let me know whether it’s doing that.

    I will test again in the next available thread!

  100. 100.

    jeffreyw

    Back on windows desktop machine. I have no beef with white space other than there is way plenty. It’s the commenting and reply glitches, the need to refresh, not returning to the reply or comment – instead a scroll to the top etc

  101. 101.

    Gin & Tonic

    I am still not getting the @Nym when I hit Reply once.
     
    I’ve cleared cache, closed and re-started Chrome.

  105. 105.

    gvg

    @Citizen Alan: She has done an interview where she indicted people were pressuring her to jump into this race 2020 herself AND said never say never.  It’s her choice, but I really don’t think she can win.
     

  107. 107.

    mrmoshpotato

    Ugh. It must be damn nice to have more money than you could ever possibly spend in a lifetime.   This is these greedy bastards are why we can’t have nice things.

  108. 108.

    Gravenstone

    @WaterGirl: As a test of your claim, I offer this reply. And it worked!
     
    However, on my prior reply elsewhere in this thread, I had to do the open/close/open shuffle to get the proper attribution. Perhaps the system still doesn’t like the first reply attempt in any given thread?
     

  109. 109.

    Steeplejack

    @WaterGirl:   I did not get an image to display, at least for me. Maybe you’re seeing it because of front-pager status? And I used the standard “embed” code copied from Twitter. When I first put it in, the comment editor blatted it out as raw code text in the comment. I went back, did some jiggering between text and visual modes and got it to work. But I used nothing beyond the standard “tweets for plebes” embed code.   Also, one-time @Person reply thing didn’t work for me on this comment.

    ETA: To be perfectly clear, I was using what you call the “pared down version” of a tweet.

  113. 113.

    Jay

    Patrick’s not going anywhere,   #1, Toys R Us,   #2, Bain and Patrick went big on robo foreclosures in POC neighborhoods, then turned them into rentals, or if next to a non-POC neighborhood, gentrification.   # 3, as a Masshole, he fired the members of the State’s Sexual Offender Registry, because they refused to excuse his brother’s California sexual assault conviction. 6 years later, his brother was convicted of another sexual assault.   the Billionaires arn’t reading the room very well.    Many times in history, the popualist sentiment of taxing the rich became trendy. When the plutocrats stalled those attempts, a few years later, the popualist sentiment became “eat the rich”. In the subsequent years, many rich were killed and some were eaten.

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