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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

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

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

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

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

The revolution will be supervised.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

People are complicated. Love is not.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

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You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2020 / Election Year Open Thread: I LOL’d

Election Year Open Thread: I LOL’d

by Anne Laurie|  January 22, 20209:26 pm| 127 Comments

This post is in: Election 2020, Open Threads

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BERNIE: Malarkey is a symptom of class conflict.

WARREN: I have a plan to means-test malarkey reduction.

BIDEN: (sharpening a rusty razor on a street curb) I'll give you a call from a burner once the malarkey's been taken care of.

— Chris Ledford (@ChrisLedf) January 21, 2020

Joe’s critics say he is a deranged old man in clear cognitive decline and that may be so, but it paints a less than flattering picture of said critics when that’s all it takes defeat them.

Biden’s online strategy is “I roll to disbelieve,” and it works.

— Starfish Ready To Vote Joe To Make It Stop (@IRHotTakes) January 21, 2020

Nominate Biden because Trump is 100% going to confess to more crimes in his rants about Hunter.

— Reject Ophidiophobia (@agraybee) January 22, 2020

Then the only rational choice is to nominate Biden. https://t.co/R1x9kjK1V6

— Reject Ophidiophobia (@agraybee) January 21, 2020

If Biden wins Iowa I suspect my belief that Iowa doesn't matter will suddenly become extremely popular.

— Reject Ophidiophobia (@agraybee) January 21, 2020

But srsly, man has a feel for his audience:

A little detail at Biden events that I've noticed but never written up: He's the only Democratic candidate who starts events with the Pledge of Allegiance. Really adds to the "this is a crisis, remember when things were normal?" feel.

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) January 21, 2020

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Previous Post: « Respite Open Thread: The Blog’s Three Favorite (Non-Controversial) Subjects
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Reader Interactions

127Comments

  1. 1.

    Jeffro

    January 22, 2020 at 9:34 pm

    I don’t know why the Biden campaign doesn’t just run memes of Joe in his t-bird, rolling over trumpov, 24/7.

    Maybe Joe and Barack in shades, coming down the WH portico, just to change it up.

    Or just Joe in shades, with the caption, “few if any pornstar payoffs or Joe U lawsuit settlements.  Also no attacks EVER on your health insurance and Social Security.  You’re welcome.”

  2. 2.

    Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ

    January 22, 2020 at 9:39 pm

    @Jeffro: I wish I could like this.

  3. 3.

    Wag

    January 22, 2020 at 9:40 pm

    He’s the only Democratic candidate who starts events with the Pledge of Allegiance

    I’m glad that he does this. The Pledge means a lot.

    You know what else we’ve lost sight of? The Star Spangled Banner. When I was a kid, the whole stadium would sing it together, off key, but united. Then, sometime during the Reagan administration, we ceded the singing of our Anthem to “professionals” and we lost our unity. I’d be super impressed if Joe started playing an instrumental version and invited us to sing together again.

  4. 4.

    geg6

    January 22, 2020 at 9:41 pm

    @Jeffro:

    You won the internets today in my book.

  5. 5.

    Wag

    January 22, 2020 at 9:42 pm

    @Jeffro:  awesome

  6. 6.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 22, 2020 at 9:44 pm

    @Jeffro:  They are waiting for the run up to Super Tuesday. Timing is key.

  7. 7.

    frosty

    January 22, 2020 at 9:45 pm

    @Jeffro: Joe’s got a ’67 Corvette Stingray, not a T-bird. He’s owned since it was new and given to him as a wedding present from his father.

    //Gearhead pedant

    ETA But your overall suggestions are excellent!

  8. 8.

    chopper

    January 22, 2020 at 9:48 pm

    @Jeffro: 

    Joe U lawsuit settlements

    that’s because everyone who attends loves Joe U because it is awesome. my favorite class was on how to use a butterfly knife.

    even the school motto is rad. “i’ll Joe U, asshole!”

  9. 9.

    Kent

    January 22, 2020 at 9:48 pm

    @frosty: 1981 Trans-Am!

    https://politics.theonion.com/shirtless-biden-washes-trans-am-in-white-house-driveway-1819570732

  10. 10.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 22, 2020 at 9:51 pm

    @Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ: You can. You just can’t signal that to the rest of us.

  11. 11.

    dmsilev

    January 22, 2020 at 9:52 pm

    @frosty:

    Internet Tradition requires I link this:
    Shirtless Biden Washes Trans Am In White House Driveway

  12. 12.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 22, 2020 at 9:53 pm

    @Wag:

    The Pledge means a lot.

    Bullshit. It’s empty sloganeering, primarily a Cold War relic.

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    January 22, 2020 at 9:54 pm

    @frosty

    Friend inherited his grandfather’s ’64 Corvette. Has an automatic transmission.

  14. 14.

    trollhattan

    January 22, 2020 at 9:56 pm

    @NotMax:

    My worst wreck was in a ’64 Corvette–4-speed convertible. We rolled down a levee embankment and landed upside down. I was not the driver.

  15. 15.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 22, 2020 at 10:00 pm

    deleted.

  16. 16.

    Wag

    January 22, 2020 at 10:03 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

     

    means what you put into it. If you’re willing to fight for the country and wrestle it back from the GOP, then it’s your flag   It’s my flag.  I was disgusted when trump dry jumped it. We need to reclaim the flag for all of us.

    let the GOP have the don’t tread on me flag for their snake of a president. He can dry hump that one until he cums, for all I care.

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    January 22, 2020 at 10:04 pm

    OT. Bugsy Malone Just beginning on TCM. Right up there among odd concepts for a movie.

  18. 18.

    Dadadadadadada

    January 22, 2020 at 10:04 pm

    @Jeffro: This ignores the fact that Joe Biden has moved to cut Social Security many times in the last 40+ years.

  19. 19.

    zhena gogolia

    January 22, 2020 at 10:05 pm

    @Jeffro:

    They really should hire you!

  20. 20.

    hells littlest angel

    January 22, 2020 at 10:05 pm

    The progressive rehabilitation of Joe Biden in real time — it’s surprisingly fun to watch.

  21. 21.

    zhena gogolia

    January 22, 2020 at 10:07 pm

    @Wag:

    I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

    I wish I had the patience and fortitude to watch all of Schiff’s presentation. I understand he is really crushing it. Partly I’m too nervous to watch it, and partly our house is built such that anything one person watches, the other person has to hear.

  22. 22.

    zhena gogolia

    January 22, 2020 at 10:07 pm

    DNFFT

  23. 23.

    zhena gogolia

    January 22, 2020 at 10:08 pm

    Mmm, cherry tart!

  24. 24.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 22, 2020 at 10:10 pm

    @NotMax: I for one thought Scott Baio and Jodie Foster would become the powerhouse screen duo of our time. Who’d’a thunk Baio would get sidelined in favor of Anthony Hopkins

  25. 25.

    MisterForkbeard

    January 22, 2020 at 10:11 pm

    @Dadadadadadada: Eh. Biden backed some grand bargains that would have adversely affected social security in return for something else.

    Biden has not instigated any social security cuts. He’s not a Republican, who are actively trying to destroy it and medicare as Trump put forth today.

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    January 22, 2020 at 10:11 pm

    @zhena gogolia
    LS/MFT.

    ;)

  27. 27.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 22, 2020 at 10:13 pm

    @zhena gogolia: No CatCake?  Sad.

  28. 28.

    Amir Khalid

    January 22, 2020 at 10:14 pm

    @Wag:

    You mean, like how Liverpool fans sing You’ll Never Walk Alone?

  29. 29.

    Jay

    January 22, 2020 at 10:14 pm

    More on WH NSC staff cuts: ‘Mass exodus’ coming, insider source says. ‘O’Brien said [agency detailees] would be allowed to end their tours’ on schedule in 2021. That was a total lie, people are being deported back on or before Jan 31.’ Two-year contracts also being curtailed.— Jeff Stein (@SpyTalker) January 22, 2020

    As a guy way, way to the left of your “progressives”, living in a country where the center is far to the left of your centerists,

    with some adult supervision, Biden will do fine.

    He’s not optimal, but he’s been a politician long enough to know that the world has changed and smart enough not to scare the Olds in public.

  30. 30.

    James E Powell

    January 22, 2020 at 10:16 pm

    @Dadadadadadada:

    This ignores the fact that Joe Biden has moved to cut Social Security many times in the last 40+ years.

    I’m willing to ignore that if he beats Trump and carries the senate on his coattails.

  31. 31.

    Matt McIrvin

    January 22, 2020 at 10:17 pm

    @Wag: I dislike the Pledge of Allegiance. It’s a creepy loyalty oath and the fact that we make school kids recite it mechanically every morning is antithetical to the values of a free country, and a warning sign that we’re perpetually on the verge of slipping into autogenocidal fascism. The “liberty and justice for all” part is the only good bit.

    There are perennial cases of school authorities cracking down on kids who try to exercise their First Amendment right not to say it, and Bush the First successfully demagogued Dukakis over his support of that right–the girl in the relevant case was Jewish and got all sorts of “Hitler should have put you in the ovens” hate mail.

    The “Under God” line in particular has become this bit of religio-political fetishism used as an argument that atheists are not real citizens. Once saw the Pledge reproduced on the back of a pickup truck with “UNDER GOD” in giant letters three times as high as all the other words. Yeah, that’s not good

    That said, it’s probably good optics for Biden to be throwing it around. More’s the pity.

  32. 32.

    zhena gogolia

    January 22, 2020 at 10:18 pm

    Regardless of how the #ImpeachmentTrial ends, it has been a Tour de Force from Adam Schiff. He's still going strong, forcefully making the case for subpoenaing more documents from the State Department. pic.twitter.com/dTJg15ldWn— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 23, 2020

  33. 33.

    some guy

    January 22, 2020 at 10:18 pm

    the Pledge was as we pledge it today (re)written by a socialist, Edward Bellamy.  Captain George Thatcher Balch, a Union Army Officer, wrote the first version during the Civil War, and Bellamy rewrote it in 1892.

  34. 34.

    Jay

    January 22, 2020 at 10:18 pm

    Oh FFSRinat Akhmetshin a Soviet counterintel officer involved in the June 2016 Don Jr-Russia strategy session opened a nonprofit Russian-American Anti-Defamation League this month in DC. Probably another oulet to move money in time for election https://t.co/DdhL3Srz1z— Olga Lautman (@olgaNYC1211) January 23, 2020

  35. 35.

    trollhattan

    January 22, 2020 at 10:21 pm

    @MisterForkbeard:

    My #1 tippy-top pledge from Biden (or whomever) is not one judicial nomination from the Federalist Society. Not one, not now, not later, never.

  36. 36.

    James E Powell

    January 22, 2020 at 10:21 pm

    @Jay:

    He’s not optimal, but he’s been a politician long enough to know that the world has changed and smart enough not to scare the Olds in public.

    I also think that Joe will be busy restoring the dignity of the presidency and rebuilding international relations, while the legislative agenda will be handled by the one person we know who has demonstrated mastery of our clamorous coalition.

  37. 37.

    Jay

    January 22, 2020 at 10:21 pm

    Every morning I get up, I think to myself, "Is Beau proud of me?" He’s the one who made me promise to stay engaged — and that promise guides me every day. pic.twitter.com/EYHItOpeML— Joe Biden (Text Join to 30330) (@JoeBiden) January 22, 2020

  38. 38.

    Wag

    January 22, 2020 at 10:22 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    the “under god” is a 1950’s addition that I refuse to speak. I adhere to the original

  39. 39.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2020 at 10:22 pm

    @zhena gogolia: @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Dear WaterGirl: Did You Know That...Dear WaterGirl: Did You Know That...

  40. 40.

    Matt McIrvin

    January 22, 2020 at 10:23 pm

    @some guy: Balch’s version was way worse–Bellamy’s original didn’t have anything about God in it; Balch’s did and also had a mention of “one language”.

    The whole Pledge business seems to have been born out of late 19th-early 20th century anxiety about mass immigration; the idea was that immigrants might not assimilate and become good patriots unless we muscled them into saying a loyalty pledge. That was the period when a lot of our patriotic symbols came into quasi-obligatory general use.

  41. 41.

    Duane

    January 22, 2020 at 10:24 pm

    @Wag: The GOP should put a Confederate flag on their stage and be done with it. They’re not fooling anyone.

  42. 42.

    zhena gogolia

    January 22, 2020 at 10:24 pm

    @WaterGirl:

     

    Oh, I got one randomly too.

  43. 43.

    John Revolta

    January 22, 2020 at 10:26 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: Agreed. Fuck a Pledge of Allegiance.

    Just when I’m getting resigned to the Joementum I gotta hear something like that. Fuck.

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2020 at 10:26 pm

    @zhena gogolia: I added CatCake to my comment.  :-)

    After reading your DNFTT, which I had to look up.

  45. 45.

    phdesmond

    January 22, 2020 at 10:26 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: the “under God” interpolation is definitely cold war.

  46. 46.

    Jay

    January 22, 2020 at 10:27 pm

    @James E Powell:

    Great Presidents have a team, even though the “veneration of the Great Man” theory leaves most of the team as foot notes.

    The “true signal” will be, if he wins the nomination and the Presidency, the “team” he picks.

  47. 47.

    Anotherlurker

    January 22, 2020 at 10:29 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: I absolutely agree with you on this point.

  48. 48.

    Wag

    January 22, 2020 at 10:29 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Yeah, pretty much.  It’d be awesome again

  49. 49.

    Jay

    January 22, 2020 at 10:30 pm

    Just counted 21 empty seats on the GOP side of the Senate, 2 on the Dem side, a couple hours into Schiff's presentation. Some are just stretching their legs, but most are not in the chamber. Some of them have been out of there for a while.— Michael McAuliff (@mmcauliff) January 22, 2020

  50. 50.

    Anotherlurker

    January 22, 2020 at 10:31 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: Spot on observation.

  51. 51.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2020 at 10:31 pm

    @Jay: I don’t think any of them did that yesterday.  They all stayed around to vote 53/47.  I loathe the GOP at this point.

  52. 52.

    Jay

    January 22, 2020 at 10:32 pm

    Every few years, they update “Oh Canada”, to make it less colonist living on unceeded Indigenous Lands.

    As an old, it’s tough, but I try to keep up.

  53. 53.

    dr. bloor

    January 22, 2020 at 10:33 pm

    @hells littlest angel: He’s not my favorite, but if he’s the white guy who was inevitably going to jump into the race to suck the air out of progressive momentum, you could do worse.  Like, Michael Bloomberg worse.

    I doubt it will make you feel better, but his presidency would look a lot like Obama’s.  Not because he’s as progressive as Obama was, but because Obama was as progressive as Biden is.

  54. 54.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 22, 2020 at 10:33 pm

    @WaterGirl: Hey, what’s the big deal…folk wander in and out of the courtroom all the time when they’re on jury duty.  //

  55. 55.

    Jeffro

    January 22, 2020 at 10:35 pm

    @geg6:

    @Wag:

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Thanks!

     

    @chopper: yours too?  =)

    I’m going to absolutely die if Biden is the nominee and Dems start wearing aviators and tees with the sleeves cut off.  Hell of a lot cooler than purple heart band-aids or “you can grab this p_____” t-shirts, right Repubs?  RIGHT??!?  Losers.

  56. 56.

    Jay

    January 22, 2020 at 10:35 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    yeah, but it’s the “learnin stuff part today” not the “voting to acquit” stuff, so you know, they are occupying all the handicapped stalls surfing PornHub, ( no diss on PornHub).

  57. 57.

    zhena gogolia

    January 22, 2020 at 10:38 pm

    Schiff is laying out a narrative that is so clear – and undeniable, because it is rooted in a huge amount of documents and testimony – that the President’s defenders only have the choice now of looking complicit, stupid, or immoral (or all three) in rejecting it.— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 23, 2020

  58. 58.

    rikyrah

    January 22, 2020 at 10:38 pm

    @Jeffro:

     

    I would take it as a YouTube video ???

  59. 59.

    Jay

    January 22, 2020 at 10:38 pm

    Sausage get’s made,

    >>sarcasm font engaged<< It absolutely totally normal and cool that @CBSNews has hired the lying Trump sycophant and former RNC chair and Trump admin staff @Reince as a “political analyst” during the #ImpeachmentTrial.>>disengage sarcasm font<< https://t.co/r4zcMT4pov— Leah McElrath ?️‍? (@leahmcelrath) January 22, 2020

  60. 60.

    Ohio Mom

    January 22, 2020 at 10:40 pm

    I was never a flag waver but I am one now. I don’t want to give any Republican any excuse to think they have a monopoly on patriotism.

    Flags is the language they speak so I’ll speak it in their faces. I bought a bunch of little flags at the dollar store and I bring them with me to protests, where I hand them out, especially to kids.

    As for the pledge, when you have a kid in public school, you end up reciting it at just about every district event, so I got inured to it. Always leave out the Under God.

  61. 61.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2020 at 10:40 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:  Well put!

  62. 62.

    Captain C

    January 22, 2020 at 10:44 pm

    @Jay: That sort of thing worked out so well for Joe Colombo and his associates.

  63. 63.

    Jeffro

    January 22, 2020 at 10:44 pm

    @Jay: She’s totally right.  Why hire a former trumpov official/apologist/known liar?  Just to get that ‘perspective’??  Don’t we already get that 100+ times a day from trumpov himself on Twitter?

    (And how crazy is THAT?  Our supposed ‘leader’ hits social media dozens of times a day ranting and abusing American citizens and elected officials…you know, like any innocent person would do)

    Geez, snooze media…just go grab a poli sci or history grad student at random, you’ll get better soundbites and we won’t have to look at Rinse or listen to his BS.  Plus also genuine facts and stuff.

  64. 64.

    Jeffro

    January 22, 2020 at 10:46 pm

    @rikyrah: set to “Lowrider”, or most anything by ZZ Top  =)

  65. 65.

    stinger

    January 22, 2020 at 10:47 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: I always substitute “under the Constitution”. It’s a few extra syllables, but is more factual.

  66. 66.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 22, 2020 at 10:50 pm

    Eric Schultz @ EricSchultz
    On the same day that CBS announces Reince Priebus as a news analyst, they have to correct his on-air falsehood. As journalists bemoan the increasing blurriness between fact and fiction, these same newsrooms must do some soul searching.

  67. 67.

    opiejeanne

    January 22, 2020 at 10:51 pm

    @Jeffro: Every girl crazy ’bout a sharp-dressed man.

  68. 68.

    Jeffro

    January 22, 2020 at 10:53 pm

    @opiejeanne: or ‘cheap sunglasses’ – how apropos is that?  =)

  69. 69.

    chopper

    January 22, 2020 at 10:54 pm

    @MisterForkbeard:

    the “biden wants to cut SS” attack whiffed so hard that bernie came out and apologized for it. but these schmucks think they’re gonna somehow make it stick.

  70. 70.

    Wag

    January 22, 2020 at 10:54 pm

    @stinger:

    I like that.  Stealing.

  71. 71.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 22, 2020 at 10:54 pm

    Google doodle is a tribute to Anna May Wong.

  72. 72.

    Matt McIrvin

    January 22, 2020 at 10:54 pm

    @Ohio Mom: Just as long as the flags aren’t the black and white abomination with the blue stripe.

  73. 73.

    Jeffro

    January 22, 2020 at 10:56 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: soul searching…or just do an actual search instead of grabbing the nearest trumpista they know from the DC cocktail party circuit?

    It’s ridiculous.  Go through the process.   Put up a job ad.  Do some interviews.  Check references.  But no…gotta have ol’ Rinse and Donna Brazile and the Crypt Keeper on, over and over…

  74. 74.

    opiejeanne

    January 22, 2020 at 10:57 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think Twitter is down right now. Which lie did they have to fix?

  75. 75.

    Matt McIrvin

    January 22, 2020 at 10:58 pm

    @chopper: Biden has just been around long enough that he was active back in the days when every serious Democrat had to furrow their brow a bit about the Looming Entitlements Crisis. He doesn’t seem to be doing it any more, but go back far enough and you get to that era.

  76. 76.

    different-church-lady

    January 22, 2020 at 10:59 pm

    @Jeffro: “Porn starletts pay him to have afairs…”

  77. 77.

    opiejeanne

    January 22, 2020 at 11:00 pm

    @Jeffro: I love ZZTop. For a lot of their music you could identify unfamiliar songs by them by the guitar rhythm, kind of like you could regognize Mendelsohn’s less famous pieces by the Mendelsohn “elves”.

  78. 78.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 22, 2020 at 11:06 pm

    Jennifer Epstein @ jeneps
    NEW: Bernie Sanders spoke in 1996 about the future need for “adjustments” to Social Security, a term that Sanders campaign/allied Social Security group had called a “euphemism” for cuts when it was used by Biden.

    Reily Connaugh @ reilyseanconn
    Bernie Sanders on Social Security in 1996: “Social Security has been adjusted before, and adjustments will have to be made again.” Every attack by Sanders is hypocritical.

  79. 79.

    FlipYrWhig

    January 22, 2020 at 11:11 pm

    Dear God do I loathe Dave Weigel.

  80. 80.

    tom

    January 22, 2020 at 11:12 pm

    @opiejeanne: you are the first person I know to mention ZZ Top and Felix Mendelssohn in the same sentence.

  81. 81.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 22, 2020 at 11:13 pm

    Claire McCaskill (of all people) just made the second reference I’ve heard her make to “Lindsey’s meltdown”– I haven’t seen any other mention of it. Is she just assuming Lindsey’s had a meltdown cause it’s a day ending in Y?

  82. 82.

    MisterForkbeard

    January 22, 2020 at 11:16 pm

    @chopper: They’re calling “truth telling”.

     

    The whole thing is dumb. what it comes down to is that Biden had been willing to vote for plans that would have made SS a little worse in exchange for some other benefits. This is not ideal! It is also not a hanging offense, and saying “Biden wants to cut SS” or “Biden tried to cut SS” is fundamentally dishonest.

  83. 83.

    stinger

    January 22, 2020 at 11:18 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I’d like to see a list of Republican operatives and former politicians who’ve been hired by major media outlets, and a comparable Democratic list.

  84. 84.

    stinger

    January 22, 2020 at 11:19 pm

    @Wag: Take it as a gift!

  85. 85.

    Amir Khalid

    January 22, 2020 at 11:23 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Headphones?

  86. 86.

    Bill Arnold

    January 22, 2020 at 11:33 pm

    @Wag:

    I adhere to the original

    Likewise. I just don’t speak those two words. So far nobody has said anything. (Good speaking voice, so I’m sure it’s been noticed.)

  87. 87.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 22, 2020 at 11:39 pm

    olitical Polls @ Politics_Polls
    North Carolina Senate GE:

    Cal Cunningham (D) 44% (+2)
    Thom Tillis (R-inc) 42%

  88. 88.

    Another Scott

    January 22, 2020 at 11:40 pm

    In other news, Brett McGurk at Foreign Affairs – The Cost of an Incoherent Foreign Policy

    It’s quite long and seems well argued. A taste:

    […]

    Eisenhower challenged Dulles’s central assumptions. Dulles saw time as favoring Moscow, and so he demanded a more offensive strategy. Eisenhower saw time as favoring Washington, and so he thought a rollback policy could backfire. Unilateral moves, moreover, risked fragile alliances, which were Washington’s comparative advantage against Moscow. “We cannot live alone,” he told Dulles. “We need allies.”

    Rather than resolve this debate informally, Eisenhower tasked experts from across the U.S. government to develop and then debate in front of him at least three competing national strategies. Kennan himself, at Eisenhower’s request, returned to defend containment.

    [ Eisenhower, Dulles, and the Governor General of Pakistan, November 1953 ]

    Two months later, Eisenhower sat through a full day of briefings on the competing proposals, and he ultimately endorsed the essentials of Truman’s design. What is now known as Project Solarium set the contours of a U.S. foreign policy that lasted for the next 35 years, and it helped avoid a direct military clash between Washington and Moscow.

    “No president before or after Eisenhower,” historian Robert Bowie wrote, “ever received such a systematic and focused briefing on the threats facing the nation’s security and the possible strategies for coping with them.”

    […]

    You’ll be surprised (or maybe not) with the contrast to the current administration…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  89. 89.

    Kraux Pas

    January 22, 2020 at 11:42 pm

    My personal anti-Biden feelings have softened a few times; mainly when the played that live action production of an episode of Good Times about the family being split over support for either a young politician with new ideas and a more seasoned, connected one; and whenever my Trumpist bestie mentions Hunter Biden.

    My strategy is gonna have to be to avoid hearing Biden speak from now til November. Missing all the debates since the second one has definitely helped with my anxiety over this election.

  90. 90.

    Mary G

    January 22, 2020 at 11:42 pm

    I watched/listened to probably 80% of the trial today and Schiff and the other managers are doing a fantastic job of telling the story with video clips, news reporting, emails, info from FOIA requests, and other visual aids. Schiff is really good about pointing out the administration’s obstruction of everything.

    Once the other side gets  going, I’ll have to turn it off. For my health.

    Also WTF media? All they want to talk about is who’s sleeping and who’s ditching school and all but one outlet I read both sides it. It was 21 Republicans and 2 Democrats. Pretty big difference there.

  91. 91.

    Kraux Pas

    January 22, 2020 at 11:50 pm

    @Mary G: Also WTF media? All they want to talk about is who’s sleeping and who’s ditching school and all but one outlet I read both sides it.

    C’mon…ditching school is relatable for their intended audience. They’re there to draw eyeballs, not inform people.

  92. 92.

    Beautifulplumage

    January 22, 2020 at 11:52 pm

    @stinger:  thus giving me an opening to present my version of our pledge:

    I pledge allegiance to the constitution of the United States of America and to the republic which it embodies, one nation with liberty and justice for all.

  93. 93.

    Kay

    January 23, 2020 at 12:00 am

    @Matt McIrvin:

    They start every county Democratic Party meeting here with the pledge of allegiance. It makes me a little sad (and I may be reading too much into it) but my sense is it’s defensive- that they have internalized some of the “real Americans” bs Right wingers have attacked them with for 50 years. They’re vulnerable to that attack. I often feel protective of them both because I like most of them but also because they’re a political minority here. Underdogs.

  94. 94.

    Ohio Mom

    January 23, 2020 at 12:04 am

    My little neighborhood Democratic club starts with the Pledge too.

  95. 95.

    smedley the uncertain

    January 23, 2020 at 12:08 am

    @Matt McIrvin:

    The pledge goes way back… I grew up with it through WW 2.  The “under god” part was added in the ’50’s during the RED scare led by the HUAC denizens.  I’ve never learned to include it.

  96. 96.

    Citizen Alan

    January 23, 2020 at 12:08 am

    @Ohio Mom: I don’t mind saying the pledge. I make a point of saying it loudly and firmly so that it’s conspicuous when I leave out “Under God.”

  97. 97.

    smedley the uncertain

    January 23, 2020 at 12:10 am

    @Beautifulplumage: The same as mine.  I learned  the pledge growing up during WW 2.  The UG part was added in the mid ’50s.

  98. 98.

    BlueDWarrior

    January 23, 2020 at 12:11 am

    @Kay: it’s like the old example of “when did you stop beating your wife?” asked of an entire political cohort.

  99. 99.

    clay

    January 23, 2020 at 12:14 am

    @smedley the uncertain: It was so awkwardly inserted, too.  Right between “one nation, indivisible”.  They divided the indivisible part!

  100. 100.

    Mandalay

    January 23, 2020 at 12:20 am

    @Mary G:

    Also WTF media? All they want to talk about is who’s sleeping…

    The NYT is getting crafty at this schtick. Their article Day in Impeachment was mostly straight reporting, but it allowed reader comments. This was their choice to put at the very top of the “NYT Picks” of the comments:

    This testimony is so boring. I know it is not supposed to be entertainment but it is torture to listen to. We keep hearing the Democrats repeat the same things over and over again. I will never vote for a Democrat after seeing this spectacle on television. They have lost many supporters after this farce.

    Ignoring that the comment is obviously bogus, and may have originated in Moscow, the larger issue is why did the NYT decide that from over a thousand reader comments, this one was worthy of being the very first NYT pick? Are they that desperate for mouse clicks that they deliberately choose dross to head the comments section?

  101. 101.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 23, 2020 at 12:24 am

    @Mandalay: Why’d they choose that comment? Ummmm…..because they can’t start screaming about how the Democratic nominee is unlikable yet? Also – they’re assholes.

  102. 102.

    Ksmiami

    January 23, 2020 at 12:29 am

    @Jay:&nbsp
    ;CBS still exists?

  103. 103.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 23, 2020 at 12:43 am

    @Mandalay: The New York Times is garbage.

  104. 104.

    Kraux Pas

    January 23, 2020 at 12:47 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: The New York Times is garbage.

    I have little doubt that influential decision makers at the NYT believe that if both sides think they’re garbage they must be doing something right.

  105. 105.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 23, 2020 at 1:01 am

    @Kraux Pas: If “both sides” think they’re awful, then then won’t have readers.  Not exactly a good business plan there.

  106. 106.

    Kraux Pas

    January 23, 2020 at 1:05 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I think they’re awful and I still read them. And maybe there’s a broad both-sidesey middle they can appeal to.

  107. 107.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 23, 2020 at 1:09 am

    @Kraux Pas: Most of the both-sider folk don’t read newspapers.

  108. 108.

    Jay

    January 23, 2020 at 1:10 am

    BTDubs, there was some dissing of German Weimar Era communists on a thread earlier, comparing them tonBernie Bros and Tankies.

    At the end of WWI, Germany abandoned ( semi) the feudal Constitution for a more democratic, ( not really) system.

    In the post war elections, Democratic Socialists and their allies were elected enough to create thin majorities, (*not really democratic, not really socialist).

    In the chaos of the post WWI era, which for example, saw the Democratic Socialists supporting Freikorps attempts to support White and Other Colour Russians, colonize the Baltics and Ukraine,

    When the communists and other progressive groups challenged the status quo, the Democratic Socialists sent the Freikorps against them. Arrests turned into murders and the murderers got medals, ( sound familiar?).

    A few years later the Freikorps became the SA, the SS and elevated Hitler to power,

    so, at the minimum, ( aside from tankies) it is an ahistorical analogy, at it’s worst,………

    Having lots of experience with communists, radical socialists, real progressives, anti-facists, I trust them far more than “ centerists”.

    “Centerists” are why I have no pension, ( other than OAP) my RRSP is shite, retirement age is now not “Freedom 55” instead Walmart 65, etc.

  109. 109.

    Kraux Pas

    January 23, 2020 at 1:12 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Well then they’re lucky that American news media is, like them, broadly garbage.

  110. 110.

    sukabi

    January 23, 2020 at 1:13 am

    @mrmoshpotato: the opinion editors probably wrote it and  had the mailroom guy post it.

  111. 111.

    Mnemosyne

    January 23, 2020 at 1:21 am

    @Beautifulplumage:

    Put “indivisible” back in and I’m on board.

  112. 112.

    Mnemosyne

    January 23, 2020 at 1:25 am

    @Jay:

    Perhaps consider the notion that the American left is using the word “centrist” in a dishonest way that doesn’t actually reflect the beliefs of center-left Democrats. And that they’re deliberately using it that way to confuse people like you.

  113. 113.

    Eolirin

    January 23, 2020 at 1:34 am

    @Mandalay: I would be extremely surprised if the top comments aren’t decided algorithmically. And in such a way to maximize views  sure, which benefits troll posts. But I doubt a human is looped in there.

  114. 114.

    Mike J

    January 23, 2020 at 2:03 am

    The monthly Democratic meeting in my LD always starts with the pledge and it’s been taken over by Berners who express admiration for Tulsi.

  115. 115.

    Jay

    January 23, 2020 at 2:26 am

    @Mnemosyne:

    my pension got bundled with a bunch of other Corporate Debt, into a subsidiary in Delaware, (1990), spun off into an IPO, ( traded, initially at 0.15% over margin, ( 1992) went into bankruptcy in 1993.

    What should have been $65k a year plus COLA, until I died, bound up being a one time pay out of $16.21.

    So now, my retirement plan consists of dying on the job, what ever that is.

    it was “bipartisan legislation” that made that possible. (Borders aikn’t).

    As a “progressive”, it’s fucken hard. On the one hand, for 40 years, ( in Canada, I get to vote for people who, because of what  Capitalism passes it self off for now, people who will screw me and mine, ( mine is pretty broad),

    or people who will really screw over me and mine, upfront.

    Horgan refuses to meet with the Indiginous groups, and yet, it’s still a far cry from the “Liberals”, who deny they exist.

    Tired of voting for the “less evil”, (Parliamentary system), I would actually like to be able to vote “for”, you know?

  116. 116.

    Jay

    January 23, 2020 at 2:31 am

    Federal prosecutors in court filing: A hidden camera captured members of a white supremacist group expressing hope that violence at a gun rights rally in Virginia this week could start a civil war. https://t.co/rkV0s8soQb— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) January 21, 2020

  117. 117.

    Jay

    January 23, 2020 at 2:37 am

    Bed time, y’all
    New life, new expierices,
    Too old for this shit,
    Not up for dying today.

    Good night all.

  118. 118.

    Mnemosyne

    January 23, 2020 at 2:41 am

    @Jay:

    Surprise — it wasn’t centrists who came up with 401(k)s to replace pensions and who allowed corporations to raid their pension funds. It was conservatives.

    ETA: Bill Clinton was sworn into office in January of 1993 after Reagan and Bush were in office for 12 years, so it seems more than a little weird to blame centrist Democrats for your troubles since they weren’t in charge.

  119. 119.

    Brian

    January 23, 2020 at 2:51 am

    @opiejeanne: there are two esses in Mendelssohn :) Mooney is watching.

  120. 120.

    Jay

    January 23, 2020 at 3:06 am

    @Mnemosyne:

    Canadian, you know,

    globalization , you know.

    never said Clinton,

    the laws are much older than Carter.

    do you understand?

  121. 121.

    Kathleen

    January 23, 2020 at 3:36 am

    @FlipYrWhig: Can I sit next to you and bring my blanket?

  122. 122.

    joel hanes

    January 23, 2020 at 4:57 am

    @Wag:

    The Pledge means a lot

    It does.  It means so much to me that in over forty years, I have never uttered the “under God” clause inserted by jingoists to mar the original.

  123. 123.

    Sab

    January 23, 2020 at 4:58 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Newsrooms have no souls to search.

  124. 124.

    Sab

    January 23, 2020 at 5:07 am

    @stinger: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for that. I will do it from now on. Would have saved me a lot of problems in the past.

  125. 125.

    Chyron HR

    January 23, 2020 at 5:45 am

    @Mike J:

    “One nation under Tulsi”?  That seems a bit bold.

  126. 126.

    PenAndKey

    January 23, 2020 at 9:23 am

    @Wag: “The Pledge means a lot.”

    For me it stopped meaning a damn thing when in high school I witnessed a teacher I (until then) respected scream out a student who didn’t stand fast enough. I got to listen to 5 minutes of vein-pulsing jingoistic bullshit and I’ve never lost my respect for an individual as fast as I did that day.

    I’m honestly past the point of caring if some people love the pledge. To me, as a patriotic American, I care more for the ideals the country claims than in any proto-fascist bit of indoctrination we shove down our kid’s throats every morning before class.

  127. 127.

    leeleeFL

    January 23, 2020 at 9:48 am

    @Jeffro: This would be totally perfect!

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