Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Bark louder, little dog.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

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

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

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

Tick tock motherfuckers!

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

T R E 4 5 O N

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Friday Morning Open Thread: TGI… Oh, Damn…

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Our Valentines Day plans are to go buy new tires (so the Spousal Unit isn’t stuck at the dealership on the last day of the sale), and then go to our favorite German deli for desserts (and maybe also dinner, if there’s anything on the menu looks good). It’s worked for the last forty years, so don’t sneer too much…

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212Comments

  7. 7.

    NotMax

    Began watching Counterpart on Prime. Only the first episode successfully under the belt right now; planning to continue with it. Convoluted doesn’t begin to describe it so far.

  10. 10.

    Baud

     It’s worked for the last forty years,

    You’ve bought tires on Valentine’s Day for the last 40 years?!

  12. 12.

    delk

    I’d like to wish a very Happy Valentines Day to the new furnace I was forced to buy 5 months ago. I’m truly sorry for all the swearing at the time. It may feel like -13 outside but it sure is toasty inside.

  17. 17.

    germy

    Matt Reeves has revealed his new Batman. Noir. And some of the music:

    #TheBatman#CameraTesthttps://t.co/M1tAE2aTA1— Matt Reeves (@mattreevesLA) February 13, 202

    Reeves wants to take The Batman in  a different direction, focusing more on his detective work (rather than just punching people).  Reeves is influenced by the old film noir style and Alfred Hitchcock.  Should be an interesting departure.

  19. 19.

    donnah

    I have been away from home for over a week teaching two workshops, and the second one was not far from where my middle son lives. So since his girlfriend is away at grad school, I drove down to visit him for the weekend. They celebrated Valentine’s Day last weekend, so I didn’t spoil their special day.

    He’s 30, so now he’s a grown man who is smart and clever and funny, and we’ll visit our favorite Charlotte spots like NODA and the Midwood Barbeque restaurant (yummy burnt ends!) and hang out for the weekend. I don’t get to see him except Christmas and Thanksgiving unless I’ve got a workshop in the area, so I will enjoy every minute of being here. Yay!

  23. 23.

    SFAW

    our favorite German deli

    OK, I’m with you so far, and agree with the choice …

    for desserts

    No. Just no. Viennese/Austrian desserts, maybe. But German? And, no, Sacher torte and Linzer torte are not German. Pfeffernuesse are OK in limited dosage, but not for St. Val’s.

     

    That said: Happy St. Valentine’s Day to you and the Spousal Unit! [Heck even to Baud.]

  26. 26.

    WaterGirl

    Anne Laurie, anything that involves dessert is a good plan.

    What I’m not quite sure of is this.  If you go and there’s nothing good on the menu for dinner, do you guys eat dessert first and then go home and have dinner?

  27. 27.

    satby

    @Baud: if it sounds like a dirge I’m out within a minute usually. Adele is another one whose appeal escapes me. Not that they aren’t very talented vocalists, just not a fan of downbeat stuff. Life is downbeat enough.

  35. 35.

    SFAW

    @satby:

    Adele is another one whose appeal escapes me

    You just don’t appreciate “stalker” songs as much as you should. I mean, her stuff is not as “laid back” (so to speak) as “Every Breath You Take,” but then again, her voice is stronger than Sting’s.

  38. 38.

    WaterGirl

    @donnah: What a special Valentine’s Day (weekend) for you.

    I thought about trying to come up with a hooker joke for you since it sounds like your husband isn’t with you to do it himself, but it’s just too early.  Couldn’t do it.

  40. 40.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @donnah:

    That sounds lovely. It’s nice when you realize your kids have grown up into good people.

    I’m going a local convention today (Capricon), so I won’t be home until late at which time I’ll eat leftovers. Mr DAW  is having dinner with a neighbor.  I’ll see BJer Kristine there tomorrow though.

  43. 43.

    SFAW

    @germy:

    I don’t really have a problem with her music. And the Skyfall ditty was a commissioned piece, I assume, as opposed to her writing down her feelings etc.

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: I see the SFAW is the only one who got the cupid’s heart from you.  Valentine’s Day is not the day to play favorites!  :-)

    edit: Do not listen to those who tell you otherwise.

  45. 45.

    satby

    @SFAW: “stalker songs” is a good way of putting it. With a heavy overlay of whiney grievance when it comes to Adele. The market plays a Clear Channel pop 80s to today local channel and it’s torture a lot of the time.

  46. 46.

    germy

    @satby:  From what I understand, Adele’s boyfriend treated her like crap.  Then she got rich and famous and got revenge by writing songs about him.

  50. 50.

    germy

    Stalker song:  John Lennon’s “Run For Your Life”

    “I’d rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man”  (a line he stole from an Elvis Presley record)

  51. 51.

    charluckles

    Our Valentine tradition has become to gather friends and family and raid our favorite local Indian food restaurant.  I am already looking forward to some chai plus.  It will be special this year because for the first time my Mom will be able to join us.

  56. 56.

    SFAW

    @satby:

    “stalker songs” is a good way of putting it.

    As an old fart, I don’t listen to them hippie stations, so I don’t hear her that much. But either the first or the second time I heard one of her songs — don’t recall which one, it was five or more years ago — I glommed onto that whole stalker thing. My kid, a teenager at the time, busted my chops about that. Until about six months later, when she said, in effect “holy shit! You’re right.”

    And you can hear it in many of her songs since then.

  57. 57.

    Betty Cracker

    My husband and I have a ritual where we agree we won’t buy each other presents or do anything special to mark the occasion but then we do anyway. He’ll probably bring me flowers, and I’ll probably make him a homemade card. It’s dumb, but it’s what we do.  ?

  59. 59.

    satby

    @SFAW: I like lots of new music (Drive-by Truckers is a current fav) but I just never have liked slow, dirgy laments by women singers. Always sounds so wimpy and victimized.

  60. 60.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    And of course, Every Breath You Take, by The Police.

    It took me until the second or third time hearing it to pick up on that. I was slow in those days. [I’m still slow, but that’s the “inner moran” influence.]

  61. 61.

    Baud

    What are the chances that talk of Valentine’s Day and stalking would randomly come up in the same thread?

  64. 64.

    Baud

    Looks like Suzie Collins will have another bad day.

    Emboldened after his impeachment acquittal, President Donald Trump now openly admits to sending his attorney Rudy Giuliani to Ukraine to find damaging information about his political opponents, even though he strongly denied it during the impeachment inquiry.

  66. 66.

    laura

    Because he’s going away for the weekend, I made heart shaped meatloaf a week ago. I made a big red sauce Sunday and spouse made a batch of pizza dough last night. He’s disappointed that it didn’t raise overnight in the fridge, so he’s at it again. There will be heart shaped pizza for dinner. Then I’ll root around the cupboard for the remainders of the christmas chocolate hoard. I have the entire weekend gloriously alone. I’m giddy with anticipation.

  68. 68.

    cope

    Mrs. Cope and I have pretty much the same arrangement. However, this year, when not looking for presents of any kind, I found some Beekman goat milk soap and body cream and splurged on it for her.  Not so much for the products themselves but because Beekman apparently have a marketing deal with “Schitt’s Creek” to sell products under the Rose Apothecary name.  Guess what her favorite TV show is?

    Isn’t marketing a powerful, scary thing?  Even as we struggle to resist, we sometimes submit.

    Edited to explain I was responding to Betty’s post about Valentines in the Cracker household.

  70. 70.

    burnspbesq

    Francine and I would like to thank everyone who sent congrats and best wishes on our impending (in about seven hours) marriage. It took us a while to figure out that we were meant to be together (we first met in sixth grade), but we’re going to make the most of the time we have.

    Someone asked whether we’re registered. We’re not; at our advanced geological age we have pretty much every tangible thingy we might ever need. If you want to do something, a contribution to a favorite charity would be most appreciated.

    Y’all have been like family to me since i first stumbled across the place in 2005. I hope you’ll be equally welcoming to Francine.

    Happy day to all!

  76. 76.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    LGM has “The Susan Collins Trump Outrage-o-Meter.” Its threat levels start at “Moue of Mild Disappointment” and progress through “Furrowed Brow of Concern,” “Pursed Lips of Perturbity,” “Grimace of Profound Disagreement,” topping out at “Sternly Worded Letter.” I can only hope that Sara Gideon (or whoever gets the nom) beats her like a drum in November.

  88. 88.

    Barbara

    I would not dream of sneering at your Valentine’s Day plans, especially since we have no plans.  We usually go out the day after Valentine’s Day, when restaurants tend to be less crowded than usual, instead of stuffed to the gills. Anything that comes my way will be considered a bonus.

    @SFAW: It was my younger daughter who first told me that an alarming percentage of pop songs have stalker themes.  And once you start listening for them, they are hard to miss.

    I like Adele, not madly but enough, although I fail to grasp the appeal of Amy Winehouse.

  92. 92.

    donnah

    @WaterGirl: Thanks, Watergirl.

    My husband thinks he’s so clever when he introduces me as his wife, the hooker. And because I strip wool to hook rugs with, he mentions that I’m a stripper, too. Har har, like that never gets old.

  95. 95.

    rikyrah

    Uh huh
    Uh huh ??

    If Bernie and his surrogates were lying about healthcare all year, there's no reason to trust them with anything. Everything they say from now on should be considered part of a gambit and not be taken at face value.— DSA Pinkerton Caucus (@agraybee) February 14, 2020

  96. 96.

    Barbara

    @Baud: These fucking dupes.  They deserve to be exposed by Trump as cowards and frauds.  If only we weren’t caught in crossfire.

  101. 101.

    debbie

    @Barbara:

    FB is telling me Moscow Mitch has achieved Trump-level powers of prevarication. Unsurprising.

    I can’t find accurate lie counts for Trump. I thought people were keeping lists of them?

  102. 102.

    SFAW

    @Anne Laurie:

    Well, it’s a German deli, but they admit the desserts are Austrian, so…

    I have absolutely no problem with a German deli; I wish there were more in my neck of the woods. And I withdraw my complaint re: dessert, since they’re Austrian. [Meine Grossmutter was born in Vienna, so I’m a bit chauvinistic re: Viennese/Austrian cuisine.]

    And thanks for the link (sorry) to Karl’s Sausage Kitchen.

  106. 106.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    @debbie:

    I can’t find accurate lie counts for Trump. I thought people were keeping lists of them?

    I imagine that at this point they have been overwhelmed by the magnitude of the opportunity.

  114. 114.

    satby

    @Baud: his surrogates are in Nevada telling the union that his M4A won’t “necessarily” eliminate their private insurance for a few years at least, or something to that effect. So all previous purity pandering now inoperative.

  115. 115.

    Steeplejack

    @Barbara:

    It was my younger daughter who first told me that an alarming percentage of pop songs have stalker themes.

    LOL, at lunch yesterday my friend and I got to talking about how pop music has always been a giant ocean not just of stalker songs but of dysfunctional relationship advice in general. Ingested continually in the crucial teenage years. Every song we heard on Sirius driving home was yet another example.

  126. 126.

    rikyrah

    All you women – men too – on here yelling at me to get over stop and frisk, are we just supposed to get over this too? In fact, just how much must we get over? Is there no limit? —-> Why Is Bloomberg's Long History of Egregious Sexism Getting a Pass? https://t.co/WZ96SJuXjc— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) February 14, 2020

  127. 127.

    Baud

    @satby:

    I wonder is doing so well not only because he’s spending a ton, but because the not-Bermie voters are desperately looking for someone to coalesce around.

    The whole thing sucks balls.

  129. 129.

    WaterGirl

    @burnspbesq:

    It took us a while to figure out that we were meant to be together (we first met in sixth grade), but we’re going to make the most of the time we have.

    Wow.  Happy day, happy life.  It was smart of you not to introduce her to Balloon Juice until after she’s stuck with you/us for life.  :-)

  134. 134.

    Betty Cracker

    @satby: Bloomberg was a Bowles-Simpson commission evangelist who advocated raising taxes across the board and cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Oh, and raising the Social Security retirement age to 69. This was during PBO’s presidency. He’s singing a different tune now, of course.

  135. 135.

    JMG

    No Valentine’s Day for me. Alice is in Bordeaux helping my daughter select furniture for her new apartment. I did not know this, but Valentine’s Day is a big deal in France, too, and every restaurant in the town is booked solid. No worries, they’ll cook in. I have leftover chili. Well, it’s kind of red.

    PS: IMO Bloomberg is Biden redux. He is a placeholder for people who want to beat Trump and have no idea who’s the best candidate to do it. Anyone who’s ever gone to the track with me will tell you I’m no handicapper, so I just picked Warren because I think she’d be the best President.

  136. 136.

    Spanky

    The oldest and still greatest stalker song I recall from AM radio days. Note the Views count.

    I saw Burnsie’s news last night but didn’t comment. Congrats and many happy days together! (Sixth grade! I wonder where Betsy W is now, 54 years later?)

  140. 140.

    Steeplejack

    @Baud:

    I think this is what started it:

    This whole thread by @RyanGrim is appalling and cuts to the core of why I’ve gone from *liking* Bernie in January 2016 to pretty much despising him today (and yes, I’ll still vote for him, donate a few bucks & encourage others to vote for him if he’s the nominee). 1/ pic.twitter.com/46fzU7QPTE

    — Charles Gaba (@charles_gaba) February 12, 2020

    ETA: See tweets in screen capture.

  142. 142.

    satby

    @Baud: I think in a more normal situation they would care, but this is far from normal, and people want Trump out. But at least both Biden and Buttigieg are beating Sanders, and the two together beat Bloomberg. So, there’s some hope for movement.

    I also think if we flip the Senate and keep the House the chance to get progressive legislation enacted is pretty good even if Bloomberg wins. He’d sign most Democratic legislation.

  146. 146.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    What kills me about it how public he is. He speaks everywhere. Is quoted constantly. There is a lot out there on Bloomberg and austerity, including advocating, specifically, for reduced Social Security benefits.

    It’s weirdly gas-lighty for him to change his tune so dramatically for this campaign. It goes to his credibility- it’s one thing to have promoted these policies for years. It’s another to pretend he hasn’t.

  147. 147.

    Jager

    We’re doing our Valentine’s Day celebration tomorrow. Neptune’s Net on Pacific Coast Highway, we’ll start with oysters and go on from there, the weather’s good so we can sit outside.

    My wife, “The Cakes”,  was on her laptop all through dinner last night wrapping up a $50,000 furniture order. Her business is really taking off, she hired two more guys to work in the warehouse! She’s exhausted and went to bed at 9 last night, I stayed up rereading “Jailbird” by Vonnegut. Anze the Dog and I have a couple of surprises planned for her.

  148. 148.

    Betty Cracker

    @satby: Sanders would get clobbered as the nominee in Florida. Any Democrat might; Trump’s approval rating is higher here than in most places (I blame delusions due to an unintentional chemical reaction caused by mixing sunscreen and mosquito repellent), but Bernie would absolutely lose Florida. It skews old, and anti-socialism scaremongering works better here than almost anywhere else.

  149. 149.

    debbie

    @satby:

    Whoever is elected will have to spend his/her entire first term just righting the many wrongs of the Trump administration. The second term can be for new and better things. If it’s Bloomberg, I can’t imagine he’d try for a second term and would instead focus on fixing this mess.

  150. 150.

    Steeplejack

    @Baud:

    It’s the backlash to purity.

    I don’t think it’s that so much as that people have been driven mad by the prospect of Trump winning reëlection and they want someone who is guaranteed to beat him. And they fear that only a good less bad billionaire can defeat a bad billionaire “billionaire.” So they’re afraid to vote for the person whose policies they like.

  152. 152.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    It’s weirdly gas-lighty for him to change his tune so dramatically for this campaign.

    I think Trump has had that effect on many, many people.

  153. 153.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Maybe he thinks Trump proved there’s no consequence to bald-faced lying all the time. I don’t know if it’ll fly in a Democratic primary, but so far, so good.

  154. 154.

    Baud

    @Steeplejack: Thanks.  I don’t know why Culinary would care about what someone who wasn’t officially part of the campaign thought.

    Anyway, they declined to endorse anyone else so they kind of chickened out.

  155. 155.

    Steeplejack

    @Baud:

    (Cribbing this from Mayhew upstairs; I couldn’t find it a while ago.)

    This is the other thing that got people going. A.O.C. sort of threw gasoline on the fire.

    AOC on likelihood of M4A getting passed: “The worst-case scenario? We compromise deeply and we end up getting a public option. Is that a nightmare? I don’t think so,” she said. (H/t @eschor) https://t.co/nbI4TBkgJI

    — Alexandra Jaffe (@ajjaffe) February 13, 2020

  156. 156.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    Why does anyone think he would support Democratic legislation, or even Democrats in congressional races? He was the single biggest donor to Lindsey Graham’s presidential PAC. Does Lindsey Graham have some robust climate change agenda I’m not aware of? Gun regulation? Is Lindsey Graham pro-choice?

  157. 157.

    Steeplejack

    @Baud:

    I didn’t see it as Culinary “chickening out.” Their statement was correcting/​clarifying why they weren’t ready to hop on Bernie’s M4A train. Then the Sandernistas started in with “No worries, it won’t be like that,” and hilarity ensued.

  158. 158.

    Baud

    @Steeplejack:

    It’s funny. The main reason we don’t currently have a public option is because Scott Brown won in the special election for Ted Kennedy’s seat.  I was on kos at the time, and the community there was thrilled because it taught Dems a lesson.

  161. 161.

    Geminid

    I was visiting sick older friend and watching Judge Judy. There was a commercial break, and there was Judge Judy again, telling us what a great guy Mike Bloomberg is. I bet Bloomberg’s running that one a lot in Florida.                                 Happy Valentine’s Day!

  163. 163.

    Baud

    @WaterGirl: 

    I should have left then. I waited until the 2010 elections and the ensuing gloating at how all the blue dogs lost. Like no shit. Never looked back.

  165. 165.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    They didn’t endorse in ’16 either:

    The Culinary Workers Union, the most influential labor organization in Nevada, says it will not pick a side in the hotly contested Democratic primary.
    According to the New York Times, leaders of the the 57,000-member union fear that endorsing either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders would “divert resources, distract members and potentially polarize the union just as they are entering critical contract negotiations.” They prefer to concentrate on the general election.
    The Culinary Workers have not had great experiences so far with either candidate. During her 2008 campaign, Clinton’s backers sued the union over its voting procedures after it endorsed Barack Obama in the Democratic primary, the Times recalls. More recently, Sanders campaign staffers were accused of posing as union workers to gain access to their members, but both the union and the campaign later said the matter had been resolved.

    The locals can endorse if they want, and some of them will.

  166. 166.

    Steeplejack

    @Baud:

    My point was that it wasn’t a “here’s who we endorse” statement (I don’t think). Maybe I need to go back and look at it.

  168. 168.

    eclare

    @Steeplejack: This is where I am mentally.  My favorite candidate, Kamala, dropped out, so now I’m looking for someone to bring a Howitzer to a gun fight.  And cash.  Bloomberg seems to be that guy.  I cannot mentally go through another confirmation hearing like Boof’s.

    As Nancy said, “Just win, baby.”

  169. 169.

    Mandalay

    @satby:

    I’m sure someone somewhere has Bloomberg quotes about cutting “entitlements” like Social Security. They should drop soon.

    If  they exist at all I think that they would have dropped already. I can’t find any, and researchers for all the other Democratic contenders are surely looking for them.

    (To be clear, I’m not suggesting that Bloomberg necessarily supports or opposes cutting Social Security, but I think he’s smart enough not to mouth off about the issue with no perceived benefit to himself.)

    ETA: There is this comment from Bloomberg from 12/15/17, which can be interpreted both ways:

    The cost of the tax bill [passed by Congressional Republicans and signed by President Trump in December 2017] –$1 trillion to $1.5 trillion–makes it more difficult for taxpayers to afford Medicare and Social Security for the baby boom generation, which is now hitting retirement. Republicans didn’t grapple with those costs. Instead, they kicked the can down the road. Ignoring the bill’s price tag, or pretending we needn’t worry about deficits, is like ignoring climate change or pretending we needn’t worry about its effects. I’ll say one thing for Republicans in Congress: They’re consistent.

  173. 173.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I don’t know if it’ll fly in a Democratic primary,

    Probably depends. Teachers unions will be opposed. Bloomberg styles himself as an education expert and he gave speeches where he said he would fire half the public school teachers. The bottom half, which he feels qualified to determine. That’s about a 1.5 million people. The Bloomberg theory is if you have super-duper teachers you can fire half of them and increase class sizes.

  174. 174.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Betty Cracker: (I blame delusions due to an unintentional chemical reaction caused by mixing sunscreen and mosquito repellent)

    That would go a long way toward explaining northern WI – Waukesha County, otoh, just has a lot of racist assholes.

  178. 178.

    germy

    An Alabama lawmaker has introduced a bill that would require men to vasectomy within one month of his 50th birthday.

    Representative Rolanda Hollis introduced the measure.

    According to the bill, a man would be required to have a vasectomy within one month of his 50th birthday or after the birth of his third child, whichever one happens first. The man would also be required to pay for the procedure.

  180. 180.

    J R in WV

    @burnspbesq:

    February 14, 2020 at 8:01 am

    Francine and I would like to thank everyone who sent congrats and best wishes on our impending (in about seven hours) marriage. It took us a while to figure out that we were meant to be together (we first met in sixth grade), but we’re going to make the most of the time we have.

    Congratulations, BurnsPBEsq, and so romantic to do it on Valentines Day!! Sounds like you guys have known one another for about 40 years… so there should be few big surprises in the relationship. And as far as I’m concerned, Francine will treated exactly as the old friend we all hope she becomes.

    Best wishes for many happy anniversaries, as well !! Should be easy to remember Feb 14th for you guys!

    Not too many explaination (sic) points are there? ;-) !!

  181. 181.

    Kay

    If Mayor Bloomberg had his druthers, he would fire half the city’s teachers and pay the remaining half more to supervise twice-as-large classes.
    That’s what he said during a wide-ranging speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Tuesday in which he argued that weak training, social change, and the teachers union have conspired to fill New York City’s schools with less-than-ideal teachers.

    He has more recently expanded on this theory, where he suggest class sizes in K-12 could be as high as those in college lecture halls, again, given super duper teachers and I guess 2nd graders who are exactly the same as college freshman. His daughter is also a fake education expert with a foundation, so it’s a family hobby.

  182. 182.

    J R in WV

    @Comrade Scrutinizer:

    @debbie:

    I can’t find accurate lie counts for Trump. I thought people were keeping lists of them?

    I imagine that at this point they have been overwhelmed by the magnitude of the opportunity.

    The Washington Post was keeping score, last I saw they had blown past 15,000 individual fact checked and failed to pass lies by Trump. Hard to believe they would have stopped after 3/4 of his term with such a grand total already…

  184. 184.

    Mandalay

    @Kay:

    Does Lindsey Graham have some robust climate change agenda I’m not aware of?

    Only slightly O/T, I found it a bit worrying that Bloomberg tweeted this yesterday:

    On February 9th, the high temperature in Antarctica was 69 degrees. On February 9th, the high temperature in San Diego was 61 degrees. This is not a hoax

    That simplistic, drama queen approach is not helpful, and reminds me of when it snowed in New England in March, and Hannity crowed that we weren’t hearing much from the global warming crowd.

    Some in politics and the media love taking isolated data points for the weather, and then presenting them side by side as though they have offered some profound insight on climate change. Weather and climate are not the same thing.

  188. 188.

    Kay

    @Mandalay:

    I’m finding it hard to figure out how can be passionately committed to climate change and gun regulation while endorsing and donating to Republicans, which ensured none of those things would happen.

    Brown, a Republican who opposes a national ban on assault weapons, is defending his Massachusetts seat against liberal darling Elizabeth Warren, who supports the ban.
    Bloomberg has spent much of the time since the Aurora gun massacre railing against the nation’s lax gun control laws, including the lapse of the assault weapons bans.

    Warren is attacking him on this and Sanders is attacking him on Social Security, so it isn’t true that they aren’t hitting him. Warren must think she’s in opposite-land or something.

  191. 191.

    Kay

    @Mandalay:

    Bloomberg is telling wealthy donors they don’t have top donate to the other Dems- they won’t have to spend anything and they can have him. The candidate this will most benefit? I would say Sanders, who has a small donor fucking machine.

    The granularity of his giant bankroll is like nothing I have ever seen before. The county chair of the most rural county in NW OHio? Lobbied repeatedly by a Bloomberg operative, so much so that he promised the Bloomberg campaign the only speaker slot at our D dinner. That was stopped, but this thing is wild.

    Be careful what you wish for, Democrats. The money isn’t a gift. It comes with strings.

  194. 194.

    Kay

    @Mandalay:

    And that makes sense, right? If you’re a wealthy D donor you can get your issues- climate change, pro-choice, gun regs (supposedly) and you don’t have to donate a dime – you can sit back and let Bloomberg pay for it. You don’t have to give Mayor Pete or Amy K or EW a penny. Mike doesn’t need it and you can back him.

  196. 196.

    Kay

    @Mandalay:

    It occurs to that any of the billionaires could do this. Bezos or Gates come to mind. Arguably Gates would be a more appealing candidate :)

    It’s just this hugely profound thing and there’s a kind of casual acceptance of it.

  197. 197.

    Mandalay

    @Kay: Well all I  saw in that article to hurt Bloomberg was this:

    He also called for Congress to adopt the spending cuts proposed last year by the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission, including changes to Social Security, like gradually raising the retirement age.

    That Commission was created by President Obama. Although he largely ignored its findings I don’t think that quote alone, from 2011, is going to do much harm to Bloomberg’s campaign. His bubble comments will be far more of an issue for him.

    OTOH, if there is video of Bloomberg saying something like “We must cut Social Security!” he might be in trouble. I say “might” because I can’t discern any pattern in how damaging behavior and comments in the past come back to haunt politicians.

    Even putting Trump aside as a special case, the general trend seems to be that there are fewer long term consequences for politicians behaving badly, and making harmful comments in the past.

  198. 198.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @Kay: Good article on Bloomberg  in NY Mag. The dude’s history with women who work for him is toxic. And that’s just one glaring red flag.

    Democrats cannot afford the hypocrisy of nominating Mike Bloomberg.

    I’ve switched from ABBS to ABMB. I’ll take Bernie over Bloomberg at this point. I really hope it doesn’t come down to that.

  199. 199.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @Mandalay:

    the general trend seems to be that there are fewer long term consequences for politicians behaving badly, and making harmful comments in the past.

    That only applies to some politicians, though.

  203. 203.

    Kay

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:

    Mike Bloomberg has offered blue America a Faustian bargain: Forfeit all credibility on the issues of money in politics and democratic reform, and he will spend whatever it takes to make the bad man in the White House go away.

    I understand the bargain- what I don’t understand if the belief by rank and file Democrats that they can somehow control the outcome of this bargain. If Mike buys it Mike owns it. It’s 100% blind trust in what he says, and what he says right now. He has said very different things in the very recent past. If those weren’t his real beliefs, on stop and frisk and the rest, why would these new ones be real?

    He’ll have coattails! I guess. When he’s not actively working to elect Republicans. It’s a coin flip if he’ll support Democrats in Congress at all.

  204. 204.

    Kay

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:

    And none of them could substitute personal wealth for the support of the Democratic coalition upon taking power. The AFL-CIO will have influence over a Klobuchar administration’s labor regulations and NLRB appointments because Amy Klobuchar will need its support when she runs for reelection. The ACLU and Movement for Black Lives will have some voice in a Buttigieg White House because the former small-town mayor will not be able to afford forfeiting the backing of any part of his party’s base. The reason to “vote blue, no matter who” is that you are not just electing a candidate, but a coalition.

    That’s a really important part of this unprecedented purchase too. I’m glad it’s getting some thought, anyway. Last week I felt like it was “no biggy! he’ll just buy it and hand it to us!”
    Nothing, and I mean nothing, is “free”. This is a transaction. We’ll be turning over title.

  206. 206.

    Kay

    @germy:

    His Latino polling is interesting:

    Steve Kornacki
    @SteveKornacki

    ·20h

    From Morning Consult poll:
    Black Biden 34% Sanders 30% Bloomberg 19% Warren 8% Buttigieg 4% Steyer 3% Klobuchar 1% White Sanders 28% Bloomberg 19% Biden 15% Buttigieg 14% Warren 11% Klobuchar 7%
    Hispanic Sanders 48% Bloomberg 17% Biden 13% Buttigieg 8% Warren 7% Klobuchar 3%

    I knew he had been moving up w/AA voters for a while but I hadn’t seen it mentioned re: Latinos. I wonder if it’s real. When you see it broken out you wonder if his ceiling is with white voters :)

    If he’s gaining with AA and Latinos but staying at 25-30% or whatever, he has to be losing some white voters or it would be a net total gain.

  208. 208.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @Kay:

    If Mike buys it Mike owns it.

    Just like the Republican Party is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Trump organization.

  210. 210.

    Kay

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:

    I anticipated most the Bloomberg skewing effect but I did not consider the big donor angle- that he could persuade larger donors not to back the other D’s because if they back him they don’t have to spend anything. Wow. Chilling.

  211. 211.

    Kay

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:

    And it’s a pretty persuasive pitch, too because they don’t have to BACK Bloomberg publicly. They just have to NOT spend a ton of money donating to EW or Pete or Amy or whoever. He’s telling them to keep their money, which is different than “don’t give to them, give to me”. Trump doesn’t realize it yet but this pitch could also be used on Trump donors. Trump costs 250k. Bloomberg is free.

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