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

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

He really is that stupid.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

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

Let me file that under fuck it.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

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Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Kick ’em when they’re up, kick up when they’re down

Kick ’em when they’re up, kick up when they’re down

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Looking more and more like a potential Democratic blow-out this November. Let’s raise money for challengers in the House.

Balloon Juice House Tier 1 (14 Republican held seats that are listed as toss-up)

Goal Thermometer

Money goes to: Kate Schroder, Christy Smith, Cameron Webb, Jill Schupp, Hiral Tipirneni, Christina Hale, Wendy Davis, Candace Valenzuela, Kara Eastman, Sri Kulkarni, Eugene DePasquale, Jackie Gordon, and Amy Kennedy.

You can see all the candidates we are supporting here.

Reader Interactions

252Comments

  2. 2.

    randy khan

    Kennedy would seem to be self-funding, although I really, really, really want her to beat that turncoat.

  3. 3.

    Crashman06

    I don’t know why but I’m now having a total freak out that this superspreader thing is actually going to somehow help the Trump campaign. Pretty sure it’s totally irrational, but I can’t shake it.

  4. 4.

    Wapiti

    @Crashman06: It’s irrational. Hells, man, his campaign manager is having to quarantine and the possible old-hand replacements (Parscale, Conway) are out of commission as well. He’s fucked.

  5. 5.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Well, Trump is on video from Walter Reed. Alive and well. I didn’t want him to die, but I did want him to suffer a little bit like being on a ventilator for a few weeks. Like all of the people he killed through neglect

  9. 9.

    Sab

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Have you seen who is running against Tim Ryan? Christina Hagan Nemeth, RWNJ. She doesn’t even live in the district, which is quite an accomplishment considering how sprawling the district is.

    She lives in rural Stark County (Montclair Twp) and she is running on her maiden name so that people will think she is is a Mahoning Valley Hagan (Democrats). She is actually Christina Nemeth, a rural Stark County plumber’s wife and Republican.

    Tim Hagan’s district has two of Ohio’s cities (Akron and Youngstown.) She does not seem to be what we need. //

  11. 11.

    Yutsano

    Tuberville is trending on Twitter. Doug Jones dropped his scorcher of an ad during the Alabama-Texas A&M game. There is also some heightened scrutiny about how he doesn’t even know the basics of the job. I’m not counting out Jones just yet.

  12. 12.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Crashman06: Try to think through how it would benefit him.  Specifically, what things would happen and why.  I would guess that, if you do that, you will see that it is really unlikely.

  15. 15.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Sab:

    I’m aware of her. And yes, I think it’s ratfucking bullshit not living in the district she wants to represent AND using her maiden name to deceive people into voting for her. Cook does rate Ryan’s district as D+7. The national political environment is leaning Democratic so that should only help him too. He’s also represented the district since 2001, so he has name recognition and incumbency on his side. Finally, on the ballots, the candidate’s political party is clearly printed

    He’s won by 20-30% margins in prior elections. I’m not too worried

  18. 18.

    Ken

    @Yutsano: Nice. I like the way they don’t quite say “carpetbagger” near the end, but you can hear it anyway. I assume that’s still a touchy point in Alabama, since the entire former Confederacy is still whining about losing that war.

  20. 20.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Crashman06: When I have the panic dream that I am about to take a final in high school for a class I never attended, I use it.  I point out to myself that I have a BA and JD, and I could not have gotten those without graduating from high school.  It works.

  21. 21.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Crashman06: I don’t know why but I’m now having a total freak out that this superspreader thing is actually going to somehow help the Trump campaign. Pretty sure it’s totally irrational, but I can’t shake it.

    An almost infallible cure for such freak-outs is to find a volunteer task you can do to get out the vote for the election. Volunteering $ is good too, of course, but 30 minutes of phonebanking/textbanking, or 30 minutes of writing postcards, will brighten your mood far more than you think…. and will let you take personal pride in the blue wave when it washes across the USA in 1 month. :)

  22. 22.

    Baud

    @Omnes Omnibus:

      I point out to myself that I have a BA and JD, and I could not have gotten those without graduating from high school.

    Actually, I know a guy who can get anyone those for the right price.

  24. 24.

    dr. bloor

    @Yutsano: Jones has been God’s way of telling us to hang on, but his shelf life in the senate is limited.  You could do much worse than AG Jones in the Biden/Harris administration.

  27. 27.

    Steeplejack

    @Ken:

    Re “carpetbagger”: It’s not that, just that Tuberville was away from Alabama for 10 years before returning to the state 18 months ago. Probably a valid point. But he’s a legit Saltine-American, born in Arkansas and worked in Southern football almost his whole career.

    ETA: In the South “carpetbagger” (usually) has specific overtones of Yankeehood, not just someone “not from around here.”

  30. 30.

    Sab

    @Baud: I know of someone (cousin of my ex) who practiced law in Minnesota for 15 years before anyone noticed he had no qualifications. Then he went to prison.

  31. 31.

    West of the Rockies

    In my little neck of northern California, I wish Audrey Denney could kick Doug “Fat Ass” LaMalfa’s ass to hell.

  32. 32.

    Ken

    A small chuckle.  I’m watching Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and they just had the line “The US Senate has convened a special committee to answer a grave moral question…”

    I don’t think the writers meant it to be funny.

  34. 34.

    Roger Moore

    @Ken:

    I thought that was a requirement?

    Not in every state. The Constitution doesn’t say anything about it, so it’s up to the states.  Some states require Representatives to live in their districts and some don’t.

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    @dr. bloor:

    Jones has been God’s way of telling us to hang on, but his shelf life in the senate is limited.

    Jones managed to get elected to statewide office in Alabama and then to get elected Senator.  He obviously knows how to win elections there.  If he loses in 2020, it would be great to give him a job in the Biden Administration, but if he manages to win he should absolutely serve his whole term.

  38. 38.

    Aleta

    Jennifer Cohn @jennycohn1       Oct. 2
    @CoalitionGoodGv is trying to get to the bottom of this new uncertified voting machine software. It has a pending suit asking that GA use #HandMarkedPaperBallots rather than its risky new touchscreens.

    From letter today to Cheryl Ringer,  Office of the County Attorney Re: Fulton County Board of Elections’ Ongoing Violations of State Law

    This week the Secretary of State disclosed that all of the existing software (and data, including evidence,from prior elections required to be preserved) must be wiped from the BMDs and replaced with new, uncertified, untested software that was written by Dominion just this past weekend. Fulton is complying with the State’s ill-considered instructions, despite the fact that such actions are in plainly in violation of the Georgia Election Code.

     

    What follows (is) a partial list of the Georgia statutes and Rules that the Board is currently violating:

    [ed: details of the violations are in the doc.]

    1.Illegal software is being installed on Fulton’s BMDs

    2. Fulton is not conducting mandatory acceptance testing of the new software

    3. Fulton is failing to conduct complete Logic and Accuracy Testing

    4. Fulton is failing to review accuracy of the election database

    5. Violation of absolute secrecy in voting

    (…)

    https://coaltionforgoodgovernance.sharefile.com/share/view/s9214e091f1c45b5a

  40. 40.

    Almost Retired

    Definitely supporting Christy Smith with some of the Almost Retired retirement funds in her rematch against Mike Garcia. It was a total low-turnout special election fluke that brought him into office mid-pandemic after the Katie Hill debacle. His wall-loving, abortion-banning, ACA-yanking and Medicaid-loathing positions are quite far out of step with even this relatively Conservative district (by Los Angeles County standards). Also, he seems like kind of a dick.

  41. 41.

    zhena gogolia

    I am really disturbed by how disappointed I am to see the video of Trump looking okay in the hospital.

    What have I become?

  43. 43.

    James E Powell

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    True there are things there, but I can’t tell what they are. It’s a place, a building of some kind. Perhaps it is an iconic place that every True Alabaman® would recognize immediately and associate with True Alabamosityness. Whatever it is, Doug’s in the parking lot, by himself, no vehicle in sight.

  45. 45.

    Sab

    @Ken: Not in Ohio. Normally I wouldn’t mind. I live in a little housing development on the edge of our district, and the thirty or so houses on the outside of our ring street are in a different district. It’s weird. But Hagen lives miles away in a county that isn’t in the district. The district has at least 4 counties, but hers isn’t one of them.

  47. 47.

    James E Powell

    @Crashman06:

    There’s no doubt we will be getting “Chastened by health crisis, Trump pivots to the tone of the leader America needs now” from the NYT and the Dana Bash types. The articles are already written.

    But we are past that. Dumb-asses in diners will always be with Trump, but the majority of people have already made up their minds. We just need to make sure they can vote & do vote. Then make sure those votes are counted.

  48. 48.

    HinTN

    DougJ @ top – I still think you ought to cast a glance at Chris (Hale Yes) Hale running to unseat the odious Scott DesJarlais in TN-4.

  51. 51.

    Morzer

    Interesting bit of news outta Texas:

    https://www.statesman.com/news/20201003/top-aides-accuse-texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-of-bribery-abusing-office

    Top aides of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have asked federal law enforcement authorities to investigate allegations of improper influence, abuse of office, bribery and other potential crimes against the state’s top lawyer.

    In a one-page letter to the state agency’s director of human resources, obtained Saturday by the American-Statesman and KVUE-TV, seven executives in the upper tiers of the office said that they are seeking the investigation into Paxton “in his official capacity as the current Attorney General of Texas.”

    The Thursday letter said that each “has knowledge of facts relevant to these potential offenses and has provided statements concerning those facts to the appropriate law enforcement.”

  52. 52.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @zhena gogolia: I don’t think I’ll watch it, but I see him being quoted as saying “I’m doing this for you”. I suspect in his broken little brain, if he recovers he’ll have beaten the virus, like St George killed the dragon. And his mouth-breathing howler monkeys will believe it, too.

  53. 53.

    Roger Moore

    @zhena gogolia:

    I am really disturbed by how disappointed I am to see the video of Trump looking okay in the hospital.

    There are a few important points, here:

    1. It can take a while for symptoms to develop.  He received his positive test result at most few days ago, and there’s good reason to believe he was not positive much before that. So he’s definitely early in the course of the infection.
    2. One of the really nasty things about COVID-19 is that people can feel and act just fine until they collapse from hypoxia.  It affects the lungs’ ability to pick up oxygen but not to get rid of carbon dioxide, so people feel fine, or just a bit short of breath, when they’re in mortal peril.
    3. Trump is a vile human being who has done terrible things to the country as a whole and thus to you personally.  You shouldn’t feel too bad for wishing him ill.
  54. 54.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: see also:

    Blake News @blakehounshell· 2h
    Trump tells Rudy: “I am the president of the United States. I can’t lock myself in a room. … I had to confront [the virus] so the American people stopped being afraid of it so we could deal with it responsibly.”

    has he convinced himself he took one for the team, or something?

  57. 57.

    Crashman06

    • @James E Powell: Yes you’re right. I guess I’m bothered by the inevitable Superman routine he’s going to pull when he recovers. But, that’s probably not going to work any anyone who isn’t already in the club right?
  59. 59.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    the phrasing here is a bit dramatic, but maybe the underlying info justifies it. I started to type, “Why are these people talking to the Lincoln Project instead of….” and I couldn’t finish that sentence.

    Rick Wilson @TheRickWilson 1h
    The flood of intel @ProjectLincoln has received today is both remarkable and terrifying. At the WH, the number of the infections and potential infections constitutes a national security crisis of the first order. DM for signal.

  61. 61.

    Morzer

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s the latest desperate MAGA line of propaganda. Doubtless we shall soon be graced with poorly painted images of Trump injecting the coronavirus into his manly arm to save America.

  62. 62.

    Morzer

    https://twitter.com/Nate_Cohn/status/1312484575637991425

    USC updated its tracker–fixing a technical error–and now shows Biden gaining, rather than steadily losing his lead. He’s up by 10 instead of 7 this AM

    It is just one poll, but USC was really just about the only good news for the president over the last week or so. With this version of the USC tracker, the big picture snaps into focus more clearly than before

  64. 64.

    Ken

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The most charitable interpretation is that covid has performed a decapitative strike on the White House.  It might be more accurate to say there weren’t any adults in the room in the first place.

  65. 65.

    TS (the original)

    @zhena gogolia:

    I read it was recorded before he went to hospital & the coughs were photoshopped out??

    Who knows what is true with this administration – actually I’ll rephrase that – nothing is true with this administration.

  68. 68.

    Roger Moore

    @Ken:

    The most charitable interpretation is that covid has performed a decapitative strike on the White House.

    How useful is a decapitative strike on an acephalic organization?

  70. 70.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    That’s the gist of what he saying in the video. That he was fighting for everybody, not just in the United States, but the world too. That he couldn’t stay cooped up yadda yadda.

    Very self-congratulatory and painting himself up in the best possible light

  71. 71.

    zhena gogolia

    When Trump recovers & starts talking about, “See? It’s no big deal,” please keep in mind that most Americans don’t have a 24-hour on-call medical team, a helicopter to fly them to the hospital, or a private hospital wing where they can spend five days receiving special treatment.— Jon Zal (@OfficialJonZal) October 3, 2020

  74. 74.

    eric

    Harrison just curbstomped graham.  it is amazing how bad a politician graham is.  He may win, but wow.  Oh did you know graham knows tim scott.  he mentioned scott 100,000 in debate with harrison….cannot figure out why.

  76. 76.

    Percysowner

    Jaime Harrison is debating Lindsey Graham tonight. He brought his own plexiglass shield. Now I have to throw him a few more dollars, because that wins the night.

     

    Jaime Harrison brought his own plexiglas divider to his Senate debate with Lindsay Graham. #SCSen pic.twitter.com/MX15BaY5S2
    — Amy S. Rosenberg (@amysrosenberg) October 4, 2020

  81. 81.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    Random thought: why, oh *WHY*, is Trump not using that miracle cure that was suppressed by the medical establishment to harm him politically? He could just take hydroxychlorquine, and show he was right all along!

  84. 84.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @zhena gogolia: they also don’t have access to a still experimental drug that maybe hasn’t been approved for a reason:

    Gabriel Sherman @gabrielsherman ·2h
    Sources: Trump had heart palpitations on Friday, a possible negative side effect of Regeneron antibody treatment. His fever reached 103. And a G7 ally wonders if he’ll appoint Ivanka president instead of Pence

    from Sherman’s longer piece

    “It’s weird that all these Republicans are getting it,” a prominent Republican told me. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on. But one thing I’ve learned is: when something major happens thirty days before an election, it usually has to do with the election.” (There is no evidence for this wild claim).

    I saw something like this earlier on twitter, something about ‘now we know what arrows Pelosi had in her quiver’. Cause there’s no other possible explanation how the people who refuse to take the virus seriously, to social distance and wear masks would have caught a highly contagious virus that has caused a world-wide pandemic

  88. 88.

    guachi

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: 

    I live in Augusta, GA on the GA/SC border and I’m watching the debate. First time I’ve ever actually heard Harrison speak and he’s crushing it. If any Democrat can win in SC, it’s going to be him.

  90. 90.

    Aleta

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Despite all the servants, cleaning crews, PPE and tests, medical guidance and his power to control the WH environment, he couldn’t bother to protect the people who keep him afloat.  The ones who lie and execute the corruption for him are disposable.  The ones who keep donating money for him to  waste are just marks.

  91. 91.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Jeff Stein @JStein_WaPo · 45m
    Mike Huckabee discussing the Trump Covid situation: “We are the party of the emancipation proclamation, not the emasculation proclamation”

    we are trapped in all this by people whose ideas of masculinity froze in middle school

  94. 94.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Omnes Omnibus: “G7 ally” is pretty meaningless– could be anybody from a head of state to a junior attache at an embassy. I guess Sherman couldn’t resist raising the specter of the would-be dynasty

  95. 95.

    Ken

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Expect crude photoshop jobs showing a drone (emblazoned with the BIDEN/HARRIS logo no doubt) hovering over the “covid club” of the Rose Garden superspreader event.

    Speaking of which, any update on Barr?

  96. 96.

    WaterGirl

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: You know what I’ve been wondering?

    I am wondering whether Trump’s doctors at the hospital are aware of all the drugs he is taking, that may or may not be on the books.

    There could be huge drug interactions if Trump isn’t admitting to whatever drugs they are regularly use to manage him.

  97. 97.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mike in NC: the LP honchos have been telling WH staffers with tales to tell to Direct Message them, which I gather is a thing on twitter (I just look at it through Safari)

  99. 99.

    Barbara

    @Roger Moore: Many people describe how they start feeling better only to experience a resurgence of symptoms, and sometimes this happens over and over. I do expect him to survive. He is getting the best care, and doctors are more knowledgeable than they were 6 months ago. Odds are in his favor, but that doesn’t mean he will come out of it with the same stamina or level of well-being, certainly not in the next two or three weeks.

  104. 104.

    sdhays

    @Omnes Omnibus: I had the thought today wondering if Dump had modified his will bequeathing the Presidency to Ivanka. Not that it has any force of law, obviously, but Dump lives in a different reality.

  107. 107.

    Morzer

    @WaterGirl: 

    How long before Trump wheezes out of Walter Reed buck-naked and proclaims himself Grand Emperor Penguin For Life of the Great State of Greenlandia?

  108. 108.

    Benw

    You can dance if you wanna, you can leave your friends behind

    Because your friends don’t dance and if they don’t dance then they ain’t no friends of mine

  112. 112.

    Ken

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    if he’ll appoint Ivanka president instead of Pence.

    Arrggh!!!  That’s not how it works.

    You know that, and I know that, but the last four years have shown that Trump doesn’t know that – and if he tries it, the Republicans won’t tell him it’s wrong.

  114. 114.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @zhena gogolia: I was actually asking a serious question.  How do you see that working?  Who changes their votes?  Why exactly?  Otherwise, it’s a reverse underpants-gnome theory.

    1. Trump gets sick
    2. ????
    3. Trump wins.

    I just don’t buy it.

  115. 115.

    Morzer

    @Ken: I’d pay money to watch the assassins’ war between the Don Jr. and Ivanka clans. I assume Eric would be an early casualty after trying to lick the pretty metal objects in a minefield.

  116. 116.

    Morzer

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    If anything, Trump getting sick makes some people realize just what evil nonsense he and his GOP cronies have been peddling for the past 9 months. Much more likely to lose him a couple of points than anything else.

  117. 117.

    Aleta

    @Aleta:  If any WH staff got sick because of his reported intolerance of masks (infections before now seem likely), he might be afraid to depend on WH staff if he were to isolate there.

  121. 121.

    Spanish Moss

    @Steeplejack: 
    I grew up in Alabama, and calling someone a “Yankee” was a huge insult when I was young. In fact, in elementary school I thought it was a curse word!
    It has been a few decades since I lived there, but I don’t think that background in the Doug Jones commercial is any kind of special site, probably there to give a “man of the people” vibe.

  126. 126.

    Morzer

    @Spanish Moss:

    To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
    To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
    To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner.
    To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
    To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
    And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.

    – E.B. White

  129. 129.

    randy khan

    @Barbara:

    Odds are in his favor, but that doesn’t mean he will come out of it with the same stamina or level of well-being, certainly not in the next two or three weeks.

    Considering that his days consist mostly of switching between Fox and OANN, the loss of stamina may not affect him much.

  130. 130.

    Ken

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Wait, what happened here after the word “therapeutics”?

    He coughed up a lung and they replaced him with another clone?  I’m assuming the QAnon people would believe it, since they already think he’s a clone.  Well, one of their factions, which are fractally complex.

  131. 131.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Spanish Moss:

    I wondered briefly if the background was outside some stadium, but I looked at a couple of pictures and I don’t think so.

    I lived in Alabama from 1972 to 1979—almost a lifetime ago, now that I see it written down.

  133. 133.

    Patricia Kayden

    Mark Meadows on Fox News: "I can tell you the biggest thing that we see is with no fever now, and with him doing really well with his oxygen saturation level — yesterday morning we were concerned with that. He had a fever, and his blood oxygen level had dropped rapidly." pic.twitter.com/HouYopda4a— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 4, 2020

  137. 137.

    MazeDancer

    The SC debate was only an hour.

    60 minutes of Harrison decimating Graham. Slammed. Ethered. Obliterated.

    Lindsey was nothing but Trumpisms. Stale Hannity reruns. Jaime was smart, fresh, thoughtful.

    People tuned in from around the globe. People are invested in winning the Senate.

    There are clips all over Twitter. Just search #SCdebate.

  138. 138.

    Peale

    @Omnes Omnibus: I think Dead Trump gets more votes than living Trump. Jokers who think “both sides” and “a dead president! how funny would that be?” Might be enough to swing Wisconsin. Bunch of UW fratboys who wouldn’t normally bother voting coming out for the LOLs.

  140. 140.

    Peale

    @Patricia Kayden: Yeah. I’m kind of bummed that the fever broke. He’ll most likely make it through and I really wanted some kind of breathing tube stuffed up his asshole until he popped.

  142. 142.

    MisterForkbeard

    @WaterGirl: I’m in. My wife has been looking for good Senate races to throw money at, so here we go.

    Honestly, he probably earned another $100 for bringing his own plexiglass shield.

  144. 144.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Peale: Actually, I’m glad he’s not dead. I want Trump around long enough to lose everything he owns in November.

  153. 153.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Spanish Moss: Grandma hides one.

    ETA:  One of my great-grandmothers actually baked a pie for each of her sons to avoid fighting over them.  And she wasn’t even from the good baking side of the family.

  154. 154.

    Peale

    @The Thin Black Duke: I like the idea of Bill Barr coming to his deathbed with a stack of pardons per “the plan” only to have him spew one last COVID infused hack upon them and pass on. Barr later succumbs to COVID himself as he is too busy forging the signatures to properly wash and sanitize after signing each one.

  155. 155.

    Morzer

    @Peale: I could see Trump pardoning Bill O’Reilly by mistake and Barr attempting to argue in court that O’Reilly is a common spelling of his own family name.

  157. 157.

    Roger Moore

    @Peale:

    I think Dead Trump gets more votes than living Trump. Jokers who think “both sides” and “a dead president! how funny would that be?”

    Against that, you have to look at the number of occasional voters who went for Trump because they see him as fundamentally different from all those regular politicians.  I bet that’s a much larger number than the number of people who would vote for dead Trump for the LOLs.

  162. 162.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: There is no pie that I would eat, that I wouldn’t eat for breakfast.

    That’s fundamentally my point.  Pie for breakfast is a reasonable thing.

  169. 169.

    hueyplong

    1. Pie is the breakfast of champions.

    2. Trump’s people lie about everything. We have no idea what his condition might be.  The nature of the virus is such that, even if we did, it would give little hint as to what will happen to him tomorrow or a week from now.

    3. We do know that Trump isn’t a healthy guy and that he’s got comorbidities out the ass.

    4. Catching it after saying nobody gets it is not a good thing for Trump politically and cannot be made a good thing for Trump politically.  The only people who will feel compelled to vote for him in this scenario were going to vote for him in any scenario.

    5. Sleep the sleep of the righteous, secure in the knowledge that he will not.

  172. 172.

    Barbara

    @BeautifulPlumage: Any serious illness requires your body to expend energy healing that isn’t available for other things.  I had mononucleosis when I was in high school, and even after I was well enough to go back to school, I still found myself going to bed at 8 or 9 at night for quite a while.  When you are old, especially after the age of 70, you do not have the same reserves that you do when you are younger.  You don’t bounce back from a serious illness.

  174. 174.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @zhena gogolia: What did you expect?  And the reports said they rushed Trump to the hospital because he had a panic attack, which causes a shortness of breath.

  176. 176.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @hueyplong: Catching it after saying nobody gets it is not a good thing for Trump politically and cannot be made a good thing for Trump politically. The only people who will feel compelled to vote for him in this scenario were going to vote for him in any scenario.

    Trump’s been saying all along only the weak get it and implying to his asshole base he is to manly for the Chines Virus. This isn’t a good thing for him politically.

  179. 179.

    Another Scott

    @hueyplong: The BBC News report I just watched on the TV showed his full video from Walter Reed.  4 minutes of how great he is in making America great again, how everyone around the world is wishing him “condolences”, etc., etc.

    He sounded deranged even when he wasn’t ad-libbing.  Of course, that’s his normal state.

    The BBC played the whole thing and their reporters were talking about how he was taking back the initiative and being his own best spokesman, etc.

    “We’re through the looking glass and off the map!!” – A. Silverman

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  181. 181.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @dogwood: Espy’s been featured here a couple of times, and the O’Bros added him to the list of races, which probably kicked a couple of million his way

  185. 185.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    The Supreme Court will hear a case that could destroy what remains of the Voting Rights Act: And Republicans are poised to gain a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court.

    The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it will hear two consolidated cases that could eviscerate the right to be free from racial discrimination in voting. And the Court agreed to hear these cases just weeks before the Senate is likely to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court, giving a Republican Party that is often hostile to voting rights a 6-3 majority on the nation’s highest court.

    It’s difficult to exaggerate the stakes in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee and Arizona Republican Party v. Democratic National Committee.

    The cases involve two Arizona laws restricting the right to vote. One law requires ballots cast in the wrong location to be tossed out, while the other prevents individuals from delivering another person’s absentee ballot to the elections office. But as these cases arise under the Voting Rights Act — a seminal law preventing racist voting laws, that the Supreme Court has already weakened considerably — they provide a conservative-majority Supreme Court the opportunity to dismantle what’s left of the Voting Rights Act.

    […]

    The Court’s decision in the Democratic National Committee cases, by contrast, could fundamentally reshape all elections moving forward. It could allow racist voter discrimination to run rampant throughout American democracy. And it potentially endangers the ability of the Democratic Party, with its multiracial coalition, to compete in all future elections, at least at the national level.

    We cannot know yet what the Supreme Court will do in this case. Perhaps two Republican justices will get cold feet and agree to save the Voting Rights Act. Or perhaps Democrats will win a landslide victory in the upcoming election and pack the Supreme Court with additional justices — stripping the GOP of its Supreme Court majority in the process.

    Barring such events, however, American democracy is in terrible danger. The Supreme Court’s decision to hear the Democratic National Committee cases could threaten the fairness of American elections for years to come.

  189. 189.

    sdhays

    @Barbara: Not to mention that we have strong evidence that he had some kind of stroke-like event earlier this year, and COVID can damage a whole lot of stuff while it’s being fought. Even if he recovers from COVID itself, his risk factors from other things have shot up.

    It’s highly unlikely that he’s going to be well soon, or even “ever again”. I just hope he’s well enough to watch the sad faces on Pox Snooze on November 3rd as they announce he has lost in a landslide and the Republicans have lost their Senate majority.

  190. 190.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    And whose votes will that change?  Even assuming it’s true.

    I’m assuming zhena is afraid it will change just enough for them to steal the election

  195. 195.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: By the time Nov 3 comes, I bet we’ll be at 250,000 dead.

    People told not to go to the hospital until your lips are blue or until you can’t breathe, and the president gets a free 8 million dollars worth of a drug that normal people can’t get.

    People who weren’t going to vote for him before are going to be pissed off at the hypocrisy.  “it’s not big deal like the flu” and then he gets rushed off to the hospital on day 1 (or 2 or 3 or 10) with hims own room and his staff (if you can believe them) coming in and out, while people can’t even be with their loved ones when they are dying.

    And some people are going to feel like fools for believing him and then seeing the turnaround when it’s Trump who gets sick.

  196. 196.

    opiejeanne

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:  They’re both dumb tweets from DeAnna something who ran against Pelosi. I think she might be running again. She is truly stupid and is getting dragged royally on Twitter for those comments.

  198. 198.

    Kattails

    @WaterGirl: I have a delicious canning recipe for green tomato mincemeat,  with apples and pears, raisins, bit of lemon and orange, RUM, spices. Not that gloppy crap out of a can or grocery store. Double crust or lattice, made with mostly butter plus some shortening. Although I did find a decent jar from England once, in a moment of desperation.

  205. 205.

    Aleta

    One set of my grandparents were CT farmers with a 200 acre fruit farm outside a little town, now an elite bedroom community for NYC.  My mother said the Sunday night supper was always fruit pie, cobbler or shortcake of whatever fruit they were picking. The leftovers, kept in pie boxes, were the pre-dawn breakfast for the next few mornings.  Pie for breakfast was a farm custom, according to my mother, who kept it up.

  210. 210.

    sdhays

    @WaterGirl: There’s also a brewing story about how many people Dump personally infected even though he knew he was infected as well. They knew about Hope Hicks on Wednesday, at the latest, but Dump didn’t get tested until he had some symptoms on Thursday? And then the doctor today said that Dump was diagnosed on Wednesday, before Dump met with donors on Wednesday and Thursday. McNinny claimed that they determined that “the President would not be at risk”, which pretty much confirms, to me, that they decided that they didn’t give even one shit about the safety of their top donors.

    One of those jackasses who plopped down a quarter of a million dollars to meet with ol’ Dumpy Dump just might die of COVID that he contracted directly from the President, who knew he was infected and contagious, right before the election.

  211. 211.

    Kay

    @Luciamia:

    I guess I don’t speak stupid. Hey, Huckabee, is your manhood threatened when you use a seatbelt?

    They’re too vain to wear a mask. It’s really no more complicated than that. These are people who can no longer leave the building when it’s raining. Their hair dissolves and their makeup melts.

  212. 212.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: One last thing before I head out for the night.  It’s much better for our democracy if Trump makes it through this and recovers at least to some extent.

    From everything I’ve read, despite how you feel on any given day, with COVID you don’t really know if you are out of the woods for maybe 3 or 4 weeks after you get it.

    We just don’t know what’s going to happen.

    We don’t know if Joe got infected at the debate,  We don’t know if Trump will recover.

    It’s “one foot in front of the other” time – time for us to dig in and donate and make calls and text and volunteer to staff phone lines or anything else we can safely do.  A month seems like forever, but we are going to blink and suddenly it will be Nov 1 and there won’t be much left we can do.

    The real question then is whether we will have done everything we could to vote Trump out and get Biden and Kamala elected.  Everyone one of us will need to ask ourselves that.

    So when we all start to spin, we should stop and take action instead.  Just like Doug Jones, we need to leave it all on the field.  That’s my approach anyway, for what it’s worth.

  215. 215.

    catclub

    @hueyplong: There is an asshole two doors down from me.

     

    is he singing and dancing and having a party? cause I heard that is whats happening two doors down.

  216. 216.

    Another Scott

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Thanks for the pointer to Sherman’s piece at VF.  It’s disturbing that nobody is willing to go on the record (so far) about his actual condition.  I guess we’ll know more by the 15th – one way or another.

    https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/10/how-might-president-donald-trump-be-treated-covid-19 (from 10/2):

    Q: Let’s talk about the course of disease in someone with Trump’s health and age profile. He is reportedly experiencing mild symptoms now. What are the different ways this could go?

    A: As testing has become more widespread, we’ve learned that most people like him will have mild disease and recover without any specific treatment. The natural history of the disease is such that most people that are going to get very sick will generally get very sick in the first 7 to 10 days. There are always exceptions, but I think the next week or so is when there is going to be a tremendous amount of concern.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  217. 217.

    Patricia Kayden

    White House incompetence on full display for the world to see!On Monday, the entire city of DC had only 14 new cases of COVID.Trump WH alone is now responsible for 23 new cases & rising. They had every privilege available to them to limit the spread of the virus & they blew it. pic.twitter.com/cFjPggBppW— Rula Jebreal (@rulajebreal) October 3, 2020

  219. 219.

    TS (the original)

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Thanks. Finding lots of tweets with debate clips. Graham doesn’t have a record to work with & Jaime Harrison is making that 100% clear.

    Lying about SCOTUS, refusing medicaid, not wanting unemployment benefits – and there must be much that I haven’t yet seen.  Think I’ll check the replay on cspan.

  220. 220.

    Brachiator

    @sdhays: 

    One of those jackasses who plopped down a quarter of a million dollars to meet with ol’ Dumpy Dump just might die of COVID that he contracted directly from the President, who knew he was infected and contagious, right before the election.

    If so, it’s just Karma biting these people in the ass. Many of them had settled on the idea that life needed to get back to normal and the economy must be re-started, even if people died. I’ve had conversations with these people, who believe that the country has become weak because it excessively fears death.

    Of course, these people always assumed that somebody else would die while they remained safe.

  221. 221.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Patricia Kayden: 24

    Jennifer Jacobs@JenniferJJacobs·7m
    NEWS: One of Trump’s personal assistants has tested positive for coronavirus, sources tell me. Nick Luna, as bodyman, works in very close proximity to the president so it’s not surprising.

  222. 222.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Why does it always seem like you tend to ignore me unless you want to correct something I said?

    I mean, if you simply don’t always see my replies, that’s fine

  223. 223.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Steve Schmidt @SteveSchmidtSES ·15m
    @ProjectLincoln will be coming to Mississippi. Follow @MikeEspyMS and send him $ for the fight.

  227. 227.

    JaySinWA

    In West by God Virginia a house delegate resigns to spend time with his family after Facebook group membership exposed:

    BREAKING: Del. John Mandt is resigning from his seat in the WV House of Delegates effective 11:59 p.m. tonight and will suspend his campaign for re-election.— Taylor Stuck (@TaylorStuckHD) October 4, 2020

     
    Referenced article

  228. 228.

    The Thin Black Duke

    Ignore the noise from the usual suspects, folks. There is no way does this monstrous clusterfuck translates as a political win for Trump. From now until November, COVID-19 is going to be the major story in the news, and the prevelant narrative is going to how Trump and the GOP failed to protect in people in the country from the pandemic. Even worse, it’s painfully obvious that if these assclowns stay in power, nothing will change. That doesn’t sound like a successful campaign strategy to me.

  229. 229.

    Mike in NC

    @zhena gogolia: Every third house on our street has either a Trump/Pence yard sign (Republicans) or a huge Trump flag or banner (cult members). In response some Biden/Harris stuff is now on display. We live on a golf course in a retirement community of affluent 99.9% white people, mostly from NY, NJ, and LI, mainly in their 70s and 80s, so statistical we have our fare share of racists.

  230. 230.

    Peale

    @Brachiator: yep. Which is sad really. They figured they’d get herd immunity and only us wee folk would suffer. A decent elite would have volunteered to be first in line to get sick. I mean if anyone can afford the 500,000 hospital bill if you get really sick but manage to survive, it’d be these rich assholes who have so much money they’ll hand it over to someone who’ll just steal it.

  232. 232.

    Ken

    @Steeplejack (phone): “The liberals are trying to take me out.”

    Oh, Graham picked up on that?  Damn, looks like I lost a bet.

    Edit: And I love this in the twitter responses:
    “Yeah, that’s how voting works.”
    “Right — it’s kind of the whole point of an election. He’s carrying on as if the peasants are plotting to overthrow him.”

  234. 234.

    Brachiator

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    NEWS: One of Trump’s personal assistants has tested positive for coronavirus, sources tell me. Nick Luna, as bodyman, works in very close proximity to the president so it’s not surprising.

    The list just keeps on growing. All these people drank the Kool-Aid and really believed that the virus was no big deal. I had expected more hypocrisy. Most of these people will probably recover with few serious problems, but I hope they have not passed anything along to more vulnerable friends and family.

  236. 236.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    What happened with Corner Stone is in the past and if he’s reading this I wish him the absolute best.

    I apologize if I was wrong. I like to think of you along with the other regulars here as a friend

  238. 238.

    Kay

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    The people saying that are the same people who watched that absolute train wreck of a debate and were seriously wondering if perhaps Trump won it. They can no longer tell the difference between Donald Trump’s version of the world and reality.

    Now that we’re concerned about covid victims though- now that the President is allowing us to admit this virus is real and is demanding sympathy, but only for himself-  I wonder if we’ll get around to worrying about the hundreds of thousands of victims who are not the President. The people who didn’t get a private suite of rooms at a medical facility and team of physicians. The people who were told to go home and only come back if they were gasping for air. The people who had to have “drive by” funerals, thinking that was the responsible thing to do, while the Trump’s were busy planning parties for judges where no one even bothered to wear a mask.

    The first thing we should do when the Trumps and their whole gang of low quality incompetents get fired is hold a memorial service for the hundreds of thousands of ordinary people who had to be ignored because the fact that they died was politically problematic for the President and his garbage employees.

  239. 239.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka): If I can offer you some advice….  Don’t worry so much about what people think of you and and whether you offended them.  You have things to say, so say them. If people take offense, think whether what you said was actually hurtful or offensive and, if it was, apologize – if it wasn’t, don’t.  Remember what Oscar Wilde said, “A gentleman never gives offense, unintentionally.

    Also, some, maybe even many of us switch from serious to snarky and back very quickly.  You can’t take everything seriously. Now go get your shinebox.

  240. 240.

    Ken

    @Kay: A memorial service might be tricky before the pandemic is over. Perhaps a single suitable symbol, like a display outside the White House, would be better.  Or Biden could order all flags lowered to half-mast until some milestone is reached, like under 1000 cases per day nationwide.

  241. 241.

    Kay

    @Brachiator:

    I don’t know though- do they get it yet, I wonder? Has it sunk in yet that he does not care whether any of them live or die? Because that’s the truth. Is it MAYBE starting to dawn on them, and WHY did it take so long?

  242. 242.

    Kay

    @Ken:

    It is just amazing to me that now that the President and some of his low quality hires have fallen ill we’re all ordered to show sympathy. We HAVE shown sympathy. The whole country has been in a kind of mourning for months. In fact, the ONLY people who haven’t been taking part in this national tragedy are the President and his low quality hires. The rest of us know it’s sad. We’ve known for months. THEY are the people who deliberately and selfishly ignored the loss, pretended people weren’t sick and dying, not us. These obtuse, venal lunkheads are six months late to this funeral. We’ve been there for months.

  244. 244.

    Kay

    Governor Christie
    @GovChristie
    · 6h
    In consultation with my doctors, I checked myself into Morristown Medical Center this afternoon. While I am feeling good and only have mild symptoms, due to my history of asthma we decided this is an important precautionary measure.

    Go try to “check yourself into” a hospital with covid as a precautionary measure. See how far you get.

    I know this is rude but I’m just wondering why we seem to have this superior class of people who get extraordinary care for this virus, while the unwashed masses are lucky if they don’t lose their jobs and get evicted. He’s not a even a governor. He’s a part time low quality Trump hire and political pundit.

    Chris Christie is the pundit who told people they’re just going to have to toughen up and get used to dying. What happened to that?

    Can’t help but notice this whole conversation changed the moment the Trump people recklessly placed themselves at increased risk and caught the virus. All of a sudden it’s a national emergency instead of a test of manliness.

  245. 245.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Kay:

    Amen! I almost joined Twitter just so that I could remind Christie that most people are not on the “precautionary measures” hospital plan but are on the “come back when you’re coughing up blood” hospital plan.

  247. 247.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @JaySinWA:

    Point taken. Still not good.

    Let me be clear.

    If Governor Christie does not *absolutely require* hospitalization, his admission poses unnecessary risks to the Morristown Medical Center staff and is a tremendous waste of PPE and other resources.

    There is no such thing as precautionary.

    This is not a game.
    https://t.co/6nt1Avb2h8

    — Jeremy Faust MD MS (ER physician) (@jeremyfaust) October 3, 2020

  248. 248.

    frosty

    @Ken: This isn’t lawyering, but it’s possible to get a Professional Engineering license in Maryland without a certified engineering degree, if you have the required credits in science and engineering and 8 years of experience. I did it. It was awhile ago, it might be different now.

  251. 251.

    Misswhatsis

    Can we take a look at the NH 9th District Senate race between incumbent Jeanne Dietsch (D) and challenger Diane Ricciardi (R- batshit wing)?
    Jeanne’s not cuddly and the district is severely gerrymandered. NH’s Senate is blue but only barely.

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