Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

This fight is for everything.

This blog will pay for itself.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

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

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Republicans do not trust women.

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

The words do not have to be perfect.

Everybody saw this coming.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

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

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Let me file that under fuck it.

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

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Fuck you, Mitch

Fuck you, Mitch

by | 108 Comments

This post is in: 

Mitch’s Super Pac is spending a lot of money:

The Senate Leadership Fund days later spent over $8 million in South Carolina, Kansas, Arizona, North Carolina and Arkansas.

No idea why Arkansas (no Democrat running there),so I think they meant Alaska.

Fuck you, Mitch.

Barbara Bollier, Kansas Senate

Goal Thermometer

Cal Cunningham, North Carolina Senate

Goal Thermometer

Alan Gross, Alaska Senate

Goal Thermometer

Jaime Harrison, South Carolina Senate

Goal Thermometer

Mark Kelly, Arizona Senate

Goal Thermometer

You can see all our candidates here.

Reader Interactions

108Comments

  1. 1.

    RaflW

    Is there something afoot in Arkansas?
    It would be embarrassing to future wannabe dictator Tom Cotton if the state elects (Balloon Juice tier two candidate) Joyce Elliott over French Hill

    Also possible that Ricky Dale Harrington Jr. (L) might do a lot better than 4% this time. I am in no way suggesting he’d win. But a strong showing by the Libertarian (who else are Dems gonna vote for?) would be quite a rebuke in deep red AR.

  2. 2.

    WaterGirl

    Speaking of Bloomberg, whatever happened to the zillion dollars Bloomberg committed for Florida, and whatever happened re: the ability to pay the double-secret fines for ex-felons in Florida.

  5. 5.

    RaflW

    Bloomie did fork over I think $40M on the voter fines in Florida. Enough that Gov DeShitiest threw up more roadblocks to re-enfranchisement.
    Still far short of the promised funds to help Dems. No surprise there.

  6. 6.

    Brantl

    I keep expecting Bloomberg to do an ad, absolutely last minute, that says Stump humps goats, or something similar.

  8. 8.

    catclub

    @WaterGirl: whatever happened to the zillion dollars Bloomberg committed for Florida, and whatever happened re: the ability to pay the double-secret fines for ex-felons in Florida.

     

    Since the amount is double secret, impossible to pay the total fees anyway.  But on further thought, the laws against bribing voters are likely to be applied to anyone who pays someone else’s  fees and fines,

    if that process is at all organized.

  9. 9.

    Raven

    Billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s $100 million investment in Florida to defeat Donald Trump is recasting the presidential contest in the president’s must-win state, forcing his campaign to spend big to shore up his position and freeing up Democratic cash to expand the electoral map elsewhere.
    Bloomberg’s massive advertising and ground-game spending, which began roughly a month ago, has thrown Trump into a defensive crouch across the arc of Sunbelt states. As a result, the president‘s campaign has scaled back its TV ad buys in crucial Northern swing states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan — a vacuum being filled by a constellation of outside political groups backing Joe Biden.

  10. 10.

    Another Scott

    They’re having another Rose Garden party for Amy Covid Barrett.

    Mark Meadows defends holding another event in the Rose Garden for Amy Coney Barrett tonight given what happened the last time. He says all the cases tied to the previous event didn't stem from it and tonight they'll encourage social distancing while outdoors. No mention of masks.

    — Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 26, 2020

    Because of course they are.

    Grr…

    Fight for 15!! Moscow Mitch’s treachery cannot stand.

    (via nycsouthpaw)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  11. 11.

    RaflW

    @catclub: if that process is at all organized

    I donated to a fund to help pay fines. Many people did. My denominations leadership specifically fundraised for felon fine money earlier this fall. So, yes, it’s been organized.

  12. 12.

    Phylllis

    The negative ads against Jaime Harrison have ramped up noticeably in the past few days. The downside to throwing them out there now though, I think, is that a lot of folks are like my co-worker, who’s so sick of all the ads he mutes/changes the channel. Folks around here are in the Augusta GA TV market, so they get GA and SC ads. Twice as many to hate.

  13. 13.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Another Scott: The Barrett nomination has been this unrelenting circus of dishonesty, bad judgment, gaslighting and frank stupidity.

    Fitting that it ends with another superspreader event.

  15. 15.

    LurkerNoLonger

    Speaking of Mitch, he looks like death warmed over. Speaking of death, it would be great if Mitch suddenly died. He will not be mourned.

  17. 17.

    RaflW

    @LurkerNoLonger: His strange purple lips the other day make me wonder if, his denials notwithstanding, he is actually quite ill. If he is hanging on to get Amy Covid B thru the process, it’ll be interesting to see what’s next for him.

  18. 18.

    Anonymous At Work

    @RaflW: A 30% showing by the Libertarian Party would help earn federal funding for the Libertarian Party next cycle.  (Yes, marvel at that sentence)

    This would incentivize right-wing challengers.  Not sure if Bozeman is running another term but if he does not run again, that’ll leave the two Southern Baptist Republican factions in Arkansas to feud over the nomination as well.

  20. 20.

    danielx

    @Calouste:

    An appalling thought, but I don’t think the voters of Kentucky will go for somebody named Chao even if she is ol’ Mitch’s nearest and dearest*.

    *giving rise to even more appalling thoughts.

  22. 22.

    Another Scott

    One man, Sheldon Adelson (zip code 89109), donated $172 million to Republican candidates and committees

    A couple, Richard & Elizabeth Uihlein (60045), donated $59 million to Republicans https://t.co/Ud261QdU84

    — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) October 26, 2020

    It’s a good thing that we have Equal Justice Under Law, one person one vote, equal opportunity to express our opinions to our country and representatives, and to seek redress of grievances, etc., huh.

    Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  23. 23.

    A Ghost to Most

    Yertle didn’t do this in a vacuum. He’s had the backing of millions of asshole christians.

  24. 24.

    PsiFighter37

    Also dumped $25mm into Georgia. I think they are deathly scared that they could lose both Senate races there. The special has to worry them, since Loeffler has morphed into as much a nutjob as Collins, meaning that those two will simply be way too far to the right to recover for the runoff.

  27. 27.

    Wapiti

    @mrmoshpotato: My working theory: Putin wants his loan money back in 2 years and he doesn’t want Trump hiding from the loan collectors inside the White House.

  29. 29.

    SenyorDave

    @LurkerNoLonger: He will not be mourned

    Not be mourned?  It would be time to break out your best scotch, smoke a Cuban and have a few laughs at the thought of that POS dying.  Bonus points if he suffered until the very end.  Hopefully something really debilitating, maybe lung cancer.

  32. 32.

    J.

    F*cking is too good for Mitch. Time to get out the pitchforks.

    Just gave some money to Bollier. (Already gave to the others.) Hope it helps.

  35. 35.

    West of the Rockies

    So isn’t today just about the last day for Blob Barr to announce some new bullshit investigation to try to ratfuc* the election?  I’ve been slightly worried about that…

  36. 36.

    James E Powell

    @WaterGirl:

    Speaking of Bloomberg, whatever happened to the zillion dollars Bloomberg committed for Florida

    I think Pam Ewing dreamed that.

  37. 37.

    jonas

    @Another Scott: One man, Sheldon Adelson (zip code 89109), donated $172 million to Republican candidates and committees

    But it’s George Soros who is corrupting politics…

  38. 38.

    randy khan

    @Another Scott:

    Mark Meadows defends holding another event in the Rose Garden for Amy Coney Barrett tonight given what happened the last time. He says all the cases tied to the previous event didn’t stem from it and tonight they’ll encourage social distancing while outdoors. No mention of masks.

    Of course he says that it wasn’t a superspreader event.  Too bad for him that everyone understands that it was exactly that.

  40. 40.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @West of the Rockies: I see people in the media– mostly left-leaning  types– mention Mitch McConnell’s appearance. Is anyone talking about Barr’s non-appearance? I could be wrong, but hasn’t he been out of the public eye for a while? and he and trump have previously liked getting their pictures took together

  43. 43.

    Gin & Tonic

    @West of the Rockies: I commented this morning, Chinese source(s) close to Bannon are flooding the zone with alleged Hunter Biden kompromat. The major internet players seem to be aware of this and are not propagating it. So if all your ratfucking is just on 8chan and similar, does it make a sound?

  44. 44.

    mrmoshpotato

    @West of the Rockies: Has anyone see that criminal pile of shit lately?  Didn’t Barr test positive for COVID-19, or can I not keep straight who’s a Rethuglican plague rat and who’s just a Rethuglican?

  48. 48.

    Aleta

    @mrmoshpotato:

    That could be interpreted differently.
    — Stop reading here if you’d rather avoid  wild ideas that might add to distress.  —   After Biden wins, Putin tries  to create turmoil,  feeding suspicions and manipulating news to imply he fixed the race for Biden.  (My partner’s been proposing this scenario to me for the last year.  I kept trying to hush him up lest someone overhear.   :  )
    Curses on such horrid thoughts. ) 

  49. 49.

    Jeffro

    Jennifer Rubin is making yet another list of reforms, and this one sounds very familiar:

    This brings us to a third issue: We need a statute to activate the emoluments clause. The bill could include a mandatory requirement for liquidation of the president’s business holdings (with an approved blind trust arrangement); a presumption that all gifts are disallowed unless specifically approved by Congress; a statutory definition of “emoluments”; or a built-in remedy of forfeiture in case the president violates the ban on foreign emoluments. Congress can also provide a speedy legal process for resolution of disputes, perhaps directly to the D.C. Circuit court.

    Me likey this built-in forfeiture idea!  Mandatory blind trust* by Inauguration Day, or we swear in your opponent!!  Hey, you didn’t have to run, future presidents!

    *passbook savings/checking excluded  ;)

  50. 50.

    Splitting Image

    Notably missing from the GOP’s ad buy are Iowa, Maine, and Colorado. Hopefully the GOP’s polling sees those three as drawing dead and the leadership has left them hanging.

    Also, fuck Mitch McConnell. I’m holding out hope that McGrath will win next week, but if that can’t happen I’ll settle for him dying in office.

  51. 51.

    Quaker in a Basement

    No idea why Arkansas (no Democrat running there),so I think they meant Alaska.

    Or else, Arkansas because they’re grooming Tom Cotton to be Mitch 2.0.

  56. 56.

    Aleta

    @Another Scott:   Trying to prove Trump didn’t commit a crime in the middle of 5th Avenue by shooting another person?   There’s something so rebellious fool teenager about that.

  59. 59.

    RaflW

    @KM in NS: Joyce is running for the House seat. Writing her in for Senate (where Dems didn’t field a candidate, alas) wouldn’t work very well.

  60. 60.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Nicolle Wallace just teased a segment on Peggy Noonan, Kamala Harris and (from memory) “the politics of being black and female”. Could make things awkward around the old NBC commissary once things reopen.

  62. 62.

    cain

    @Another Scott:

    Sheldon is such a sucker – the campaign is pretty much broke and they’ll be using that money to enrich themselves or pay lawyer fees later. If Republicans lose that’s a shit ton of money lost. That much money could have gone a long way in helping a lot of people. What a dick.

  63. 63.

    Martin

    Well, this has been a stressful day. Woke up to smoke, woke everyone up, put our evacuation plan into effect. Evacuations up to about 2 miles from us, but though the fire is at 0% containment looks like they’ve got it knocked down in intensity enough that we’ll probably be fine. Lots of friends evacuated right now though.

    2020 continues to not disappoint.

  65. 65.

    CaseyL

    @cain: That money would never ever have gone to “helping a lot of people,” Adelson et al. don’t comprehend or even recognize such a concept.

    As far as I’m concerned, the more Trump and his coterie embezzle from GOP campaign funds, the better.  I’d love it if most of the money meant for ads and GOTV never made it out of [Parscale/Stepian/Trump]’s pocket.

  66. 66.

    Matt McIrvin

    The “Trump steals the election by getting R state legislatures to name alternate slates of electors and having SCOTUS ratify it” scenario is freaking people out on Twitter again, with Michael Tae Sweeney insisting it will definitely succeed if Biden doesn’t win enough electoral votes beyond MI/WI/PA. I guess it’s good for people to be aware of it, not so good for them to act like it’s some magic legal Kryptonite (the scheme is blatantly illegal, and it’s good to say so).

  67. 67.

    JaySinWA

    @cain:

    If Republicans lose that’s a shit ton of money lost. That much money could have gone a long way in helping a lot of people. What a dick.

    At least the money is trickling down to a lower economic strata. Some of it may actually benefit service workers. It may well be spent instead of sitting on the sidelines. Better than the hoarding going on at the tippy top

    Or as @CaseyL: said let them steal from themselves. It will likely be squandered giving the mismanagement of the campaign so far.

  68. 68.

    Eolirin

    @cain: Its not like he lit on fire. He’s effectively subsidizing the campaign infrastructure for right wing candidates and helping them recruit and keep better talent. Even if they lose some cycles maintaining the ecosystem for running campaigns is important to their long term objectives.

    Now, the fact that that ecosystem has been heavily infiltrated by grifters so that their operating costs are wildly out of proportion to the value they provide is a problem for them. One that I hope we can continue to have advantages on.

  70. 70.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @CaseyL: If it does end up embezzled perfect would  be if it turned into a major scandal next year and leave Adelson completely humiliated.  Then these crazy ass billionaires might think twice about just shoveling money into the GOP.

  71. 71.

    Martin

    Shit, new fire off the 91 in Corona. That’ll be heading toward Anaheim Hills. Haven’t seen any coverage of it yet, but the satellite thermals make it look like it’s growing pretty fast.

  75. 75.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Seriously. If the SCOTUS “ratified” that and stole the election, there would be an uprising, it would be so blatantly illegal. There’s laws already on the books in the states we need to win that dictate how those electoral votes are allocated. The GOP doesn’t have supermajorities needed to override a veto by the Dem governors in place in those states. This is one of the last things to worry about imo

  78. 78.

    cain

    @Jeffro:

    Kind of reminds me of the scene from The Incredibles:

    Frozone – You tell me where my suit is, woman! We are talking about the greater good!

    Wife: ‘Greater good?’ I am your wife! I’m the greatest *good* you are ever gonna get!

    And hence – the presidency is the greatest good you’ll ever get, you don’t need to have a job, and or anything else – you’re going to be well taken care of.

  80. 80.

    cain

    @Eolirin: The entire party is one big grifting machine. Sheldon grifts from normal people using his casinos, but wow – those folks are get free money – while yelling at the top of their voices about lazy immigrants, meritocracy, and other inane nonsense that they don’t subscribe to themselves.

  82. 82.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Martin:

    I’ve already said it once, but stay safe and keep us posted. If what you’re seeing and your gut tell you to bug out, do so

  84. 84.

    debbie

    @Another Scott: @jonas:

    So you made me Google. More than anyone would ever want to know about Jewish donors.

    Interesting that Adelson is ranked the 5th largest donor, while Soros is the 24th. In addition, Adelson says Soros’s $27M 2004 donation spurred him to donate more, yet Adelson seems to have donated almost 10 times that amount since then. (See the parenthetical section under #24, though it’s not clear this includes the $172M cited in Another Scott’s comment.) Plus, he’s bought the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Jerusalem to prevent a future president from moving the embassy.

    Jesus, what these guys do with their money!

  89. 89.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @debbie:

    Plus, he’s bought the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Jerusalem to prevent a future president from moving the embassy.

    How would that prevent a future admin from moving the embassy?

  96. 96.

    J R in WV

    @RaflW:

    If [Mitch McConnell] is hanging on to get Amy Covid B thru the process, it’ll be interesting to see what’s next for him.

    Death and decomposition would be my bet! Hoping so!!

    Does that make me a bad person?

    I’m OK with that!

  97. 97.

    Martin

    So, the fire is both closer and less threatening now. When it started we were straight downwind. 40-50MPH winds pushed smoke to ground level. The smoke corridor was only about 3 miles wide – we’re not talking a large fire here. But visibility was down to a few hundred feet, there was strong smoke smell in the house with all windows closed, and there was large ash fall. Small ash was probably flying clear over us. 5 miles is pretty far for burning embers, but it’s 3 minutes away at those wind speeds, and fires can pretty easily jump a mile at a time in these conditions, so time-wise, it’s pretty close. These are the kinds of conditions that wiped out Paradise, though this is a VERY small fire relative to that one, and they have more tree canopy for fires to burn across than we have here.

    It’s pretty heavy residential for about 4 miles between us and the source of the fire – and that’s a lot of irrigated land to cover. Standard process is to let air units hit the front lines of the fire and try and contain it from spreading, and let ground units hold lines near structures. It looks like that’s what happened with the fire line most directly threatening us burning up to residences and getting knocked down by fire crews, but the fire grew toward either side. On one side it seems to be reasonably well contained, and on the other side (maybe due to a shift in wind direction) it’s jumped into residential areas. I don’t think any structures have burned, but it’s within feet of homes. That fire line is now about 2 miles from me but not upwind, so AQ is better, and evacuations are closer, but for now it’s going more next to us.

    We’ll see if winds change more and start blowing it back this way (that’d be very unusual – never seen strong winds in that direction other than during heavy rainstorms). So, we’re still on standby with our evacuation prep done. I think we’ll be fine. Mostly trying to help friends more directly in the line now.

  98. 98.

    cain

    @debbie:

    It would be fun to just undo everything and still move the damn embassy and give Sheldon the finger – he would have wasted all that money yet again.

  99. 99.

    cain

    @J R in WV:

    In general wishing death on someone is not good form – on the other hand, McConnell is a turtle and so it’s ok. I hope he turns into a turtle and swims away.

  100. 100.

    opiejeanne

    @Martin: Santiago Canyon? I took some art classes at the Santa Ana extension campus and drove through that canyon all the time. There were a lot of classes canceled for fires too close to campus, and the larger zoo animals evacuated to there.

  101. 101.

    opiejeanne

    @Martin: There was a fire that started there and raced down the hillsides and across 91. We saw the smoke off to the right on 201 when we were driving up to our cabin in Blue Jay. We lived in Anaheim and when we came back down the next day we had to go way around to the west to the 605 because the 91 was closed and so was the 57 because that fire had raced through all of those hills and had jumped the 57 as well. It took about 5 hours to drive 70 miles because the 210 and 605 were just crawling.

  102. 102.

    Martin

    @opiejeanne: Yeah, Santiago Canyon burns with some regularity. Given the time and location of this one, about 100% chance it’s arson.

    But these are the strongest winds I’ve ever seen here. Normally we’re relatively sheltered from Santa Anas because of the coastal range, but every so often the winds come in at just the right angle.

  106. 106.

    bluefoot

    @LurkerNoLonger: I would open an bottle of champagne and dance around my apartment singing “Ding dong the witch is dead”….He’s a traitor and a sociopath and has no business being in government.

  108. 108.

    SFAW

    Fuck you, Mitch

    OK, my musical memory ain’t what it used to be: from which song does that come? Usually I get about 70 – 80 percent of your mentions, but I’m stumped on this one.

Comments are closed.