Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

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

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

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

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

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

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

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Israel is using food as a weapon of war. Unforgivable.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Alternative history is always a weak argument. Always.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / That time AOC and Katie Porter hid out from the mob

That time AOC and Katie Porter hid out from the mob

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On Lawrence O’Donnell’s show, Rep. Katie Porter’s described hiding out in her office with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for six hours while the Trump-incited mob rampaged through the U.S. Capitol:*

People have unique reactions to trauma. Young Turks correspondent Michael Tracey, who was once knocked senseless by Rep. Maxine Waters, carries the lingering effects of that beat-down into every analysis he conducts of traumatic events experienced by others. After hearing AOC describe her terror during the Capitol insurrection on Instagram Live last night, which AOC mentioned that she experienced as a sexual assault survivor, Tracey reached this conclusion:

This is a masterclass in emotional manipulation — a genuine political/rhetorical skill. Gotta hand it to her

Bitches be scheming, and AOC’s emotional manipulation strategy was aided by a years-long, not-at-all sexualized demonization campaign in wingnut media, where she was and is the subject of rants featuring a then-sitting president and his most rabid followers, including elected Republicans who constantly advertise their armed status and enthusiasm for authoritarianism. The trap thus baited, AOC pounced, according to Tracey, who probably still wakes up screaming to slo-mo visions of Waters’ handbag swinging through space toward his head.

Anyhoo, the Capitol insurrection was less than a month ago, which proves that, like the virus itself, the temporal anomalies associated with the pandemic are still with us. When the impeachment trial starts in the US Senate approximately 400 weeks from now, we’ll need lots of video to remind us what it was like on January 6, shrouded as events are now in the mists of antiquity. That’s how emotional manipulation works.

Open thread!

*I would watch the shit out of a Netflix movie about the congresswomen’s ordeal that afternoon, especially if it was produced by the Coen Bros. and starred Aubrey Plaza as AOC and Frances McDormand as Porter.

Reader Interactions

202Comments

  1. 1.

    Jude

    Aubrey Plaza? That is a Fantastic. Idea.

    I just hope some people are getting answers. Two Capitol police committed suicide, but some didn’t. Some may know exactly what happened in AOC’s office that day.

    We need more accounts and reckoning, not less.

    Oh, and Lindsey Graham warned Democrats not to have witnesses or he’d call the FBI.

    Don’t threaten me with a good time, Asshole.

  2. 2.

    waspuppet

    Hey, having a mob calling your name looking to kill you in your workplace is no walk in the park, but getting your book contract canceled for a week before it’s picked up by a subsidiary of the same publisher? (10,000-yard stare) You don’t know the things I’ve seen.

  3. 3.

    Bobby Thomson

    Christoph Waltz as Kevin McCarthy; Ralph Fiennes or Tom Hiddleston as Josh Hawley; Joaquin Phoenix as Ted Cruz; Charlize Theron as Marjorie Taylor Greene; Margot Robbie as Lauren Boebert

  4. 4.

    waspuppet

    @Bobby Thomson: No one wants to play those people. I’m reminded of the guy who played the guy who tried to assault Edith Bunker, and how it was kind of the end for him.

    (The fact that his name was David Dukes didn’t help either. Poor guy.)

  5. 5.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    I think I can help Young Turk’s correspondent asshole Michael Tracey get over his emotional problems. It’s something Lucy in her psychiatrist role in ‘Peanuts’ once did: provide him with a new physical beat down. Nothing like some physical pain to take one’s mind of their emotional troubles.

    Oh, you mean it might creat *new* emotional problems? I’m good with that.

  6. 6.

    germy

    Speaking of brave Michael Tracey, here’s footage of him:

    Here’s video of michael tracey screaming and resisting arrest while being tackled by officers for stalking ann coulter https://t.co/mpIYGP7B1t— Aaron Dunlap (@aarond) February 2, 2021

    I’m not sure if this is before or after he claimed he was beaten nearly to death by the 80 year old Black woman.

  7. 7.

    rp

    As a guy, Tracey (and Greenwald, and Graham, and Trump, and Hawley, and Carlson, and…) is embarrassing as hell. I know the women have their MTGs and Ivankas, but I think we’ve far outclassed you in the total waste of oxygen department.

  8. 8.

    Lacuna Synechdoche

    Betty Cracker @ Top:

    I would watch the shit out of a Netflix movie about the congresswomen’s ordeal that afternoon, especially if it was produced by the Coen Bros. and starred Aubrey Plaza as AOC and Frances McDormand as Porter.

    I was thinking more Aubrey Plaza for the Katie “Truly, I curse like a fucking sailor” Porter role, and Argentine-Brit-American Anya Taylor-Joy for AOC.

  9. 9.

    Raoul Paste

    While some are pushing for it, I actually dread the idea of Trump testifying at the impeachment trial

    I envision it being like the first Biden Trump debate, with trump spewing a firehose of lies, non-stop interruptions, and Trump will not STFU

  10. 10.

    Baud

    @rp:

     I think we’ve far outclassed you in the total waste of oxygen department.

     
    Men always gotta think they’re better at everything.

  12. 12.

    Lacuna Synechdoche

    Raoul Paste:

    I envision it being like the first Biden Trump debate, with trump spewing a firehose of lies, non-stop interruptions, and Trump will not STFU

    Well, if he does, then that would give the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms a good reason – Contempt of Congress –  to drag Trump down to the basement cell and keep him there until it was time for him to testify.

    I mean, sure, that would never happen, but a man can dream.

  13. 13.

    Ken

    @Baud: I’m sure his lawyers have explained that, but given the opportunity to get in the spotlight, will he listen?

    (I may be misremembering, but he had the same problem before 2016 – several lawyers quit because he wouldn’t take their advice.)

  15. 15.

    Fair Economist

    I hope Trump does testify. While he’s under oath would be a great time to ask him questions about all sorts of things. I fantasize about Presiding Senator Leahy chucking Trump’s diapered ass in jail for contempt when he refuses to answer a question.

  16. 16.

    different-church-lady

    I would watch the shit out of Maxine Waters killing Michael Tracy just by starring daggers at him.

  22. 22.

    mrmoshpotato

    @sab: ​

    In the past when he has had to testify, hasn’t he been unable to remember anything?

    “I’m gonna Alberto Gonzalez their asses!”

  23. 23.

    Barbara

    Tacey is a ghoul who stays alive by sucking the blood of people he claims to disdain. He would be nothing at all without AOC and Maxine Waters. That’s why he is so vicious.

  24. 24.

    different-church-lady

    I mean, for months people have been claiming on the internet they wanted to kill her, and the a mob of violent people showed up shouting that they wanted to kill her, but really, she’s just overreacting to the whole thing.

  26. 26.

    Hildebrand

    The entirety of the Young Turk organization needs to de dropped into the Marianas Trench.  What a ghastly bunch of posturing fools.

  29. 29.

    gene108

    @Raoul Paste: 

    While some are pushing for it, I actually dread the idea of Trump testifying at the impeachment trial

    I envision it being like the first Biden Trump debate, with trump spewing a firehose of lies, non-stop interruptions, and Trump will not STFU

    I’m more worried about Trump’s talent to incite stochastic terrorism every time he speaks.

  30. 30.

    different-church-lady

    @germy: Back when Cenk was one of DKos’s many false dieties du jour I got a time-out for telling him directly to go fuck himself.

    I am proud of that moment.

  31. 31.

    germy

    @Noncarborundum:

    I think all the Republican parts should be played by child actors.  Ten year olds, or maybe younger.  Their dialog should be verbatim from Hawley’s, Greene’s & Boebert’s speeches and tweets.

  36. 36.

    Ken

    @germy: You might get sued by the estate of Jerome Bixby for infringing on “It’s A Good Life”.  Or possibly John Wyndham for The Midwich Cuckoos.

  37. 37.

    Immanentize

    Hmmmm.  Peculiar.  Why do some want wypipo actresses to play AOC?  No talent available among the hispanic actor community?

  45. 45.

    geg6

    WaPo reporting multiple FBI agents shot while serving a warrant in south FL. I have to wonder if it is a MAGAt.

  50. 50.

    Lacuna Synechdoche

    @Barbara:

    Tracey is a ghoul who stays alive by sucking the blood of people he claims to disdain. He would be nothing at all without AOC and Maxine Waters.

    To be fair, even with AOC and Maxine Waters, Tracey is still nothing at all.

  51. 51.

    germy

    @geg6:

    FBI agents were injured in a shootout with a suspect in Sunrise, Florida, on Tuesday morning, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the incident.

    An unclear number of agents have been injured, including with possible life-threatening injuries.

    The FBI and other law enforcement agencies were exercising a warrant at the Water Terrace apartment complex at 6:04 a.m., according to Sunrise Police spokeswoman Otishia Browning-Smith. Shots were then fired and paramedics called to the scene, she said.

    The person who officers were looking for barricaded himself, and multiple people have been injured, including officers, she said.

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/02/us/fbi-sunrise-florida-shooting/index.html

    Here’s my prediction: If he’s white, he’ll be taken alive.  The only way he dies is if he shoots himself before they can get to him.

  57. 57.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @rikyrah: Yeah, I’m firmly convinced that there was inside help. I hope it gets fully exposed.

    ETA: and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Book’em, Danno.

  58. 58.

    Lacuna Synechdoche

    @germy:

    I think all the Republican parts should be played by child actors. Ten year olds, or maybe younger. Their dialog should be verbatim from Hawley’s, Greene’s & Boebert’s speeches and tweets.

    We tried, but there was a credibility problem with the script. All the ten year olds we auditioned refused to believe anyone would ever say anything that fucking stupid.

  61. 61.

    schrodingers_cat

    Its terrible what AOC and other D Congress people had to go through on Jan 6 but let’s also not forget that AOC and much leftie BS Twitter has been baying for Nancy Pelosi’s blood for the last two years

    Nancy Pelosi and her ice-cream was a two week Twitter conspiracy this summer fueled mostly by BS sympathetic Rose Twitter.

  70. 70.

    schrodingers_cat

    @O. Felix Culpa: Well she didn’t want her to be murdered but all other rhetoric against NP was A. OK including the two week Rose Twitter hate fest about NP’s fridge and ice-cream.

    Are we going to memory hole the constant hate directed Pelosi’s way from the more supposedly progressive corners of the internet.

  76. 76.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    The trap thus baited, AOC pounced, according to Tracey, who probably still wakes up screaming to slo-mo visions of Waters’ handbag swinging through space toward his head.

    What kind of girly man makes a fuss about some nana like Water pushing them?

  78. 78.

    cope

    A bunch of raving moronic lunatics stormed the Capitol Building threatening the basics premises of our government.  Lives were threatened, lost and ruined and there’s an argument in here about who gets to play the participants on TV.   I know that it’s a feature of BJ that posts veer wildly from their original topic but this is not even a tangentially important issue. Focus people, focus.

  82. 82.

    germy

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Nor am I.

    He thought he could step into NP’s role, which I found arrogant.   I was more offended by him than I am by various rose twitter randos who babble to each other, because Ryan had power.

  85. 85.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Via CNN re that Florida FBI shooting.

    The Water Terrace apartment complex where the shooting took place is an upscale gated community with a fitness center, pool and spa and tennis courts, its website says. Sunrise, a city of about 84,000 people as of the 2010 Census, is located about 10 miles northwest of Fort Lauderdale in South Florida.

  86. 86.

    schrodingers_cat

    @danielx: The baying for blood comment was rhetorical and perhaps not a great choice of words on my part. But NP has been a target of hateful rhetoric by  AOC and her mentor’s social media fan following. Adding to the overall negative NP rhetoric on social media and even the MSM.

  88. 88.

    L85NJGT

    I see Joe is cleaning up that rats nest of Puerto Rican recovery money. Islanders (and anyone living in the now) support a resilient grid based on solar, while shit-for-brains was pushing for a LNG power plant and 1950s style radial grid.

  90. 90.

    germy

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Violent MAGATs stormed the capitol looking to murder NP and AOC.

    But some rose twitter people criticized NP for stocking ice cream.

    So both sides, really.

    I mean, you feel bad for AOC, “but…”

  96. 96.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Immanentize: Don’t know what her ethnicity is but Sara Tomko looks the part of AOC and was pretty good in the pilot of Resident Alien – the new SyFy network show.

  102. 102.

    germy

    @WaterGirl:

    All those details should come out during the impeachment trial.  From what I’ve read, Democrats will be showing video and testimony about the invasion.  This is what Lindsey Graham is nervous about.  He knows they’re planning a full audio-visual presentation, with all the ugly details.  And he knows there’s lots of photos of him grinning with people who were planning the invasion.

  103. 103.

    Geminid

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: re: Florida shootings.  A 10:30am CBS radio news update said the FBI was serving a warrant for child pornography charges.

  107. 107.

    sab

    @germy: That is not the only thing that Ryan has ever done in his 18 years in Congress He has since admitted on national television multiple times how misguided he was and how much he admires her and her political skills.

    He is mostly pretty progressive/liberal. If people want to criticize him then look at his actual record.

    This reminds me of when all the Daily Kos people went after Sherrod Brown because he got into the Senate race after Paul Hackett ( Marine and and ambulance chaser from reddest district in Ohio) had already bought his campaign bus.

  109. 109.

    Ken

    @germy: And [Graham] knows there’s lots of photos of him grinning with people who were planning the invasion.

    Also video of him after the insurrection, terrified and speaking heresy like “Trump lost the election,” which he’d prefer the cult not be reminded of.

  110. 110.

    germy

    @sab:

    Yes, I know he expressed regret.  I think he has a good shot at his next race.  I’m glad he has the capacity to grow and change.  That’s one of the strengths of most Democrats.

    But I was replying to criticism of AOC that was based on the tweets of various rose randos.  AOC voted for NP.  Ryan ran against her.

  113. 113.

    patrick II

    @Raoul Paste:

    I think it is important to have a mike cut-off, as they did at the second debate, otherwise, it will be like his earlier debates where he just keeps talking, lying, interrupting and bullying with no way to stop him.

  114. 114.

    germy

    @Ken:

    And the reason those officials taped Trump’s call (“Give me a break here, I need more votes”) is because they knew Graham had been making calls asking for legal votes to be tossed.

    He should be very nervous the next few weeks.

  115. 115.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @sab: Paul Hackett! I’ve barely looked at Kos for a decade, but they had a talent for turning mediocrities into heroes. Remember Ciro Rodriguez? I fell for that one

  116. 116.

    cope

    @OzarkHillbilly: Point taken, thanks.  What was I thinking?

    Reminds me of the time when I was still teaching and the class was acting silly about something (somebody farted? a cockroach scuttled across the room? somebody fell asleep and slobbered all over the desk?) and I got pissed off enough to yell (and I was not one of the yelling teachers).  One of the students looked at me and said, “Gee, Mr. cope, we’re just kids”.

    “Gee, cope, they’re just BJ commenters”.

  118. 118.

    Ken

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Suggests a humorous (?) Venn diagram, where the circles are child p*rn, guns, and crack, and the states are plotted.  Florida won’t be the only one in the middle, and even adding “alligators” might not help.

  119. 119.

    sab

    @germy: And then he voted for her. She is a wonder and she is also eighty. We will be truly fucked if she doesn’t have a succession plan. (I think she does.)

  120. 120.

    Geminid

    @sab: In the event, Ryan, Moulton, Rice and the rest of their group voted for Pelosi as Speaker. Some freshman Democratic Representatives voted for others as they had promised while campaigning. When one of these, Mikie Sherrill (NJ), met with Pelosi during the campaign and started to bring this up, Pelosi cut her off, saying: “Don’t worry about that. Just win, baby!”

  122. 122.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @sab: her succession plan was Joe Crowley. Now it seems to be Hakeem Jeffries, whom the Justice Dems have also targeted, I believe

  124. 124.

    germy

    @sab:

    I agree.  I’m certain she has a plan.  And I know she’ll be available for her replacement, for advice and guidance.

  128. 128.

    Immanentize

    @germy: What is it Graham thinks “the FBI” HAS?  OR was that just Fox news bullshit crazy talk?  Inquiring minds and all….

  130. 130.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Barbara: I agree that they are not the same thing. But the sneering contempt of left towards Pelosi echoed a lot of the RW MAGA rhetoric. You can check out the most popular DSA and Rose Twitter handles if you don’t believe me.

    MAGAs are far worse because they have acted on that rhetoric.

  131. 131.

    Barbara

    @cope: ​
      Let me add my thought about a movie — don’t do it! The only thing “I Tonya” managed to do was partially rehabilitate Harding (until she tried to grift off the movie by charging for interviews that I understand she was contractually bound to give in order to promote the movie). It is the nature of people trying to inhabit a role to make others at least understand their character and more often than not, that effort undermines the bad stuff and creates unjustified sympathy. Doesn’t matter who. It could be Charles Manson, and a movie about him is more likely to soften than harden his image.

  132. 132.

    Expletive Deleted

    Stephanie Beatriz or maybe Natalie Morales for AOC. Dustin Milligan as Hawley, based on his sociopathic performance in Dirk Gently rather than his cuddly Schitt’s Creek one.

  134. 134.

    Immanentize

    @sab: As you know, I do not have the highest opinion of Mssr. Ryan’s past behaviors.  But he really has come around in the last two years.  I think he (and Seth Moulton) learned the high hard way which side of the bread the butter was on.  The faux populism that each of them tried did not deliver for them the way they wanted

  136. 136.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Omnes Omnibus: I can see the difference. MAGAs acted on their vile rhetoric. Where I disagree is that the leftie hatred of NP is benign and without consequence. That it is an ant hill

    Some example of benign D-hating by our progressive betters.

    The DSA caucus and their social media  followers were tweeting guillotines and telling supporters of other candidates to bend the knee when it looked like St Sanders of Vt had won one primary and one caucus state.

    They are dangerous too. It was because of BS diehards that we even got the Orange Clown as the President in the first place.

    They even started the rhetoric of rigged elections when BS didn’t win the 2016 primaries. Threw chairs, accused DNC.

  137. 137.

    sab

    @schrodingers_cat: Didn’t AOC fire her mentor because of that stuff?

    ETA :Thinking about it I don’t know who you mean as her mentor. But I thought she had pretty much distanced her from all the Justice Democrats (who seem to only go after older women politicians, mostly  but not always black.)

  138. 138.

    Immanentize

    @germy: The myth that AOC has been leading a rear action war against Pelosi is, well, uninformed.  So, I understood what you were referring to.  She is much more and much better than the worst of her supporters, as are all politicians (including, I suspect, Ryan).

  140. 140.

    Immanentize

    @patrick II: But there will be questioners, not moderators.  A good questioner has many tricks to stop a blowhard witness.  One, interestingly, is to let them blow hard at least once early on.

  141. 141.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @cope: I was one of the students you hated. One recess we managed to convince all the boys in the class to catch grasshoppers and sneak them into the room. Our teacher turned her back and in the next instance the air was full of grasshoppers and the screams of the girls.

  142. 142.

    schrodingers_cat

    @sab: I think you are referring to Saikat Chakraborty. Yes she fired him because he got too toxic for her.

    He is a tech-millionaire. BTW.

    I was referring to the senator from Vt.

    ETA: Another fun fact is that Justice Democrats PAC which funded AOC’s first run for office is funded by tech millionaires and billionaires. And their main goal has been to take on members of the CBC in the primaries.  I don’t think their intentions are benign. Most BJ commentariat disagrees with me. But that doesn’t bother me much.

  143. 143.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Immanentize: ​  I know that AL and some others have been particularly harsh about Moulton, but one of my most lefty friends from college lives in Salem and has been, and continues to be, strongly supportive of him. It appears that opinions may vary.​

  146. 146.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    as someone who thinks AOC is solipsistic, narcissistic, shockingly immature for a 31 YO, kind of an asshole in general and politically damaging for Democrats in the near to mid-term, that’s a separate discussion from what happened on January 6

    and the whole “Aubrey Plaza isn’t really Puerto Rican” thing is pretty fucking gross, too.

  150. 150.

    Geminid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: In November 2018, after Hakeem Jeffries won the race for Caucus Chairman over Barbara Lee, Politico’s Laura Barron-Lopez reported that “sources close Ocasio-Cortez” -probably her chief of staff and press secretary- intended to primary Jeffries, and even had a candidate lined up. The story was over in a day. Ocasio-Cortez denounced it, but as some people pointed out, did not exactly deny it.                                                                                     When asked for comment, Jeffries responded, “Democracy is a beautiful thing….Spread the love, it’s the Brooklyn Way.” Jeffries likes to quote Brooklyn rapper Biggie Smalls, and some people found the  last part to be a veiled threat. But basically Jeffries is a very smart man with nothing to fear from a primary challenge.

  152. 152.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @sab:

    In the past when he has had to testify, hasn’t he been unable to remember anything?

    You mean the guy who bragged incessantly about his wonderful memory? “The best memory”? That guy?

  153. 153.

    Immanentize

    @Omnes Omnibus: He was in trouble when he went after Pelosi, and he was momentarily in the Senate race against Markey until Kennedy bulled in.  But all seems to have been forgiven and he is on the team now and is, I think, a useful Dem to have as a vet with ambition.  But he is to the left of Lamb, thankfully.

  154. 154.

    sab

    @schrodingers_cat: I agree with your point here. Republicans’ lockstep has made it really difficult to have normal policy disagreements on our side without seeming to be  “in disarray.”

    I deeply admire Nancy Pelosi, but I did not and cannot vote for her. Only only have one Congressman, and he is allowed to have his own opinions and positions. I can yell at him for those. I can’t do anything about Pelosi  (who I deeply admire) because I don’t live in San Francisco.

    I don’t want our Congresspeople muted by the speaker. Pelosi does not do that. Republicans do that. Newt Gingrich (dump the ailing wives), Denny Hastert (convicted pedophile), Paul Ryan (lying marathoner), Kevin McCarthy (dumber than my not-bright cocker spaniel.)

  155. 155.

    Edmund Dantes

    We really should be calling out the Aubrey Plaza hate here a bit more. Just own up to you didn’t know one of her parents was Puerto Rican and move on instead of trying to defend it.

  158. 158.

    Immanentize

    @BruceFromOhio:

    Child pron is the taboo go to when you want to say someone is really evil.  There are far fewer child pron prosecutions than there are child pron allegations.  All pron might be child pron, so just charge it and see what ends up being true seems to be the police methodology at times.  That said, if they were serving a warrant for child pornography….

  159. 159.

    schrodingers_cat

    @sab: No I don’t want our Congressional representatives to be silenced either but what BS did to HRC in the 2016 primaries was unforgivable.

    I also did not like the Squad and Rep. Jaypal (who I admire for her anti-Modi stance, BTW) smiled as the crowd booed when HRC was mentioned.

  163. 163.

    Geminid

    @schrodingers_cat: I don’t know that this forum is so favorable to the Justice Democrats. I found this place when I was grudge-researching the group, and I checked out a very critical post by Adam Silverman on the strangely named Balloon Juice blog.

  164. 164.

    sab

    @schrodingers_cat: I agree with you there re HRC. Even women and Democrats can be and are misogynists.

    Actually that is why I was heartened that Tim Ryan sought and accepted HRC’s endorsement (if that is what it was.) One of his improvements in the last few years (since he got married) is recognizing that women have agency, intelligence and useful ideas. 12 years of all male parochial school education takes some guys a while to overcome.

  165. 165.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Immanentize: ​
      Yeah, I don’t really mind having some of the younger generation showing signs of ambition. It isn’t a bad thing – especially when everyone gets back on side after the leadership question is resolved.

  166. 166.

    VeniceRiley

    Melissa McCarthy should play Katie Porter. Fight me!

    Oh and TYT I despise them all with white hot furnace rage.

  169. 169.

    Another Scott

    @sab: +1

    There are videos of depositions of him out there.  “I have no specific recollection…”  He knows how not to answer questions when it matters.

    Also too, he didn’t answer a bunch of Mueller’s written questions, IIRC.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  170. 170.

    geg6

    @Immanentize:

    But he is to the left of Lamb, thankfully.

    As a constituent, I can say with 100% certainty that Conor Lamb is as far left as his district will accept.  I am thankful to have him.

  171. 171.

    catclub

    @Raoul Paste: ​
    &nbsp

    ;with trump spewing a firehose of lies, non-stop interruptions, and Trump will not STFU

    Although I would pay to see the presiding officer call for the Sgt at Arms to restrain and gag him.

  174. 174.

    trollhattan

    @Edmund Dantes:

    I just know she’s awesome–and a bit scary–and her parents are not relevant to a casting decision. Actors…act. (April, the P&R character, was fleshed out to fit her skillset.) Regardless, as a New Yorker could she play a New York bartender who implausibly gets elected to congress? She could play the hell out of that.

  176. 176.

    MomSense

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I think part of the problem is that the perception of Massachusetts as wicked lefty has always been inaccurate so people wonder why a more conservative Dem would be liked and doubt he is representative of his constituency.  I think the perception is because of McGovern, Teddy Kennedy, the rhetoric of the ‘88 election, all the colleges and universities, and years of Click and Clack’s “People’s Republic of Cambridge” joke.  I have a friend in his district and while she would prefer a more progressive Rep, she thinks he is as far left as they can elect and that he’s a good person.

  177. 177.

    LeftCoastYankee

    I’m confused by the impulse to have a made for TV movie about this incident.

    I don’t think I could conjure up a more “unserious” reaction to sedition, which would serve more to “move past it” than anything the Republicans are pushing for.

    Maybe it’s because I’m assuming it’d be campy as shit with the Coen Brothers in charge, but seriously… We need to see this through in the real world first.

    (soapbox dismount)

    FWIW I’d cast Aubrey Plaza as Nancy Pelosi — there’s murder in those eyes

  178. 178.

    Edmund Dantes

    @trollhattan: I just find it funny a person of Puerto Rican descent gets shouted down and the person they offer instead Is almost a carbon copy except she’s Mexican American versus Puerto Rican American cause Selena Gomez was named after a Mexican singer and darker skin I guess?

    shrug

  180. 180.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geminid: very weird how some people want to make Conor Lamb into the Junior Joe Manchin for the crime of (checks notes) flipping a congressional seat from R to D, and then holding it.

  181. 181.

    sab

    @MomSense: I have a moderate Republican sister in Mass married to a native Republican. They are still there, and Gym Jordan horrifies them. Still pining for Weld. They are still out there.

    And they always vote. They are Republican and they hate Trump passionately.

  183. 183.

    gwangung

    @trollhattan: If ethnicity is key to a character, then it sure as hell is relevant who the actor’s parents are…and I believe her ethnic background is a key part of AOC.

    There’s been LOTS of erasure of Latinx talent in the industry; that’s not something Balloon Juicers should condone.

  184. 184.

    CatFacts

    This thread is dead and long since derailed, which is a shame because what AOC actually said bears hearing: “The reason I’m getting emotional in this moment is because the folks who tell us to move on, that it’s not a big deal, that we should forget what’s happened, or even telling us to apologize, these are the same tactics of abusers.”

    Oh, and I can comment again in Visual mode, so there’s that.

  185. 185.

    Betty Cracker

    @LeftCoastYankee:

    I’m confused by the impulse to have a made for TV movie about this incident.

    Probably because there isn’t really such an impulse. The remark was a feeble attempt at humor that seemed too obvious to tag as such (beyond putting it at the bottom with an asterisk to set it apart from the actual topic). Naturally it became a focus of the conversation…

    [insert eyeroll emo-thingie]

  186. 186.

    WaterGirl

    @CatFacts: Not totally dead!

    Let me know whether you can continue to comment in visual mode or if that was just a fluke.  Apparently that has been working very occasionally since 85.0 Firefox came out.  Hoping that it’s not a fluke, obviously!

  188. 188.

    stinger

    @waspuppet:  Haven’t read through the comments yet, so maybe somebody else has replied, but David Dukes went on to act in many TV shows and movies and won an Emmy nomination in the ’90s.

  189. 189.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Amir Khalid: I wonder why they call themselves that. Cenk Uygur was already middle-aged when he started the outfit.

    Cenk (the “c” is pronounced like the “j” in Joe) is Turkish for “young,” and the Uygurs are the easternmost Turkic ethnic group, living in Xinjiang in northwestern China. It’s in fact his name but it literally means “young Turk.”

    And there are the official “Young Turks” who took over the Ottoman Empire in 1908, whence the generic term “young Turk” for “A young person, full of new ideas and impatient for change.”

    NB I make no claim as to whether Cenk’s efforts are in fact worthy of the name and its antecedents, but at least he comes by it honestly.

  191. 191.

    SeattleDem

    I wonder how many of the Rose Twitter crowd are Russian trolls playing “Let’s you and her fight!”

  192. 192.

    Another Scott

    @OzarkHillbilly:  Most people seem to take a different lesson from that part of the first debate than I do:

    Chris Wallace: (41:33)
    You have repeatedly criticized the vice president for not specifically calling out Antifa and other left wing extremist groups. But are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia group and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha and as we’ve seen in Portland.

    President Donald J. Trump: (41:57)
    Sure, I’m will to do that.

    Chris Wallace: (41:59)
    Are you prepared specifically to do it.

    President Donald J. Trump: (42:00)
    I would say almost everything I see is from the left wing not from the right wing.

    Chris Wallace: (42:04)
    But what are you saying?

    President Donald J. Trump: (42:06)
    I’m willing to do anything. I want to see peace.

    Chris Wallace: (42:08)
    Well, do it, sir.

    Vice President Joe Biden: (42:09)
    Say it, do it say it.

    President Donald J. Trump: (42:10)
    What do you want to call them? Give me a name, give me a name, go ahead who do you want me to condemn.

    Chris Wallace: (42:14)
    White supremacist and right-wing militia.

    Vice President Joe Biden: (42:14)
    Proud Boys.

    President Donald J. Trump: (42:18)
    Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. But I’ll tell you what somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right wing problem this is a left wing…

    Vice President Joe Biden: (42:28)
    His own FBI Director said unlike white supremacist, Antifa is an idea not an organization-

    President Donald J. Trump: (42:35)
    Oh you got to be kidding me.

    Vice President Joe Biden: (42:36)
    … not a militia. That’s what his FBI Director said.

    1) It’s just mouth noises to him. He was asking Chris what he wanted him to say, and tried to say it. He knew he would say the opposite 12-24 hours later and nobody would care.

    2) His broken brain confused “stand down” with “stand back” then tried to fix it with “stand by” and still got it wrong, so it said Leeroy Jenkins!! and just powered on through.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  193. 193.

    cope

    @Betty Cracker: True story.  While I was reading this piece, I found the asterisked line so funny I copied it with the intention of coming to BJ to use in a relevant post.  At the time, for some reason, I thought I was reading a Charlie Pierce column as part of my morning ritual.  When I got here and saw what a stupid thing I had done, I had to laugh again.

    That was funny, Betty.  Period.

  194. 194.

    Bill Arnold

    @gene108: ​

    I’m more worried about Trump’s talent to incite stochastic terrorism every time he speaks.

    He’s not inciting it, he’s committing stochastic terrorism, and his primary tool of choice is incitement.
    He is using probability and a large number of followers to effect a desired outcome, violence, with a high probability of success. He thinks he can successfully argue that causality cannot be legally proven. He is helped with his language/codewords by Dan Scavino and perhaps others.

  195. 195.

    debbie

    Without reading all the comments, I shout Fuck him and fuck anyone who diminishes anyone’s traumas, but especially fuck him when he’s diminishing a woman.

  196. 196.

    debbie

    No better explanation of shock and trauma in real time: “It felt like my brain was able to have so many thoughts in that moment.”

  199. 199.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @schrodingers_cat: I really do not understand the turning of politicians into a cult of personality. Why do people do that?  I understand humans are social animals but the veneration of charismatic politicians is stupid and frightening.

  200. 200.

    Ruckus

    @different-church-lady:

    Maxine does not just stare. She is vocal, and speaks her mind, which is a sharp as a razor. I’ve heard her speak live, she has maybe, just maybe one fuck left to give. But I wouldn’t bet on it.

  202. 202.

    TriassicSands

    I watched the Waters-Tracey video and I must say Waters needs to serve life in prison for the physical assault she leveled on that poor little boy. She touched his arm, the arm that was in her face. Shocking beyond belief. Waters is a monster. A brute. A thug.

    Meanwhile, back in reality, how could anyone bother to mention the slight brushing aside of his hand, which was in her face? Some babies never grow up.

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