Sometimes it takes a real idiot going overboard to clarify things. Whether you agree with the DCCC’s strategy in Peter Meijer’s district, the ad they ran on behalf of his opponent did not abandon principles. It simply said that Gibbs was too conservative for the district, and provided examples. (If you think the DCCC did a bad thing, and you haven’t watched the ad, watch it.) As for Saint Peter Meijer, he’s falling in line, as predictably as any other Republican:
I think Tollefson forgot a “yet” at the end of that last sentence.
Democrats engaging in the mildest of rat intercourse makes DC fools like McMegan run for an Ativan drip, since the party of the adults in the room is supposed to bend the knee for a Republican who did his fucking job, once. Fuck that noise, and get used to Democrats fighting, I say. So, I’ve decided that I don’t have a big problem with the Gibbs ads, and I hope they propel Hillary Scholten to a victory in MI-3. I frankly don’t know if they worked in any case, because Michigan Republicans seem able to choose election-denying Trump-endorsed wackaloons like Tudor Dixon with no help from us.
AxelFoley
Breonna Taylor’s murderers charged with federal crimes:
https://twitter.com/abc/status/1555209989106565123?s=21&t=K3zsGfFmEXkLYmxTHItDcA
NotMax
Too much to envisage he has an older brother named Fordor?
:)
Baud
Yep. Reasonable people can disagree about strategy, but the Dems didn’t do anything improper.
Danielx
This.
Nettoyeur
@NotMax: She
Alison Rose 💙🌻💛
Fuck russia:
https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/34345429/russian-prosecutors-request-9-1-2-year-sentence-brittney-griner
I certainly hope those negotiations work. But even so, fuck that country.
geg6
They are trying to say the same shit about Shapiro’s ads against Mastriano during the primary. But just last night, I saw the exact same ad running and we’re in general election mode now. So how was it meant to boost Mastriano months ago and is now a vicious smear? It’s all just bullshit.
And I’m with you on the whole thing about assholes like most of the MSM and this idiot and embarrassment to my gender, McArdle. They are pissed that Dems are done cringing and apologizing and getting comfortable with fighting back.
Fuckem.
OzarkHillbilly
As I said elsewhere in response to James Joyner’s complaining about it:
To elaborate, I have no moral qualms about the practice, but we need to be careful where and how we employ it, lest it come back to bite us in the ass.
Matt McIrvin
I do think this kind of thing is too clever by half. Trying to get the worst candidates for the other party to win in the hopes that it’ll make it easier for you to win.. that can backfire. Doing it at one more remove by double negative reverse psychology, so that you’re doing a worse-is-better on a worse-is-better to benefit your own side by saying plainly what you really believe, but double ironically… this gets too hard for me to even follow.
So I guess it’s hard for me to work up too much outrage but I wonder if it’s the best deployment of resources.
geg6
@AxelFoley:
Excellent, excellent news.
geg6
@Matt McIrvin:
In Shapiro’s case, it looks more like he was defining his most likely opponent. And he was right. And he’s running the same exact commercial now against Mastriano as was running back in April when he was being accused of boosting Mastriano.
You’re falling for a line of media CW bullshit. Stop it.
Kent
The ENTIRE illegal Ukraine extortion scheme cooked up by Trump and Giuliani was nothing more than an attempt by Trump to pick his own opponent in the 2020 election by trying to dirty up Biden. That is all it was.
I have no fucking use for GOPers who have vapors when Democrats do the perfectly legal thing and use the freedom of the press to inform people about Republican candidates. When they excused the ILLEGAL attempts by Trump to do the same.
Did Megan McCardle support impeachment and conviction of Trump the first time around? Let’s go to the tape. Hmm….No, she actually blamed Trump’s impeachment on the Clintons. For real:
https://www.savannahnow.com/story/opinion/columns/2019/11/27/megan-mcardle-column-how-can-republicans-defend-trump-because-of-clintons/2202069007/
oldster
@Matt McIrvin:
Here’s my reverse psychology:
if McArdle thinks it’s wrong, then it is almost certainly the right thing to do.
Miss Bianca
@NotMax: he is a she, iirc.
Lyrebird
@AxelFoley: Praise the Almighty. Thanks for the link.
And thanks to mistermix! I am often taking a different view, but not on this. If those voters did not want fascist sympathizer, they coulda voted Meijer, and the ads made that even clearer.
mali muso
@oldster:
Totally agree and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. lol
Lyrebird
@Kent: and thank YOU!!! RECEIPTS!!!
lowtechcyclist
@NotMax:
Don’t get a Sorhed if she doesn’t.
Van Buren
@Baud: As Adlai Stevenson said, “If the Republicans will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.”
Everything in the ads was accurate. No wonder they’re outraged!
craigie
@NotMax: Took me a beat, but too funny.
Hildebrand
All this handwringing tells me is that far too many folks think Republicans don’t have agency.
Kent
What kind of name is “Tudor” anyway? Is that like the upper-class affection of naming your kids after European cities? “London” or “Paris”
What is next. Naming your children “Windsor” “Wessex” or “York”
JaneE
McArdle can pretend that Meijer could have won if the Democrats hadn’t told the GOP what his opponent’s positions were, but we all know it is either pretense or ignorance. What wins GOP primaries is madness and lunacy and loyalty to Trump. There just are not that many “good” Republicans left.
Redshift
I kind of wonder if McMegan explains anywhere exactly which “principles”she thinks this sells out, but not enough to go look for it. And selling out “the country”? Please.
The only thing that matters for the country here is defeating Republicans. Trying to make the GOP sane again is their problem, not ours.
Baud
@Hildebrand:
Republicans are entitled to hate and oppose Democrats, which puts the responsibility in Democrats not to do anything that will trigger them, and gives everyone else the right to criticize Dems for any action that does trigger them.
lowtechcyclist
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Hildebrand: Now look what you made me do!
Abuser logic…
Betty Cracker
@geg6: Didn’t Mastriano win a crowded primary race rather handily? He’s a crackpot, but that’s what Republicans want.
NotMax
OT. Yay!
Both the “c” and the “z” on the keyboard decided in tandem to take a short vacation of a couple of days. But now they’re back! Same thing happened once several years ago, except then it was the c running off on a bender with the space bar.
Bill Arnold
@Hildebrand:
It’s true, though. A large part of Republican identity is liking whatever Democrats don’t like and disliking whatever Democrats like (AKA Cleek’s Law), and that makes them trivially easy to manipulate, including for improved probability of electoral gain by whoever is doing the manipulating.
The arguments are essentially that manipulation of Republicans is bad if it is done by non-Republicans. Turf war, basically. Republican manipulation of their electorate is fine, as is fraud directed at the Republican electorate, if Republicans are committing the fraud.
waspuppet
I hate that this is left to Bulwark types like JV Last to say, but:
Did Fox News or any of their “personalities” at any point in the last three months say an actual good word about Peter Meijer?
Did Kevin McCarthy visit Meijer’s district and denounce Gibbs and endorse Meijer?
Did Meijer campaign to Republican voters on the integrity behind his impeachment vote, as an actual reason to vote for him (as opposed to running away from it in front of his voters and cowering behind it while complaining about Democrats)?
Answer Key: No. To all.
So Megan “It’s Good to Fail” McArdle and everyone parroting her stupid line can shut all the way the fuck up, and let the Americans run America. For once.
eclare
As reported in the dead thread below, just got in from voting in the TN primary and Memphis municipal elections. The big race here is for DA, got a robotext from John Legend about it this morning.
different-church-lady
I’m still trying to figure out this situation where Democrats say “don’t vote for crazy” and the republican base immediately votes overwhelmingly for crazy and somehow it’s the democrats’ fault that the GOP is stuck with crazy.
different-church-lady
It’s like, they know Cleek’s law is the only rule of GOP physics today, but they can’t say it out loud.
As for McGarble: yeah, pretty much had the same response. Didn’t know how to feel about the strategy until Ms. Wrong aboutEverythin chimed in.
H-Bob
@Kent: Why not “Plantagenet”?
different-church-lady
Also: everything sucks and nobody knows what to do about it.
brantl
@NotMax: She, not he, though how would you know, it’s like naming your kid Ford Prefect
geg6
@Betty Cracker:
They were ALL crackpots! And he beat them all!
People keep saying he only won a small segment of the GOP votes. Which is true. But he won the most votes in a race filled with idiots, lunatics and grifters. Meanwhile, Shapiro was running unopposed and had a big war chest. Why not define the guy who you think you’ll be running against in a few months?
brantl
They’d be calling “Foul!” on Br’er Rabbit for “Oh, no! Don’t throw me in the briar patch!” . If there shitty impulses got the best of them, with our side telling the truth, what can possibly be their bitch? They are projecting that we said he was a good candidate, not a shitty one. Whereas, if anybody knows where we stand, that ad says unequivocally that he’s a shitty candidate, how can you vote for this knuckle-walker?
neabinorb
If the DCCC was spending like this all over the country, I’d be concerned. But in one race? It’s not like they’ve engaged in wholesale gerrymandering to get the voters they want.
different-church-lady
@brantl: Funny thing is, as a teenager in America, I had no idea what a Ford Prefect was, yet I agreed with the Guide that name was ‘disconcerting’ anyway.
Major Major Major Major
Eh, this is true, but they knew what they were doing. I personally would not have chosen to play with fire right now. But the histrionics are also absurd.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
This. As you said, it’s risky practice to put the worst person in a position where they might could get elected. And aren’t those resources really needed elsewhere, to support our candidates? Other than that, no moral outrage here. These ads just spell out how inappropriate the guy is for office. If Repub voters choose him anyway, or because he’s inappropriate, that’s on them.
Jeffro
@Kent:
THIS.
PLUS...trump was trying to pick his opponent using taxpayers’ money. If the DCCC wants to spend donors’ $$$ to make sure GOP primary voters are well-informed, that’s their business.
DOUBLE PLUS: when the GOP’s primary candidates have a clear trump vs never-trump or not-nearly-trump-enough distinction, it’s actually very smart to spend DCCC money and try to get the trump candidate on the ballot.
Example: if the Dem polls 48-47% against the never-trumper but polls 53-42% vs the trump candidate, the Dem and the DCCC essentially ‘bought’ themselves a several-%-point lead for peanuts. This is in addition to the added strategic value of having the GOP continuing to be painted as the GQP.
Frankensteinbeck
Open thread? I’m freaking the fuck out. My book A Spaceship Repair Girl Supposedly Named Rachel is #1 new release in its category and it’s still in pre-order. WTF;asgk;lasdhsadhfggjklg
eclare
@Frankensteinbeck: Congratulations!
different-church-lady
Ah, here we have the best phrasing:
different-church-lady
@Frankensteinbeck:
[THROWS GLASS OF WATER IN FACE]
There, now you’re a #1 author, and you’re wet.
mrmoshpotato
Who is McArghlebargle even criticizing there?
Rhetorical question. I really don’t give a shit.
sdhays
This. It’s completely legitimate for Democrats to criticize Republicans in good faith. It’s not Democrats’ fault that the Republican primary electorate is insane. If they were less insane, the ad would have helped Meijer. As far as I’m concerned, the ad was nothing more than a recognition that Meijer wasn’t going to be the nominee, so the DCCC decided to start targeting Gibbs early.
The Republicans in Florida fund and get people on the ballot as independents WITH THE SAME NAME AS THE DEMOCRAT to confuse voters and split the Democrat’s vote. Where is the mainstream freakout over that?
Frankensteinbeck
@different-church-lady:
NOW I’M TWICE AS COOL.
geg6
@Frankensteinbeck:
Ooooooo, how wonderful!
different-church-lady
@mrmoshpotato: Over time she has become Cleek’s Law Incarnate, if Cleek’s Law were a sloth.
SFAW
mistermix –
Minor complaint/nitpick: what the DCCC did was not ratfucking. Ratfucking is when a GrOuP spreads lies about an opposition candidate. [ETA: Usually, but not always, in an under-the-radar manner, at least initially.] Often, the lies are aimed at the opposing candidate’s strength. [Specific example: Rove (I think) spread lies implying a Dem candidate was a child molester. Said Dem candidate had (prior to Rove’s RF’ing) a great reputation as an advocate for children.] The Benghazi hearings were a pretty large ratfucking operation; their primary purpose was to drive up Hillary’s negatives. and they succeeded.
@Matt McIrvin:
The DCCC was just truthfully stating Gibbs’s positions on various issues. Whether it’s Gibbs or Meijer in that seat is pretty much immaterial (vis-a-vis voting on bills), so helping get a (theoretically) weaker Rethug candidate is OK by me.
mrmoshpotato
@Frankensteinbeck:
What? Did you find out she definitely isn’t named Rachel?
Congrats! Ya bastard! 😁
geg6
@KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)):
It was a pretty small ad buy. Less than a half a million.
different-church-lady
Nothing like getting dragged on your own Twitter feed:
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Frankensteinbeck: Excellent!
zhena gogolia
@Lyrebird: yes how does this purely informative ad represent something “cynical”as the New York Times called it today?
Major Major Major Major
@Frankensteinbeck: congrats!
eclare
@different-church-lady: YOU ARE EN FUEGO TODAY!
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
@Frankensteinbeck: WOW! Congratulations! That’s awesome.
Raoul Paste
There may be some relation between “don’t tell ME who to vote for“ and “don’t tell ME to wear a mask“
Not the overriding factor, but perhaps one factor. “If the Democrats are agin’ it, I am for it”
Bill Arnold
@KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)):
It’s also not particularly risky. A GOP house vote is just a number (“1”), generally very reliable (though extreme RWers can be unreliable), and which party controls the House is much more important.
An odious Republican House representative can do antics (especially on a committee) but it’s not the level of antics that e.g. a Senator can engage in, and nowhere close to the damage a Republican POTUS can (and will) do.
Old School
@Frankensteinbeck:
Take that, Fenris & Mott!
Here’s the link for those interested.
different-church-lady
@eclare: Actually, I’m kinda blue and droopy and the espresso is not helping much.
Baud
@Frankensteinbeck:
👍
CaseyL
@Frankensteinbeck: Woo hoo! Congratulations!
hells littlest angel
@Kent: We considered naming our son Edward, but decided to go with the much classier “Edwardian.”
mrmoshpotato
@oldster:
Hahaha!. That’s so true, it hurts.
SFAW
@zhena gogolia:
They’re just repeating what they heard in an interview with Real “Muricans at a diner in Ohio.
zhena gogolia
@different-church-lady: you are always so funny 🤣
SFAW
@hells littlest angel:
But “Tedwardian” is kind of unwieldy as a nickname, ain’t it?
Baud
If Meijer had won, should the Dem candidate have dropped out?
Subcommandante Yakbreath
@Kent: There was a kid in my elementary school (60 years ago – gak) whose first name was “Royal”. Can’t imagine how he turned out.
Ken
@SFAW: It’s his sister Elizabethian who really suffers.
Baud
@SFAW:
Sounds like a term for someone who acts like Ted Cruz.
Baud
@Subcommandante Yakbreath:
Was his last name Flush?
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
@Bill Arnold: Hmmm. When which party is in the majority is in the balance, every representative counts. Which party is in the majority determines the Speaker, chairs and makeup of committees, which in turn determines what issues and legislation are addressed.
Ken
@Baud: That sounds like the premise of a NYT Pitchbot post.
patrick II
Democrats question whether the Gibbs ads worked in a Republican primary. Republicans don’t. Their primaries have been largely about who loves Trump more.
trollhattan
@Alison Rose 💙🌻💛:
They seem to have determined that civilization is optional. At the very least, acting civilized is now whatever is the Russian word for forbidden.
Woe unto any American who travels there for any reason. It makes as much sense as vacationing in Iran or missionizing North Korea.
Felanius Kootea
@Frankensteinbeck: Congratulations!
Matt McIrvin
@Frankensteinbeck: That’s amazing!
Baud
@Ken:
“Despite claims of supporting democracy, Dems seek control in almost every jurisdiction.”
trollhattan
@Subcommandante Yakbreath: I can’t find whether Darrell Royal had any kids but if he did, he must have been tempted to name one Royal.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: yes, of course
Omnes Omnibus
Dems put out an ad with accurate information about the likely winner of the GOP primary. How is this bad? Aren’t we supposed to define our opponent early, before they can define themself? It’s not our fault if the Republicans looked at the parade of crazy and said “I want that!”
Wapiti
@Frankensteinbeck: Nice! I’ll look for it; liked some of the others.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
Yes! DUH! How’s that even a question?
Steeplejack
Okay, I transcribed the DCCC ad so that people can see exactly what we’re talking about. If anybody thought this was “pushing” Gibbs or some sort of ringing endorsement, that’s on them, not the ad. Hell, the Democratic candidate could run this ad in the general. Might not be the greatest ad, but it’s not inaccurate.
brendancalling
My buddy Martin Longman did an excellent piece on the this particular wankfest just yesterday. I’m sharing it with everyone.
Baud
@Steeplejack:
Now I’m mad the ad isn’t hard hitting enough.
stacib
Oh no – nine years for Griner.
zhena gogolia
@brendancalling: spot on
Steeplejack
@Frankensteinbeck:
Congratulations! Assuming your cat added that last bit.
oldster
@brendancalling:
“Kinzinger says the Democrats have lost the right to ask “Where are all the good Republicans?”…”
What? Democrats don’t know where the cemeteries are?
Omnes Omnibus
@stacib: The sentence doesn’t matter. She will be there until a deal is made.
PST
Watching the ad makes a huge difference in how you perceive the story. Now I wonder where the information comes from that the DCCC is running the ad to help Gibbs. As far as I can tell, neither the DCCC nor any insider is saying so. The story is coming from Politico and Axios, with some Democrats chiming in about how uncomfortable they are with boosting the extremist in this and other races. The theory relies completely on the assumption that these attack ads, which are what they appear to be on their faces, are really intended to have a perverse result. Not a crazy theory, but I can also believe that the ads are intended to get in front of an audience of Republicans and independents who might be paying more attention now than leading up to the general, and might be primed to listen to an attack now on their favored candidate’s opponent, whereas if Democrats waited they will have reconciled themselves to the Republican, any Republican.
MazeDancer
You’re right, MisteMix.
Was against DCCC interference strategically. But hadn’t watched the ad.
That? That is not interfering. Could have helped him win.
Elizabelle
McMegan confirms this.
What you are seeing is butthurt from Republican elites and DC political media (very much the overlapping group). They want to pretend that Meijer would have been elected but for this dastardly DCCC trick.
No. Just no. The GOP base is feral, and they were not going to vote for the moderate candidate, and one who voted to impeach Trump at that.
This is more fan fiction by those who prefer to pretend that the Republicans are a normal and sane political party. Nothing to see here. Except cheating Democrats.
Fuck ’em.
Steeplejack
@sdhays:
Thanks, I was going to mention that. And not just in Florida!
Elizabelle
@PST:
Republicans and political media depend on lazy and low information news consumers.
Ken
@Baud: It’s more effective with the visuals showing Gibbs engaged in satanic orgies with Trump and MTG.
(Er, maybe I should have warned people to have a bottle of brain bleach at the ready?)
JoyceH
Tudor Dixon was lucky – just ask her sisters Gothic Revival and Midcentury Modern.
Matt McIrvin
@Bill Arnold: I’m probably just feeling burned by memories of Trump 2016.
NotMax
Open thread, so —
In the center ring, Lawyer v. Onion.
(Diggin’ the snazzy purple jacket.)
:)
JML
Shorter McArdle Bargle: “How dare you tell the truth about my beloved Republican Party and our candidates!”
This kind of ad is fair game in any swing district. And McArdle Bargle is painfully absent every time it comes to republicans refusing to compromise on passing legislation, moving the goalpost on passing legislation, and they’re continuous goal of blocking anything a democratic president might have on their agenda. So Meijer did the right thing once and wasn’t a complete ethical black hole ONCE. That’s not a free pass for life and doesn’t exonerate him from every other crappy vote he’s made in his miserable career. there are no moderate republicans, and it wasn’t the Democrats that pushed them out, it was the GOP. The current breed only understands power, cannot be reasoned with, and must be run from the seats of power until they reform themselves and embrace sanity again. They’re not going to start cutting deal and acting like grownups because democrats ask them too, or fools like McArdle Bargle write wishful columns about how nice it would be if everyone got along (while consistently placing as much if not more blame on the Democrats for the “tone” in DC and inability for the parties to “compromise”).
There’s nothing wrong with running an ad to define a possible (and even likely) opponent early, and no rule that you have to keep quiet until the other picks a horse. This isn’t ad a Democrat would be ashamed of running in the general or would run from, they’d scream it from the rooftops.
delphinium
Apparently Larry Hogan is on the McArdle bandwagon and is also blaming democrats for Cox winning his primary race. He alleged that Cox’s win was assisted by campaign ads by the Democratic Governors Association. Said ad rightly portrayed Cox as Trump’s handpicked candidate who endorsed the 2020 election fraud rhetoric, is 100% pro-life, and a 2nd Amendment nut who doesn’t want any federal restrictions on guns. But since the media and republican politicians can’t ever seem to place the onus on Republican voters for voting for heinous, horrible people, expect more of this ‘blame the dems’ for others’ poor choices.
Baud
@delphinium:
I’m sure Hogan endorsed the Democrat on the race, since Cox is so beyond the pale that it was wrong for the Dems to run an ad against him.
Frankensteinbeck
@JML:
It was the GOP’s voters, whose highest priority is that their representative be an asshole giving The Libs the middle finger. Nothing else, and certainly not policy preferences, comes close.
Steeplejack
@Baud:
Inorite!
NotMax
@Frankensteinbeck
Ah, for the more innocent days of “I am not a witch.”
lollipopguild
@Subcommandante Yakbreath: There was kid in my grade school, late 60’s whose name was James Bond.
Turgidson
The over the top pearl clutching fainting couch routine about this is just so fucking idiotic.
*The entire GOP* is the threat to democracy we’re fighting. Not a single MAGAT winning a nomination for one of *435* congressional seats. Any move that reduces the likelihood that *the GOP* wins the House is a move I can live with. Meijer is a standard issue Republican asshole who will vote for McCarthy (or some other degenerate who will do Hair Furor’s bidding) for speaker just like Gibbs would. And *that* is the vote that will endanger our democratic system. This really isn’t hard. But the BothSides4Ever cult won’t deviate from their prime directive I guess.
Meijer being not-completely-batshit doesn’t make him indispensable and a Democrat in that swing district is the only positive outcome here. He was in that seat in the first place because Amash got run out of the party for supporting the first impeachment and agreeing that the Mueller Report was a big deal. I didn’t see this amount of fake outrage over his demise.
Edited to add: the only problem I have with that ad buy is that it seems like a lot of cheddar for a ratfking maneuver and we might need that money in the fall.
MinuteMan
Attacking a GQPer likely to win the primary is a tried and true way to characterize the likely GQP nominee in a way that makes it harder for them in the general election. If you’ve got money to burn, why not attack early if you don’t need the money to win your own primary?
mrmoshpotato
OT – I would tell Alex Jones to cry harder, but that shitbag can’t cry hard enough.
Also – Alex Jones lawyer slapped down after requesting mistrial over text message fiasco
SLAP! BWHAHAHAHA!!!!
Roger Moore
@Kent:
They’ve already gone with “Brooklyn”, so I don’t see why other cities’ names would be off limits. FWIW, Brooklyn is primarily a girl’s name in the USA (it’s been one of the top 100 names for girls every year since 2005) but a boy’s name in the UK. Also, FWIW, the baby name information at the US Social Security page is much, much better than that at the British equivalent at the office of national statistics. USA! USA! USA!
Uncle Cosmo
Or a sister named Hatchback… :^p
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kent: my favorite cousin, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Literalist, takes issues with your name shaming
UncleEbeneezer
Where does Merrick Garland go to get HIS apology?
The way you all talked shit about him for a year and meanwhile his DOJ is taking on ALL THE IMPORTANT FIGHTS!! Voting rights, Medicare Expansion, Abortion, LGBTQ rights, subpoenas for Trump’s attorneys, multiple grand juries, prosecuting hate crimes and crooked killer cops etc.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@mrmoshpotato: an interesting tweet from a longer thread on the goings-on in that court
trollhattan
@Uncle Cosmo: Hatchback definitely getting a tramp stamp.
JGreen
@Baud: I knew someone whose last name was King and he named his son Royal. Really, he did. I felt sorry for the kid the minute I heard what his name was.
Uncle Cosmo
@Subcommandante Yakbreath: When I was growing up in Baltmore we had a local TV show host who went by Royal Parker. (His real name, but not all of it – he dropped his surname, Poliakoff. ). RIP 2016.
Subcommandante Yakbreath
@Baud: No, but with my luck I’d give his last name and find that he’s a member of the Jackaltariat…
delphinium
@Baud: The other Republican candidate was Kelly Schultz who was an alum of Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration. So am guessing part of his butt hurt is that she didn’t win. But she’s a woman and am guessing more moderate than Cox so obviously not what the Republican voters wanted. Damn those dastardly dems!
delphinium
@Frankensteinbeck: Congrats on your new book release!
NotMax
@JGreen
At a summer camp, met a girl saddled with Royce Rolls. (No data on whether she may have had an uncle Kaiser.)
Then there was the kid in grade school named Justin Case.
Captain C
@NotMax: And a younger one named Coop.
Roger Moore
@mrmoshpotato:
Alex Jones should cry hard enough to die of dehydration.
JAFD
@NotMax: Am thinking of other siblings named Coupe and SUVie. Then wondering if baby of ambiguous sex at birth would be named Convertible ?
(Yeah, I’m being cruel today.)
BTW, you’ve all read
http://www.unfogged.com/archives/week_2011_05_22.html, right ?
patrick II
The Gibbs campaign tactic is fine with me — as long as we are very sure that we will win in the general against him. If our candidate loses and we send this loose screw to congress, we fucked up.
Subcommandante Yakbreath
@lollipopguild: That’s a tough name to live up to; bet he got into a lot of fights.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
@delphinium: My sister tells me Hogan has endorsed the Dem candidate for governor, Wes Moore, but I’m sus. I know he doesn’t like Cox, but would he go so far as to endorse a… Democrat?!?
Princess
I’m old enough to remember when defining your opponent early was Politics 101. There no rule you have to wait until after the primary to start.
JAFD
@JAFD: Referring, particularly, to the sixth item in that week’s list
cain
@Frankensteinbeck: Congratulations!! So happy for you!
PaulB
I get where this is coming from but I don’t agree. Is there really that much of a difference between someone who will vote the straight party line 99% of the time and someone who will vote it 95% of the time?
Plus, in the House, he’s just one of over 400 representatives. The Republican lunatics there get a lot of press but they don’t have any influence and don’t actually accomplish anything other than trolling.
Subcommandante Yakbreath
@Uncle Cosmo: We got TV from both Philly and Baltimore. I don’t remember Royal Parker; he may have been after my time. If I was lucky when I got home from school the Baltimore station would have an episode of Rocky Jones, Space Ranger. Good times.
PaulB
Notice how the people whining about the ad buy never actually discuss the content of the ad? That is very revealing.
FelonyGovt
Question for the hive mind: my postcard group is writing postcards to women (“likely Democrats”) ages 18-45 years in Macon, GA to encourage them to vote for Dems. Two options for the postcard script: one about abortion, birth control, etc. and the other about mass shootings. Which would you choose?
WereBear
@Frankensteinbeck: congratulations,love your titles. Niece loves your stuff!
zhena gogolia
@NotMax: A friend of mine from Texas knew someone in high school named Dyke Fagg.
Nicole
@FelonyGovt: Abortion and birth control, no question.
delphinium
@KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)): That would be great if he endorsed the Dem candidate now that Cox won the Rep race. If he did so, wonder how many non-Dem voters would be swayed to follow his lead.
zhena gogolia
I just keep coming back to — the ad is NEGATIVE about Meijer’s opponent. How is that supposed to be bad for Meijer?
Omnes Omnibus
@patrick II: Nope. How would Gibbs differ from Meijer? Who would either of the vote for in the Speaker election? How would they vote on any legislation?
schrodingers_cat
I actually saw the Gibbs ad. I see nothing controversial about. The DCCC was factual about what Gibbs represents. All this bogus pearl clutching by journobros is pretty tiresome.
Omnes Omnibus
People say they want the Dems to fight. This is fighting.
Nicole
@PaulB:
I didn’t like the ad, but I didn’t like it because I thought it looked like it could have been done 20 years ago, and, honestly, knowing the intent was to raise Gibbs’ profile, I didn’t think showing him, as he is black, would help Dems, as I think your average garden-variety Republican is a racist, quietly if not openly. But, the Dem operatives knew what they were doing better than I. Did the ad help? Who knows, but yeah, it certainly didn’t make Gibbs out to be anything other than what he is and that says more about GOP voters than anyone else.
Ultimately Meijer vs Gibbs is no difference in Congress for Democrats (they’ll both vote ultra-right-wing), so I’m all for anything that gives us any kind of edge. And I think ultra-right-wing is still considered bad in a general, compared to moderate. Fox News ran an article about that Indiana Rep who died in the car crash yesterday (the person driving her car went over the median into the wrong lane), and made sure at the end to call her a “bridge-building moderate.” She was nothing of the sort.
FelonyGovt
@Nicole: Thanks!
schrodingers_cat
@Omnes Omnibus: Word.
Rose Twitter and MSM: Ds don’t fight
Ds fight
Rose Twitter and MSM: No not like that.
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
No more calls please, we have a winner!
;)
Rusty
@NotMax: Being a gearhead, I love this comment.
Citizen Alan
@trollhattan: It was a Testament to the state of the Nation that when I read the first sentence of your comment about people deciding civilization is optional, I assumed it meant republicans until I clicked back to Allison’s comment and saw that it was about Russia.
JML
@Frankensteinbeck:
we can’t discount what Newt and his ilk inside the GOP did back in the 90’s, though. they’re the ones who really coined the term RINO and actively went after actual moderate GOP reps, weaponizing the Rush Limbaugh’s of the world and adding evangelical grifters to the party influencers to take out those insufficiently dedicated to The Cause in a primary (or push them into early retirement, etc).
The GOP did this to themselves. Let them be hoisted on their own petard. And let the DC intelligentsia that supports McArdle Bargle and her ilk be roundly ignored by all and made to work for a living.
matt
If Megan McArdle is squealing like a stuck pig, the Democrats are on the right track.
misterpuff
@Omnes Omnibus: And now they can make a deal, since she “in the system” Russian style!
Your jailed oligarch for our two jailed tourists.
Another Scott
@zhena gogolia: My mom went to high school with a girl named Annis.
Poor kid.
Cheers,
Scott.
Miss Bianca
@hells littlest angel: lol! Now I got chips everywhere!
Pappenheimer
@brantl:
Still better than Yugo
Citizen Alan
Every time McMegan is mentioned here, I’m reminded of that time I got banned from the comment section of the Atlantic for calling her sociopath. 15 years later, and I still stand by that.
Ben Cisco
So Machin, who has previously been dead set against tax credits for EVs, is now pushing a revised one:
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/08/the-new-ev-tax-credit-is-unlikely-to-change-despite-industry-criticism/
PaulB
Best name I ever saw was a gentleman in Kansas named Suck Dong Oh.
kalakal
@Kent: or the mixed up sibling Tudor Bethan
Matt McIrvin
@JGreen: Because a royal king is the best kind of king, I guess.
Stephen
@JGreen: At least he didn’t name him Wayne.