I was part of a discussion about Liz Cheney’s possible Presidential run on the local public radio station today. You can listen to it here, if you’re interested. I haven’t listened, but I think I mixed up “pro-life” and “pro-choice”. Liz has a 100% rating from a pro-life (not pro-choice) organization, in addition to her other wonderful attributes as a candidate, which include her 2021 statement that waterboarding isn’t torture.
I didn’t get to say this on the air, but I think we need to coin the term “Cheney ratio” which measures the number of votes Cheney received in the primary as compared to the number of pieces on her in DC media. I think that ratio is approaching 1:1 now.
Nicole
That’s the hard thing about doing stuff like radio, you say some thing wrong and you can’t rewind, you’ve gone too far.
Ken
So in the “make fetch happen” race for the 2024 Republican nomination, we have
I’m torn; the Willy Wonka “suspense is unbearable – I hope it lasts” meme, or a “rooting for injuries” one?
Omnes Omnibus
@Nicole: Yes, we hear the playback and it seems so long ago.
Kent
Liz Cheney is a hard-core conservative Republican who has values. They just aren’t the values of that any of us actually share:
anti-abortion
tax cuts for the rich and neutering of the IRS
deregulation and subsidy for the fossil fuel industry
climate change denial (or the more subtle GOP approach of putting short-term economic gain over any climate action that has costs)
opposition to public healthcare in any form
privatization of public education (vouchers, charter schools, etc.)
And so forth on down the list.
Where she differs from the MAGA hordes is that she actually has consistent values. They, on the other hand, are part of a cult that seems to have no real policy ideas at all. Whatever Trump says and they are all for it. The one exception being Covid vaccines apparently. It probably frosts Trump that he can’t get any credit for his ONE domestic policy success, Project Warp Speed.
bbleh
The enemy of my enemy is useful.
Paul in KY
I would love for her to run for Pres on GOP side in 2024, IF she could get in the debates. I’m pretty sure they would fix it so she can’t…but a fella can dream, can’t he?
Kent
She will get into the debates, but will be assigned to the Kiddie Table along with the other women like Nikki Haley and the non-white candidates like Bobbie Jindal. And any RINOs like Larry Hogan who might run. They won’t let her share a stage with Trump and the “big boys”
Joseph Patrick Lurker
@Mistermix
As another blogger recently observed,
Also too, the latest iteration of your screen name “wegners shoppers club member mistermix”
has surpassed peak lameness.
For the love of God, could you try to come up with something better.
Baud
No worries. The GOP often mixes up pro-America and pro-Russia.
Old School
@Joseph Patrick Lurker: Tough crowd today.
Gin & Tonic
@Joseph Patrick Lurker: Write to Cole and ask for your money back.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: We can do that?
Mike E
@Gin & Tonic: IN ALL CAPS!! Cole loves getting that shit!
wegners shoppers club member mistermix
I believe the refund procedure is to Venmo Cole $20 to make sure your Venmo works, then he sends you a refund. Try it and find out!
patrick II
How is Cheney going to run? As a Republican? They had announced no debates, but that may well change has Trump gets weaker. Is her goal to win or take out Trump? If Trump runs, there may still be the “no debates” rule, which would make her campaign pretty useless I think. If goal is taking out Trump, does she run if he is in jail? There would have to be debates then, but she has zero chance of winning, what would be the point if her goal is to remove Trump? I don’t think she would go third party, and if she did, would she take more votes away from Trump or Biden? Would she take away more votes from (possibly) DeSantis or Biden?
Anyhow, I am sure I will read about all of those options and others in the not too distant future.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: Of course you can. You can do anything you set your mind to.
Leto
@wegners shoppers club member mistermix: I’m pretty sure he pays in excess squash. Personally I think that’s acceptable, but ymmv.
Steeplejack
@Joseph Patrick Lurker:
I think his nym is pretty funny.
Leto
@patrick II: it’s not just no debates, but the prerequisite of “you’ll accept whoever the nominee is” that’ll get her.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Roller skate in a buffalo herd?
;)
ian
@Omnes Omnibus: I have been doing it for months, but Cole refuses to issue refunds.
Ruckus
@Joseph Patrick Lurker:
You do realize that with that one comment you have fixed the name he will use forever, just for the spite factor.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@patrick II: Jamie Raskin said Liz C will pursue trump to the gates of hell. I like the image.
If she runs not for president but against trump, it could get interesting. We have a few recent examples of the effect that kind of personalized, focused, some might say vindictive, grudge campaign can have even with a candidate who has no real hope.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: Gee thanks, Coach!
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: I thought you could use a little pepping up.
And here’s a cool video of another russian ammo dump:
Mat
Is Cheney someone I would ever vote for? No. And I lost count of the number of grieving articles about her loss to a Trumpist whacko on yesterday’s NYT front page. Today’s conventional wisdom is that Trump has solidified his hold on the R party, and that this will be true until indictment day. In fact, no one knows.
ETA: Nym should be MattF. I tend to hold my iPad upside down, so the commenter info gets mushed sometimes.
dexwood
@Omnes Omnibus: But ya’ gotta give it 110%!
hilts
Chris Licht continues his campaign to dumb down CNN:
CNN is canceling the weekly media show Reliable Sources, and host Brian Stelter is leaving the network; Reliable Sources’ final episode will air on August 21
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/18/1118197553/brian-stelter-cnn-canceled-show
tam1MI
Put the blame on VCR.
patrick II
@Leto:
Good point. I had forgotten that rule.
lurker
@Nicole: @Omnes Omnibus:
wasn’t the whole point to put the blame on the vcr…?
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: Big badaboom!
Omnes Omnibus
@lurker: Now I understand the problems you can see.
Elizabelle
@hilts:
“Have you watched CNN much lately?”
“No. It got Lichted.”
The media owners REALLY don’t want to pay more taxes, do they?
lurker
@Gin & Tonic:
@Omnes Omnibus:
you can always ask…
Jim Croce had a song about how useful that type of thing is, (link to youtube) with an ironic twist at the end.
Elizabelle
@Mat: Hi MattF.
I know. Conventional wisdom. Is conventional!
I think a lot of these asshats sit around interviewing each other.
Ken
@Steeplejack: Besides, Popehat has been stuck on 18Hat793 for several days now. I speculated that he’s waiting for a bigger crime to drop.
RaflW
Some total trash PAC spammed me onto their list this week with two emails gushing about Liz. The outfit has some dude I’d never heard of called Brian Lemek at the helm.
They made the mistake of having a text box on their unsubscribe page. Probably filtered, so my f-bombing may not get read. But seriously, fuck Liz “Trump get out of jail free the first time” Cheney.
RaflW
And Liz Cheney for President is an Underpants Gnome exercise (though TBF, a lot of pundits are gonna need new undies after they cream themselves in the initial excitement. Feeeeel the Jeb-mentum!)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@lurker: somehow I thought you were going with “Operator”
Kathleen
@Baud: Since you’ve been on the Fritz The Hippo beat, I thought you might enjoy this video (My link foo is very bad)
edited by WG: link didn’t work and it was breaking the margins so I removed it.
Ken
That prerequisite should also get Trump, but of course they won’t ask it of him. (And they know any answer they got would be meaningless.)
She could also use it with the same sort of weasel words they eventually forced out of TFG about the election; “Now that the delegates have been counted, it is clear that <name> according to that process got the most votes, so must technically be considered the nominee of the Republican party…”
Elizabelle
And the wonderful Margaret Sullivan, former FTF NYTimes ombudsman, most recently with the WaPost, is leaving. Double hit. Her tweet from August 16:
We need them. We need the Eric Boehlerts. We do not need the Access Sally buckraking shits who hold information for their books. Ka ching.
germy shoemangler
@RaflW:
This seems to be him:
lurker
@Joseph Patrick Lurker: could go with Judge Wapner’s shopping club member mistermix – there is always room for things to get worse…
eclare
@Elizabelle: From the NPR article, Stelter was critical of the influence of one of the big investors in WarnerDiscovery.
So Stelter had to go. SNOWFLAKE!
Steeplejack
@Ken:
Popehat’s recent trend of rapidly changing nyms is the exception, not the rule, I think. He used to sit on some for quite a while. @PopehatNames has the full record. But the news is moving at lightning speed these days. It’s hard for a hat to keep up!
lurker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: that came up next on autoplay, but “you don’t spit into the wind” has stuck with me since I first heard that song in my childhood…
good advice that, by the way…
germy shoemangler
@Steeplejack:
It was from Popehat that I learned about the wonderful Donna Barstow.
Tony Jay
@Joseph Patrick Lurker:
You poor thing! Show us on the doll where the nasty man hurt you.
I’d like to know in advance where to aim see? Saves time.
RaflW
@hilts: I never watched the show (have condo-based cable, but barely use it). But I’ve followed Stelter on twitter for a few years. He has a sizeable cadre of haters, but I suppose they all do.
I’ve viewed him as aware of the decay of democracy, and willing to report on it, but with low-impact and in a dusty Sunday corner of the TV landscape.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@lurker: My mom loved her some Jim Croce. And Olivia Newton John’s death brought back the horrors of Please, Mister, Please (B-17) playing loud in the kitchen. And we had avocado appliances.
germy shoemangler
Suzanne
Yeah, she sucks. She can have, like, one brownie point for sucking consistently. #headpat
hilts
@Elizabelle:
Damn!!
2022 has been a lousy year for media criticism: the death of Eric Boehlert, Margaret Sullivan’s departure from the Washington Post, and the cancellation of Reliable Sources.
I hope that 2023 can bring us some truly good news such as an indictment and conviction of Donald Trump for one of his multiple crimes!
Hoodie
@Kent: It was interesting that Cheney voted in favor of the bills to protect same sex marriage, contraception and to regulate guns. Those were pretty much litmus tests for MAGA loyalty. Not saying she isn’t pretty hard core conservative and generally very hawkish, but you have to wonder whether some of her prior votes were more a matter of party loyalty than ideological commitment. My guess is she’s more of a national defense type conservative harkening back to before the GOP became a cult. She’s definitely going to be pro-business, anti-environment (exceptions relating to outdoor sports interests like hunting and fishing), and will never see a defense budget she doesn’t want to double.
germy shoemangler
lurker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: you are causing some disturbing memories to come up on my end, just based on those references. not sure we ever had avocado appliances, but we had a lot of yellow on some of the walls (which was great when one of us kids threw grape juice against the wall… ;-]). relatives did have avocado appliances though…
hilts
@RaflW:
I never viewed Reliable Sources as having much influence, but Stelter did provide a platform to individuals I had not seen or heard from elsewhere and that should count for something.
MattF
@germy shoemangler: I guess everyone has figured out by now that Musk is a shithead. Still, confirmation is useful.
eclare
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: My mom and dad both loved Jim Croce. Our appliances were the early 70’s rust color.
RaflW
@Elizabelle: They don’t want to risk being shut down in an Orban-style fake democracy once DeSantis or similar wins (ptuh-ptuh feh, not invoking that! Just aware of the risks).
germy shoemangler
@MattF:
He has his fans
Elizabelle
From the WaPost on cancellation of Brian Stelter’s CNN show:
Neutrality. At a time when the GOP is declaring war on the FBI; trying to out individual agents.
I think events might overake Mr. Licht.
hilts
@eclare:
John Malone is a bully and Chris Licht is a eunuch.
Steeplejack
@germy shoemangler:
The “More Tweets” section after that one is quite the cesspool of unhinged MAGAmania. My favorite:
It’s Joe Biden’s fault that Abbott is passing the problem along? 🤔
Geminid
@Tony Jay: Sounds like Dark Jay is on the job today!
hilts
@Elizabelle:
Chris Licht is vying for a gold medal in the 1,000 meters freestyle bootlicking race.
germy shoemangler
See Nicolae Ceausescu’s gold bathroom
Omnes Omnibus
@Hoodie: She was willing to fuck over same sex marriages (and her sister) when it was to her political advantage. We just found the one line she would not cross. “I oppose violent coups,” should be a baseline not an applause line.
lurker
@Hoodie: she previously came out pretty strongly against same sex marriage, causing a public rift with her publicly out lesbian sister. Wonder how much of that was theater, and how much was evolution in thinking as she got used to her sister being married…
at the time, it seemed particularly hateful to make a public stance out of opposition to gay marriage when her sister had been publicly out for a while, and it seemed like dad was siding with the kid pursuing the family business (running for office) over the kid who he had previously seemed to support publicly in her unusual stances. I may be misremembering part of this, but there was an op-ed from Mary Cheney at the time that made it clear her sister and dad had betrayed her.
…
and I see that Liz Cheney came out last year saying her earlier stance was wrong, so clearly I am not up to speed on all of this…
eclare
@hilts: You put it better than I did!
Steeplejack
@germy shoemangler:
She is good!
Popehat is a daily check-in for me. (I don’t have a Twitter account, so I don’t get “notifications” or whatever they’re called.) Solid legal takes and links, good sense of humor and occasional appearances by Murderball the cat.
RaflW
@lurker: This is my favorite response for questions of this ilk.
People in Hell Want Ice Water by Peter Case.
Martin
Pretty sure Lizs job right now is to run in 2024 and sue Trump as being ineligible to run under the 14th amendment. Only a competing candidate will have standing to sue, so someone needs to be in that race to do it. She may not be able to beat him in the vote, but she might be able to beat him in court.
germy shoemangler
Ken
@Steeplejack: Nobody ever accused Rep. Greene of being a thinker.
(Almost put an adjective before “thinker” before realizing none was needed.)
Old School
@germy shoemangler: Kevin McCarthy held a party in Wyoming?
Baud
@germy shoemangler:
👍
germy shoemangler
@Old School:
Elon Musk featured at Kevin McCarthy’s GOP retreat in Wyoming
trollhattan
@germy shoemangler: I’ll give Musk this, when he shows up somewhere, whoever was the weirdest fucker in the room beforehand slides directly into second place.
Like a Bond archcriminal from the 1980s.
Steeplejack
@germy shoemangler:
Musk is a complete shitbird.
Baud
@Old School:
It was Wyoming’s first party ever.
Steeplejack
A reminder that there are real people behind the bylines.
RIP, Henry.
Elizabelle
@Martin: I am lazy. What is the precise issue under the 14th Amendment?
Interesting idea re LC’s motive for being a presidential candidate.
SiubhanDuinne
@germy shoemangler:
Laughing so damned hard.
trollhattan
@Steeplejack: My brain just tripped three circuit breakers, reading that.
NotMax
@Old School
Were crudités served?
//
Tony Jay
Cheney may play the role the Village wants her to, she may not. Whatever the choice, it’ll be as purely a cold-blooded political calculation as her decision to front the anti-Trump sect in the first place.
My money is on her serving out her term on the Committee with an eye to sinking her boot as far up Donny’s slack derriere as she can in the process, then taking a few months off to take proper stock of the post-election landscape in the wake of (we hope) an historical G.O.P. shellacking, before she decides if its in her long term interests to don the warhelm of House Traditional Republican and rides across the quivering backs of the pundocracy towards the throne they’ve prepared in her size.
If the Democrats win big (yes please) the G.O.P. civil-war is on, and there’s worse places to represent the tax-cutting, bomb-dropping, dogwhistling brand of pre-Trump Republicanism that atop the ‘most favoured expert’ list of the DC Village.
Steeplejack
@germy shoemangler:
Yes! I was surprised at how that flew under the radar. I just read about it a day or two ago.
Elizabelle
@Steeplejack: What a beautiful little guy. Very sad.
germy shoemangler
@Tony Jay:
germy shoemangler
@Steeplejack:
“What Biden Has Done” is a good twitter account. I don’t know who runs it but it corrects lots of misinformation.
Gravenstone
@Paul in KY: I believe it was Immanetize yesterday who argued her role in the 2024 campaign would be to first, run as a candidate. That role would then afford her the standing to file suit against Trump to disqualify him under the 14th (?) amendment on the basis that his actions on and around 1/6 make him no longer qualified to hold federal office. So she’d basically be a political suicide bomber with a single, immense target.
Apologies for the myriad ways I’ve surely butchered this retelling.
Elizabelle
@Steeplejack: I think I will start calling her Marjorie Deplorable Greene.
Lauren Deplorable Boebert. All of them.
White & Gold Purgatorian
@eclare: It was called Coppertone, I believe.
germy shoemangler
@Elizabelle:
Just be glad you don’t live next door to the Boeberts.
Leto
I caught a good bit of this Fresh Air interview with Robert Draper and it was pretty informative. It’s a 40 min interview, or you can read the transcript. How the hard-right turn in the Arizona GOP is an anti-democracy experiment
He has a corresponding NYT Magazine article but it’s paywalled.
brantl
@Kent: Cheney’s only principle is keep grift sustainable, she’s just sure Stump’s isn’t.
Central Planning
@Joseph Patrick Lurker: It’s much funnier than “Joseph Patrick Lurker“
Elizabelle
@germy shoemangler: A friend was telling me about that. Yuck.
patrick II
@Leto:
@patrick II:
On second thought, there is not a member of the modern Republican party who will honor that rule. They will demand a recount. Especially Trump if DeSantis beats him.
I suppose Liz might honor that rule though, although to teach a lesson she might not.
germy shoemangler
@patrick II:
I’m trying to imagine a debate between DeSantis and Trump.
DeSantis has copied so many of Trump’s mannerisms, as well as the blue suit/red tie costume (inspired by Popeye’s Wimpy?) it would be like the “two spidermen pointing at each other” meme.
Elizabelle
@Leto: Here’s the FTF NY Times magazine article link.
The Arizona Republican Party’s Anti-Democracy Experiment
First, it turned against the establishment. Now it has set its sights on democracy — the principles, the process and even the word itself.
Steeplejack
@germy shoemangler:
A guy in that video was comparing it to his visit to the Shah of Iran’s palace. So I guess dictator tourism is a niche market?
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Rumor has it Musk finished dead last in the hamberder throwing contest.
//
germy shoemangler
@Steeplejack:
I don’t see the attraction.
I just found it interesting that the Donald has the same taste in decor as that other monster did.
RaflW
@trollhattan: More Dr. Evil than Blofeld, to my mind (not that I’m actually much of an Austin Powers fan, but Musk really is a clownish villain.)
Another Scott
@Gin & Tonic: That one requires a Twitter account, apparently.
Is this the same thing?
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
raven
If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty
Except for the memory of how they were answered by you
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
You had me at
Elizabelle
It’s frightening how many (Republican) politicians got their start as TV news anchors. Or on air reporters.
The horrible Keri [Kari Lake] whatever nominee in Arizona. Who spoke of DeSantis’s BDE (ugh).
The Indiana congresswoman who just died in the head on crash [Jackie Walorski] — she’d been a TV reporter. She was also an anti-abortion type.
We probably have a few in the Democratic ranks too, although I can’t think of any at the moment …
Thinking of that with Mistermix’s blogpost title. From Video Killed the Radio Star. With radio, you used to get more detail. Of course, it was Hitler and Goebbels’ medium, too. They would be running a Fox News operation now. Or videos straight to social media.
Another Scott
@germy shoemangler: He really is a galaxy brain, isn’t he??
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack
@Old School:
It was a GQP “retreat” in Teton Village, near Jackson Hole, which is a destination resort area.
Steeplejack
@trollhattan:
Inorite. The whole “More Tweets” section is mind-bending.
Old School
@Another Scott:
Yes. Same video.
NotMax
@Elizabelle
The Nazi party recognized the potential and did milk it all they could but the infrastructure for broad reception was still in its infancy.: Thelevision Under the Swastika (link is to the full hour long documentary).
Steeplejack
@Leto:
“Gift” (unwalled) version of the article: “The Arizona Republican Party’s Anti-Democracy Experiment.”
NotMax
@NotMax
Crap. Thelevision = Television
Somewhat astonishing just how much footage survived the war.
Central Planning
@Martin:
Does that mean the Democratic nominee could sue?
Geminid
@Elizabelle: Mike Pence made his name with a talk radio show before he won his Congressional seat.
Offhand, I can’t think of any Democratic Reps or Senators who moved to politics from broadcast media. Most seem to have started out as politicians or made lateral moves from business, like Rep. Sean Casten and Senator Hickenlooper.
There are a number of miltary veterans like Duckworth, Sherrill, Houlihan, Gallegos, Crow, Golden and Luria. Also, Moulton and Auchingloss from Massachusetts. Elise Slotkin and Abigail Spanberger are CIA veterans.
NotMax
@Central Planning
“Paging Baud. Please pick up the red, white and blue courtesy phone.”
:)
Immanentize
@Kent: I am not sure she could get into the Republican primary at all. All the RNC would have to do is require everyone* to sign an agreement that they will support the GOP nominee after the primaries are finished. How could she do that? No, she will go spoiler party.
*Everyone except for Trump who would never ever sign such a pledge. It would destroy his Apprentice brand.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Geminid: Former Senator Al Franken…
Leto
@Steeplejack: ty!
Steeplejack
@Geminid:
Since Mike Pence is now “former,” I’ll throw out Al Franken as a Democrat who moved from broadcast media to politics.
Immanentize
@ian: Cole sent me a refund. With a kind letter of apology, handwritten in lovely cursive on ivory paper.
Sorry, losers.
Another Scott
@Elizabelle: Jimmy Carter won the 1970 governor race in Georgia running against Hal Suit – a local TV news anchor in Atlanta. Jimmy beat him by almost 19 points.
Cheers,
Scott.
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
He hasn’t managed to build his villainous lair yet, since he’s dead set on putting it on Mars.
NotMax
@Immanentize
If the Rs even hold primaries.
Which is not a given.
Steeplejack
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:
D’oh! Missed it by that much . . .
Old School
@Immanentize:
Trump signed such a pledge in 2016 (and then broke the agreement).
NoraLenderbee
She’s now running as a Log Cabin Republican?
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: Hey, OT — do you live near Providence? I gotta get down there and look for a condo in the next few months….
Roger Moore
@Elizabelle:
The 14th Amendment blocks people from office if they have participated in insurrection or rebellion. The argument is Trump participated in an insurrection on Jan 6, so he’s ineligible for office.
rikyrah
Matt Dixon (@Mdixon55) tweeted at 11:07 AM on Thu, Aug 18, 2022:
Sounds like state is going to be taking over Broward County supervisor of election’s office and be announcing an audit.
Not hearing Supervisor Joe Scott is being suspended, but will have a different role of some sort
(https://twitter.com/Mdixon55/status/1560297240551366656?t=6_DDL9RdN0fA7FMk-dCF6Q&s=03)
Geminid
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:
I thought of Franken. He was known for his work on Saturday Night Live. I always thought, though that Franken broke through as an author. His book denouncing Limbaugh hit at a really good time and won him a wider audience.
Ken
@NotMax: Hoping for a steel cage death match substitute.
Tony Jay
@germy shoemangler:
Tomorrow’s papers, today.
Daily Mail – “CURRY CAUSES CANCER – Foreign Food A Killer?”
Daily Express – “BE LIKE DIANA – Drop The Pounds For Britain”
Daily Telegraph – “NUTRITION DEMENTIA LINK – Brussels Plot Revealed”
The Sun – “GRUEL IS COOL! – Flat Chests and No Bum = Sexy Fun.
rikyrah
Josh Lederman (@JoshNBCNews) tweeted at 9:52 AM on Thu, Aug 18, 2022:
NEWS: A Ukrainian military intelligence official tells @NBCNews that Russia has told its nuclear workers stationed at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant NOT to go to work tomorrow
(https://twitter.com/JoshNBCNews/status/1560278407954321416?t=CyY8fpdEfW2tlaTVYY0Vew&s=03)
Immanentize
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
We were an upstanding, harvest gold family. You snooty avocado people thought you were soooo groovy.
rikyrah
Where is the lie?
Some people are big mad because the poor/vulnerable/targeted students are having their predatory loans forgiven FIRST. I think that’s brilliant and exactly what I voted for.
(https://twitter.com/HillaryzMyHmgrl/status/1560001696746467328?t=WI4HTPrQl0x5UpTs73myyQ&s=03)
Another Scott
@Immanentize:
Liz has formed The Great Task PAC.
It’ll be interesting to see who donates to it.
Cheers,
Scott.
The Lodger
@Elizabelle: Closest I can think of is my old Oregon state senator, Mark Hass, who was a TV news anchor in Portland for about 17 years, did two terms in the state senate, and tried for Secretary of State a couple years ago but didn’t make it.
rikyrah
I Smoked Allen Weaselberg (@BlackKnight10k) tweeted at 10:04 PM on Wed, Aug 17, 2022:
I still don’t think we fully appreciate how gangster it was for Merrick Garland to raid a former President’s home, hold a 5 minute press conference where he said “Yeah bitch I did it, and I’ll do it again,” and then drop the mic like a Chris Rock comedy special.
(https://twitter.com/BlackKnight10k/status/1560100229910859776?t=S_3-XyMTeahYImXFz_9f_A&s=03)
Elizabelle
@Geminid: That’s true re Franken. But, he was more of an entertainer. Precedent for that. The Great Saint Reagan.
Wondering more about journalists, and especially the broadcast type.
Also, FWIW, I love that in Britain the anchors are “news readers.” None of this fiction that Lester Holt or Brian Williams are out there news gathering.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Elizabelle:
Interesting corollary is the phenomenon of formerly reputable journalists devolving into batshit crazy journalists such as Lara Logan, Maria Bartoromo, and John Solomon.
Elizabelle
@The Lodger: Thank you. Was looking for examples like that.
NotMax
@Roger Moore
Speaking of amendments, bubbling just under the surface is a resurrected push from R party’s candidates to repeal the 17th.
Immanentize
@Baud: It was in Jackson Hole. Not really Wyoming, which is why Musk and McCarthy would go there.
rikyrah
Saybah Peabody (Brazen Hussy)![]()
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(@lawalazu) tweeted at 8:37 PM on Wed, Aug 17, 2022:
What TFG was allowed to get away with by media at large is precisely the reason he was brazen enough to steal the classified documents. He felt safe and in company that he felt gave him permission to behave badly, in some cases unlawfully and it was OK.
(https://twitter.com/lawalazu/status/1560078522512719873?t=Q4AxDCvCDJOtxYnidWaH3w&s=03)
rikyrah
I Smoked Allen Weaselberg (@BlackKnight10k) tweeted at 1:16 PM on Wed, Aug 17, 2022:
Well no wonder the Secret Service had to delete their texts. They knew Pelosi could have been murdered 2 days before the attack on the Capitol and didn’t warn Pelosi, Capitol Police, the FBI, Top Flight Security of the World, or anyone else.
(https://twitter.com/BlackKnight10k/status/1559967525739401216?t=0YfdIOIWUbpUst6Kmyjr9g&s=03)
Immanentize
@Gravenstone: It wasn’t me! And considering other 14th A litigation about insurrection, the plaintiff does not need to be a candidate. If a person is constitutionally banned from seeking or holding office, every voter would have standing, it seems.
WaterGirl
@Immanentize: I can’t believe you are leaving your stunning double white climbing plant, whose name I cannot remember.
Another Scott
@Central Planning: In Martin’s earlier long comment on this a day or so ago, he said the time between the Democratic candidate getting the nomination and the election would be too short for the courts to get involved – or if they did, they wouldn’t rule before the election (and wouldn’t want to have no GQPer on the ballot if TFG were struck).
IANAL, but it’s a decent argument.
A group in MA is trying to keep TFG off the ballot using the 14th Amendment. The July 2022 story says the Commonwealth Attorney’s position is that the person must be convicted first.
Lawyers get paid to argue about anything. It would be a big battle and would be unlikely to be decided quickly.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack
@Geminid:
Wasn’t he also a host on Air America?
Elizabelle
@Wyatt Salamanca: The Money Honey was reputable at some point? OK.
NotMax
@Immanentize
Not to worry, after the Supreme Court declares the Constitution unconstitutional.
//
Immanentize
@Old School: But he won the primaries in 2016? Not tracking. He didn’t support himself as nominee?
Steeplejack
@Tony Jay:
This smacked my gob (about British railway companies).
Immanentize
@rikyrah: I saw that this morning and nodded along. It is exactly what I voted for. Biden has been responsible for forgiving Billions in student loans — to the worthy, the cheated, and to public servants. Keep it up!
Kropacetic
I swear Oz has marshalled the flying monkeys, or a cadre of the oddest internet trolls ever, and set them on this here almost top 10,000 blog.
Is that an honor?
Immanentize
@Another Scott: I gotta admit, as much as I really cannot abide anti-voter Liz, “The Great Task” is an excellent name.
Another Scott
@Immanentize:
NPR – Trump Abandons Pledge to Support Republican Nominee (from March 30, 2016)
TFG, Cruz, and Kasich were left at that point, and they all were walking away from it.
Duh, ya think? When you let a monster like TFG in??
(groucho-roll-eyes.gif)
Cheers,
Scott.
raven
@Immanentize: Great fishing!
Steeplejack
@Elizabelle:
Yes, when she was doing strictly news-reader stock-market stuff on the business channel. That’s how she got the “Money Honey” nickname.
Immanentize
@WaterGirl: the white azalea? Or the huge limelight hydrangea?
I can get another limelight, but I am pretty bummed about the azalea.
Immanentize
@NotMax: Oh, that happened a few years ago.
SiubhanDuinne
@Immanentize:
Wait, I thought you were getting a house in upstate NY. Now you’re buying a condo in Rhode Island.
Are you running for the Senate from Pennsylvania or something?
Steeplejack
@germy shoemangler:
Thanks, bookmarked.
Kropacetic
In the triangulate-county area.
Immanentize
@raven: Thats right — you hit the bay when you had a RI meet up. Tuna?
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
I think the house is a weekend (and later retirement?) place and the condo would be close to work.
Tony Jay
@Steeplejack:
It’s true. Privatisation of national utilities has been a multi trillion pound scam that has turned Britain into a ripped-off basket case. Everyone else has nationalised utilities that are so profitable they can afford to buy up chunks of ours, but we can’t have that, because
profitsovereignty!Of course, large majorities are in favour of renationalisation, including large majorities of Tory voters. So the geniuses at the top of NuNew Labour have just tossed their manifesto promise to do just that because ewwww, Corbyn cooties!
We’re doomed.
Geminid
@Steeplejack: I guess Franken was. I never listened to Air America back then.
More recently, there was a Charlottesville station that featured Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartman and Randi Roades. Commercial radio stations chased it off the air, said it was taking too much advertising for its community radio license.
Uncle Cosmo
@Gin & Tonic: Fucking “age-restricted content” requiring a login. Fuck ’em with a rusty chainsaw, I’ll wait for an open source.
cain
@Tony Jay: lol – curry causes cancer.
Yeah man, that’s there are two billion of us curry eaters and rapidly expanding.
Immanentize
@SiubhanDuinne: Ha!
No, the idea is to get the upstate NY place as a long term home for retirement after it is fixed up. But I am keeping my great job for many years, I hope (until, I suppose, those jokers at LGM tell me I must give up my tenure). But at the same time I am getting the old farm shack in NY, I have decided to sell my too-big house here near Boston. I’m just knocking around a four bedroom place alone except for my cat. Then, I want to move to a not too expensive (ha) condo still on the MBTA commuter line. Providence fits that bill perfectly. Also great food town also, as Raven says — near the ocean with good fishing. So I have again overextended myself in my efforts to keep mortality and grief at bay.
trollhattan
@Another Scott: Andrew Yang’s in for two-hundred. Another Another Way.
SiubhanDuinne
@hilts:
I couldn’t remember who John Malone was, so I looked him up. And holy shit:
SiubhanDuinne
@Immanentize:
Gotcha. I knew some, but obviously not all, of that.
And yeah, there’s something about taking on massive projects that is definitely a mechanism for coping with grief and the awareness of one’s own mortality. I know all too well.
prostratedragon
@rikyrah: Heh heh. But I think people do tend to misread him, we may see quite badly. Advantage him.
Tony Jay
@cain:
ZOMG!
VINDALOO-NACY! – Curry Conspiracy revealed as foreign agents of Madras Mafia gloat “there are two billion of us curry eaters and rapidly expanding”
ian
@Steeplejack:
It sounds to me like the people she doesn’t want in her district were brought there by Gov Abbott. I truly despair of understanding MTG. Would forcing them to stay on the bus the whole time have made her happy? Keeping them in Texas? Or is anything short of shooting them at the border a bridge to far?
Steeplejack
Trump lawyers on the “unseal the affidavit” hearing today.
Roger Moore
@ian:
I think she wants them loaded into cattle cars and sent to camps. It’s what her Leader would want.
apieceofpeace
@The Lodger: Mark Hatfield.
Steeplejack
@Uncle Cosmo:
It’s right here.
Ken
@Steeplejack: I was expecting cricket sounds.
Tom Fitzpatrick
@The Lodger: Before that there was Gov. Tom McCall.
ian
@Immanentize:
Pedantry moment- The GOP retreat was in Teton Village. Jackson Hole is the nearby ski resort. Jackson is the nearest major town. The retreat was not held in Jackson Hole. And it is in Wyoming.
moops
I hope losing her primary makes her determined to completely destroy the GOP, instead of just Trump.
A man can dream.
Steeplejack
@Immanentize:
You could do worse. It’s a noble endeavor.
Steeplejack
@ian:
All of the above? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Steeplejack
@Ken:
I love that dog meme. When it works it works.
frosty fred
@Geminid: Is Air America completely down the memory hole? Franken was a broadcaster on there (pretty good, I thought).
SiubhanDuinne
@ian:
And you want to understand her why?
Soprano2
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: *shudder* To this day I won’t have avocado green in my house.
stinger
@Elizabelle: One of Iowa’s four US Reps, Ashley Hinson (R), was a reporter/anchor for an eastern Iowa news station for 10 years, then spent two terms as a state Rep before running for the House.
This year, she’s being challenged by Liz Mathis (D), who was a reporter/anchor for two eastern Iowa news stations for a total of 25 years, then has been a state Rep since 2011.
The two actually overlapped at KCRG-TV for a couple of years.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: Heh. I would expect nothing less.
Popehat’s twitter feed has lots of lawyer stuff today. Lots of things seem to be happening in several venues… (Don’t ask me to explain it though.)
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack
@ian:
C’mon, man. Teton Village is like 10-12 miles from J-hole and is part of the area resort “infrastructure.” And it’s clear that Immanentize meant “not really Wyoming” in the sense of not typical of the state. It’s not like the GQP would end up on some random farm in Bison Dick. J-hole is like Aspen or La Jolla.
Steeplejack
@Another Scott:
Yeah, Popehat’s feed is, uh, dense today. He’s a good clearinghouse to follow legal Twitter.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: [ You’ve gotta be making that up. [Google…] ctrl-w ctrl-w ctrl-w ctrl-w ctrl-w ctrl-w ]
Cheers,
Scott.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tony Jay: Thanks, I was wondering what to have for dinner.
topclimber
@Immanentize: She could always go with the caveat that her pledge is dependent on the RNC running a fair process. Said caveat to be delivered late in the game. Said process sure to be anything but fair.
Really it only works for her if she gets to chew up TFG on the debate stage. So if the debates are rigged (e.g. she gets no time on them) or non-existent, she has a way out.
I guess the other avenue is that if she can consistently rack up 29% or more of the GOP vote, particularly in states less fire-engine red than Wyoming, she can amass a decent number of delegates. Gives her a way to cause trouble on the platform committee, etc.
If DeSantis also gives it a go, maybe the split works out that she can grab some winner take all states.
Well, that was fun. Back to reality now.
ETA: 29% is the GOP sanity factor?
Gin & Tonic
@Immanentize: Not particularly near, but this is Rhode Island we’re talking about, so the distances are not vast.
I kind of suspected what your plan was, but wasn’t going to ask – but I see someone else pried. Anyway, there’s been quite a bit of new residential (condo) construction in the area immediately adjacent to the train station. I haven’t been in those buildings, but from the outside they seem kind of soulless. If you go a little farther afield, such that it might be necessary to ride a bike to the train station, there are converted industrial buildings that seem a lot nicer, if you’re into the loft-type space. Also in the bikeable radius, the West End is very nice, and has quite a few large 3-story residential buildings (not like Charlestown 3-deckers, nice) that have been condo-ized. I had a co-worker who was in a similar situation as you, ended up downsizing and bought a floor of one of those buildings and loves it. But you won’t be able to walk to the train.
If you’re in downtown, you’ll have to think about where to park your car. If you’re in the West End, or around Valley St you’ll find on-street parking pretty easily, but if it’s a smaller detached building check on driveway space.
The good beaches and fishing are a ~45 minute drive.
Tony Jay
@Omnes Omnibus:
Does sound very nice.
I’m watching Masterchef and now want corned beef hash with soft white bread.
Steeplejack
@Another Scott:
If you’re talking about Bison Dick, I used that because Popehat had a story a day or two ago about how his fiancée’s (now wife) grandfather once gave him an elaborate leather wallet with a bison in full glory embossed on it. No explanation, no closure.
And it comes from a tradition of (hopefully) funny but plausible place-names that I mostly remember from Mike Royko’s old columns, e.g., Lard Lake, IA; Bobo, MS, and some others. Can’t find any now. Maybe it was from his book(s).
Gin & Tonic
@Tony Jay: Did you forget to put in your teeth?
Tony Jay
@Gin & Tonic:
I like food I can chug from a champagne flute. Makes me feel classy.
Dan B
@rikyrah: OMG Hope this is not what it looks like. Fallout could make grain radioactive – famine in Africa and the Middle East plus inflation worldwide. And a humanitarian disaster for Ukraine and likely beyond.
Roger Moore
@Steeplejack:
How not typical is it? It’s one of only two areas in the state where Cheney was ahead in the primary. The other is Laramie, home of the University of Wyoming.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Steeplejack:
Bison Dick is the perfect name for a third political party. Way better than the Forward party.
WaterGirl
@Immanentize: The climbing double white azalea. I would kill for that plant, and it would break my heart to leave it behind.
Steeplejack
@Roger Moore:
🎯
Steeplejack
@Wyatt Salamanca:
The logos practically InDesign themselves!
kalakal
@Steeplejack: Same with water, electricity etc. EDF (Electricite de France owned by the French govt) E.on ( German) , Scottish Power ( Spanish)
kalakal
@Geminid: Jerry Springer was the Dem Mayor of Cincinnatti
before a sex scandal moved him into show biz
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: :-) I had an old guy as a teacher in grade school science class who would often mention “West Overshoe, Nebraska” when he was telling stories.
Cheers,
Scott.
Tony Jay
@Wyatt Salamanca:
Also has the authentic rasp of Cleveland’s third most frequented glazed pottery showroom. Or one of those Franco-American import companies that don’t get the joke.
“Eet is pronounced ‘Bee-son’. Why it is you laugh?”
Also too, I’m sure the whole ‘Forward’ thing wasn’t at all inspired by the name of Italy’s current neo-fascist movement. Just a total coinkydink.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
George Clooney’s father, IIRC was a beloved local news anchor who ran for Congress, but he lost
Another Scott
@kalakal: (My potentially faulty recollection, corrections welcome) The Cincy Mayor was a title that people on the City Council rotated in and out of (every year?) back then – it wasn’t a separate elected office. It was more like chair of the
departmentcity council.Wikipedia says that Cincinnati got a “strong mayor” office in 1999.
So, yeah, he was Mayor of Cincinnati, but not really the way most people think of it.
Cheers,
Scott.
Geminid
@Dan B: Ukraine President Zelenskyy met with UN chief Guterres and Turkish President Erdogan today in Lviv. One topic they discussed was grain shipments, and they also talked about the Zaporizhne nuclear plant. At a joint press conference afterwards, Erdogan warned of “another Chernobyl.”
@CherylRofer has been posting a lot of material about the plant, with good links, on her Twitter account.
Steeplejack
@Another Scott:
Mission accomplished, since “Bison Dick” apparently got you to do some searching!
Wyatt Salamanca
@Tony Jay:
Thanks for reminding me, I’d forgotten that fact.
Andrew Yang is beyond pathetic.
The Lodger
@apieceofpeace:
@Tom Fitzpatrick: If either Hatfield or McCall were media folks it was before my time, although I’m sure they wrote plenty of op-eds while in office.
Paul in KY
@Leto: She can lie & say yes.
Paul in KY
@Gravenstone: Sounds good to me! Banzai Liz Cheney!!!