4 days after declaring his opposition, Scott Walker decides he is "not taking a position" on birthright citizenship http://t.co/wsDZPLPKds
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) August 21, 2015
Scott Walker on @realDonaldTrump: "a lot of the things he talks about, I talked about months ago." http://t.co/jOS270zlUO
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) August 21, 2015
Scott Walker begins @JohnJHarwood interview boasting he's "unintimidated." Then refuses to say beliefs on birthright. http://t.co/ANvB66xAOE
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) August 21, 2015
Is saying things you don' t mean when you are tired a good quality for a President? https://t.co/pT2fCfKrf4
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) August 21, 2015
@JuddLegum At least he didn't blame it in his "staff", which is his usual MO.
— Sunny Schomaker (@sgailschomaker) August 21, 2015
… After all, his idol Ronald Reagan is supposed to have slept right through the whole Iran-contra scandal, so how hard can Presnidentin’ be?
Scott Walker: I don’t have time for #BlackLivesMatter — let’s talk about ‘things that matter’ http://t.co/FOf0EiuLt1 pic.twitter.com/gaKWJwNULV
— Raw Story (@RawStory) August 21, 2015
************
Apart from the way that “scrimy” seems to be the most important attribute for Repub candidates today, what’s on the agenda for the start of the weekend?
craigie
What I hate about “AllLivesMatter”, apart from it being a tedious dodge, is that it comes from the same people who say “if everyone is special, then no one is.”
So, using math, no lives matter. Which I think is the actual GOP position. Only fetuses and corporations have any rights – everyone else can fuck off.
feebog
Hey, turns out you can run and hide. But only if you are a Republican.
Keith G
I would like some advice.
Last Thursday, I had a Drs appointment and received a very specific diagnosis. The next day, I picked a new prescription to treat the diagnosed condition. Seven days later, today, I received a marketing letter inviting me to a seminar given by two local physicians specializing in the treatment of my diagnosis.
This letter was a metered mail batch sending, coming out of a different state with a footer disclosure:
I am as mad, and actually as distraught/physically angry, as I have been in quite some time. I want to find out who did this. I want to see if I can keep this from happening in the future. I thought my medical records were private.
Has this happened to any of you? Where do I start?
I checked the Walgreens privacy policy and according to that, they said they would never market my info to a third party.
The Doc? The insurance?
Would a search on Google trigger this? I have searched all kinds of meds and never got a physical mailing addressed specifically to me.
Right to Rise
Win or Lose in 2016, Obama Leaves Democrat Party in Worst Shape Since the Great Depression.
The money quote:
The Democrat bench is empty.
The GOP? We have plenty of youthful vigor and leaders for the future.
BTW, at the state and local level, the last six years have been a story of the steady march to triumph of conservative politicians and policies, even in many ‘blue’ presidential states.
JCJ
@Keith G: I would guess most likely the pharmaceutical manufacturer.
Emma
@Keith G: That’s creepy. Often specialists work with research groups, so your doctor might be one of them; however, they will approach you to participate through the doctor. My bet would be the insurance. When my mother suffered some memory loss due to a blockage in an artery leading to the brain, within a few weeks of treatment the insurance was trying to market all kinds of home services for both my parents. But again, it came directly through the insurance.
The drug manufacturer might also be a possibility.
JPL
Gotta say that I have a stream for the Trump event. I can’t tell how many people are there but the stadium is not full.
rea
@Keith G: For the doctor to do that would be almost unimaginably improper–the kind of thing that would cost him his license. I’ll bet it’s the insurer.
Gin & Tonic
@Keith G: I would explicitly ask everyone in the chain. Make it clear you are asking on the record, and ask them for a written confirmation that they have not provided information about your diagnosis to anyone. You have very specific rights under HIPAA, so you can be just as
obnoxiouspersistent about this as you are comfortable being. Start nicely, by expressing your concern to the front-line people, but make clear you are escalating this to each organization’s HIPAA compliance officer, and do so. They are required to have a compliance person. Also bring in your state Dept of Health (oh, you’re in Texas, right? Sorry about that.)craigie
@JPL:
But is it YOOOGE?
Gin & Tonic
@JCJ: It is very unlikely that the manufacturer of the drug will know the name and address of the retail customer. Certainly not within days.
Right to Rise
Trump is a clown. He’s done by Halloween.
Slow and steady wins the race folks…besides Alabama isn’t even an early voting state. Trump doesn’t know how to win a primary.
It’s all one big scam.
Mike J
@Keith G: It sounds like you need to get a wood burning set and use it to put the text of HIPAA on a Louisville Slugger[1] , and then use it to educate somebody.
HHS has a web page explaining how to file a HIPAA complaint.
[1] A cricket bat is probably easier to put text on.
EconWatcher
Scott Walker and Paul Ryan seem a lot a like, in that neither of them seems to be fully an adult. Both have the aura of a lad trying to play dress-up in big-boy clothes to fool everybody into letting them sit at the grown-up table.
No offense to any cheeseheads on this blog, but is it something in the water in Wisconsin? An otherwise lovely state, to be sure…
Gin & Tonic
@Keith G: Additionally, American Medical is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boston Scientific. You can e-mail their HIPAA compliance group at [email protected]
redshirt
unlimited corporate hubris.
Roger Moore
@Keith G:
Unless the condition you were diagnosed with is rare, it’s entirely possible that it’s a coincidence and not foul play. I receive medical junk mail all the time, so I know that there really are companies out there just sending mail to everyone- or everyone they believe is in a demographic inclined to have the diagnosis they’re concerned with- just on the chance some of them will respond.
ETA: You might want to be careful with that company regardless of whether they’re violating HIPPA. When I did a search for them, one of the top hits was this warning letter from the FDA.
Omnes Omnibus
@EconWatcher: You just made my list.
JPL
@Right to Rise: The R2R pac had a plane fly over the stadium… It was not a yoooge plane. It was a small plane.
Even if Trump is done, his supporters do not flock to Jeb.
Gimlet
@Keith G:
Google
“American Medical Systems Inc.has sponsored this patient seminar and accompanying educational material ”
and you’ll find there are seminars sponsored by American Medical Systems from the Southwest to Minnesota, Indiana, Georgia and beyond. The earliest date I see is 2013.
Reading them more in depth you might figure out what happened, but it’s been going on a while and is widespread.
trollhattan
@Right to Rise:
The Democrat Party? Are they new? Never heard of them.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Keith G:
Like everyone else is advising, file a HIPAA complaint with everyone within sight, including your doctor’s office, your insurance company, and Walgreens. G used to have to fill out HIPAA violation paperwork if a package was sent to the wrong patient but never opened, so it will be investigated if you complain.
My guess is that there’s some tiny language in one of the forms you signed at either the doctor’s office or in your insurance agreement saying they could send your marketing materials, but a HIPAA complaint may cause them enough pain that they stop doing it without explicit permission.
Hal
Watching Chris Hayes covering Trump’s rally in Alabama. Um, what black parents allowed their kids to be paraded on stage at the start of this rally? They were only their briefly, but damn folks.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
It all turned out okay, but G and I got to spend three hours sitting in the vet ER having Keaton looked at. He tends towards constipation, but he was so bad last night that I got worried it might be a blockage, so off to Animal Specialty Group we went.
Diagnosis: constipation. They gave us some laxative, and I finally ordered a new pet fountain for him. We had a vet tell us when he was a kitten that he seemed to have some neurological damage to his back legs (probably a birth defect) so now I’m wondering if that’s not helping the constipation issue.
JPL
Bloomberg Politics has a live feed. I have to mention that the stadium is half empty. I have no idea what they are singing.
They were trying to sing the rolling stones.. You can’t always get want you what.
That’s an unfortunate pick because Satisfaction was released fifty years ago. It would have been more appropriate.
Renie
Watching the Trump rally to have a few laughs. Waiting for him to appear they are playing The Stones “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”. Odd pick since he is promising the rubes everything.
David Koch
The lovely Ellen Page grilled Ted Cruz over LGBT rights at the Iowa Fair
Master debater Raphael Eduardo Cruz punked out.
Big tough Harvard debater frighten by Juno.
Anne Laurie
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
Did you mention this to Keaton’s current vet? Because, yes, spinal-cord damage does lead to constipation. I’ve known people who were given veterinary advice about keeping their ‘mildly compromised’ cats on special diets, so you may want to look into that.
Right to Rise
The Dem Bench is empty.
Everyone is over 65.
Where’s your next generation of leaders? Where’s the youth?
Gimlet
Weird folk
By: Erick Erickson (Diary)
John Kasich, Ohio’s Governor, is running for President on the platform of telling Republicans painful truths in order to get free media exposure as a “truth teller.”
Kasich will tell anyone willing to listen that Jesus demanded he expand Obamacare in Ohio. He said that one day we’d stand before our Creator who would demand, “What did you do for the least of them?” Kasich would be able to proudly respond that he expanded Obamacare thereby saddling future generations with untold debt and inferior healthcare.
Yesterday, Kasich told people that they need to get over Roe v. Wade because it is the law of the land. The statement came the day after a new Planned Parenthood video showed a child having his head cut open, as his heart was beating, so his brain could be extracted and sold.
What kind of Jesus demands John Kasich expand government, but accept Roe v. Wade?
Hal
@Right to Rise:
Tee hee. The grand old party is a bunch of old white racists with one foot in the grave. Youthful vigor? It’s either going to be Trump or Jeb. Neither is young or vigorous.
EconWatcher
@Omnes Omnibus:
If you’re from Wisconsin, know this: I’m from Virginia, home of Oliver North, George “Macaca” Allen, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Bob McDonnell, Gordon Liddy, the NRA, and a continuing list of douchenozzles so vast and awe-inspiring you could never hope to compete. You’re still resting on your laurels from Tailgunner Joe, and you know it.
Right to Rise
@Hal:
We have a much more youthful bench.
If it’s not Hillary or Sanders for you, you’ve got Biden, Gore, and Kerry. All old. Yesterday’s news.
The GOP has up-and-comers, and controls far more state and local governments which are the breeding grounds for future national pols.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): We still go up to Montrose for our girls, we tried taking the Yorkipom to another vet and she was not pleased.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Right to Rise: And yet the party is still being led by The Turtle and Johnny Bones.
Roger Moore
@JPL:
I wonder if Trump bothered running that by the Stones’ lawyer before using it. Republican candidates seem to have a perennial problem with using songs without permission.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Roger Moore: They do seem to have a problem with that whole ‘property rights’ kinda thing.
Gimlet
Oops
The popular Christian vlogger Sam Rader—best known for “surprising” his wife with her own positive pregnancy test in a viral video—had a paid account on the cheating website Ashley Madison in 2013, the Daily Mail reports.
Sam is a leader in a new industry of online evangelism, posting daily videos of his upstanding, Jesus-loving family for hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
Sam has done such a good job marketing his Christian family values on YouTube that he quit his job this month to vlog full time.
Sam has built a real, loyal following preaching the bible and vlogging about wanting to be a “good man” to his wife of almost six years, Nia—the kind of “man I want [my daughter] to marry.”
rikyrah
@Hal:
who do you think are the descendants of those that sold out Nat Turner and other slave revolts?
They’ve been with us forever, sadly.
Gimlet
@Right to Rise:
Trump was born in 1946, same age as Dubya and Bill Clinton.
pseudonymous in nc
@David Koch:
Still Canadian makes former Canadian look like the asshole he is.
WereBear
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): I hear adding pumpkin to his food is a good tactic. Also added fat: butter, coconut oil, whatever he likes.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Anne Laurie:
He’s on a special diet (Royal Canin Gastro — by prescription only!) but it tends to work a little TOO well, so we’ve been mixing foods to get the right balance.
@BillinGlendaleCA:
We’ve been going to VCA Arden for years, even though they have a bit of a revolving door when it comes to vets. We’re on our third one, but they’ve always been good. Plus their desk staff is great, if a little on the slow side.
If you have an emergency, ASG is absolutely the place to go, plus it’s close to you (on the LA side of the railroad tracks). The humans may end up sitting in the waiting room forever, but they take the animals back within 10 or 15 minutes.
WereBear
So “things” get a higher ranking than actual people. Now that’s actively disgusting.
trollhattan
@BillinGlendaleCA:
“Johnny Bones.” That just slays me. Perfect.
BTW. Ted Cruz being a dick. i.e., A day ending in “y.”
Frank Bolton
I wonder if the Democratic Party back in 1974 and 76 felt the same way this poster did — they saw their expanding majorities in the state houses, Congress, and even (barely) captured the Presidency so thus the firebells in the night of 1968 and 1972 were mere false alarms. After all, the composition of the Nixon (soon to be Reagan) coalition is just a mirage, a jury-rigged patchwork of jetsam that doesn’t mean anything since we totally have the South in the tank and they’ll get over this Civil Rights shit. And it’s certainly not our policies or voting bloc that caused those problems in 1968, the real problem is that we had bad luck/ran poor candidates/got ratfucked. Look at how well we did in 1976!
And check out our best trump card: a new generation of politically engaged evangelicals! The GOP doesn’t stand a chance!
Keith G
@Mike J: Yeah, I was just looking over that site. There is a PDF available for initiating a complaint. Unfortunately, I see the form is geared toward identifying a specific entity and at this point. I just don’t know – though I think the Doc is the least likely. I like the cricket bat idea.
@Gin & Tonic: The compliance officers is a great idea. Thanks. I will be gathering that info first thing Monday.
As I think about this, one thing that amazes me is that I have been a community activist in our local HIV community for a while now and nothing ever followed me home. Then I get a non HIV related health issue and suddenly I am on somebody’s radar.
BTW, now that I am typing this….what has changed? Now I have a healthcare policy and for quite a while I did not. I will start with the new organizations in my life. My doctor has been the same.
And…@Gin & Tonic:
Yeah Texas has issues, but when a change in my life in 2006 left me uninsured (about the same time my health was cratering) local charity care and Ryan White funding gave me some of the best HIV care (Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine) in the country. The state of Texas’ ADAP program meant that I was paying very little out of pocket for $3000.00 of Rx each month. Texas people, working in Texas programs under federal. state, and local policies helped keep me alive.
There are political issues here that need changed, but if you are an uninsured and/or impoverished HIV patient, there aren’t too many other better places to be. Even with my Obamacare policy, I have chosen to stay with my original “charity” doctor at the county’s HIV clinic.
ETA. Thanks all, for the useful and considerate feedback.
Sibelius
@JPL: That plane, and stunt, looked puny and pathetic.
Elizabelle
For those not feeling teh Trumpmentum, C-Span 1 has Bernie Sanders live at a town hall. He’s hoarse.
LOL re Donald and the hat. (1) Makes him recognizable from a distance. (2) keeps the opossum out of the lights.
BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: I should give a H/T to jl for ‘Johnny Bones(two bit thug)’. Property rights and all.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@WereBear:
We’ve tried pumpkin and various oils, but he’s a bit of a picky eater. He would not touch salmon oil, fer cryin’ out loud!
I’ve started to hear weird things about Blue Buffalo online, so I’m starting to think about switching to Wellness for the dry. They’re already getting Wellness wet food and they love it.
BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: No argument on your analysis.
hells littlest angel
@Keith G: Almost certainly the insurance company. And possibly legal — HIPAA allows this if you give consent, which you may have done in some fine print somewhere.
debit
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Try giving him some milk every day. Our elderly cat had constipation issues; we tried laxatives and more fiber, even enemas when those solutions did little. Finally, we saw a different vet who said, “Milk. Cats are lactose intolerant, so it gives them the runs.” It worked and was far less stressful on him than the laxative (which he hated) and the enemas (which we all hated).
Renie
Trump wants to have an expedited election; he wants it NOW. Wants to take money from lobbyist and then screw the lobbyist and do nothing for the guy. Now he’s claiming all of us are begging our politicans to read his “Art of the Deal” book before they do deals with foreign countries. Now he’s on to N. Korea and says he ordered 400 tvs from South Korea. It’s amazing; it’s all about him nothing on policy or position.
Roger Moore
@WereBear:
There are plenty of people on the far right who need to be reminded that blacks actually are people.
In case it hasn’t been mentioned, the people who want #BlackLivesMatters to come up with a positive plan now have something to look at. I don’t think the people behind Campaign Zero are exactly the same ones making the most noise for BLM, but you can’t fault them for lacking specifics. They have 10 general areas they want to see improved, and reasonably detailed proposals in each of those areas. Even better, for most of those proposals they can point either to real places that are implementing them or at least to detailed proposals from other, name groups. I hope this will get people to stop talking about the need for specifics and get them discussing those specifics instead.
beth
@Keith G: Did you Google the condition you have or the medication? My spouse has cancer and we’ve searched a lot of drugs and treatments on the internet over the last few years. The other day I logged on to our local library site to download a book and I got a “books that console” section pop up first. It was full of books on dealing with grief and death (I’ve never downloaded a book like that). Coincidence? I doubt it. If you search for it on the net, someone’s gonna find a way to use it.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@debit:
I just saw that online. I may try that when I get home rather than pouring more laxative down his throat.
And I think I got the Werebear-approved cat fountain from Glacier Point Pet Fountains. It looked very familiar.
Calouste
@Right to Rise: The GOP hasn’t nominated anyone under 55 for President since Nixon in 1960.
Anyway, get used to Trump being your candidate or going third party and pushing the GOP in third place in 2016.
Baud
Pouty Walker is the best Walker.
Tommy
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): I have tired all the best foods for my pootie. I am willing to spend all the money in the world for her food but she seems to like shitty food. Heck I was in Target the other day and they had this food that was over-the-top. Needed to be in fridge. Bought some of it. So proud of myself. I gave her some of it and she kind of laughed at me. She was having none of it.
Elizabelle
Kevin Drum: why yes, there is a dictionary entry for “trumpery.”
Tee hee.
PS: Trump is entertaining, kind of. And this is leading the GOP? Double tee hee.
Keith G
@hells littlest angel: Weird thing about the “fine print” angle, is that I signed up over the phone talking with a federal Marketplace staff person.
There was no fine print….well that I was made aware of.
Roger Moore
@Baud:
Johnny Bones would tell you it’s Johnnie Walker.
redshirt
Trump or Bust!
Gimlet
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina judge declared a mistrial Friday after a jury deadlocked in the case of a white police officer charged with voluntary manslaughter in the death of an unarmed black man.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Randall Kerrick shot and killed Ferrell, who was unarmed, 10 times.
Judge Robert C. Ervin declared a mistrial in the case of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer Randall Kerrick after four days of deliberations.
Ervin brought the racially diverse jury of eight women and four men back into the Mecklenburg County courtroom around 4:10 p.m. The foreman said they continued to be deadlocked 8-4, and he saw no possibility of reaching a verdict.
trollhattan
@Roger Moore:
Just not black label, nomsayn’?
Felonius Monk
Is The Donald too yooge to fail? I’m sure in his own mind he is, but it will be interesting to see if and when the wheels come off the wagon.
Baud
@redshirt:
Why not both?
Right to Rise
@Calouste:
Trump is clown. A fucking clown.
He’s not for real.
Jen Rubin has various scenarios for when he drops out.
I can’t wait to see his concession speech.
Renie
Watching Trump talking…its like a stream of consciousness. He says nothing of substance just how great he is and how incompetent everyone else is. Yet the people eat it up. We are seeing the continuing of the dumbing down of America.
trollhattan
@Right to Rise:
So want to see you and srv have a slapfight over Trump, presuming you’re not she and vice versa.
cckids
@Hal:
I frequently have Hayes on as background as I start dinner, or do other around-the-house stuff, but today? Covering asshat Trump’s whole bloviating speech live? WTF?
Especially today: the stock market took a major dump, there are 2 hero Marines doing hero stuff in France, China’s economy is getting shakier, wildfires taking over Washington, ISIS’s #2 guy said to be dead, and the only thing on either CNN or MSNBC is more Trump.
They apparently don’t realize that their viewers will never vote for the douche. And we’re getting beyond sick of the non-stop coverage of him. It is just enabling his ego, pushing him ever farther towards the facist nation he’d apparently like to lead.
Gimlet
@Right to Rise:
I can’t wait to see his concession speech.
And since I’ve been treated unfairly by the party organization, I’ve decided to run as a third party candidate.
Baud
@cckids:
Been waiting for that to happen for about five years now.
And your entire comment is spot on.
SiubhanDuinne
@trollhattan:
I am not a violent person, but reading that made me want to stab and kick and punch and hit Cruz. What.A.Primo.Dick.
Tommy
@Elizabelle: I often mention here my parents are not the most liberal people around. I also most times bring up politics with them. They are bringing up Trump to me and wondering WTF. I called to wish my mother a happy wedding anniversary the other day and she went on like a ten-minute rant about Trump. I couldn’t get in a single word and that is a rare thing :).
BillinGlendaleCA
@cckids: It’s either that or Hillary’s emails, take ya choice.
Baud
@Tommy:
But will she vote for Hillary over Trump?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I think Tommy said she voted for O-man last time around.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Deleted email from Hillary’s server:
To: [email protected]
Subject: Operation Ratfuck
It’s on.
H.
Keith G
@Right to Rise:
My thoughts are that Trump does not want to be president. Period. Full stop.
Look at his M. O. He does not build, make, plan, run, or complete things. He puts his name on a deal then moves onto some other enterprise.
That is why he can be so unguarded and so “entertaining”. He does not give a shit about occupying the Oval Office.
JPL
Well life got in the way and I missed thirty minutes of the speech. He’s now talking about Jeb.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I thought she voted for Romney.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: LMAO.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: His dad did, IIRC mom went for O-man.
Baud
@JPL:
Life got in the way of Trump?
Tommy
@Baud: Dad might vote for Trump. Mom came to our side when her party put up Palin. Mom thought Palin was shit all stupid and an affront to smart women the world around. Took her about 60 years to see things the way we see things, but she finally got there. Still working on my dad.
Baud
@Tommy:
Yay, Tommy’s mom!
Renie
Trump is going to rebuild our military. It’s going to
be ‘so great so powerful’ no one will ever mess with us — so we won’t have to use the military! Talking about a poll that he has MASSIVE numbers on all the qualities needed to be president except ‘niceness’. Election is not about being nice its about being competent.
Uh oh, I agree with what he is saying. He talks about how bad the media is.
Tommy
@Baud: It was a very telling thing to see her change. I didn’t think it would ever happen. I had harped on her for years and years. I never thought Republicans would do it for me, but thinking Palin was smart was what pushed her over the edge.
Gimlet
Kansas Democrats kicked off their annual Demofest convention Friday by announcing that state chair Larry Meeker had resigned after only five months on the job.
Meeker, a former mayor of Lake Quivira, has been vocal about his desire to rebrand the party to appeal to more conservative voters and distinguish itself from the national Democratic Party.
But his message about fiscal conservatism and his perceived indifference to gay rights and abortion rights caused an uproar among the party’s more progressive members.
Democrats lost all statewide elections in 2014 and saw Republicans strengthen their hold on the Kansas House.
Meeker said the party needed to do more to sway Republican-leaning voters and pushed a concept that the party could rebrand itself for a red state.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Tommy: The kid said she was keeping an open mind about the ’08 election until Walnuts picked Snowbilly; she went for O-man after that.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
Trump will find that a yoooodge disappointment.
Mike in NC
@efgoldman: I thought just about every BJ troll has been traced back to DougJ. Makes perfect sense he’d set up one backing Trump! and the other pushing JEB!
Baud
@Gimlet:
It’s one thing for red state Dems to spurn national Dems, but you can’t abandon the Dems in your state.
SiubhanDuinne
@Tommy:
When I come through southern Illinois next month, I want to meet your mom! Sounds like a neat lady!
Baud
@Tommy:
It’s hard to predict what people’s triggers are.
Gimlet
@Baud: That’s just so messed up, I don’t know where to start to respond to it.
Roger Moore
@Tommy:
My impression is that for most people who change their minds politically, there is one event that really throws them over the edge. I assume most of those people are already uneasy, but there’s some final event that convinces them that their old party is not for them. For John Cole, it was Terri Schaivo. For your mom, it was Sarah Palin. I know somebody who had her eyes opened by Bristol Palin on Dancing With The Stars; it showed her how much of Republicanism was about identity politics, and she knew she would never be one of them.
Tommy
@BillinGlendaleCA: I was surprised it took my mother so long to change her vote. When my family gets together there are a lot of PhDs and such. I have never thought for a second, mom has none of those degrees, but she is the smartest person in the room. A nice change.
tybee
@Right to Rise:
ftfy
Baud
@Roger Moore:
Huh?
Peale
@Gimlet: look, if you can’t win in Kansas by doing something like pledging to keep the schools open all academic year, there probably aren’t enough “leaning” voters out there who’ll support you if you’ll agree to ignore the gays.
JPL
@Baud: Sure, it was easy. Neighbor calls and asks if I can help her choose a patio set for her dad.
JPL
Rachel is hinting that someone is going to drop out of the race. I assume she’s not talking about Pataki or Gilmore since they were never really in the race.
My guess is Christi.
srv
It’s. So. Over.
You’d think this would save Koch’s Cucks a lot of time and money, but let them self immolate. This purge has been a long time acoming.
Baud
@JPL:
Cool. I wish I liked my neighbors. Or people generally.
Gimlet
@Peale: Got to find out who they are, what will make them vote for you instead of the Republicans, and get them to the polls on election day.
redshirt
Why aren’t there Daredevils in every US urban area?
Tommy
@BillinGlendaleCA: Oh she might have voted for McCain. I am a military brat and there is a pull for somebody like McCain in my family. But Palin was the straw that broke the camels back. Dad confuses and confounds me with his vote. Mom has come full circle and honestly it was because of one or two issues. The right for a women to have an abortion and women rights in general.
Joel
@cckids: they have no viewers, and Trump is the only interesting thing they’ve done in months. The Internet has relegated cable news to the backwater.
Anne Laurie
@Baud: Hand to goddess, when Palin’s eldest was on DWTS, all the RWNJ
puke funnelsnews sites pushed the “Vote for Bristol, prove Real Amurcans lurve Good Repubs!!!!” meme 24/7. It confused & irked a lot of people who just wanted to veg in front of their teevees while the pretty professional dancers dragged their D-list ‘partners’ around under the lights. Another Palin-sponsored own goal, even per the less-nutzy Repub sites.Baud
@Tommy:
Then she should have switched in 1984, at the latest.
Better late than never.
Baud
@Anne Laurie:
But are most DWTS viewers reading wingnut news? How else would they know what was going on with Bristol?
BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL: My guess would be Perry.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Tommy: The kid was still in the Air Force at the time, I think that may have had an influence towards considering Walnuts. She was a Kerry voter in ’04(her first presidential election).
raven
@BillinGlendaleCA: Paul
JPL
Rachel thinks that Rand Paul is going to quit rather than jeopardize his Senate seat. If that’s the case, then Christi will be out before Halloween. The Paul vote won’t be going to Bush, so that doesn’t help R2R. Maybe Christi’s 2 percent can help Bush.
JPL
@BillinGlendaleCA: lol.. I thought he was already gone.
Calouste
@JPL: Perry’s got some cashflow problems.
beltane
@JPL: I had heard a rumor yesterday that Christie was going to drop out. If he had hoped to charm Republican voters by being the Jersey A-Hole, his hopes were dashed when Trump decided to ru.
Anne Laurie
@Baud:
Twitchy readers were spamming the all-important at-home-viewers paid phone votes in favor of their new darling. Who was, according to people who followed DWTS un-ironically, not at all a top-quality dancer, even by D-list celebrity standards. If I recall correctly, the Twitchers managed to force at least one “better” couple off the show prematurely — the professional dancers have their own voting claques & they were extremely unhappy that their guy went home early “because politics spoils everything.” Never piss off a dance fan, they hold grudges…
ETA: Or so NYMags’ Vulture bloggers told me.
Baud
@Anne Laurie:
Fascinating. Thanks.
Right to Rise
The Anti-Trump vote will coalesce around the obvious choice–and I think you all know who that is.
Roger Moore
@Baud:
Bristol was an awful dancer, but she stayed on the show because her mom’s supporters kept voting for her. My coworker is a naturalized citizen from China and a big DWTS fan. She was incensed that they were messing with her favorite show, but it also really opened her eyes that the Teabaggers- her preferred term for them after I mentioned the lewd connotation of the name- are all about white identity politics.
Debbie
@Gimlet:
You do know that Kasich wasn’t invited to the Koch confab this weekend in Columbus OH, right?
jl
Oh, man… HRC and Sanders act and talk and think like they are in their 40s. Jeb is early 60s, looks older than that, talks like he is a badly aged 70 something with some CNS degeneration (forgetful and frequently confused, memory troubles, hard time expressing himself) and cranky like a 90 year old who is having difficulty with the basic activities of daily living. Oops, sorry Jimmy Carter, I didn’t mean to slam all 90 year old people.
I noticed that media stories on Jeb are routinely describing his behavior as ‘visibly irritated’, ‘impatient’, ‘seemingly displeased’ and I wondered if it was one of those BS lazy media memes that get started. So I watched some videos, and, nope, it isn’t.
Jeb!? has all the charm of what a dog produces after it laps up some vomit.
Calouste
@efgoldman: Trump running as an Independent would flip North Carolina to the Dem, and make Florida, Ohio and Virginia safe, even if he only took 3% of the GOP vote.
And keep in mind that John Anderson, a relative nobody, got more than 6% of the vote in 1980. And then we’re not even talking about Ross Perot.
Calouste
@Right to Rise:
Yep, Clinton.
Roger Moore
@Baud:
People really care about those competition shows, and they have a whole news and gossip networks surrounding them. There was no way the RWNJs could keep their plan secret, especially when Bristol was so awful that a massive campaign was the only way she could avoid elimination.
Elizabelle
@cckids: Yeah, I’m sick of all Trump and Hillary! Emails! FBI Investigation! Benghazi! — it’s terrible news judgment.
jl
And I am very worried about the Democratic bench. Where are the youngins? OMG we are doomed and stuff. But, what do you expect from an out-of-it sclerosocialist ossified paleoliberal bunch. Has beens?
I mean look at the last two successful Democratic presidents! Olds. They were olds.
Some unknown youngster governor, or a young first-term Senator coming from up out of nowhere would never have a chance in the Democratic party at running for president. It is so sad and I am afraid.
On the other hand, there is a never ending stream of up-and-coming GOPers flowing by us on the TV, the vitality, beauty and sexiness of which the whole population of these, our great United States can admire. So many of them, that too many are up-coming, and then down-over-and-went to keep track off.
So, now I have to go get a mustard plaster for my damned lumbago and yell at those damn kids on my lawn. I am a Democrat.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Keith G: my guess would be a Google search. Bummer.
Tree With Water
“After all, his idol Ronald Reagan is supposed to have slept right through the whole Iran-contra scandal, so how hard can Presnidentin’ be?”.
Not to mention the blatant lies uttered by GW Bush that led to war, monstrous lies that were then, and are today, completely ignored democratic party officials, as if they were never uttered. And Walker gets hassled over this little turd of a flip flop? Who could blame the guy if did start wondering what the hell is wrong with the American voter?
jl
Jeb!? and Kasich look like two different make-up jobs for the character Prune Face. They scream ‘Youth!’.
jl
@Tree With Water: I haven’t heard audio of Walker much until recently. I am pleased that he sounds just like he looks.
Gin & Tonic
@jl: His entire demeanor screams “It was supposed to be my turn, dammit!”
redshirt
Might as well invest in bunkers one way or another.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Right to Rise: UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH!
How’s life during the Romney administration?
Omnes Omnibus
@GHayduke (formerly lojasmo):
This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco,
This ain’t no fooling around
This ain’t no Mudd Club, or C. B. G. B.,
I ain’t got time for that now
Mike J
@Omnes Omnibus: Heard about Houston? Heard about Detroit? Heard about Pittsburgh P. A,.?
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: Both Mudd Club and CBGB are long dead.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: Both Mudd Club and CBGB are long dead.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: One is aware.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: Then two are aware.
JosieJ
@Keith G: chiming in way late to agree that it’s most likely your insurance company that’s the culprit. Nowadays, as soon as you’re diagnosed with any condition, they want you in a program to manage it, since it saves them money. I was diagnosed with CHF a while back and I immediately started getting mail about CHF programs, support groups, lectures and the like, even though I hadn’t signed up for any of that. Mine came direct from my insurance company, but some of them contract that stuff out.