Blog-specific…
I sleep with a pillow over my head every night. Please do not indict @petersuderman if I should happen to die in my sleep.
— Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) February 17, 2016
(In reference to one strand of conspiracy theory about Scalia’s death, of course.)
For old-persons-mocking-the-youths…
reality has no self-awareness pic.twitter.com/YHPczFUSxL
— Alexandra Petri (@petridishes) February 18, 2016
https://t.co/EekrvtVShN pic.twitter.com/kZHTFZu7FT
— laura olin (@lauraolin) February 18, 2016
It’s nice they’ll have something to keep their hands busy, she said sweetly.
kdaug
Bless their hearts
Anya
I am a tad shocked that Billman is such a Bernie stand. He’s tweeting about some poll that says HRC will lose the white vote to every republican. Why are people obsessed with polls at this stage? They are meaningless. Besides, I refuse to believe HRC will lose women vote to one of these republicans. Also, I don’t trust the methodology of these polls. They are probably oversampling Republicans & white cranks, while undersampling POC & Democrats.
sharl
@Anya: Al Giordano – an old school leftie organizer/protester/jailbird, and one whose opinion I generally value (with occasional disagreements) – scolded Billmon on twitter a bit for that sort of thing.
~
In general, Giordano has been scolding the “Stans” in both camps regularly.* Though I wouldn’t regard Billmon as one of those (and I doubt Giordano does either).
*As explained by Giordano, comes from the Eminem song “Stan”, which someone somewhere said is the generic name used by entertainers for obsessed fans (STAN = stalker fan). I haven’t verified that, but seems plausible enough.
F
@Anya: Democrats haven’t won the white vote in a presidential election since 1964, so that doesn’t really mean anything anyway.
(Gee, I wonder what happened in 1964?)
gallup.com/poll/139880/election-polls-presidential-vote-groups.aspx
Betty Cracker
Matchmaking for the very olds: Carbon Dating Service!
Regarding BernieSingles — assuming it’s a real thing — I guess there are worse strategies for domestic happiness than a dating pool comprising political fellow travelers. I’ve known a handful of couples who held very different political views, but it seems to be a rare thing, at least in my circle.
My husband and I argue about politics a lot, and we agree on most things. He’s a bit more firebaggy than I am. He’s all about Bernie now, whereas I am still on the fence and leaning slightly HRC. But in the end, we’ll support the Democrat, whoever that is. I don’t think I could live with a Republican.
cckids
Went to a Hillary event tonight, after the town hall here in Vegas. It was held at one of the union halls. She brought several current Congresswomen with her, as well as people running for office here in Nevada. (Go, go, Catherine Cortez-Masto! Keep Harry Reid’s senate seat!)
It was fun! Outdoors, which kind of surprised me, but they had the town hall shown on big screens, a mariachi band, a decent-sized crowd which was hugely diverse and pretty pumped up. Lots of cheering for Hillary. Tom Perez (Sec. of Labor) spoke first, and was great! Very enthused and inspiring.
Hillary did a good job; she impressed my spouse, who has been very lukewarm towards her candidacy. She was warm and personable, really held people’s attention. LOTS of high-school & college age people there. Hillary comes across very differently in person than on TV, I finally understand her focusing the campaign more on these events; they are a real strength for her.
If I can get my act together, I’ll post some pics tomorrow.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
As Biden would say, this is a big fucking deal.
I guess it won’t get much play as it comes from evil Hillary.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Who doesn’t like rationing?
Betty Cracker
@cckids: Cool! Thanks for the report. I’ll definitely try to see HRC (or Bernie too, for that matter) if she bothers to visit FL in primary season.
BGinCHI
What does it say about me that when I see the word “singles” I automatically think of individually wrapped slices of cheese?
And I don’t even buy that shit.
F
@BGinCHI: At one point in your life, you were kidnapped by Kraft and they installed a malfunctioning chip in your brain.
BillinGlendaleCA
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Sounds like what the Rethugs say about Failgunner Ted’s home country.
BillinGlendaleCA
@BGinCHI: I get a big block at Costco, shit lasts for years.
opiejeanne
@BillinGlendaleCA: They sell whatever is in Kraft singles in a block?
(It ain’t cheese, exactly)
opiejeanne
@BGinCHI: Did your mom buy it when you were a kid?
F
@opiejeanne: Perhaps it’s wood pulp
opiejeanne
@F: Yes, saw that yesterday. Good stuff. Yum.
Aside from the excessive amounts of cellulose in some of them, the real scandal was that there was no Parmesan in those packages, but a mixture of cheaper cheeses.
Years ago I dragged my family away from the pre-grated Parmesan in the green jar by buying a wedge of the real stuff and showing them how a grater works. Sometimes it was Romano, sometimes it was the Reggiano, depending on finances. Didn’t matter because it was so much better than the other stuff.
Today we read the ingredients on the house brand and it did list cellulose, but the order of words on the label was what made us laugh. 100% grated Parmesan. Well, it was 100% grated; what percentage is Parmesan is up for question.
BillinGlendaleCA
@opiejeanne: A big block of wrapped singles. No, it’s not real cheese, but I use it for some dishes. I usually use chedder for most things that call for cheese.
BGinCHI
Good theories, gang.
I think Kraft had a bigger impact on my childhood than seems legal.
opiejeanne
@BillinGlendaleCA: Once in a while I get a small package because it makes a decent snack and I like the stuff. I love all sorts of real cheese, but I came to this appreciation of cheese as an adult and that childhood memory of Kraft singles makes me buy it sometimes.
Frankensteinbeck
@F:
Oh, wow, someone else has one of those? We should set up a dating site!
Jon H
Would any of the front pagers care to write about the Democrats running for Senate this year?
Like, it’d be really good if we could take the Senate this year, but it’s hard to support candidates in other states if you don’t know they exist.
Perhaps there are still primaries left to pick who’s going to run, but even then, it’d be useful to see who’s contending.
Jon
ThresherK (GPad)
@BillinGlendaleCA Introduced in 1918,: Velveeta, of all things, has a cooking history in pre-electricity, pre-refrigeration New Mexico. At least per a historical cookbook I read.
Baud
Reposted to new thread.
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
Sliced but not individually wrapped (and likely not much real cheese either), the large block of Swiss-American at Costco does make for a darn fine grilled cheese sandwich.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@BillinGlendaleCA: Cuba?
oldster
McArdle shouldn’t worry.
When she is found smothered, Suderman is going to be somewhere at the back of the list of indictments, behind the whole Orient Express.
Bobby Thomson
@Anya: any Democrat will lose the white vote to any Republican. Billmon isn’t white, so he may not appreciate how stupid white people can be.
dr. bloor
The impassioned, eager Young People volunteering for candidates have been hooking up during Presidential campaigns forever. Nice to see they have an app for it now.
Bobby Thomson
@Jon H: cough. Donne Edwards.
When Van Hollen wins the primary after she’s been ignored I bet you a nickel the firebaggers start paying attention to that race to frag the nominee. It’s their comfort zone.
FlipYrWhig
@Bobby Thomson: IM SO UNINSPIRED
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@ThresherK (GPad): Velveeta has scared me for years since seeing it stacked up in the middle of a grocery store isle like cord wood. “Doesn’t cheese need to be refrigerated?? If not, what is Velveeta anyway?!?!”
Later, I’ve become less concerned after seeing wheels of real cheese sitting out unrefrigerated, also too. And people did make and eat cheese long before refrigeration was invented….
Still, it’s scary stuff!
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who agrees it makes great grilled-cheese sandwiches.)
Ohio Mom
I’m gobsmacked, for the first — and likely only — time, I appreciate a McMegan statement. Or maybe this is one out of the two stopped clock occurrences.
Elizabelle
RE all things cheese: putting in a plug for Trader Joe’s Unexpected Cheddar Cheese. What’s unexpected is it tastes a little bit like parmesan. A little grainy; does not cut smoothly. Absolutely scrumptious.
$3.99 for 7 wonderful ounces. Affordable luxury.
Joe Falco
Berniesingles.com, huh? I was wondering what happened to wherewhitepeoplemeet.com
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: “A little grainy”
That must be the wood chips! aka cellulose. (Did you see the recent news about parmesan cheese being cut with cellulose?)
edit: we don’t have a trader joe’s, so I can afford to be glib – since I can’t try it anyway!
Anya
@sharl: Stupid autocorrect messed up with my post. But I deliberately used the term stan to describe Billmon. He is such a Bernie stan. And in this context, it means an obsessive fan, not necessarly a stalker but someone who glorifies and supports you at all cost.
To tell you the truth, I am warming up to Sanders. I was leaning Hillary & I think her domestic policies are great. I believe her stand. I think she was always socially and economically more liberal than Bill. But I am concerned about her hawkish foreign policy instincts… I’m concerned that she’s too militaristic.
In terms of Bernie, I think he’s out of touch with how to talk about privilege that’s out of income inequality but I have no doubt in my mind that if he were a president, he will have the right policies to address economic, gender and racial inequality.
Anya
@Bobby Thomson: I agree. I think it’s a stupid argument to say Bernie will win the white vote. But my main point is that those polls are meaningless at this time.
F
@Anya: Even achieving a 50/50 split of the white vote would make the election a total landslide.
stinger
@cckids: Would love to see them.
Paul in KY
@F: Must…buy…fake…cheese
Calouste
@Anya: TPM published a reader comment yesterday saying that there have been polls that measured Sanders support against Republicans and then measured it again after some obvious attack lines. Sanders’ support cratered after the attacks.
Socraticsilence
@Anya:
Really, because I’d be shocked if she didn’t lose the white vote, looking back LBJ might have been the last Democrat to win the white vote in a 2 major candidate Presidential race.
Gretchen
Re: Clinton being too militaristic: The Repubs have been busy painting Dems as weak on defense since the Vietnam War, while they, the strong Daddy party, would keep us safe. The Bush administration played this to the hilt after 9/11 – see 2004 R convention with all the Purple Heart band aids to diminish Kerry’s military service cred in comparison to deserter Bush. And being a woman, Clinton was even more vulnerable to being called weak, too emotional, too sympathetic to do what needs to be done. I think that’s the reason she voted for the Iraq war resolution, and why I voted against her in 2008. She had too much need to prove herself tough, and I didn’t like that. But she’s learned her lesson, and proved herself actually tough. All she has to do is show the Bin-Laden situation room photo if someone says she’s not tough compared to any of the weenies running on the R side. She learns as she goes, and that’s an important trait and why we shouldn’t judge her on what her husband did 20 years ago.
Gretchen
I work with a Trump voter, and he’s angry that his taxes are going to fund things that advantage other people, like subsidized health insurance. He feels his taxes are higher because “those people” don’t want to work. I think that’s typical Trump voter. They see the economy as a zero-sum game, and if someone else is getting something, it’s being taken away from them. So Sanders frankly saying that he’s going to raise taxes for free education and health care is going to drive that segment of the population nuts.
That TPM poll is exactly what I’m scared of. I’m old enough to have voted for McGovern when he lost 49 states, and seen similar elections several times later when the attacks on a good candidate destroyed their chances. All these folks talking about the national polls aren’t taking that into account. They’ve used all their attacks on Clinton, while they haven’t even started on Sanders. Comparing their relative favorability now is apples to oranges.
There are reports out of Nevada that Republicans are encouranging Republicans to caucus for Sanders tomorrow. Charles Koch said he likes him. Karl Rove’s PAC is reported to be sending money to him. If Sanders is the guy they want to run against, are we wise to pick him?