Josh Marshall over at TPM says Trump is going all-in on blaming Hillary Clinton for Bill Clinton’s past sexual indiscretions / alleged abuse as a form of dominance politics, which is what he (Trump) has practiced all along:
As I mentioned yesterday, the three big networks and in fact the major national dailies continue to blast out Donald Trump’s charges that Hillary Clinton’s husband raped or assaulted other women. And yet, CNN, MSNBC, let alone Fox refuse to discuss that at least twice Trump has himself been accused of sexual assault or rape in sworn statements – once by his wife and again a decade ago in a lawsuit brought by a woman named Jill Harth. But in discussing how to approach the issue of how to approach Trump’s history of accusations of sexual violence or harassment the question came up, what exactly is Trump trying to accomplish by using Bill Clinton’s past against Hillary?
[snip]In a sense, how galling it is for Clinton to be attacked for her husband’s infidelities or transgressions is, to use the tech phrasing, a feature not a bug. It makes his demonstration of power all the more vibrant and bracing. It kind of takes your breath away. And that’s the point.
This is the ultimate gendered election. As Frank Foer explained in March, denigrating attacks on women are the one consistent theme throughout Trump’s entire public life. They’re not tactical or opportunistic. They’re part of his essence. What makes the general election contest more volatile and febrile is that not only is Trump basically the embodiment of ‘dominance politics’ and assertive violence. But Clinton, for all the toll the last two years has taken on her public popularity, is still seen as strong and a strong leader by a majority of the public. As I’ve written in similar contexts, when we look at the messaging of a national political campaign we should be listening to the score, not the libretto, which is, like in opera, often no more than a superficial gloss on the real story, mere wave action on the surface of a deep sea. You’re missing the point in trying to make out the logic of Trump’s attacks on Clinton. The attacks are the logic. He is trying to beat her by dominating her in the public sphere, brutalizing her, demonstrating that he can hurt her with impunity.
That’s part of it, but I don’t think it’s the whole story. Trump realizes he’s deep underwater with women voters. He knows he can’t win without enticing a significant number of women to vote for him. And he’s trying to neutralize any gender solidarity advantage Hillary Clinton might enjoy by making her a party to Bill’s bad behavior, not a mere victim of it.
The need to dominate and humiliate is a sign of the bully that is ever-present in Trump and essential to understanding his actions. But there’s a strategy there, too, and if the media continue to give Trump a pass on his own behavior while allowing him to accuse Bill Clinton with impunity and implicate Hillary Clinton too, it may work better than it should.
Matt
We know the media will fight for GOP. The question isn’t how to get them to stop by asking nicely, it’s how to make them stop.
CONGRATULATIONS!
It’s a stratagem that may work VERY well with the youngs, who either weren’t born or not old enough to see the shark frenzy firsthand.
But youngs do not vote.
Anyone else, it’s going to backfire. Hard. I’m surprised that a guy like Trump, who has a very good handle on what his rabies-infected electorate wants, would do this. Because it will destroy him.
Wag
Hil needs to pull out all the stops and go after trump with everything that they’ve got (and I assume it is a massive file of oppo research). No quarter.
max
Well, it was completely even if you ignore his numbers with women – he’s not actually popular across the board so he has to go negative. Time to cue up the Trump and the ladies video.
max
[‘The media won’t do it unless they have to.’]
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
He’s also yammering about Vince Foster.
Hordes of stiffed vendors, purchasers and investors from every bankrupt or shuttered Trump venture exist. Dozens should be trotted out, starting the second week of August, to discuss just what Trump’s legendary business acumen did to their lives. Contrast it with snapshots of The Donald’s fabulous and undisrupted lifestyle in that period.
Let him know that if he’s wanting to dredge, it is a two way street, and that when things are done, his brand is gonna be upgefucht.
Roger Moore
My gut feeling is that the media is not going to touch allegations about Trump unless they come directly from the Clinton campaign. They don’t want to lose access, which they are very likely to do if they bring stuff like that up without prompting.
The Dangerman
I still believe that, one, Hillary will win in an election that will be closer than it should be, and, two, Trump really does not want to be President (at least subconsciously); a rational actor doesn’t come out a few hours after an airplane crash and call it 100% terrorism, no doubt (paraphrasing). That’s an all in bet; if it comes out as probably mechanical (and it’s trending that way), he’s going to have some ‘splaining to do.
/Ricky Ricardo
The Thin Black Duke
I think it’s going it’s work as well as it did when Rush Limbaugh tried to do it to Sandra Fluke.
dollared
This is a death spiral for Trump. The chief public liability he has is that he’s viewed as a boor and a clown, that we don’t trust this daddy with the keys to the nukes. Attacking Hillary sexually and pulling her into the gutter will only reinforce his liabilities. It’s.not.presidential. He can maybe raise Hillary’s negatives, but he’ll only make his own negatives worse.
If I were him I’d keep hammering on the stuff to her left – trade agreements, etc. to emphasize her-eliteness. Then I’d work on my presidential-ness stuff to make himself look like a strong nationalist leader. But I’m counting on him to act like a jerk and a bully. So far, so good.
Trollhattan
@Wag:
I’m confident they have a yoooge supply of ammo (how could they not?) and are busying themselves on the timing and sequence of its use. I’m reminded of Meg Whitman’s very high-profile, noisy and expensive campaign to first win the primary and then the general election. Everybody and their uncle was pulling out their hair because Jerry was doing zilch–no money or hard campaigning for the nomination and very quiet over the summer as well, until fall. The utter annihilation in November was a thing of beauty, and Jerry never visibly broke a sweat.
Cat48
I was watching msnbc today & they shoe the brief video Trump made and then showed old video of Chris Matthews,interviewing Trump who took Bill’s side, defending him. The Clinton’s say they’re not replying to Trump as they’re running on the issues, not the past. Of course , the murder of Vince Foster is topic today. ??
Jeffro
1) It definitely is a strategy to try and humiliate/bully HRC as Betty has noted
2) It’s also designed to give everyone over the age of 25 “Clinton fatigue” all over again…same with Vince Foster, etc etc.
3) It takes the focus off of Trump’s tax returns and assorted other scams
So…
4) let’s make sure that everyone knows, it’s not acceptable to try and smear Hillary for anything Bill’s done
5) let’s make sure everyone knows that most of what caused “Clinton fatigue” back in the 90’s was the Republican Noise Machine’s doing, not the Clintons’
6) let’s get the focus back on those tax returns!!!
Cacti
Fun fact: Hillary Clinton is the only remaining candidate who’s been married only once.
msdc
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
Fixed.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
Keep Bill locked in his closet is my first bit of advice to Hillary, and let Trump thrash around in the gutter by himself. Second, Hillary should just keep talking around him about all the things that matter to people – IOW, what she’s doing. She should let her surrogates take care of Trump. There’s nothing to gain by engaging this disgusting creature on his level, which is not just unpresidential, but not even suitable for polite company.
Matt McIrvin
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
It could help make sure they don’t vote, if they were already leaning toward Sanders and it just enforces a general “where there’s smoke there’s fire” impression that Hillary Clinton is a corrupt person.
SiubhanDuinne
To my disgust (and personal annoyance with myself for doing it), I clicked on an ad that Trump has already begun running. Charlie Pierce linked to the article about it and that in turn (Hollywood Reporter, IIRC) had a link to the 20-second spot. Let’s just say, Juanita Broaddrick. Ugh.
Just filthy stuff, and this is before either party has officially nominated its candidate, and with 5-1/2 months to go before the actual election. If it’s this vile this early, I honestly can’t imagine what it’s going to be like after Labor Day.
I reluctantly must agree with @Wag: Team Clinton has to punch back, and punch hard, and not let Drumpf get a pass on any of this. I say “reluctantly” because I’d really like the campaign to be more substantive than this, and I think it could be risky for her, so easy to misjudge. But she cannot and must not (and, I think, will not) allow herself to be swift boated.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@msdc:
You may be right – give it time to sink in, and to fuck up their convention.
Roger Moore
@Trollhattan:
Brown also had what I thought was one of the most amazingly simple and effective campaign ads I’ve ever seen. Of course Whitman walked right into that one, but that ad was a thing of beauty.
rikyrah
Every woman who has forgiven a man for his failings is not going to appreciate it. Because, sometime, somewhere SHE has been blamed for a grown-assed man’s behavior.
WarMunchkin
The advice to Hillary (from mostly men) has already begun. Election God, plz
Betty Cracker
@Cacti: Good point. Someone here (can’t remember who) outlined a great response to a Trump attack along these lines during a debate, i.e., “I chose to work on my marriage, but I can understand why your first two wives didn’t.” Boom!
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Could be you’re right. Still, he is going to dump loads of slime on her during debates. She’ll have to respond in some way.
Matt McIrvin
@The Dangerman:
Since when is Trump ever held to standards of rational argument and empirical verification? People will forget he ever said it, and if they bring it up, it’ll come across as ridiculous nitpicking.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@Betty Cracker:
That’s along the lines of one of those Winston Churchill – Lady Astor quips.
Robin G.
Josh Marshall has really nailed the psychology behind the Trump movement, very nearly from the beginning. I’ve enjoyed reading his insights.
That being said, I think there’s another point missing to the strategy: to remind voters of the wearying slog of Clinton scandals in the ’90s. “Ugh, I can’t stand another 4-8 years of investigations,” as though those investigations were in any way the Clintons’ doing.
msdc
@Matt McIrvin:
Two things:
1) In 2012, “youngs” were a bigger part of the electorate than senior citizens.
2) Hillary Clinton crushes Trump by more than 2 to 1 among millennials.
I agree with the other commenters who say that Clinton has to push back against the swift boating (in a smart way), but for Christ’s sake, enough with the pants-wetting. Time spent panicking over what some hypothetical caricature of the electorate might do does not help defeat Trump.
The Dangerman
@Matt McIrvin:
Maybe, but there are two things that dominate every election – the economy and national security. Sure, there are other issues, but those two dominate. Every time.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@Betty Cracker:
Along those lines:
Chris
@SiubhanDuinne:
This.
msdc
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Define ’em early.
Chip Daniels
I’m a card-carrying member of the male gender, so I dunno how the wimmenz are going to react to Trumps attack.
But as I understand it, Ms. Average American Wimman is supposed to look at Trump beating up on Hilary for her husbands philandering, and decide that she likes Trump better?
Really?
Trollhattan
@Roger Moore:
I’d forgotten that one–brilliant. Peter Coyote voiceover?
jl
Seems to me that this is a bad move for Trump. He is not playing to the GOP base anymore. Maybe it’s a feint to hide more effective attacks? Or maybe Trump will prove to be a truly inept and vile campaigner?
I’ve been waiting for out lousy corporate media to take a close look at Trump. Seems to me that a number of things that would be big deals for other candidates, both Democratic an Republican are barely noticed for Trump. The ‘Trump University’ scam, some of his strategic bankruptcies, already impressive history of policy flip-flops, are examples.
Maybe this move is just a response to the inept NYT piece, that think flubbed the story of his sexism. Why highlight the dubious story of the woman he gave the swimsuit too at some party (she came out and disputed it within a day), when there is more serious and damaging stuff, like the issue of marital rape? There is not only the court case, but Trump spox seeming to deny that such a thing exists. Was that in the NYT piece. I skimmed it but don’t remember.
But if Trump thinks this line of a attack is one of his brilliant ideas and he tries to make it a theme, I think Mr. Trump is mistaken.
patroclus
Karma’s a bitch. Ken Starr is apparently being fired from Baylor because of a massive cover-up of multiple rapes, for which no disciplinary action was ever taken against various football players, and the Clintons may well be back in the WH shortly!
Cacti
@Chip Daniels:
I got the same impression.
In my male opinion, I think Trump’s problem relating to women voters is that he doesn’t really regard them as human beings in the first place. Women to him are like big houses, expensive cars, etc. Something to keep around as long as it makes you happy, then periodically trade in for a younger model.
jl
@patroclus: Well, for the GOP, that just makes Starr even more of an expert on the issue. Guess he will be heading one of the HRC investigations during her admin.
Trollhattan
@SiubhanDuinne:
They also need to learn from li’l Marco, Teddy boy and the rest that it’s not a matter of out-Trumping Trump by copying his tactics.
Major Major Major Major
I’m trying not to pay attention to the day-to-day of this election. If I worry about it every day I’m going to experience the election 168 times. Then begins the long process of trying not to pay too much attention to it after the fact.
I am, of course, failing.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
Good news for OH voting:
The Thin Black Duke
Thing is, I think people need to remember that this bullshit Trump is spewing isn’t new. The GOP has tried to destroy Hillary Clinton for over twenty-five years, and in the meantime, Ms. Clinton has been elected as a senator twice, came thisclose to becoming President and served honorably as SoS. I think we should have faith that Hilary knows what she’s doing.
D58826
@Jeffro:
I understand why Hillary’s negatives are high. The non-political junkie sees a few headlines and just assumes that where there is smoke there is fire, and not realizing the smoke is from a smoke generator. And yet at some point you would think that after 25 years of non-stop investigation and ‘scandal’ which has turned up one blue dress and a blowjob people would go over and look behind the curtain.
The MSM is doing the GOP a big favor with the constant repetition of ‘Clinton scandal’, ‘Hillary dogged by scandal’, ‘Hillary a flawed candidate’. etc etc. All of the candidates are flawed because people are flawed. Maybe they can throw in a few ‘the often bankrupt businessman’ or the ‘casino magnate with alleged mob ties’ . Since the MSM is so fond of saying both sides do it, then report both sides doing it (what ever IT is).
jl
@Cacti: I’ll wait for the Trump “Make our women hawt again!” cap.
Chat Noir
@Chip Daniels: This woman voter is pissed (tho not surprised) and looks forward to voting for Hillary in November.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@Chip Daniels:
Right now, Trump is overperforming in polling of households, even among GOPers.
When the pollsters call, family head husbands may be home, or the polling participant may fear a followup call which would indicate her insufficient fealty to conservatism.
When the rubber hits the road in the booth, there are gonna be large numbers of women aged 50+ who never, ever voted D in their lives who decide that she isn’t scary and is one of their own, and will make a once in a lifetime choice.
We see it all the time in local judicial races in precincts that otherwise vote heavily conservative – those households are splitting votes and going for judges who are lifetime liberal activists – which is why our local bench tends to run about 75% female.
Michael
This post is why I think Vice President Franken has some appeal.
Sincere lib bona fides, replaced in Senate by a Dem guv, and he can be the attack dog that the nominee shouldn’t be. I bet he can elicit some unforced errors from Trumps late night tweeting.
ET
Trump may realize he is in trouble with women but I am not sure this is the best way to win them over at best or pat them on the head to placate them either. I think is all about the men – as is just about everything he says. Don’t many men blame the wife when he cheats? This blame Hillary for Bill’s infidelities is just more of that directed at the men.
I am not sure Trump cares about (anonymous) women enough to bother with.
Barbara
@Wag: Combating this particular line of attack by “going there” with Trump needs to come from someone who is not Hillary or Bill. Someone who can say the way Bill Clinton did in his 2012 convention speech or was it 2008?), that it takes a lot of brass to make allegations about someone else of the very kind that have been made in sworn testimony about yourself. A Joe Biden type of person.
eric
Another key factor: the disrespecting of Obama. Once Obama takes to the trial for Clinton, I would expect a lot of nasty stuff from Trump, of the sort that will once again energize African-Americans to defend the legacy of a black man who publicly took racist lashings with such dignity, sadly reminding all Americans that racism remains a key part of America’s core being. I think you will see Trump lash out at Clinton’s latino surrogates and female surrogates in ways that will energize and GOTV for the dems. There is a reason so many in the GOP were terrified that he would become the nominee — he energizes those portions of the electorate that can spell electoral doom for the GOP brand in Congress as well. Proceed, Donald.
NR
The thing is, Trump doesn’t have to win on this issue. He only has to neutralize the line of attack against his sexism.
Even if you don’t believe the allegations of rape against Bill, the fact is that he used the power of his position as an aphrodisiac to seduce women who were subordinate to him. That’s a fact that can’t be disputed. And Hillary at the very least knew he was doing it.
So if Trump succeeds–as I think he will–in turning every attack against his sexism into a discussion of Bill’s unseemly sexual history, Hillary’s biggest advantage is gone and she’ll have to try to run on her record. Which is not, shall we say, especially impressive.
Barbara
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Not to mention the poor students who were defrauded out of thousands of dollars by Trump University.
patroclus
@jl: Well, personally, I think Briles and McCaw are the real villains, but, apparently, it’s harder to fire a coach or an AD (because of the contractual issues and the money that Baylor would have to pay), so the Baylor Board of Regents is (apparently) taking the easier way out by just forcing Starr out. For those of you who have not followed this issue, up to 9 women have been sexually assaulted by Baylor athletes (mostly football players) over a period of years and the University did nothing about it. No player was ever disciplined; in fact, they never lost any playing time. Some of the women lost their scholarships, were forced to change their class schedules just to avoid the perpetrators, while the athletes remained protected. All this was reported to the football coach (Briles), the AD (McCaw), the campus police and to the president (Starr) and they continued to do nothing about it.
I say “apparently” because Baylor hasn’t confirmed any of this. It’s just a story reported by others at this juncture.
Cacti
@NR:
And right on cue, a true progressive (TM) shows up to put in a good word for Trump.
Your mask is slipping, pumpkin.
Mary
@Barbara: Obama?
rikyrah
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Yeah
SiubhanDuinne
@Trollhattan:
Quite true. That was in the back of my mind when I said “I think it could be risky for her, so easy to misjudge.”
NR
@Cacti: Hey, Trump supporters like you must be loving this. Right?
jl
What goes beyond the standard GOP smear rubbish and gives it the true ‘Trump touch’ is the addition of lies and damned lies to the smears.
Is there any evidence that HRC did something, or threatened, or persecuted, Bill’s accusers at all?
Places that I trust like TPM blog say ‘none whatever’. Will the media challenge Trump on the lies? Or will they shake their heads sorrowfully, and say ‘it’s out their now… let us see if HRC will clear up the doubts….. oh…. gee… too bad… she didn’t.’?
Hoodie
Trump’s tactic is to say something so outrageous that even responding to it produces his desired result. Perhaps the thing for Hillary to do is what Obama did with the Rev. Wright allegations, use it as a teaching moment. Talk about Bill’s past infidelity, but define it for the simple infidelity it was to dispel the rape nonsense. Then pivot to her belief in redemption (hell, even Ken Starr talks about the Big Dog’s redemption these days) and the need to work on your marriage. That will definitely give her traction with married women. Generally speaking, it might be a good tactic for Hillary to go full metal Sunday School on Trump. She can probably do that better than an oily phony like Ted Cruz.
Corner Stone
The strategy is also to turn HRC’s strongest advocate and campaigner into a non-entity on the campaign trail. WJC is and will be a great asset on the election trail until Obama can join in. By making Bill take questions every campaign stop about sexual deviance or some other BS that changes his narrative and usefulness as a surrogate. Because you know there will be reporters asking him to respond every single stop. And we also know WJC can’t always demur and stop himself.
Chip Daniels
When the Lewinski scandal hit, I was still a Reagan Republican. By the time it was over, I was publically calling myself an Independent, and was well on my way to being a liberal Democrat.
It was the rabid stupidity of the GOP that nauseated me, my Terri Schiavo moment.
I had to grudgingly admire the Clinton’s tenacious dignity in the face of the Gingrich lynch mob.
I also remember how everyone I talked to grasped the scandal on a deeply personal level.
No one for a minute thought Bill didn’t have sex with that woman; but men understood his motivations and weakness, and women understood Hilary’s rage at the young girl.
This is the story as old as Juno and Jupiter, where Juno rages at the girls, because its too painful to rage at her beloved husband.
Women (IMO opinion!) grasp this, married women even more so. How many women have silently suspected their men of cheating, or wanting to cheat, and how many women can identify with Hilary’s decision to work through it regardless of the pain, and how many of those women see in Trump not a sympathetic voice, but the very thuggish cad of her ex?
Just Some Fuckhead, Clinton Supporter
I can’t reconcile this with Trump being a moron.
D58826
@SiubhanDuinne:
or willy Horton’ed. I don’t know how she should respond. That’s why the campaign strategist get the big buck, but she has to respond. If the campaign assumes that most people think Trump is a bigot, a sexist and an incompetent blowhard and therefore they will ignore his attacks then the evening of Nov. 8th could be very very long.
If she doesn’t respond forcefully then too many people will think where there is smoke there is fire and will not look behind the curtain to see the very little man (in every way, including his hands). Trump will run that garbage as long as he thinks he is getting mileage from it.
Percysowner
@jl: Well Starr is backtracking all of a sudden. Has Bill Clinton Pursuer: Ken Starr Softened On His Old Adversary?
I thought maybe he’s had an unfortunate medical diagnosis, and doesn’t want to go to the “bad place” kind of like Lee Atwater.
@patroclus or maybe it’s this.
Major Major Major Major
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: :)
See, that’s the sort of news I’m trying to care more about!
Cacti
@NR:
Good one, GOPer.
I’m having a hard time remembering a time when you ever had anything good to say about a Democrat.
Seems to be a common trait among the true progressive (TM) contingent at BJ.
How odd.
Bess
@Michael:
Keep every Democratic senator in their seat. Let Franken, Warren, and the rest go after Trump on the campaign trail. Unleash the dogs on Trump. Create lots of great soundbites for the media to use over and over.
Find another great person to be VP. (Introduce the next generation.)
Eric U.
there is a NYTimes article quoting Starr saying nice things about Bill Clinton.
I suspect there is a good way for the Clinton campaign to address these attacks. Something about who Trump would blame for raping his wife and others. But that’s probably not subtle enough
Betty Cracker
@Michael: Love that idea, but I’m not sure raiding the US Senate makes sense.
Trollhattan
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Sounds like a Big Biden Deal to me.
WereBear
@The Thin Black Duke: Zing! Such a good point!
Feathers
Bernie Sanders could win back some love and a bit of is reputation if he were to start standing up to Trump on this – think about it – he’d be the perfect one.
Trump has this window where he has the nomination, but Hillary doesn’t. He has the Nomination Bump, she’s still in the Valley of Denial portion of the primary fight. The longer Sanders allows this gap to remain, the worse it is for all Democrats.
eclare
@Trollhattan: Look at how HRC let all the negs come out against Bernie with no assist from her…playing the long game. Her campaign had to have known all of that stuff, but she stayed above and never broke a sweat.
hovercraft
@Cacti:
Exactly right, he is going for the white suburban wives who he thinks will vote as their big strong husband tells them to vote.
Women are to be subjugated to mens will, that’s why even though he elevated women way back when he made it a point to humiliate them at the same time. Paying Ivana $1 and as many clothes as she wanted, putting a woman in charge of Trump towers and belittling her for her weight.
I don’t think this is going to work with the GE electorate, the Phyllis Schlaflys of the world may appreciate that tone but not most other women. He is already behind the Mitt’s in terms of the white women’s vote share, and I predict that months of this bullshit will only cause him to lose more ground.
rikyrah
@patroclus:
You are right about it being easier to fire a college PRESIDENT than anyone in the athletic department.
Unbelievable ?
And I am no fan of Ken Starr.
patroclus
@Percysowner: The puff piece and reconciliatory stuff from Starr has EVERYTHING to do with his massive cover-up of the Baylor rape scandal and his attempt to save his job and the disgrace of being fired (er, early retired and transferred to the law school as the speculation has it). Personally, I LOVE the narrative.
eclare
@patroclus: Seriously? After the tongue bath he got today in the NYTimes?
piratedan
awaits the call to the barricades as white male privilege is under attack once again from hordes of people who wish to be treated as …. eeek! equals….
is ashamed that so many of my gender (and a few self loathing females) will heed that call.
Barbara
@Mary: Beneath his dignity. I mean, the fact that Trump’s first wife alleged that he used force to make her have sex with him when he was angry and out of control over the poor results of his hair replacement surgery — if it weren’t so brutal and ugly it might be funny. It’s not funny, it’s horrible. On the other hand, sometimes the best way to deal with this is like what Gail Collins did to Mitt Romney in 2012 — every time she wrote about the campaign she worked in a mention of Mitt’s poor dog on the roof of the family car. Like a little needle that kept jabbing.
So it would go like this, from someone who gets a reasonable amount of publicity: “I think what Donald is accused of doing is horrible, then again, I don’t know what it feels like to have hair replacement surgery fail. Maybe it was temporary insanity. Do you think he gets that way whenever things don’t go his way? I mean, is he going to invade Mexico five minutes after he finds out they won’t pay for his wall?”
Basically, ridicule and laughing in his face are more likely to work than self-righteous shock.
Princess
@NR: *Yawn* Obvious Trump troll is obvious. Aren’t you supposed to be persuading us about something something Bernie and superdelagates still?
hovercraft
@eric:
The media has let Trump get away with saying he no longer wishes to talk about the birth certificate issue, but I suspect that after he is the official nominee in July David Brock will unleash a tidal wave of oppo research. Unlike the GOP primary opponents Brock has been on this since he got in the race, and as one of the authors of all that Clinton 90’s sleeze we know he knows how to bring it.
When Obama and the superpacks get serious Trump won’t know what hit him.
So let him enjoy his summer of reruns, we have a brand new season come fall.
Phylllis
@jl: Trump ended up in a dead heat with Rubio in Charleston County SC, due in no small part I’m convinced to the Post & Courier’s hammering on a particularly complex bankruptcy case Trump is involved in there.
The Thin Black Duke
@patroclus: As that Radiohead song put it, “The Karma Police always gets their man.”
Roger Moore
@Eric U.:
He ought to be blaming himself. At the very least, that’s who Ivana said had raped her.
WereBear
That would be going with his strengths.
patroclus
@rikyrah: Indeed, at least Starr has the defense of doing something about it. First, he appointed a lawyer affiliated with the school to investigate the situation. After months of supposedly trying, he punted and then Starr appointed an outside law firm to look into it, and they’re still looking into it. (Baylor’s current position is they’re awaiting the outcome of that – and it’s been ongoing for a year or so). If I were on the Board of Regents, I would instruct Starr to roll some heads or at least suspend someone or institute new policies, but instead (apparently) they’re just gonna ease Starr out (or at least try to do so) rather than McCaw or Briles. This isn’t quite like Penn State (it’s players not one coach), but it’s close. And Baylor has been sitting on it for years.
WereBear
@Cacti: Trump is a classic narcissist. No one else exists except him.
Brachiator
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
This may be good advice. Hillary is going to have to cut Bill loose. I don’t mean divorce him, but consider NOT using him as part of the campaign. And she absolutely has to stop suggesting that he is going to have an official role in her administration.
Politics ain’t polite company. I think that she should let her surrogates take the lead, but be prepared to take him on herself.
Whatever Bill Clinton’s sexual flaws, and they are considerable, Hillary can say that she is running for president, not Bill. And she can easily note that she is as pure as freaking driven snow while Trump is a hypocritical fool who is also a philanderer, pig, and any of name she cares to use.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
I think Clinton will get a lot of help dealing with Trump.
@Brachiator:
Hillary needs to look and act presidential at all times, while presenting herself as a wise woman who has seen it all because of her vast experience. She needs to keep Trump looking like an out of control babyman who’s brand is chaos and hate, which is his default setting. The surrogates, of which there are many effective ones, will keep Trump busy with his poo flinging.
Cat48
Barbara Boxer came out today & defended Hillary, so it’s being answered. Today Hillary is having rally to including Trumps video about the housing crisis. He was rooting for it to make money, also tax returns.
Today msnbc is covering Bill Cosby’s sexual assaults and cnn, the invasion of Fallujah, II. They don’t seem really ready for the repeat of impeachment. Don’t know about Fox
Lynn Dee
Yes, the media are worthless, but it’s not like they decided all on their own to revive old Clinton scandals and pseudo-scandals. Rather, they’re “reporting” what Trump’s been braying.
Maybe we need someone on our side to start braying about Trump? Not Clinton herself, of course. And bloggers aren’t going to catch the media eye. Someone with some authority. (Remember when Harry Reid levied his tax evasion charges against Mitt Romney? That got some attention.)
Percysowner
@jl: AFAIK there is no evidence Hillary did anything to hurt Bill’s accusers. The only person to say anything is Monica Lewinsky who has said that she was hung out to dry by everyone, including Hillary and that Bill’s defenders, including Hillary, tried to make her look bad. I do think that Monica Lewinsky got a bad deal in the investigations. I think expecting the wife of the man you slept with to do anything to make your life easier is naive at best.
Jeffro
@SiubhanDuinne:
I think they should punch back quickly, then shift and hammer him with (as you’ve noted) substantive questions about Trump’s unfitness for office, i.e., “Donald Trump is only bringing up these old lies because it takes the focus off of his tax returns and what’s hidden in them”, “Donald Trump is throwing old nonsense around to distract from his eighteen different positions on allowing guns in schools (but not on his properties or at the RNC convention)”, etc.
JPL
Trump’s unstable is should not be allowed near the White House.
Iowa Old Lady
@Chip Daniels: As a card carrying member of the female gender, Trump makes me want to kick him in the junk.
Jeffro
@Robin G.: Agreed back in #12, completely
tobie
@Feathers: My nightmare is that Trump will offer Sanders the VP slot and he’ll accept…because at this point he just loves being in the limelight. Then the two of them would have their vanity campaign, and the country would pay a deep price for these putzes.
Bob In Portland
Because polls don’t count.
aimai
JMM always tries to complicate things needlessly so he can pretend his analysis is necessary to the rest of us rubes. His “bitch slap” theory of politics was useful (and is useful) for understanding high conflict politicians and the voters who love them. But this particular analysis quoted above is just a whole lot of nothing. Its true that this election is mars vs venus writ large–but every single previous election since Reagan has been the same thing. The Republicans always try to neuter or feminize the democrat. If it weren’t Hillary it would be Bernie being pillored for being a limp wristed com symp eunuch.
That being the case Betty’s point about attacking Hillary’s female voters by making her and Bill into the equivalent of Saddam Hussein’s rape rooms is the real deal, analytically speaking. Trump would never, ever, go after Hillary by accusing her of complicity in a masculine crime because, to his masculine voters, that’s all good. Making her and Bill out to be swaggering, masculine, dominators is not in the playbook. This is specifically targeted at female voters. And that, contra JMM, is something new in Trump’s arsenal.
Mike J
Germy Shoemangler
Open thread?
I just got a text from my son. He moved into an apartment with only 2-prong outlets. He asked me if it’s okay to use those “cheater” adapters that let you plug a three-prong device into it.
I told them they are unsafe.
Am i right?
Davis X. Machina
@tobie: No. Sanders is now too well known — even if he were perfectly compatible ideologically, he’d still not get the VP nod from Trump.
He’ll pick an ambitious nonentity who won’t be any threat to outshine him, or another, dimmer-in-every-way, star of the entertainment world. I’m leaning towards the second, a sort of Martin/Lewis ticket.
Eric U.
@Roger Moore:
I know, I’m just saying that by his logic, Ivana is at fault for him raping her. “By donald Trump’s logic, his ex-wife Ivana is responsible for him raping her” “But Ivana blames Mr. Trump for raping her”
@Germy Shoemangler:
I’m not sure what else to do with a two prong outlet if you have a grounded plug. Better than breaking off the ground plug like most everyone used to do
MomSense
Please proceed, der Trump.
Feathers
@tobie: I don’t think Trump has that much imagination. Upon reading your reply, my immediate thought was wouldn’t “Brother Cornel” make an excellent Vice President? Question: Does Trump realize that he won’t be able to fire the Vice President?
Some of what heartens me is that this is so far out. Trump is unable to pace himself and it isn’t like the primaries where you win when you’ve exhausted everyone else. You have to be the person who is ahead on November 2nd.
Davis X. Machina
@Germy Shoemangler: Depends. If they’re installed correctly, with the green metal tab screwed into the outlet’s bezel and you’re sure that that screw, and the junction box connected to it is actually grounded and not floating, then they’re good to go. A lot of three-prong outlet boxes have ground connections that aren’t actually grounded anyways — a lot of half-assery in spec-built houses doesn’t get found till the home inspection before the first re-sale.
germy shoemangler
@Davis X. Machina:
“Hey Dean!”
I wonder if he’ll go with ex-military for VP. A retired general who suffers from brain bubbles.
opiejeanne
@NR: Oh please, Bill seduced them? Monica bragged to her buddies that she was going to DC to get her presidential kneepads.
germy shoemangler
@Davis X. Machina: thanks.
Brachiator
@Hoodie:
There is no reason to open this can of worms, because Hillary is running for president, not Bill. And unfortunately, some of this may not be simple infidelity. Some of Bill’s behavior was reprehensible, and is even more crass if you look at it from a contemporary perspective. Even Paula Jones’ charges, for which Bill had to formally apologize, involved behavior that could reasonably be construed as intimidating. And there are plausible accusations that Bill used friends to pressure some women into downplaying or denying harassing behavior on his part.
Leave this kind of sniveling BS to hypocritical Republicans, who love to pull the “Jesus forgives me for snorting blow off a hooker’s sweet ass” card.
JustRuss
@Trollhattan:
Thank you! I knew I knew that voice, just couldn’t quite get there.
aimai
@Hoodie: I kind of think this is a good strategy-but I thnk that you are misremebering the enormous yawn that met Obama’s cri de coeur on race when he had to give the speech on Reveren Wright. Not only did it not make a difference, it was swallowed up instantly by partisan rancor with the right wing using it as fodder and Obama’s own voters just kind of folding it in to their narrative.
Roger Moore
@Germy Shoemangler:
It depends on the exact details of the wiring. If the box itself is grounded, then those cheater plugs are OK as long as you ground it by attaching it with the screw that also holds the faceplate in place. Of course in that case you could also replace the two prong outlets with three prong outlets safely. If there’s no ground connection at the outlet, the only safe way of using plugs with a grounding prong is to replace the outlet with a GFCI outlet and then labeling it as not having an equipment ground.
Trollhattan
@Germy Shoemangler:
They’re impossible to avoid. IIUC only dangerous if said appliance develops a short circuit because it won’t be grounded. We have EEs posting here from time to time, hopefully one can chime in with the particulars.
My house has a mix of circa 1928 and modern outlets and I have to use adapters with some of them. It’s never for a high-current appliance such as a toaster, heater, etc. I’d caution your son to be careful about overloading a particular circuit. That’s how electrical fires can start in the walls. (Hopefully the circuits are upgraded to breakers from fuses.)
tobie
@Feathers:
You’re onto something here. Thanks for the reassuring wisdom.
artem1s
@Chip Daniels: no, I think that stuff is more for the ‘oppressed’ males with mommy issues. I honestly don’t think Trump cares about women voting for him or not. His ego tells him that he’s going to win YOOOGE by being the biggest most obnoxious bore ever. He doesn’t look at numbers in terms of likelihood or statistics. He’s a guy who claims to have brought BILLIONS of new voters to the GOP. He’s always been rewarded for behaving this way and nothing (even losing) is going to convince him that his behavior is the problem.
indycat32
@Germy Shoemangler: My house was built in 1918 (no 3 prong outlets) and I’ve been using those “cheater” adapters for 16 years with no problem.
Cacti
@Princess:
Turned on a dime, didn’t he?
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@tobie:
Romney was leading Obama in the Gallup poll on Nov. 1, and got blown out. Keep that fact as your totem.
Roger Moore
@Trollhattan:
That doesn’t actually matter for the grounding plug; if you check, you’ll see that most toasters still use two prong plugs. What matters is the likelihood of internal damage to the appliance causing an exposed metal part to become energized.
Chris T.
@Trollhattan:
Obviously! He has a unique and distinctive voice. (Tried to find a Get Smart clip from the episode where Don Adams plays a bad-guy double and uses that line … failed.)
eric
@hovercraft: I suspect that there are “busy associates” that have their own agendas and who might like to share less than flattering tales of Trumps misshapen character
SiubhanDuinne
@Feathers:
More like a Nomination Burp (which is how I first read it).
Cat48
Sean Hannity has the ladies, Broderick & Wiley, on his radio show to talk about what happened to them. I thought Broderick was found not to be credible? I don’t remember bc I had a young child & worked daily.
So they’re trying to get regular media to investigate all this again.
Princess
@Cacti: Yup, then left the thread when he was called out.
Mike J
@Germy Shoemangler: If you can use a screwdriver and turn off a circuit breaker switch, putting in new, good, grounded three pronged outlets is easy, and pretty cheap.
Barbara
@indycat32: I have used them too in a house built around the same time, but we did upgrade our wiring over time, and I would be careful about overloading outlets. I might also ask the landlord about the possibility of an upgrade. I mean, it’s not in his interest for there to be an electrical fire either.
patroclus
I suppose what’s even more karma-esque about the Ken Starr situation is that Baylor has issued a statement denying all of the reports from “sources” and saying that they are continuing to review the matter and will have a statement by “June 3.” So, in effect, it’s still just rumors and leaks at this stage (ESPN’s OTL, which has been pushing the story has not, as yet, gone on record today). Which is exactly what he did to the Clintons for years! Leaks and attacks and rumors. There are a lot of reports that he’s in the process of being fired, but nothing firm yet. In fact, the speculation is that the NYT puff piece and the leaks are all just trial balloons to see if this will keep the media at bay. The main report has come from Chip Brown (a UT Longhorn guy) who has a “source.” Stay tuned!
germy shoemangler
thanks everyone for the electrical outlet replies.
I thanked everyone earlier, but my replies got eaten.
Has anyone else experienced their comments not going up?
Brachiator
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
I don’t quite buy that Hillary has seen it all or has “vast” experience. Nor do I think that Trump is just peddling chaos and hate, but whatever he is peddling his supporters are eager to buy.
But while Hillary is not a natural politician, I think she has been too guarded and cautious. And while this may be her preferred style, I think she can be more pugnacious, and can effectively use this against Trump, even if she saves it for later.
eclare
@Germy Shoemangler: Live in a house built in the 20’s with some knob and tube wiring. Use those adapters all the time. Been here 12 years, no problems, but I’m not an engineer.
ETA: don’t use them with anything that is a huge power drain, anything that requires heat. Laptop, calculator, lamp, etc. No hair dryers, space heaters, etc.
Major Major Major Major
@germy shoemangler: Only if they’re about sheeple.
SiubhanDuinne
@Roger Moore:
Trump? Blaming himself? That may be the funniest thing I’ve read all day.
Trollhattan
@Roger Moore:
IIUC two- vs. three-prong is indicative of double-insulation that renders the third grounding prong moot. Our toaster oven has three while its companion electric kettle has two, despite being within a couple hundred watts.
I never buy power tools with three-prong plugs, figuring I might have to use them with a non-GFI outlet outdoors.
Dad learned me all this stuff as a young’n when I’d help him with wiring jobs during summer, but I forgot half of it in the intervening years.
? Martin
@Germy Shoemangler: Check on the state. In many states/cities, that’s a code violation and the landlord can be compelled to upgrade. It’s not a terribly expensive fix.
Brachiator
@tobie:
I think you can safely ignore this feverish dream. You might want to put a cool towel on your forehead, though.
And while Sanders may be enjoying the political limelight, he has been pretty consistent in what he wants, which ain’t nothing like Trump’s platform.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Germy Shoemangler: Not really. Yeah, stuff should be grounded, and I’d worry about things like refrigerators and power drills that pull a lot of power and have metallic casings that stray voltage can get into. Two prong outlets are not ideal. Sure sign of an old building. But the adapters themselves are not unsafe at all, needed to run modern electrical equipment in old homes, and sometimes necessary in certain esoteric applications like sound reinforcement or other environments where ground loops can be an issue.
@? Martin: Um, rewiring an entire house is a pretty damned expensive fix, and as long as it was to code when the home was built, the owner cannot be compelled to upgrade.
@Roger Moore: GFCI won’t work without a path to ground, so that’s no safer than doing nothing at all.
eclare
@eclare: Meant that laptop, calculator, lamps are fine.
Trollhattan
@? Martin:
Every time I call my landlord the line is busy. Darn landlord. Kil my landlord.
SiubhanDuinne
@Germy Shoemangler:
That doesn’t even sound as though the property is up to code. I have no idea how expensive or disruptive it is to replace all the 2-prongers with 3-prongers, but if I were the renter I’d ask the landlord to take care of it.
Karen
@Feathers:
You must have more faith than I do. I think it’s more likely that Bernie uses this on HRC. He wants to be rid of her and I can easily see Jane remarking about Viince Foster and how the FBI should be investigating her, especially begging them to hurry up about it.
Trollhattan
@SiubhanDuinne:
In my case the remaining ungrounded outlets are served by two wires each (“knob and tube”) and would require new romex pulled from the breaker panel to each outlet and switch on the circuit–a potentially destructive project with lath-and-plaster walls.
I could swap out the outlet for new ones, but the grounds would be non-funcional. The county seems to accept a mix of old and new wiring, as inspectors have signed off with every remodel and it’s never come up when refinancing. I blame Obama.
SFAW
@Trollhattan:
Nitpick Patrol to the rescue!
“C-I-L-L my landlord”
– Tyrone Green (author)
Robin Gittelman
@Cacti: Exactly. Women have value to him only to the extent they’re f***able. He can’t break that pattern even with his own daughters.
opiejeanne
@Karen: Jane has been pretty quiet since that college declared bankruptcy. Has anyone seen her in the past two weeks?
Zinsky
A cat o’ nine tails is the preferred tool to use on Donald Trump. Fishhooks and razor blades on the end of long bungee cords and flog him unmercifully until you strip and debride him of every inch of flesh on his fucked up body. Then salt him down. It might teach him a little humility before he dies.
SFAW
@Trollhattan:
As well you should. But it’s not totally his fault — Kenya had no equivalent to the National Electrical Code, so how would he know?
SFAW
@Zinsky:
Oy, such a kidder.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@opiejeanne:
I’ve been wondering the exact same thing. The local press in VT are all over this story, and the press has reported that the trustees have heard the Feds are around asking questions. My guess is she’s getting her tax returns together, and we won’t be seeing her or what’s in them, but the US attorney will. I think she’s been behaving in a very sketchy manner and her leaving the college under the circumstances she did tells me they paid her to leave and to take her grift with her. She’s got some nerve, but she and Bernie strike me as being let’s just say… hypocritical when it comes to money – especially other people’s money.
Chris T.
On two-prong to three-prong outlet adapters…
This is a bit complicated because of all the changes in electrical codes over time.
The basic idea behind grounded outlets is (or was) that any regular 110/120 volt outlet in an ordinary house has two wires going to it, one called “hot” and one called “neutral” (black and white wires). Every “neutral” wire is connected to a grounding rod at one point inside the house, with the grounding rod driven into the earth—as in, the actual ground under your feet, hence the name “ground”. The earth, the ground, is actually fairly conductive (how much depends on what the soil is made of and how wet it is and so on).
Meanwhile, in big metal appliances like washing machines and ovens, and even in smaller metal appliances like toasters, the neutral (white) wire is (or was) wired to the metal box of the appliance. The hot wire runs to the motors and other power-using circuits.
This means that if you, the human, are wandering around with wet feet touching the floor—the ground—and you take hold of the metal box, you’re connecting to two wires that are connected to each other. The box is connected to the white wire, which is connected to the grounding post, which is plugged into the earth, which is where your feet are plugged in. So there’s no power to flow from the box, through your body, into the ground. It’s all grounded!
Well, that was the old days, the 1920s or whenever. Comes the discovery that, oops, people are wiring up the washing machine wrong! The hot wire is going to the metal box! People are getting electrocuted!
Solution: add a third wire. The green wire, green for ground. Connect the metal case to the green wire, not the white wire. That’ll fix it! No one will connect the wrong wire now! (Cough.)
In practice, this did reduce mistakes a whole lot, and meant a lot fewer people got electrocuted. But it’s still possible to mis-wire appliances.
Cue the 1980s or so and Ground Fault Interrupt (GFI) circuit breakers … these, in effect, measure the electric energy going to the appliance vs the electric energy coming back from the appliance. This works well for many loads and basically detects all cases of “electricity is going into the hands of a person and out through their feet into the ground” and shuts it off (provided the GFI breaker is working, of course). It renders the green ground wire redundant, or at least mostly redundant (the ground wire can still reduce the amount of electricity you personally absorb, and is a nice backup in case the GFI fails).
Also, due to the nature of the GFI fault detection, it does not work for particularly big heavy motors, such as, well, washing machines. (And sometimes vacuum cleaners.) So for some appliances you can’t use a GFI and do still want a real ground wire.
Come the 2000s (or 2010s), and microchip based Arc Fault (Circuit) Interrupt (AFI or AFCI) breakers … it turns out that a lot of remaining house fires occur because of electric arcing, and AFCI breakers can detect this, as well as detecting the same cases as GFI, and shut off the power and so on. Even better than GFI breakers, though with similar constraints. Also, we now have switched reluctance motors with DC drivers that make super efficient variable speed motors for our high efficiency front loading washing machines, that don’t have issues with GFI/AFCI breakers…
glory b
@Bob In Portland: Sam Wang at Princeton has written that the most unreliable presidential polling is historically done in May.
So, we need to fight, but not freak out.
Bob just doesn’t like the fact that poor people and people of color want Hillary to win.
I think he’s Matt Bruenig.
Chris T.
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
Sure it will, and does. Precisely how well, depends on dependencies. See http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=484690 for discussion.
Trollhattan
@SFAW:
Arrgh, for shame! Wonder what Mailer would make of Trump’s run? They had to have collided numerous times in the city.
D58826
@Zinsky: And for sailors that didn’t get the message delivered by the cat o’ nine tails on their ship there always flogging around the fleet.
Captain C
@msdc: I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those ads are already in the can, just waiting to be shown as part of those large June ad buys that have already been made.
D58826
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: And rerunning the image of her brushing the lint off her shoulder during the Benghazi inquisition might be a good image when taking about Trump. He is just so much lint
Frankensteinbeck
Look at this from the kind of people conservatives are, and how they’ve acted until now.
Bigots view black men as scary and dangerous, so they responded to Obama with fear and desperate attempts to stop him at every turn. Bigots view women as vulnerable, which is why they attack, blatantly and ferociously and without shame. I expect the behavior of the Republican Party to resemble GamerGate throughout the election and probably most of Hillary’s administration, but not be nearly as obstructive. They won’t be calculated or hide their misogyny, either. They’ll just attack and attack and attack. Trump is a bigot, a dumbass, and a narcissist who says whatever comes to mind. He will definitely act like this. I think the national journalist class will try to maintain superficial politeness, to the point they don’t realize that what they say is wildly misogynistic, but they’ll follow the same pattern. The effect of these ‘strategies’ I will leave up to others to speculate.
glory b
@Cat48: One of them, I don’t remember which, refused to testify about the incident under oath.
D58826
An comments on the people Bernie picked for the platform committee. He seems determined that it will be his platform or nothing. Doesn’t matter if it even remotely doable. I realize that most of the hard copies of the platforms will be used to wrap raven’s redfish catch but they do provide a framework for what the party believes in. If you make all kinds of unrealistic promises then it just feeds the ‘see they never keep their word’ trolls.
Psych1
@D58826: It ain’t over. She lied, under oath, to the Republican controlled, Bengazi committee. They may not let her get away with that.
Major Major Major Major
@Psych1: Tell me more, Cassandra.
Uncle Cosmo
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Lady Astor & Churchill got into it a few times, & the more famous quotes are the ones where Winnie won, but then there’s this:
And this:
And this (paraphrased from memory; I cannot find an attribution for it):
The Thin Black Duke
@Psych1: Wasn’t that Hillary behind the grassy knoll in Dallas too?
D58826
@Uncle Cosmo: Say what you will but there were and probably still are a better class of debaters and putdown artists in Parliament than in the US Congress
SFAW
@Psych1:
If the Rethugs thought she had lied to them — or at least thought they could make a convincing case that she had — they’d have started proceedings already. And, no, they wouldn’t save it until after her nomination.
But she DID kill Vince Foster — stabbed him right through the neck, she did — then dragged him to Fort Marcy Park all by herself. She also secretly funded the 9/11 crew, and was once Osama’s mistress.
The allegations regarding her kidnapping of Judge Crater are currently under review.
Brachiator
@D58826:
He says he’s satisfied. If this quiets him down for now, everything is good.
We’ll see what happens when we get to the convention.
SFAW
@The Thin Black Duke:
With Ted Cruz’s dad?
D58826
@Psych1: Do tell, would you care to be more specific?
D58826
@SFAW: OH GOD the thought !!!!! how kinky
Trollhattan
@Psych1:
Did they, have a sale, on, commas, on your, world? Bill Shatner, ladies and gentlemen!
Trollhattan
@SFAW:
Kay-eye-ess-ess…ewwww!
Psych1
OK, for those of you who don’t read. The Bengazi “diplomatic mission” was an operation designed to take Libya military arms and send them to Syria rebels through Turkey. Kind of like Iran-Contra, you know, bypass congress, and us. This is not a secret – it is well known.
Hillary testified, under oath, that she did not know about it. Nobody, except maybe a few here, believes that. Her defense is that she did not know what was going on within her own State Dept.
SFAW
@Trollhattan:
Ewwww is right. I wasn’t even thinking along those lines, you prevert.
And that goes for you, too, D58826.
Both of you! To your rooms without supper!
SFAW
@Psych1:
And Dead Andy Breitbart’s shill rises up.
Trollhattan
@SFAW:
Jeepers, on sloppy Joe Tuesday? No fair!
Major Major Major Major
Ahh, that new troll smell.
How’s the view from Turkey?
Feathers
It’s kind of cute reading all the comments on rewiring and the ease of electrical work from people who live in houses with drywall.
Folks, before drywall houses were built by putting putting up the studs, then doing the wiring and plumbing through the walls, Wire mesh was then tacked to the studs over the whole wall. The smooth wall surface was created by applying several layers of plaster to the mesh. If you want to do any electrical or plumbing work on the wall, you need to cut through all that, usually in multiple places and then patch it up again. Houses in my neighborhood (1930s) all all getting gut renos as new people move in. It’s really the only way to add enough plugs for a modern house.
This isn’t a level of work landlords are required to do for new tenants living in old houses. What does get done is running dedicated lines from the fuse box to the appliances which require them. In my case that means the washer/dryer, the stove, the refrigerator, and one outlet in the kitchen. If I have to use the hair dryer, I do so in the kitchen.
Psych1
@Major Major Major Major: On this issue, the view from Turkey is better than the view from the US.
Uncle Cosmo
@D58826: Absolutely. When Blair was still PM & Cameron took over the Tories, PM’s Questions were a hoot and a half–hammer & tong, all the time.
SFAW
@Trollhattan:
Oh, OK — just this once I’ll let it slide.
D58826
@Psych1: Couple of points
1. alex Jones, freerepublic and hotair. com all confirm your point but since Alex also says Michelle is a transgender woman and murdered Joan Rivers I think we can ignore them.
2. Yes the diplomatic post was a cover for the CIA. Now assuming your point is true, if she had discussed the arms transfer in public, then you and the GOP would be yelling treason and she gave away top secret information. Those kind of issues are discussed behind closed doors before the appropriate intelligence/military affairs committees, not in open session.
3. Now given the history of the CIA I would not fall out of my chair if it was proven that they were transferring arms. However it is just a plausible that they were there trying to collect all of the arms floating around Libya, esp. the manpad anti-aircraft missiles.
4. Since it was a CIA operation it was not within her own State department. Did she know what the CIA was up to, maybe but the CIA is notoriously secretive so all the state department might have know is they were acting as a CIA cover.
5. The CIA is off doing lots of secret things that only members of the oversight committees are aware of. That most of Congress was not informed of what you are claiming the CIA was up to is SOP in Washington.
6. And even if they were transferring arms it was not the same thing as Iran-Contra.
a. There was an arms embargo with Iran
b. There was a federal law banning the US from providing financial aid to the Contras
c. Money was transferred from one government account to another w/o the proper
budgetary authority.
D58826
@SFAW: I’m the eighth dwarf – Sleezy
SFAW
@D58826:
Nicely done.
D58826
@Psych1: Next impeachable offense?
Dand
i think he is also trying to flip the narrative like W did with Kerry on their war record. This deflects his history of abusing women.
Tokyokie
@Bess: I’d like to see one of the Castro brothers (the ones from San Antonio, not the ones from Cuba) on the ticket. It’d drive up the Hispanic vote, which Trump will lose about 9-1, and possibly put Texas into play. And they’re both really good candidates.
Donut
@Michael:
Oh my god. That is brilliant. I love it. I don’t know if you copped this idea from elsewhere or it originated with you, but the idea of a VP Franken is awesome.
J R in WV
@Germy Shoemangler:
Yes, especially with regards to power tools, toasters and similar high-energy kitchen tools, and computers.