Pretty sure Elizabeth Warren endorsing Hillary Clinton on the Rachel Maddow Show passes the Bechdel test, but someone check my math.
— Jenna Lowenstein (@just_jenna) June 10, 2016
This tweet needs to be bookmarked by every Sunday show producer https://t.co/bLhVkJMG4D
— Wyeth Ruthven (@wyethwire) June 10, 2016
There’s an old saying, “It’s only when the tide goes out that you can tell who’s been swimming naked.” And it’s only when a few brave, strong women fight their way into the conversation that you can tell which men have been using “Of course we’d hire more women, but… “ as a figleaf.
Just as President Obama’s campaign and presidency have been a (frequently embarrassing) revelation about how much racism was baked into “our” political system, the upcoming months and years are going to be enlightening for a lot of well-meaning ‘feminist’ men… not to mention the women in their lives.
.
aaamazing. https://t.co/1Ch0EH0bB8 pic.twitter.com/1peiHcXyem
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) June 9, 2016
Speaking of why feminism matters…
rikyrah
Good Morning ?, Everyone ?
rikyrah
Because, if they could just “Find them”, of course they would hire them.
Yeah, ok, I call bullshyt.
Non-Whites hear it all the time.
All the time.
AS IF there isn’t a pool of educated non-Whites from which to choose.
Lips pursed.
OzarkHillbilly
Hey, I resemble that remark.
@rikyrah: Gonna make sure you beat everybody else to it this morn, eh?
OzarkHillbilly
Rancher on horseback lassoes would-be bike bandit in Walmart parking lot
Jeff Spender
The Democratic State Central Committee is meeting today in Michigan. I can’t make it, unfortunately, but I fear shenanigans.
Hope I’m wrong.
Amir Khalid
Is that Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams I hear playing?
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Baud
@Jeff Spender: I hope so too.
OzarkHillbilly
@Jeff Spender: Shenanigans?
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Kudos to that guy for not shooting the time thief.
Zinsky
I sure hope Elizabeth Warren is Hillary’s VP choice. That will give mock feminist guys a chance to demonstrate their true feminist chops!
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I was thinking that, “Well duh, he’s a cowboy, of course he didn’t have a gun.” It is funny that Hollywood has given us the image of the All American Cowboy ™ with his shootin’ iron on his hip, when the reality is, I never met a cowboy who actually carried a gun while he was working.
They get in the way.
Jeff Spender
@OzarkHillbilly: My Bernie friends that are “BernieOrBust” and “NeverHillary” are going to the meeting with the intent to change the platform and/or rules (noting that they’re telling “the establishment” that they can’t get rid of them). A few are saying that the MDP hasn’t been transparent about the meeting, which isn’t true–what is true is that the State Party website is still lacking certain features due to the merger of five servers into two and eventually one. Not a conspiracy, just an update to an inefficient system that is slow and expensive.
They are planning protests outside of the high school in which the meeting will be held, accusing the party leadership (which remained neutral in an official capacity) of being a corrupt establishment. Sigh. I know the MDP State Chair personally. He’s a nerd, a former State Representative, but he’s not corrupt.
It’s just frustrating. I guess because they’re on the outside looking in they think it is corrupt, but a lot of these people are new to politics on this level and haven’t done the work to be “on the inside.”
BillinGlendaleCA
OT: I decided to try and take a pic shot on a cloudy day and photoshop it to a sunny day. Here’s an example:
Original pic of Half Dome,
Half Dome on a sunny day.
What do y’all think?
OzarkHillbilly
@Jeff Spender: Sigh.
@Zinsky: I am hoping not. Warren is the only politician who does not directly represent me that I have ever given money to. I love her that much right where she is.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: I’ve never met an actual cowboy.
@Jeff Spender: One thing is like to see Dems invest in is tech. It’s criminal how little information in 2016 is available on the web.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: That’s neat. You even got rid of the clouds.
Jeff Spender
@Baud: I’ve convinced my county party it is a good investment. So they made me the webmaster. I run the website, the social media accounts, the mail lists. It’s a lot of work to do on a volunteer basis. But we need this infrastructure.
BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly:
I agree.
Baud
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: They were probably baking cookies.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I’ve taken some pics of just the sky for just this purpose.
ETA: Clouds are easy to get rid of, just mask them out. The problem is making the replacement look natural. It’s done using a gradient mask the varies the intensity of the sky layer so it’s lighter towards the horizon.
Baud
@Jeff Spender: Wow. I’d vote for you for that effort alone.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Can’t know for sure, but I doubt she wants it.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: I have Photoshop but I never made the time investment needed to learn how to use it properly.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: It takes a significant time investment to learn Photoshop, the advantage is that there’s lots of stuff out there on the intertubes to help.
Baud
CNN. I’ve never heard of this term.
Baud
Any Voice fans? CNN
Punchy
@Baud: And cleaning and getting lost and comparing manis and pedis….
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: I think we’ve talked about this before. I used to be into film photography back in the day. Tried to pick it back up with digital, but never found the time.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I saw that on the late news here, I didn’t hear that she had died.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I think we have, I was also was into film back in my teen years. I even had my own darkroom. It does take time and it can be expensive. The first step is to get a pretty good camera, and it MUST shoot RAW(any of the DSLR’s or high end mirror-less cameras will meet that criteria). My Samsung cameras, the NX500 and the NX300(Infrared) are mirror-less.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: Just another statistic now.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: A long time ago in another life I spent a season working on a small (5,000 acres) hobby ranch in WY. We had one ‘journeyman’ cowboy and a second cowboy ‘apprentice’. I also worked with several from surrounding ranches and the Mint Bar in Sheridan was a favorite hangout for cowboys too.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: It’s the price of freedumb.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: Do the mirrorless cameras use a prism or a separate viewfinder? Or is there now a digital way to not have a mirror?
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: My feeling as well
JPL
@BillinGlendaleCA: You really have a talent.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Neato. Can’t say I’ve had any experience even remotely close to that.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: And then we have this:
Kay
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Just calling balls and strikes.
@Kay: Yay, Ohio! Swing state forever! You going?
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Life is worth living.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: There is no prism or mirror, the display on the back is what the sensor picks up. The downside of my camera is there is not separate electronic viewer(the model above mine(NX1) does, it’s also about twice the price), so it can be difficult to see in bright sun. I’ve put a matte screen protector that does help with the glare.
BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL: Thanks, (blushes).
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Somebody needs to tell the judge that was strike 3 and “YOUR OUT!!!”
Raven
@OzarkHillbilly: When I was a kid in LA in the late 50’s there were places where kids could rent horses and take them out without adults. We’d run them in the dry river beds and go as fast as they would run! Imagine the liability.
amk
@Kay: After two term kasich, ohioans must have caught a clue by now?
Viva BrisVegas
@OzarkHillbilly:
Presumably the judge refers to such obviously male names as Marion, Shirley, Beverley, Evelyn, Wendy, Lesley and Hillary.
BillinGlendaleCA
Hmmm, just noticed that they upgraded the firmware on my camera. I just finished the upgrade, and the autofocus in low light is much better, wish I had this when I went and to pics a the model show.
Raven
@BillinGlendaleCA: wireless update ?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Viva BrisVegas: Don’t call me Shirley!
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Is that what you’re calling it now?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Raven: I think it can, I did it via my PC.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: It’s official title was, AsianModelPalooza.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: Sound like more fun than a cowboy ranch.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: It floated my boat.
Kay
@Baud:
No. I have to work and it’s the day before my youngest child’s birthday. I have to prepare! :)
This is good, though:
Big-city mayors are important for Presidential races in Ohio. She has to crush Trump in urban areas. Huge margins. This is where Trump’s not knowing anyone in GOP politics will hurt him and her being a long-time Democrat will help her. Trump has to form some kind of working relationship with GOP politicos and electeds and he’s spent 2 years saying they’re all corrupt and stupid. They don’t know anything about him.
OzarkHillbilly
@Raven: Yeeesh. It was a different world we grew up in.
Iowa Old Lady
@Jeff Spender: Is “corrupt” just an all-purpose insult now, or does it mean something specific?
bystander
TCM is showing The Wasp Woman. Proto-feminist examination of a woman’s dependence on a youth serum that turns her into a murderous wasp.
Yesterday’s outrage about the “prayer” for the POTUS’s death led by a US Senator is now matched by the news of the idiot Ted Poe complaining his district isn’t getting enough funding for Zika concerns. This, after he joined in shorting the funding. How can these morons continue to send their own executioners to DC?
Baud
@Kay: Awesome. When you’re happy, I’m happy.
@Iowa Old Lady:
Corrupt = neoliberal
Neoliberal = corrupt
I can’t wait until we all start speaking in emoji.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Maybe you should have thought of that 5 years ago when you helped normalize him to the base
Jeff Spender
@Iowa Old Lady: My guess is “corrupt” is whatever they disagree with. They use that language–“corrupt” describes the in group with the power and connections–i.e., the establishment that they revile.
Everything that they do is powered by “the people,” which is odd, because last I checked we were all people.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
A number of Bernie people being surprised I voted for Hillary, ask “Why?” That fact is always near the top of the list.
Kay
@amk:
The Kasich thing is really interesting. He and Trump were sniping at one another (well, Trump was on Twitter) last week.
I feel like it’s a dilemma for Trump, because his whole thing is “outsider” but the truth is he needs these people. Kasich is taking the “maverick” role- saying he won’t be a good soldier.
I love “what are you going to do to support me?” from Trump. Literally everything he says just screams “spoiled brat” to me. Me, me, me. This is the big deal maker? He calls his former opponent and makes demands in the governor’s own state? I bet the alleged expertise at “deal making” is phony too.
JPL
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: This.. As long as Trump was preaching birthism, he was welcome. It was important to destroy the President.
Schlemazel Khan
@Viva BrisVegas:
I had an aunt, Florence, that used to get angry abusive calls from people who were looking for a guy of the same name who was a construction boss.
OzarkHillbilly
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Better late than never.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
I think it hurt Obama and he was an actual Democrat. He hadn’t been around nationally long enough to know them or help any of them, where the Clintons basically campaign for Democrats every two years. I felt like it was one of the reasons he was out there alone so much in his first term.
OzarkHillbilly
Relax everyone: Six times as many Sanders supporters would shift to Clinton over Trump – poll
That number is only going to climb the closer we get to election day.
Schlemazel Khan
@OzarkHillbilly:
And it is also near the top of the list of reasons that they voted against Hillary.
The reason Drumpf won the GOP nod is very much related to his not being ‘of the Party’. After years of their failing to create nirvana while dog whistling the hell out of their message the GOP is now considered part of the problem. Drumpf promises to finally deliver the tax and rule free heaven and he can be trusted because he is not soiled by contact with the Party and the proof is he says the racist and sexist things out loud.
burnspbesq
@OzarkHillbilly:
This is why we have appellate courts.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Obama campaigning Richmond Virginia Coliseum – 2008 (photo)
Trump campaigning Richmond Virginia Coliseum – yesterday (photo)
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: I observed that too. I got kind of a “you haven’t earned this shot yet” vibe.
kd bart
@Jeff Spender: Usually used along with the word “Corporatist”.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Washington Post — Most Read Articles:
1. Trump’s ‘Pocahontas’ attack leaves fellow Republicans squirming (again)
2. Ryan grilled at Romney summit, where a CEO compares Trump to Hitler
3. At Romney summit, anti-Trump Republicans in exile ponder their party’s future
4. Donald Trump: ‘I am the least racist person’
5. Donald Trump’s polling surge has faltered — and Democrats haven’t even united
Matt McIrvin
@Kay:
You know that report that came out about Trump’s talent at stiffing people and fighting them in court when they demand to get paid? I think that is the Art of the Deal. That’s his dealmaking talent–the ability to use his brand to get people to sign contracts, and then bluster and stonewall his way to breaking them in a manner favorable to himself, over and over and over.
burnspbesq
I’m having a Cole-esque (or is it Colian?) morning. Woke up at 3:30 to use the facilities and stepped in a bunch of dog-puke in a dark hallway. Delightful.
BillinGlendaleCA
@burnspbesq: It’s worse when they puke in the bed.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
(WASHINGTON POST) — Trump’s ‘Pocahontas’ attack leaves GOP squirming again
The real estate developer has repeatedly invoked the 17th-century Native American figure to refer to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, alarming some Republican lawmakers just as the furor over his barbs about a Latino judge was starting to subside.
***
Stuart Stevens — the chief strategist on Romney’s 2012 presidential bid, who, like Romney, has vowed not to vote for Trump — said the candidate’s use of “Pocahontas” to attack Warren was both racist and inappropriate.
“If you said this in a sixth-grade class, the teacher would tell you, ‘Don’t say this,’ ” Stevens said.
“This is a sick guy, and Americans are not longing for a president who’s going to go out and use ethnic slurs against people,” he said. “It’s amusing in the same way telling dirty jokes around a frat house can get laughs, but most people grow out of that. It’s childish.”
amk
@Kay: One self absorbed egotist vs another self absorbed egotist, who ‘won’ his state, fight should be interesting. Hopefully both kasich and jeb! will stay pissed off at the kkklown till Nov and work against him stealthily.
burnspbesq
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Trump will say that somebody photoshopped 20,000 cheering supporters out of that photo, and 20 million people will believe him.
The Ancient Randonneur
Not to put to fine a point on your post AL (which, of course means I am going to do exactly that) whenthe men of tech talk about diversity what they mean is they want more White Women in tech. They aren’t being overtly racist, but that is the picture of diversity they have in mind. Caucasian and Asian male startup cofounders receive most of the funding from angel investors and VCs. Every other demographic share the remaining very small piece of the pie. African American women get the tiniest bit of that cash from investors. It’s actually disgraceful, and quite telling, how difficult it is for anyone not in the club to get funding.
So yeah, let’s work toward diversity in the tech industry. I just want to make sure that gender diversity doesn’t just cover my daughters, but the daughters of all parents.
burnspbesq
@kd bart:
I thought “corporatist whore” was the preferred usage.
BillinGlendaleCA
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: The “party leaders” don’t know the Republican rank and file. The rank(and they’re really rank) and file love this “politically incorrect” stuff.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
OzarkHillbilly
@burnspbesq: I’ve had that dream, except it’s always cat puke.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
There was that, envy or thinking he jumped the line, but it’s also relationships and those are real. I feel like there’s this sort of attractive myth that “outsiders” can crash in and “shake things up” and the only people who will resist them will be people with”vested interests in the status quo”. I think it’s much more human than that. It’s “you don’t know us at all and thus you can’t tell us what to do”. People feel like they deserve recognition and credit for their experience and they do. They’re right.
BillinGlendaleCA
@burnspbesq: I thought it was “corporatist warmongering whore”.
Baud
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: The sight of Republicans questioning Cleek’s Law is something to behold.
BillinGlendaleCA
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: I guess Meg won’t be Trump’s VP.
burnspbesq
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Yes and no. The initial gross-out factor is higher, but buying a new mattress pad costs less than getting the carpet cleaned.
BillinGlendaleCA
@burnspbesq: No, she throws up on the comforter. It’s a charming smell.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Barack Obama — 1979 (photo)
Barack Obama — 2016 (photo)
Kay
@amk:
Kasich is actually weirdly detached as a governor. He’s like a “hand’s off” CEO. He treats the other state officials like under-performing division chiefs. He ACTUALLY BELIEVES government is a business. There will be a mad scramble for GOP state officials to figure out where they should stand re; Trump and Kasich because they are ALL running for governor. Their primary field for the governor’s race will have every executive branch officer – auditor, AG, Sec of State, Treasurer, Lt Governor. They’re all campaigning for themselves.
Aleta
@OzarkHillbilly: I find that cat puke in the dark is colder, because of the slime that rises between the toes.
Matt McIrvin
@OzarkHillbilly: We confuse cowboys with Old West gunfighters, who I don’t suppose were usually cowboys at all.
Amir Khalid
For those who are not planning to buy Harry Potter And The Cursed Child in book form, or can’t get tickets, The Daily Beast has published the plot of the two-part play. (I chose not to look.) They just like being dicks, I guess.
Ultraviolet Thunder
Every one I saw in NM and AZ was Hispanic. Central casting wouldn’t have given them a second look, even if they could sing.
D58826
@Jeff Spender: It would be terrible if Bernie’s legacy was a left wing tea party like purity patrol. With ‘corrupt’ taking the place of ‘patriot’
Betty Cracker
@BillinGlendaleCA: Very nice work!
@Baud: One of my cousins was a cowboy for a while; he worked on a big cattle ranch doing cowboy shit all day. I asked him if he put “cowboy” on forms that asked for his occupation, and he did!
debbie
@Kay:
Do you think they’ve given up that fine Ohio GOP tradition of job swapping?
Denali
@Bill in Glendale,
Why do you hate clouds?
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
Absolutely, part of the reason I so hated all the anti super delegates crap. As far as I am concerned, they’ve earned that status. And Bernie’s continuous railing against the “corrupt process/party/whatever” was only damaging his relations to people he needs.
Reggie Mantle
@Jeff Spender:
Ah. Hillarysplaining.
debbie
@Baud:
But kept that little plane/bird!
I used to do a lot of Photoshopping, but I used cloning and sampling. Bill’s way seems much smarter.
Betty Cracker
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Someone should tweet that to Trump.
OzarkHillbilly
Jeff Spender
@Reggie Mantle: No, a guess. Based on their scant knowledge of the way the party works, well…my assumption is that they’re novices.
It’s okay. We all were once.
Amir Khalid
@Reggie Mantle:
Perhaps you will be so kind as to favour us with the Bernsplanation.
Keith G
@Zinsky:
I sure hope that does not happen. And I doubt that it will. First of all it would be a misallocation of strategic resources. Elizabeth Warren will be a much better advocate for the things that Warren cares about if she is not tethered to the Hillary Clinton playbook and being censored by minders from Hillary Clinton’s inner circle.
Second, it seems to me that Clinton and Warren have different values on many important issues – for example what to do about Wall Street.
Third, unlike Joe Biden Elizabeth Warren has a sound and very separate power base. Asking a politician in their prime to give up such a thing is quite a significant task indeed.
And finally for now, the power structure of the Democratic Party is aging out. We don’t need anymore 60 year olds at the top of our pyramid.
burnspbesq
Speaking of things the cat barfed up … Reggie has arrived to foul yet another thread.
Ken
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Hopefully not like 1930s German businessmen… “Sure, he says some crazy stuff, but he’s popular and once he’s elected we’ll be able to keep him in check.”
Gin & Tonic
@burnspbesq: At least he doesn’t ooze up between your toes.
Jeff Spender
And, I’d like to point out, that if I didn’t want them to participate as members of the Democratic Party I wouldn’t have given them a schedule of every congressional district convention and the state-level convention with an explanation of how the MDP chooses its delegates.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@D58826:
That’s why Bernie has been a net negative by encouraging lazy delusional thinking. He was too lazy or uninterested to make sure that his supporters understood the rules he agreed to abide by, by using the Democratic party’s infrastructure, and elided the whole process by emphasizing how “corrupt” the “Establishment” was in order to excuse his own lack of attention to details – as evidenced by his own inability to discuss the “how” of implementing his own central ideas. I can’t count the number of arguments I’ve had with Bernie supporters who literally have zero understanding of how government works, and how politics works. That’s on Bernie, because I don’t think he does either.
OzarkHillbilly
@burnspbesq: Just don’t step in it and it will be OK.
Ken
@OzarkHillbilly:
The giant billboards along the highways with “SEE THE ROO F*CK THE PIG – Aileron Roadhouse, 50 km ahead” probably help draw notice.
(If the owner is any sort of businessman, those billboards exist.)
Ultraviolet Thunder
I’m in a generous mood this lovely morning so I’m looking forward to some of the Berniebro political neophytes learning a hard lesson from 2016 and committing to work to change our politics for the better. We could certainly use their productive energy more than we could use the back of their hand.
OzarkHillbilly
@Jeff Spender: Details details….
Ken
@OzarkHillbilly: Wait, anti-super delegates? I thought supers were the greatest thing since sliced bread, and were going to be the bulwark that kept Hillary from stealing the election by getting more votes?
Randy P
@OzarkHillbilly:
You gotta love Australians.
Reggie Mantle
@burnspbesq:
Ta-daaa!
Reggie Mantle
Interesting article with progressives talking about what Bernie should do next.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/what-should-bernie-sanders-do-next
Sorry, haters. “Fuck Off And Die In a Fire” isn’t on the list.
Jeff Spender
@OzarkHillbilly: You know, once upon a time I was 16. The year was 2004. Bush won reelection. I wanted to get involved more in the political systme to try to effect positive change.
I felt lost. In over my head. I didn’t understand the byzantine stricture of the party.
But instead of assuming the whole thing was corrupt and someone was trying to lock me out I assumed it was an insufficiency on my part of knowledge.
How could I expect to work within a government that was exponentially more complex than the parliamentary procedures of a party if I didn’t understand those procedures?
And so I learned.
Betty Cracker
@Keith G: I’ve dismissed all the Warren for VP talk because I assumed she wasn’t interested. But she sounded kinda interested on the Maddow show the other night, so now I wonder. FWIW, I agree with your points and hope Senator Warren will stay where she is.
amk
I doubt the lil fingered orange faced vulgarian has the same crowd pulling power as he did during the ‘fuck the establishment bums’ primaries. Especially, now that he has to depend on the same establishment bums for gotv, the ‘charm’ might be wearing off. What say you?
bemused
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
I love that Paul Ryan and other Republicans are going to be to be stuck on the Trump hot seat for the foreseeable future. Squirm, baby, squirm.
Lolis
But a white guy in a band posted on Facebook that Hillary was not a feminist because (insert reason of the day). I responded pointing out every single feminist organization in the country disagreed with him. But no, he is the real expert. Ugh, sad thing is ATX is full of these guys. This one didn’t understand that trying to tell women who is a feminist is condescending bullshit.
Reggie Mantle
Even Jonathan Chait’s coming around:
http://www.thenation.com/article/to-win-in-november-hillary-clinton-will-need-bernie-sanderss-voters/
SiubhanDuinne
Realistically, with the Democratic convention beginning six weeks from Monday, how soon might we expect Hillary to announce her VP choice? Or Trumpt o announce his, for that matter? Is there some protocol about timing of such announcements, or merely trying to seize the most advantageous political moment?
hovercraft
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Trump was right. The media is being very unfair to him, they’re reporting the things he says and peoples reactions. Welcome to the big leagues.
Richmond pics. oh the humanity, for the kenyan muslim to out draw the orange savior of real America.
bemused
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Who can forget Trump throwing birthday party for Ann Romney and that hideous horse cake? No doubt, the Romneys hope everyone as forgotten.
Kay
@amk:
He doesn’t even have a campaign. He is totally relying on the Party he just joined. I’m curious if and when it will become evident that Republican electeds aren’t campaigning with and for him. They may, but they aren’t yet. There’s real risk for them. The mayor of Cincinnati knows he can stand next to Clinton and not get hurt because of something she says or does. The mayor of Lima does not know that about Trump.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne: Obama chose Biden a few days before the convention.
Amir Khalid
@Betty Cracker:
I suspect Warren’s playing her cards close to her chest, as she has done throughout the primary season, perhaps in case a big-name, more or less neutral progressive is needed to persuade Bernie to do something. I myself think she’s needed more in the Senate than at the White House, and my guess is that she’ll stay a Senator. But you never know.
OzarkHillbilly
@Jeff Spender:
And earned, and continue to earn.
I have very little interest in the nuts and bolts of politics. I look at the parties and I know which one accomplishes more for me. I vote that way. I contribute that way. And, from time to time, I volunteer that way. One thing I do not do is denigrate the people who put heart and soul into building that party.
SiubhanDuinne
@bemused:
I remember the party and that cake, but had completely forgotten it was Trump’s doing.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Jeff Spender:
When I was 16 and living in Lansing MI I already knew everything. By the time I was able to vote I knew I was a Conservative, and voted for Reagan. Luckily I kept paying attention and recognized some of the errors I had made:
The Federal budget must balance every year.
Regulations stifle economic growth.
Government should be run like a business.
It took me most of 4 years to come around but Reagan was the last Republican I ever cast a vote for.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Reggie Mantle:
That’s not Jonathan Chait, that article was written a month ago, and the author is a Bernfeeler whose latest article is all about what Hillary needs to do to make the butthurt Bernfeelers not vote for Trump.
Other than that, good point.
Keith G
@Betty Cracker: Well, the beloved musical, Hamilton, has a song about wanting to be “In the Room Where It Happens” where the important decisions are made. I am sure that this would be a strong pull for any politician. And yet, Warren occupies the seat once held by Ted Kennedy, a prime example of how a US Senator can do so much good for his country just by being a U.S. Senator.
aimai
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Yup! Its too bad his process arguments didn’t involve any knowledge of, or sympathy for, the fact that process is necessarily part of the process. Had this argument several times with Kossacks who were blathering about the convention and “Robert’s Rules of Order,” a term you can bet none of them knew about (and still don’t understand) until the Nevada Caucus when the BoB’s made it their rallying cry because the hated Nevada Chair, the one who got death threats, was named Roberta and it turned into a convenient hate meme.
Jeff Spender
@OzarkHillbilly: It so happens that one of the first things I learned was that there is always someone who wants to tear down what you build.
The truth is this: the chances I’ll win my election are slim. 60/40 Republican/Democrat split in a gerrymandered district. But I can help lay the groundwork for future candidates. I put together a binder full of information on vendors for signage and other campaign material, contacts for local party people, House Dem Caucus, pages of links to the labrynthine SoS website for information on campaign finance law, parades and festivals throughout the district, elected officials and offices, contact information for unions, maps of the distric, historical information of voter turnout and results township-by-township, information on how to access the VAN, and so much more.
I had to build all of that on my own from the ground up two years ago. And I don’t want the next candidate to have to reinvent the wheel.
aimai
@Kay: I think the thing to point out here is that “campaigning” doesn’t just happen. The Clinton’s (and Obama) go somewhere, fundraise, meet everyone, shake hands, have pictures taken and come back later for the actual campaign event, which they will then organize and pay for in a co-ordinated fashion with other local politicians. They aren’t just going to fly in and step into a limo and roll into a campaign rally on the day, during the general election. That is what all those advance people are responsible for organizing.
But you can’t do that without an organization and without careful planning. Its not like the planning for a World Wrestling event where you can be sure you are selling a product that people will pay to come to and you are just responsible for taking the venue and putting out some advertising.
Trump may be able to stage some big rallies, but the real question is will local political actors do the hard GOTV work for him after the rally?
Cat48
@Reggie Mantle:
Hillz Pacs are already running ads against Trump. I could care less what Bernie does. Just no riots from his people at our Convention.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
Right, and similarly McCain chose Palin only about three days before the 2008 GOP convention. But Romney announced Ryan a good two weeks before the start of GOPCON2012. I haven’t tried to plot out timelines between announcement/formal nomination and acceptance for the two parties over, say, since 1960, but I’m sure someone has. Whether there’s any kind of pattern there is another question.
Kay
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
It’s reality. If Clinton unites the Party she bumps up v Trump. The PPP poll that had them even in PA said exactly that, which is why every D leader from the Prez on down is saying the same thing. I think they will unite. It’s a coalition and while the talk of which parts are more loyal and who are the”real” Democrats is interesting as far as the direction of the Party and power within the Party, loyal and disloyal people each have just one vote.
MomSense
@Jeff Spender:
I do think there is room to make participation easier for people who may need child care, transportation, some financial assistance, etc. I think this is true of a lot of organizations and faith communities.
ThresherK
@Baud: A friend linked to this cat comic and I started reading all of Robot-Hugs. There’s a lot a white cis male like me can learn about gender there, without sticking out like a sore thumb. For example.
amk
@Reggie Mantle: It’s for both sides to fucking kiss and make up. Primary wars are so last week.
bemused
@SiubhanDuinne:
I remembered because of that awful cake was unforgettable once I saw the photo. I would have liked to have seen Ann’s expression when she saw it.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@aimai:
It’s just laziness and lack of critical thinking on the part of the attention deficit disordered supporters, and that’s on Bernie, who is their king. I wonder how much Bernie even knows about the bills he’s supported – my sense of what it’s like to work with him is that he’s more interested in the attention he gets and how much he can scold people, than the details. His complaint about the treaty re the Panama Papers release turned out to be exactly opposite of what the treaty allows the US to do. He doesn’t understand how Dodd-Frank works. He’d rather grandstand, and he’s gotten away with it for his whole career, because he holds himself out as “independent”. That devastating NYDN interview really pantsed him.
gogol's wife
@ThresherK:
Nice. Love the cat comic.
gogol's wife
@SiubhanDuinne:
God, I don’t think I even knew that he did it. It was the apex of kitsch!
OzarkHillbilly
@Jeff Spender: And your reward for all this work in what in the short term appears to be a losing battle is…..
Well, my hat is off to you. I don’t have that kind of will and determination to affect change that broad.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Kay:
That’s like saying Obama needs to unite the country, when Republicans want him impeached or dead. There’s only so much one can say and do if Bernfeelers think Hillary’s the same or worse than Trump, because Sanders has convinced them of that. It’s really up to St. Bernie to do the right thing now, isn’t it?
Betty Cracker
@Reggie Mantle: The haters exist on both sides, and “fuck off and die” goes both ways. Ironically, as the MoJo article you linked points out, it’s the Bernie or Busters who may make Sanders irrelevant:
It’s definitely in Sanders’ interest to talk the Busters off the ledge. But it seems clear the well is poisoned for many of them since they’ve absorbed the “system is corrupt” and “we wuz robbed” bullshit.
As someone who cares about pushing a liberal agenda forward, I hope Sanders can bring them around. I’m not too worried about it from an electoral standpoint since I suspect many of the really hardcore Busters were Stein or Paul voters anyway. But if they give a shit about Sanders having power in the future, they’ll have to hold their delicate noses and vote for the warmongering neo-liberal Wall Street shill. It is they, not the Clinton backers, who are seriously threatening to cut Sanders off at the knees.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@gogol’s wife:
Really bad. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/04/trump-throws-ann-romney-birthday-bash-with-equestrian-cake/
AxelFoley
@Baud:
I heard that term a few months ago when President Obama was in the UK hold a town hall. One of the questioners, who spoke out of turn, referred to themselves as binary and wanted to be addressed as ‘them’ rather than ‘she’ or ‘he’.
I got pissed with ‘them’ when they said they wish PM Cameron and President Obama would take the binary community seriously. Now, I don’t know of Cameron’s acknowledgement of binary folks in the UK, but if ‘them’ paid any attention to what’s gone on in the US, they would know that Obama has done way more than just take binary folks seriously. I dare say he’s done more for the LGBT community than any political leader in the world today.
gogol's wife
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
I love those giant cowflops, and the grass that looks like shag rug in a Las Vegas cathouse.
Kay
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Not close is better than close. I don’t want it to be close because I can’t stand listening to loudmouth braggart Trump crowing. He’s a fraud. His whole thing relies on perception. I want weeks of poll-slipping and Republicans fleeing. It’s starting to look like he’s stalled in national head to heads. That’s an opening.
SiubhanDuinne
@gogol’s wife:
Which is why it’s so easy to believe the concept originated within the Rmoney household. Remember some of Ann’s sweaters? Lots of $$ =|= Good Taste.
Joel
If Mike Judge ever wanted to do a show on academic science, which has just as much ridiculousness as Silicon Valley, albeit over a lot less money, I’d sign up to consult in a heartbeat.
MomSense
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
The really bizarre thing about that NYDN interview was that they did not ask him gotcha questions or loaded questions or even tough questions. They asked basic questions and plain follow up questions. It brought back memories of discussing issues with some of the more local progressive groups. They would hold meetings and discuss issues like health care where single payer was used as shorthand. When I would try to get into the nitty gritty it turned out that they didn’t all mean the same things.
When it comes to legislation, a candidate is never going to get everything they want. For me the reason to be concerned about the details of policy proposals from presidential candidates isn’t so that I can scream sell out if any particular provision isn’t in the final product, it’s so I can see how the candidates grasp the complexities of governing. We are choosing someone who will have to manage all manner of things, many of which will be completely unexpected. I want an agile thinker making those decisions.
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: There is always room for improvement.
Jeff Spender
@OzarkHillbilly: No reward. Just pushing for positive change. Letting liberals and LGBT people know that they have allies willing to fight for them in red areas.
I got letters and emails from people all over the world–literally–thanking me. It was touching. And I felt humbled because all I did was write a letter to some asshole.
I didn’t win, but I stood my ground. I’d like to think I helped someone.
http://www.advocate.com/politics/2014/09/30/read-mich-democrats-epic-response-antigay-groups-pile-excrement
Ken
@SiubhanDuinne: Don’t forget the vetting. I’m sure the Clinton campaign has been checking everyone on her short list for a couple of months, and will continue to do that until the announcement.
The Trump campaign, probably not so much.
Jack the Second
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: It’s amazing how much easier it is for someone to admit playing off racists for electoral success is bad, when they’re not running.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jeff Spender:
Although your binder is specific to your district (and bless you for doing that!), from your description it sounds as though much of the information is either generic enough or transferable enough that it would be a great template for other Dem candidates/organizers throughout the state. It’s a huge and daunting undertaking and I really commend you for taking on such a project. Good luck to you.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: I think it was Al Giordano who had posted something recently about there being 3 different times that people typically announce their VP candidate, and IIRC you choose the timing based on what you think the VP brings to the table. It was really interesting to me – he mentioned Biden as one example – but sadly I don’t recall the particulars. But google might be able to help if you want Al’s take on this.
Betty Cracker
@AxelFoley: Maybe Iceland’s Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir, who not only presided over implementation of marriage equality laws in her first year as prime minister but then promptly married her same sex partner under the new laws. But she’s an unusual case, and she didn’t have to deal with millions of frothing nutbar opponents in and out of government…
ThresherK
@gogol’s wife: They’ve got a good number of cat comics, and one of their cats resembles my wife’s in behavior. It sounds weird but I don’t know if I’d had ever found that webcomic without the cat stuff (ETA: And here I am getting a decent education in allied-ness from it.)
MomSense
@Ken:
I’m sure there are many polls being conducted about VP choices as well. Warren speaks to many of us on this blog but we can’t afford to assume that she is the right choice in all the key places. We also tend to forget that she did not have an easy time of it getting elected in Mass. Normally CD1 Mainers focus on CD2 as it is a bit of a swing state and we divide our Electiral college votes here. In 2012 Maine Dems had to campaign in Maine and New Hampshire because Mass needed their volunteers for Warren and couldn’t spare as many as they usually do for NH. There was also a not insignificant difference between the number of votes Obama received compared with Warren’s vote totals.
All this is to say I hope they are doing all the modeling and vetting so we get the best ticket possible. I think our goal has to be to totally crush this election from the bottom to the top of the ticket. The Repubkicans have given us a big chance and we shouldn’t waste it.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
Thanks, I’ll look for it.
hovercraft
@aimai:
This has been a failing of both Trump and Sanders. The establishment exits for a reason, to win elections. You cannot build an infrastructure from scratch and win a national election, you need help. It’s like they both misunderstand the Obama mega-rallies, yes they showed the enthusiasm, but their most important function was to gather data. Bernie tried to do that too, but didn’t follow through with next step. Obama spent a ton of money on his data operation and micro-targeting by the campaign. He invested in the back of house so that his GOTV was like nothing seen before, and that involved integrating his operation with the state and national party infrastructure. The GOP state of the art GOTV operation ORCA crashed and burned election day in 2012, Obama’s worked as designed and enabled his campaign to track who had voted and get those who hadn’t out. A candidate who can’t run his own campaign and lacks the resources to fund it does not inspire a whole lot of confidence that he will be able to build the type of organization to do the hard work necessary to run a competent campaign. He is a control freak who knows nothing and isn’t willing to listen to the people who do.
Rallies feed the ego, but they are also supposed to feed the campaign with vital data.
Miss Bianca
@Jeff Spender: this sounds like what happened at our state assembly/convention. Noisy disruption, and a lot of time wasted on bullshit nonbinding resolutions that resolved nothing – aided and abetted, I am sorry to have to report, by some elected officials who should have known better. The chairman of the Colorado Democratic Party stopped by our table to chat with us after the who thing was over and we were relaxing in the bar, and he looked like he needed a couple stiff belts of whisky. From what I can tell he refrained, which is more than I would have been able to do.
Miss Bianca
And again a comment got eated. what gives?
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
Thanks for this, AL.
Everyone, if you don’t have time to watch the speech (it’s about 25 minutes and very good (it builds up toward the end)), have a read of the transcript:
Well said.
I wish everyone who talks about how horrible “both sides” are would open their minds and listen to what she, and others, are saying. We’ve got to keep up the persuasion to try to wake up as many voters as possible. We need to run the table in the fall…
Cheers,
Scott.
hovercraft
@Cat48:
This is the Grace ad running in 7 swing states. They also had the ad with women lip-syncing to Donald’s words.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Miss Bianca: You probably used a “bad” FYWP word. Lots of common words will do it.
Unfortunately, the list of banned words is apparently secret, so you’ll only figure it out by trial-and-error.
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Kay:
I wholeheartedly agree with this; Bernie Sanders had better get to work sooner than later to convince his supporters of this too. It’s all on him now.
Miss Bianca
@Jeff Spender: Good luck with all that. I find I have so little patience with Bernie-or-busters – my experience at the state assembly/convention really soured me. Endless posturing, endless accusations of bad faith, endless bs “resolutions” that resolved nothing, being that they were a), non-binding, b), addressed to the wrong gathering (uh, guys…if you want to change the rules, you take it up with the Rules Committee, not the general assembly, mmmkkay?) and c), weren’t going to address the situation they thought was so “unfair” in time to help their candidate anyway. And it’s not like their guy didn’t win Colorado, FFS – he did! That’s what berned me up, so to speak – all this fuss and pother, all this disrespect masking as “rebellious energy!”, all this bad feeling generated – and it was all UNNECESSARY. Because they couldn’t be bothered with learning the rules of engagement, and insisting that even tho’ they didn’t understand them the rules had to be changed to support Bernie Sanders. And that’s when it occurred to me that for all their talk, they didn’t actually give a shit about democracy.
O. Felix Culpa
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Thank you for posting the link to and transcript of Hillary’s speech. I love how she manages to be on point, pointed, and dignified all at the same time.
hovercraft
@Ken:
Katie Tur was reporting this week that the campaign was upset that the focus on his racism was distracting them from focusing on their VP search. A real campaign would have enough personnel to do both damage control and a vetting team.
Betty Cracker
@hovercraft: I can report that the “Grace” ad is wall-to-wall in FL.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@BillinGlendaleCA: Impressive.
I probably wouldn’t have noticed that it had been manipulated, but I like the original better. The shadows of the sitting climber don’t seem to match up with the lighting on Half Dome, similarly with the dark hill on the right, if I try to figure out why it doesn’t seem quite right in the massaged version.
From the clouds, the original looks like it was taken in a cool season while the massaged one looks like it was a warm season picture. Dunno if that’s the case, but that might be part of what seems weird about it, also too.
One can do amazing things with PS – it’s kinda scary.
Just my $0.02! :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Glidwrith
@Jeff Spender: Dayum! That is unbelievably impressive! Any way we can clone you ?
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@MomSense:
I got in a back and forth on twitter with a Bernfeeler who was very upset about Bernie being caught off guard in Harry Reid’s office about Obama’s endorsement of Hillary on Thursday. There weren’t supposed to be any questions, but the camera caught Bernie’s VERY awkward discomfort and silence when a reporter asked. He knew not only the public endorsement was a fait accompli, but that he would be asked about it. I had no sympathy for the guy. NONE. He thinks he can be president for gawd sake! Do you think Obama would ever not have an answer to an unexpected question? Sanders supporters are just like Sanders – thin skinned whiners who think everything is soooooooo unfair. Here’s a protip for them: things in politics are complicated, nuanced, contradictory, ever changing and compromised up and down and in and out – often reliant on people who refuse to act in good faith, and requires a lot of work to make sense of so that one can be effective at it. This isn’t a video game.
Bex
@bemused: I wonder if Trump paid the baker.
hovercraft
Oh the humanity , the bestest, most brilliant billionaire is begging for money.
Come on Donald a billion dollars is just pocket change for you, pony up.
PaulWartenberg2016
Trump is in Tampa today.
Anyone wanna bet on him saying something disparaging about the local Cuban population? Anyone?
bemused
@Bex:
That’s a VERY good question, lol.
I also wonder when Ann spit through her teeth, “You try running for president”, she had in mind having to associate with Trump.
HinTN
@Baud: Haven’t you heard about the emoji bible?
PaulWartenberg2016
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Please let this translate into how the voters turn out, and that the proportions have Trump getting 25 percent of the turnout that Obama got in 2008… :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
Miss Bianca
@Reggie Mantle: Yeah, I’ve always thought Chait was kind of an idiot, too.
Matt McIrvin
@Miss Bianca: Many blog comment boards started eating 100% of my posts because I listed my old LiveJournal blog in the “website” field; apparently just having a LiveJournal address is characteristic of being a spammer. So I stopped linking to it.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Clearly, Donnie’s was Yuge and Classy™. The Best™. Obama’s was just a Celeb (0:31), amirite?
Cheers,
Scott.
hovercraft
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
According to reports Obama told Bernie he was going to endorse last weekend. Bernie asked him to hold off till after they met at the whitehouse. He knew it was coming.
Iowa Old Lady
@hovercraft:
That’s hilarious. The man is 70 years old. If he’s not mature by now, he never will be.
Miss Bianca
@Jeff Spender: Awesome letter!
You need not worry, whatever the outcome of this election – methinks you have a fabulous future in public service ahead of you, no matter what happens this fall.
Ken
@hovercraft: And given Trump’s command of media,
I see they’ve confused “command of media” with “gets on TV.”
D58826
@Betty Cracker:
They also have to learn, esp. the younger supporters, that you can’t always get everything at once. Bernie’s nagging on single payer and seeming badmouthing Obamacare. I have gotten a couple of his twitter blurbs about it being shameful that the US doesn’t have universal healthcare. Well it is but he doesn’t seem to acknowledge that Obamacare has gone a long way to solve that problem. But anything short of single payer now is an example of the corruption of the system.
Miss Bianca
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: It suddenly popped up in moderation, and I’d already gone ahead and transmitted its substance – apparently without the sekrit bad word – in another comment. So, any front-pager reading this, can you just go ahead and delete the other comment? kthx
catclub
@D58826: There was a Slate Pitch advocating just that thing.
Ken
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
The hardest ones for me are avoiding the plural demonstrative pronoun, the number between 6 and 8, and the middle names of all former British Prime Ministers.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@bemused: The tree stumps were a nice touch.
I wonder if the “celebrity chef” ever got paid…
Cheers,
Scott.
catclub
@Iowa Old Lady: Henry Hyde said the marriage busting affair he had in his early forties was a youthful indiscretion.
Iowa Old Lady
@D58826:
I’m thinking “corrupt” and “corruption” are losing any real meaning.
Betty Cracker
@Miss Bianca: If you tell me which comment (by #) you want deleted within the next 5 minutes or so, I’ll zap it.
AxelFoley
@Betty Cracker:
You got me there. ?
ruemara
@Jeff Spender: Thank you for doing it. Thank you for trying to educate those Bernie supporters on the nature of government, parties and methodology. I gave up on my group, because they are the most smuggest, self-righteous and hero worshipping crowd with an absolute anathema towards paying attention to details. And as the contest moves on in their minds, they’re locked down very hard on their hate while failing to acknowledge that they hate. Most of the ones who are not indulging in Bernie worship are already on the Clinton wagon because they see that it’s. But I’m so grateful to them for reaching back towards fellow Bernistas to discuss the down ticket races and stopping Trump. At this point, I think the self preservation iinstincts of POC and the general coalition getting back to organizing will grant a much better Congress as well as our first Madame President.
Miss Bianca
@Betty Cracker: It’s not numbered, but it’s in between 175 and 176. Thanks!
D58826
Being an old codger I remember the student radicals of the 1960’s railing against the evils of the ‘establishment ‘ and how they were going to usher in a new and more enlightened age once that ‘establishment’ was destroyed. Well the ‘establishment ‘today is made up of those student radicals. A fitting dose of karma will be in about 30 years when the Bernie folks have taken over the ‘establishment’ and established the golden age but having to listen to THEIR kids talk about the evil ‘establishment’
Applejinx
@Amir Khalid: Yeah but here’s the thing:
Does it benefit Clinton personally more, to have Warren run as veep? Is that a thing that would help Clinton, regardless of what it might do to the party?
I think it does. I think the idea is basically an exploit: defuse the Bernie problem by roping in Warren to run. I don’t think Hillary cares as much about the good of Massachusetts or the party as she cares about getting elected. And we ALL know she must get elected. Hopefully, elected and re-elected.
If they went with Warren for veep, I’d find that a very good sign as it’s a flag saying Hillary 2016 is aligned with what Warren represents and will try to further that association. She thinks that’s the way of the future. She’s right. It is.
Then, it makes our jobs harder because yes, that would hurt Massachusetts and it would hurt the party structurally, and we’d have to overcome that. Hopefully enthusiasm plays a part, but it would not really be about doing the best thing for the party. It’d be about doing the best thing for getting Hillary elected (and re-elected).
The bright side for Warren is that it’s a path to President Warren, if all goes well. It’s a big gamble and she might be too smart to want that job, but there’s a lot of people who would want her to do it. If she has any sense she’ll want to stay where she is and remain a normal human fighting for her political ends, and not turn into a big symbolic figure with less practical power.
But Hillary might want her for exactly that, and Hillary is good at getting what she wants. I think that’s how things stand.
Miss Bianca
@ruemara:
I think the thing about the Bernie-worship I notice in my circle that makes me saddest is that it so much of it seems to be a result of, or to cause, Hillary-hate. I guess my inherent prejudices made me think POC would, in general, be less susceptible to the notion that some Old White Guy was going to be their personal political savior, and would be the quickest to come around if they *have* inhaled that incense.
BruceFromOhio
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: To be fair about it, 2008 was post-convention and just a few weeks before the general election, 2016 is way early for the hate-mobs to be climbing out of their holes and into the daylight.
That said, I’m in the “hit the dumpster fire until he cries then hit him harder” camp.
Glidwrith
@hovercraft: There was a Schwartzenegger interview in the side bar asking him about the Deadbeat. Bastard kept going on about polls and people being concerned about jobs and education and claiming Republicans and Dems should work together. Thanks, Gov, but we saw exactly what that meant when you were in charge here.
He WOULD not make any statement about or against Deadbeat. Coward.
hovercraft
There is a new form of unskewing the polls. It’s the reverse Bradley effect, people who support Trump but are afraid to say so to pollsters. This is his new talking point for why he is trailing in the polls. I actually think that there are people out there who are closet trumpsters, not enough to account for the gap but maybe 1 to 2 points.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@hovercraft:
This is what I mean. Bernie’s so bitter, he can’t even articulate any kind of gracious response when asked, a few days later? He’s a petulant child.
Omnes Omnibus
@Applejinx:
FFS.
Glidwrith
@Applejinx: @Omnes Omnibus: Agree with Omnes, FFS.
You sit there and claim Clinton doesn’t care about the party, but then say she should take Warren as VP to make the Bernfeelers happy the Clinton really does want what they want even though you think it would hurt the party.
If Warren is endorsing Clinton, fighting on her behalf and voicing all of our concerns, shouldn’t that be enough for you? Why would Clinton have to take Warren as VP just to be “sure”?
D58826
ot but another family values/law and order Christian bites the dust
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/ethics-conviction-removes-alabama-house-speaker-from-office/ar-AAgSCTt?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp
D58826
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: why folks are nervous:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/fashion/bernie-sanders-campaign-jeff-weaver.html?&_r=0
Keith G
It seems to me that a number of the Sanders dead enders were not Democratic voters before this election cycle. Nor do I consider many of them to be liberals in the sense that liberal has been used in Democratic politics the for many years. There is a significant number of political non-participants existing on the fringe of our politics waiting for an invitation to join in the fray. Another group of highly invested Sanders supporters were the “cause” people. These are folks whose self-identity is defined by whatever social or political cause they are able to attach themselves to – usually the more different from the mainstream the better. I’m not sure why any time needs to be spent on these folks. This seems such a Princess and the Pea scenario.
Also, I don’t get the argument that Sanders is at fault for not educating his supporters on 8th grade civics. There may be some validity to it, but I just don’t see it. Candidates for president tend to engage in far-reaching high-sounding rhetoric and they leave the nitty-gritty to later times.
Barack Obama called for a huge change in the way America conducted its politics but he really didn’t set out a detailed road map of how he would lead that change. And as out he was describing a bridge too far. Candidates who do spend time talking about the nitty-gritty difficulties of what the future may hold as often as not do not win. Jimmy Carter had that problem as did Walter Mondale.
The lesson that was learned was don’t spend too much time dealing with reality. The American people are not big fans of that.
MoxieM
I’m feeling like it’s time for a Labrys emoji! (or does such a creature exist?)
WaterGirl
@Jeff Spender: I am just as impressed with that letter today as I was in 2014, though I’m sorry to find out that you didn’t win. But you made a difference, and that’s what it’s all about.
D58826
@Keith G: Also, I don’t get the argument that Sanders is at fault for not educating his supporters on 8th grade civics. There may be some validity to it, but I just don’t see it.
Ruckus
@Zinsky:
It’s quite possible that there are a lot of women that could do the job of VP and that would be great, but Warren is very, very good right where she is. I think we all have to remember that it takes 3 branches of the government to work, and that she is a very good being right where she is. Putting her in a position that really has little power would stifle her. I don’t want her stifled, I want her full voice to be heard, and powerful.
SiubhanDuinne
@D58826:
That’s the legislative branch of Alabama government, CHECK ✔️
Now for executive (Governor Bentley) and judicial (CJ Roy Moore).
dogwood
@Applejinx:
It’s pretty obvious after reading you for several months that you don’t evaluate politicians based on who they are and what the do and say in the real world. Your take on people like Sanders, Warren and Clinton make them sound like fictional characters you’ve created in your mind. Since Bernie lost, you’ve rationalized how the corrupt Clinton character from your political novel might use her evil powers for good. There really is is an easier way to figure things out. Pay attention to real candidates in real time.
Keith G
@D58826: Well, the system is rigged. We all know that. But a lot of us are secure enough in our position in life that even with a rigged system we don’t have a lot to lose.
But I’m not here to defend Bernie Sanders. I am glad that he was able to continue a rhetorical focus on groups of people who are often not considered by our political elites. Too bad he was such a flawed candidate. But that’s the way life works more often than not. I am just amazed that many of us on the winning side cannot take the win with good grace and the understanding that we should begin focusing on more important matters that sit directly ahead of us.
Ruckus
@Jeff Spender:
Some people want what they want, when they want it and no amount of learning should be necessary to get it. And it’s not that work is good because it’s hard, it’s hard because it requires effort to accomplish anything worth doing. But hard is not something that people in the first sentence are used to or usually willing to do.
I call these people spoiled little bastards.
Amir Khalid
@Applejinx:
You seem to have retained from your Bernista days a tendency to believe the worst about Hillary’s motives, which colours your thinking about her plans. And which, in this case, refuses to give Elizabeth Warren credit for being her own woman with her own political priorities, which may well require that she stay in the Senate and out of the Vice-Presidency.
We don’t know who else Hillary is seeing for the VP slot, or who else her campaign is vetting. I would not be all that surprised to see Hillary make a choice unanticipated by the pundits.
Miss Bianca
@Keith G:
You know, I like a great deal of what you say. But considering that I personally have been called – how did Omnes Omnibus put it? – a “Republican-lite and a corporate whore”, had my judgement and my commitment to liberal causes questioned, and even mocked, not merely online but in person as well – I think I’m taking “being on the winning side” with remarkably good grace, thank you. Granted, it will be easier once Senator Sanders makes some sort of compelling case to his most diehard supporters that yeah, maybe his rhetoric about the System and the Democratic Party and the winning candidate were a bit exaggerated, since he’s going to ask them to support all of these things by actually going out and voting in November for HRC. Granted, if he doesn’t, it’s still going to be easier to pivot and focus on what’s ahead without worrying about being suddenly savaged from behind or from what might be laughingly referred to as the “left flank” – because the attacks are going to become increasingly irrelevant. We can hope. But to say, plaintively, “can’t we all just get along?” without acknowledging that there might, in fact, be cause – *real* cause, as opposed to largely imaginary and ginned-up ones – for Clinton supporters to feel some resentment and maybe even ill-will, is to pretend that that stuff didn’t happen. It did, and it needs to be addressed. part of addressing it is to dissect it immediately post-mortem, or close to it.
I wouldn’t worry. I don’t think it will last long. Like our preferred candidate, some of us listen and learn to get past our grudges, absorb what’s good and right from the other side and other points of view, and learn from experience. With dazzling results. : )
gwangung
@Keith G:
Poppycock.
Part of the civics lesson is how to participate. You fail that, you fail your own campaign.
Part of the campaign is to show you know how to manage and can handle the job of President. You fail that, you make your own case against you.
Ruckus
@Ken:
The Trump campaign, probably not so much.
I’d bet he hasn’t spent more than 15 minutes total looking at potential VP selections. His two points to cover in his mind:
1. Will this person never, ever, in any way, shine as brightly as me or give me any backtalk at all.
2. Will this person do all the work for no reward because I’m sure as fuck not going to.
As he sees everyone as inferior to him, especially everyone he’s just beaten, I’d bet he’ll pick one of his lawyers to be VP. An unknown who does exactly what is required.
The Lodger
@SiubhanDuinne: And while they’re at it, free Don Siegelman.
Keith G
@gwangung: Yep there were problems. Primarily among them is that Sanders did not create a scalable campaign. He started as a symbolic effort to press certain issues, not to win the presidency – because he didn’t think it was possible. By the time it occurred to him and to others that it was possible, not enough could be changed to make winning a practical reality.
I do not view Sanders in a bad or, worse, evil light. I just see him as the metaphorical dog who just for a very short moment caught the car and didn’t know what the fuck to do with it.
Matt McIrvin
@hovercraft:
If the shy-Trumpster effect were a big thing, you’d think he would have overperformed his polling in the Republican primaries. He didn’t, except possibly in some of the late races when he was sewing up the nomination, and his support was increasing so rapidly that the time lag in poll data could account for any differences. In fact, until then it was Ted Cruz who usually did better than he polled.
gwangung
@Keith G: Any “anger” (irritation, really) I have at the Sanders campaign is that it has the chance to rub off on the issues; that these behaviors are endemic to anyone who has a progressive, more socialistic message. That frustrates me, because the issues are real, and Sanders was more than right to bring them up. But being right on the issues but being the wrong messenger has impact beyond his own candidacy.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Keith G:
Not quite – he caught the car, then believed he should not only drive, he could race Formula 1 after being one of those PITA back seat drivers for 30 years, and convinced a bunch of know-nothings that he could be their champion. It was political malpractice for not understanding, and ultimately taking responsbility for, what he was actually creating. He’s a child.
@gwangung:
Exactly so. I fear he’s been a net negative with his inability to take responsibility for the failures of his campaign and instead blaming Clinton and the Democrats as being corrupt and rigged. He’s a fraud and dipped into his own stash to keep the grift of these new-to-politics first time **voters** going for far too long.
Cleos
@D58826:
The ones I knew did all that — and were living on checks from Mums and Daddums.
Cleos
[quoted]
@D58826:
I wouldn’t have any high hopes for a POTUS who has to be “coaxed” in that way. Sort of like getting, say, a 35-year-old to cooperate by promising him milk and cookies. It’s not setting the bar too high to expect a President to at least be an adult.
nutella
@Ruckus:
More likely Ivanka. That’s someone he knows he can order around.
Ruckus
@nutella:
Possibly but I’d bet a male lawyer first. She actually may be bringing in money for him, can’t have that stop. And if he chose her, he’d have to replace her. Too much work. If one wins, don’t they normally put their assets into a trust for the duration? She’d probably be the person to be the trustee.
Carl W
@Ruckus:
That’s the convention, but I’ve read that there’s no legal requirement. I think Trump has talked about re-opening Trump U after winning the election, which makes me think he wants to keep control of his businesses while being President.
Ruckus
@Carl W:
I was pretty sure it wasn’t a requirement as well but we both may be wrong. The is such a thing as the Office of Government Ethics, which seems to do exactly what you’d think it does and is guided by a 1978 law, The Ethics in Government Act. Here is a summary. As I’m not a lawyer reading this puts me to sleep but it seems rather detailed in what happens.
Carl W
@Ruckus: Also not a lawyer, and didn’t get through the whole thing. But in the first page and a half, it looks like the President and VP are specifically excluded from the law. And Office of Government Ethics regulations sound like the sort of thing that could be overturned by executive order, maybe?
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’ve seen a lot of them (Cowboys with guns) in SE Arizona, snakes, drug runners, mountain lions, etc. Mostly 1911 .45s if I’m seeing them correctly. Some Glocks, which I don’t like at all. 1911s are way the safest semi-automatics to carry, multiple safeties…
I personally carry because I was once stalked by a lion.
In Colorado we ate in a roadside joint on US 50 beside the Arkansas river, and after dinner I walked around to see the wildlife photos locals had taken. The best one was a guy holding up a 150+ pound lion, with his hands under it’s front legs, its behind on the ground.
He came out of his house to see the lion with his dog under it. He grabbed a 2×4 and clubbed the lion to death with it. Amazing.
Then we drove up into the mountains, all liberals and all armed.
J R in WV
@BillinGlendaleCA:
The shadows on the ground all look false without the clouds. Otherwise, the original is a good shot.
Ruckus
@Carl W:
I had to read it a couple of times to see that I think they are specifically covered by the law because there is no other law or mention in the constitution. Other federal employees are usually covered by rules of employment of their job.
So I’m not sure exactly what they have to do, it sounds like they may have a few choices, but can have nothing that might be a conflict of interest with any of their duties or possible decisions and can be sanctioned if they violate that.