Don Lemon: "What we have just witnessed is a total eclipse of the facts….
He's unhinged. It's embarrassing" – @donlemon
— Chris Golden (@chrisgolden) August 23, 2017
Okay, I try to keep this Early Morning Open Thread positive, and yes there are a half-dozen other stories worth discussing. But Murphy take the wheel, the Oval Office Occupant’s televised “rally” last night well and truly broke all previous records — even for this guy.
If Richard Nixon had been given access to Xanax, Ambien, Twitter, and his own personal broadcast network, he couldn’t have put on a more delirious spectacle. Somewhere Hunter S. Thompson is telling himself What an imagination I’ve got…
.
Looking at live tweets of a Trump speech instead of watching the speech itself is my soul's eclipse glasses.
— Mat Johnson (@mat_johnson) August 23, 2017
Wow. Don Lemon doesn't hold back. pic.twitter.com/wCBQoat74B
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) August 23, 2017
The news from Trump's night in Phoenix, in part:
Culture war; shutdown over the wall; NAFTA failure; Sheriff Joe pardon; #AZSen and more: pic.twitter.com/APjN7wwmX8
— Eric Bradner (@ericbradner) August 23, 2017
People waited in 107 degree heat for this public episode.
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) August 23, 2017
Trump says time for Americans to remember "we are all on the same team and we are Americans first"
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) August 23, 2017
America First! (Surely we’ve heard that slogan before.)
Like a team of horses under one driver, one whip!
Trump: My first Charlottesville remarks were not controversial, if you ignore the controversial part.
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) August 23, 2017
"The words were perfect"
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) August 23, 2017
We've gone from Mexico's gonna pay for the wall to I'm going to shut down the government if Congress doesn't pay for it.
— Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) August 23, 2017
This statement will literally cost taxpayers money, because it will raise interest rates on the issuance of short-term government debt. https://t.co/8YrXo4vvRv
— Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) August 23, 2017
Except he'll back down, because that's what he does. https://t.co/Y1uHDCaknS
— Gary Legum (@GaryLegum) August 23, 2017
He's burning down every last bit of damage control work his staff and other Republicans have been trying to do for a week
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) August 23, 2017
All I ask, when this is all over, is that no conservative ever lectures anyone on personal responsibility ever again. Amen.
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) August 23, 2017
Happening now pic.twitter.com/QvxiGZ0gUV
— Marshall Cohen (@Marshall_Cohen) August 23, 2017
Congrats to everyone in the GOP who helped make this presidency possible and who enable it to this day.
Do you all still have this sign? pic.twitter.com/w6B2diFY3e
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) August 23, 2017
Same GOPers who said "Give him a chance! He'll rise to the office!" inJanuary are now saying "he showed you who he was during the campaign!"
— Elizabeth Spiers (@espiers) August 23, 2017
Current reality is "A Face in the Crowd" if people heard Rhodes on the hot mic and were like "LOL he triggered libs" https://t.co/4fO1TX3Ovz
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) August 23, 2017
As Trump complains about CNN, a reminder that he has yet to get a single promise from his 100 Day Plan done. Why he isn't talking about them pic.twitter.com/LMjQSjsJwZ
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) August 23, 2017
Trump was Trump tonight. Single most important step we can take to save the country is to win the House. https://t.co/ZmMK3ib09v
— Jon Lovett (@jonlovett) August 23, 2017
m0nty
Nothing on Mueller, who is most likely to actually bring him down? I guess if it didn’t get talked about on Fox, he doesn’t know about it.
p.a.
#25thAmendment
rikyrah
Good Morning,Everyone ???
rikyrah
But….That pivot, though.??
Betsy
I heard that Trump’s much “oohed and aahed” statesmanlike Afghanistan speech was exactly like President Obama’s except for the side quips — that you can watch them side by side and see it. Anyone care to weigh in? Is there a link to something about this a day ago that I missed?
Lapassionara
@Betsy: well, it’s only fair for him to plagerize Obama, since Melania has already plagerized Michelle.
Daoud bin Daoud
Did they say pivot, or divot?
Lapassionara
PS, good morning everyone.
eclare
@rikyrah: How is your sister?
OzarkHillbilly
@Betsy:
One might think that was possible if one had never, you know, heard Obama speak.
eclare
And what is it with the Rolling Stones You Can’t Always Get What You Want? It’s weird.
Hal
Journalists really need to start waiting at least 48 hours before they engage with the sooo presidential talk with this man.
Betsy
@Lapassionara: That’s why it wouldn’t surprise me at all.
Frankensteinbeck
@eclare:
In theory, it’s supposed to be a ‘Trump is a dark horse candidate’ thing. In practice, he and his voters are obsessed with what they’ve been denied and what they want to deny other people.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Betty Cracker
I haven’t watched the speech or the analysis of it yet, but it sounds like President Crazypants lived down to our expectations. He’s as predictable as the sunrise.
Kay
I love how “and Mexico is gonna pay for it!” is just …gone. That was the applause line!
You’d think they wouldn’t know when to clap now that it’s been omitted.
Also, someone should tell Trump Mexico and Canada were in the TPP- they already renogiated NAFTA.
Baud
I thought he threatened a shutdown, not the debt limit.
Baud
@Kay:
Guess who? Guess when?
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/hillary-clinton-trump-mexico-wall-222149
Baud
I wish Hillary were evil and snarky. Her Twitter would be amazing.
Keith P.
Ugh…I’m out of moist cat food, and my cat has had her fill of dry food as of yesterday. She woke me up at 4:30am by kneading my pillow, and now she’s making pitiful little half meow/chirps. Grocery store I go to doesn’t open for another half hour, so this is gonna be rough, but I can at least go take a shower for some of that time.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: The markets are now pricing his insanity into everything.
JPL
From what I have read, it doesn’t appear that he talked about his TV ratings, so his aides might have been able to hide that from him. This is from the NYTimes
It’s apparent this is when the aides said no cake for him.
Baud
That’s a weird way to spell Russia.
Kay
I knew that would drive him crazy. Must have killed him, the public humiliation from powerful people he admires .
The Trumps to me are the worst combination- mean spirited assholes who demand everyone love them.They’re both vicious and whiny and needy. You can’t even say “they don’t care what people think” because they do- they care a lot what certain people think.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: I know.. They just shrug.. Trump could shoot someone on 5th avenue, and folks would shrug.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: It will get real when his aides take away the ice cream.
Betty Cracker
Mean, but funny:
Lapassionara
@OzarkHillbilly: How was eclipse viewing where you were? After all the forecasts of clouds, even rain, here in the St Louis area, the sky was clear and sun visible as moon nibbled away at it.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker:
Yup – looks like quite a few of us here were extremely accurate in predicting what he would say. I missed by thinking he’d pardon Arpaio right there on stage, but he essentially guaranteed it with a wink and a nod.
Excited to hear more about the Trumpov/McConnell feud later this week…especially Trumpov flipping out that McConnell won’t “protect” him from the Russia investigation. Surely these are the protestations of an innocent man…
Jeffro
@JPL: It’s getting to the point where the reverse would only cause shrugs, too.
Kay
@Baud:
Oh, they don’t want a 21st energy system. I read this piece about a county in Washington state that flipped from Obama to Trump. It’s been declining since they over-logged it, so for 40 years. They talked themselves into thinking he was gonna grow trees or something. They only woke up when he went after Medicaid since they have a huge opiate problem and they’re all in methadone treatment. I don’t know Baud- if your LIFE is dependent on Medicaid- you will die w/out it- and you vote for Donald Trump then I can’t help you. They had an obligation to ask about health care.
How many times are we supposed to do this? It took 30 years to get them Medicaid. They had it for 4 and they voted to take it away. From themselves.
He’s doing it again. SCHIP funding is at risk with that shutdown he’s promising. Their children. He’s going after their children. At what point is this their responsibility?
Baud
@Jeffro:
Huh? Nothing Trump says is a guarantee of anything.
Baud
@Kay:
I’m surprised they haven’t been sued.
And it’s never their responsibility because the media they consume always gives them one of us to blame.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: If the truth hurts, wear it.
The Thin Black Duke
@Kay:
Never. This is what White Privilege is and the only way they will ever give it up is when it’s pulled from with their cold dead hands.
clay
Joe is using both barrels. Used the word ‘Stalin-esque’ more than once.
Anyway, Trump once again fails to realize that the filibuster has nada to do with his legislative failures. He keeps bashing Republican senators… please proceed.
JPL
Wait until the republicans find out that Eric and Don Jr. are in charge of constructing the wall.
Will they care?
Kay
@Baud:
Well, the opposition Party isn’t up to the challenge in Ohio. I went to the county meeting last night. Pillich sent a representative (Ohio gov D primary). The first question was not a question but instead a complaint that we are “favoring” Pillich. I think this came from Bernie Sanders, this crazy idea that it isn’t a race but is instead some kind of elaborate exercise in “fairness”. We should just pull the D candidate out of a hat. Anything else is unfair.
OzarkHillbilly
@Lapassionara: Sunny and hot, until it got really dark and hot, but then after a couple minutes it was sunny and hot again. Gotta say, those who said a 98% eclipse is NOTHING AT ALL like a total eclipse were absolutely right. Quite a light show, well worth the trip to those who came up from Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Baud
@Kay: That’s not the opposition party, Kay.
debbie
I cannot believe he says the media lies about what he said when he is on tape saying what he said. And that there are people who believe him and not their own ears and eyes.
Baud
GMA is shocked at Trump’s behavior.
danielx
@Betty Cracker:
Not all that difficult, but in this uncertain world it’s good to have things you can count on.
debbie
@Kay:
You don’t think Cordray’s jumping into the race will change all that?
Matt McIrvin
@eclare: As I said yesterday, right-wingers love “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”–they ignore everything but the title and chorus and interpret those as a rebuke to moochers and liberals who want free goodies from the nanny state. I remember seeing it high on those weirdly defensive lists of Conservative Rock Songs during the Bush years.
Baud
@Kay:
If the right name isn’t picked, they’ll claim the hat was rigged.
Kay
@The Thin Black Duke:
The Medicaid people baffle me because they got single payer, free (to them) health care and they STILL voted for Trump and they still insist Obama didn’t do anything for white people. Okay. Give it back. We;ll give yours to someone who bothered to find out where it came from. One thing- they had to do one thing to keep their health care. Vote for Clinton or don’t vote and they couldn’t be bothered. Expressing their rage took priority. Oh, well. We tried.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin: It was a staple on Rush Limbaugh’s show way back in the day.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Uh, why are they shocked? He’s been like this since he was a candidate. Hell, he’s been like this for the last 35 years.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Yeah, I don’t know. The segment ended up ok, at least. It was not favorable to Trump.
satby
@rikyrah: well, it’s a morning anyway! Happy day to you and best wishes to your sister ?
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Along with The Pretenders’ “My City Was Gone”, because it had a line about “a government that had no pride”.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin: I remember that.
ETA:. Good song
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Limpdick ruined it for me.
Baud
@Kay: Is there any evidence that expanding the social safety net actually gets people to vote Dem?
Kay
@debbie:
I do think Cordray’s jumping into the race will change it but this is a mindset now, that there’s some “fairness” bar that has to be met. It’s unfair that she’s campaigning here and no one else is? WTF? They are inventing rules. They always direct this at me, too. I don’t hold any position in the Democratic Party. I can “favor” anyone I want, but it isn’t that I love Pillich. I “favor” the people who show up. The end.
satby
@Baud:
Because they aren’t committed to the only opposition party that stands a chance of being effective; they aren’t Democrats and neither is Sanders. They’re our version of the Tea party crazies and the sooner we sideline their bullshit the better.
different-church-lady
@m0nty: Did he complain about Russia?
sp98
I think the universe is trying to tell us something that the day after “Nuremberg in the Desert” is Black Ribbon Day.
(apologies if this has already been mentioned)
different-church-lady
@Matt McIrvin: I wonder what they think of “Gimme Shelter”
Another Scott
@Kay: We have a special election on the 29th for an at-large school board seat that the previous Teabagger holder is leaving – about 3 days before the deadline that would have had the election in November instead (to try to ensure that the GOP holds it). The big “controversy” now is over renaming JEB Stuart HS (and others) that were created in the late 1950s when the state was fighting integration.
So of course the Teabaggers are trying to make the race all about how “expensive” and “politically correct” the renaming is – using it to get their voters all riled up to vote for someone who actually wants to cut property taxes, beat up on the teacher’s union, etc., etc. It’s the same old playbook. I suspect most who turn out won’t fall for it.
But.
There are 4 candidates on the ballot. We’ve been getting fliers from the Democratic Party endorsed candidate (it’s nominally non-partisan, but parties always endorse) – Karen Keys-Gamarra. J asked me about why we’re having the election now. I gave a brief run-down, then she said that she had to look at the other candidates like the independent (if any) because the Democrats were Corrupt™ I said that the GOP set up the election to avoid the November date and they were trying to (basically) steal the seat from the majority in the County, but she wasn’t buying the dangers….
I think she’ll come around, but, man, I want to (metaphorically) strangle the guy who gave her that toxic idea… :-/
We’ve got to fight the GOP every single day. And we need to continuously work on people who (overall) want the same things we do, even if they want to try a different path to get there.
Cheers,
Scott.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@satby:
True, otherwise we end up like the left version of Republicans.
Jeffro
@Baud: Oh, ok…
debbie
@Kay:
Yeah, well, “victimhood” has become part of the American ethos. Those who complain about some other candidate being “favored” are actually complaining that it isn’t their candidate who’s being “favored.” Parties should favor no one and should instead focus on candidates’ messages being effectively communicated.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: I’m once again seeing people seriously bring up the idea of replacing democracy with sortition–choosing officials by lot, like in some ancient Greek city-states–on “nothing could be worse than this” grounds.
(My personal opinion on this is “you have no idea how much worse it can get”. Donald Trump is giving us just a little taste of what happens when you go with Some Dude instead of one of those dirty politicians. A randomly chosen person would probably be better than him, but imagine a whole government of people with no political or governing experience. It would not be a fantasy of homespun common sense saving the day.)
Jeffro
@Another Scott: I have the date AND the D candidate’s name down on my calendar. Normally, it’d be hit-or-miss whether I made it to a polling place for this kind of election. Not anymore.
clay
@Matt McIrvin: That song, of course, was written when Reagan was in office.
I thought these guys were all about original context. //
FlipYrWhig
@Baud:
Tell it, Baud.
Baud
Why did Hillary give an exclusive from her book to Morning Joe?
MJS
@Jeffro: If I were Arapaio, I wouldn’t bank on that pardon until and unless Trump makes his way back to Arizona, or Flake or McCain tell him not to pardon him. The attention span of a two year old puts Trump’s to shame, so as soon as wheels were up, Trump forgot who Joe is.
Baud
Fuck Andrea Mitchell.
satby
@Another Scott:
The Wilmerites in my family, all of them young and politically naive, are the same. The effective opposition could be the Democratic party, but now they’re “corrupt” and that’s a meme pushed by the finger wagging bullshitter. Who still has never shown his own tax records, and his blind followers still give him a pass on that and his wife’s actual corruption. And then they snivel about us looking backwards and blaming them… But they’re doing damage TODAY and that’s what I am blaming Wilmer for, because it was just as predictable as Drumpf being awful was.
FlipYrWhig
@debbie: We’re currently suffering through at least two political movements defined by the sentiment that shadowy elites are gleefully thwarting you. Everything that goes wrong is more proof! Sigh.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Matt McIrvin:
I don’t have to, we have term limits in California. What ends up happening is lobbyists end up running things because they’re the only folk with any institutional knowledge.
Baud
I’m not looking forward to Hillary’s book. She’s going to be more gracious than she needs to be. And no way the media can handle dealing with her.
satby
@Baud: well, why do you watch it? It’s where they think the eyeballs are.
JGabriel
Eric Bradner via Anne Laurie @ Top:
I don’t mean to be pedantic, but I really do think it’s way past time for the press to learn how to differentiate between dog-whistles and klaxons.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: No thanks.
Kay
@debbie:
“Parties” are just people. I refuse to do the fairness analysis. There are plenty of rules in a primary. If she complies with those and shows up she speaks. She’s not responsible to enforce the fairness code on behalf of a candidate who isn’t even running. It’s a race. It’s not a referendum on how fair I am. I thought they would be glad to have something to talk about other than Trump and since the other candidate isn’t running I don’t know how I’m supposed to invite him. They can invite people! I have no more power than they do.
different-church-lady
@FlipYrWhig:
The weird thing being both of those movements resulted in shadowy elites running the executive branch.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie:
I have to disagree. I think the Democratic party should favor Democrats.
Matt McIrvin
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I suppose if there were no elections, campaign money at least wouldn’t be a lever. But everyone would be feverishly planning for their post-politics career, just like with term limits.
satby
@JGabriel: if the press could do that average people wouldn’t have been quite so surprised by Charlottesville.
Quinerly
@Betty Cracker:
This made my morning! Thank you.
Baud
@Another Scott:
@satby:
I wish they would form their own party.
rikyrah
@eclare:
She’s home from the hospital.
Thanks to everyone for the positive thoughts and prayers.
sm*t cl*de
@Keith P.:
Put water on the dry food. #LIFEHACK
Baud
@satby: I don’t usually. Flipping channels.
Quinerly
@rikyrah:
So glad to hear this!
rikyrah
@Kay:
Responsibility?
That’s for non-White people, Kay.
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: Good to hear.
clay
@Baud:
Maybe because she knows Trump watches it?
The Morning Joe folks seemed impressed by the excerpts they read, at least.
Kay
@Baud:
They are incapable of covering her. It’s gotten worse since the election since now they’re defensive on how they covered it.
That is a fucked up dynamic. Trump is out there inciting violence against them and we STILL get the sneer when Clinton is mentioned. I’m so sick of it. It’s like a bad marriage. Hopeless, over and over the same rutted ground. The NYTimes has been in this groove since the early 90’s. There are whole careers over there built on trashing the Clintons. It’s institutional at this point.
Never forget they partnered with the Breitbart Clinton Cash author. Partnered.
satby
@Baud: a quick search shows 36 minor political parties that would love to have them. Let them go join one of the nine sociali$t parties and show us how to win some elections.
Baud
@Another Scott:
@satby:
Stories like yours are why I remain unsympathetic to young people’s plight.
That, plus my overall sociopathy.
germy
On CBS this morning, they just said Mitch and drumpf haven’t spoken in weeks.
Their last conversation was by phone and ended in a shouting and cursing match.
Baud
@clay: That won’t last. Joe was already going on about how she’s going to blame other people for the loss. My view is the opposite, that she’s going to take too much of the blame herself. Like I said upstairs, I wish she were evil and snarky.
germy
@Baud:
But there goes your campaign slogan: “Elect a sociopath!”
I mean, they already did.
satby
@satby: somebodt fish me out of moderation? I tried to fix it but it’s still sitting there.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud:
One out of 2 ain’t bad.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud:
More Baud-like.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@satby: Once it goes there, you can’t fix it.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Good advice for everybody.
danielx
@Matt McIrvin:
Right up there with “Won’t Get Fooled Again” being touted as a conservative anthem by none other than Joshua Goldberg (aka Jabba the Hack). I was surprised that Townsend and Daltrey didn’t charter a plane so they could fly over to piss on his shoes.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
We have a SERIOUS fucking problem in this country.
Nine people of every hundred have white supremacist tendencies. Another eight of that hundred “have no opinion”, which makes them white supremacist sympathizers. Of this number, it is safe to say that they’re voting GOP, which gives them a plurality.
At the same time, we have a fetishized view of the military and are discouraged from public disrespect totems of nationalism, predominant faith and white conservative culture because of the linkage to the military and how they “protect our freedoms”.
Too many Bundy assholes got acquitted. Some asshole Ohio Supreme Court justice rails about athletes being draft dodgers and military protecting our freedoms in a public Facebook post.
Trump is floating the idea of pardoning someone for acting in contempt of a coequal branch of government.
Conservative “never-Trumps” are still lamenting how his actions are taking away the ability to do tax reform and the repeal of the ACA.
We are in a deadly dangerous place domestically, and that is without any major economic or foreign shocks. I fear the level of repression to come should that occur – the security personnel, lapdog judiciary, supine legislators, fanatic domestic support and information about opposition are available for a widespread Chilean style crackdown.
clay
@Baud: The segment I saw on MJ had them playing an excerpt of Clinton reading the audiobook, talking about the mistakes she made, and how she let so many people down.
Joe said that it was thoughtful, powerful, self-reflexive writing. And he was right; it was.
But I didn’t hear any criticism about it from him.
Matt McIrvin
@danielx: And Mellencamp’s “Pink Houses”, and Tom Petty’s “American Girl”, and the Ur-example of the genre: Reagan and half the world’s conservatives using “Born In The U.S.A.”
Beyond some point, though, it becomes clear that they go out of their way to do this to artists who will object, because it’s another way of needling liberals.
Baud
@clay:
You didn’t hear them talk about how calculating she would be?
Matt McIrvin
(I always wanted the NRA to take Berke Breathed’s suggestion and try using “Happiness Is A Warm Gun”.)
satby
@?BillinGlendaleCA: well it was in answer to Baud saying they should form their own party, there are nine current socialist parties they can join and start showing us all how they’ll win elections when the masses flock to them and their message.
satby
@satby: oh dogdammit.
Soprano2
Someday a Trump supporter is going to try to kill a reporter, and Trump will disavow any responsibility for it.
Kay
@Baud:
I want a discussion about “calculating” and female candidates, because I feel as if that was part of the dynamic with Clinton and with Pillich last night- that she was positioning herself. She was. She’s in a race. She shouldn’t have to apologize for running it.
I get this in my work life and I’m sick of it. Women have to be nice. It’s an additional requirement and an impediment. So fucking what if she’s calculating? That’s admired in men who are in a competition.
clay
@Baud: Honestly, no. Admittedly, I was in and out of the room, getting ready for work, but I did stop and watch when they were playing the excerpt. I thought they gave her a fair assessment in the part I saw.
I also saw a different segment where they played an excerpt about the 2nd debate — when Trump was creeping up behind Hillary. Hillary’s book states that she was torn on how to handle the situation: carry on and ignore what Trump was doing, or turn around and say “back off, creep”. (Obviously, she chose the former.) Joe speculated about what would happen if she had confronted Trump at the time. A female panelist (not Mika, but I don’t remember who it was) mentioned that what Hillary went through was something that women have to deal with all the time in the workplace. Again, I thought it was a fair discussion.
Josie
@Betty Cracker: This is exactly how I feel about Trump and his entire coterie.
clay
@Kay:
Everyone knows that women can’t do math. //
TS
@Baud: Ain’t that the truth – Clinton hater since forever.
Quinerly
Interesting piece about the chain of command and what happens if Mattis disobeys a crazy order of POTUS. The stroll through history and the Nixon part also interesting. The author is certainly being diplomatic with the title: https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-if-president-trump-orders-secretary-defense-mattis-do-something-deeply-unwise
Betty Cracker
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: The fetishization of the military and police is truly frightening. It’s not new, but Trump has dialed it up to 11. I just watched that insane fucking speech this morning. We can’t go on like this. I don’t know how it’s going to end, but end it must.
@Soprano2: You’re right, and it won’t be without precedent. That nutcase who shot two Indian nationals in Kansas a while back, killing one, was ranting Trump talking points about immigration before the murder. There was a direct line of incitement, but that angle was barely covered.
Steeplejack
@satby:
Did socialist go back to being a bad word?
ETA: Yes, apparently. Moderation! This blog is going backwards.
Ohio Mom
@Kay: I imagine Pillich’s answer will be some variation on how many doors she’s knocked on during her campaigns. She is very proud of being a hard worker, she is not going to apologize.
There is an old joke about the young extension agent talking to an old, grizzled farmer about all the latest and greatest he can offer the farmer. The farmer answers, “Son, I already don’t farm as good as I know how to.”
Connie Pillich is the rare example of someone who DOES farm as good as she knows how to when it comes to running a campaign.
O. Felix Culpa
@Betty Cracker:
Because the victims were brown people. Pardon the cynicism, but the primary reason Charlottesville is a thing among the VSP is because Heather Heyer was white.
satby
@O. Felix Culpa: absolutely. It’s only when they realize that they could be a victim that they start to worry about all the incitement.
FlipYrWhig
@Kay: Your ideas about the valence of “calculating” square with mine about the opposite, “authentic.” I don’t ever want to hear another fucking word about how a candidate is or isn’t “authentic.”
O. Felix Culpa
@satby:
Yup. It’s like when the RWNJs are surprised when they discover some libtards have guns too — and can use them. They think they have a sinecure on gun-ownership, military service, and supporting vets. Wrong on all scores of course, but what’s new about that?
O. Felix Culpa
@FlipYrWhig:
Code for “isn’t male.”
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
Morning Poco, Ivan and John Lennon :)
rikyrah
@Kay:
yes…they won’t admit their culpability, but we still can’t let them off the hook. Bring those receipts.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Non-Whites too. I’m Black AND a woman…so, by default, my maneuvering skills while being ‘ non-threatening’ have been honed over the years.
Quinerly
@rikyrah:
????.
All seems so minor compared to what you have been going through with your sister but I’ll share this. Poco got his test results on this mouth tumor. Benign like the last one! Just have to keep an eye on his mouth in the future. Probably will grow another one and we have to catch them early. Have a great day. So glad your sister is home.
O. Felix Culpa
@Quinerly:
Yay for rikyrah’s sister! Yay for Poco! Good health and long life to both!!!
FlipYrWhig
@O. Felix Culpa: In large part, but Gore and Kerry also got pummeled by that word. As far as I can tell, “authentic” when applied to men means some combination of “looks funny,” “sounds funny,” and “gets angry.”
FlipYrWhig
@Quinerly: woohoo!
O. Felix Culpa
@FlipYrWhig: Good point…but I suspect that Gore and Kelly were pummeled because they weren’t manly enough according to the criteria you mention. It’s a lens that favors gun-totin’, anger-spewin’ neanderthals, not those arugula-eatin’ effeminate libtards. (With apologies to the real neanderthals.)
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@Kay: I made someone trip over their feet last year when I told them to think of the primary and general election process as an extended job interviewing process we were conducting. Sometimes, you don’t get the applicant you’d like. Sometimes an applicant gets another offer or decides what you have isn’t the job you’d like. Sometimes an applicant who looks good on paper doesn’t live up to their hype. Sometimes you begin to see where the resume has been padded, or the recommendations show signs of the fatal subtext “Please hire him so we won’t have to figure out how to fire him.” Sometimes an otherwise good applicant isn’t a good match, chemistry-wise, for the people they’re going to have to work with.
I was told I was too cynical and mechanistic in my world-view.
Citizen_X
@FlipYrWhig: That drives me nuts. But call them on it: demand to know, “Authentic what?”
Quinerly
@O. Felix Culpa: @FlipYrWhig:
Thanks! Baud/Poco2020?
NorthLeft12
I heard about Deadbeat Donald predicting the end of NAFTA. As a Canadian, I expect our negotiators [and Mexico’s] to treat this as nothing more than blustering and posturing by the “greatest deal maker in the world”. I support the goals of the Canadian government regarding including labour and environmental upgrades to NAFTA. I doubt that will go over well with the US Admin’s goals….which basically appear to be “we want your jobs here”.
No Drought No More
I’m old enough to remember the look of distress on Libby Dole’s face as she listened to an angry murmur and angry voices from the assembled crowd as her husband congratulated Bill Clinton during his concession speech. She shook her head in disapproval, and motioned that it was inappropriate to the occasion. She was also ignored, come to think of it.
Gelfling 545
@eclare: I guess it’s a raised finger to those of us – sometimes known as the majority – who didn’t want Trump.