This sounds both super-reckless and entirely on-brand for this White House. https://t.co/Kl1nnoWBR6
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) October 25, 2020
PENCE tested negative today, according to a statement from his office, the morning after his chief of staff diagnosed.
“This morning, both Vice President Pence and the Second Lady tested negative for COVID-19.”
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) October 25, 2020
Started putting this post together in the early hours, before Mark Meadows showed his team’s entire… deficit… on Tapper’s show. I’d actually predicted that Pence wouldn’t allow himself to be tested, because the coronavirus threads I read are rife with reports of FreeDumb Covidiots sharing their latest lifehack: If you don’t get tested, you’ll never have a positive test on your record, suck it libtards.
The current herrenvolk solution to the ‘stigma’ of rising positive results in deep-red states: No tests, no problem. Curses, foiled again!
Well when you put it like that… https://t.co/lAKyW0SC2h
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) October 25, 2020
Bloomberg News sought comment from VP's team on Marc Short's diagnosis at 8p; Pence's team didn't share its statement until after 10p.
Real concern in White House now about how widespread this latest outbreak will be, just days before election.
VP was in West Wing this week. https://t.co/alfqAE5sih
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) October 25, 2020
"I did hear about it just now," TRUMP says of the VP's chief of staff, Marc Short, falling ill with coronavirus.
"And I think he’s quarantining. I did hear about that. He’s going to be fine but he’s quarantining," he told @MarioDParker and pool after AF1 landed in DC just now.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) October 25, 2020
Of course, Pence is *not* quarantining (as of this moment.) It’s every Repub for himself, now!
Asked if VP should be traveling, Meadows told us: “He was cleared by the doctors to travel.”
Meadows said on CNN he spoke at midnight to Pence, who is campaigning in North Carolina today. Pence will social distance and wear mask, but take it off when speaking publicly, he said.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) October 25, 2020
Sending Pence out to campaign while his Chief of Staff tests positive is like saying to supporters: "Come play Russian Roulette!" Might be some very uncomfortable Republicans up on stage with the Veep…perhaps not the October Surprise the campaign was hoping for.
— Jeff Greenfield (@greenfield64) October 25, 2020
I don’t think even this White House could successfully conceal a positive test for Mike Pence but I’m sure Meadows will try. https://t.co/4yPQsW0Xzh
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) October 25, 2020
When the head of the White House Corona Virus Task Force won’t quarantine. https://t.co/aV8CxHVcLc
— Barbara Malmet (@B52Malmet) October 25, 2020
It’s a good thing Pence isn’t running the falling anvils task force.
— Alex Baze (@bazecraze) October 25, 2020
The simplest explanation for the Trump administration's pandemic response failures is probably the correct one: they are idiots. Their vaccination plan literally involved mall Santas and elves. This is reporting from the Wall Street Journal: https://t.co/InWtMmvnc9 pic.twitter.com/FqO2vuZzwH
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) October 25, 2020
I'd say it's 225,000 times worse. https://t.co/65YZ9pbBJC
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) October 25, 2020
Mary G
PsiFighter37
Last full week coming up – time to fucking toss all these fuckers as many anchors as possible. I want to fucking bury them underneath the worst drubbing electorally in decades.
TS (the original)
Just posted this on the previous thread – but it fits better here
A happy dance here
So it can be done – and if Biden wins Texas then just maybe the majority of Americans will also see that it can be done.
Hunter Gathers
Mother won’t allow Pence to isolate. She knows that he’ll just watch old Magnum PI episodes for a couple weeks and will ask her to try to grow a mustache. Again.
MattF
It appears that they believe their own propaganda. Helps that people who are knowledgeable have been silenced.
Sab
@TS (the original):Happy dance for you folks from Up Over
My late father in law spent time in Australia during WWII. He never got over his love of you guys.
Baud
Both statements are accurate (as long as “we” is defined to cover the Trump administration).
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
QANTAS has announced that it is unlikely to resume service to the United States in 2021, and travel vendors have privately advised the wife that Australia is unlikely to accept American travelers until some time in 2022.
It didn’t have to be this way. Participation in global testing and vaccination research would have diminished the reach of this nonsense. Instead, we went it alone in order to throw profits at connected people.
The net deficits my home suffers is at least $200,000 though 2020-2021.
dmsilev
That Santa Claus story puts Melania’s “fuck the Christmas decorations” story into a whole new light.
West of the Rockies
I hate Pence’s white head. I like it on Anderson Cooper; Pence just looks like a pious pissant.
Quarantinewhile… Blob Barr remains hidden in his secret lair. I wonder why.
Baud
@dmsilev:
That Santa Claus plan is the closest the GOP has come to a health care plan.
Baud
@West of the Rockies:
OTOH, flies love it.
trollhattan
Would “Just die already!” get me a Twitter time out? I’m willing to join just for the experience.
HumboldtBlue
If you’re looking for a good new show to enjoy, I watched the first four episodes of Queen’s Gambit yesterday, the fictional story of chess prodigy Elizabeth Harmon based on a novel of the same name. It’s very engrossing,
dmsilev
@Baud: We’ll probably learn that Trump has at least once ordered NORAD to shoot down Santa’s sleigh.
Baud
@dmsilev:
Or demanded a kickback from Santa.
dmsilev
@Baud: Well, Trump did say he wanted to support the coal industry.
Old Dan and Little Ann
@West of the Rockies: I saw your comment earlier about my nym. It made laugh. They are the 2 dog characters from my favorite book, Where the Red Red Fern Grows. Cheers.
pat
I really really want to know what “tests” they are using. The one that doesn’t show enough virus for three or four days after infection??
My god these people are … searching for the right word…. oh yeah, DEPLORABLE
I remember from my youth that we would say “dirtyrottenevilmeanandnasty.” That fits too.
David ?Booooooo!? Koch
Baud
RSA
From the CDC:
I went to see the Vice President and all I got was this infectious disease.
LuciaMia
Whadda they care now? Two weeks incubation till possible symptoms show, so their base and possible voters just have to stay healthy till election day. After Nov. 3 they can then fuck off and die.
Mike in NC
Fat Bastard and his sidekick Grovelin’ Mike Dense will be out there pressing the flesh without sissy masks to spread the virus to as many people as they can in the next week. No need for a new “Mission Accomplished” banner.
Baud
Chetan Murthy
@RSA:
I noticed Meadows said “his doctors cleared him to travel” and thought to myself: “Tapper just let that one pass, and it was a fucking howler”. Either his doctors did no such thing, or they need to lose their licenses, and Tapper should have said so. B/c the CDC guidance is fucking *clear* on this.
LuciaMia
@HumboldtBlue: Ive been binging that today while baking. It IS really good.
James E Powell
They put all their money down on “coronavirus is no worse than the flu” and “masks are for losers” and with nine days to go, they cannot change their message.
What’s going to be Trump’s last message or move next weekend? Is he going to go down in flames?
matt
‘do as I say, not as I do’ is a proven way to get people to take regulations seriously.
PsiFighter37
@Baud: The Texas number is huge. Call me optimistic, but I think Texas is going to have insanely high turnout, and Biden is going to win by more than a coin flip.
David Evans
@TS (the original): That’s particularly happy news for me since my grown-up children live in Adelaide and Sydney. They have had to plan journeys carefully to avoid quarantines. Maybe they can now go back to something approaching normality.
bbleh
@pat: Good point. The rapid antigen test they rely on at the WH has only about an 85% sensitivity, i.e., a relatively high false-negative rate, and of course ANY test is less likely to detect infection within the first day or two. I’m sure they would publicize ANY negative result as loudly as they could, but it would be important to know what kind of test and when the sample was taken. And in any case, it’s an extremely bad example to set, at least if you care about preventing the spread of the disease.
laura
At what point is irresponsibility culpability? To know that you’re traipsing around showering everyone in your wake with the virus. If it only impacted the self selecting morans I wouldn’t give it a second thought, but to knowingly pass this along or even risk passing this along just seems so purposeful and the ultimate victims are expected to be sickened for a fuckwit’s feelings about freedom.
In the coming weeks as this spirals out of control, I do not want to hear a single covidiot say that no one could have predicted, or they had no idea it would be so serious, or they had no idea that it could impact them.
Baud
@PsiFighter37:
I’m hoping we’re pleasantly surprised rather than just relieved on election night.
Ken
Does anyone else hear this title to music? The cadence isn’t quite right for Sergeant Pepper, and the subject makes me think more of the Simpsons monorail episode. Definitely a candidate for 2020: The Musical.
Ohio Mom
The party of personal irresponsibility.
mali muso
The book of faces “on this day” feature taunted me with my post of exactly 4 years ago today. Photo of my ballot marked for Hillary as I was “allowed” to vote early due to my pregnancy. I was so hopeful for my daughter’s future then. Now I just hope to be able to salvage something for her sake. 9 more days!
Ken
Vaccine announcement, immediately contradicted by the pharma company he’s named, explaining that they’re still in the middle of their phase 3 test and might have something by February.
If not that, he’ll go back to emails. He’s like a rat that got a pellet from that lever once, and damn if he’s not convinced it’ll pay off again if he – just – keeps – pushing – the – lever.
C Stars
I don’t get the strategy. Been chatting with some MAGAts who are like, “Look, the only way this is a threat to you is if you’re 65 or over, so everyone else should just chill out”…as if people over 65 don’t vote.
WaterGirl
@Mary G: Why are we thanking Tom Hanks?
Jay
germy
low-tech cyclist
American roulette,
Stake your life upon it
–Robbie Robertson
low-tech cyclist
@Ken: the cadence may be off, but it was clearly a play on “Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show.”
WaterGirl
@dmsilev: That Santa story cannot possibly be true. Right? Are they really that stupid?
oclib
@Ken:
Thinking…..Traveling Wilburys, End of the Line….
Ken
@low-tech cyclist: Ah, thanks! I knew it was reminding me of something.
WaterGirl
@TS (the original): @Sab:
My uncle was stationed in Australia during WWII, met the love of his life, came back home for short while and then moved to Australia and married his girl.
HumboldtBlue
@LuciaMia:
It really is and I was pleasantly surprised.
Ken
Now I know you didn’t just wake up from a four-year coma.
If it helps, this was one of Caputo’s ideas, before he left for (ahem) health reasons. At least that’s what they’re claiming now.
Jay
germy
@WaterGirl:
For wearing a “Fire The Liar” shirt.
If you click on the date after the tweet, it opens a new window showing the photo.
WaterGirl
@pat: The tests they have been using at the white house have either miss 30% of positives or 45% of positives, depending on whether they are using the “dry” swabs or the “wet” ones. That’s what I retained from something I read over the weekend, anyway.
Plus, I don’t believe they have actually been testing regularly. That’s bullshit.
Benw
Mike Punce sucks
UncleEbeneezer
@HumboldtBlue: We are LOVING the Queen’s Gambit. We also loved Godless, which was made by the same people and had several cast members that are in TQG.
Calouste
@Chetan Murthy: Yep, another thing for Biden to do: reassign all White House doctors to the Northern Mariana Islands.
RandomMonster
Why does anyone think they couldn’t cover up a positive test for Pence? Are the tests impartially administered and and the results validated by a third party expert?
West of the Rockies
@Old Dan and Little Ann:
Ah, makes sense. I always enjoy your comments.
germy
@WaterGirl:
I can’t believe Trump allows people to stick those long swabs up his nose every day. No way.
He may snort various powders on his own, but I can’t imagine him tolerating any nurse or doctor poking him.
They probably have him spit into something.
Ken
@Jay: I’m getting an awful “There’s just one nest, and soon there will be zero” vibe about that story.
Princess
I have to wonder whether Pence already tested negative in the past couple of weeks and he’s the one spreading it to his staff. You know they would hide it from us if he were asymptomatic — they almost got away with that with Trump.
WaterGirl
@germy: I had clicked on the tweet, i just forget that i need to click one more time to see the while picture. Duh.
germy
@Ken:
Watch. in a few years, one of those murder hornets will win the republican presidential nomination.
WaterGirl
@Princess: I swear he looked sick and had that crazy eye at the debate. If he refused to get tested, he could easily be the source of the outbreak, timing wise. I think.
RandomMonster
@Princess: He didn’t look well during the debate with Harris.
Ken
@Princess: The fly knew.
TS (the original)
@Sab:
Could have worked with my Dad – who used to comment “those yanks were all right”.
My MIL used to talk about the social life she led when the Americans were in town :)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
more police officers antagonizing citizen and campaigning for trump
link is to Newsweek which has… changed. I used to be a regular reader.
TS (the original)
@David Evans:
Probably going to be Christmas before all the states open up to Melbourne – but fingers crossed, it should happen by Christmas.
The Lodger
@low-tech cyclist: I was thinking of Cher’s song Gypsters, Trumps and Thieves.
Yutsano
@Old Dan and Little Ann: Way OT: there’s some dead time in between and during exercises I do with my physiotherapist when I’m in the pool. And since it’s just the two of us we get to talking about various subjects. Where the Red Fern Grows came up the other day and for some reason the association with your nym didn’t click in until then. So I’m a derp.
bbleh
@germy: OMG did she really say that? That is SO her. LMAO
HumboldtBlue
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Too bad it wasn’t a replay from The Wire where the cops go and antagonize the folks living in public housing only to see a barrage of bottles and bricks rain down that lead to the complete destruction of the vehicle and the partial blinding of a teenager.
Anya
@West of the Rockies: Pence’s white head looks like it’s sprayed on.
Jinchi
This only really works if they commit to avoiding the ICU when things go badly.
Anya
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Aren’t they violating some rule? Of course de Blasio has checked out so no one will even do anything about it. I hate how New York politicians are afraid of the police union, including Cuomo who’s usually full of bravado but when it comes to the police he’s a little kitten.
Jay
mrmoshpotato
Genius. Watch this.
Jay
@Anya:
One of the three officers in the car, has been suspended,
With pay,……
jl
It’s TrumpLogic. They are down in the polls, so why not risk another high profile superspreader event in WH in the last week and throw away another couple of points.
Pete Downunder
@WaterGirl: Sounds like my story 50 years later. Went to Australia for work, met woman of my dreams, married her after 10 year long distance romance and I now live there. When I finally moved United Airlines stock hit a new low.
Dan B
@Ken: The authorities have stated there are probably more Asian Giant Hornet nests. My brother in law keeps bees about ten miles away.
Jay
Old Dan and Little Ann
@Yutsano: I lurked for year and never commented. When I finally decided to get in the pool I had to choose a “clever” name. That’s the best I could do. lol… I knew it was a dog friendly joint by then. : )
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: That is just fabulous!
Dorothy A. Winsor
I’ve read that in the Middle Ages, lepers had to carry bells so people could hear them coming and get out of the way. These people should all have to carry bells.
Jay
@Dan B:
“Nature is Coming Back” was supposed to be cute, feel good stories about wildlife reclaiming the empty streets,
not Murder Hornets and Sars-Covid-19 blowing up,…..
Yutsano
So while we have a bunch of news at home and Great Britain just performing precision style raids on ships like it ain’t no thing.
WaterGirl
@Pete Downunder: I have a cousin in Australia named Pete, but it’s unlikely that you are him, since he was born there. :-)
Jay
David ?Booooooo!? Koch
@germy: she stole that from Mao: ‘It’s always darkest before it becomes totally black.”
Dan B
@Jay: OpieJean lives in Woodinville or immediately adjacent. The Trump rally alone would be disturbing but a magat pulling a gun on teenage girls doesn’t help. They were in his face like warriors!
Dan B
@Jay: It’s a good thing my bil doesn’t believe Covid 19 is dangerous. /s
SFAW
Probably noted elsewhere, but: the map at electoral-vote.com shows Texas as leaning Biden. Makes it really difficult for me to overcome my usual inclination to prepare for disappointment.
I don’t really think Biden will win there, but if he does …. HOT DAMN!
WaterGirl
@SFAW: I am crossing my fingers!
MJ Hegar, Texas Senate
Texas State Democratic Party
*****
Balloon Juice for Flipping Texas (split between GOP-held districts won by Beto)
Bex
@Baud: He’s a cardinal as of yesterday.
Gin & Tonic
Today’s garden mood (yes, I’m late for the morning gardening thread.)
A Ghost to Most
@TS (the original): I still think about the pizza place on the beach in St. Kilda’s, and the smoked salmon pizza right out of that big oven. With a cold Victoria Bitter, that was heaven.
Pete Downunder
@WaterGirl: I was born in New York City. Still have a touch of the accent to the amusement of my Aussie friends. You want to get a cawfee?
Jay
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: That is a very cool picture.
WaterGirl
@Pete Downunder: So have you picked up an Aussie accent in addition to NY? Or do you still sound like a Yank?
Cameron
It’s Michael Pence’s COVID band/All the symptoms start to grow/It’s Michael Pence’s COVID band/We hope you survive the show/
Yutsano
@Pete Downunder: I was born on the island of Oahu, but we moved to Virginia when I was baby and to South Carolina when I was 2. I still to this day have a slight accent from that. When I go to Canada for them it sticks out really hard!
Uncle Cosmo
@Cameron:
Amir Khalid
@Hunter Gathers:
I doubt we will ever see Mother in public with a moustache.
Pete Downunder
@WaterGirl: With all respect to Mrs Downunder the Aussie accent makes my ears bleed and I hope I have no trace of it. To be honest educated Aussies like my wife and her family have mild not unpleasant accents, but move one notch down the education scale and it can be tough.
sdhays
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: You’re just losing all this money to make “your favorite President, Donald Trump” look bad. You dastardly liberal, you!
And the stock market is fine, so that proves that no one is losing money.
phdesmond
@Baud: baud, he just got named to be a cardinal, so apparently his statements did not ruffle the vatican’s feathers.
Chief Oshkosh
@Calouste:
See, you libs just want to spend hard-earned tax dollars. Just make them serve inner-city Baltimore hospitals, shelters, and hospitals. Saves on travel and relocation expenses.
If you MUST spend money, hire people to help those inner city patients fully complete Press-Ganey questionnaires.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Calouste: what did the people of Tinian do to deserve that!!??!
sdhays
@RandomMonster: I don’t believe they could cover up Dense testing positive because they leak like a sieve even in the best of times. The only way they could do it is if the only people who knew about it were Dense himself and the “doctor” who administered the test. Once just about anyone else knows, it will spread around the Very White House until it hits someone with a favorite reporter on speed dial and then it’s out.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: You owe me a new keyboard.
gwangung
@sdhays: Yeah, this crew has the discipline of a bunch of teenagers without chaperones.
WaterGirl
@Pete Downunder: The moderator in this video is from Australia. That accent doesn’t bug me at all.
stinger
@Gin & Tonic: Nice pic!
SFAW
@Amir Khalid:
Well, she is a beard, so it’s only a short step.
No, I have no idea if she is, just didn’t want to waste a (potentially) good line.
Anya
@WaterGirl: Haha! America is represented by a Karen.
Aleta
Pence at rally in Hermon ME last Mon. Oct. 19 (video at Bangor Daily News, many are maskless)
RaflW
“reports of FreeDumb Covidiots sharing their latest lifehack: If you don’t get tested, you’ll never have a positive test on your record”
I hope these people never have a colonoscopy. Or even bother with a blood pressure check. Their insurance record will be spotless!