From a Masshole perspective, “Live Free or Die Trying” New Hampshire’s main industry is mooching. When its residents are not leaching off the gubmint-tainted benefits of its neighbors (MA’s high-tech industry, hospitals & colleges; VT’s scenic treasures & locavore innovations) they’re extracting exorbitant tolls from outsiders forced or deluded enough to pass through the Granite State’s stony barrens… what the NHampsters refer to as “tourism”. One of the richest “tourist” lodes is the quadrennial presidential Running of the Candidates, and a couple years ago some NH genius engineered a “First in the Nation” weekend-long cattle call to further leverage the crowds of reporters consultants and hangers-on that swarm around the misfortunate GOP candidates.
I was going to put together a long post on this weekend’s infestation across the border, but then I realized you guys wouldn’t have the patience for more than a batch of 140-character quick hits (if that). Besides, I need to go clean the garage. Which, after winnowing down this list, seems like a relatively clean and profitable endeavor…
My takeaway from the #FITN 2016 cattle call: A lot of people have wasted a beautiful weekend crammed inside a sweaty hotel conference room.
— Scott Conroy (@ScottFConroy) April 18, 2015
Interesting how little GOPers are talking about @HillaryClinton, their likely foe in 2016, and how much about Obama, who won't be. #fitn
— Karen Tumulty (@ktumulty) April 17, 2015
Cruz tells young Rs to be "arsonists for liberty." Looks at me and says "Weigel's going to write that I told people to commit arson."
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) April 18, 2015
Cruz on how long a military operation against Iran would take: "I don't know if it would be a couple of days or it would be a week." #FITN
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) April 18, 2015
Sorry to tell you this, candidates: Dudes asking you to sign baseballs & multiple copies of your book are aspiring entrepreneurs, not fans.
— Scott Conroy (@ScottFConroy) April 18, 2015
Lindsey Graham to me on the attendees sitting through this weekend's NH cattle call: I wouldn't put people at Gitmo through that.
— Drew Cline (@DrewHampshire) April 18, 2015
BREAKING: @JebBush breaks Paleo diet, eats pie. "To hell with the diet."
— Ed O'Keefe (@edatpost) April 16, 2015
Nice @UnionLeader header for @marcorubio on New Hampshire GOP cattle call day. pic.twitter.com/Yl16lJKo79
— Scott Conroy (@ScottFConroy) April 17, 2015
Kelly Ayotte had a private meeting with Trump, @JamesPindell reports. Cue the Dem "2016 GOP dream ticket" laughs… http://t.co/OrS3MCBhh9
— Scott Conroy (@ScottFConroy) April 18, 2015
Scott Walker, getting no favors from NHGOP. His speech tonight moved into far smaller room b/c wedding taking over main venue.
— Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) April 18, 2015
Cruz says next 20 months will be a “dangerous” time. A "Hobbsian state of nature. It’s going to Lord of the Flies."
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) April 18, 2015
I keep running into Bobby Jindal as a reporter is asking him for the nth time, basically, why TF he’s even bothering
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) April 18, 2015
.@LindseyGrahamSC says after NH's Politics and Eggs and Politics and Pies, the next series should be Politics and Lipitor #fitn #nhpolitics
— James Pindell (@JamesPindell) April 18, 2015
Lindsey Graham: "Let me tell you about Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill. You know what's missing in Washington? Drinking!" #FITN
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) April 18, 2015
RT @ArletteSaenz: At a shooting range in NH, I asked Mike Huckabee whether he's packing heat. "Were you afraid to ask a question if I were?"
— Michael Falcone (@michaelpfalcone) April 18, 2015
Paul reiterated his opposition to Loretta Lynch over civil forfeitures — did not mention that Bush favors her nom, but audience well aware
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) April 18, 2015
Scott Walker: "The suit is from Joseph A. Bank."
— Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) April 18, 2015
Scott Walker flies around the country with an entourage on private jets but wears inexpensive clothing, so he's basically just like you.
— Scott Conroy (@ScottFConroy) April 18, 2015
Maybe if the running for president thing doesn't work out, Scott Walker could become a TV pitchman for discount outlets.
— Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) April 18, 2015
Frank Luntz just asked NH GOP breakfast audience whether they wanted a governor or senator as the nominee: senator: 3-5 hands. Governor:100+
— John Dickerson (@jdickerson) April 18, 2015
Rubio's "Don't forget, I'm gonna be 44 soon" is very "I'm 5-and-three-quarters years old"
— Scott Conroy (@ScottFConroy) April 18, 2015
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ http://t.co/FP90qaZcjG pic.twitter.com/9AeAPsFm0K
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) April 18, 2015
Did John Kasich get elected twice in Ohio by putting the entire state to sleep with his stump speeches?
— Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) April 18, 2015
Kasich on 2016: "If it works, great. If it doesn't, I'll play more golf."
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) April 18, 2015
Aggressively pessimistic NH GOPer demands to know from RNC panel how they're going to handle Jim Webb in the 2016 general election. #FITN
— Scott Conroy (@ScottFConroy) April 17, 2015
All of these daylong GOP primary events are like Coachella for people with Acid Reflux.
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) April 18, 2015
"This is not fun. Believe me, I love you people, but I am not having a good time,” Trump says in NH
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) April 18, 2015
Surprise new GOP presidential hopeful pic.twitter.com/BqDSXyqGw3
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) April 18, 2015
Tree With Water
Sounds like a landlocked voyage of the damned.
Doug r
So worse than Coachella?
PeakVT
Is it too late to pray for a meteor to hit NH? It’s closer than I’d like, but I’ll take the risk for my country.
HinTN
Fucking Hell, moderation be damned :-)
Smiling Mortician
Let me get this straight. This isn’t somebody’s pitch for a lame parody, right? This is the for-real world in which people are trying to be the actual president of the actual United States? I’m really starting to think I’ve lived long enough.
Roger Moore
@Tree With Water:
It’s the scary part of having so many clowns around: clowns are really creepy.
David Koch
Candidate of Hope
David Koch
@Tree With Water: more like the insane asylum from “12 Monkeys”
MomSense
@Doug r:
I’ve been bitten by dogs and spent many a miserable canvassing shift in snow and freezing rain.
I have never seen a Kardashian though so tie?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
heh. and they’re just down the road from Derry, Maine. Stephen King was prophetic. Ted “Pennywise” Cruz
I’ve always wondered if Kelly Ayotte is as dumb as the vibe I’ve always gotten from her through the television. If she thinks meeting Trump was worthwhile, I’m gonna go with: Yes.
David Koch
¡Jeb! looks like toast.
PPP has him 4th in NH, 14 pts behind Walker, at a pathetic 10%. Making it worse, PPP reports that out of 9 candidates only Latino ¡Heb! and scandal plagued Christy are underwater. On the stump, he looks flat, confused, out of touch, and boring. Then you take his positions on amnesty and common core, and he’s toxic to the base.
Unless his private investigators find some juicy skeletons in Walker’s closet, ¡Jeb!/¡Heb! loses Iowa, NH, SC big. He probably will win Florida and hope he can turn it around, but no one has ever lost the first three primaries and turned it around to win the nomination.
What makes it funnier is Mittens would be the frontrunner right now, but he chickened out because he bought the Beltway CW that ¡Jeb!/¡Heb! would be unbeatable.
Gin & Tonic
This afternoon I managed to scrape together a snowball from the last remnants of the pile at the end of the street left by the plows. I think that’s it for winter.
Bonnie
I don’t do twitter. As a result, I have a very hard time understanding any and all twits–or is it tweets. At 70, I just don’t want to learn something new that seems to be ruining what little quality was left of the English language here in America.
Baud
It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday
And I’m going off to clean the garage.
#BillyJoelFirstTakes
Roger Moore
@David Koch:
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When all you have to sell is fear, everything looks scary.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’ve been surprised at how weak Jebbie lookes on the stump. I can’t decide if I’ll enjoy it more if he stumbles out of the primary or loses to Hillary in the general. I just hope Poppy and Bar have not gone to what I wish I believed will be their just reward.
I think Obama should be death-hugging Jeb every time he mentions immigration.
@Bonnie: none of these look particularly acronym-ridden, just short blog posts.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Jesus, that is some pathetic would-be machismo
Howard Beale IV
The GOP needs to be destroyed by any and all means necessary.
David Koch
imagine the hysteria, the firestorm, and the feeding frenzy in the media if Hillary was polling in 4th place with an anemic 10% of the vote.
But IOKIYAR
NotMax
@Bonnie
Amen to that. Blockquote after blockquote of gibberish does not a communicative post make.
The pound sign is useful and intelligible when writing about how much something weighs. Outside of that, not so much.
Cogitation and analysis are rapidly becoming antique.
(Gingerly steps down from soapbox.)
jo6pac
but then I realized you guys wouldn’t have the patience for more than a batch of 140-character quick hits (if that). Besides, I need to go clean the garage. Which, after winnowing down this list, seems like a relatively clean and profitable endeavor…
What ever and Thanks
Major Major Major Major
I’m having a knock down drag out fight with a nest of libertarians on facebook.
Sample post by me:
And as I said, good day. I’m out.
scav
Could many of them (I mean the supporters, the ones frantically scurrying about in costumes) actually be working through a “The Price Is Right” deficiency expressed through political interpretive dance? The demographics seem wrong for actual cosplay, even as attempt to shed the onion and be all hip/snark/twerk/twit/non-land-line/they’re working on it…
Kay
@David Koch:
His problem in a general election in Ohio won’t be the Common Core. It will be his education reform agenda, which consists of charters, vouchers and testing.
It’s not 2009. They’re now “reforming” charter schools in this state. The same newspapers that cheered charters on are now demanding regulation. The legislature just sat a 28 person panel to try to figure out how the hell we ended up testing kids constantly These are his policies. These “reforms” are central to his campaign, but we’ve had them for 15 years here and people are sick to death of the whole thing.
It’s not true in every state but the ground has shifted here. The ed reform honeymoon is over. All his reliable applause lines on “ed reform” are (now) hugely controversial here.
Major Major Major Major
I also suggested a guaranteed minimum income and cited its advocacy by Milton Friedman.
NotMax
@scav
Trentrunner
Robert Acosta is the reporter to follow to find out what’s going on in Repub Prez Land.
Latest tweet:
Please, God, let it be true.
scav
@NotMax: You’d know what on the TV better than I, I’ll take your word.
ETA. In either case, it seems to be all about the money and the price is apparently cheap.
Anne Laurie
@Bonnie:
Neither do I — you can read Twitter without joining.
It’s a tool. Like all tools, it can be useful or dangerous. You only get 140 characters per tweet, and that’s plenty for most quick jests and instant observations. So professional reporters use it for stuff us proles would never see otherwise… and “normal” people on the ground, like the citizens of Ferguson, use it to share news before it’s filtered through “the proper channels”.
On the bad side, trolls & idiots use Twitter to attack whatever they don’t understand. That’s why I don’t join Twitter myself — I barely have enough mental bandwidth to keep up with this blog, much less a firehose of quick-hits. But I read specific trusted individual’s Twitter-feeds (like, for instance, our Blogmaster‘s) because I can find stuff through them that I wouldn’t see otherwise. I think of it as a kind of RSS for my ADD-addled brain.
Kay
@David Koch:
These are the Republicans in Ohio:
It’s been going on for months. He can;t just roll in here spouting his 2005 bullshit about “government schools”. We’ve already been there and back again. It’s been a decade we;ve had the Jeb Bush ed reforms.
the Conster
What a bunch of unattractive, sour, pandering, dull eyed, uncool, phony, clueless, midget stooges. This is what pandering to the 27% gets you – it’s the bottom of the barrel. Watching Jeb flail around in the shallow end with the other losers is my favorite part, because he’s never going to be the nominee. He’ll never convince the teatards that he’s as big a drooling moron as they are.
Anne Laurie
@Trentrunner:
Yeah, Costa’s very workmanlike on the behind-the-scenes stuff — he’s the Washington Post‘s national political reporter, where politics is the town’s monopoly industry. He’s not so good on quips or quirkiness or the bright little jewel-like anecdotes, but it’s hard to beat him for the “what everyone (in the industry) is saying” updates.
Felonius Monk
The Ship of Fools, or more aptly, the Hotel Full of Fools.
Tara the Antisocial Social Worker
“Arsonists for Liberty:” band name or typical GOP-run PAC?
Corner Stone
Three ticky tack BS fouls on Dwight Howard have completely shaped this HOU v DAL game.
Fucking bullshit.
Omnes Omnibus
@the Conster:
You could have just said “GOP candidates.”
Violet
Jeb Bush looked really schlubby on the news clip I saw. Came across as as the second assistant VP at the suburban branch office of some insurance company or something. Didn’t come across like anything close to a front runner. Plus he looks kind of skinny-fat. Like he’s lost weight but still has a gut. Doesn’t look healthy, somehow. Adds to the schlub factor.
Another one who doesn’t look healthy is Rand Paul. He looks like he’s got something wrong with him health-wise.
Little Boots
I don’t get some things. I don’t get misogyny. I don’t get it.
this has nothing to do with the topic at hand, but still, I don’t get it. I don’t know why it happens.
divF
@the Conster: I figure that, come Thanksgiving or so, if Ted, Rand, or one of the other rabid squirrels are running away with it, the big money people will take the RNC behind closed doors and threaten to buy the entire election (Senate House and Presidency) for the Dems. At which point, the party will mysteriously scrap as much of the primary system as they need to, invent some “super delegate” BS, all of whom will back Jeb.
The alternative is that they let the Tea Party win the nom this time, then make sure the candidate crashes and burns in the general, and rebuild a more pliant GOP out of the smoking ruins.
David Koch
Pretty funny. Rubio has never held a job in the private sector. He hates gubmint, but he’s spent his adult life sucking on the gubmint teet.
Meanwhile, he’s a deadbeat and a cheat.
Imagine what would happen to Democrat who illegally converted campaign contributions to personal property and didn’t pay any taxes on the unrecognized income.
Kay
@Omnes Omnibus:
I;m waiting for the reality of Scott Walker, dead-eyed Blank Person, to hit :)
I imagine people saying :”that’s him?”
Omnes Omnibus
@Kay: So am I, Kay. So am I.
Trentrunner
@Violet:
Jeb Bush would be the most presidential of all the candidates? Of all Republicans?
Hell, he’s not even the most presidential in his immediate family.
Meritocracy FTW.
Kay
@Omnes Omnibus:
Not in Wisconsin! I think I know what happened in Wisconsin. He’s not “national” yet, so we don’t know. These horrible base get-togethers don’t count as “national”.
They asked him why he polls so poorly against Clinton in Wisconsin and he came to life a little bit, but it didn’t last.
Little Boots
omnes has not explained.
the Conster
@divF:
The big money guys aren’t going to get their money’s worth out of any of those GOP clowns no matter what they do- you can’t polish any of those turds enough. They’re all charmless, smarmy beady-eyed hypocrites with nothing to offer anyone not named Koch, at all.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@David Koch:
Link, please?
Little Boots
see, everyone is here now. love that.
David Koch
@Kay: that meme has already taken root, with extensive articles
Swift resignation of Scott Walker aide raises questions of campaign viability
Scott Walker is an Empty Suit
even the wingnuts at Brietbart say:
Little Boots
i blame steeplejack. he should post awesome music.
muddy
@Little Boots: Fear.
Little Boots
it’s probably steeplejack’s fault.
but it would nice if he wasn’t entirely at fault.
divF
@the Conster: I agree. That’s why, upon further reflection, I think the second option is more likely.
Omnes Omnibus
@Little Boots: What have I not explained?
David Koch
@Steeplejack (tablet):
Marco Rubio, Florida GOP Under Federal Investigation
Rubio faces foreclosure on Tally home
muddy
There was some talk in Vermont that we should move our primary up to be more relevant and whatnot. NH freaked out that they passed a law that they were first in the nation, so we couldn’t go before them! Not sure why their law applies to us or to anyone else, but whatever.
People were saying it would be great, all those people would come here and we could get their money. Followed quickly by, All those people would come here, oh no! And then we’d have a lot of annoying tv commercials like everyone else. It faded so fast it was funny.
Kay
@David Koch:
Well, good, I agree, It just happens again and again. “A governor” isn’t that strong outside his (or her) state.
Remember Texas people with Rick Perry? “He’ll be hard to beat!” You just don’t know until they have to run outside the state.
I think people don’t want to admit it’s really rare to be a really good Presidential candidate because it goes against the “there are 350 million people! why don’t we have better candidates?” Because being good at running for President is a rare (and kind of bizarre) skill set that few people possess?
Steeplejack (tablet)
@David Koch:
Thanks.
Little Boots
and because he is such a damn pain in the ass:
yes, omnes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7Xm30heHms
Corner Stone
Fucking Christ, fuck you refs. Howard can’t be on the floor, apparently.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Little Boots:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ypadKraAb1s
Gin & Tonic
@Little Boots: That’s weak.
Little Boots
unlike steeplejack, who is damn, love the steeplejack.
Hal
@David Koch:
We will be saying this to infinity and beyond. Republicans have been doing things during the Obama admin that any dem would have been tarred and feathered for in media.
On Scott Walker; I’m really curious if people would be willing to vote for a President with no college degree. I am of the opinion that it is about ideas and understanding, as opposed to experience as a Governor or Senator etc. But you must know the foundations of Government and have a school house rock level understanding of how legislation happens. Also, I just don’t see Walker’s anti-union schtick working against Hillary in PA, OH, or MI. What else does he have to run on?
Little Boots
@Gin & Tonic:
is it? how?
how is that weak?@Omnes Omnibus:
how you are this person. that has not been explained.
Omnes Omnibus
@Little Boots: Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink, he would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Some times he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy, the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical, summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we’d make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds, pretty standard really. At the age of 12 I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen, a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum, it’s breathtaking, I suggest you try it.
Kay
@David Koch:
Next they’ll look to Kasich. I had a Republican here tell me Rubio/Kasich. I asked why Kasich would be VP (which is ridiculous- he’s better qualified than Rubio) and they said “Hispanic”.
Oh, okay. This is a genuis plan.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
um fine. I am slightly drunk.
but sometimes, wait, chestnuts are lazy. you are right to be angry.
can I post monkees?
Little Boots
and deep down, I knew you were Zoroastrian.
Little Boots
can I sort of be in love with steeplejack? I mean, I will always be in in love with you, omnes, but can I kidnda be in love with steeplejack?
Gin & Tonic
@Little Boots: A little drunk? Drink champagne, as if it were water.
Little Boots
@Gin & Tonic:
little bit.
but i do still love both of them.
Omnes Omnibus
Spanish Stroll.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
dammit.
just, dammit.
Corner Stone
@Kay:
Absolutely no one from TX was saying that. Nobody.
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus: The Dutch?
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: I feel that way about Walker, but I hope that my emotional reaction to the man and what he and his henchmen are doing to my state aren’t clouding my judgment too much.
Little Boots
I am not a nice guy. I need to figure what I want.
Bill Arnold
@Trentrunner:
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: Dutch?
Little Boots
I dunno omnes, I dunno, what the hell is with me. I don’t know. something.
Felonius Monk
@Omnes Omnibus: Not as good as Cadillac Walk.
Omnes Omnibus
@Little Boots: Well, your capitalization is rather haphazard. I am not sure if this is helpful.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
and it used to be perfect. now, it’s crazy. okay, supremes?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PycKSdKG_74
Mike in NC
@Omnes Omnibus: Whatever happened to Mike Myers? Seems his career imploded in very short order.
Violet
@Kay:
Yep. I think I saw that Kasich is on Meet the Press tomorrow.
Omnes Omnibus
@Felonius Monk: I am a Coup de Grâce fan. First to last track, but this as a single song is damned good. Okay, I’ll be honest – I am a Willie DeVille fanboi.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mike in NC: He did an interview with Marc Maron and made it a condition that Maron not bring up “the Love Guru”
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
and my capitalization is perfect, thank you.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike in NC: Thank dog someone recognized the quotation. As far as MM goes, he became self-indulgent and no one reined him in.
Omnes Omnibus
Ben E. King, anyone? Although this is more my dad’s wheelhouse than mine.
Violet
@Corner Stone: Yep. Was going to say the same thing. No Texans were saying that Rick Perry would be hard to beat. None.
People know the Governor of their state. Funny how no one listens to the people from that state.
Omnes Omnibus
@Violet: Listen to me! Scott Walker is a vicious, soulless servant of evil.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
yup, and they might listen to you.
Little Boots
or, we can have:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11A8JZ-RDDo
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Quotation?! I thought that was the straight dope.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Violet: @Omnes Omnibus: Heh. Reminds me of the line Molly Ivins had read at her memorial,
Googling this, I find she first said/wrote in June, 2001, back when we thought he was gonna be a one-term embarrassment.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: None, of course. I just don’t want the Death Eater who becomes the GOP nominee to be from my state.
Mike in NC
@Omnes Omnibus: Seems he made a fortune with the Wayne’s World and Austin Powers franchises so he now has the luxury of a fabulous retirement.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: Christ, as though I would admit to Belgian ancestry. Oddly, webbed toes have come down through my mom’s French ancestry.
Steeplejack
Okay, I know it’s not a golf crowd here, but I was watching the LPGA event on Oahu to lower my blood pressure from politics. Leisurely action, nice scenery. And an amazing finish! Sei Young Kim chipped in from off the green at 18 to get into a playoff with Inbee Park, and then, on the first playoff hole, she sank a 154-yard iron shot for an eagle. That left Park having to make an almost identical shot to stay in it. Oddly enough, she was unable to do that. F’amazeballs. It’s at least worth a look on the SportsCenter top 10 plays later tonight or tomorrow.
Violet
Interesting:
Didn’t Priebus say they were limiting debates and keeping them to places like Fox News? I think they want to avoid the clown car debate setup like last time, but if the candidates are all demanding a spot in the debates and are feeling entitled (in a previous tweet he says even little known candidates are acting “haughty with the press”), it’s going to be tough to keep those egos under control. And if they’re denied a spot in a debate, imagine the temper tantrum on Twitter.
Popcorn!
BillinGlendaleCA
@Little Boots:
I remain a non-person.
Tom Q
@Kay: I remember seeing Dukakis on TV, maybe a year or two after his presidential run, and thinking, This guy’s fairly personable; why didn’t it seem that way in ’88? The answer, I think, is that any successful politician has a certain level of personability; they’d never have won any election without it.
But each successive rung up the ladder requires a stronger degree of audience-relatability — and by the time you get to the presidential level, crowd expectation is off the charts. I’ve been watching politics for 50 years now, and the number of people who truly matched what voters desired at the presidential level sits at single digits: JFK, Reagan, Clinton, Obama (it should be clear, I’m keeping political agreement with my taste out of this — I’d never include Reagan in a list that pleased me, but I can’t deny he worked for a lot of people).
People say Hillary doesn’t qualify here, and they’re correct. But watching her, I think she’s got herself to the point where she can comfortably compete at the level just below the golden circle — she’ll never be the inspirational candidate the big four (and FDR & Teddy Roosevelt, earlier) were…but she’s seasoned enough to pass for the best available. Which can sometimes be enough to win an election.
Especially because I don’t see anybody on the GOP side who’s capable of faking it even that far. I look at who they’re putting up and there’s no one I can conceive of standing side by side with Hillary and looking like the stronger choice.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Steeplejack: Hmmm, there’s a reason to watch golf. Korean girls!
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Clarence Carter, “Slip Away.”
Little Boots
@BillinGlendaleCA:
no, not at all. what?
Violet
@Omnes Omnibus: I don’t think he can win the Republican primary, let alone the general. He just doesn’t have it. I’m not quite sure what “it” is, except for being the collection of traits required to win. I’m interested he’s being relegated to also-ran status already. Maybe the money boys are seeing what I saw a long time ago. He just doesn’t have it.
Little Boots
I am obsessive, but sorry, billin. damn.
Steeplejack
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I was too polite to say it, but I was thinking it. Well, I did mention the nice scenery.
Little Boots
okay, I might be slightly in love with omnes and steeplejack.
I’m just a little obsessive.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: Oh yeah. Oh fucking yeah. Beautiful, and dislodged from a corner of my memory. I am a slut for Stax, Hi, and Muscle Shoals artists.
Steeplejack
@Little Boots:
Dwight Twilley Band, “I’m on Fire.”
Bonnie
@Anne Laurie: I used to read tweets in blogs like this; but, on too many occasions, I could not understand what the author was trying to say. So, I gave up. I guess the truth is I don’t do twitter nor do I read tweets any more because on too many occasions it was a waste of time. With more past than future these days, I prefer to spend my time with writings I can understand on almost all occasions.
Steeplejack
All that talk about Cadillacs and DeVilles, and then I said, “Dwight.”
“Guitars, Cadillacs.”
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: @Steeplejack: Ronettes?
jl
@Violet:
“it”: from what I have seen the missing ‘it’ is brains, personality, empathy and any kind of broad vision for anything at all that most people are interested in for the nation. But, he could get the nomination since that kind of lackage does not seem to be a problem among the GOP primary base.
Little Boots
@Steeplejack:
see, just ever so slightly in love.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Ronettes are always good.
Violet
@efgoldman: Yeah, I think you’re right about that. But they’re going to have to limit the number of people in the debates or they’ll be unable to fit them all on stage. And there could be so many boutique candidates that poll at 2-5% but have loud supporters and those people will be really upset if their candidate doesn’t get a spot. They have to draw the line somewhere or they’ll end up with a bunch of candidates who are the equivalent of the “Rent is Too Damn High” guy from that NYC mayoral debate a few years ago.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
and this was me playing this, goddamit, once upon a time.
you bastards.
rikyrah
@David Koch:
Mittens is sitting in the shadows, waiting for Jeb to flame out.
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: He has reached his Peterson Principle level as governor of midsized state.
AnotherBruce
@Violet: I don’t think Rand Paul has been exposed to very much sunlight in his entire life. That’s probably because of his batshit crazy father. See, also, Ted Cruz.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
More Clarence: “Too Weak to Fight.”
Joe Simon, “The Chokin’ Kind.”
jl
Also glad to see from one tweet that the GOP is still obsessing over Obama.
Shhhh…. don’t no one tell them he is not running again.
I think even the extreme Obama fans here can conceive of another president who rivals Obama in political talent and accomplishment, I can imagine one and I hope for one. In the near future, such a one will have to be a Democrat of course, the current GOP is capable of only producing disaster.
So, I would like to think that many here look forward to Obama paving the way for an even better Democratic president in the future.
But, for the GOP, Obama is truly irreplaceable. They just can’t quit him.
Even though I think almost all rabid Obots realize they can and must quit him in order to prepare for the future. But not the GOP.
Little Boots
@rikyrah:
that’s gonna be a long wait.
Omnes Omnibus
@Little Boots: Don’t knock Ronnie. You bastard. As punishment, here is Carly Rae Jepson covering Queen.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
O.V. Wright, “A Nickel and a Nail.”
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
love ronnie, and I would make you happy, dammit.
rikyrah
@Kay:
The charter school scam has run its course in “urban” areas. We have years of non-results. Now they are trying to bring the scam to where people moved to get GOOD PUBLIC SCHOOLS, and folks are not buying it.
Steeplejack
King Curtis, “Memphis Soul Stew.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Violet: Ben Carson and Rick Santorum are gonna want in, and be hard to refuse. Bobby Jindal will be jumping up outside the hall, but no one will notice. He’ll wind up a Jeannie Moose feature on CNN, if she’s still there.
Omnes Omnibus
@Little Boots: Stepping over borders, you are.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Steeplejack: It’s sort of a thing with me since college, Ms. BillinGlendaleCA is Korean.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
oh fine. love billin anyway.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Violet: They could start having divisions for their debates, maybe Western Conference and Eastern Conference; then have the main debates within the top 4 of each.
Omnes Omnibus
@rikyrah: Look, school reform is simple. Solve poverty. Solve the problem of parents having three different jobs each to make ends meet. Solve a few simple things like that and 97% of problems with education will go away.
jl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I am still hoping for 50 lunatic GOPers for the first debate.
Fifty loon GOPers or fight!
I’m thinking of crowdsourcing a public campaign for the cause. Who is with me?
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
Golf needs more cheerleaders.
“Stroke! Stroke! In the hole!”
/inner 12-year-old
Steeplejack
Major Lance, “Monkey Time.” (Bonus: fleeting go-go dancers.)
“Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um.” (Go-go dancers to the fore!)
Little Boots
I know what you are saying, but you piss me off a little, anyway.
but okay.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: Hi Records, right?
Morzer
New Hampshire really ought to update its motto to “Live free-riding or die trying”. Truth in advertising and all that.
Steeplejack
Jerry Butler, “Only the Strong Survive.”
Hal
Oklahoma finds a way:
http://jezebel.com/oklahoma-governor-signs-bill-approving-nitrogen-gas-for-1698668075?utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&utm_source=jezebel_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
So even though this method has never been tried on Humans, it’s totally ok and will work out great. Gotcha.
So eager to get that death train rolling again! Also, there are 4 times the number of black death row inmates in OK compared to white inmates. But I’m sure that’s totally justified.
It’s also interesting in reading the comments, some people were talking about the use of nitrogen in euthanize certain types of animals, but depending on the animal, results vary. I wonder how OK came about this decision and what science they used to back up the claim that this is in fact a humane way to execute someone. If there even is such a thing.
jl
@Omnes Omnibus: Some evidence for this. Some kind BJ commenter posted a link to a study that suggested any supposed massive failure of US schools was mostly explained by poverty and social deprivation. Once you adjusted for that, US public school performed on a par with other high performing countries.
So, in this case, may be a simple answer to an apparently complex problem that is also correct.
Of course, addressing poverty and social deprivation in the US will not be simple at all, so I guess the maxim still holds, just one step removed.
Exurban Mom
As an Ohioan, I would love for Kasich to leave Ohio, but I would hate to inflict him on the rest of the country. He has quite a few problems:
1. He’s got a nasty temper. He badmouthed a state trooper who stopped him for speeding, called him an “idiot” in a recounting of the story to a crowd while he was being videotaped. That is plain stupid.
2. He’s got a bad record on attempting to take down unions/harm union influence, which would fire up the union base to work for any opponent who was sufficiently pro-union (Google SB 5/Issue 2/Ohio for the full story). His temper got in his way there–union folks were willing to meet with him before he drafted the onerous legislation, but he refused, and he paid the price.
3. His state’s charter school movement is rife with corruption, which the legislature is now waking up to and dealing with.
4. He’s had weak Dem opponents in his elections, so his strength and big wins are a bit illusory. He’s not as strong as he might appear.
jl
@Hal: Heard a news report this morning about this. You know I love to wake up to cheerful news early in the morning.
Anyway, turns out that the American Veterinary Medical Association does not approve of using nitrogen gas substitution to put down animals. They say it is not humane, and difficult to control process. That latter makes sense, because the idea I think it to just suffocate the person to death.
I guess it looks nicer because no gagging and convulsions from carbon dioxide build up. (Edit: any medical or science people here know about that? Does the death look all pretty and calm?)
Anyway, the AVMA says to not use this method on animals. Think about that.
Little Boots
damn, I’m kinda pissed, and I have no right to be pissed. so, damn, i don’t know.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
How would you say it compares in size to, say, France?
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: Come on, why else do well off American school districts perform as well as any in the world? In Wisconsin, the problem is Milwaukee. And some poor ass rural districts. Oh, by the way, a few schools in Milwaukee perform amazingly. Why? Well off neighborhoods and siphoning off the good students from other areas.
Poverty is the problem.
Steeplejack
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Yeah, I got that from previous comments.
Anne Laurie
@efgoldman:
Yup. Which means — and if “RNC PR BS” had any sense, he’d have realized this before I did — that they can’t blame “the lamestream media moderators” when it’s time to ruthlessly prune the number of midgets trying to crowd up on the stage. Every four years, there’s at least one wodge of voters swearing eternal enmity after their golden child (RonPaul, Cain, Jindal) is refused precious free media air time because they can’t break out of the “rounding error” category — but it’s been convenient for the GOP to say that CNN or MSNBC or the League of Women Voters were responsible for keeping those polling below 5% or so shut out.
Some of the nineteen-&-counting current pretenders are gonna be turned away from Hugh Hewitt’s Big Podium, and that’s a whole bunch of unhappy supporters hoping that Hugh ‘GeeGo’ You-Twit chokes on his own tongue while he’s slurping over the lucky winners. Speaking of confusion to our enemies…
NotMax
@Steeplejack
Scantily clad showgirl dancers.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: I was misinformed… Ass. OTOH, it is about double the size of Benelux.
Little Boots
or, I could calm the fuck down and not be angry at people who don’t deserve anger.
so okay, let’s just have lions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LBmUwi6mEo
jl
@Exurban Mom:
” 1. He’s got a nasty temper. He badmouthed a state trooper who stopped him for speeding, called him an “idiot” in a recounting of the story to a crowd while he was being videotaped. That is plain stupid. ”
Huh. Politicians are important World Historical Figures now, and are right to be outraged.
The cop that ticked US Grant for horse speeding back in that day reported that he apologized for for stopping the president and would not write a ticket. He said Grant insisted that he write the ticket and thanked him for doing is work and admitted that he was acting badly.
Now in the old days, Grant’s example would be taught to school children. But in the current GOP’s view of things, Grant was a dumb chump.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Hi Records in the ’70s, Back Beat Records before that. I think this one is from the earlier period.
Omnes Omnibus
Some Weill?
jl
@Omnes Omnibus: That’s what I said, in my cautious statistician way.
You still grumpy?
I offered up some evidence you could pound, so why are you going straight to pounding the table?
Little Boots
near the blog, the quiet blog, the lion sleeps tonight.
Little Boots
@jl:
and is he ever not?
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: What makes you think I am arguing with you rather than trying to amplify your point?
Amir Khalid
@Tom Q:
It’s always been my theory that Mike Dukakis lost in 1988 because his cousin Olympia got all the luck that was due the family that year: she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, playing Cher’s mother in Moonstruck.
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
OMG, they’re barely one step above Benny Hill’s Hill’s Angels, if that. Have some respect, man!
The gold standard: Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels. (And, yes, Ryder is Jimmy Smits’s illegitimate father.)
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
it’s the way you have, sometimes.
Petorado
@Little Boots: It’s better in the original Xhosa.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Sorry, couldn’t resist. Good times.
jl
@Omnes Omnibus: Well, dammit, man, you are a lawyer. I figure you are always arguing!
I beg a thousand pardons.
And why are you wasting your time with me? You owe some other commenters some tunes, don’t you?
Little Boots
@jl:
yes, dammit, he does.
Steeplejack
@jl:
I think you two are in violent agreement. There may be alcohol involved. (Perhaps Pernod, based on the Weill outbreak.)
sukabi
@Trentrunner: maybe they’ll all embrace their 2nd amendment rights and take care of each other in “manly” fashion.
Little Boots
@Steeplejack:
no appeasing.
and music? mister?
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: You don’t really seem to understand what lawyers do. It’s okay. Many don’t. If you really want a fight, please tell me what we are fighting about. Thanks. Really, I would be happy to oblige.
Little Boots
uh huh
Steeplejack
@Little Boots:
Okay, here’s one just for you.
Amir Khalid
@efgoldman:
Well, his cousin Olympia and the fact that he was unfairly presented by the American media as a wimp.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Which makes me think of this.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: I don’t actually mind that song..
jl
@Omnes Omnibus: We are not fighting about anything. Calm down.
You are even further behind on those tunes now too. Look, see what you’ve done, Little Boots has given up.
Anne Laurie
@Omnes Omnibus: Useful as the Peter Principle is, I wish Parkinson’s Law was more widely read. “A [bureaucrat] wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals” and “Officials make work for each other.” , among Professor Parkinson’s many useful observations, explain so much about our current social state.
Admittedly, the wit of a mid-1950s English economist can be ill-suited to modern standards of egalitarianism; I suspect Parkinson won’t be resurrected until his more racist / ageist / sexist comments mature from “outdated” to “as was the fashion, in those days”…
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Okay, need a palate-cleanser after that.
And the cleaner, crisper original by the Hollies.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
Lurves me some Kurt and Lotte.
And now for something completely different. Magnifique.
Omnes Omnibus
@Anne Laurie: Well, thank you. That was damned helpful or not.
karen marie
@Smiling Mortician: This is why I continue to smoke. People tell me it will kill me, and my response is, “Promises, promises.”
Anne Laurie
@Amir Khalid: The Bush Crime Syndicate was involved, so IMO it’s not if there was some kind of cheating involved, it’s how that cheating was successfully disguised. One thing that keeps me going is the hope of living long enough that the mechanisms are finally exposed, she said piously.
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: Aw, blow me. No offense.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Speaking of the Hollies—an underrated ’60s band—“Yes, I Will.” (Nice understated guitar solo at 1:40.)
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
There’s an app for that.
:)
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Need some lesser Zombies to balance that out. “Leave Me Be.”
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
And maybe “Whenever You’re Ready.”
And then Rod Argent went on to, uh, Argent. “Liar.”
NotMax
@Steeplejack
While on the subject of underrated 60s groups…
Same group, wholly different style.
jl
@Omnes Omnibus: You forgot the link to that tune.
Howard Beale IV
@Hal:
Maybe (just maybe) it’s what vets use when they do group euthanasia? But in this case, I don’t think this will work all that well as pure nitrogen isn’t used during anesthesia-but xenon gas is-and odds are that no licensed anesthesiologist would sign up to perform such a procedure.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Three Dog Night covered “Liar,” but let’s go with “Eli’s Coming.”
Which was written by Laura Nyro.
Omnes, call-back to the Ronettes, etc.
BillinGlendaleCA
My home automation hub was bricked by the company that made it this morning. They seemed to have not renewed their SSL cert and bricked a bunch of hubs across the country. They will pay to ship it to them and back, and a $50 gift cert. So now I sit in a dimly lit room.
joel hanes
@Steeplejack:
Laura Nyro
A goddess. We have never been worthy.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
The Fifth Dimension did a lot of Laura Nyro’s songs, but let’s go with “California Soul.”
And one for Boots: “Up, Up and Away.”
NotMax
@
Anecdote from a favorite humorous travel book had the author being taken inside a beyond dimly lit bar in pre-Gulf War Baghdad.
The Iraqi men who took him there motioned over a woman to sit with them.
The author went on to say that it was so dim he struck a match to see her and, suddenly discovering why the place was so dark, immediately blurted out, “What species are you?” to her.
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
Nice. The seagulls and waves made me think of this.
Hal
@Howard Beale IV:
No worries.
So I guess they can just go out and get some really enthusiastic supporter the death penalty, train them on how to use whatever devices this will require, and get going.
One other thing I’m confused about is that if this method has never been used on people before, isn’t this human experimentation of a sort? That seems unconstitutional, but the death penalty itself is not. Confusing.
NotMax
#210 ought to have been labeled @BillinGlendaleCA
NotMax
@Hal
It is no more humane than was Zyklon-B.
End of argument.
Steeplejack
@joel hanes:
True dat.
Sara Bareilles does “Stoney End” at Nyro’s R&R Hall of Fame induction.
Steeplejack
@BillinGlendaleCA:
You gotta decentralize, man!
jl
@Howard Beale IV:
” Maybe (just maybe) it’s what vets use when they do group euthanasia? ”
No, Maybe earlier on this link or one below, I noted that I heard this morning on the news that American Veterinary Medical Association does not approve of using nitrogen gas to put down animals. AVMA considers it inhumane and difficult to control (the latter I guess is because it is basically suffocating the animal, or person, to death).
Edit: maybe I am wrong. Maybe some places do use it for group euthanasia, but if they do, AVMA does not approve of that method.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Steeplejack: Heh, I still have Wemo switches. I only had to replace one light bulb to get everything to work. I’ll just have to make a concentrated effort to remember to lock the door when I leave the cave.
AnotherBruce
@jl: Obama definitely brought out the fever-crazy in the conservatives. He did this because of his quick intellect and cool demeanor, also his consistency of message and er………Oh fuck, who am I kidding, he brought out the fever crazy because of his relentless skin color.
Steeplejack
Okay, can’t let this thread end on a diminuendo.
The Impressions, “It’s All Right.”
Seriously, J.J. Jackson, “But It’s Alright.”
BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: Or they could just get a pickup and attach the tailpipe to the room. That’d work.
Steeplejack
Shnikeys, just found this Tyrone Davis performance on Soul Train.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
All right! Sei Young Kim at No. 1 in the SportsCenter top 10 plays for Saturday. Can’t find a clip of that, but here’s how she won.
jafd
@Violet:
Well, there’s a consensus in Pennsylvania that W would’ve had a good chance to carry the state if Tom Ridge had been his Veep nominee …
Practicioners of counterfactual history in this audience may take it from there
jafd
@Anne Laurie:
C.Northcote Parkinson was, basically, the Tories one-man think tank in the twenty years after WWII.
The works of his that are still read in the US are the stuff of the night-school MBA programs that are the cash cows of US academia. If you find the English editions of his other works, though, there’s a lot of the nasty “How dare the lower classes get uppity” tropes that are the staple fulminations of the English right.
Two rants here:
He got his WWI naval history very wrong. Had the Royal Navy had metallurgical laboratorys to ensure their armor and shells were as good as the Germans’, and if their codebreaking room not closed for the day at 5 and gone home, Jutland would have been a decisive Allied victory. The failure was an undermanned shore establishment, not the sailors at sea.
It seems that half the political discourse of the last ten years has been recycled frm Orwell’s _The Road to Wigan Pier_. Every*%&^%body oughta read it, and if you can’t contribute something original, at least acknowledge your debt.
J R in WV
@Steeplejack (tablet):
I wish you guys would tell us who the youtube link you post is gonna be. I can’t download every youtube music take there is in the world, I can’t even get all the good ones…
Otherwise I enjoy your schtick. Keep up the good work in the wee hours.
I just listened to the Mountain Stage 25th anniversary show on FM, old fashioned but good. You should try it out.
Keith G
@Tom Q: This is a quite correct observation. And the issue that ef bring up below buried Dukakis even deeper.
@efgoldman:
Which led to the ’92 Clinton War Room mantra of “Leave no attacks (immediately) unanswered”. Stephanopoulos, who led Clinton’s War Room, had worked for the Dukakis campaign.
bloomingpol
As a politically active NH resident, my take on the FITN nonsense is that it is one of the worst things that ever happened to this state. It keeps NH voters thinking they are so damned smart while they ignore the fact that they consistently elect legislatures and governors who pledge to destroy the state’s economy by Chinese water torture. If you don’t know, NH has been running a structural deficit for decades now, and our tourism (the state’s major industry) now demands that you carry at least two spare tires and your own portapotty, and keep an eye on those bridges.
Cervantes
Half an education is more of a waste than none at all.
Cervantes
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I would have apologized in advance for laughing but it’s too late.