Colin Diersing, in the Los Angeles Times:
Democratic pollster Celinda Lake has been asking voters how much they trust Hillary Rodham Clinton for more than two decades. So when she recently asked a group of 10 young people about the issue, her questions naturally turned to Whitewater, the Arkansas land deal turned White House scandal of the 1990s.
Instead of the heated answers the topic once invited, the focus group responded with confused silence.
“Is that a new type of vodka?” one person finally offered.
The participant was probably kidding, Lake said. But the answer is exemplary of a challenge confronting pollsters, ad-makers and strategists on both sides who are trying to shape Clinton’s image during her presidential run. The youngest eligible voters of 2016 were toddlers when America’s most prominent political power couple left the White House, and what Americans know about Clinton is increasingly defined by what stage of her career she was in when they first tuned in…
Somebody put Ron Fournier on suicide watch — if he makes an attempt, I want it on YouTube.
… “The whole thing of scandal is much harder to pin on her with first- and second-time voters,” said Frank Luntz, a GOP strategist who helped counsel House Republicans through their battles with the Clintons in the 1990s. “The ’90s are as irrelevant to 20-somethings as the 1950s are to 50-somethings. If you didn’t see it and you didn’t hear it and you didn’t live it, it doesn’t matter.”
To some young voters, even Clinton’s marriage seems irrelevant to how they think of her, which is mostly as a presidential candidate or secretary of State.
“Most of her career that I followed has been when she was operating by herself and he’s been kind of a background piece,” said Marilis Dugas, a 21-year-old student at Clinton’s alma mater, Wellesley College. “I don’t have nearly as many associations of the two of them together.”…
But her husband had sex! with a young intern! and she didn’t even seek a rightful Second-Amendment remedy!!!… the Repub base, the Talibangelicals who don’t want *anyone* having sex, and the old men who resent *other* people having illicit sex, still find this An Outrage. Voters not yet AARP-eligible, maybe not so much, I suspect.
redshirt
Also too Hillary has a VayJayJayJay…..
Benw
This Hillary Clinton lady seems pretty popular lately, especially with the young crowd, if AL can be believed. I don’t know much about her, but she could be an asset on the ticket!
SANDERS/CLINTON 2016
Steeplejack
WTF. John Sununu is on Conan tonight. When did he get unfrozen from cryogenic storage? I presume he has a book to pimp, but, seriously, Conan? Right between Kevin Bacon and comic Maggie Maye. Not gonna watch.
Mike J
This should be repeated every day.
redshirt
I still drop a Public Enemy Sununu reference from time to time.
“I’m Audi, like Sununu.”
Meaning, I’m leaving in a sudden fashion.
dww44
I receive a daily midday update from the AJC. Today the article was about Carter and while it was innocuous enough, I made the mistake of wading into the comments. Although there weren’t that many, a significant number were unbelievably mean-spirited and demeaning, and disrespectful. What sorts of people do this? I simply cannot understand the mindset that thinks it’s okay to bash a person who’s received a probable death sentence. Nor the mindset that wants to turn everything into a right/left issue. I’ve a cousin who does that and it drives me nuts.
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2015/08/13/jimmy-carters-hometown-of-plains-shocked-at-news-of-his-cancer/
Frankensteinbeck
20-somethings also trust cable and newspaper reporting as far as they can throw Wolf Blitzer. The media is going to spend the next nine years hurling every glob of shit they can find at Hillary, and may not even know that nobody else cares.
feebog
Now all we have to do is get all those 20 somethings to get out and vote…
Tree With Water
… “The whole thing of scandal is much harder to pin on her with first- and second-time voters..”.
Like the man said, “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice [pause] you don’t get fooled again”.
Kropadope
@Frankensteinbeck:
That might be too far, he’s such an intellectual lightweight.
@efgoldman:
Except for the poo flingers. That may be selection bias, though.
Karen in GA
God, I’m depressed now.
Anyway. I have to admit I’m surprised to hear it would be harder to pin scandals on Hillary with younger voters. I thought that would have been true of older voters — we’ve been hearing about one “scandal” after another for the past 25 years, and our opinions about her are pretty much set now and probably have been for years. Whereas I thought younger voters would have been more open to whatever bullshit Republicans want to throw out there about her because it would have been the first they’d heard of it.
Eh. Shows what I know.
Omnes Omnibus
@Karen in GA: That’s the big thing here. Older voters views of HRC are already baked in and younger voters aren’t interested in the old scandals. If people harp on them, they will seem like cranks.
22over7
Village journalists are peeing themselves with anxiety, hoping to find that one bit of correspondence that will smear Hillary forever. (I suggested earlier that they’re looking for her Amazon order for eye of newt.) That’s the golden ticket to endless CNN appearances and book deals.
The people who are convinced that she’s a lying, ruthless witch who personally murdered the four guys in Libya (and Vince Foster!) would never vote for her anyway.
Neither group cares about her policies, her experience, nor her ability to govern.
Kropadope
@Karen in GA:
Whatever else may be going wrong these days, it’s nice that history is at the fingertips of anyone curious and discerning enough to find it.
Mike J
@Karen in GA:
As much as I hate social; media and up/downvotes, I would suggest that everyone who cares to register at various sites (pseuds fine) and up/down vote the proper way. Republicans are certainly doing it in an organized way. Go on Redditt and imgur and wherever else and vote the right way.
I see anti-Hillary stuff every day. We can’t allow the other side to own the narrative.
Steeplejack
@efgoldman:
“Former Governor John H. Sununu.” So père.
ETA: Don’t think John E. is quite ready for cryogenics at age 50. But I haven’t seen how he looks lately.
Karen in GA
@Kropadope: True. I just hope
describes enough younger voters.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Steeplejack: damn, he must have one hell of a publicist.
“You remember! He was Chief of Staff to President Bush…. no, the first President Bush… Well, he was fired in 1990…. ah, mostly because he was kind of an asshole… A Chief of Staff is, um, well, kind of a gate-keeper, or right-hand man, whatever the president wants him to be….. No he’s not really funny…. No, not really important…. He did race-bait Obama on behalf of Romney, that was only three years ago!… Looks, um… have you ever seen a warthog? Imagine one that sweats a lot….Su-Nu-Nu, like it sounds… S….U…N…U….”
Frankensteinbeck
@efgoldman:
I remember it blew CNN’s minds when Obama’s reelection was announced. The Punditariat are convinced that all of America thinks like they do.
Benw
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: to be fair, interviewing an unfunny, sweating warthog sounds like a very Conan thing to do.
Peale
@Omnes Omnibus: Because they won’t make any sense. “She fired the barber!” “She brought the first cat into the white house!” “She hung bongs on the Christmas Tree!” “She had people pay to stay in the Lincoln Bedroom!” “She wouldn’t hand over her Christmas List!” “Her Husband made people wait on the tarmac while he got a $500 haircut from a guy with a gay sounding name!” “She made money on Beef Futures” “She had nude pictures taken of her at Wellesley”
Roy G.
They don’t know who Al Gore is either, so what’s the point?
Omnes Omnibus
@Peale:
???
Kropadope
@Omnes Omnibus: That was the only one which was suspect?
Tree With Water
@Kropadope: “Whatever else may be going wrong these days, it’s nice that history is at the fingertips of anyone curious and discerning enough to find it”.
Amen, amen. No kidding, for some reason a few minutes ago, while watching the Giants-Nats game, I got to wondering about the Port Chicago explosion during WW2- it occurred here in the Bay Area. I forgot much of what I once knew, and decided to refresh my memory sometime this evening… and a search is so easily accomplished. It’s absolutely incredible, is what it is.
srv
The right way to approach the youths is to point out that Hillary is the reason their tuition is so high. Those billions in speaker fees aren’t coming from nowhere.
And it’s a good thing she wasn’t Sec. of Treasury. She probably would have had a US mint in her basement.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kropadope: I heard all the others in real time.
mdblanche
@Kropadope:
Obligatory link.
22over7
@Peale: Exactly. I tried explaining the stuff to my 25-year old, and she looked at me like I had lobsters coming out of my ears. BTW, she and her friends are WILD about Hillary. They could care less about blow jobs and think it’s about damn time women started running things. They want peace and prosperity and g-damn bodily autonomy.
different-church-lady
@Steeplejack:
Well, remember, it’s a comedy program.
Steeplejack
@Kropadope, @Tree With Water:
The catch is that there is also a lot of complete bullshit on the Internet, and the unsophisticated researcher can take some of that as “fact.” Especially true in mushy areas like politics and economics.
Peale
@Omnes Omnibus: I kid you not.
Slightly not safe for work. Not really a scandal, though. I believe the controversy I read about it is why no one at those schools ever spoke up about it.
Kropadope
@mdblanche: I saw that before, but still, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
MattF
Charlie Pierce on Fournier-the-partisan-hack. But wasn’t Fournier taken sort-of seriously, not so long ago? Did he once have a brain?
Steeplejack
@different-church-lady:
Didn’t think they’d have to go that deep into the bench.
Omnes Omnibus
@Peale: Okay then.
Kropadope
@Steeplejack:
Yeah, that’s why I felt I needed to throw in that “discerning.”
@22over7:
Umm….
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I was looking at Haaretz to see if they acknowledged in any way the “Gay Senator Al Franken… ” tweet, and I was a bit confused by this sub-headline
Netanyahu, whose deep understanding of US politics apparently comes from Bill Kristol and an uncanny ability to remember things he doesn’t like, thinks that American Jews will be so furious about the Iran deal, Hillary Clinton and congressional candidates will be desperate to win them back by pandering to BiBi.
p.a.
He flirted with an intern. She was at least 18 and no longer an intern when they did the nasty.
Just in the interest of accuracy.
22over7
@Kropadope: Yeah, there is that.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@22over7
Vince Fostor was Hilar’ys lesbian lover! That’s why she had him killed! Never forget!
MattF
@Peale: The article mentions the Payne Whitney Gym as a Yale institution. True ’nuff– I recall discovering that the library’s only copy of Psychopathia Sexualis was on permanent loan to the gym.
Omnes Omnibus
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Nice effort, but you should have used Hitlery.
beltane
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: These are the pitfalls of living in a bubble. Some Jewish-Americans are right-wing nutcases, most are not. Netanyahu and his supporters have made it a point to ignore, ore worse, demonize those who are not.
Peale
Ugh. I apologize for the link. I didn’t scroll down past the text to see that they actually did include NSFW photos. Also, Sorry for anyone still working at this hour.
beltane
Monica Lewinsky is now a middle-aged woman. When I was in my late teens/early twenties I had absolutely zero interest in sex scandals that occurred prior to my birth. In fact, anything that happened before I was born or when I was a baby was “the old days” when people wore funny clothes. Judging by my conversations with people in this age cohort today, nothing has changed in this respect.
Haydnseek
I think there’s a clause in Conan’s contract that stipulates that he has to book a prolapsed pig rectum once a year. It’s not David Letterman’s stupid pet tricks, but you have to go with the pig rectum you have, not the pig rectum that you want.
JMV Pyro
It’s true. No one from my generation really cares about any of the “sleaze” or “scandal” from the Clinton presidency. It flew right over our prepubescent heads. We’re much more in tune with what happened under Bush and whats happening under Obama.
All that said, the person who seems to be making people my age ‘excited’ right now is Bernie. Clinton is semi-popular, but a lot of the people I know (going by the scientific method of “observing social media feeds”) view her as being too milquetoast and tied to the status quo. There’s also some unfortunate Green Lanternism when it comes to what the President can actually do, but that’s a mistake I see everyone make these days.
Brandon
I am not sure I understand the thesis here. I understand that the most unreliable voters don’t have the same Clinton baggage as the rest of us. Problem for Hillary though is that the most reliable voters do remember the 90’s. Maybe they are not as relevant today as they once were, but people form opinions and associations and they are tough to break over time.
Hillary may have done a lot to redeem and improve her public image since. But it is rather telling that the biggest “scandal” of the Obama administration is Hillary’s emails. And this thing is going on for so long it like she never learned how to manage scandals in the first place. Which come to think of it may be her biggest flaw.
scav
@beltane: Indeed. Warren G Harding, let’s not forget the implications of that bombshell either.
Omnes Omnibus
@Brandon:
And a lot of us knew the “scandals” were bullshit attempts to try to take down a sitting president and it pissed us off. Being reminded of it pisses us off again.
Kropadope
@Omnes Omnibus:
Even if we weren’t quite old enough to vote as they happened.
sigaba
A lot of us DID see it and DID live through it and it doesn’t matter.
And suppose you got a millennial interested in The Clinton Scandals. They would open the Internets and they will find a repeating story of scandals with “-gate” at the end, congressional hearings and the occasional impeachment, and none of them actually accomplishing anything. Dozens of bizarre little subplots (Travel Office! Sex acts with a cigar! Rose Law Firm!) that never added up to anything and didn’t hurt the Clintons one iota.
Nobody cares about Iran Contra anymore, either; that’s the breaks, it appears, though I doubt Frank Luntz will be polling that one anytime soon.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Peale: On another night, that could have been me. Of course, “Not Safe for Work” just isn’t so important when I’m the only one in the building and surfing on my personal laptop anyway.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
I fried up some bacon to go with my dinner tonight and you’d think I rolled around in catnip from the way Keaton is reacting. I think I’d better give them their wet food treat early tonight or someone may find my stripped skeleton laying on the couch tomorrow morning.
mdblanche
@Omnes Omnibus: Whenever I hear or read “Hitlery” I always think of this.
Brandon
@Omnes Omnibus: It is possible to both form the conclusion that most of the scandals of the 90’s were manufactured and that the Clintons made them worse through their own poor decision making and evasiveness.
BBA
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Keep in mind, Haaretz is the newspaper of the latte-sipping Mediterranean-coastal elites who vote against Netanyahu. For the Real Israelis there’s Israel Hayom, a Sheldon Adelson production.
Tree With Water
@scav: My grandmother was absolutely convinced that Harding’s wife poisoned him. It was the first time I’d heard that rumor, and she said it with such authority I remember the moment well.
Omnes Omnibus
@Brandon: Yes, it is possible to do that. It is possible to do many things. I did not and do not come to that conclusion.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@sigaba: Since Sununu already came up in this thread, I remember CNN running a commercial for Crossfire in ’96 after Clinton won reelection, SUnunu and Novak were sitting in a bar, acting depressed, and they cheered themselvs up by reciting all the scandals (“Don’t forget Whitewater!” “and file gate!”– I can’t even remember what file gate was, was that the FBI files, or something else?), more or less admitting it was all media theater and bullshit, but on and on it went, and IIRC it was around that time Linda Tripp and Luciane Goldberg went rifling through Monica’s underwear drawer, and they finally found something to impeach him with.
Peale
Ah. I’m getting an ad now for “no labels” urging me to sign a petition to urge candidates to focus on issues and not personal attacks. Gosh. They are so inspiring.
Brandon
@Omnes Omnibus: Well I do. So there’s that. It’s also possible for two people to respectfully disagree about the Clintons.
I think she’s more trouble than its worth honestly. No drama Obama has been a godsend frankly and demonstrates that it is possible to govern without a swirling whirlwind of crap flying around you like Pigpen from Peanuts.
Peale
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: filegate was the missing billing records from rose law firms that were found in a closet and were supposed to prove that Hillary did something or other related to Whitewater and Cattle-gate.
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I can’t believe you don’t remember filegate.
More fingerprints!
It is impossible to overstate how insane that all was.
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/05/us/hillary-clinton-s-fingerprints-among-those-found-on-papers.html
Omnes Omnibus
@Brandon:
No disagreement here. OTOH he isn’t running again.
Anoniminous
Something to keep in mind. The 18 to 29 age group is highly unlikely to be reachable, meaning there is not a equal chance for them to be included, meaning polling in this election is operating at the slippery edge of nonsense.
Pollsters claim they can correct for this. Given their recent oopsies – like not forecasting a 23%+ swing from Labour to the SNP – I am skeptical.
Peale
@Kay: oh god. I forgot that’s how Michael Chertoff first came to the public eye.
Gin & Tonic
@scav: So he’s unlikely to win the Presidency now, right?
Kay
@Peale:
That was files, but filegate was FBI files. Filegate didn’t end until 2010.
http://www.salon.com/2010/03/10/filegate/
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: He is/was a Republican, so, yeah, very unlikely.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay: Orrin Hatch, who now says he wishes that uppi… I mean cocky Obama could cooperate and be bipartisan like those lovely Clintons. I do remember “Where’s the outrage?”, I thought it was about the Lincoln Bedroom. Poor old Bob Dole.
In other news, Jebbie! did just say Iraq was a good deal”, he used the words “mission” and “accomplished” with regard to Iraq
Omnes Omnibus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Jeb just isn’t very good at this, is he?
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: I get the sense that neither his party affiliation nor the paternity “scandal” are the primary disqualifying factors.
Kay
@Peale:
“Clearly” Ugh. Just pure hackery. When people see that word they should stop reading. Flashing red light- bullshit ahead.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: I wouldn’t be surprised if his disinterred corpse could out-debate some of the clown car.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Omnes Omnibus: maybe he’s trolling us all? just getting even with Poppy and Bar for letting Georgie have the White House first when he was s’posedta get it? or making him share a room with Nielsie at Walker’s Point*? Can he pocket any of that hundred million if he flames out?
*and why do awful Republicans get the best real estate?
Peale
@Kay: and Larry Klayman, too. God. Why do people live so long?
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Well, I can understand your confusion. “Where’s the outrage?” is like “what did he know and when did he know it?”
They overused it and it means nothing now. They ruin everything. Whole phrases mean nothing at all.
Gin & Tonic
@Kay: Reminds me of the Soviet-era phrase “Как известно” — or “As is well-known.”
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: “Khaleesi, it is known.”
Frankensteinbeck
@Anoniminous:
I had no idea the change in land line availability was that great or that fast. I was amused by the mention that people are less willing to answer polls. Yes, because we’ve gotten used to ‘surveys’ being tricks to get around advertising laws. Answer one survey, receive phone calls about home security systems for a life time.
Raflw
@srv: This is the first bit if trolling I’ve seen from srv that could passibly be called funny, in that shit-trolls-say sort of way.
“Is our trolls learning?”
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Kay:
When Al Franken wrote, “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them,” his researchers discovered that one of the documents that Republicans claimed was “proof” that Hillary did not disclose somethingorother turned out to be double-sided and the intrepid Republicans had never bothered to turn it over and see that the “missing” information was on the back.
Kropadope
@Mnemosyne (tablet): They are nothing if not thorough.
srv
Ailes on bended knee:
Odds on her return?
Peale
@Mnemosyne (tablet): where are all the even numbered pages?
Sarah, Proud and Tall
@Peale:
No worries. I hope you don’t mind, but I edited your initial comment to include a NSFW warning on account of the two or three rather small penises at your link. Mustn’t scare the horses.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: Are you pleased or disappointed?
RK
I always thought Clinton should’ve been impeached for being the Prez of the US of A and resorting to that.
Omnes Omnibus
@RK:
????
Jim, Foolish Literalist
OT: I was listening to John Fuglesang in the car, and he and Alonzo Boden were talking about what they think Hillary Clinton should do to generate some excitement. Boden said she needs to talk to us like she talks to her granddaughter, which he probably didn’t mean the way I took it, but it made me want to drive my car into a tree. Fugelsang had the more interesting idea, that she should do some alternative media, like Obama did with the WTF podcast. I was trying to think of what would be a good non-Villager venue for her, any ideas?
My first thought was an interview with Amy Schumer, but as hilarious and zeitgeist-y as that might be, it might not be good for a presidential campaign.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
I was in the mood for a deepish cut from EC:
http://youtu.be/wQccA9guwoE
Is it just me, or can you hear a pre-echo of his future collaboration with Burt Bacharach in this song?
Omnes Omnibus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Bill did The Arsenio Hall Show. Edgy for the time.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne (tablet): Odd. I was listening to some of La Blogotheque’s A Take Away Shows. Acoustic night.
Tree With Water
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Jeb! slanders the memory and service of all the living, fallen, and maimed of that war with his lies. He has the gall to equate their service to the Republic with the treacherous plot to war of his brother’s administration. He’s an abortion of humanity… This country has never faced a domestic enemy quite like the 2015 republican party, and that SOB just may be the worst of the whole rotten lot.
Redshift
My favorite Sununu story is about how, back in the Bush I days, he had this reputation for having a very high IQ; he’d had an IQ test that proved it. Everybody in what we would now call The Village knew about it, and were very impressed. People respected his opinion because he was so smart.
Then at some point (after he was out as chief of staff), it happened to come out in some profile article that the “IQ test” was a self-test in the back of a magazine (Omni, for those week remember it) that he’d done on a flight somewhere.
There’s some lesson here about politics, or The Village, but I’m not sure exactly what. Probably that playing a part will get you more success than having skill or ability, right up to the point where you actually need the ability, and then you’re likely to crash and burn. But in this town, that can take looooong time to come, if it ever does.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tree With Water:
Of course, we have. John Calhoun comes to mind. So does Nathan Bedford Forrest. 2016 will be a very important election, but being hysterical doesn’t help.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Ileana Douglas lip-syncing to Kristen Virgard:
http://youtu.be/M01P-gv2zQU
Tree With Water
The man is a pig:
Associated Press in Davenport
Thursday 13 August 2015 23.21 EDT
“Jeb Bush has declined to rule out the US resuming the use of torture – with the Republican presidential hopeful saying brutal questioning methods might be justifiable and necessary in some circumstances..”.
He went on to lie about torture’s efficacy, and his brother’s role in it… “honorable men all, misled by faulty intelligence”.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne (tablet): Live acoustic stuff from France.
Anne Laurie
@Steeplejack: Because I can, quoting myself from three years ago:
Tree With Water
@Omnes Omnibus: Point taken about Calhoun et.al. Permit to qualify by saying, “in the nuclear age, we’ve never faced such an enemy”. Too, Jeff Davis and company seceded outright in the light of day, and did their own fighting. Bush-Cheney (et.al.) successfully plotted and waged war with the basest of lies, in the opaque corridors of a national security state gone mad.. and let others do their fighting. They are beneath contempt, yet are still judged, by fools, as honorable men, who were honestly misled. They are no such thing, and it’s a disgrace they have yet to be publicly branded as the cowards they are, by people who know better, but nonetheless turn a blind eye.
James E Powell
@BBA:
I thought Mediterranean coastal elites drank tea.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tree With Water: You do understand that a lot of Americans freaked the fuck out after 9/11/2001, right? Reminding them of that may be gratifying (and I understand that urge), but it is politically a bad idea. Making people feel bad about themselves does not result in votes.
James E Powell
@Kay:
It may be impossible to explain, but everyone is going to see the same thing with this Benghazi!!! and e-mails and who knows what other horseshit the Republicans will come up with.
It is certain that the Republicans will invent alleged scandals involving Hillary Clinton. It is also certain that the corporate press/media, led by the NY Times, will publish everything the Republicans want them to publish, with breathless commentary and predictions of Clinton’s doom.
Anne Laurie
@Peale:
LOL. I was gonna reply that, yes, so did Mary McCarthy.
(Also, unless they scammed out of that obligation as well, both Presidents Bush — and John Kerry. But nobody, not even sniggering RWNJ preverts like Jim Hoft, wanted to see Dubya’s nudies.)
Omnes Omnibus
@James E Powell: And people predisposed to hate her will hate her. Others will say “meh, I have this heard this blah, blah, blah” before. It won’t change anything.
NotMax
@Redshift
Always pleasantly noted that Dan Rather’s twang imbues his pronunciation of the name Sununu with a unique lilt.
Ruckus
@Raflw:
Monkeys + keyboards + time = War and Peace. So stranger things can happen.
RK
@Omnes Omnibus: Her
BillinGlendaleCA
@James E Powell: As I’ve mentioned before, I recently finished reading “The Hunting of the President”. What you describe is pretty much what happened in the 90’s.
TriassicSands
The Washington State supreme court, tired of waiting for the legislature to “fully fund” K-12 education, has imposed a $100,000 a day fine, which will continue until a plan is finalized and accepted. Charging the state a million dollars every 10 days doesn’t seem like a very good way to get the state’s fiscal house in order.
I think I have a better idea — subject to adjustments and revisions. Beginning with Republicans, who refuse to raise revenue, jail one legislator a day for contempt of court and leave them there until they agree to raise taxes on the wealthy or create a state-wide personal income tax (with room for reduction in the regressive sales tax). Once the entire Washington legislature is sitting in jail, maybe the Republicans will give up their insane policies on taxation (meaning never raising taxes/always cutting programs).
The state is a fiscal mess, in part because of its grotesquely unfair regressive tax system (most regressive in the the country). Washington has been chipping away at the social safety net for years now, but the legislature has never made a serious attempt to fully fund K-12 education, which is constitutionally mandated.
Jail them, I say.
Omnes Omnibus
@RK: So what exactly is your objection to Ms. Lewinsky as a Presidential mistress. She was pretty but zaftig. His taste doesn’t match yours. So what?
RK
Monkeys + keyboards + time = Broken keyboards with monkey crap on them.
RK
@Omnes Omnibus:
I agree minus the pretty part.
Anne Laurie
@RK: See next post.
piratedan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: perhaps she could do Colbert’s new gig during the first week….
or maybe a walk on bit for Portlandia, maybe show her changing a tire on the campaign bus….. bitching about the potholes on the interstate and no damn infrastructure money.
to be fair, I like the fact that Sanders and O’Malley are in the race and allowing a more liberal slant to enter into the discussion. I am quite happy that the Dems are talking about issues and making it well known that they at least have a grasp of some of the issues facing America. If only the DCC could do the same instead of allowing the R’s to set the narrative thanks to their dark money advantage. I want to see more ads hammering items like minimum wage, education, women and minority rights. Loan forgiveness of student debt, immigration, income inequality.
Kathleen
@Frankensteinbeck: I remember Diane Sawyer on the day after the 2012 election scrunching her face in puzzlement and asking who knew women and people of color could have so much influence at the pools.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Somehow, I find it hilarious that the once-venerated WaPo let this slip through.
Another Holocene Human
@Frankensteinbeck:
It’s going to kill Luntz that Hilary is defined to Millennials by feminist SOS-on-cell-phone memes.
Saw one recently with Hilary, Joe Biden, and Obama laugh reaction shots posted in response to the GOP debate.
The really plugged in Gen Yers have concerns about her Iraq War authorization vote. That’s what she has to dodge. I guess she finally said that was a mistake during this cycle. Back in 2008 she did try to dodge, which was a mistake. (Gen Y is up into their 30s, unlike Millennials.)
I’m GenX, I remember the shit y’all said about Chelsea Clinton when she was 13 years old. Not to mention the way you hounded Ms. Lewinsky. Fuck Republicans.
Another Holocene Human
@Peale: good god, of course it was eugenics
I’m sure the Universities (wink, wink) knew
presumably the research came to naught because pseudoscientific bullshit is pseudoscience and bullshit
Another Holocene Human
@Omnes Omnibus:
Indeed. A fairly apolitical friend of mine got me on the original MoveOn list (and ragequit when they moved on to other subjects … I stayed on). At least in the Northeast there was widespread disgust with Ken Starr and the whole circus. People on the street were talking about it. Even my jerk bus driver who listened to Limbaugh every day thought it was stupid. “All men are dogs,” he said.
Another Holocene Human
@Frankensteinbeck:
Consider this:
monopoly pricing
regressive taxation
= big bill, plus huge fees for each setup (the second is most important)
massive income inequality
young people must take the lowest wages
job insecurity/no protections
geographically scattered job availability
unaffordable rent
no regulation to limit rent increases
rent increases faster than wages (which are not increasing)
=frequent moves
Young people move over and over chasing affordable rent and employment. When they move, phone companies quote monopoly pricing to set up landline service. Young people NEED their internet but they do not NEED landline, and chose to pick up no-contract pre-paid cell service instead. If you miss a payment, you get cut off. No fees piling up in the meantime like an old Verizon bill. If they can’t afford landline internet they may get data on their phone instead as a stopgap. Therefore, you often see the poorest young people with very large, expensive phones. This is the only internet device they own. Some older people have done the same because their PCs (often bought on installment) get pwned into uselessness, but Android is more sploit resistant.
Joe Falco
I was born at the height of Reganism (1984 but your mileage may vary) and growing up during those Clinton years, I gave zero fucks about Whitewater or Bubba screwing the help. I’m sure even those of us that actually grew up during those times are more likely than not going to look back on all those scandals, real or imagined, and treat it all as a big nothingburger. Probably the only people my age that would care about it at all would be those who were instilled that sort of mindless rage from their elders.
This is coming from someone that’s always been a lifelong political junkie and can still remember reading some Times article in ’92 about how Pat Buchanan wanted to build a fence to keep the Mexicans out. Also, I fondly remember Katrina Johnson impersonating Ross Perot from episodes of All That. Like I said, like hell people my age are going to get fixated on fucking Whitewater.
Seanly
The usual bitching & moaning of Republicans about Cuba (1961), hippies (late 60’s, early 70’s), Carter (late 70’s) and Clinton (90’s) just doesn’t resonate with many people. Stoking anger & resentment of those eligible for medicare may help holding their votes, but just looks strange and out-of-date to everybody else.
I was born in 1968 and was mostly becoming politically aware at around 10. I do remember there were once reasonable Republican policitians. Now it seems like they’re all insane anarchists – the two things they want to do is keep people from having any reproductive/sexual freedom, not require any taxes on millionaires, and going to war with Iran to start the fabled End Times for Jeebus.
Turgidson
@dww44:
Those same people would pour into the streets in wild celebration if a successful attempt was made on the life of the sitting President of the United States.
mclaren
@different-church-lady:
If only we knew what Sununu…