Over at Bloomberg, Al Hunt is convinced (somehow) that the antics of Republicans in Congress will somehow hurt the 2016 Clown Bus.
Contrary to expectations that he would be a lame-duck, President Barack Obama has dominated Washington politics in the first half of the year, and the congressional Republican majority has often appeared reactive or reactionary.
There is considerable fear among leading Republicans about the funding fights. Conservatives, the rank and file in the House, along with presidential contenders in the Senate, are threatening a government shutdown unless Planned Parenthood is defunded; the concessions that will be demanded for raising the debt ceiling will be greater. Obama, feeling empowered by having no more elections to win, has no intention of bowing to these conservative challenges.
Washington was incensed by Cruz’s language and Meadows’s action. But Meadows’ office says the outpouring of reaction to his anti-Boehner call was 99 percent favorable. And grassroots Iowa conservatives praised Cruz for taking on a congressional leader.
Top Republicans fear the rise of Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy; his attacks on immigrants and trade only exacerbate the party’s internal difficulties.
At private sessions in the Capitol, establishment Republicans, including some congressional leaders, realize they can’t drive Trumpfrom the race and he may not crater soon. They are considering putting pressure on some of the second-tier candidates to bow out because the real estate mogul might be more vulnerable in a smaller field. That’s likely a quixotic mission and hope.
The poor performance of a congressional party has sometimes helped an eventual nominee: Ronald Reagan in 1980 and Barack Obama in 2008. Congressional antics in 2011-12 probably marginally hurt Mitt Romney in the last presidential election.
If Boehner and McConnell are able to avoid a disaster — a shutdown or debt default — and pass a highway bill, along with the Pacific trade deal and a few measures next year, any adverse consequences for the party’s standard-bearer could be neutralized. If not, the once bright prospects of a Republican Congress will be an albatross for the party.
I’m going to go ahead and say that while it’s possible that Republicans running for the White House in 2016 might be hurt by a default or government shutdown, it sure as hell hasn’t harmed Republicans in Congress or at the state level in the last five, six years. They’ve won the Senate, have the biggest House margin in generations, and taken over the majority of state legislatures and governor’s mansions. Hell, Obama is the only thing standing in-between the Republicans and total control of the country, and we’re not as a body politic exactly super motivated to keep a Democrat in the White House at this point (or if we are, we sure as hell aren’t showing any urgency.)
If we haven’t been paying attention to the GOP shutting things down, wrecking America’s credit rating, and generally setting fire to the country before, what makes Al Hunt think we’re going to do it now?
That would require America giving a damn, and we’re all out of stock.
SiubhanDuinne
There was a mistake in Al Hunt’s reporting.
There, I fixed it for him.
OzarkHillbilly
It could make a difference in the Senate where the GOP are defending a lot more seats than Dems are. As to the election, it always comes down to GOTV. I’m not a Hillbot but I’ll do my part when crunch time comes.
debbie
All in all, I think the GOP’s helped Obama more than the Democrats.
jo6pac
Every election cycle I think the repug clown car can’t get any better but this group is F$$$$$$ wonderful;) The scary thing is to many people believe what they are lying about.
Knowbody
The next logical step is to ask if that lack of motivation by Democratic voters has anything to do with the current occupant of the White House and his policies.
JPL
@jo6pac: That’s what I think. The reelection of Brownback in Kansas, convinced me that our country is filled with Limbaugh listeners.
Mike in NC
“…once bright prospects of a Republican Congress”
Seriously?
BlueDWarrior
@JPL: I don’t think it is so much they listen to Limbaugh in any serious capacity, but for a lot of voters, voting for a Democrat is verboten. We have a lot of voters, with the way these districts are drawn, who basically just set to voting (R) and nothing a (D) can do will upset that trend -and- are in nominally competitive districts. All of our voters are set up to where their votes basically count the most for President and statewide-races-on-Presidential-Years, and are almost worthless for Congressional and off-year elections.
The catastrophic weakness of a lot of Democratic Parties in flyover country is a criminally underreported story, and honestly I think some national figures, not necessarily Senators and (ex-)Presidents and the like though, need to start putting some people on ‘blast’.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: Are you still a birthday girl? Have a happy one.
Bobby B.
I’d say let them tire themselves out, they’ll be happier after nap time. But they don’t get tired, they keep drawing power from Hell’s Battery.
Elizabelle
The headline and first para of Al Hunt’s article:
Congress’s Missteps Could Weigh Down Republican Candidates
(1) Congress’s Missteps? As in mistake, made in error? The Republicans are doing what their funders and base want. What American citizens want, not. But do not call it missteps.
(2) Cory Gardner’s statement is Broderesquely thrilling to “centrists” and sheerly ridiculous coming from him. Gardner, you will recall, defeated Mark “Uterus” Udall in red state Colorado (which has blue enclave cities). Gardner did not run on his record. Citizens United gave us Gardner. The number of ads up in his favor was staggering. “Uterus” Udall because that’s what turned up in newspaper comment threads, a lot. Clues you in.
japa21
@Knowbody: And if that is part of the problem, than that really shows how stupid Dem voters are.
Oh, I see that this is our dear troll, so ignore this response. Foolish me.
ruemara
Not that mocking republicans isn’t a great past time, but, Zandar, did you read about the “doctor” from the Force Science Institute who’s been giving quack science research to justify police murder & teaching cops to kill first? I posted a link to the NYT article in the Clinton charity thread.
rikyrah
This is not Ferguson, Los Angeles or Baltimore … it’s Berwyn, Pennsylvania in 2015
July 30, 2015
This post is about an upper middle class family who live in the Berwyn Estates community of Easttown Township, where house values average in the $1 million+ category. The parents, the father a vascular surgeon and the mother an attorney, have twin teenage sons. The 15-year old boys, both boy scouts, attend Friend’s Central School and Lawrenceville School respectively, and are active in their church. The family is African-American.
On Friday, July 24, the brothers along with a friend, rode their bicycles to a friend’s house in the Greens of Waynesboro to go swimming. Another upscale neighborhood in Berwyn, the ‘Greens’ is located next to the Waynesboro Country Club and its streets are named for famous golf courses (St. Andrews, Augusta, Stanwich, etc.) It is my understanding that currently no African American families reside in the Greens.
The mother of the twin boys (remember, she is an attorney) shared ‘Biking While Black’ of what happened next in a letter to friends, neighbors and on social media. She recounts that “a white woman with short dark brown/black hair who was driving a white Jeep SUV” followed and videotaped her sons and their friend as they cycled in the Greens. As they were leaving the neighborhood, two Easttown Township police cars stopped the boys because “suspicious activity” was reported. The mother of the twins states that, “the boys were sandwiched in between the [police] cars and terrified.” The police filed an incident report with the Easttown Township Police Department.
In her letter shared with the Greens of Waynesboro community, the mother of the twin brothers states,
“… We all know that the real reason the call was made to the police was because they are black. I understand that there have been several recent burglaries in your community and everyone is on a heightened sense of alert because of that. I want you to understand the kind of heightened alert I am on every day and every time my sons leave the safety of their home.
To the woman who was following and videotaping my sons, you frightened two young men who have lived in this community their whole lives. Please explain to me why my sons were so frightening and suspicious? Do you fear every child riding a bicycle in your community? Are backpacks the Berwyn PA equivalent of a hoodie?
http://pattyebenson.org/2015/07/30/this-is-not-ferguson-los-angeles-or-baltimore-its-berwyn-pennsylvania-in-2015/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TredyffrinTownshipCommunityMatters+%28Community+Matters%29&utm_content=FaceBook
OzarkHillbilly
Kevin Drum: The Clinton Rules, Tax Record Edition
The first thing I saw was John Berman teasing a segment about Hillary Clinton releasing a health statement plus eight years of tax records. In other words, pretty routine stuff for any serious presidential candidate. But when Berman tossed to Brianna Keilar, here’s what she said:
KEILAR: “When you think of a document dump like this, you normally think of, uh, in a way, sort of having something to hide. But the Clinton campaign trying to make the point that they’re putting out this information and they’re trying to be very transparent.”
…..
Unbelievable. If any other candidate released eight years of tax records, it would be reported as the candidate releasing eight years of tax records. But when Hillary does it, there’s very likely something nefarious going on. God help us.
Zandar
@ruemara: Yeah, I’ll have a post on that delightful little carbuncle scheduled for tomorrow over at my place.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Republicans will absolutely shut down the government this year. They have to. Their voters demand it.
The prime motivator in the 2016 election, at least for those of the conservative persuasion, is going to be spite.
Punchy
Stupidest “stat” ever. I’m sure I could get 99 percent favorability from college fraternity members if I proposed to remove shirts from their position on women on campus, too.
ruemara
@Zandar: groovy. That’s the person who needs to be shamed out of society. The man is an evil crank who’s single handedly turned cops from protectors to executioners.
@CONGRATULATIONS!: That’s true every year.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@BlueDWarrior: Not just flyover country. In CA, the Dem party is a wholly ineffective mess below the state level. What keeps everything nice and blue here is the legacy of Pete Wilson, God bless him, who gave us a gift 21 years ago that has never stopped giving. But we can’t ride that forever.
I’ve met Wilson twice and so far have managed to strangle the urge to thank him for handing the state over to my party.
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle:
I am, thanks!
MomSense
@ruemara:
I saw that article and wanted to break things. Wow.
Face
Hahahahaha! Yes, if they’re also able to cure cancer, eliminate the country’s debt, fix Cali’s drought, and mass-produce ponies, they’ll be electable. My guess is they’ll instead be batting doughnuts on every single one of these items.
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: Happy Day!
MomSense
@rikyrah:
I heard this story this morning on NPR (I think) but was wondering what the response has been in Berwyn.
boatboy_srq
Part of the problem with the Congressional woes is that while “Congress” get national
infotainmentnews coverage, individual Congresscritters rarely get headlines in places mid-to-low-info voters look. Local/statewide coverage is horrible because the local news desk has been shredded, so there’s only the candidates’ campaign machines and pollsters. Individual Congresscritters can go home and tell their supporters what they want to – and unless they’re either leaders like Boehner or McConnell or firebrands like Cotton or Cruz whatever they’ve been doing on Capitol Hill is mercifully hidden. With MSM in the hands of Newscorp, Gannett, Sony, Comcast and the rest, the chances of changing that are not especially good. It’s the same reason that the Teahad can vote against spending and still come home to ribbon-cuttings on projects they opposed.We desperately need better coverage of what individual Congresscritters are doing, and what their opposition has done and plans to do. In the current marketplace, though, unless one’s willing to dig deep into the Interwebz, that information isn’t easy to come by.
boatboy_srq
@SiubhanDuinne: Many Happy Returns (and many more bottles of red wine)!
peach flavored shampoo
BJ, come for the insight, stay to see how David Broder has been turned into an adverb. Nicely done.
boatboy_srq
@OzarkHillbilly: If she hadn’t released those, she’d have been hiding something. Since she released them, she’s hiding something. There is no win for HRC with these idiots. Unbefvckinglievable.
JPL
@rikyrah: When my friend’s son was younger, he went to a sports store to pick up a tennis racket, he had restrung. Of course, he was stopped when leaving the store. It was taken care of, but growing up black in America, is difficult.
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL:
Thank you!
Patricia Kayden
“Obama, feeling empowered by having no more elections to win, has no intention of bowing to these conservative challenges.”
Well, this may be the one truth in Hunt’s article. Otherwise, I agree that Republican voters reward their Congress Critters for shutting down the government and being obstructionists. Erick Erickson has made it clear that if Republicans don’t shut down the government, it will be a problem for the base.
Knowbody
@BlueDWarrior:
That would require that the Democratic Party (and the people blogging for them) actually give a shit about middle class white Democrats in the South, Midwest, and Mountain West instead of saying stupid bullshit like “Well let (red state) secede already!”
boatboy_srq
@JPL: I have a friend who was “pulled over” for stopping in his own driveway. I still do NOT understand some LEOs (or other unpleasant people).
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Wow. A Jim Webb troll. And now that I think about it, that’s actually our second one.
debbie
@rikyrah:
I don’t know if you ever listen to NPR, but this week’s “This American Life” profiles the screwed-up school system in Ferguson and in St. Louis. It’ll piss you off, but it’s worth listening to.
Cervantes
@SiubhanDuinne:
¡Feliz cumpleaños!
Emma
@Knowbody: If it is, we confirm other countries’ opinion that we are the stupidest people on Earth.
Oh wait. We elected Bush II twice.
HAH!
@Knowbody: Given the fact that he’s won both his elections and won OVER 50% of the vote; it’s fair to ask why the fuck the democrats in ’10 and ’14 were so stupid as to be scared away and not run WITH him and activate voters who came out for him to come out for the party as a whole by running on HIS platform.
boatboy_srq
@CONGRATULATIONS!: It’ll be interesting to see whether the primary poll numbers can persuade the Congressional Teahadis to play nice – or instead BLEEP stuff up more.
More popcorn, please.
Knowbody
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Webb doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell. Going after white Democrats at the expense of minorities is stupid, and he deserves to lose.
You know what else is stupid? Ignoring white Democrats and letting them think only Republicans give a shit about them.
Botsplainer
My prediction on Tuesday’s Circus – the moderator will toss out bloody chunks of red meat like “why do liberals insist on sucking so much” and “how do we undo the damage democrats have done to historic American strengths”. The ensuing “debate” will resemble a Free Republic comment thread.
Amir Khalid
@Knowbody:
I’m a foreigner, so please enlighten me: among the Democratic presidential candidates, who is ignoring white people and how are they doing that?
SiubhanDuinne
@boatboy_srq:
Thank you!
@Cervantes:
¡Gracias!
boatboy_srq
@Amir Khalid: Easy answer: Everyone except Jim Webb. None of the rest are loudly and continually acknowledging White People’s ecksepshunul Ahmurrcanness. Without that constant
ego-strokingattention the White voter just doesn’t feel acknowledged.ETA: Proof of that is in rikyrah’s post above. White voters need to be coddled and placated constantly, or else they’ll burst out into wild-eyed squeals of “I see Black people” – and you know what happens next.
cmorenc
@Mike in NC:
I think what was meant was – bright, in terms of effectively passing a hard-core conservative agenda through congress. But instead, too many GOP members within their own caucus are too often going out of their way to step on their own dicks, in order to deliberately try to stomp on their own party leadership’s dicks. As for the GOP women – well, some of them seem to be doing the analogous thing trying to scratch out the eyeballs of their own leadership, or doing vengeful things to them with dildos or something.
Knowbody
@Amir Khalid: At least in Ohio, the view here is that while Obama has done a lot for everyone, the perception is that he’s done more for minorities.
It’s unfair bullshit, but I don’t exactly see Democrats here fighting against that perception either.
Anoniminous
@Elizabelle:
Voter turnout in Colorado dropped from 71% in 2008 to 54% in 2014. The number of D voters dropped 286,791 and the number of R voters dropped 6,864. Clearly almost the entire decline in voter turnout was among Democrats. My take-away: Republicans, and their funders, are very good at keeping their voters engaged and Democrats aren’t.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Anoniminous: also, Udall ran a terrible campaign, he was running against the walking caricature Ken Buck, not genial shape-shifter Corey Gardener, who was only too happy to exploit ISIS panic, which I think along with Ebola (remember when we were all gonna die?) put him over the top.
I saw Udall say something not long ago that he was disappointed, but he understood that voters wanted to send President Obama a message. I lost a lot of respect for him. And I’m afraid that dim-witted douche Bennet is thinking the same way. We’ll see what he does wrt the Iran deal
JPL
Amy Schumer is on stage with Chuck Schumer calling for stricter gun control laws. link
J R in WV
@SiubhanDuinne:
Happy, Happy!! Be happy all day, relax and enjoy the spinning of the world below and the cartwheel of stars above!
And many happy returns!
boatboy_srq
@Knowbody: So the problem isn’t that white people aren’t getting things they want done, it’s that they aren’t getting that enough. Forgive us if sympathy is in somewhat short supply.
Amir Khalid
@Knowbody:
Ah, so it’s not the candidates who are ignoring white people then. There’s just a perception among white people that Obama has managed to favour people of colour, by somehow doing even more for them than for white people. You’ve piqued my curiosity even more now.
So, what are the “more” things that white people say Obama has done for people of colour, but not for them?
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: This guy, who I think you know is Zandar’s personal troll, is complaining that Hillary isn’t spending enough time pandering to white racists in Ohio. That’s all there is. Your search for enlightenment will be fruitless.
Zandar
@Amir Khalid: Obamacare is for those people, you know.
Bless his little “I’m not trying to be racist here, but…” heart.
Amir Khalid
@Gin & Tonic:
I’m not really expecting enlightenment. I just want to see how far down Knowbody’s turtles go.
Knowbody
@Zandar: This right fucking here is why Ohio is 100% controlled by the GOP.
Because a shitty recovery, refusal to do anything about student loans, closing plants, stagnant wages and a shitty trade deal that hurts the middle class can’t possibly be actual concerns of voters who don’t think Obama has their best interests at heart.
Gotta be racism, bro!
Shitheads.
Amir Khalid
@Knowbody:
Those issues are not exclusive to white people. I am disappoint.
Anoniminous
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
How … expected.
Even with the wretched turnout in ’14 there were races the Democratic candidate could have won if that candidate had run a competent campaign. I’ll flat out state: a main cause of Democratic voter disengagement is Democratic candidates and the people they hire to run their campaigns.
Zandar
@Knowbody: And the solution is either “don’t vote” or “vote for Republicans”.
Sure. Electing George W. Bush’s budget director and a Goldman Sachs lobbyist as Governor was a brilliant idea, but keep blaming Obama for not motivating you to give enough of a damn to vote for Democrats.
So yeah “bro” I openly question your motivations.
Zandar
@Knowbody: And the solution is either “don’t vote” or “vote for Republicans”.
Sure. Electing George W. Bush’s budget director and a Goldman Sachs lobbyist as Governor was a brilliant idea, but keep blaming Obama for not motivating you to give enough of a damn to vote for Democrats.
scav
@Amir Khalid: Poor dear. knowbody assumes he’s everybody (of importance) in Ohio and elsewhere. Obama’s out personally closing plants, stagnating wages and picking specifically on Ohio in order to specifically keep knowbody down. He lives surrounded by people of enormous power out to get him.
Gin & Tonic
@Knowbody: So, just curious, what work do you do for your county Democratic Committee?
Patrick
@Zandar:
Furthermore, the GOP has no solution whatsoever to student loans. So the answer is to vote for the GOP?
There was a poll after the Ohio primary in 2008. A whopping 20% of Clinton’s voters voted for her primarily due to race. Of course some this is race related.
shell
Congress:
War On Women? Ridiculous! Absurd!
War On Coal? Yes! Obama is trying to destroy us all!
Kathleen
@SiubhanDuinne: Happy Birthday!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Huh? I don’t disagree with anything you said, just responding with the specifics of the Udall campaign that bugged the hell out of me, then the post campaign remark that just pissed me off
Right to Rise
Does Hillary have a new challenger?
Also, white cop shot by black man during traffic stop–is Democrat anti-cop rhetoric to blame? It’s sad how much Obama has divided us along racial lines after promising to be a unifier. Whites and blacks are more divided than ever. Is Obama going to make a phone call expressing his condolences to the cop’s family like he did for strong-arm robber Mike Brown?
Time to change the tone–and I think Jeb can do just that.
Elizabelle
@Right to Rise: Hello, little fellow.
I am thinking, since it’s a hot day, lemon meringue pie, straight from the fridge.
Used to like chocolate pie the best, but “The Help” kinda ruined that for me.
shell
@Elizabelle: Banana Cream!
Right to Rise
#AllLivesMatter
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I can’t isolate the tweet with the picture , but this is how you troll a candidate:
Patricia Kayden
@JPL: Good for Ms. Schumer. If only all of these gun-related murders would lead to some serious gun control, but alas nothing changes.
Brachiator
@OzarkHillbilly:
No, the obvious answer is that Mitt Romney NOT releasing all his tax records, now that’s somebody with something to hide.
If Hillary Clinton says “hello” to a constituent, there will be some nutjob pundit looking for a hidden meaning.
gene108
@Knowbody:
No offense, but white voters don’t give a fuck about those issues. Whites do not vote with their pocket books. They vote with whatever “truthiness” they think applies to a given situation.
Obama and the Democrats extended access to affordable healthcare to millions of Americans, but this has not converted whites to leave the embrace of the GOP.
Obama saved GM and Chrysler, which probably meant a lot of manufacturing jobs in Ohio were not lost. Still hasn’t registered.
Also, too we may have a slow recovery, but a lot of it has been due to the GOP blocking any attempt to stimulate the economy, and actively working to undermine the economy.
After the GOP took control of state governments, in 2011, approximately one million public sector workers, at the state and local levels, lost their jobs. All the while the GOP governments were cutting taxes for the rich. This was a serious drag on the economy. The GOP was rewarded in most cases by re-electing the governors and legislatures that helped drag down state economies.
So whatever it is that the white people like about the GOP, it sure as hell has nothing to do with pocket book issues.
Patricia Kayden
@Right to Rise: And I’m sure unlike the White cops who walk away scottfree when they kill Black people, Mr. Wilbourn will be tried for murder and spend the rest of his life in jail. So yeah, #BlackLivesMatter.
Right to Rise
@Patricia Kayden:
There’s probable cause to indict here, unlike with the shooter of strong-arm robber Mike Brown. Dividing people up along color lines needs to stop.
Anoniminous
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
My “How … expected” was a response to your remark about Udall running a lousy campaign
Patricia Kayden
@Right to Rise: Mike Brown is not the only Black victim of police murders which is something that a racist like you should know by now. Pay attention to the news. There have been scores of Blacks who have been murdered by the police and the police always get off with their murders. So yeah, #BlackLivesMatter. You’re not fooling anyone here. You should go back to Stormfront and stick to your kith and kin.
Amir Khalid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
If you’re using Firefox, you can right-click on the photo and select “View Image” from the menu.
Oh dear God, how did Scott Walker let himself get trolled like that? Where were his minders?
Paul in KY
@rikyrah: These people are rich. They are not ‘upper middle class’.
shell
@Right to Rise:
Psychologist openly admits he trains police officers to shoot first and ask questions later
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/03/1408341/-Psychologist-openly-admits-he-trains-police-officers-to-shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later
Right to Rise
@Patricia Kayden:
Whenever there’s been probable cause, the cops are indicted. Not all police shootings are the same just because of skin color. You conflate everything together.
Trying to gin up Democrat voter turnout by inciting racial hatred is despicable and you should be ashamed, especially as violence has skyrocketed in St. Louis since Ferguson and in Baltimore since Freddie Gray.
gene108
@Right to Rise:
And just like police officers, who kill blacks for no apparent reason, this black motorist will not be facing criminal charges because stuff just happens.
Patricia Kayden
@Right to Rise: Identify one case where a Black criminal has shot a White cop and walked off scottfree. I can identify scores of cases where a White cop has shot or otherwise killed/maimed a Black person and walked off scottfree. In fact, I can identify scores of incidents where White civilians have killed Black civilians and walked off scottfree, most recently Zimmerman. So again, #BlackLivesMatter.
But good try. The evidence of White cops getting off when they unjustifiably kill Black people is overwhelming.
Patrick
@Patricia Kayden:
It is funny; he claims that he wants “dividing people up along color lines needs to stop”. Well, I’m pretty sure it will stop as soon as it is OK to drive while black. There is no question that blacks gets stopped for all kinds of stuff that a person wouldn’t get stopped for.
Brachiator
The Clinton 2014 tax return, available online is pretty freaking boring.
Hillary lists her last name on the return as Rodham Clinton. Bill is just Clinton. Ho hum.
But some interest income, but no stock dividends, no foreign income, no partnerships or fancy IRAs (a la Mittens Romney), no trust activity, no horses and passive activity losses.
Schedule Cs for speaking, consulting, etc. No big purchases or depreciation.
The dollar amounts are larger than the average American, but there is nothing remotely sophisticated going on here.
Amir Khalid
@Right to Rise:
At no point in that story does Newsmax ever quote Mr Coffee as saying that he is indeed running. So it’s no more than baseless speculation.
Elizabelle
@shell: Yes! Email me some!
Coconut cream is good too. Mmmmm.
White Trash Liberal
Jeb troll is sad troll.
Trump called your boy out as a puppet for shaking his A$$ for Koch lucre.
He is running an all-out rightwing populist campaign that will destabilize and delegitimate hallowed beltway wisdom.
There is no place for another Bush this go round. No matter how much money is dumped, the message has taken root that 2016 GOP has to run a pure reactionary campaign. Jeb doesn’t have the cajones because his brother poisoned the brand. The more he veers into crazy town, the more the locals are reminded of Dubya.
It’s going to be someone else. Someone you hate. Someone Trump is going to help choose.
And I will be standing by with a glass to collect your tears LOL
Patricia Kayden
@Right to Rise: Shut the hell up about shame. Who do you think you’re talking to? You’re the one who has no shame. Coming here to act as if Wilbourn shooting a White cop is the same as White cops systematically getting away with murdering Black people. Go fly your Confederate flag.
Paul in KY
@SiubhanDuinne: Happy Bday!
Right to Rise
Apples-to-apples would be to find a case where a black cop shot a white man and didn’t get indicted. Cops are given more leeway than civilians are, and rightly so, just look at what happened in Memphis. Unarmed man reaches for a cops gun at a traffic stop and gets shot to death.
The people black men have the most to fear from are other black men. Check out the body county in St. Louis since Ferguson. This is what happens when cops can’t enforce the law.
divF
@SiubhanDuinne:
Happy Birthday from me also, too.
geg6
@MomSense:
Considering that Berwyn is full of entitled, rich, snobby assholes, I don’t expect any reaction other than them claiming the twins’ mother must be a racist to write what she wrote.
Paul in KY
@gene108: The GOP has cornered the ‘single issue voters’, IMO.
Right to Rise
Look at what’s happened to murder rates in our cities, in STL and Baltimore (up 60%!) in particular, since Ferguson. They blame illegal immigration here but I chalk it up to low morale on the force and cops being unable to do their jobs thanks to Democrat agitating.
And it’s not white people doing the killing of young black males in those cases.
geg6
@Amir Khalid:
Obamaphones!
Amir Khalid
From AJC.com via TPM, some news about Erick Erickson to make you go hmmm … Curious, though, that they buried that bit in the penultimate paragraph of the story.
Patricia Kayden
@Right to Rise: Even if the murder rate in majority Black cities was up by 1,000,0000 percent, that would not justify cops shooting down or otherwise mistreating Black people. Get it through your head. Nothing justifies wrongful killings. Not high murder rates. Not poverty. Not lazy people. Nothing. Your type always likes to bring up Black-on-Black murders to justify your racism, which is ironic since Whites do a great job of killing Whites all the dang time.
geg6
@Elizabelle:
Pumpkin. Gotta be pumpkin.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
It’s almost as if they knew people were going to be going over their taxes line by line and didn’t want anything that would arouse suspicions. You might even suggest that they care more about having politically defensible taxes than about minimizing their tax burden. Just like a Democrat!
Roger Moore
@Elizabelle:
Do you also want him to fax you his credenza?
Right to Rise
@Patricia Kayden:
According to the FBI blacks murder eachother far out of proportion to their percentage of the population. Blacks are 13% of the population in the United States, yet committed 42% of the nation’s murders as per the FBI.
That’s staggering.
Perhaps we should be exploring the root causes of this problem rather than blaming cops. Let’s address the breakdown of the black family, the glorification of ghetto/thug culture by the (largely white) media, the intergenerational dependency on government.
ruemara
@Amir Khalid: White Feelings™ are the tenderest, most delicate feelings around. They’re like gossamer. If we don’t consistently assuage their feelings by having 5 mentions of their goodness to every one mention of black stuff -which is like who knows? Hippety-hop? – they’ll vote republican.
Patricia Kayden
@Right to Rise: Yes, Mr. Stormfront. I’ve heard that all before. Yawn. So what? That does not justify the murder of Black people by White cops. And nothing you’re saying here hasn’t been said before by White Supremacists. Congrats for parroting racist talking points once again.
Again, #BlackLivesMatter. But keep citing your racist b.s. That’s all you’ve got now. I’m dying for November 2016 just to see White Supremacist lose another national election.
Bobby Thomson
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: silent KKK has been around a long time.
scav
@Roger Moore: Obeying the law? Gotta be a political stunt. Right up there with having a budget for charitable donations and meeting it. Real people fling their money about willy-nilly and hide it in meticulously crafted tax-avoidance scemes at the same time.
Right to Rise
@Patricia Kayden:
Which is a bigger problem in this country for your average young black male: murders by white cops, or murder by other young, black males? If you say the former you’re either innumerate, or numbers are somehow racist rather than objectively true facts.
White supremacist, WTF, Jeb Bush is married to a Latina and has brown childrne. Try to get off your canned talking points for once.
The Thin Black Duke
I wonder if R2R’s dick will fall off after Hillary kicks Jeb’s ass.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Right to Rise: We will still be winners, no matter how we do it. I personally would find great satisfaction in winning a presidential election using the Nixon/Reagan/Bush/Bush “Southern Strategy”, but in reverse. Cry about that all you like.
The next president will be a Democrat. I already have cash money riding that says JEB! doesn’t even make it all the way through the primary.
Paul in KY
@ruemara: Truly they are like cloud skin or angel sweat or the afterglow of fog.
Hill Dweller
Right to Lose
dmsilev
@The Thin Black Duke: Nah, he’ll just find some other rich nitwit to work for. Remember, this is the same guy that was shilling for Romney endlessly back int 2012.
Paul in KY
@The Thin Black Duke: Might not notice…
shell
HaHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Thats the only reaction that quote needs.
And isnt it curious that the GOP only pretends about inner city violence when the cases of cops murdering blacks have become too egregious to sweep under the rug.
Bobby Thomson
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: too dark to read.
Archon
@Right to Rise:
For a guy looking forward to the new Jeb Bush led colorblind era you sure do talk about race a lot.
Yes, I know. Something, something, Democrats fault.
Right to Rise
@The Thin Black Duke:
Liberals are so scared of Hillary losing they’re desperately trying to find someone else to run, first Biden and now Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.
The Thin Black Duke
@dmsilev: Thing is, what’s incredible to me is that Jeb Bush is turning out to be a worse presidential candidate than McCain or Romney. No wonder R2R is losing his shit.
Bobby Thomson
@Patricia Kayden: this is our old pal UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH! After his 2012 rage quit, the checks are flowing again.
White Trash Liberal
@Right to Rise:
False dichotomy. It’s a hell of a lot more than murder that rates on the scale of what a black male has to face from the criminal justice system. Is a young black male more afraid of getting a bogus traffic citation from other young black males?
I know your dumb racist ass will handwave the DOJ report on Ferguson and its systematic oppression of its majority community through fines and arrests, but I just want to beat you like a pinata because I’m bored.
japa21
Poor Knowbody. Since R2R showed up spewing his or her racist bile, everybody is ignoring Knowbody. I guess in at least that one way R2R has done us a favor.
Patricia Kayden
@Right to Rise: Murder by cops is no less of a problem than Black on Black murder in my opinion because the cops always get off which sends a message to other cops that it’s okay to kill Blacks with impunity.
As I said before, Blacks killing Blacks doesn’t justify White cops killing Black people. You don’t seem to get that. To you, Blacks getting killed is no big deal so you’re perfectly okay with the spate of White cops killing Black people which is being highlighted by #BlackLivesMatters.
I can chew gum and walk at the same time. I am perfectly capable of being alarmed at the murder rates in Baltimore and other majority Black cities while being outraged when White cops kill Black people and walk off into the sunset. It’s not an either/or situation. I can do both.
Right to Rise
@Archon:
We have to talk about it sadly because the Democrats always bring it up, e.g. calling Jeb a white supremacist (!!)
BTW, did you know Bill Clinton had Confederate-themed campaign buttons in 1992?
raven
I was just outside talking to the contractor and roofer when a little boy wandered up the street. I got him stopped and could make out that he was lost but lived on the big cross street. We began to walk toward where he thought he lived and I called a buddy with kids that lives near there. He confirmed who the parents were so we just kept walking. All of the sudden a high-school aged kid ran up behind us. It was his brother and they were playing hide a seek and the little dude got away!
gbear
@Bobby Thomson: Wow, I’d completely forgotten about that moron.
Omnes Omnibus
There is a lot of derp in this thread.
Right to Rise
@Bobby Thomson:
The checks are flowing, and how! Jeb’s fundraising this quarter is going to utterly shock the GOP field. I will be the beginning of the Great Clearing of the Field.
Bobby Thomson
@japa21: lol
Amir Khalid
@Bobby Thomson:
This is the full image. Can you read the dummy cheque now?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@shell: Jeb! has adopted the “Obama is divisive” line. I want an MSMer to ask him to explain what that means.
Given the man’s capacity to step on his own tongue, it could be an “All of ’em, Katie!” moment. C’mon, Wolf? Jake…? I know he’s the NorthEasternModerate Unicorn of your broderist dreams, but don’t you wanna be the belle of the ball for a couple of cycles?
Peale
I actually favor a government shutdown for the entirety of next year. I think this election ought to be a referendum on whether to reopen the government. And no, your grandma’s check shouldn’t be safe.
Patricia Kayden
@Bobby Thomson: HAHAHAHAHAHA! I think I preferred his UNLIMITED CASH nonsense. At least that was humorous. It appears he’s come back as a full blown KKK member. I guess that makes sense given the fact that there’s a Black, Kenyan, Muslim, Socialist in the White House who is dividing Blacks and Whites with his racist existence (even though he has a White mother).
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
Hah! Some people are getting their panties in a twist over the Clinton Family Foundation. But I posted some comparison to the Walton Family Foundation in another thread. A couple of points.
How do they do this? Glad you asked.
The Clintons, by contrast are practically rubes who donate their own money.
Patricia Kayden
@Right to Rise: YAAASSSS. Here we are with the Unlimited Cash nonsense once again. You need to stick to those talking points. You’ll get paid more by your handlers.
Right to Rise
@Patricia Kayden:
Linking to FBI crime stats makes you a KKK member now? Along with supporting Jeb Bush (married to a brown woman)?
More divisive Democrat nonsense. They can’t debate, so they call you canned names and divide, divide, divide. Divide along race, divide along gender, divide along class. It’s the Democrat Way.
Right to Rise
Unlike 2012, we have a thoroughgoing long-term strategy on how to spend the cash effectively. We’re going all in on “guerilla marketing” and new media to target the Millennials, for example.
Patrick
@Right to Rise:
People might take you a tad more seriously if you quoted your facts from credible sources. In your latest post you quote NewsMax, who is quoting Maureen Dowd of all people. Do you really think anybody is going to take Dowd seriously considering her past with Clinton? And above you used Breitbart and FoxNews as fact sources – about as biased and right-wing as they can be.
Right to Rise
@Patrick:
You’re saying Dowd isn’t a New York liberal?
Archon
@Right to Rise:
A former governor of Arkansas had confederate themed buttons as part of his campaign 23 years ago? Ok, maybe Democrats are the real racists!
Tell us about Robert Byrd in the 40’s. I heard rumors….
Paul in KY
@Amir Khalid: Good job there by that kid! I bet Walker is quite angry at advance staff, etc.
Right to Rise
@Archon:
Why was the rebel flag OK then but not now? Are Bill Clinton and Al Gore racists for making said button?
Patrick
@Right to Rise:
Please re-read my post:
Do you really think anybody is going to take Dowd seriously considering her past with Clinton?
Felanius Kootea
@Right to Rise: Hahahaha!!! It will be fun to see Republicans spend $1,000,000,000 on the presidential elections and still lose. Face it Congress and the Senate are all your party can ever aspire to hold as long as the Tea Party lives. Sucks to be you.
Patrick
@Right to Rise:
Yes, you are right. It’s not like Republicans would ever call the President of the United States names like Arab, terrorist, Kenyan, Muslim etc etc. Or do you want to talk about all the derogatory names Republicans have called Michelle Obama?
You know what a hypocrite is?
shell
@Right to Rise:
Face it, Dude. Hillary IS going to be the next president.
Amir Khalid
@Right to Rise:
MoDo writes about politicians, but she isn’t political at all herself. She’s a high-school Mean Girl who projects her Daddy issues onto the politicians of the day.
Right to Rise
@Felanius Kootea:
Spending $1 billion? This year we really think we can get up near $2 billion, if not over it.
Jeb Bush is the strongest fund-raiser this party has seen in ages.
Cervantes
@Right to Rise:
Just curious: are there people who do not have the right to rise?
Cervantes
@Amir Khalid:
Aside: Do you consider feminism political?
Riley's Enabler
I’ve been reading and *mostly* lurking here for years and have not tasted the delicious pie. Thanks to RTR – may he fall off the edge of the universe and drown in the sludge of his own ineptitude – sending endless props out to Cleek for his tasty hot pie filter.
Yummy.
shell
Yeah, celebrate pissing even more money down that rat-hole.
Praise Jeb for being able to whore up the most money. But Hillary getting any contributions? Disgraceful!
Amir Khalid
@Cervantes:
Yes. Why do you ask?
Cckids
@Roger Moore:
One might also say that the Clintons believe (again, just like a Democrat), that they’re making more money than their families probably dreamed of & see paying their share of taxes is what is right. That’s how our country should be working.
Amir Khalid
@Right to Rise:
If only he were anywhere near as strong a candidate.
Jeffro
Cruz sure knows how to push ALL the buttons in the GOP’s id:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ted-cruz-bacon-machine-gun
Well, we certainly know how Rand Paul, Lindsey Graham, and Ted Cruz plan on getting attention in a crowded GOP field now don’t we? Who’s next?
Amir Khalid
For reasons known to everyone here, I’ve never eaten bacon or cooked it, but it looks to me like Ted Cruz is doing it rong.
ETA: Shakes fist at Jeffro.
Cervantes
@Amir Khalid:
Well, you wrote that Dowd “isn’t political at all herself,” but I presume you know that she does consider herself a feminist.
(Yes, “feminist” is imprecise; but on the other hand Dowd and others of her era did adopt a political framework through which they could comprehend and overcome the virulent sexism they faced at the time — and maybe still do.)
OK, so it wasn’t really an aside. Nor was it a suggestion that you were mistaken; just consider it a bit of an extension, that’s all.
scav
Looking at the local infestation, they really do seem to believe, top to bottom that these shrill, screaming insane, antics are attractive and portray Repub Deep Thought™, Deep Moral Grounding™, Fairness™ and Patriotism™ in its best possible light. This is their come hither, fluttering eyelash, I’m too sexy for my platform look.
Amir Khalid
@Cervantes:
I don’t see much feminism in her writing, if any.
Emma
@Knowbody: It’s very hard to care for people who keep spitting in your face while you’re trying to help them.
boatboy_srq
@Knowbody:@Amir Khalid: Those all kind of need a Congress willing to, you know, legislate rather than spending their entire terms in infantile tantrums repealing Obamacare and shutting down the government because Taxes and Spending and Those People. Perhaps if Ohio sent more legislators to Congress and fewer whiny crybabies like Boehner or rabid wingnuts like Latta and Johnson, then there might actually be some Congressional movement on those things. But no of course it must be all Obama’s fault.
/emperor
Patricia Kayden
@Right to Rise: Republicans have perfected the art of racism. Their dog whistles are louder than ever now. Look at the rallying around Trump after he explicitly called Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals. Not even Bush, with his Mexican wife, had the nerve to step up and call Trump out on his racism right away. Jebbie had to wait a few weeks before meekly calling out Trump. LOL.
But keep pushing that b.s. that Democratic politicians are the real racists. Democrats will continue to win Presidential elections, thank you very much.
P.S. The prize isn’t spending billions of dollars on losing candidates. The prize is the White House. Looking forward to Republicans spending billions of dollars on another losing White House bid while pissing off minorities, gays, immigrants, and single women. White men like you is all Republicans have. Good luck with that.
Ruckus
@Anoniminous:
Republicans, and their funders, are very good at keeping their voters
engagedenraged and Democrats aren’t.FXIT for you.
Jeffro
@Amir Khalid: duly noted! lol
What a bunch of nuts. Just when you think they can’t top each other in words OR deeds, the next one comes along and puts a phone in a blender, wraps bacon around a machine gun, etc. But you know, Obama went on (insert talk show here), so it’s all the same to them I guess.
Rubio’s and Jindal’s upcoming attention-getting stunts should be epic. And I wouldn’t put it past Palin to crash the debates in a Lady Gaga bubble dress at this point.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Right to Rise: Please God let this be true, the GOP is so
goodfucking awful at it we’ll end up with a 50 state blowout.And bro, you’ve got a much bigger problem on your hands at the moment than a Dem blog, or Hillary. You’ve got Trump. He’s not leaving. He doesn’t need to suck any Koch for handouts and he could easily win your ridiculous primary. And he’s saying everything your voters want to hear. Good luck with all that, see you at the Hillary victory party.
Cervantes
@Amir Khalid:
I haven’t seen much of anything in her writing in decades — by now it’s all clap-trap — but a long time ago she did write about the sexism she had to endure as a young woman in journalism.
Right to Rise
@Patricia Kayden:
All you offer is bitter identity politics. It’s going to backfire on you soon–just wait until “L” doesn’t want to sleep with “T”, or when Hispanics don’t want to go to school with blacks, and I haven’t even touched the divide between the Teacher’s Unions and the reform wing in your educational policy, or between class warriors and race hustlers.
Right to Rise
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
Trump is out by Labor Day. Halloween at the latest.
You heard it here first! Bank on it.
Cervantes
@Jeffro:
@Amir Khalid:
Why stop at bacon?
Cruz should publish an entire cook-book.
Right to Rise
@Patricia Kayden:
All you offer is bitter identity politics. It’s going to backfire on you soon–just wait until “L” doesn’t want to sleep with “T”, or when Hispanics don’t want to go to school with blacks, and I haven’t even touched the divide between the Teacher’s Unions and the reform wing in your educational policy, or between class warriors and race hustlers.
I have links to examples of all of these but that comment is waiting in moderation for too many links.
Calouste
@Cervantes:
I think that’s Dowd-ism instead of feminism. It would be feminism of she had written about the sexism she and other women had to endure.
Jeffro
@Cervantes:
He’d just complain when his bulk sales didn’t show up on the NYT best-seller list…again
Gin & Tonic
Um, just a suggestion, but there will be fewer posts from the troll if he has no posts to respond to.
Patricia Kayden
@Right to Rise: Go ahead and file your racist links. I don’t care. My point has clearly been made and nothing you say has changed the fact that #BlackLivesMatter. You’re nothing but a racist and you’ve already lost the battle. You must know that this country will not be majority White soon. I’m sure that scares you to your very core. LOL.
Keep shaking in your boots. I’m loving it. I wasn’t born in this country but I’m here now and I have no problem with racial diversity and multiculturalism. That’s what I grew up with in Canada.
All you have is racism and it’s about to fail you again in November 2016.
Botsplainer
I treat Knowbody and RTR like I do McLaren – I let my eyes glaze over when I see their posts and skip them for the most part.
Cervantes
@Jeffro:
Don’t they have unskewed best-seller lists?
Knowbody
@Zandar: Hey Zandar, how’s that article on Governor Matt Bevin coming along?
But please keep on telling yourself that Obama antagonizing white voters will help Jack Conway win.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Gin & Tonic: Yeah, but goddamn it’s fun. I got a “bank on it” prediction from him, with his past record of accuracy that probably means that Trump goes all the way through and wins the primary, giving JEB! a swirly live on TV during his victory speech.
Amir Khalid
@Right to Rise:
You can’t cut off The Donald’s campaign funds because they come out of his own pocket. You can’t shame him out of the race, because he has had the longest public exposure of any candidate, and also has the thickest skin. You can’t shout him down because he’s the loudest candidate around. You can’t hope he says/does something stupid/disqualifying because all that has gotten him so far is yet more support. Just how does Jeb plan on ridding the Republican race of that embarrassing man?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Hillary Clinton has a new ad— I think it’s more the sort of thing that’s supposed to get played on cable/go viral. I’m underwhelmed, but does anyone think it will play well with the low-infos et al? Or is this just supposed to be “humanizing”?
I am struck by how much Chelsea looks like her grandmother.
boatboy_srq
@Patricia Kayden: Actually I thought his projectionarific “all you have is bitter identity politics” line was rather cute – especially coming from a spokesbot for “Those Other People keep stealing our identity’s rightful inheritance” politics.
Jeffro
@Cervantes:
I’m sure they do (or perhaps they just ‘unskew’ them on a Cruz-by-Cruz basis?)
It doesn’t really matter: to the wingnut mind, no matter what the “liberal” NYT says, it’s conservative best-sellers all the way down…
Mandalay
O/T:
Machin has an interesting approach to governing:
1. Questions are asked about an organization.
2. Cut off funding to the organization until those questions are answered.
I have a few questions about the CIA and NSA. I wonder if Machin would do me the honor of not funding them until my questions are answered.
Ruckus
@Amir Khalid:
1. Jeb (OK one or more of his “sponsors”) will wave the magic checkbook.
2. The yellow haired menace will turn tail and run.
3. Profit!
That of course is the premise. It leaves out all the small details that you mentioned to make #2 work.
Paul in KY
@Ruckus: I’m guessing it will be the elephant head in the bed.
debit
@Roger Moore: The helicopters are not laughing.
grandpa john
@Gin & Tonic: Yeah, but this must be national “feed a troll ” day. This thread helps bring to memory something I read many years age somewhere,
jl
@Ruckus: It will be interesting to see how the Trump campaign develops. Like W he is very shrewd at some things, mainly marketing I suppose, otherwise how did he make so much money.
Over last week there seems to be a new Trump: suddenly modest about his prospects for coming out best at the upcoming GOP primary debate, modestly saying he only has a 10 to 20 percent chance at winning…, admitting he is a mere mortal with the mortal weaknesses we all have… but dad gummit, he is not a quitter, and unlike his political opponents he is no opportunist, he will not walk away as long as he has a chance to do something… like Bernie he is just tapping into public anger.
I can see it. The loser goofballs (Trump has said true things, despite himself) running against him simultaneously criticize his brashness and copy his crazy, and The Donald is suddenly not so crazy for a while.
Calouste
@Ruckus: By realistic estimates, Trump is worth about $3 billion. Can’t see him taking less than $500 million to leave the race, and even then I wouldn’t put it beyond him to cash the check, reveal who tried to bribe him out of the race, and promise to donate everything to what he thinks is a good cause.
RaflW
@Right to Rise:
And we heard it second, and third, and repeat, repost, regurgitate until we’re all stunned by the sheer force of moronic will.
R2R is really stinking the place up. Which I guess is his deranged, sub-minimum wage job, but man it must be soul-destroying.
SiubhanDuinne
@J R in WV:
That’s a lovely image! Thank you.
Cervantes
@Amir Khalid:
Speaking of embarrassing men …
Mike J
@Ruckus: Warren Ellis compares Trump to Boris Johnson.
grandpa john
@Gin & Tonic: Yeah, but this must be national “feed a troll “ day. This thread helps bring to memory something I read many years age somewhere,
RaflW
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
Thank you. I was feeling a bit despondent about the poo flinging trolls, but you reminded me why I come here.
SiubhanDuinne
@Kathleen:
Thanks, Kathleen!
RaflW
Have the FPers forsaken us? Five hours of troll-turds is surprisingly unsatisfying.
JPL
@Botsplainer: What I see when R2R posts is , blah, blah, blah, blah.
SiubhanDuinne
@Paul in KY:
@divF:
Thank you! Thank you very much!
Amir Khalid
@Cervantes:
Sigh. The MACC is plenty professional when investigating civil servants, but high-ranking politicians are another matter. No matter who the donor is, or what the donation is for, what the hell was it doing in Najib’s accounts? If it’s a political contribution, why wasn’t it in an Umno/Barisan Nasional account?
Not a lot of people in Malaysia still believe Najib is innocent, and a story like that only makes things smell even worse.
satby
@SiubhanDuinne: Late to the party, but a very Happy Birthday!
Cervantes
@Amir Khalid:
Do you happen to know the reporter?
Amir Khalid
@Cervantes:
No, sorry.
Roger Moore
@Cckids:
Don’t they understand that tax avoidance is their patriotic duty? How else are we going to shrink the government until its small enough to
probe a woman’s vaginadrown in a bathtub? Answer me that one, smartypants!Cervantes
@Amir Khalid:
I think we can guess the answer to that one!
Roger Moore
@Amir Khalid:
For starters, I bet he’s starting with cheap supermarket bacon. Real Americans know you should use good quality country bacon. And how are you going to capture the delicious bacon fat using that technique. Half of the point of cooking bacon is so you’ll be able to fry something else in the drippings.
Germy Shoemangler
Here’s a quote from James Kunstler:
I don’t agree with Kunstler about much. But I’ve noticed the same trend.
Matt McIrvin
@Paul in KY: Indeed, though they’re salaried-professional-rich, not rentier-class rich.
But being flat-out rich isn’t enough to keep them out of trouble for being black, which is a powerful counterexample to economic reductionism right there.
Sherparick
They certainly won’t blame the Republicans as the whole f##king MSM Village sings “Both Sides” in perfect harmony. Afterall, some folks at Planned Parenthood had icky conversations about abortion, enuff said.
scav
We can raise the local tone, here, I’ll contribute a sleazy sex exposé — can somebody else find a suitable bat-boy or euquivalent? Sex life of ancient Fractofusus organism revealed.
Besides bearing a name worthy of Saturday morning cartoon stardom, thus making it even more insidious a temptation to teach to young innocents, luring them into a familiarity with evolution (eek!), this critter won’t even come down definitively on the side of animal or plant. Horrors!
Roger Moore
@Amir Khalid:
FTFY. Of course he’s running for the Republican nomination, so the lack of shame should be taken as a given.
japa21
BTW, R2R, that Clinton-Gore campaign button is cute. Only thing is it was not from the Clinton-Gore campaign. Could have been made by someone outside the campaign or, interestingly enough, may not have actually been made until this year.
Interesting that there is no record of it even existing until this year and even then not until the SC flag contoversy showed up.
But then, it is obvious how gullible you are.
Germy Shoemangler
@scav:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjv1PIc3dgY
RaflW
Keep f*king that chicken, NYT:
Pro tip: she did not anticipate it, because it ain’t gonna happen, you dipshits.
Ruckus
@Calouste:
I wasn’t thinking of it from a bribe standpoint but that is a valid angle, considering T Rump.
I like that Bloomberg looked at the financials with his application and decided that he is worth far less than the 9-10 large that he claims. I believe I called this a number of days ago. And no I’m not that informed or smart, I just know that he is a bullshitter extraordinaire. It is his one and only claim to fame. OK that and the fact that he is only one of a few humans to wear a large hairy animal on his head and be proud of it.
I was going for the process for which every conservative worships, 1. issue of the moment 2. something, something, bullshit 3. PROFIT!
japa21
@Germy Shoemangler: Disagree here.
First of all, the camo is normal on the base wear for Army. It is not considered battlefield wear. Running off the base on errands, etc. should not require them to change into civilian clothes.
Secondly, sports teams will wear camo uniforms for special events honoring the military. Usually, those jerseys get auctioned off after the game with the proceeds going to a charity which helps veterans.
Ruckus
@JPL:
I see pastry. Bless Cleek’s bakery.
ETA Of course if you are willing to have Blah, blah, blah translated to bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, then sure that works.
Germy Shoemangler
@Ruckus:
It is a legally-registered emotional support animal (ESA).
Paul in KY
@Germy Shoemangler: I wore fatigues at times back in early 80s (this at Homestead AFB, in S. Florida). The nefarious reason was usually that my reg uniforms were all dirty.
rikyrah
D.L. Hughley: Trump’s popularity is tied to his racism — ‘If he said n****r he’d be elected tomorrow’
http://linkis.com/www.rawstory.com/201/XnBLs
Germy Shoemangler
@japa21: Here’s what one of his commenters replied:
I’m not an expert on the subject, it’s just a trend I’ve noticed and I’m curious what others here think.
Roger Moore
@Ruckus:
I think that would be 9-10 Yuuuge! that he claims to be worth. I’ve always heard “large” used to refer to numbers in the thousands, not in the billions.
JPL
@Roger Moore: Cruz is gonna have some problems cooking his eggs on that thing.
Cruz has young children, they must be so proud of their father. ugh
Paul in KY
@Germy Shoemangler: The poor thing. Now I feel sorry for it.
jl
@scav: Thanks for the link.
Ediacaran age sex life was polymorphously perverse.
Thanks to your link I am now thoroughly debauched.
Eric U.
@japa21: when I was in the Air Force, we were limited in what we could do in camo. Those rules have clearly been relaxed
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@RaflW:
At least now we know for sure that Trump will still be in it at Thanksgiving, and probably through the New Year. R2R’s prediction ability is about equal to that of Bill “Always Wrong” Kristol.
Botsplainer
@Germy Shoemangler:
I’ve been annoyed with it for a good while – I think that seeing BDUs on a constant basis makes it appear that there is a constant war footing. The training I had when I started at USAFA in 80 emphasized that our working uniforms were not to be worn in the civilian world unless necessary. It was spitshine or corfams with blue blouse and neckties.
That all seemed to upend with the War on Terror, when you had the ridiculous image of 4 stars giving briefings at the Pentagon while wearing BDUs.
Ruckus
@Germy Shoemangler:
That’s because the work uniforms have all been replaced with camo gear. Navy for example used to be dungaree shirt and pants with a white hat, which was replace with a ball cap with the ship’s number on the front. Now it’s blue/gray camo.
Sherparick
@Germy Shoemangler: No, this simply ignorant. What we consider “battle dress” or “fatigue” uniforms is a pure 20th century innovation. Regular uniforms, as one can see in Civil War reenactments were what people fought in up to WW1. They did have parade uniforms for “parades” and dress up affairs. Uniforms were worn or not publicly depending on the popularity of the military. In many ways, particularly the % of population involved in military matters, we are far less militarized then the 19th century where local militias were often very active.
Ruckus
@Germy Shoemangler:
LOL
Paul in KY
@Eric U.: We didn’t even have ‘camo’, you young whippersnapper! We had the ugly green BDU style fatigues. Couldn’t even blouse your boots. Not the coolest looking unis.
Roger Moore
@Botsplainer:
Four stars giving briefings in their BDUs goes back at least to Desert Storm, when Norman Schwartzkopf did it.
Jeffro
@Mike J: Isn’t that similar to Eddie Murphy’s sketch about how the first black president would get elected?
White Trash Liberal
@Germy Shoemangler:
In the Marine Corps, you cannot wear your cammies off base. You can wear them driving to/from work and can exit your vehicle for emergency or petrol reasons only.
If a Marine were caught wearing cammies out in town, they would be snatched up and lit up.
RaflW
@Paul in KY: ROTC students wore fatigues on campus at T.C.U. in the mid-80s.
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
It used to be thousand. But you know the old saying “A million here a million there and pretty soon you are talking real money.”
In T Rumps case, he has always been a bullshitter about money, especially his money, inflating his worth not just a little but like everything he says/does, grandiosely. So making a large into a billion certainly seems appropriate here.
rikyrah
Yeah…I like this show.
………….
Turn: Washington’s Spies’ Renewed for Season 3 by AMC
JULY 15, 2015 | 01:44PM PT
Cynthia Littleton
Managing Editor: Television
@Variety_Cynthia
AMC has given a third-season pickup to “Turn: Washington’s Spies,” the Revolutionary War drama that drew strong reviews for its second season but has struggled with low ratings and a low profile in pop culture.
Charlie Collier, president of AMC and SundanceTV, said the renewal was a recognition of the show’s creative strength and the growth it demonstrated across the 10-episode run of season two. In live-plus-7 ratings, the show’s total viewer average grew from 1.6 million viewers at the start of the season to 1.74 million by the June 8 finale
http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/turn-amc-renewed-season-3-1201541056/
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Ruckus:
Of all the explanations here, this one makes the most sense. I grew up near Great Lakes Naval Base and we never saw sailors in camo. It was either civvies or the dungarees work uniform.
Personally, I hate the way camo looks (because, what, you’re going to need to conceal yourself from enemy fire in Lake Forest or Highland Park?) so I tend to agree that a less ostentatious work uniform was better.
Paul in KY
@RaflW: I didn’t wear mine very often. The light blue shirt/blue pants were the standard uniform. Wore those most all of the time.
The fatigues were also a bit hotter than the blue uniform. Very important when you entered the furnace that was S. Florida.
Roger Moore
@Ruckus:
I still think calling it 10 (or 2-3) Yuuuge! is better; it’s certainly more Trumplike.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
Trying to avoid personal narrations. But yes when I was in the navy, in prehistoric times, you wore dungarees on ship/base and changed into dress uniform or civies to go off base. And for a short while when first stationed on ship you couldn’t keep civies in your locker or wear them leaving the ship. There were locker clubs that you rent a locker for a very small fee and keep your civies in there. So you had to clean up, leave the ship, go to the locker club and change. Or put on your dress uniform on board ship. The other branches were about the same, without the locker clubs as I understand it.
Citizen Alan
@Emma:
No, just the once.
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
Can’t argue, potato, patatoe
Roger Moore
@Ruckus:
Thanks, Mr. Quayle!
boatboy_srq
@Germy Shoemangler: The only thing I can think of that tempers this is that after so many years of belt-tightening (and nearly as many Othering everyone whose children wind up wearing the uniform), it’s fairly likely that maintaining two separate wardrobes – one for base/deployment, one for out-in-the-civilian-world wear – might be something of a strain. Beyond that it does indeed make for all-GWoT-all-the-time impressions.
Related question for the former servicepeople: how many “thank you for your service” gratuitious oh-good-you-fought-so-I-didn’t-have-to platitudes d’you suppose servicepeople would get if they dressed in civvies off-base? Because if you don’t dress like a serviceperson you’re less likely to be pegged as one, and fewer people will come up to say that sort of thing. There’s a reasonable expectation that if you don’t want to hear all that BS then dressing differently would be a good place to start.
Germy Shoemangler
@Roger Moore: Is it true Quayle artificially grayed his temples to give himself gravitas?
I remember him actually denying it.
Seanly
The ass hats in control of Congress are not going to pass a comprehensive highway funding bill. The Republican party which once championed highway funding is now completely against it. Nevermind that most heavy construction contractors are rich Republicans and that many of the civil engineers designing and managing the projects are good ole Republicans. The only way to improve highway funding in the short term is to increase the gas tax. Several states have done it, but the fed amount is too low.
The Republicans won’t do it for a variety of reasons:
1) No new taxes BS
2) They think all government workers are lazy SOBs. Due to budget cuts & monetary pressure, a fair amount of maintenance and all major reconstruction or new construction are done by contractors. State employees mostly manage the projects or maybe do a portion of the design (both of those account for 10% of a project). If there is construction work going on, it is not government workers.
3) The more libertarian members want to get the feds completely out of infrastructure funding. This relates back to #1.
4) The Republicans don’t want to give Obama any more victories. If a highway bill made sense and was good for American then Obama would sign it. And then he could take credit for it or at least that’s what they fear.
What we need to do is spend at least another percent of the GDP on infrastructure improvements. This would create a lot of jobs at wide range of levels – all the way from the engineers like myself to manufacturing for some of the components to skilled and even some unskilled workers.
Money spent on highway infrastructure pays for itself. Not only does it pay people to design and then build the infrastructure, but they then spend that money. Another item that doesn’t get a lot of discussion is the decrease to wear and tear on vehicles. Bad roads damage vehicles. Structurally unsound bridges force shipments to go a different route, wasting fuel.
RaflW
@Seanly: The GOP is at the point of actively sabotaging the productivity of business. How this is escaping the notice of business is beyond me.
I mean, WTF will WalMart and every other business that relies on trucking do when their just-in-time inventory is just-in-transit for far too long? There is no libertarian pipe-dream solution. One private superhighway in TX does not an infrastructure make.
It is fascinating, in a horrifying sort of way, to be watching the decadent, absurd, and dizzyingly fast decline of the American empire.
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
LOL
Figured you’d get that.
Bobby Thomson
@Amir Khalid: thanks. I could blow up that one.
Ruckus
@boatboy_srq:
Well even in olden days we had 3 navy uniforms. Dungarees, dress blues for winter, dress whites for summer. And other than your original issue in boot camp you paid for them if they needed professional cleaning or replacement if you, for example, were out drinking and spilled some liquids or semi solid objects were hurled by some one on them or even if you just managed to fall down for a small nap.
Bobby Thomson
@Cervantes: Dowd may consider herself a feminist, but she is a feminist like David Koch is the new MLK. But I wouldn’t expect you to understand.
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
Happy birthday!
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
And isn’t it your birthday today, too? If so, happy birthday!
Cervantes
@Bobby Thomson:
Precisely what I wrote.
I think you forgot your punch-line.
boatboy_srq
@Seanly: RE: your #2. My ex is in that business, and I’ve been at a tangent to it from time to time. Private contracting for road/bridge construction isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Take the Bay Bridge eastern span: the new design is essentially the plan proposed by T. Y. Lin, after Caltrans’ engineers proposed a pair of monstrosities – and while it was slightly more expensive than Caltrans’ economy model, it’s about as durable as Caltrans’ deluxe model (which came replete with massive suspension towers that would have dwarfed the west span) at a fraction of the cost.
Steeplejack
@Ruckus:
Yeah, camo on a ship—”Battle Dress Oceanic”? Puh-leeze.
Ruckus
@Steeplejack:
Hey get off my lawn! The dress uniforms still had 13 button pants! And a very small cape in the back for your ponytail to rest on.
daverave
@boatboy_srq:
Anyone that is familiar with the history of that bridge would not be using it as a good example of… well, anything.
ETA: “durable”? Really? It has massive construction issues that have more than likely shortened its lifespan considerably.
boatboy_srq
@daverave: Rated for a 7.2, yes? That’s what I was referring to. And did you SEE what Caltrans had in mind for it? BTW we replace an entire span because the original structure behaved the way it was designed to… I’m not up to date with the new span, but I’ve seen the design docs and what was put up does seem to be the least bad option and better looking than anything coming from Sacramento.
Tree With Water
@Ruckus: My uncle was in the merchant marine during WW2, and I quote him: “The navy always was full of shit”. That was him talking, not me. But sixty years later, there was wonder, even a certain awe, in his description of the Pacific Fleet passing his own ship, which been ordered to drop anchor outside the port and make way. It was at a major anchorage whose name (damnably) escapes me, and the fast ships were headed in harms way.
mak
Okay, late to this party, I know, but I call Spoof (Doug J?) on R2R. The name itself is a clue (too obvious), as are the references to Jeb?!’s “brown wife” and Bill Clinton’s (alleged, denied) use of the Confederate flag in ’92. But if was the reference to a “thoroughgoing long-term strategy on how to spend the (Jeb!?) cash effectively” that sealed the deal. No actual Jeb!?ber would use the phrase “we’re going all in on “guerilla marketing” and new media to target the Millennials, for example.”
Procopius
Thank you, Zandar. It’s so refreshing to see somebody point out that the Republicans have NOT suffered from their gov’t shutdown shenanigans. I don’t know why every pundit insists of the myth, even the ones the other Villagers identify with the left. Is it because they want so much to see it they’re clapping their hands so Tinkerbell will live?
Procopius
@Right to Rise:
Oh, that was the point of your original post?