Here’s the illustration for a GQ story on Martin O’Malley:
Unpossible! Wonkette takes issue with 50-something O’Malley’s generational jabs at Hillary Clinton.
My favorite quote from the GQ piece: “Watch out for the dog shit.” Words to live by.
Open thread!
WereBear
Just got a used iPad mini 2. Love my iTouch, but it is very small and borrowed iPads are not. I cannot comment here on the mobile site. It is very frustrating. Switched to desktop but it’s too bad. Because it was pretty and had nice features except I was locked out in the lobby watching the show through a crack in the door.
Baud
It seemms that people have stopped talking about Hillary’s age since they’ve started talking about Trump, Sanders, and potentially Biden.
Baud
@WereBear:
I stuck with an android phone in part because I heard ios did not work well with this site.
Betty Cracker
@WereBear: I’ve got a regular-sized iPad, and at first I had trouble with the mobile site, but switching to desktop worked for me. I could always read and comment; I just don’t like the mobile layout, and it kept forgetting my log-in cred. Steeplejack was kind enough to walk me through the steps it took to get it dialed in.
Elizabelle
Thank you, thank you, thank you for a non-Trump thread. BJ is turning me back into a lurker.
Grateful for PBS offering early morning international news broadcasts. American media purposely misinforms us: firefighters in peril (check); Clinton emails looking worse by the moment (check). That was CBS with Very Serious Person Charlie Rose.
There’s so much more news out there.
dmsilev
@Betty Cracker: The mobile site has worked fine for me on my iPad (typing this comment using the pad). The one weird glitch is that for posts with images, like this thread, the image shows up twice.
WereBear
@Betty Cracker: Thanks, I did switch to desktop. Now it’s just getting used to the iPad way of doing things. :)
EconWatcher
Immediately makes me think of Chris Rock’s brilliant comment during the 2008 elections, at a point when it was reasonably clear that either Obama or Hillary would be the next president:
“That George Bush. He f’ed up. He f’ed up so bad, he made it hard for a white man to get elected president. Voters are saying, we’ll take the woman, we’ll take the black guy, whatever. Just not another one of those white guys.”
Of course, you need the Chris Rock delivery for the full fun of it.
Mustang Bobby
My local public radio station broadcasts BBC World Service overnight, so when I get up, that’s what I listen to. I have yet to hear them mention anything about the U.S. presidential race.
Kay
I should have considered O’Malley more but there’s something about him that puts me off. I’m suspicious of the hard turn on criminal justice issues and there’s some justification to think he also made a Left turn on economic issues.
People do that in a primary, of course, but I have less patience for it now. If he’s the same as Clinton on issues I think he should stick to that rather than creating an ideological spot for himself- Left of Clinton but Right of Sanders.
OTOH I’m pleased they believe they have to go Left on economic issues because that means they believe that’s where the Dem primary electorate is.
WereBear
This makes me beyond tickled.
Patrick
@Elizabelle:
The Clinton email story is the new Benghazi. It’s a “scandal” most voters don’t care about. And they shouldn’t. Hell, George W Bush approved of declassifying classified information whenever it suited his political motives.
Spokesman says president has right to declassify intelligence
Monday, April 10, 2006; Posted: 11:31 a.m. EDT (15:31 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The White House on Friday rejected suggestions that President Bush contradicted himself by repeatedly railing against leaks of classified information even though he had approved the release of classified information to bolster the U.S. case for the Iraq war in 2003.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/07/whitehouse.leak/
If the right-wingers had no objections then (which they didn’t), then why are they so concerned now? It’s sheer hypocrisy.
Betty Cracker
@dmsilev: I get that double image thing too on the mobile version, on both my iPad and iPhone. The mobile version functions just fine for me now, but I find the layout unattractive — too gray and boring. I use desktop purely for aesthetics.
dr. luba
I saw that and thought it was a Mentalist ad……..
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I use the mainframe here at the HQ data center in the cave to comment.
EconWatcher
@Kay:
There’s also quite a bit of noise about him pushing manipulation of crime statistics in Baltimore in pretty nasty and corrupt ways, and I think there may be something to it. Between him and Hillary, I would trust Hillary more, but for me that’s not saying much. I’d trust Sanders, but a self-avowed socialist will not get elected president, no way, no how. Of course, Webb’s campaign is purely quixotic. I wish there were a legit challenger to Hillary, at the very least as an insurance policy, but there really isn’t so far.
Elizabelle
@Patrick: Agreed. But if you’re not actively paying attention, what you see is graphic of HR Clinton with “Email Scandal” logo. It’s got to register somehow. (For me, it gets my back up.)
US corporate media is showing us who their owners are.
Patrick
@Elizabelle:
I’m doubtful. Benghazi never registered with people outside the FoxNews bubble. I doubt this will either. People just don’t care. They care about issues impacting their own finances. That’s why a black man in the economic crisis of 2008 managed to get elected (see post 8 above). Heck, as long as Trump is in the race, the media/people seem to be more interested in that.
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
Holy petabytes, Batman!
OzarkHillbilly
@EconWatcher:Can’t find the greatest entrance to a movie ever, but this has to be among the top lines ever:
“Knew him? Nigga owes me 12 bucks.”
BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: The actual batcave(from the TV show) is about 4 miles away from here.
http://www.hikespeak.com/trails/bronson-cave/
debbie
@Elizabelle:
I don’t know. I find it all kind of amusing, but since I don’t have cable, I’m not seeing lots of what you’re seeing.
My main source of amusement is Glenn Beck. His righteous anger is generally amusing, but listening to him trying to find a candidate he can support is even better. He loves Ben Carson…except for Carson’s waffle on abortion/tissue research. He loves Carly Fiorina…except she’s inexperienced. He loves Scott Walker…except his health care plan is a sham. He loves Ted Cruz…except he senses he’s unelectable.
He hates (insert the name you don’t want to see) because he’s a Progressive in sheep’s clothing. His listeners call in, trying to explain why they like (insert the name you don’t want to see), but Beck’s despair only grows. He’s trying to prepare for his big rally in Birmingham, AL next week, where he will (self-)assume MLK’s mantle, and this is all too much of a distraction.
I hate these clowns, but this disarray must be savored. I’m afraid it can only last so long.
BillinGlendaleCA
@debbie:
Sounds alot like Demon Sheep.
Kay
@EconWatcher:
The crime stat issue is complicated. “Data-driven policing”. Back when Democrats were pushing it there was a liberal argument for it. The idea was they would rely on numbers which would limit discretion, and discretion is where bias comes in. They would get around bias with science. I don’t think it works because people run these systems and they bring it in anyway. They are right now making the same liberal argument they used for data-based policing in public education because it’s appealing, right? Evidence-based. Outputs, not inputs. I think it has a kind of false certainty “numbers don’t lie!” except people still lie, they just use numbers to do it.
The bottom line is I think it’s too reductive and these problems are more layered than that- there’s a shit ton of human history here and that has to be grappled with.
gelfling545
@Kay: I have not been able to work up any interest in O’Malley. I still have not seen anything that substantially addresses the allegations that he had some serious responsibility for the deterioration of the policing situations in MD during his tenure. (Not saying there isn’t anything, just that I haven’t seen it if there is.) I kind of assumed he was running for vice president, but I’m guessing that won’t be on HRC’s ticket. Perhaps he’s trying to get his name out there for 2020 which would make sense as I honestly don’t know any people who’ve even heard of him who aren’t avid followers of the political scene. Also, the space to the left of HRC & the right of Sanders seems to me to be pretty narrow ground, not enough to make a political stand on, and leaves one with the possibility of getting the worst traits of both rather than the best. And for some reason, I keep getting that used car salesman vibe from him.
MattF
As a Marylander, I was vaguely positive about O’Malley until the recent election of (Republican) Hogan to the Governor’s office. There’s evidence that it was well known that the Democrat (Brown) was floundering, but O’Malley didn’t want to get involved. It looked like O’Malley preferred to focus on his own Presidential ambitions rather than help Brown. FWIW, Donna Edwards endorsed Brown forthrightly, and got a big gold star for that in my book.
NotMax
@Kay
‘Twas ever thus.
On paper, Marxism is a helluva system. Once living, breathing people get inserted into the equation, not so much, and inertia devolves into hellishness.
Jeffro
@debbie:
Well that makes sense…typically when I think of Glenn Beck, what pops into my head is “the modern MLK”.
These people…
EconWatcher
@gelfling545:
You call it the used car salesman vibe. I’d call it the John Edwards feel. Although I don’t get that feel from O’Malley quite as strongly as I did with Edwards himself. The minute I first saw Edwards performing, with his unctuous smile and weird, sideways “thumbs up” gestures, I instinctively loathed him. Something deeply wrong with that boy.
p.a.
@Baud: My android doesn’t let me edit my posts here. Fortunately I’m perfect…
Jeffro
@EconWatcher:
He does have that “Smiler” (from Transmetropolitan) vibe to him. But then about half of all politicians do.
WereBear
@EconWatcher: I liked what he was saying. But yes. I did not trust him. When the primary came around, he was off our list.
Kay
@gelfling545:
I cut him a little slack because none of the Democrats who promoted the “policing situation” are really addressing the ideas behind it and whether those should be re-examined. There was a liberal argument for what O’Malley was doing. It wasn’t all ‘lock em up and throw away the key”. They were going to achieve equity in policing by relying ion data. They would use numbers to limit police discretion which would mean all groups would be treated the same. It didn’t work. They need to address that.
When zero tolerance was put into public schools it was intended to limit the discretion of fallible people who are biased and sometimes dumb. It was ZERO. That meant everyone would be treated the same using factors and lists. Except they weren’t treated the same. Black kids got hammered and white kids did not.
WereBear
@p.a.: I am really enjoying the bigger keypad on my new (to me) device. But the iPad mini screen size is especially welcome for my reading apps.
Germy Shoemangler
@EconWatcher:
Wanda Sykes was hilarious talking about W as well… After Obama was elected, she noted how QUIET Bush was. She said it reminded him of a guest in your house who breaks something and then leaves very quietly at the end of the party.
NotMax
@Germy Shoemangler
In a rational world, eight years of Bush/Cheney ought to have been enough to deny any Republican from getting within shouting distance of the White House for at least a generation.
Germy Shoemangler
@NotMax: They got their own media empire. People are easily fooled. More people listen to Hannity than read Charles Pierce.
WereBear
@NotMax: I’m rooting for the Hoover Effect.
Because President Obama did save us from another Great Depression. As bad as this was, it could have been so much worse.
Patrick
@NotMax:
Yup! Yet the Republicans are the ones screaming about deficits (Bush took surpluses and turned them in to deficits), making America great again (Bush was the one who made the world lose respect for us by attacking Iraq), etc etc.
And most likely the GOP challenger will get at least 47% in 2016 and they will control the house. It really boggles the mind what people are thinking when they vote.
Steeplejack
@WereBear:
I use the desktop site even on my Moto X cell phone. It’s just as readable as the mobile version, plus comment numbers!
Frankensteinbeck
@Patrick:
‘Deficits’ = ‘welfare’ = ‘money going to black people’. When they complain about deficits, look at what they want to cut.
‘Make America great again’ = (in foreign policy) ‘scare them into loving us’. Again, look at their proposed solutions.
Bobby Thomson
@Steeplejack: I try never to use the mobile site for anything. Why would you?
wuzzat
@Patrick: Exactly. Outside of the “give us something to be outraged about” Fox News fans, even people who don’t like Hilary are bored with a story that, at its heart, boils down to “Woman in her 60s Possibly Confused by Email Intricacies.” Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for someone to ask Ted!, Marco! or Bobby! if they agree with Jeb!’s assertions about anchor babies and if they’ll voluntarily self-deport if Voldemort’s elected.
rikyrah
@EconWatcher:
and that is the core of the George Bush problem for Jeb.
HOW BAD a President was George W?
so bad the country elected a Black guy as President.
I take nothing away from Barack Obama as a candidate.
But, I’ve been Black in America longer than 3 days.
If this country had been on, what could be considered, a ‘good track’, I doubt highly he would have even be considered. Black folks don’t usually get opportunities in good times. They usually get it thrown at them when it seems all is lost.
Aardvark Cheeselog
That scribblings at that wonkette link provide an excellent example of why I don’t look at wonkette.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@MattF: I live in NoVA and only keep up with MD politics peripherally. I think Kay makes good points about the policing stuff. Nobody in authority in those days has clean hands, IMO. Part of what bothers me about that criticism (that he’s a rah-rah police guy) is it ignores the fact that he was subsequently governor for 8 years. He’s got a record there as the executive of a pretty important state, and did a pretty good job AFAICS.
Yes, he like anyone, did some things that can be criticized. Taxes, etc. We can argue about whether the tradeoff was good or bad. That’s something that can and should be talked about.
On the Brown race, my impression (maybe wrong) was that Brown didn’t want O’Malley’s help or thought he didn’t need it. WP:
Yup.
I find it terribly disheartening that before there has been a single debate, before anyone has voted, in the summer while voters aren’t paying attention, we (at least many of us) are already dividing up into camps and drawing lines and saying we’ll not support someone. Let’s see how things play out, is my attitude.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who has given money once each to Bernie and Marty – he figures Hillary doesn’t need any yet.)
wuzzat
@Elizabelle: I like the BBC news site, but occasionally headdesk at their writers’ inability to check a map when covering US news. In one horribly depressing murder story, they described Bellefontaine, OH as “a small town south-west of Cleveland.” That’s technically true, in much the same way as Hertford is a small town to the north-east of Cardiff.
Ruckus
@Kay:
…but there’s something about him that puts me off
Get the same vibe. His term as mayor was not good. He seems to be a republican in dem clothing. Complains about Hillary’s age and that he’s good because the under 50 crowd can/does trust him. He’s 52. I like people enthused about the issues but he seems like he’s been given a script and directions to be mad about a list of issues and isn’t going to take it any more. And he’s not that good an actor. He seems phony to me. It’s about power and him. And that’s all.
SoupCatcher
According to the staffer answering the phones at her San Jose office, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren will release her position on the Iran Nuclear deal soon. Not sure what she’s waiting for, as Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, Anna Eshoo, and Mike Honda have all come out in support. I asked the staffer to pass along the message that she should join them.