.
Dan Drezner, in the Washington Post, on “The most damning part of Donald Trump’s political rise“:
… There’s only so many ways that I can say that Trump reminds me of nothing so much as that old man at the deli talking to nobody in particular about how the country is going to hell and how it was better in the “Mad Men” days when you could properly insult minorities and play grab-ass with the secretaries.
So instead let’s turn this around and ask a question of the rest of the GOP field and the political media that has reported on them. For this entire calendar year, I’ve heard how the current crop of GOP presidential candidates “showcase[s] the party’s deep bench of talent” or that “the Republicans are sitting on the deepest bench they’ve had in decades” or how “a direct comparison with the last Republican primary, in 2012, reveals how strong this bunch of candidates is for the 2016 nomination.”…
It’s late August, so obviously things will likely change by the time Iowa starts to caucus. But remember, the whole point of this deep GOP bench was supposed to be that it would thwart the absurdity of the 2012 cycle, when Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann were front-runners for a time. And yet in this cycle, it’s gotten to the point where William Kristol has morphed from praising the current crop of “strong candidates” to fretting that “the rest of the field isn’t what it should be” and encouraging Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to enter the race.
So here’s my question: What does it say about the deep GOP bench that none of them have managed to outperform a guy who has no comparative political advantage except celebrity and a willingness to insult anyone who crosses his path?
***********
Apart from marking the end of a week that I for one will be glad to see gone, what’s on the agenda for the day?
Baud
It says that the media was lying about the depth of the bench in order to prop them up.
Baud
And screw Danziger for lumping our side in with the clown show on the right.
Mustang Bobby
Barely awake after a very late night — for me — at the first reading and rehearsal of my ten-minute play that’s going up in two weeks. Now I’m watching as TS Erika trumps through the Bahamas and looks to be heading to make landfall on Monday in the upper Keys, but that forecast could change in two hours.
ETA: Today is my dad’s 89th birthday. I’m fortunate to have both parents alive and in relatively good health and spirits, and I am grateful for that.
raven
The sick radical ideas that are now the democratic party.
David Koch
Man, Kristol is fucking nuts. Calling on Scalito to resign and run. Forgetting the small detail that it would let the President appoint Wendy Davis as his replacement and flip the court.
BillinGlendaleCA
Mika was offended by what HRC said yesterday and is very concerned about her e-mail. Joe was insulted, and it’s ‘gutter politics’.
ETA: OK, CLICK.
Mustang Bobby
@BillinGlendaleCA:
With Trump on the scene, gutter politics would be an upgrade.
David Koch
@BillinGlendaleCA: I’m sure Blow was equally outraged when Ghouliani said the President doesn’t love America and when Suckabee said he’s leading jews to the oven.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mustang Bobby: You’re quite lucky to have your parents still with you, both of mine passed on when I was in my 20’s. Happy b-day to your dad.
BillinGlendaleCA
@David Koch: No, he said O-man does the same thing.
Honus
I missed it. What did Hilary say to offend mika and joe? And descend into gutter politics, unlike the all the republicans who are taking the high road? You know, all those gentlemen that laud Citizens United Not Timid?
Amir Khalid
The Democratic party has two candidates — Hillary and Bernie — who are serious, which is two more than the Republican party, I think. (I haven’t heard from O’Malley, Webb, or Chaffee in a while; have the search parties been sent out?)
One thing that hasn’t been talked about much, but which seems to me obviously important in assessing Presidential candidates, is a look at their probable ability to execute a policy agenda. One dares not expect the mainstream political media to examine this, since they won’t even examine candidates’ policy agendas on anything but popularity.
So I must look to Balloon Juice and its able commentariat. Let’s look at the resources a candidate would have in office. Administrative and organisational ability. The political resources, not least allies in Congress where making the agenda happen requires legislative action. The diplomatic chops to make things happen at the UN Security Council, with NATO, and continental/regional groups of nations.
I happen to think that of all the 2016 candidates, there’s no one better equipped in this regard than Hillary Clinton.
WereBear
This is the inevitable devolution of the Republican Party. It’s letting the crazies in. For most of the 20th century the memory of the Great Depression kept the Republicans somewhat chastened and the Democrats in ascendancy. Even with their civil rights legislation.
Which is what caused the fracture. This is the result of progress, not the lack of it. The legislation, the acknowledgement, the rise of women and people of color for the last fifty years has created this Republican Party. And it is behaving exactly as we would expect.
It wasn’t that long ago that the Irish and the Poles weren’t white enough. That Jews all had quotas to get into college. That many people, like wives and black people and even children, could be murdered under specific circumstances, by certain people, and there would be no penalty.
So we are going to see death throes. I hope this is the beginning of the end.
And we all knew it wasn’t going to be pretty.
David Koch
@Honus: she said that John McCain wasn’t a hero because he was captured. Oh wait, that was trump.
OzarkHillbilly
@WereBear:And this too shall pass. (well said)
BillinGlendaleCA
@Honus:
That’s what HRC said that’s got Joe and Mika in a tizzy.
Mustang Bobby
@OzarkHillbilly:
Like a kidney stone.
magurakurin
@Amir Khalid:
While I agree completely, I also think it doesn’t matter if she is best equipped for the job or not, since she is the only one equipped to win the nomination. There just is no road map which leads Sanders to the nomination. He’ll win NH and that will be it.
Clinton is slowly and methodically lining up the endorsements of the party leaders, nearly all of whom are super delegates as well. One of the unsung stories of Obama’s win was how he was able to swing the super delegates over to his side. Sanders won’t be able to do this for one very major reason, he isn’t a member of the party. So far he has no endorsements and the other day he actually went begging for them from the party members. But why would the endorse an outsider who refuses to join their party? Sanders may think it is just a label, but I am quite sure that career members of the party who have served decades as loyal members of the Democratic party do not consider it “just a label.” Bernie is a nice guy, but he’s fucked. Not.gonna.happen.
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
Joe and Mika, combined, barely equal a halfwit.
How far SFX tech has come that the marionette strings attached to them can be electronically removed from the picture during a live broadcast.
Bobby Thomson
@WereBear:
But enough about the police.
OzarkHillbilly
@Mustang Bobby: heh. Without a doubt.
magurakurin
@BillinGlendaleCA: Can someone explain to me why Mika is still viewed as some sort of sex kitten? And that is how she is treated and acts on that show. Because, she’s like, 48 years old. Now, I don’t want to be down on 48 year old gals because you are never to old to be beautiful. My wife is 48 and she’s well, my wife, without getting into details of course. But 48 is a bit over the hill for the TV sex kitten role isn’t it? What a disgusting crew that Morning Blow is. I hate them. Talk about demeaning to women… the co-dependent pair of Mika and Joe…uggg.
JPL
@Mustang Bobby: I know you need rain, but hopefully it won’t be that bad.
Of course, Erika could change it’s mind again.
Mustang Bobby
@JPL: Thanks. I’m stocked up on water, canned food, batteries, and I have an enclosed garage for the cars. I made it through Katrina (pre-NOLA) and Wilma so I’m both experienced and wary. My biggest concern is a huge poinciana tree in the backyard that has already shown a propensity for throwing branches off in a wind, and I have a damaged patio enclosure to prove it. If the wind brings it down, I hope it falls away from the house.
BillinGlendaleCA
@magurakurin: Mika’s supposed to be the “reasonable Democrat” on the show, and I guess is also supposed to be easy on the eyes. I agree the 48 is probably a bit old for the ‘sex kitten’ role. Your wife is 48? My wife’s b-day is tomorrow, 57.
Honus
@Amir Khalid: but would you want to have a beer with her?
Peale
@David Koch: did he do that again?
The only thing i can think of where that would make sense is if the republicans refused to confirm a successor until after the inaguration, leaving the court with 8 members for a year. winner takes the court! Definitely would make the election about something. But since this is coming from master strategist Bomb em Bill, I doubt he’s just doing more than mental wanking.
kindness
TGIF, really. Gotta get tickets to the December Dead & Co shows at 10. I hate buying tickets at work. Some times the work computer system lets you log on to Ticketmaster, go through all the motions but block one from paying for said tickets. So I loaded the ap to my phone. Gonna get those bad boys today and work computer systems won’t stop me.
Cermet
There “bench” is deep – a truism that has held ever since “Ray-gun” the complete shit head and child murdering villain was considered anything other then a clown by anyone with an IQ above 70. The thug party has now been almost all clowns so this idea of a deep bench of clowns is absolutely valid.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Honus: I don’t think Amir would be having a beer with anyone.
Baud
@Honus:
“I’m running for president of the United States.”
MattF
Ed Kilgore also makes the point about the ‘deep bench’ that wasn’t there. He puts the blame pretty squarely on Jeb!, which I sorta agree with.
But it’s also true that the R party just likes to make up stories that all, coincidentally, happen to have a happy ending for them. However, the world is what it is and not some other thing– the happy stories rarely survive contact with reality. Jeb!’s failures are just one more episode.
Baud
@magurakurin:
Sanders might get the superdelegates if he wins enough regular delegates, such that the superdelegates don’t won’t to be seen as going against the wishes of the party. There was a similar concern in 2008, which I think was overblown. But otherwise I agree with you.
Baud
@WereBear:
This.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Since we all need some cheering up, how about a report from the Hugo award ceremony?
Brief background: for reasons of butthurt crossed with fannish politics, former WND pundit Theodore Beale and friends/allies disrupted the nominating process for the awards. One of said allies tried to disrupt the convention by sending the Spokane police a letter claiming that the master of ceremonies for the awards was insane and a public danger.
The master of ceremonies was author and screenwriter David Gerrold, possibly best known outside of fandom for “The Trouble with Tribbles”.
(Thankfully, the police dropped the letter into the crank file.)
A delightful young man named Wesley Chu won the first major award of the night, the Campbell for best new writer. He promised a non-political speech, thanked people both humorously and seriously, stopped, and said, “I will get political. … A lot of people have thrown their hats into the ring, so I’m going to do that as well today. Therefore, I hereby declare my candidacy for your Republican nominee for the Presidency of the United States!”
When Gerrold took the podium back, he said, “If we’re going to get political, Mr. Trump, I want my tribble back!”
Chu later tweeted this photo of himself as a skilled presidential candidate at GRR Martin’s post-Hugo party.
(His part of the ceremony is at 1:57:40 in part 2 of the video archive.)
NonyNony
@Baud:
Not really. On paper this bench is as deep as any that the GOP has run in decades. Prior to Trump entering the race you had:
* 9 current or former multi-term governors
* 5 current or former US Senators
* 1 former Fortune 500 CEO
* 1 moderately famous doctor
Cut the two out of the bottom (and remove Santorum from the list of Senators, because he was a terrible Senator) and on paper that’s the strongest set of resumes that the GOP has had on that stage in a long, long time. It certainly looks like a deep bench.
The problem is that the press is unable to critically analyze anything political. So they can’t see that it’s a deep bench of shallow talent.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I think it’s a bit different with Bernie; he’s not a Democrat, Obama was/is.
ETA: I don’t think the super delegates would block his nomination if he was leading in the regular delegate count.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Oh, I agree. My comment was more theoretical.
BillinGlendaleCA
@NonyNony:
This.
I finally got my Linux on a Stick working in a dual boot with Win10. Something is funky(a technical term) with the network driver on the Linux side, this is why it took 3 fricking days.
Kay
@BillinGlendaleCA:
This was the lead in Cleveland, though:
Tamir Rice, civil rights, gun violence
BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay: And the only thing Joe and Mika noticed was the quote I referenced above. They said it was to distract from her e-mail problem.
Iowa Old Lady
@NonyNony: Maddow keeps saying the R bench is legitimately deep. I don’t understand it, but maybe she’s saying the same thing you are.
Kay
@BillinGlendaleCA:
It’s fine. That’s what people mean when they decry “horse race coverage”- the Cleveland paper goes on to do it in the last part of the piece, after the actual coverage of the event. She has to get past the “influencers” and go to these places.
I read that Joe said a couple of days ago that his ratings don’t matter that much since he reaches “influencers”, so you know, now that we finally have that on the table- it’s about narrative-setting- we can all proceed and try to get around them :)
Joel
@BillinGlendaleCA: Why do people watching Morning Joe? I’ve never seen anyone report a single positive thing from them. Maybe if everyone abstained, they would wither and die.
Immanentize
Deep bench? Creep stench.
debbie
@Kay:
Has Hillary said much about education? The Ohio Legislature’s refusal to hold charters as accountable as public schools for monkeying with attendance figures is maddening. This morning, I heard the committee chairman state they were intentionally moving slowly on an accountability bill because they wanted to make sure a future administration couldn’t come in and change the rules.
RK
Hillary compared the GOP candidates to terrorists. lol Is she taking notes from the wingnuts? Worst politician I’ve ever seen. She should campaign in mime.
danielx
There are, unfortunately, a great many people out there who yearn for those fabled days of yesteryear, and they’re not all old nor yet all male (hard though that may be to believe).
Then there are the ones who’d prefer to return to the 1850s instead of the 1950s.
Kay
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Kasich has his own email scandal, BTW. This is from today. The man who cooked the books on the ratings is the husband of Kasich’s national campaign manager. He came out of some Right wing think tank. Ohio has strong sunshine laws. At some point they will have to turn over the emails.
It won’t matter nationally because no one will ever hear about it but all the outrage over Clinton’s emails is funny from the Kasich For President crowd at Morning Joe.
gnomedad
FTFY.
PurpleGirl
@Amir Khalid: Amir, you provide a cogent and intelligent analysis of the situation. Wishing that you were a journalist here in the US and were able to write without the pressure from a corporate overlord to write to its pleasure.
Kay
@debbie:
She’s avoiding K-12 (IMO) because all the national Democrats will try to. She only talks about prek and college.
I don’t think she’ll be able to continue that here because the charter scandals are front page and have been all summer, but maybe more importantly, Youngstown. I just don’t think unilaterally seizing their public schools is going to fly in Youngstown. They will resist. They’re already suing.
This stuff is nuts. The group that secretly planned the takeover called themselves “the chamber” :)
tofubo
ahh, if we could only go back to the olden timey days, like the 1950’s where teh gays knew their place, the 1900’s where teh women knew their place, or the 1850’s where teh blacks knew their place
OzarkHillbilly
@RK: Well maybe if the GOP were to change their 13th century views of women, we wouldn’t have to make the comparison.
debbie
@Kay:
I know the Chamber of Commerce likes to call itself The Chamber in its political ads, but this seems more a branch of the Star Chamber.
boatboy_srq
Shorter GOTea base, rooting for Trump: “I’m through being polite, g0dd4mnit!”
Baud
@Kay:
She also won’t be able to continue because Common Core will likely be a big national issue in the election, no?
Bobby Thomson
@RK: the shoe fits, asswipe.
PurpleGirl
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Thank you for a bit of humor to (sort of) start the day.
NotMax
@Iowa Old Lady
Everyone seems to keep mispronouncing or misspelling it.
Derp bench.
Punchy
When does Monica Lewinsky make an appearance in this process? When do Trump’s supporters show up to Clinton rallies in blue dresses?
gene108
@WereBear:
I’d feel better, but so many racially charged murders – Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, etc – were all carried out by men under thirty at the time.
I do not think this the death throes. There are enough young racists around to be a problem for another generation.
There are enough to still muck things up for another generation.
PurpleGirl
@BillinGlendaleCA: I haven’t commented on the e-mail thing because, frankly, I haven’t followed the issue all that closely. But I have a friend whose most recent IBM position was in internet security. It is his contention that the issue should be the use of e-mail period for sending messages in an agency like the State Department. He doesn’t care whose server is used, he’s against using e-mail for anything that could contain official and sensitive information. (Note, he’s never been a fan of HRC or most Democrats.)
NotMax
@Punchy
Cue Mitch Ryder.
gene108
@Kay:
Problem with K-12 for politicians is since Sputnik there’s been a consensus that our schools are not good enough. Even though most people are satisfied with the local public school their kids attend.
Saying the kids are alright goes against more than two generations of political consensus.
ThresherK (GPad)
@Mustang Bobby: I am reminded of Mel Brooks’ line, “My movies rise below vulgarity.” That requires a certai intent and self-knowingness missing in this situation.
WaterGirl
@Mustang Bobby: Wish your dad happy birthday from a total stranger for me, okay? I have a real fondness for your parents after the photos you’ve posted and the stories you’ve told.
You are so lucky to still have your parents. I know you know this, but I just had to say it. Mine have been gone for 20 and 30 years respectively.
edit; forgot to say congrats on the play!
Belafon
@gene108: A poll from not too long ago showed that millenials held the same views of blacks as their parents. So, no, the racism isn’t going away when the old people die.
rk
They never had a “deep bench”. As usual they were being delusional, because they think quantity is better than quality.
What will emerge from a party which hates education, intellect, denies facts and worships money? What emerges from a cesspool of stupidity? Intellectual midgets (Bush, Walker, Rubio), Greedy, charlatans (Huckabee, Santorum), self hating mental deficients (Ben Carson-I don’t care if he’s a neurosurgeon, he’s certifiable) and fools (the rest of the field).
The only seemingly sane amongst them is Kasich and Pataki and that’s not saying much. I personally know people who’d make better presidents than this lot! Heck, my teenager and her girlfriends have more intelligence than this entire field put together.
Kay
@Baud:
I think the idea that Common Core will be a big national issue is nonsense. That idea is promoted completely by political people hoping to influence the GOP candidates. I would bet you 50 dollars that if I asked a random group of public school parents here “do they use Common Core standards in this school?” 75% of them would have no idea what was I was talking about. All Ohio public schools use the Common Core standards.
Obama doesn’t poll well on public education and hasn’t in years. He’s at about 30%. However. ALL of DC and national media are in agreement on some abstract idea of “public schools” for the lower and middle classes so he escapes any scrutiny on it. I don’t think Clinton will be able to glide past it the way he has, but not because the Tea Party opposes Common Core. She won’t be able to glide past it because Obama’s broader education approach, “market based and data driven” is increasingly unpopular. I predict she walks it back. She almost has to. Obama’s approach is so close to Jeb Bush’s that Democrats will have to draw some distinction.
rikyrah
uh huh
uh huh
Clinton quietly trying to discourage Biden from a 2016 bid
WASHINGTON — In ways both subtle and blunt, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign is sending a message to Vice President Joe Biden about his potential presidential campaign: This won’t be easy.
As Biden ponders a challenge to Clinton for the Democratic nomination, she has rolled out a string of high-profile endorsements in the early-voting contests of Iowa and South Carolina and scheduled an onslaught of fundraisers across the country in the effort to throw cold water on a possible Biden bid.
Donors who have publicly expressed support for a Biden run have been contacted by the Clinton team, according to donors and Democratic strategists who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the private conversations. Even Clinton herself has made a few calls, they said, to express her disappointment.
While Clinton and her team speak warmly of Biden in public, they have taken steps to show their dominance over the party’s establishment and President Barack Obama’s political infrastructure in hopes of quietly discouraging the vice president from entering the race.
The effort comes as Clinton and the Democratic field of candidates prepare to address members of the Democratic National Committee on Friday during their summer meeting in Minneapolis. The night before her formal address, Clinton made her case in private briefings to attendees. Meanwhile, representatives from a super PAC backing Biden plan to woo delegates in his absence.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/clinton-quietly-trying-to-discourage-biden-from-a-2016-bid/ar-BBmboAg?ocid=HPCDHP
Amir Khalid
Let’s all be clear about this: the Republican party has a crowded bench for the presidential nomination in 2016. Not a deep one.
Amir Khalid
@BillinGlendaleCA:
A Diet Coke, maybe.
Gin & Tonic
Since this is an open thread, and since I know the B-J readership includes many fans and admirers of the witty and perspicacious G.F. Will, I offer you, from one of my personal favorite blogs, Language Log, a truly brilliant takedown of the aforementioned Mr Will. Keep in mind that LL is a scholarly blog, very seldom given to political commentary of any sort (although not without a sense of humor.)
rikyrah
Because this is who they are:
John Michael Medina
@CcriderJohn
Louisiana: Lawmakers Refuse to Add More Working Poor to Medicaid http://nyti.ms/1OGxKhG
Gex
@gene108: agreed. We aren’t guaranteed that things will keep going forward. Not by any means.
Just look how this country reacted to 9/11. They are fighting because we are making some progress and they feel threatened. But laws about women are actually going backwards. Police get to kill unarmed black people with impunity. I don’t see death throes exactly.
GamerGate doesn’t make me think young men are that much better on gender. White millennials appear to be as racist as older whites – they’re just a different kind. They choose the “I don’t see color so I can’t see systemic racism” approach.
rikyrah
There’s a reason why I call it the Delusional World of Mad Men.
Kay
@gene108:
Frankly, the problem is they’re clueless. They should do less lecturing and more listening. All of them. Arne Duncan should stop quoting Tom Friedman and Frank Bruni and the woman who wrote “The Smartest Kids in the World” because he can’t base real life on these people.
I like Common Core math. Our schools were using a variation for the last 4 years, “Singapore math”- my kid flies with it- it’s all he knows. It is better. He has a better idea of the ideas behind what he’s doing and you can almost see him take that and apply it to the next level they introduce. It’s more difficult, so schools will need supports rather than another national scolding if it’s to be successful.
They push this stuff so hard they never stop long enough to listen to anyone outside this narrow little circle of “experts” who aren’t even real experts. They over-reach. They roll over people. They have to stop and reflect or they’ll have only themselves to blame when the baby goes out with the bathwater.
OzarkHillbilly
@Belafon:
Polls have been saying that since time began. And yet, some how, some way, progress is made.
Mark B.
I don’t think sports metaphors always apply to life, but here’s one. When you have four quarterbacks, you don’t have any. Similarly, when you have 17 candidates, you don’t have any. The field was so weak that a shallow snake oil salesman had no problem running away with it.
japa21
@RK: Except, of course she really didn’t compare them to terrorists, in fact, expressing the opinion that they aren’t terrorists.
Her point was that being anti women was exactly what you would expect from terrorists and those that want to go back to the middle ages. It is, in fact, because the GOP aren’t either of those (subject to debate) that it is surprising they are acting the way they are.
debbie
@Kay:
They also lie. You can’t believe how many people think Common Core requires endless hours of testing. Someone with a very loud voice and no connection to unions (unfortunately) needs to make this very, very clear to the public.
Amir Khalid
@Gin & Tonic:
This kind of blog entry at Language Log is more my speed. Where does that guy buy his cornflakes, anyway?
rikyrah
Can Hillary overcome the ‘liar’ factor?
A new approach to the email scandal may help, but pollsters see a long climb ahead.
By Steven Shepard
08/27/15, 07:56 PM EDT
Updated 08/27/15, 09:50 PM EDT
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/hillary-clinton-liar-factor-2016-213100#ixzz3k7IKtkFw
Frankensteinbeck
@Amir Khalid:
You live in Malaysia, correct? What’s going on with these t-shirts I’m seeing online?
Belafon
@OzarkHillbilly: Well, about 100 years ago, we did this backwards lurch that lasted for about 50 years. I’m not saying they can’t be overcome. I’m saying it’s not going away.
Amir Khalid
@Frankensteinbeck:
Which T-shirts?
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: I usually eat oatmeal, so I feel safe.
bystander
@Mustang Bobby: “…as TS Erika trumps through the Bahamas…”
Is this an episode of RuPaul?
Frankensteinbeck
@Belafon:
There was a backwards lurch around 1915? Just in race issues, you mean? I admit, race issues around that time are the weakest aspect of my knowledge of American history, but I have no idea what you’re talking about. What don’t I know?
Frankensteinbeck
@Amir Khalid:
I’m seeing something online about yellow t-shirts with what look like phone numbers on them (I can’t read the text) being banned. Maybe it’s not the big news it looks like.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
One thing I like about Trump’s run is that he’s starting to drive a big fat wedge between the Republican coalition that has been there for the driving for several election cycles now. The GOP donor class cares about cutting taxes on the rich and entitlements, including Social Security and Medicare, and “appearing” like serious grown ups on foreign policy. The GOP rank and file sort of prefer low taxes but so long as their middle class taxes don’t go up they don’t really mind higher taxes on the rich. And…they love Social Security and Medicare, good roads and other government benefits. They also love guns, hate abortion, want to give the rest of the world a big F you, and hate illegal immigrants and minorities.
So here comes Trump – he hates all the right people, is ready to give other nations a gratuitous F you, and also talks about raising taxes on the rich and strengthening Medicare and Social Security – and the Republican voters love it! He’s chiseling away the base from the donors. If that wedge gets driven deep enough those voters either peel off and look at the Democrats, who are with them on economic issues (taxes, entitlements) or stay home. Even that second option is a huge win because there aren’t enough folks among the wealthy donor class to win elections, no matter how much money they spend on propaganda. He really is rending the party in two.
TriassicSands
For a number of years now, I’ve been telling people that Alito has a legitimate claim on being the worst of the five radical right wingers on the SCOTUS. No, I’m not saying he is the worst, only that he can put up a real fight for that title (and he might win). And, if you want to know just how bad Alito is, along comes Bloody Billy Kristol, Sarah Palin’s champion, to tout Alito as a presidential candidate. Yep, wrong-about-absolutely-everything Kristol thinks Samuel Alito should run for president. No better endorsement for wretchedness exists.
Amir Khalid
@Frankensteinbeck:
@Amir Khalid:
Ah, the Bersih 4 T-shirts? Well, apparently there’s another Bersih (clean) protest demonstration in the works. Najib (who is in the most precarious position of any PM since Tunku Abdul Rahman after the May 13 race riots) is somewhat nervous about it, and has responded as one would expect.
Belafon
@rikyrah:
How many racists are going to vote for the candidate of a party that allowed a black man to become president TWICE? Especially if the candidate is a woman?
MattF
@Amir Khalid: Yeah, if I found a python in my cornflakes I’d probably coil up and hide.
ETA: Although that box looks kinda small.
boatboy_srq
@rikyrah: The problem with the polls (and yes I’ve been called by a couple) is that there’s neither a follow-up question that speaks to the “honest and trustworthy” responses nor any way to grade confidence from the one question that is asked. There’s no way to provide for “no, I don’t really trust her the way I trust [insert demonstrably trustworthy public figure here] – but that doesn’t bear on my choice because I trust every single GOTea pol far less.” It’s a yes/no/unresponsive question: no scale, no variable just up/down selection. Of course HRC is going to get bad numbers on that: for every responder who thinks she engineered Whitewater, offed Vince Foster and was behind Benghazi!!11!1! there’s another who isn’t happy that she voted for GW2. Under the circumstances it really isn’t an effective metric. For example, I trust Sanders more than HRC, but I’m not convinced he’d be as effective and I know he has a knack for p!ssing people off; but I wouldn’t trust any of the GOTea alternatives to tell me the sky is blue and water is wet, and not being entirely happy with HRCs record isn’t going to make me consider a Rethuglican alternative November-after-next.
bystander
Jonathan Karl reported today that a potential new scandal from the emails “may” harm her campaign. Email has been found from Bill Clinton requesting clearance to address some joint meeting of a couple of African nations. His speaking fee was to be $650,000 (I wish I could make the figure pulsate), and (now in tiny font) and it was to be donated to the Clinton Foundation, and not personally to him. These African nations were reported to among the worst human rights abusers in the world, according to Karl. None of the speeches was ever given.
Want to bet this story gets held up as another example of what a liar HRC is when the truth is the exact opposite? Dan whatshisname underscored that none of the speeches were given.
Bobby Thomson
@Frankensteinbeck: Woodrow Wilson was a flat out racist and purged the executive branch of non-white employees, among other actions that set black Americans back decades. He and Jackson are possibly the worst Democratic presidents on race issues.
Patrick
@bystander:
Goodness – Benghazi didn’t work, so now the media is trying the email story. They are pathetic in their grasping for straws…
Speaking of human rights abuses, what exactly does Jonathan Karl think Gitmo and torture is?
Amir Khalid
@bystander:
Bill asks permission to give a speech. Permission is denied. End of story. Like you, I see no real scandal here. Do the emails say that Hillary herself nixed the speech? If so, I suppose the scandalmongers could go after her for staying in the loop on a decision involving Bill.
Mustang Bobby
@WaterGirl: Thank you on both counts.
Redshift
@rikyrah: Not that I trust Politico, but one of the most annoying aspects of the email non-scandal had been that even though the GOP openly said that their main attack on Hillary would be on her “trustworthiness,” the press has dutifully produced a stream of stories about how this seems suspicious, even as the suspicions repeatedly fail to pan out.
Why, it’s almost as if they choose that line of attack not because it’s the press’ weakness, not hers. They knew that Clinton Rules would demand that the press report that “if there’s smoke, there must be fire,” and they’re really good at creating smoke.
shell
Wouldnt put it past them. The GOP, always known for their classiness. Remember people wearing those Purple Heart bandaids at the Republican convention, to mock Kerry?
Punchy
That bitch in KY that wont offer marriage certs just closed her office on the grounds of “computer upgrades”. Wouldn’t that be something that would be traceable (work orders, money spent on new software, etc.)? I’m willing to be my best greyhound that she’s completely full of shit; if so, wouldn’t such a lie (and free paid day off of work for
her extended family/colleagues) institue a impeachable offense?Uncle Cosmo
@Mark B.: To extend the sports metaphor–
The problem with the GOP’s “deep bench” is where they sunk it on concrete pylons. What they thought was the home-team dugout is in fact an uncovered & brimfull septic tank.
Chris
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
I really hope this is true. I’d love to see Republicans go through a 1912 or 1968 style disintegration.
catclub
@Iowa Old Lady: I think the interesting thing about the GOP race is how many ( and which ones) have lots of money. besides Bush, there is Cruz, Kasich!?, and Carson, and Rubio. In contrast Perry seems already out of funds, also Jindal shows no signs of having any money, I think Santorum and Huckabee are also nearly broke. No idea about Fiorina, except we know she has about $200M fewer to spend after her previous Senate ‘campaign’.
In 2012 only Romney had money to keep going. And could aim his money at whoever popped up as the leader of the week.
Mark B.
@Punchy: Refusing to to the job you’re legally required to do as a public servant should be more than just a firing offense. She’s taking away the civil rights of citizens she’s required by law to serve. She should go to jail.
Tripod
Bench depth and what wing of the party they represent just doesn’t matter.
The southern strategy chickens are coming home to roost. No matter how motivated the GOP’s modern collection of know-nothing, white supremacist, glibertarian and greedhead voters are, there just aren’t enough of them to get over the hump.
Uncle Cosmo
@Mustang Bobby:
Happy birthday to your dad. Wishing both of them long and mentally active lives.
A note to all: If at the end of long & full lives your parents are relatively functional & aware mentally, don’t be sad–be grateful. We lost Mom a week ago Sunday in her 103rd year; she lived alone in the house we grew up in–cooking, cleaning, gardening–until she was 94 (the last 9 years after Dad had passed away). But after that came a long & anguishing descent into dementia that I came to call The Long Goodbye. We did the best we could for her but it wasn’t nearly good enough. Nothing short of a miracle could have been.
No one should have to go through that–neither the parents nor the families–but too many do.
lgerard
@catclub:
Kasich has been bombarding NH with ads for the last month. I wonder who is paying for these.
sukabi
So here’s my question: What does it say about the deep GOP bench that none of them have managed to outperform a guy who has no comparative political advantage except celebrity and a willingness to insult anyone who crosses his path?
?hmmm what does it say about the ¡so called journalists, media figures who have breathlessly propped up, polished up, and covered up the unspeakable mess that is the current state of the GOP?
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Chris: Me too, and I think it might happen. I mean, suppose Trump holds on to his plurality…Jeb?, Walker or Kasich comes in second but the GOP establishment strong arms all the delegates won by the other also rans into supporting him – or at least attempts to do so. Do you see the Trumpheads taking that lying down?
J R in WV
I do remember Republicans dissing Kerry for being a hero approved by the Navy brass, wounded in action, silver star, the second highest military honor the nation awards.
They also lied about and scorned the heroism of Senator(D-GA) Max Cleland who became a triple amputee in his military career, and Tammy Duckworth, who lost both legs while flying an attack helicopter in the Army in Afganistan, in combat.
While “Shrub” Bush evaded military service in the TX Air National Guard, and then deserted his not-very-arduous service in that fine organization. And “Darth” Cheney had “other things to do” along with every other Republican candidate with any approval in the polls at all.
Lying cowardly would-be patriarchal terrorists, all of the R’s.
pluege
The bench metaphor is wrong.
A team has 5, 9, 11, whatever players on the court/field. Every player on the court/field has a DIFFERENT ROLE to contribute to victory. A team with a good bench has 1 or 2 players as backup for EACH POSITION.
Using the bench metaphor, what the republicans have is 1 player on the field and 16 on the bench all to cover the same one position.
The Republic of Stupidity
And what about that head of hair?
What other candidate has a comatose ferret living on top his, or her, head?
NotMax
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
All 6 such delegates?
EBT
Garbage in, garbage out.
The problem isn’t America, it’s us Americans.
jl
No time to read all the comments, so apologies of others have said:
It is not a comment on the individuals in the field so much as a comment on the ideology of the GOP that these individuals must agree with in order to compete in the primary process. It is the ideology of dishonest con game, Trump is exploiting the intersection of the con game, the psychology of how the con game works, and the failure of the con to produce any benefit for the mass of society. Even political geniuses would have a hard time playing the game, and none of the GOP candidates are near that level of competence.
FortGeek
Voldemort wants Florida to PANIC PANIC PANIC…over a tropical storm.
Imagine his reaction to an actual cat-3 hurricane…I don’t even move my lawn furniture for a TS.
And seriously–“the entire state”, when it’s expected to run up the Atlantic coast, where it’ll be severely weakened by being over land?
Local paper’s not helping, saying the storm’s going to “barrel” into Florida. Sheesh.
Calouste
@rk: So the GOP have 17 candidates:
– 3 of them have never held office (Smurf, Carson, Fiorina)
– 5 of them last held office at least 8 years ago (Bush, Santorum, Huckabee, Gilmore, Pataki)
– 2 of them have run in the grand total of 1 election (Cruz and Paul)
So we have 7 that actually have some kind of decent, current resume for the position, Christie, Graham, Jindal, Kasich, Perry, Rubio and Walker. Of those, Jindal, Perry, Rubio and Walker made fools of themselves on national TV, Christie is a blowhard that only plays well in his own state and Graham has some things in the closet. Which leaves Kasich,
Heliopause
Has anybody commented yet on how Huffpost/Pollster just listed a poll with Trump at 40%?
RaflW
What does it say about the deep GOP bench?
It says that the pundits watching the race are at least as shallow, if not more so, than the puddle-deep GOP bench.
Drezner says it is fair to say the current crop (sans Trump) are deep and experienced. Really?
Let’s look at how terribly the 9 sitting and former governors have done, shall we? Jindal is an ongoing disaster. Jeb. presided over a bubble that collapsed shortly after he wandered off. Perry? One word: Oops. Christie? Bridge scandal + general bully asholery. Claiming that Arkansas is a major state is laughable, as is Huck’s turn towards demented paranoia. Pataki seems like he stepped out of cryo-storage. And Walker, well he’s notorious. But he’s also getting fingered by GOP-leaners as a blatant crony capitalist. I suppose Kasich hasn’t been a complete f*kup.
So yeah, Dan. Great analysis about how nine current and former “large state” governors are making a deep bench. #haha
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@NotMax: I guess it depends on how many States opt to have proportional delegates rather than winner take all. If most States use proportional delegation then there could potentially be a large number of delegates for not-Trump and not-Trump-runner-up. Those delegates are in play to be assigned from the people they’re bound to vote for to either Trump or not-Trump. If everyone goes winner take all then Trump or someone else may run away with most of the delegates from the get go.
RaflW
@FortGeek: Just wait till the storm “rampages” and unleashes “angry” squalls of rain, etc. Anthropomorphizing storms is a TV news producer favorite. And it drives me nuts. I suppose it gives the storm some relevance, but it also way oversells things, so that when an actual Cat 3 shows up, people just think “Meh, the last hurricane to rampage it’s angry self thru town did nothing. Who cares?” and then they fail to prepare, since the ratings game requires Defcon 3 for all weather worse than passing showers.
NotMax
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
From mid-March on, on the R side it’s winner takes all (as decreed this cycle).
Another Holocene Human
@magurakurin: Mika was never a sex kitten. You’re thinking of Annie Sprinkle or something.
Another Holocene Human
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Theo Beale called the cops on David Gerrold, so to speak?
What the fuck!
rikyrah
@Kay:
THANKS for this Kay. you keep us kept abreast of Ohio happenings.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@NotMax: Boy they may come to regret that choice.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay:
What I see in places like Facebook meme chum is 50-year-old complaints about New Math, with the phrase “New Math” search-and-replaced with “Common Core”.
And it does seem to strike a nerve, I think because of two things. One is, of course, that every genuinely crappy worksheet pooped out by Pearson Publishing gets identified with “Common Core”.
And another is that even when the curriculum is properly built to the standards and well-taught, a lot of parents are just not very comfortable with mathematics themselves, and all they know how to do is mechanically execute the algorithms they themselves were taught as children. If their kids bring home something that isn’t written to that, they freeze up, and take it as a threat to their own parental authority. Common Core is telling my kid I’m stupid.
coin operated
@gene108:
Thank you. I’ve been saying this for some time now. There are sections of Oregon east of PDX and EUG where the youth are as redneck as anyone from Arkansas.
RK
@japa21:
Oh please. If a Repub had said what she did there’d be howling and rightfully so. This is the hypocrisy that male people sick.