Clinton: R's say oh, they don't know what I did as Secretary of State. So I sent each a copy of "Hard Choices.'' They can have a book club
— Trip Gabriel (@tripgabriel) October 6, 2015
Kinda brilliant, actually — like the catchphrase, I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you. As Time reports:
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday she sent a copy of her 2014 book “Hard Choices” to all of her Republican rivals, saying she’s responding to their critiques about her record.
“You know, I hear the Republicans talking from time to time in their debates and elsewhere and they say things like, ‘Oh, I don’t know what she accomplished as Secretary of State. She didn’t accomplish anything,’” she said at Strawberry Farm Bed and Breakfast in that for a while. And then I thought maybe they just don’t know, so I have now sent each of them a copy of my book, Hard Choices, about what we did during those four years.”
“There are so many of them they could start a book club,” she joked…
“If they want to know how to put together a coalition that imposes international sanctions on a country like Iran, they can read about it, because that’s what I did,” she said. “Or maybe they’re interested in how you negotiate a ceasefire on behalf of Israel when Hamas rockets are raining down on Israel and you have to do it with the Muslim Brotherhood president in Cairo of Egypt who supports Hamas. Or maybe they want to know how to get a blind dissident out of China when the Chinese government is mad because you let them go into the embassy in the first place. Or what to do about Internet freedom or anything else.”…
Best part of this: Jim Gilmore did not get a book. https://t.co/hOXLTZMHec
— Dan Merica (@danmericaCNN) October 6, 2015
Also, too:
Morzer
Well, it’s a bit better than just bumbling from one punch to another, but I think those ads need more edge to them. Hammer home the “lying to the American people” and “wasting your tax dollars” arguments more strongly and you’ve got something. Right now there’s a bit too much “Republicans were mean to innocent Hillary” in the counter-attack and I wouldn’t waste time explaining what a gaffe is either.
Betty Cracker
Just catching up on the news since I can’t sleep. Worrisome shit in Afghanistan. And I hope John Kerry’s “no-fly zone” talk about Syria is just a bluff.
raven
El Porto looking toward Malibu.
SectionH
Could we just get Andy Borowitz to take over all the Democratic PR from now until… next May? or November?
I mean, damn.
.
EconWatcher
Kasich seems to be plummeting in New Hampshire. Unless there was something wrong with the most recent poll, he’s probably toast.
Which surprises me, because Kasich is clearly their best play, and they usually seem to end up with their best play as nominee (after humiliating and damaging him during the primaries with the required obeisance to the lunatic fringe).
If Kasich’s out, Rubio will probably be the nominee. (Jeb! is by now just a punchline.) If they do that, I think it’s going to be Rick Lazio all over again.
I am of course one of the notorious Hillary skeptics on this site, and I’m not very impressed with her accomplishments– but compared to Rubio? What exactly has he ever done? He reminds me of a Republican John Edwards (“I was born a mill worker’s son”) with his constant references to his humble beginnings. That’s nice color, but you can’t base a whole campaign on it.
If it’s Rubio, this will be a whupping. They’d have at least a chance with Kasich (Kasich/Rubio would actually be a strong combo).
raven
Me at Huntington Beach.
Birds at Dana Point
Morzer
@EconWatcher:
Rubio always looks like a boy who borrowed his older brother’s suit in order to get served at the bar.
BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: Is that the Santa Monicas in the background of the pic from Huntington Beach?
Nope, more likely Catalina. I was thinking a South Bay beach. (Hangs head in shame for CA geography fail).
raven
@BillinGlendaleCA: Catalina. We were able to sneak in a little beach time between family events! When I saw you post Sunday morning that said it was raining we looked out the motel window and, sure enough, rain at Laguna.
Morzer
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I must say, raven has more grey and white feathers than I had anticipated. Still, he does look very dapper as he stands looking out over the ocean.
SectionH
@Morzer: Rubio? He’s slimey. I mean Ewww. No, srsly.
Amir Khalid
@EconWatcher:
When a bear is chasing you and your friend, you need not outrun the bear; you need only outrun your friend.
As far as relevant personal accomplishment is concerned, I reckon that Hillary can outrun any Republican candidate. And, truth be told, I reckon the same of her compared to Bernie, her only real Democratic rival.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Morzer: A bit smaller than I’d thought he’d be as well.
Morzer
@SectionH:
Wait until you see his dynamically scored tax cuts for the wealthy plan.
Morzer
@BillinGlendaleCA:
He has.. spiritual … stature.
MattF
@EconWatcher: My guess is that 1) the money people are uneasy with Kasich, and 2) positioning himself as the ‘moderate’ is poison with the Republican primary voters. Bear in mind that the primary voters are opting for Trump, Carson, and Fiorina– asshole, lunatic, and liar, respectively.
Patricia Kayden
@Amir Khalid: Yep. The White House is hers to lose.
BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: I may hike the Verdugos tomorrow, I can(on a clear day) see Catalina from there as well. I debating on which route to take, the short and brutal trail or the longer fire road that I’ve taken before.
ETA: A mild Santa Ana is setting up, so the view should be clear, if a bit on the warm side. At least it’s cooling at night.
satby
@raven: Nice! You always take good pictures, now we know your bride does too? Is that who took the one of you swimming?
satby
@MattF:
I’m so quoting you on that! Perfect summary of them.
SectionH
@Morzer: Rubio’s or Ravens? I’ve been losing track.
Mustang Bobby
Fun fact: Trip Gabriel (see opening Tweet of this post) and I shared a house in Santa Fe in 1977-1978 when we worked as lift operators at the Santa Fe Ski Basin. Pay was okay and we got to ski for free on our days off.
Morzer
@SectionH:
No, no:
Rubio is the weasel with a dynamically scored tax plan.
raven is the dynamo who always scores according to plan.
Jeffro
@EconWatcher:
Rubio spent X number of years as a state rep in FL, I believe, and then went on to serve in the US Senate. That sounds an awful lot like someone else’s resume…hmm…I can’t think of the guy’s name but think he has an Oval. Office. Rs I know are already pointing this out now that they’ve decided it is a plus and not a minus because their guy that’s why.
It will be no such thing. The R candidate starts out with a floor in the mid 40% running on a platform of tire rims and anthrax, right? Rubio covers all of their bases (religious right, big business, Tea Party, and neocon) internally and possibly expands the R share of Hispanics and/or younger voters. Rubio/Kaisch would be a strong ticket for them, probably stronger than the other way around. And there are plenty of other good (good for the GOP, not America, lol) choices for VP to make the ticket even more appealing.
With Walker out of the way and Bush so loathed, Rubio’s pretty easily the establishment choice at this point.
Mustang Bobby
@raven: Wow, that’s really beautiful.
But I thought you were taller.
Mustang Bobby
@Jeffro: It will be interesting to see what oppo research they pull out on Rubio from his term in the Florida legislature. There’s enough there — way beyond what the New York Times dabbled in a couple of months ago — to munch on, including improper use of the state Republican party’s Amex card and questionable dealings with another disgraced pol, David Rivera.
MattF
@Jeffro: I don’t know how well Rubio would do against Clinton, but the comparison with Obama is a mistake. People look at how Obama ‘easily’ beat establishment candidates from both parties– and then think “Well, if he can do it, why can’t I?” The concept that Obama’s ‘way smarter and ‘way more talented than anyone he faced doesn’t seem to register. One can wonder why that happens so often…
EconWatcher
@MattF:
I agree, but I see this as two races: The loud, sideshow race (Trump, Fiorina, Carson, Cruz) and the establishment race (Jeb, Rubio, Kasich).
I’m not surprised Kasich isn’t doing well against the sideshow. I’m surprised he isn’t doing better in the establishment race.
True, Kasich hasn’t been kowtowing the way Mitt did, but he has a great argument there: How did that work out for you?
EconWatcher
@Jeffro:
I think Kasich/Rubio would be a viable and possibly strong ticket, but I don’t think Rubio/Kasich is even a possible ticket.
Rubio looks callow. He’d look even more so with Kasich as his number two. And I can’t imagine Kasich agreeing to it.
raven
@satby: That is actually what is known as “body surfing” and, yes, after years of her trying she finally actually got one with me IN a wave!
raven
@BillinGlendaleCA: You could see Catalina from the San Vincente Lighthouse on PV too.
Elizabelle
@EconWatcher: I feel very nervous about hearing such nice things about Kasich on a prominent blog. We’re safer with the clown car. Long, long time before anyone casts a vote.
MomSense
There is a slow burning landfill fire near early Cold War era nuclear waste in St. Louis. Just 1,200 feet separate the two. Can we start caring more about our sorry infrastructure now?
FlipYrWhig
If Rubio ends up in the #1 spot, which I would still find surprising, I’d guess that the party would try to do a Clinton-Gore strategy of doubling down on youthful energy and pick someone like Jodi Ernst for the #2 spot.
SectionH
@Morzer: Thank you! I know who Raven is. Checking is always better though.
Jeffro
@MattF: It’s the comparison they (Rs) are making…I’m not defending it, and Rubio is nowhere in Obama’s league. But some of them may well see him as their Obama: unite the party, give it a fresh/younger/ethnic face, etc etc.
@EconWatcher:
That’s ’cause you’re looking at it like a progressive – Rubio/Kaisch is quite possible. Kaisch’s numbers are low and so is his PAC support. He also doesn’t pass the GOP’s unofficial hate tests – he’s not harsh on immigrants, gays, Medicaid recipients. Kaisch most certainly would agree to it…it’s not like he has a shot at the top of the ticket, so it’s VP or nothing for him.
OzarkHillbilly
So… You just spent 150 grand on an education you could have gotten for $1.50 in late fees at the public library. How’s that working out for you?
Harvard’s prestigious debate team loses to New York prison inmates
Randy P
@Morzer:
I’m hearing the theme from “Shaft” under that.
BGinCHI
Did Baud get a book??
SectionH
@OzarkHillbilly: Oh come on, it’s not what you know…
Morzer
@Randy P:
He’s a complicated man
BillinGlendaleCA
@MomSense: Nope, too expensive. [/GOP]
OzarkHillbilly
@SectionH: What, you don’t appreciate the irony of locking up our best and brightest while giving the coddled trust fund babies a golden first class ticket to Shangri-la?
Raven
@Morzer: shut yo mouth!
Morzer
@Raven:
But I’m talkin’ about Shaft
Raven
So a block away from the bakery Lil Bit starts limping Ike mad. There are little nuts that fall from trees in one of the fields we cross and they get between her little paws sometimes. All I can find is a big hunk of gum so we’re going to wait for the other half of the team to go get the car so we can drive the Angel home!
amk
Is she padding her resume again?
Elizabelle
@OzarkHillbilly:
The inmates have already beaten teams from West Point and the U. Vermont. They are now annual rivals of West Point.
I smell a movie coming. Good Will Lockdown?
Morzer
@Elizabelle:
The Shawshank Rebuttal
Iowa Old Lady
@Elizabelle: It’s less than four months to the caucuses. It feels to me like things are getting serious now.
But then, Santorum is still in the race, so how serious can they be?
NorthLeft12
Kudos to Charles Pierce for the headline of the decade;
Please Punch This Man in the Dick
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a38615/bobby-jindal-punch-dick/
And the beauty of it is that after using it for the execrable B. Jindal, it could be used for the next worst Repub presidential candidate. And so on.
Disclaimer: Hopefully, no one physically punches Mr. Jindal and understands that this is hyperbole only. It’s the thought that counts.
OzarkHillbilly
@Elizabelle: @Morzer: Heh.
AxelFoley
@MattF:
Spot on.
mclaren
LOL! Hillary is now trolling the Repub candidates.
Between HRC and Trump, this could develop into real Three Stooges shtick.
TRUMP: “Take the Republican candidates…please!”
HRC: “Why is it a great idea to bury the Repub candidates in a 30-foot hole? Because deep down, they’re all good guys.”
TRUMP: “The Bush family tree is a cactus, because everyone on it is a prick.”
HRC: “The Republican candidates are such a disaster than when the bus dropped them off for the debate they got fined for littering.”
TRUMP: “We all sprang from apes, but Bobby Jindal, not far enough.”
HRC:”When Jeb Bush was born the doctor said `What a treasure!’ and Barbara Bush said, `Yeah, let’s bury him.'”
TRUMP: “Marco Rubio’s parents wanted to hire someone to take care of him, but the mafia wanted too much for the hit.”
HRC: “When Jeb was born, the police arrested his dad, the doctor slapped his mom, animal control euthanized his brother, and David Attenborough made a documentary that saved his life.”
NorthLeft12
@amk:
Ha! Good one. Never mind if the claim is……you know….true, eh?
MattF
@NorthLeft12: I don’t often get taken aback by what comes out of the current crop of Republican candidates, but Jindal did it with that remark. Just. Awful.
Cervantes
@MomSense:
2013:
2014:
2015:
NorthLeft12
@Elizabelle: Kudos to the prison for doing what they are supposed to be doing; rehabilitate.
The unfortunate part of this is that for many of the inmates, prison will be their best chance for education and resulting advancement in the legal economy.
mclaren
@Cervantes:
2015:
Morzer
@amk:
It would be pretty surprising if her State Department had not, in fact, done most of the legwork and organization for the deal. You can certainly argue that she wasn’t solely responsible, but that would be a fairly minor point against her claim.
Cervantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
The program they’re in is run by Bard.
Consider supporting it directly.
OzarkHillbilly
@NorthLeft12: Well, I am hopeful. But then, I am also an a$$hole.
debbie
John McCain was interviewed on NPR this morning. He of course is pushing for a permanent presence in Afghanistan (“We do it in South Korea, Germany,…”). He also of course blames Obama for the current chaos.
McCain insisted the surge worked and was working up until Obama ordered troops to be drawn down. He warned of conflicts starting up again and spreading to Iraq, and he reminded us that 9/11 came from Iraq.
The interview ended with the attack on MSF. it was basically “stuff happens,” but it ended with McCain’s scoffing that anyone would expect there to be accuracy in warfare.
Elizabelle
@Morzer: For the win!
@Iowa Old Lady: Speaking for myself: I was not paying that much attention to the 2008 race at this point in 2007. It was background noise.
That year, during Christmas week, I found myself on JetBlue, in flip flops, flying over snowy white Iowa 30,000 feet below, while en route to a vacay in California, and realized I really wanted to be down there, walking and working for Barack Obama. Even more than I wanted to go see sand and surf and mountains and my friends. It was an epiphany.
And I hadn’t really paid that much attention to him, personally. I’d seen C-Span of a Michelle Obama speech at a library, and she reeled me in subconsciously.
Getting back to the East Coast, I volunteered for him in several early states in 2008. Best part of that year.
Bobby Thomson
I’m sure all the people clamoring to build a wall will be pleased to vote for a Cuban-American whose parents weren’t born here.
Elizabelle
@NorthLeft12: Malcolm X used prison as his university. It can absolutely be done.
OzarkHillbilly
@Cervantes: I find that to be the best part of the story. Small college professor who probably makes a fifth of what his opposite does and surely is not properly compensated for the work he does with these inmates (free?) coaches his students into a kick a$$ debate team. Pretty sure the college doesn’t have a trillion dollar endowment fund either.
Bobby Thomson
@debbie:
1. Walnuts misspelled Saudi Arabia.
2. War is never accurate. That’s why sane people avoid it.
Peale
@debbie: when you think about it, the parallels between the Korean War and Afghanistan are uncanny. It’s Lincoln having a secretary named Kennedy kind of creepy.
amk
@NorthLeft12: @Morzer:
Sanctions were in place long before she came into the scene and are in still place long after she has left the scene. She makes out sound like she was the sole architect of the sanctions.
Morzer
@amk:
You do realize that the level and maintenance of the sanctions has been an ongoing debate for some years? It’s not as if the situation has remained static. Clinton can make a decent case that her State Department did manage the coalition of states that imposed sanctions pretty effectively. I think on this one she’s reasonably accurate.
MomSense
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Isn’t this just the way a superpower goes down? We will start massive wars on the other side of the planet based on bogus WMD and nuclear claims, sacrifice thousands of lives, and spend trillions of dollars. Meanwhile a neglected dump fire may cause a massive “dirty bomb” to take out one of our major cities.
Way to go GOP.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@EconWatcher:
Dunno. Does Rubio have the “go for the jugular” fight in him that Republicans seem to need to win the nomination? Remember how W knifed St. McCain in SC? He doesn’t strike me as someone who does. Plus, when the nation is reminded of his problems with credit cards and the like, it’s hard for me to see him winning.
But he might. As you say, Jeb? seems to be done, and the party really wants to win FL and apparently can’t without someone from there. (Not that they can with Jeb? or Rubio either, but…)
We shouldn’t discount Cruz. He’s from a big state, he says the “right things” for the Teabaggers, he’s willing to “fight for them”, he can raise lots of money, and he’s mean. And, of course, he would be a disaster for the nation, so he gets extra bonus points via Cleek’s Law.
:-/
I can’t see the 15 dwarves simply rolling over and letting Rubio win. I expect it will get much uglier before their convention.
Cheers,
Scott.
MomSense
@Raven:
Right on.
Cervantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
Kenner is not on the Bard faculty. He’s an alumnus, the founder of the program, and technically a college administrator. He was a full-time fellow at Harvard last year.
The program is funded via private grants.
Bard’s endowment is on the order of a quarter of a billion dollars. (For comparison: Harvard’s is a hundred and forty times that.)
Peale
@amk: she got other countries to strengthen their sanctions. Iran does have economic partners.
Cervantes
@debbie:
He would know.
Elizabelle
NY Times today: Friends of the S.S. United States Send Out a Last S.O.S.
I hope they can save this once spectacular oceanliner for creative reuse.
The Queen Mary in Long Beach was adapted to serve as hotel/museum/restaurants and bars/venue for musical and cultural events, and a wonderful addition to the shoreline. Not sure how lucrative it is, but the QM gives Long Beach even more of a sense of place now. (Spooky place; they’ve got their Halloween program running.)
[Ship’s currently berthed in Philadelphia at $60K a month; Conservancy needs to decide its fate by October 31.]
I think it would be cool to see a new economy and community arise, nurtured amid top of the line technology of the early 1950s. This oceanliner was the fastest of her day; her four propellers were classified top secret. But could not outrun passenger jets.
The liner’s fittings were auctioned off years ago; she’s got a little tree growing from her promenade, but she could be a marvelous addition to the NYC skyline.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly:
Rikki Don’t Lose That Number
Cervantes
@MomSense:
Those statements from the EPA asking for more time — they’re from 2013 and 2014 …
amk
@Morzer:
Her claim is how she “put together” an already existing coalition and sanctions and not how she sustained both and hence my view it’s a bs padding her resume.
Morzer
@amk:
I don’t see that you’ve come close to making that case. Sorry, but you sound as if you are just trying to throw mud and see if you can get it to stick.
amk
@Peale:
Sure, that she did.
OzarkHillbilly
@Cervantes: There’s more going on up there than just the landfill: Coldwater Creek Facts
More radioactive material found along Coldwater Creek
There is new evidence of radioactive contamination near Coldwater Creek in north St. Louis County where hundreds of cases of cancer have been reported in geographic clusters along the creek.
St Louis has long been dealing with this country’s cold war legacy.
ps: my older brother lives near coldwater creek tho not on it. just keeping my fingers crossed.
amk
@Morzer:
It’s her words I am throwing back, not mud. ymmv.
MomSense
@Cervantes:
The point is that the nuclear waste dumps have been on the superfund list for decades. EPA can’t get the funding they need to deal with these sites.
Cervantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
That’s a good point. Thanks.
OzarkHillbilly
@Cervantes: Thanx for expanding. Good to know.
Morzer
@amk:
No, it’s your mud based on a tendentious interpretation of her words.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Damn. The things I learn here. Even Steely Dan has a Bard College connection.
debbie
@EconWatcher:
Kasich’s diminishing numbers are inevitable and show his real lack of political acumen. Focusing solely on New Hampshire only for this result:
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/kasich-dismisses-low-polling-nh-opens-door-iowa-n439506
Ha! If there’s any justice, he’ll be at the kiddie’s table at the next debate.
Morzer
@debbie:
He can chat to Snarly Fakerina in the elevator on the way down.
waspuppet
Wait – you mean Democrats are going to mention a Republican fckup more than once?
SO UNFAIR
FourTen
H send them copies of her book, half the GOP field’s poll number grow when they begin to brag of their staunch illiteracy in the face of those elitist ‘readers’
…I meant that as a joke, why doesn’t that sound so far fetched?
amk
@Morzer:
whatever floats your boat.
Cervantes
@amk:
@Morzer:
Here’s an analysis of the claim; it does not mention Hillary Clinton.
I’m not endorsing the analysis — but maybe it helps.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone :)
rikyrah
ICYMI
Misty Copeland Performs With Yo-Yo Ma
https://youtu.be/5a4NPZamnZU
rikyrah
I think this is outrageous
Large pension fund files plan to cut retiree benefits under new law
Nearly 300,000 former truckers and their families would suffer significant losses under a proposal that uses a controversial new law to cut once sacrosanct pension benefits.
The huge Central States Pension Fund, which administers retirement benefits for some former and current Teamster truckers, said the reductions are the only way to save the plan from insolvency.
“A realistic rescue plan is needed now,” said Thomas C. Nyhan, executive director of the Central States Pension Fund. “The longer we wait to act, the larger the benefit reductions will have to be.”
Under the proposal, pensions for Central States’ 407,000 participants would be cut by an average of nearly 23 percent. But the pain would be distributed unevenly. Some participants, including the disabled, would not be subject to reductions. Older retirees would generally receive smaller cuts, while those who worked for defunct companies that did not keep pace with their pension funding obligations would face steeper reductions.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/retirement/large-pension-fund-files-plan-to-cut-retiree-benefits-under-new-law/ar-AAfbeQN?li=AAa0dzB&ocid=HPCDHP
Steeplejack
@raven:
Funny, I never took you for a seagull, what with your nym and all.
rikyrah
Check the headline for this….
Uh huh
Uh huh
Obama’s tantrums won’t end gun violence
The Washington Post
Michael Gerson
Following the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College, a “smoldering” (as one commentator put it) President Obama gave a revealing speech — a clarification, a culmination, of much that had come before. “[W]hat’s become routine,” he said, “of course, is the response of those who oppose any kind of common-sense gun legislation. Right now, I can imagine the press releases being cranked out: ‘We need more guns,’ they’ll argue. . . . Does anybody really believe that?” “This is a political choice we make,” he claimed, “to allow this to happen every few months in America.”
The president’s frustration, after delivering a sad series of similar speeches, is understandable. But his argument is still indefensible.
Even if you support “common-sense gun legislation” (as I do), there was nothing in Obama’s speech that effectively argued for it. No policy proposals or serious justifications. No one listening to the speech would be persuaded to take a position he or she did not already hold. Obama was saying, in essence, that it is obvious what we should do about mass gun violence, that evil people are blocking it, and that they have innocent blood on their hands.
This is apparently what some liberals think when anger releases them from civility and rationality. Obama speaks as if the gun laws he wants passed would put an end to these killings — a position for which there is no evidence. I believe that more thorough background checks and further restrictions on the type and firepower of weapons, along with improved health services for the severely mentally ill, would be good for our society, apart from mass killings. I hope that, in the long term, this system might, just might, intervene before a prospective mass killer strikes (though such causality would be very hard to demonstrate). But I have no basis for the calumny that people who disagree with me are choosing to allow mass murder.
This is the politics of moral posturing, not an argument rooted in social science. With his last election behind him, Obama is free to be Obama. And it appears that he is, deep down, a liberal commentator of the MSNBC variety — perhaps providing a preview of his post-presidency. The only apparent purpose of his gun speech was to incite the faithful by expressing a seething arrogance.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/obama%e2%80%99s-tantrums-won%e2%80%99t-end-gun-violence/ar-AAf8Szn?li=AAa0dzB&ocid=HPCDHP
Patrick
@debbie:
George W Bush had signed an agreement with Iraq, which ordered the US troops to be drawn down. Obama was simply honoring the agreement as any respectable, civilized nation should.
It is really funny; McCain is criticizing the deal with Iran because he doesn’t think Iran will honor it. Then how the heck would Iran be ANY different than John McCain himself?
Steeplejack
@Morzer:
I know, right? Live and learn.
Patrick
@rikyrah:
Of course there is evidence. Why is there more gun violence in the US than in any other western democratic country?
amk
@Cervantes:
Sure, I agree Obama also padded his speech a bit and it was rightly parsed. Hillary and her supporters should be ready for such parsing.
NotMax
Hm.
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: Means he whacked them but good.
I think PBO got it just right. Which is why they’re saying “tantrum.”
Elizabelle
@Patrick: Straw man argument too. Obama never said we could stop all the shootings, or even what happened here. But we can reduce the deaths, a lot.
Gin & Tonic
@rikyrah: In a different context (i.e. with a different President) that sort of speech is called a “bully pulpit” and is considered to be a good thing.
Patrick
@Elizabelle:
Exactly. There are shootings in other countries too. But when you compare the two it is not even close. I have walked in the dark in NY and Paris. And I have felt a heck of a lot safer in Paris just knowing that not every deranged idiot has a gun available without any questions asked.
bemused
I watched a video of Bill O’Reilly arguing with Kirsten Powers that poor children or urchins as he calls them, don’t go hungry in this country. Maybe he should check with his own kids and their teachers if their schools have a backpack program or something similar to send food home for the weekend for kids who have little to eat outside of school. Maybe the schools his kids go to or have gone to are in wealthy areas and less likely to have backpack programs but I know that in Minnesota wealthy suburbs are not immune from kids going hungry. These programs are prevalent everywhere in the US now and Bill has no idea.
Cervantes
@Elizabelle:
And affecting not to know all that is why Gerson gets paid the big bucks.
rikyrah
yes, please do listen to Cruz.
……………
Cruz huddles with House Republicans on eve of Speaker vote
10/07/15 08:40 AM
By Steve Benen
By any fair measure, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is not popular among his Senate Republican colleagues. Indeed, once in a while, they seem to actively dislike him, as was the case last week.
But the far-right senator is not without Capitol Hill allies. What’s unusual is that Cruz has found his compatriots on the other side of the building. The Washington Examiner reported yesterday afternoon:
Sen. Ted Cruz will meet with a group of House Republicans one day before they’re scheduled to vote for a new senior leadership team.
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, has invited the Texas Republican, leading presidential contender, to address his Conservative Opportunity Society at a Wednesday breakfast meeting. The agenda, according to the invitation, is “conservative strategy for the remainder of the year.” Cruz has meddled in House affairs on several occasions, advising supportive insurgent Republicans in the chamber on key legislation and strategic matters.
The Texas Republican’s office confirmed that Cruz planned to meet with House conservatives today – just one day before House GOP members meet in private to nominate their choice for Speaker of the House.
Whether, and to what degree, Cruz intends to intervene in House affairs is not clear, but when the Washington Examiner said the senator has “meddled” in the lower chamber “on several occasions,” that’s no exaggeration.
In September 2013, just eight months into his congressional career, Cruz strategized with House Republicans privately. GOP lawmakers shut down the government a few days later.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/cruz-huddles-house-republicans-eve-speaker-vote
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: Just read it through. A seething arrogance, my ass.
Obama made a great point about Congress forbidding study of gun deaths and compilation of statistics. Any other country with over 150,000 very possibly preventable deaths would be studying the hell out of the situation, and working to prevent the deaths.
Perhaps Mr. Gerson would rather hear that from former Arkansas rep Jay Dickey, who co-wrote this op ed, published in Gerson’s own WaPost after the Aurora CO mass shooting, calling for CDC funding to study gun violence. Dickey sponsored the NRA supported legislation that forbade them to do so, and cut their funding.
We won’t know the cause of gun violence until we look for it
authors: Jay Dickey, a Republican and life member of the NRA, represented Arkansas in the House from 1993 to 2000. Mark Rosenberg, president and chief executive of the Task Force for Global Health, was director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1994 to 1999.
It’s easier, of course, to stand on the sidelines and shout: liberal! Arrogant!
Proof Gerson et al were pantsed. They can’t stop this discussion.
rikyrah
Latest PPP Polling
1. Donald Trump: 27% (down two points from late August)
2. Ben Carson: 17% (up two points)
3. Marco Rubio: 13% (up six points)
4. Jeb Bush: 10% (up one point)
5. Ted Cruz: 7% (up one point)
6. Carly Fiorina: 6% (down two points)
7. Mike Huckabee: 4% (down one point)
7. John Kasich: 4% (down two points)
rikyrah
Republican who shut down gun research now has ‘regrets’
10/06/15 11:10 AM—UPDATED 10/06/15 12:10 PM
By Steve Benen
When President Obama delivered public remarks last week in response to the mass-shooting in Oregon, he touched on an under-appreciated angle to the debate over gun violence.
“We spent over a trillion dollars and passed countless laws and devote entire agencies to preventing terrorist attacks on our soil, and rightfully so,” he said. “And yet we have a Congress who explicitly blocks us from even collecting data on how we could potentially reduce gun deaths. How can that be?”
……………………………………………..
There is no mystery as to how this happened. In the 1990s, the Clinton administration’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began expanding its research into gun-related deaths as a public health issue, so conservatives in Congress added language to the appropriations bill that finances the CDC: “None of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control.”
Nearly 20 years later, the principal author of that language, Arkansas Republican Jay Dickey, conceded to the Huffington Post that he has “regrets” over the policy that came to be known as the Dickey Amendment.
When [Dickey] helped pass a restriction of federal funding for gun violence research in 1996, the goal wasn’t to be so suffocating, he insisted. But the measure was just that, dampening federal research for years and discouraging researchers from entering the field.
Now, as mass shootings pile up, including last week’s killing of nine at a community college in Oregon, Dickey admitted to carrying a sense of responsibility for progress not made.
The Arkansas Republican now believes the policy that bears his name should be fixed, if not scrapped.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/republican-who-shut-down-gun-research-now-has-regrets
Patrick
@Elizabelle:
It is just beyond comprehension that they would make this a law. What if they had similar stupidity regarding terrorist attacks, cancer, traffic deaths in that studies would be forbidden as to their causes?
I guess another example as to why cockroaches has a higher approval rating than Congress…
MattF
@rikyrah: The NYT article on the subject mentions this little detail:
Hmm. ‘A group of large banks.’
Elizabelle
@Cervantes:
@Patrick:
We need to stay so involved in gun safety. It’s a great organizing principle for Democrats.
Gotta get offline, lest another day disappear. See you later.
Redshift
@Elizabelle: The question for Gerson and his ilk should be “are you saying that if we have a way to reduce gun deaths by 50%, or 90%, or 99%, we shouldn’t do it because it won’t eliminate all of them?”
David Koch
Quinnipac Poll Sept 25 – Oct 5
Florida
Clinton…………43%
Biden…………..19%
Sanders……….19%
Ohio
Clinton………….40%
Biden……………21%
Sanders………..19%
Pennsylvania
Clinton………….36%
Biden……………25%
Sanders………..19%
David Koch
Quinnipac Poll Sept 25 – Oct 5
Florida
Trump…………..28%
Carson………….16%
Rubio……………14%
¿Jeb?……………12%◄
Fiorina…………….7%
Cruz……………….6%
Note: ¿Jeb? is a former 2 term Governor of Florida
Ohio
Trump…………..23%
Carson………….18%
Kasich…………..13%
Cruz………………11%
Fiorina……………10%
Rubio……………..7%
¿Jeb?…………….4%◄
Note: Kasich is the sitting Governor of Ohio
Pennsylvania
Trump…………..23%
Carson………….17%
Rubio……………12%
Fiorina…………….8%
Cruz……………….6%
Christie…………..5%
¿Jeb?…………….4%◄
Note: ¿Jeb? isn’t good at this
Cervantes
@MattF:
Started out with Merrill Lynch / Bear Stearns, who quickly violated the contract; they were replaced by Morgan Stanley; and then I lost track (this was thirty and more years ago).
Cervantes
@Patrick:
I don’t think $o.
Patrick
@Cervantes:
At least cockroaches aren’t bought and paid for…
Frankensteinbeck
@rikyrah:
Odd description for a man not in the top four Republican candidates.
@amk:
Well, you just got handed a list. In a public debate, Hillary can add a whole lot of details to that list, since she was there. When someone publicly says ‘You did nothing’ and the other person rattles off a list, the person with the list wins that debate, hands down. Even if they’re lying, which you seem to think she is. Republicans take disgusting advantage of this by making shit up off the top of their heads, the ‘gish gallop.’
I’d say she’s ready.
debbie
@rikyrah: @David Koch:
Nice to see Fiornia’s sinking back into the cesspool she emerged from.
Citizen_X
@rikyrah:
I thought Obama was President Spock, always with the professorial lecturing and never engaging our passions. The media’s got to get its story straight.
Iowa Old Lady
Gersen’s children must have thrown very restrained tantrums. “I’m going to keep talking about this, Dad.”
Another Holocene Human
@Jeffro: Where’s the part where You-Know-Who stole from the Democratic Party of Illinois and also the part where his claims in his memoir about his parents are revealed to be fraudulent?
Oh, and when did Rubio have a life before the Florida Lege and Florida GOP?
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@bemused:
I will bet you cash money that O’Reilly sent his kids to private schools that those urchins can’t afford, and any scholarship students keep quiet about problems at home so they don’t get kicked out.
LABiker
In response, Jeb! sent her Decision Points.
Sophist
@debbie:
We get a lot of suicide bombers and mortar attacks against our troops in South Korea and Germany?
BalloonJuiceLurker
So much crazy –XD
Sondra
I think the big take away from Pierce’s piece is this last paragraph. “…BUNCH OF NERVOUS DEMOCRATS…”
And when the big guys who run the party get the heebygeebies they always roll up into a fetal position, get defensive and f#ck up our chances of winning.
http://www.esquireS.com/news-politics/politics/news/a38618/biden-president-campaign-warren/
snip
What we seem to have is a bunch of generally nervous Democrats, and some Biden loyalists who like to talk to reporters, and who still dream of that West Wing office that was denied them the other two times Joe Biden ran for president and got crushed. Oh, and there are some political reporters who find this whole thing a lot easier than working for a living.
snip