I believe that establishment media is opposing Trump (and fluffing Rubio) because a Trump nomination will make it harder for them to just say both sides do it about everything. They couldn’t give less of a fuck about racism or trade wars or mass deportations, but they do care about their own jobs, and if you’ve been repeating both sides do it for 30 years, it’s hard to know what you’ll do when one nominee is as overtly clownish as Trump. I don’t think they can get away with saying “sure Trump talks about killing and suing journalists, but someone on Daily Kos said Bob Woodward was senile, so both sides do it”.
What will they do? I know Peak Wingnut was a lie but….
@DougJBalloon @PeterBeinart This raises an interesting point. Is there a peak #BothSidesDoIt?
— Marco's Gun (@marcos_gun) March 1, 2016
Update. I think this is the answer:
@DougJBalloon @marcos_gun "Trump's voters are earnestly angry at the system both sides have created" – the beltway in about 8 hours.
— Francis T (@francis_terp) March 1, 2016
Paul in KY
Good point, Doug. Also, someone down below mentioned that Der Trumpenfuhrer is not sticking with the ‘Atwater Approved’ euphemisms that the Repub electorate (and their courtiers) usually basks in.
Cermet
The media isn’t bias – it is just bought and paid for by the elite …
Mike J
They’re shifting from “both sides do it” to “Democrats made us do it.”
Thoroughly Pizzled
The Village will have to choose between the Clintons that they tried to run out of town and the boorish Trump. How marvelous.
LiteralReddy
SATSQ: No.
taylormattd
Trump’s nomination would seemingly make it more difficult to make a “both sides do it” argument, but let’s be honest: it will continue. We’ve already seen people blaming Trump’s success so far on Obama, so.
Jayackroyd
No SCOTUS hearings wasn’t a problem for the journos. Don’t see how anything Trump will do is more obviously worse. Atrios notes that Trump isn’t part of the journo/staffer strikes me as a bigger issue for them
Fair Economist
The media has a big financial interest as well. Trump got where he is with almost no political ads. If he’s nominated he’ll run some, sure, but undoubtedly many less than Rubio would. In addition, a big political success without media advertising will encourage others to do the same.
tldr; Trump could cost the media billions – of course they hate him.
? Martin
Well, the media has already lost everyone under age 30, and if this continues to be ugly (HS basketball, Anaheim KKK) they’ll only serve to lose more if they can’t learn to report on this shit properly.
LAO
I think there is also an element, although it may be small, of the media’s awareness that they are partially responsible for this shit show. The media’s refusal to point out, or examine the lunacy that has engulfed the republican party over the past 7 years — I know the insanity goes back much farther — has provided cover for the extreme nationalism and racism the Republican base now openly embracing. It’s a disgrace.
Calouste
There will no longer be “Both Sides Do It”. The media will be fluffing Trump 24/7, because they well know what happens to the media in an autocracy if they say anything that doesn’t put the Supreme Leader in the most positive light possible. And we all know Trump holds grudges like they are going out of style.
gene108
Both sides do it will never die.
It has been ingrained into the minds of the American people.
If the media honestly reported what a clusterfuck the Republican policies are a good chunk of people would reflexively denounce it as “liberal media” bias.
The rest assume the Democrats must be hiding something, because everyone in politics is corrupt, with a few exceptions.
bemused
I just heard on Thom Hartmann an audio of Les Moonves saying and giggling that Trump has created such a fantastic financial boon for CBS and that he has never seen anything like it. The audio was reported by Lee Fang, Intercept and he also tweeted it.
boatboy_srq
@Fair Economist: If Trump does cost media advertising income, well then a) Citizens United falls flat on its arse, dunnit; and b) perhaps national pResidential campaigning doesn’t require all those millions after all. This strikes me as good news.
Unsympathetic
How much longer must the long national disgrace known as Morning Joe be afflicted upon us?
I’m sure there will be some spin about how it’s all because of the Democrats rejecting the Robert Bork [Nixon’s triggerman] nomination for the Supremes. Never mind that Bork was a laughable proposal, of course. And now it’s a perfectly reasonable proposal for McConnell to pocket veto any SC nomination?
Republicans haven’t been responsible for decades, yet IOKIYAR, and it’s always wrong the instant a Democrat acts equally.
boatboy_srq
@gene108: BSDI shouldn’t have lived past Liberal Fascism, the The Birth Certificate™ or “You lie!” – and yet it’s survived all three and far more. Mortality of the meme is no longer a meaningful discussion point.
Punchy
they absolutely can, and will. With a straight face.
Turgidson
Ron “Severe Dementia” Fournier is already on the job – pumping out his patented both-sides shit cakes on this topic. These lollygagging dolts are gonna go down with the Both Sides ship if they must. They’ve been perpetrating that bullshit on us for so long that I think they’ve come to believe it themselves.
Let’s be honest – we know that none of the morons who have, are, and will continue to throw both-sides shit everywhere will suffer absolutely no professional consequences for being such twits. Just look at what happened with the Iraq War.
boatboy_srq
@Unsympathetic: Never mind also that Bork got his time before committee and a full vote on the Senate floor, which stopped him flat with bipartisan opposition. Bubububu-BORK!!11!1! isn’t even meaningful beyond pointing out what whiny crybabies the ubermacho Reichwing are when the least thing doesn’t go their way.
NonyNony
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
That right there is almost enough to get me to vote for Clinton in the primary. If I were the kind of person who voted out of spite, of course. Which I’m totally not.
Turgidson
@Unsympathetic:
And the part that the GOP shitheels and the Villagers never mention is, BORK GOT HEARINGS AND A VOTE. He was voted down, as he should have been, for being a total fucking wackjob who shouldn’t have been allowed within 100 miles of the Supreme Court building even as a visitor. He didn’t get voted down sight unseen and without any discussion. There was plenty of discussion. And he lost.
I still don’t get why the GOP didn’t go that route. Just find some idiotic reason to Bork whoever Obama nominates and count on the electorate to forget about it by November (they would). I’m sure even the most qualified, dignified nominee possible has said something, at some point, that Jeff Sessions or Orrin Hatch finds objectionable. Something about minorities being people (just like corporations!), you know, something like that.
Steve in the ATL
@boatboy_srq:
Citizens United is paying giant dividends at the state and local levels
gex
@Fair Economist: Maybe. But the reason he gets so much free coverage is presumably because he drives up page views and clicks. He doesn’t have to pay them to advertise because they make money giving him free advertising. They seem to be quite happy with their ROI.
MattF
One of the minor pleasures of this era is watching conservatives being taken down by other conservatives. My current fun read is Saletan of Slate taking down Douthat of Times.
There’s also a NYT op-ed by Peter Wehner taking down Evangelicals generally for supporting Trump. No link because I don’t want to break the link limit.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
I just can’t see how that rickety trope can survive the Republican primary. I mean, one party’s candidates are having a rational debate about solutions to address some of the nations problems. The proposed solutions are, by the standards of advanced democracies throughout the world – from Canada, throughout Western Europe, to the Far East and Pacific Rim (Japan, South Korea, Australia/New Zealand – pretty mainstream. The other party’s candidates have devolved into insinuating that so and so is a loser, liar, or wets themselves during debates. Who applies more makeup, who has a small dick (hint:ALL OF THEM). If it’s not glaringly obvious that both sides don’t do it now, when will it ever be?
Frankensteinbeck
@Turgidson:
Because it’s not about blocking the nominee. It’s about making a public statement to a base that cares about rhetoric more than anything else. That’s one reason why I think Obama will get his Supreme Court pick approved. The faster Mitch McConnell comes out saying he absolutely won’t consider something, the more often he loses.
gex
@MattF: I suppose lines like this aren’t meant to be taken seriously, but rather are meant to be collegial before digging in to the main critique. Still, I almost lost my lunch reading it.
Unsympathetic
@gex: Damning with faint praise?
I was sure there’d be plenty of examples to follow, but alas, Saletan didn’t have time to push on that string.
MattF
@gex: Yeah– Saletan is not real trustworthy as a commentator, but he writes well, IMO.
acallidryas
Have you seen how many “sensible” Republicans have written articles explaining why Trump is all the Democrats’/Obama’s fault for driving people to someone like Trump? They can always say both sides do it.
boatboy_srq
@Steve in the ATL: True. Was that the point? Because the POTUS contest is well and truly fvcked by (in spite of?) it.
boatboy_srq
@gex: Translation: he’s not a rabid loon like Robertson, Fournier, Erickson, Limbaugh and the rest.
Culture of Truth
Ron Fournier just said Democrats shouldn’t act so smug because some non-Democrat Trump supporters quit the Democratic party, so there.
LAO
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/what-david-brooks-and-rest-media-get-wrong-about-todays-gop
I thought this was interesting
? Martin
@? Martin: And another one:
Germy
@? Martin: I linked to that a few threads back to illustrate the challenges facing anyone who wants to work locally for change.
https://balloon-juice.com/2016/03/01/soooper-tuesday-morning-open-thread/#comment-5687925
srv
Liberals, cucks and their media have been out of touch with the masses for a generation or so.
They will all judiciously study this revolution while The People create a reality that cannot be escaped.
Turgidson
@gex:
There appears to be some secret directive that liberal pundits must be respectful of and deferential to Douche Hat, David f’ing Brooks, and the “Reformicon” fools and frauds like Ponnuru and Avik Roy. I don’t know why. Some misplaced need to believe that there are fair-minded people with whom to debate on the right? A need for professional acceptance/advancement that requires such solicitude? Who knows. But they’re all fucking frauds and hacks at this point. “Reformicons” only ever offered supply-side shit sandwiches with some empty gesture to the working class folded in to look “reasonable.” Douche Hat is a party-over-sanity nitwit and hilariously awful moral scold. David f’ing Brooks is the most towering intellectual fraud and con artists of them all. None of them should be engaged as if they have anything to offer but mendacity and flimflam.
Immanentize
@LAO: I liked
p.a.
US journalism into the new century: venality, cupidity, stupidity. They got it all!
Gindy51
@Fair Economist: Why did the president of CBS say Trump was good for the network? http://fortune.com/2016/03/01/les-moonves-cbs-trump/
Germy
@srv:
Former CIA director Michael Hayden believes there is a legitimate possibility that the U.S. military would refuse to follow orders given by Donald Trump if the Republican front-runner becomes president and decides to make good on certain campaign pledges. Hayden, who also headed the National Security Agency from 1999 to 2005, made the provocative statement on Friday during an appearance on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
http://www.chaunceydevega.com/2016/02/a-signal-from-deep-state-on-real-time.html
Turgidson
@Culture of Truth:
Ron “Severe Dementia” Fournier could literally be beaten within an inch of his life by Paul Ryan, who’s screaming “I DID THIS TO YOU!” the whole time, and from his recovery room in the hospital he’d write a column about how Obama’s poor leadership was as much to blame as Paul Ryan. That’s his assigned task and he’ll stick to it until he’s pushing up daisies.
superpredators4hillary
“[More than just] Trump’s voters are earnestly angry at the system both sides have created”
fuxt
Calouste
@Punchy:
Of course. Assume you are a journalist (well, really a rich, significantly overpaid, media personality), and one candidate goes on about killing and suing journalists, would you want to be, or dare to be, on the wrong side of that candidate?
We will know that Trump is going to lose in a landslide when the media is going to go against him, but as long as he has a minor chance of winning, they will be too cowardly for that.
LAO
@Immanentize: It’s the best explanation I’ve read for what’s going on in the media. Once you remove the context of “character” or “value” or impact of policy from media reporting — you get what we have now. Empty, meaningless, horse race crap. It’s depressing.
LAO
Slightly off topic Cole has been very feisty on twitter the last few days.
srv
@Germy: When did you become a Bush lover?
I’d link to archives of liberals here screeching about Hayden, but it won’t matter. A few months from now, you’ll be quoting Bill Kristol as an authority.
Trump will get most of the milvote.
Germy
@LAO:
And so I turn to PBS, expecting something more thoughtful and see the same crap there. PBS News Hour is like watching experts discussing a horse race. “How does this hurt him politically?” “What will be the political fallout after this endorsement?” etc.
Once we saw Gwen Ifill ask her guest “If the Affordable Care Act gets repealed, how will this affect Obama politically?” My wife looked up from her book and asked “Why doesn’t she ask how it will affect all the people losing their healthcare?”
No discussion of policy. It’s all sports coverage with them.
schrodinger's cat
MSM may not be cross burning racist but their treatment of Obama has been quite appalling, some of it is because he is Democrat but that doesn’t explain it all.
Germy
@srv: I love how you use the word “cuck” with a straight face.
Germy
@schrodinger’s cat: They’re “sorority racist” as Chris Rock would put it.
chopper
@Germy:
well, there’s your problem right there.
Gene108
@Turgidson:
One of Trump’s sisters is a federal court judge. Obama should float her name as a nominee.
When Senate Republicans disrespect Ms. Trump, the backlash from the Trumpenproletariat will be a sight to behold.
Thoroughly Pizzled
I really do wonder how our media got infested with so much petty nihilism. At least the yellow journalism rags cared about something.
Germy
@chopper: Well I learned my lesson.
Haven’t seen David Brooks there for a while. Maybe he’s off writing another book?
pseudonymous in nc
The inevitable “rejection of Washington politics / establishment politics / politics as usual” is the #BothSidesDoIt you will hear, while “taking the Republican dogwhistle and turning it into a foghorn” is the truth you won’t hear.
schrodinger's cat
@Germy: Too true!
Aleta
You know who’s scary? D Truwp Jr. He looks like he trained under guys who break legs to make an honest living. (In honesty I have no doubt he’s met some of that type in the living rooms and barrooms of his elders.)
Gene108
@Germy:
Sports coverage actually gets into the nitty-gritty of how moves impact their teams.
AL manager coaches in the NL for the first time and screws up a double-switch. The details of a double-switch are discussed along with the impact on the game.
Very little is said about the manager’s continuing job prospects.
If political reporters were as technically well versed as sports reporters we would be better off.
J
@MattF: A pretty good column of Saletan’s (apart from the ritual remark about Douthat’s fairness and good sense). If there is a precedent who smoothed the way for Trump’s boorish show-biz persona in politics, surely it’s Sarah Palin.
boatboy_srq
@LAO: Indeed.
This needs repeating. Often.
Calouste
@Gene108: Trump’s sister is 79 and she moved to senior status (i.e. retired) 5 years ago.
raven
@Aleta: All show and no go.
Germy
@Gene108: Actually, I hadn’t thought of that. There really is more substance in sports reporting.
boatboy_srq
@Gindy51: Trump gets eyeballs, which get ratings, which boost advertising dollars. Especially valuable in the 6 pm and 11 pm infotainment market.
Gimlet
Maybe
http://www.infowars.com/report-trump-supporters-in-texas-see-votes-switched-to-rubio/
People voting for Donald Trump in today’s Super Tuesday Texas Primary are seeing their ballots changed to show a vote for Marco Rubio.
Numerous callers flooded Austin-based radio station KLBJ this morning with reports of mistakes after they tried to vote for Trump.
According to KLBJ, “computer freezeups” and other “glitches” are causing voting snafus at locations all around Travis County.
Trump supporters previously accused the Rubio campaign of stealing votes in Iowa after the Florida Senator achieved a surprise third place finish.
jl
@Germy: Also food, home and garden, outdoor recreation reporting. Maybe even travel reporting has more useful information and is less corrupt than US corporate media political reporting.
Plus, I think all the NBC reporters try to talk like Li’ Luke now. And I had no idea until recently that Li” Luke really talked like a college frat rat who is still trying to sober up for classes Monday at 10 AM. I thought the impersonators making fun of him were being very mean and unfair. But then I heard the guy talk in some NBC news promo. And he does sound just like that.
Miss Bianca
@Gene108:
Bertolt Brecht’s dream audience was one that would follow socio-political debate with the same avidity and critical attention they would lavish on a sporting event….
jl
@Gimlet: Would be interesting, and poetic justice, if the crooked GOP voting fraud schemes it has been trying to push blow up in its face when it tries to fix its own party elections.
gogol's wife
@Mike J:
I couldn’t even look at Douthat on Sunday, about how Obama created Trump.
over_educated
I think I will need to hear what Ron Fournier thinks before I make a final decision.
Germy
@jl: Meet the Bro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5GyHRAhEr0
cleek
“conservatives” have been blaming liberals for Trump for months now.
for example: http://ok-cleek.com/blogs/?p=23436
and some leftier-than-thou types blame Trump on things Bill Clinton did.
bluehill
LIke the repubs, the media doesn’t appreciate the threat that Trump poses or they don’t care because the short term benefits hide the long-term consequences (as with a lot of things). Trump has stated he will change libel laws (i.e. the first amendment) so he prosecute journalists that write negative articles about him. So Putinesque. The repubs loves their Putin, so I guess it’s no surprise that Trump is the frontrunner. For all their talk of freedom, repubs just want to be told what to do and to think.
LAO
@Germy: Sometimes, I think there is a “chicken or egg” scenario going on. Does the media fail to report more than “horse race” analysis because the America public is stupid, or is the American public stupid because the Media only reports horse race analysis? And, then we go on line for our news and seem surprised that Alex Jones is considered a viable source of information.
I’d give up — but its just not in my nature. lol
Germy
@jl: Also poetic justice how their call for Unlimited Cash for campaigns led to a pack of unelectables gaining the wherewithal to stick around longer and longer and stink up the party like rotten fish.
LAO
@gogol’s wife: I did. The comments were awesome!
enplaned
I think it’s simpler than that.
A Trump nomination threatens, existentially, the GOP parts of the village. Bill Kristol, everyone at National Review, etc — may not be out of jobs, exactly, but certainly their jobs will be mostly or completely irrelevant. And if the GOP part of the village is rendered moot, well, who knows what that might do to the rest of it. If Kristol is irrelevant, they’ll have to find someone else to be on the Sunday shows.
Peter Beinart’s call for Democrats to vote in GOP primaries against Trump is, I suspect, also motivated in part by similar feelings. The established order is under threat — if you’re part of the establishment, that’s a bad thing, even if it’s not your part of the establishment that’s under threat.
Germy
@enplaned: Also, Peter is comfortable enough to survive a Rubio presidency. No damage Rubio might do would hurt Peter or his family personally.
@LAO: Maybe the media is stupid? At least vast swaths of it?
Calouste
Paul Ryan says that the GOP nominee should reject his party:
Davis X. Machina
@Turgidson:
Or White House press secretary…
LAO
@Germy: Well, clearly we are not stupid. ;-)
Calouste
@Gimlet: It’s infowars. It’s run by Alex Jones, right wing conspiracy theorist par excellence. I wouldn’t trust them to tell me what day it is.
Petorado
Anyone know what’s up with Bilmon? It appears he shut down his Twitter feed.
From Jeet Heer:
First the Whiskey Bar and now the Twitter Bar …
boatboy_srq
@enplaned:
THIS.
And the biggest reason is that the Established Order has rebuilt itself on the trappings of the Southern Strategy: plain-speaking isn’t valued because a) one side would suddenly appear to be the racist/sexist/bigoted horde the dogwhistle proclaims and b) that side depends on remaining “respectable” so it can continue to amass power and harass the other as an equal instead of an unmannerly tribal horde. It depends on BSDI and Atwardian constructs to stay upright. Trump is knocking out the foundation of that, appealing directly to the tribalism and bigotry and almost consciously avoiding all the pseudopolitesse of the establishment vocabulary – and shredding those who continue to respect establishment norms along the way.
Ideally, Trump’s destruction of Southern Strategy norms would have happened from the left; however, their obliteration is still welcome, and the Established Order needs to come to terms with that – fast. It’s doubtful that an entire generation steeped in Atwater’s dogwhistle approach to political dialogue will make that adjustment in time.
Turgidson
@Davis X. Machina:
Even if Ron “Severe Dementia” Fournier did become, say, President John Kasich’s press secretary, he’d spend most of his time blaming Democrats for the inevitable multiple car pileup of GOP-caused fuckups that would begin accumulating within weeks of the inauguration.
boatboy_srq
@Calouste: … so, s/he’ll oppose the KKK, NRA, ALEC, FoF, FRC and AEI, then? THAT would be entertaining.
Kropadope
Just got out and voted for Bernie then, in the spirit of the day, rented The Suffragettes. too bad I won’t be able to finish the movie before I leave for work.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
OT
Dear Hillary,
If you see a bus coming, here’s somebody and something you could throw under it. It would be good politics, and good policy
In DWS’s defense, she’s acting on behalf of payday lenders, a righteous and likable group of folks
Love,
Jim, FL
(I post this even knowing that to a good chunk of the commentariat and, um, let’s just say one front pager, DWS and HRC are the Samantha and Serena of the Democratic Party.)
Turgidson
@Petorado:
I’m a Billmon fan, but he had been sucked into the “if you’re not for Bernie, you’re pure evil” vortex in a big way. Which maybe isn’t surprising given how critical he is of, well, everyone, but was still kind of disappointing that he basically wandered off into conspiracy theorist territory.
Kropadope
@boatboy_srq: You forgot the GOP.
Germy
Rubio took off his suit and angered a small dog today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7nhygaGOmo
boatboy_srq
@LAO: There are two things happening, and both go back to Atwater. Atwater’s strategy involved reinforcing the bigotry of a certain electoral segment while hiding that from the rest of the electorate: preserving ignorance through an ingenious variety of Newspeak which still sounded like English to most people (albeit English with different meaning than the Newspeak equivalent Atwater was applying). The plasticity of language allowed this to continue for some time. At the same time, the conservatist disdain for education – specifically higher education, with strong emphasis on non-STEM higher ed – was fueled by the same electoral focus. End result: the US began to speak two entirely different languages, with connotations more significant than literal meaning, right at the same time education in general was devalued (especially education that could encourage people to question the political push).
The media of thirty years ago would have faced a chicken/egg dilemma in this case. The media of today, as product of both those efforts, are as much victim as the population they presume they inform.
The next question, though, is what to do about that. Education “reform” of the last couple decades has focused on raising student performance to “acceptable levels” and enabling parents to select an ever-widening range of alternatives to public schooling. The former effort is worthwhile assuming that education funding is available to add resources; instead, test results and NCLB have each been used to strip resources away. The latter was successfully marketed as a way to get students into better environments for education; the actual practice seems largely to have been a means to direct students to sectarian academies disinterested in teaching anything but doctrine (and largely conservatist Xtian doctrine, at that) and directing public education funds into the coffers of businesses more interested in fleecing school districts and the DoE than in actually teaching. Both trends desperately need reversing, but the best hope for that so far was Common Core – and look how poorly that has been received.
jl
@boatboy_srq: I think the established order of the GOP long con is under threat. Trump lays bear the racist, bigoted, xenophobic and authoritarian culture the GOP has cultivated in its political base.
Trump also blows up the economic con the GOP has played, which is pushing policies that hurt the working and middle class, and trying to dismantle social insurance. Trump is fine with social insurance, he has said he is going to stand by Social Security and Medicare, and he is against gimmicky and falsely labeled free trade deals that favor large and ruthless corporations. I don’t think Trump’s word is worth anything much, but the very fact that he will be the GOP nominee and campaign on it for several months this coming summer is horrifying to the GOP. I think that is what has the GOP really scared. I may be overly cynical, but I find it hard to believe that the GOP establishment is really all that upset over the racism, sexism, and nativism. I don’t see Trump’s BS word games and evasion regarding David Duke as all that different from what other GOPers do. If Trump were saying things that were consistent with what the GOP cares about (cash and entrenched corporate power) they would be messaging Trump’s BS, not condemning it.
Looks like the GOP’s long and completely dishonest con is going out ugly. It could have gone out with increasingly ineffectual empty suits (Like Jeb) losing elections, or it could have been hijacked by a better con man. The latter is what happened.
retiredeng
@gene108: The problem is money. Like him or not, Sanders has it nailed. But how to get money out of politics will take a lot of willpower on the part of the American electorate. From both sides.
goblue72
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Was just going to post that article too. DWS has got to go. A progressive she ain’t.
Citizen_X
@bluehill: Hey, for all the talk about the librul media, the Republicans haven’t had anyone discuss killing journalists since Liddy and Nixon–and they did so privately. It’s about time they had someone “just saying what everyone [who is a fascist at heart] is thinking.”
Germy
@goblue72: Did you see DWS interviewed by Triumph?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKFzqdi5pLA
Some… probing… questions. She looked clearly uncomfortable.
jl
@LAO: I think lucrative corporate sponsor money for corporate networks, and the business interests of the huge conglomerate corporations that run the media dictate a lot of what happens. That includes what is covered and what is not, the (I think intentional) innumeracy and simple mindedness of the economic and fiscal coverage, and cynical both-sides-do-it-ism.
Instead you get shiny objects, stupid and breathless reality show BS, idiotic and juvenile Nooz-u-can-use consumerist BS and pointless life-hacks for working and middle class viewers who are drowning economically. They serve as distraction and dangling false hope for the dupes who watch that junk. So, a lot of news is three weird tricks you can do to make your sad stinking budget this month, why you eating shit is all for the best, horse race, and pathetic personality journalism that would make a third rate fan mag ashamed.
goblue72
@retiredeng: The GOP is a Lost Cause. But far too many elected Dems benefit from the system “as is”. Its going to take the grassroots to do it – and unfortunately, for a lot of the base, its not a high priority.
Betty Cracker
@jl:
Absolutely true. Trump is talking about slapping tariffs on Fords made in Mexico, etc., and not starving granny to feed the austerity monster. Yes, he’s a racist piece of shit. But that’s not the totality of his appeal, and it’s damn sure not the part that bothers the GOP establishment.
Germy
@jl: I used to think there was supposed to be a firewall between television entertainment and journalism, but lately all the networks run “news” stories that coincidentally tie in with whatever new movie is being released by the parent company.
Brachiator
Media jobs are disappearing faster than Republican presidential contenders. And neither blaming the media nor imagining that they have more power than they do really works anymore.
The establishment media has not been opposing Trump. They have been astounded by his rise. Conservative media opposed Trump, only to be rendered impotent. Fox News, Limbaugh, The WSJ and all the other previously reliable power brokers have been reduced to weak pleading, while the GOP mob throws off their leashes and demand that their leaders put up or shut up.
Harping about the “establishment media” entirely misses the real story, about how Rupert Murdoch, the Koch Brothers and all the other money men got their asses handed to them by a blustering con man who understood their game better than they did.
WarMunchkin
@goblue72: I’m pretty sure “not a progressive” is a badge of honor around these parts of the net.
Iowa Old Lady
I occasionally hear non-media people saying all politicians are alike, both sides do it, etc. Those who say it are always someone who’s not threatened by some political action such as their vote or health care being blocked. They mostly ignore politics because they can. Their both-sides-do-it talk is an excuse for not paying attention.
mike in dc
For the record, there is a “Both sides” constituency in the electorate, some amalgam of smug centrists, cynical late-deciders, apathetic non-voters, et al. Probably also includes “moderate” R-leaning voters who need some balm to rationalize supporting occasionally monstrous candidates. So the Fourniers of the punditocracy are servicing (intentional double entendre) that constituency. That it tends to serve the interests of the right wing establishment is a feature, not a bug. Democratic politicians must be treated with cynicism and skepticism and bad faith interpretation, while Republican politicians must be taken at their word, or alternatively given every benefit of the doubt. It’s a rigged game which is nearly impossible for Democrats to win. The best thing to do is bypass them and kick ass in elections anyway.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Calouste: yeah, and then a reporter asked him if he’d support Trump, and Brave Sir Ryan said “I’ll support the Republican nominee” so…those were just words.
Chyron HR
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The tennis players?
CONGRATULATIONS!
@jl: You make some really good points in your entire post, not just the part I quoted, but the part I quoted is quite important, I think.
Trump’s business interests REQUIRE a healthy, functional middle class. Not an option. And retirees with some spare cash to spend, even better. So he is not going to sign off on cuts to any of that, to the contrary, he’ll probably be pushing to boost them.
This, and his constant truth telling to the GOP faithful, undermining 40 years of carefully constructed messaging, is the thing that truly has the GOP crapping their pants. He told voters Iraq was a lie and a scam. He’s told voters who’s really behind the financial machinations that got so many of them tossed from their homes. He refuses to give evangelicals the time of day, treats it like the joke it is.
All that has them shitting their pants, and the final indignity, if he wins pretty much the entire GOP “establishment” will be out of a job, replaced by hot Russian women and Jersey beach guidos.
Also, a Trump primary victory is pretty much the end of the Evangelical reign of terror over the GOP. If he can win without their votes they are done. In that respect, I’d like to see him get the nom by an overwhelming margin. Let those bastards know they have no place in decent society.
jl
@Betty Cracker: The scary part, if Trump wins, is that I don’t believe anything he says. Not one bit of it. He is such a brilliant salesman that it is impossible to know what he really believes. He pushes what sells.
Trump’s tax and budget plans are just as much supply-side fantasy as the other GOPers. What will happen with his economic plans fall apart? Will he stand by his promise to keep Social Security and Medicare in their current forms and not cut benefits. I wouldn’t get two cents on it.
Is Trump really as buffoonishly racist and xenophobic as he sounds? I have no clue. But I think if something has to give, the racism and xenophobia and authoritarianism will sell better, and Trump will go with what sells no matter what he really believes. If there is a fiscal crunch, at least in the short run, the GOP economic con could be on again, but in a very ugly and nightmarish way, and a way that is unsustainable.
But Trump might say that he is a successful business man, and he understands debt, and let the good times roll! The GOP has done that before. The US could actually gain from a short to medium term bout of what the GOP and Village Centrists would shit their pants over as fiscal irresponsibility. Trump could go that route too. But, again, blows up the GOP economic con.
The money bags like sure bets, and Trump is not a sure bet, that is enough to make him unacceptable. They are fine with a presidential loss, they play a very long game. And if Trump loses, then there is the damage his campaign will have done to the GOP con, because he isn’t going to go back on his social insurance promises during the election. So, the GOP’s standard economic and government BS will get kicked in the face, hard, every day from now until the election.
Trump is scare for the money bags, regardless of whether he wins or loses. Now, if he could lose the right way, I don’t think it would be that big a deal.
boatboy_srq
@jl:
Those things in Trump’s campaign are overt. There’s no dogwhistle. Huckabee, Cruz, Rubio, Kasich and HEB? all meant similar things – but what they were saying was different. There’s a (thin) veneer of politesse over Southern Strategy doublespeak that makes the proposals palatable; by not using it Trump is both firing up a base that no longer hears a distinction between “entitlement reform” and “niCLANG niCLANG” or between “family values” and “shame on the promiscuous slvts” or between “voter fraud” and “3/5 vote”, and making the Establishment – who can’t bear to admit that their reforms and ethical stances are all built on white male legitimacy (privilege is too mild a word) – desperately uncomfortable. Palin was precedent for this; but she blew it through her inability to fashion a coherent sentence, and was thus not so great a threat. Trump at least speaks in whole thoughts – they’re just made up of the short words that mean what the dogwhistle says.
It’s significant that we at BJ have to listen more carefully to hear the dogwhistles from the rest of the GOTea’s more superficially acceptable (and more culturally charged) statements as distinct from Trumpspeak. We’ve become so accustomed to interpreting the more loaded language in the party mainstream that it often sounds exactly the same to us.
They’re not afraid of the racism/sexism/bigotry. They’re afraid of being called racist, sexist bigots, and until now they could point to the dictionary definitions of their dogwhistle as proof. Trump is ending that for them.
Bob In Portland
@goblue72: Is this true?
Bob In Portland
Well, I sent in my hundred to Sanders. Maybe it’s time to view Jill Stein’s webpage because I’m pretty sure what I won’t do this November.
LAO
rikyrah
DNC Chair Joins GOP Attack On Elizabeth Warren’s Agency
Payday lenders get a new ally.
03/01/2016 11:04 am ET | Updated 20 minutes ago
WASHINGTON — Payday lenders have been gunning for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since the day President Barack Obama tapped Elizabeth Warren to set up the new agency. They’ve had plenty of help from congressional Republicans — longtime recipients of campaign contributions from the payday loan industry. As the CFPB has moved closer to adopting new rules to shield families from predatory lending, the GOP has assailed the agency from every conceivable angle — going after its budget, attempting to tie its hands with new layers of red tape, fomenting conspiracy theories about rogue regulators illegally shutting down businesses and launching direct attacks on payday loan rules themselves.
To date, the GOP blitz has resulted in a few close shaves for the young agency, but no actual defeats. But the industry has cultivated a powerful new ally in recent weeks: Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.).
Wasserman Schultz is co-sponsoring a new bill that would gut the CFPB’s forthcoming payday loan regulations. She’s also attempting to gin up Democratic support for the legislation on Capitol Hill, according to a memo obtained by The Huffington Post.
LAO
@boatboy_srq: See 115 — i forgot to “reply” to you.
Archon
@jl: That’s why I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 3rd party conservative “aka donor class” candidate on the ballot. The worst nightmare for the donor class is both candidates bashing their preferred policies from now until November with nobody defending them.
boatboy_srq
@Betty Cracker:
With that, he’s admitting that “entitlement reform” was marketed as racism when it’s actually classism. And he’s promoting support for the 99% – which includes Those People, who were used by the GOTea to scr3w everyone.
As for the tariffs on imported “domestic” products and the like: if that can get past NAFTA, all it means for autos is the Big Three wake up some plants (or build new ones in Tennessee or Alabama) and shift some jobs around. It’s not like automakers aren’t doing that already. If Trump were advocating reenergizing Detroit specifically, and giving UAW an effective boost by doing so, it would be a bit different. The only enterprise right now that should be truly worried by what Trump says on that is Walmart.
LAO
@rikyrah: Shit like this makes me furious and reminds me that I am a democrat by default because (1) the republicans are repugnant and (2) I fear them more than the democrats.
But still, so disappointed.
goblue72
@WarMunchkin: Well sure. This blog has one FP’er whose posts focus on the military & foreign affairs, but whose job is dependent on the military-industrial complex and being the World’s Policeman. And another writing on health insurance who repeatedly informs us that we really really need a private health insurance system, but who literally works for a private health insurance company.
Cole did bring on a lefty to front page, but she’s a vegan, so of course the hyenas in the peanut gallery jumped all over her.
El Caganer
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Are you saying….Both Sides Do It?
jl
@rikyrah:
Wasserman Schultz needs a few more provocative interviews right about now..
But this is another reason why Trump is so unsettling to GOPers. Trump could decide to go after this. He doesn’t care. He might campaign on this and yell that saving the commission is a reason that ‘the Blacks’ should love him and will vote for him in droves come November. He is really a loose cannon. Trump doesn’t give a shit about pay day lenders if opposing them could get him some attention (which would be a blind and noseless squirrel finding nut, but Trump as turned that trick a few times already).
Corporate friendly Democrats and GOP establishment, they are very predictable.
mike in dc
Neoliberal = New Democrat = Third Way = Corporatist shill. Equals DWS. Not that complicated. Lie down with dogs…
It is a curable condition. The cure is losing voter support.
boatboy_srq
@El Caganer: Broken clock. 2x daily. Doesn’t exactly match the GOTea hyperventilation.
Fair Economist
@rikyrah:
Donate to her primary opponent Tim Canova on ActBlue. I just did.
jl
@boatboy_srq: That is true. But I still think that if they liked Trump on other issues, they would be messaging the problem, not blowing up and condemning it.
singfoom
@rikyrah: Goddamit, fucking DWS. This is the bullshit corporatist awfulness that I hate about some members of the Democratic party.
From the bill:
Why the fuck is any Democratic representative cosponsoring this bill? How does this serve the needs of their constituents? Payday loans are a predatory business that preys upon the poor and traps them in cycles of more and more debt.
ETA: Oh lookie lookie, DWS got at least 10K from Amcsot Financial, “The Money Superstore”
DWS Open Secrets
Legalized bribery, thy name is Congress.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@Calouste: Yeah. I mean, it would be delicious if true (throwing Trump votes to Rubio instead of Cruz), but I suspect most of those calls are just some low-level attempt at ratfucking.
The machines used in Travis County use a wheel to scroll through options and a separate Enter button to make the selection. It may be possible that some people are pressing the Enter button while still touching the scroll wheel, which may cause their selection to bounce. I really, really doubt it though. The system isn’t that sensitive.
boatboy_srq
@mike in dc: The cure is losing voter support in the primary. DWS is at least a reliable Dem vote in the House. Replacement could be another Frederica Wilson (Miami Gardens: D+34) – but could also be another Mario Diaz-Balart (R+5) or Lois Frankel (D+3 to DWS’ D+9). Got to be careful what you wish for.
Bob In Portland
If Debbie Wasserman Schultz gets voted out, what administration post does she get in a Clinton Administration? Secretary of Treasury?
D58826
There has been a lot of talk about when will we hit peak wingnut, Well this twitter item certainly qualifies up near the top. Americans can no long visit Yosemite National Park nor can they stay at the Ahwahnee Hotel. It seems the the company that formally ran the concessions in the park is claiming that they own the naming rights to five of the parks iconic locations. They are willing to sell the rights to the new concessionaire for $51 million dollars. The Park values the name at $3,5 million. So instead of going to Yosemite National Park you have to visit Yosemite Park. Now why this company has any claim to the names is beyond me other than a creative reading of the contract. Of course a backhanded giveaway when the contract was signed in 1993 isn’t out of the question. It’s just the insanity of it all.
Bob In Portland
@boatboy_srq: Wasn’t there a kerfluffle about DWS supporting Diaz-Balart and not running a candidate against him?
I mean, as opposed to selecting recently-Republican rubes to take a fall in these elections?
boatboy_srq
@jl: They still want the AA and Latino votes, however badly they’re working to get them. They can’t say what Trump says (especially inside the Beltway, and especially if they like being able to walk down DC streets) without losing them completely.
Patricia Kayden
@srv: So you really are a racist, huh? Thought so. What does “cuck” mean?
Why does Balloon Juice tolerate racist commenters?
WeHuntedtheMammoth.com does a great job of exposing what racists like srv mean when they use the term “cuck”.
http://www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/2015/12/24/will-star-wars-the-force-awakens-destroy-the-white-race-with-its-mighty-cuck-staff/
Technocrat
@rikyrah:
Honestly, the mind boggles. What is she thinking?
? Martin
@singfoom:
Not wrong, however access to lending is incredibly important as well, and what alternative do most payday patrons have? If you want an unassailable argument to kill off payday lenders, start with a publicly available lender, like Sanders’ plan to turn the postal service into a consumer bank (which Clinton should sign onto). Post Offices are in every community, limit their lending/deposits to a reasonable cap ($5k?), tie their rates to the Fed, offer a no-fee debit/ATM option.
This is really the failure of community banking, lost to consolidation, and risk-adverse commercial banks refusing to service low-income communities. There’s your public option.
Rob in CT
@goblue72:
No, what Mayhew has been saying is that having the government be the insurer isn’t THE path to universal healthcare. There are lots of countries that do it with a mix of public & private.
That you read this as “don’t fire me bro” from him reveals more about you than him.
…
Re: DWS and the payday loan thing… is her district safe enough that an actual progressive can win?
boatboy_srq
@Bob In Portland: I believe there was. However, given his district’s makeup (Lehigh Acres, LaBelle, Hialeah), R+5 is probably liberal for them: if Diaz-Balart lost the primary the replacement would likely be R+11!11!, which would be a lot harder to work with. Doesn’t mean either of them deserve to be reelected – but it does give some perspective.
trollhattan
@Germy:
Objection: word is not a word, whether straightened or distorted.face.
trollhattan
@rikyrah:
Wait, what?!?
boatboy_srq
@Rob in CT:
Pembroke Pines, Dania Beach, Sunny Isles, Miami Beach… not sure. There’s enough wingnutsery along the coast there, and deep inland, to make it questionable. There are Juicers down that way who could answer better.
mike in dc
@boatboy_srq:
Fair enough. I suppose that if Dems sat on their hands during the general, the takeaway would be that they need to be more corporatist, not less.
beltane
@Bob In Portland: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen also, who is allegedly a close friend of DWS. Ros-Lehtinen’s district is only R+2. DWS is a true powerhouse, doing more for the GOP than Reince Preibus could do even in his wildest dreams.
shortribs
@goblue72: Don’t think anyone ever thought DWS was a progressive, so a moot point, but I don’t care much about a progressive heading up the DNC, I just want someone who can help us win state and local races and I’m not sure DWS has been doing that. She’ll get the boot when the time comes, Hillary likely hasn’t forgotten DWS throwing her under the bus in 2008 and Bernie (or at least his team) can’t stand her. Plus every time she speaks publicly she says something stupid.
singfoom
@? Martin: Yes, I fully support the idea of postal banks. Again, another idea that our “World’s Greatest Deliberative Body” would look at, laugh and then shit on as they cash the campaign contribution checks.
You’re absolutely right that the patrons have nowhere else to turn to other than the payday lenders but if you think that DWS and the other shits trying to pass this legislation care about them, I have a couple of bridges I’d like to get your opening bid on.
This bill is racket protection, plain and simple. And the horrible thing is that there’s discussion here about “Well, is she safe enough to primary?” Because if her district isn’t safe, then we have to keep her because sometimes when she feels nice that day she doesn’t fuck over citizens.
Fucking soft bigotry of lowered expectations.
jl
@D58826: I heard an IP lawyer talk about this BS on local news last night. Most of the names themselves are in the public domain, which makes sense, because the park, the hotels, the original concessionaire (Curry) were all iconic names for 90 to 150 years before this sleazy bunch arrived.
But the old concessionaire is claiming that they added so much value by their outstanding services, that they deserve trademark protection for the names when they are affixed to any economic product. So, ‘Yosemite National Park’ cannot be put on a t-shirt that is sold by government or anyone else.
But that claim is hilarious. FROM MY EXPERIENCE AND WHAT I OBSERVED, IN ONLY MY PERSONAL OPINION (capped to protect Cole from lawsuits), as a frequent user of park services, they were no good at all. Maybe the park service could file a counter-suit claiming that the sleazy company’s mediocre (to put it very politely) practices harmed the value of the iconic names. I think that counter suite would have more merit than the stunt this sketchy bunch is trying to pull.
Edit: Anyway, it is a nice commentary on what our society and economy have come to: corporations ripping off each other, the government, and the people to pile up wads of cash that they can put in their vaults. I ran into some co-workers talking about it this morning (and all outraged about it, as Northern Californians) , and I said it was an example of the ‘Scrooge McDuck’ economy.
boatboy_srq
@? Martin: The problem isn’t whether payday lenders ought to exist: the problem is whether payday lenders ought to charge 3000% interest on their loans (and use the profits to buy things like sports arenas and politicians). Holding them to reasonable standards doesn’t threaten their livelihood so much as their clout – and certain pols’ campaign coffers.
boatboy_srq
@beltane: The RNC could replace Priebus with Pond Scum and the results would be better (and DWS would look just as good/bad). Not sure that’s a worthwhile comparison.
beltane
@singfoom: DWS joined with the Republicans and only five other Democrats to gut consumer protections in lending. If she did this out of concern for low-income people, then so did the entire Republcian party. Just because someone identifies as a Democrat does not mean they are immune from being a scumbag.
? Martin
@boatboy_srq: But people need to at least acknowledge that Florida has some of the strictest payday loan regulation in the country. For her constituency, the relief that the CFPB would deliver has already been delivered although likely along somewhat different lines. The layering of the two regulatory structures may drive some of these lenders out – which I’m fine with provided there is a lending structure to replace it.
Patricia Kayden
@cleek: I’m rooting for Trump myself. Secretary Clinton can beat him to smithereens in November as he is a much more obviously disgustingly bigoted candidate than Rubio or Kasich.
I’m actually looking forward to November. Minority voters like myself will be coming out in droves to vote against Trump and all things Republican now that they’ve decided to go the Full Klan Route by putting Trump up as their candidate. I was worried that after Obama, many Democrats wouldn’t be as excited or motivated to vote but Trump allays those concerns.
Miss Bianca
@goblue72:
Well gosh…both the insurance industry and the military-industrial complex are huge, huge parts of the way things work now in these United States, that will have to be dismantled as slowly and carefully as bombs, if and when that time comes. Because of that, I’m really appreciative of front-pagers who can speak knowledgeably about these industries and their attendant issues in a way that challenges my all-too-often glib and less-than-fully-informed opinions about them. I have this weird, doubtless laughable notion that people who can educate me on the human cost and likely institutional blowback attendant upon my REVOLUTION!!11!! impulses are, actually, my kinda leftists. YMMV.
What the hell…I may even get my mind changed about the merits of veganism, all at the same time. This wonderful world!
singfoom
@beltane: I was being facetious, I know that DWS and the cosponsors of this bill don’t give a shit about low income people. And yes, I know that being a Democratic Representative does not mean anyone is immune from being a scumbag.
That said, this is the part of the bullshit that feeds the “both sides do it” meme. DWS is the kind of Democrat the party doesn’t need. When people say they hate Congress, this shit is why.
It drives down voter turnout and it drives apathy and anger at the so-called Representatives. And this is the DNC chair. The mind just fucking boggles.
boatboy_srq
@? Martin: And that regulation got applied a) by a Democrat in Tallahassee and b) at the state level. Pols should definitely be accountable to their specific constituents, but that’s not an especially good reason to throw thirty-odd states’ worth of US residents under the bus because ha-ha-you-suckers-elected-wingnuts.
ETA: FL may have “regulation” but they still allow some pretty obscene interest rates, so while they might count as “good” payday-lending places for other regs they’re also on the shyte list for that. Hence the slighly-more-vague number of affected states.
jl
@jl: Anyway, if it makes any difference. apparently your private club can still put ‘ Annual XYZ Association Executive Conference, Ahwahnwee Hotel, 2016’ on a t-shirt if it wants, as long as it doesn’t sell it.
IANAL, but that is what I understood from the IP lawyer on it last night.
Nate Dawg
Has anyone seen exit poll data for the Republican race?
I know it’s early, but surely the morning waves are already tabulated.
beltane
@singfoom: Agreed. I actually don’t mind conservative Dems; I do mind dirty politicians. DWS gives the vibe that she’s a strictly pay-to-play politician, which maybe would be OK if we could be paid for our votes as well.
les
@? Martin:
Regulate /= kill off. Kinda basic.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Hear, heear. I think it’s his best idea.
@Nate Dawg: I’d check twitter, your preferred campaign reporters might be hinting
danielx
Trump holds the media in complete contempt, and doesn’t give two toots on a flute for anything written or said about him. Unless it has to do with his labor practices, involvement with mob owned companies, or complaints of abuse by former female companions,about all of which he is very sensitive. Aside from those areas, he has said many outrageous things, the media has duly reported them – result: his poll numbers keep going up.
He doesn’t need sympathetic coverage from the media, and he doesn’t need the Villagers who include many reporters, columnists, tv personalities and the ghost of David Broder among their numbers. No wonder he’s driving them crazy; they’re not used to being unnecessary (and being seen to be unnecessary, worse yet).
Edit: BDSI will never die. Much like conservatism, it cannot fail, it can only be failed.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
This may be illustrative.
You’ve all heard me talk about my wingnut mom and her worries about the poors and colorless sucking up all her tax and insurance munnies. This is a woman who expressed rage at the ACA even though it is the only thing which makes private coverage available to my youngest daughter, a woman who says that despite express GOP statements to the contrary that Medicare will be shifted to ValPak mailer vouchers for those of us slightly under 55 that it will be there for me, a woman who was a 24 year old George Wallace voter in 1968.
In a recent discussion about front line understaffing just about anywhere that some level of customer service is required, she lamented that the lowest clerical or first line service people aren’t willing to take less so that everyone could be served. I responded with “no, no, hell no”, and gave a spiel about C-Suite executive compensation. She said that those people will “never cut their pay, and that just leaves the bottom”. My retort involves talk of guillotines, deserved punishment and the quote “pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered”.
I then changed the subject.
This is the attitude we fight – neofeudalism.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@beltane: She doesn’t seem very good at her job, in terms of recruiting candidates, and she’s not good on TV. t can only conclude she’s a really good fund-raiser, raising funds from people who make the people here very unhappy.
beltane
@danielx: The people who are voting for Trump hate the media and the whole socioeconomic class they come from. They are going to believe the opposite of whatever the well-dressed bobbleheads on TV tell them to believe. In the past, I have compared Republican voters to “sharp-shy” dogs, possessing traits of fearfulness combined with extreme aggression. Well, now these dogs are turning on their owners and it’s not pretty. We are watching a mauling of the Republican elites.
beltane
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’ve also heard she’s a terrific fundraiser. However, since she is an abject failure at putting those funds to productive use, at least from the perspective of voters, she is almost certainly a net liability for the party.
Matt McIrvin
@Patricia Kayden:
I’m still concerned about a third-party candidate. A majority of Americans might be fired up to vote against Donald Trump but impossible to aim in the same direction.
Gimlet
Senator Chuck Grassley
http://www.scotusblog.com/2016/03/coequal-branches-of-government/
Like most of his nominees, the President pays lip service to the notion that judges are to “interpret the law, not make the law,” but then submits that in cases where “the law is not clear” his nominee’s views “necessarily will be shaped by his or her own perspective, ethics, and judgment.” And of course, his nominee will “arriv[e] at just decisions and fair outcomes” based on the application of “life experience” to the “rapidly changing times.”
Justice Scalia, whose death created the current vacancy, crystallized the proper alternative understanding of the role of a Justice as adhering to the rule of law, which he famously defined as a law of rules. He understood that a Justice lacking a commitment to the rule of law would always be tempted to find congruence between the direction in which times were “rapidly changing” and his or her own policy preferences.
Under our Constitution, the people through their elected representatives are entitled to make the laws under which they live, subject to the rules set forth in the Constitution.
Matt McIrvin
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
He’s getting their votes. The thing that’s killing Ted Cruz is that a lot of his putative base actually like Trump more than they like him. What this means about those voters’ actual priorities is left as an exercise for the reader.
Mike J
@Gimlet: When the law or constitution is straightforward, you don’t need the supreme court to interpret what they mean,
Calouste
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: I did some quick calculations based on Trump’s alleged fortune ($10 billion in 40 years with 25,000 employees), that showed that he makes at least $10,000 per year for every employee he employs.
jl
@Matt McIrvin: My opinion is that one primary driving force for a lot of politically conservative fundamentalists is love of dictatorial authority as a means to solve their problems and make them feel better about themselves.
So, the racism, the xenophobia, the sexism, and sexual hysteria, the economic sadomasochism, flows from that love of authority.
Trump not only talks authoritarianism, he act it, he embodies it and lives it. Trump may win a plurality of the fundie vote on that alone.
Bill E Pilgrim
They’re all completely freaking out. The image I have is nothing less than this.
As noted earlier the WSJ today writes “It would be terrible to think that the left was right about the right all these years. ”
It would be terrible, yes, if they could actually face the fact that it’s true, but of course that’s not going to happen.
David Brooks is still rewriting history, David Frum, all of them, even the ones edging up to admitting what’s going on still refuse to face the fact that the party was going in this direction all along. William F Buckley was not, as they imagine, a genteel intellectual, at least not when he started screaming “You queer!” to someone on live TV and threatening to punch him out.
The entire lot of them have peeled off the centrist suit like a cartoon and revealed Donald Trump inside, but that means that he was in there all along. And I mean the supposedly centrist journalists as well as the rest of the Republicans.
rikyrah
@boatboy_srq:
That’s how I see it. How I’ve always seen it. They don’t disagree with what Trump believes.
They are mad with HOW HE SAYS IT.
If Trump was saying things in Frank Luntz-approved language, there would be no attacks.
Gimlet
@Mike J:
I admire the cleverness of the lie.
It’s so exhausting and lengthy to unwind it.
Germy
A make-believe pundit is making more accurate predictions than the real ones:
http://splitsider.com/2016/03/this-elections-best-pundit-is-a-fake-columnist-named-carl-diggler/
Carl Diggler.
Miss Bianca
@Gimlet:
We’ve gotten to the point where that famous cri de coeur, “Have you no decency?” couldn’t even shame them. Because not only, no…they haven’t…but they don’t even have enough sense of self-awareness to realize they haven’t.
? Martin
@les:
No, I actually think they *should* be killed off – they are terrible businesses, but no lending is worse. That’s all I’m getting at.
D58826
@Gimlet: Well since he is from Iowa he certainly knows where to find the manure shovel.
cmorenc
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
Remember the Louisiana Governor’s election in 1991 between Edwin Edwards (D) v David Duke (R-Ku Klux Klan, literally)? And the key bottom-line point was “vote for the crook – it’s IMPORTANT!” instead of wishing futilely that you had a better option that election – well, whatever you think about the Clintons, the possibility of the Donald becoming President is so infinitely much worse than Hillary becoming President – that IT’S DAMN IMPORTANT that you keep in sight how important it will be to vote for Hillary if she (as looks likely) becomes the Democratic nominee.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@Patricia Kayden:
Which brings us back to the whole “Trump is a Democratic plant!” conspiracy theory. Part of me can see Bill Clinton sitting back, drink in hand, watching the tube, and chuckling “shit, that was easy” to himself.
I want this to be true. I want this to stand as the greatest example of ratfucking in the entire history of ratfucking. And because I want it so badly, it cannot be the case.
The real truth is that Trump decided, “what the hell, I’ll run for President”, found a direct line to the lizard brain of 35% of our fellow Americans, and started yanking on it as hard as he could.
The scary thing is that he really could win; he’s tapped into some genuine (if ill-defined) anger that crosses party lines. I don’t expect him to win, but I’m not going to rule it out. Depending on what happens today, it will take some serious shenanigans to keep him from getting the nomination. Colorado already canceled their caucus, rather than take the chance on Trump getting their delegates.
les
@? Martin:
Well, ok then. If properly regulated, the current highway robber business model doesn’t work, and they’ll die or fill the niche with a model not based on screwing the client. Even republican shitstains like the market, right? Hahahahaha…
misterpuff
@Gimlet: Could be Cruz ratf*cking. He needs to finish ahead of Drumpf, hands are clean if votes go to Rubio.
boatboy_srq
@rikyrah: @Miss Bianca: I just realised: what Trump has is pride. THAT is the Establishment’s issue with him.
Southern Strategy, FundiEvangelist Xtianity – all the controls the Establishment have on the base are based on shame. Shame for the bigotry that drives them, shame for their ethical shortcomings, shame for just being different. Thanks to Trump and his proud stance, that shame is losing its power. And they can’t stand that – not merely because it let’s the bigots’ freak flag fly, but because it means that the hold over their entire electorate, their congregations, every construct that holds Conservatistism together is stripped away with the release from shame.
This is why the Xtian vote is going to trump instead of Cruz. It’s why the KKK is back out of the woodwork. It’s why the angst among all the usual suspects is so high. Pride is less uncomfortable than shame, and a welcome change for people who have been trained to feel bad – or at least trained to pretend to feel bad – about who and what they are.
TG Chicago
They aren’t beltway journalists, but some are going to Trump because “both sides do it”.
Here’s Why This Educated, Liberal Couple Is Considering Voting For Donald Trump
Basically, it’s the full Fournier. Trump will lead with his leadery leadership more leaderfully than anybody else would.
Honestly, I thought it was a DougJ prank until I saw that Buzzfeed actually talked to one of them.
Petorado
@Turgidson: I agree Bilmon was aggressively anti Hillary and all about the Bern, but he still was a conduit of a lot of other useful information. Sorry to see him just up and pull the plug on his Twitter feed. He was quite funny at times and tied into a lot of news sources I just don’t have to time to monitor.
Matt McIrvin
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
Not if some John Anderson type gets in. They’ll swoon over the guy and his pragmatic post-partisan centrism, and the notrump vote will split just enough for Trump to take it all.