Howard Schultz says Ronald Reagan is the best Republican prez of the past 50 years, in part because “he never took his jacket off in the Oval Office” due to his respect for the office. pic.twitter.com/UFZtqwYfdt
— (((JonathanWeisman))) (@jonathanweisman) January 30, 2019
Bill Burton should tell Schultz that a true centrist watches networks other than Fox. That said, if Schultz is like most rich guys, he probably isn’t listening to Burton or any of his other advisors (I assume one of them is Mark Penn, but I have no evidence other than the low quality of Schultz’ campaign).
Open thread.
Major Major Major Major
I’ve never understood why this ‘fact’ about Reagan is so widespread.
chopper
oh jesus, more of this ‘obama put his feet up on the resolute desk’ shit.
Mike E
*Nelson Muntz laff*
Steve in the ATL
Reagan also wore brown suits, which is a far greater crime than Obama’s wearing a tan suit. Which isn’t actually a crime at all. But a brown suit is felony-level.
Creature
These episodes of ‘Rich Guy With Money To Burn Wants To Start Bonfire’ is getting really interesting!
Kay
Asshole. It’s weird that he’s too special and above the fray to actually enter a primary but he’s trashing every Democrat who did announce. The rules apply to other people. You can’t ask such a special person to slog thru a dirty, icky low brow political process! That’s beneath him. He transcends politics, except for this launch tour trashing his opponents.
JustRuss
Lowest bar ever. Tell me, this Reagan chap didn’t happen to be white, did he?
catclub
@Creature: Rich guy hires consultants. Election consultants want recurring payments. Consultants tell him he can run and win. And everyone will love him for saving the country. Rich guy continues paying consultants.
Alternatively. Consultants tell him an independent candidate, even a billionaire as dashing and smart as him, has zero chance of a)winning the election b) getting anything done without also changing the composition of Congress.
Consultants are paid once and told goodbye. Rich goes looking for different election consultants.
catclub
@Kay:
Democrats. Seems to forget to trash Trump.
Kelly
With a bit of luck he’ll be such a universal laughingstock that will discourage other billionaires. Probably not. They are all unique world changing rainbow farting unicorns after all.
Kraux Pas
Fixt
sukabi
Saw this over at Atrios place in a Krugman tweet where he’d mention Sacha Barron Cohen, so thought it eas a joke…are we really back to how a man dresses (if only in our dreams) for work proves or disproves his fitness for the job?
That, right there, proves Schultz’s total unfitness for the job. What an unserious boob.
germy
He’s threatening us. “Democrats! Don’t you dare raise my taxes or I’ll get trump reelected!”
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: He sounds like an entitled idiot.
Brachiator
This Schultz dope is stumbling out of the starting gate. His presidential bid is pretty much DOA, unless Trump humpers like him.
acallidryas
Now there’s a guy with his finger on the pulse of America and a key eye to the real challenges to our political norms.
On the plus side, I’m feeling way less concerned about this specific vanity campaign than I was a few days ago.
catclub
@Creature: Brewster’s Millions was a documentary.
Martin
Check on your relatives in the midwest. Spent some time with my mom on the phone last night and this AM helping her with her furnace. Furnaces aren’t designed to run continuously, so hers would overheat and then have trouble turning back on (furnace is a bit undersized, not anticipating -20 weather). I worked with her to improve the airflow to the furnace so it wouldn’t overheat as quickly, and how to cycle it through the thermostat so it could get a break and cool down before it reached an overheat point. Also did a few things to help minimize heat loss. House seems to have stabilized at 65 now that the temps are coming up a bit where she is, but she’ll have another challenging night. Assuming it doesn’t fail in the next 24 hours she should be good from there out.
Soprano2
@Kay: He’s just another entitled billionaire who thinks he shouldn’t have to actually compete with other people’s ideas; he’s due a spot on the ballot just because, dammit! I wish he would go away.
I keep asking people who say he’s a Democrat what Democratic positions he has promoted. So far no one has been able to give me an answer. Treating your employees like they are people isn’t a good enough reason to just call someone a Democrat.
eemom
I don’t watch morning Joe (God forbid), but I heard he asked Schultzie if he knew what a box of cornflakes costs, and the answer was negative. #manofthepeople
[Individual 1] mistermix
@catclub: I hope they’re too stupid to get him on the ballot, but that’s probably too much to wish for.
Kay
Does he know anything at all about FDR? Why would he admire FDR, given that he loathes Warren?
He couldn’t read a wikipedia entry before launching a nationwide tour? He imagines FDR was a bipartisan centrist? That he didn’t meet ferocious opposition at nearly every turn, and his opponents were people like Schultz?
It’s the arrogance of not knowing anything and lecturing people who do know something. No one should admire this. It’s bad. It’s not admirable.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
at the Height of the Great Clenis Fascination, Tweety used to shriek it several times an hour.
catclub
@sukabi:
I remember someone pointing out that the really successful people dress incredibly crazy. Captain Kangaroo and Elvis jump to mind.
It is the boring drones who dress in a suit and tie.
chris
Just a gentle reminder or maybe you missed it on Sunday. Jacy’s fundraiser is almost halfway to her goal.
https://balloon-juice.com/2019/01/27/open-thread-and-helping-out-jacy/
Mary G
Steve Schmidt is showing his true colors. Some Democrats like him because he trashes Twitler on TV all day, but I’ve always thought he was just waiting out the Republican downfall and would go back to ratfucking one day, and that day is here.
eric
I think Bill Gates is goading other billionaires into saying and doing stupid shit so he can go down as the greatest billionaire of his generation.
WaterGirl
@Mary G: Yep. Ugh.
Kraux Pas
This exactly. Fortunately, this gives me hope that if he proves to be a spoiler, it will be against the other side.
And I haven’t seen anything to suggest he’s even passed this bar.
[Individual 1] mistermix
@Kay:
Well he clearly doesn’t know that FDR died 73 years ago, so he’s not an answer to the question of his favorite Democratic president of the last 50 years.
germy
@eemom:
“I mean, it’s one banana, Michael… What could it cost? Ten dollars?”
germy
Schultz is complaining about people demanding “free jobs.”
What is a free job?
jacy
I made the mistake of listening to Morning Joe early because I didn’t want to get out of bed (I know, a mistake under any circumstances), and, y’all, Schulze is straight-up delusional on the level of Underpants Gnomes. Before I threw the Kindle down in disgust, the gist I got is that neither a Democrat or Republican can fix things, but as an independent, he’d have a mandate that would immediately solve all the problems in the world automatically. LITERALLY THAT’S WHAT HE SAID. He had no plans, no policies, no ideas. NONE. Not even bad ones. Just the magic of being a independent. Swear to dog, I ever meet him in person I am going to kick him so hard in the nuts that he’ll be crawling for a week, just on general principals.
Kraux Pas
@germy:
Jobs created by government spending, mayhaps?
catclub
@Kay:
and Trump has only ridden it to the presidency. Schultz thinks he is an actual billionaire, unlike Trump, so he should be even MORE popular.
Trump could at least lie that he was not planning on cutting taxes for billionaires, and that he would protect social security and medicare. keeping taxes low for Billionaires seems to be the only thing Schultz sticks to. Worst possible read of the electorate. Accurate read of peterson Institute pundits.
Edward Brennan
Time to start Tweeting Starbucks cups with MAGA written on them. Can one get a MAGA hat in Starbucks Green?
I bet Howie won’t release his tax returns.
Kay
@Soprano2:
He opposes the wall and he thinks education is good. Find me someone who thinks education is bad, outside of fringe religious sects. It’s banal. It’s the least objectionable pablum you could possibly come up with. If he were a 7th grader you’d say “you’re just phoning it in and pulling this out of your ass- go read what you were supposed to read and do it again”.
Do you support “opportunity”? Yes? So does Howard! Then we’re all agreed! That’s the level he’s on.
It’s a go on “education” and “opportunity” now that I reached this deal with you. See how easy that was?
trollhattan
@Steve in the ATL:
Not if you run UPS.
Special note to you sub-zero types, my first tree blossom was noted Saturday. Seems early but there it is. You’re welcome.
Villago Delenda Est
Howard Schultz needs to GO THE FUCK AWAY. Because Bill Clinton was the best Republican President of the last 50 years, and the best Republican President since Eisenhower.
germy
@Kay: Well, when they ask him more direct questions he refuses to answer, calling them “hypotheticals” so I guess he has a secret plan.
catclub
@jacy: can’t they ask him: 1) How many like minded independents he plans to carry into the Congress?
2) Has he ever watched schoolhouse rock?
germy
@Kraux Pas:
Ah. Hadn’t thought of that.
So he’s one of those “Government doesn’t create jobs, the private sector creates jobs!” types.
jeffreyw
@Mary G: Agree, he’s looking to back Schultz against Pence when Trump falls.
Dorothy A. Winsor
By “centrist,” these people seem to mean “the things I think.” It seems to me that “centrist” applies to the position the majority of the country is taking. So taxing the rich is centrist. So is some kind of buy-in to Medicare or single source or something like that. IOW, D positions are centrist. “Centrist” isn’t necessarily a synonym for “correct,” though in this case, it is. :-)
gwangung
@Kay: https://twitter.com/jonrog1/status/1089383553945628673
Jim, Foolish Literalist
that reflects a lot of non-voters’/disengageds’ view of politics. “It’s all just partisan bickering.” David Broder believed down to the core of his intellectually bankrupt soul that ‘both sides could come together and Get Things Done”, which meant we should all be Bush 1 Republicans. Add in the hedgehog view that says “I got rich persuading people they love something called a “latte” or a ‘frappuccino’, so I can do anything”, and you got Schultz.
Further add that his notion that The Deficit is going to kill us all! and the only solution is “getting serious about entitlement reform” is an article of faith among 90% of the people who appear on political TV, especially on Morning Fucking Joseph, and this Billionaire Bubble Boy looks like a wiseman.
Villago Delenda Est
@germy: No one who is, or has been, a soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine has ever held a job.
West of the Rockies
I hope (and anticipate) that I-Know-Nothing!-Schultz has a campaign as important and long-lasting as, say, Bobby Jindall’s. To quote Sir Charles, he’s a knucklehead.
germy
Back in my coffee drinking days, I stopped into a Starbucks and ordered a “regular.” It tasted like burnt shit.
Also, the barista or whatever they’re called palmed the top of my cup completely which I found disgusting.
trollhattan
@Villago Delenda Est:
Would that make Bill Clinton the first black Republican president?
germy
Someone on twitter claimed that schultz went for “quantity” over “quality” which is why there’s starbucks everywhere.
Someone else said the starbucks cartoon mermaid would make a better candidate.
Villago Delenda Est
@trollhattan: That, too!
catclub
@trollhattan: I was going to mention that. too. also
Adam L Silverman
Lock her up!
Kay
@gwangung:
I wonder why they all steer clear of Eisenhower – seems like a safe choice, everyone likes him, and then I remember he’s the example people use for when tax rates were higher. That’s why we have to go with myths about how Reagan always wore a tie and jacket in the office.
germy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
And about 3% of the general population.
Brachiator
@Major Major Major Major:
There are a lot of white people with “post black president stress disorder.”
Kelly
@trollhattan: I saw a big black and yellow bumble bee and some kind of insect larva hanging from silk threads in the sunny woods next to the river. Bug activity in January in the Willamette Valley seems odd.
Eljai
“Lifelong Democrat” retweets RWNJ. Dog help me.
jacy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Bothsiderism is the stupidest fucking pernicious foolishness. There are two sides. One is good, one is evil. That’s the truth. There are no fucking shades of grey. And any goddam billionaire wants to utter the fucking word “deficit” should lose a finger every time he says it until he runs out of fingers and then we’ll start on other body parts. Usually I don’t get this het up over something so stupid, but Schulze is the distillation of every fucking voter who believes in magic and has not even one iota of understanding that’s grounded in reality about how the world actually works. Yep, I am pissed off about this thing way out of proportion to what it deserves, but, jeezly-pete, the bone-deep idiocy has got to me today.
David Hunt
Well, being a businessman, I’m sure that he gets a great deal of information from the Wall Street Journal. What could be more centrist than that/
schrodingers_cat
@Major Major Major Major: @Brachiator: I also don’t understand what is so wonderful about sitting in your jacket when you are trying to work at your desk, not just playacting like the Orange one.
Tazj
@Kay: Yes, he should been asked to elaborate on why he thought FDR was the best Democratic president since it seems so at odds with his views on taxation.
His comment reminds me of what Michael Dell said at Davos. Dell asked people to name a country where a 70 percent marginal tax rate worked. A MIT professor piped up and told him that the United States had a very high marginal tax rate from the 1930s to the 1960s.
We’re supposed to have respect for the opinions of these businessmen who are ignorant about things they should have learned in high school history.
sukabi
@jacy: ^^^^^
That’s me upvoting you. ?
germy
https://www.newsweek.com/fox-news-jill-stein-tucker-carlson-howard-schultz-democrats-independent-third-1311541
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
I’m beginning to think this isn’t even a real campaign this guy is thinking of running. It’s all a joke, some kind of performance art, a parody of No Labels. This guy can’t be for realz.
PPCLI
I’ve never understood the wild enthusiasm on the right for President Secret-Arms-to-Iran, but I do have to give credit where it is due. Reagan would never wear (in the Oval Office, or anywhere else) a ridiculous looking tie so long it droops to his crotch, fastened to his shirt with scotch tape, bizarrely believing that that the long tie would make him look less like a lardball.
Reagan (and Obama too) believed that such a thing would be incompatible with the dignity of the Office of the President.
hueyplong
White man shows up, claims entitlement to job for which he has no experience and fewer qualifications, then engages in unsolicited sharing of his offensive sociopolitical views.
The only thing as common as vignettes of Trump voters’ offensive sociopolitical views.
But I enjoyed the random shade toss at Mark Penn.
libarbarian
He meant his “inner”, “spiritual” jacket.
sharl
Some folks seem to be a bit skeptical of Schultz’s claimed origin story.
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It isn’t even what it purports to be, though. It’s not a “solution”. It’s a fairy tale. There isn’t agreement because the two sides have fundamental differences. Pretending that’s not so isn’t hard headed and practical- it’s a fantasy.
It’s so lazy, such crappy, easy thinking. It’s almost circular. “If we would stop disagreeing we wouldn’t disagree”.
jacy
And — in something that is not me ranting about the utter murderous rage I feel about MisterOverpricedCoffee — for everyone who ordered prints from my Etsy store, they are shipping out as we speak and everyone should get a separate email with the USPS tracking number. WHEW! and THANKS!
Archon
In a healthy polity Schultz would be running as a Republican, would win the GOP nomination and would get about 38 percent of the vote in a general election.
trollhattan
@David Hunt:
“So, Mr. Schultz, what’s it like having Rupert Murdoch in your pants all day?”
Kraux Pas
@Kay:
Well, he said in the last 50 years. Eisenhower does not qualify.
WhatsMyNym
Lived in Seattle for a decade and a bit. So many better coffee shops to choose from that I rarely went in a Starbucks. The one in Belltown was in nice old building though and the original one at the Market is good to bring visitors too.
Now I live further out, only Starbucks are in the grocery stores. Plenty of alternatives. Even the vending machines on the ferries serve better coffee (if they keep them serviced).
catclub
@germy:
Blind pigs and acorns. As long as there is no RCV in most elections, there is an actual huge risk of running independents that she actually identifies. But I am guessing she would rather push independent candidates than get RCV into the system, first.
Brachiator
@sharl:
His parents didn’t put him in a rocket sent from the planet Krypton??
Dan B
Howard and Sherrie (sp?) Schultz built landscape walls into a public park adjacent their house. The velly wealthy neighbors were in an uproar even though it was impossible to tell without a survey. The park was nothing special (I worked on the property before Howard and Sherrie.) Sherrie complained bitterly about how they were treated so badly by “the neighbors”. The Schultz’es moved.
Even their mega millionaire neighbors were more community oriented. And don’t get me started on how Howard lost Seattle’s favorite team! Poor hopeless Howie. ;-(
Cheryl Rofer
Schultz just favorably retweeted a piece from PJMedia, telling us who he is, in case any of you were in doubt.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Someone said in the early nineties that voting for Perot was a way for people who find politics intimidating or boring or otherwise too hard to think about to feel engaged without taking responsibility for the outcome. I think there’s a lot of truth in that, and the whole idea of “run the country like a business” grows out of the same kind of thinking.
I also see Schultz whining that he’s being “criticized for being a billionaire”. I hope he says that in front of somebody with the gumption to say, “No, you’re being criticized for thinking that selling frappucinos and cake-pops qualifies you to be President.”
ETA: And now occupying the MSNBC chair the Very Serious Mr Schultz sat his arse in this morning: Kristin Davis, the Manhattan Madame”, I think, who is now, somehow, a client or colleague or employee of Roger Stone.
Kraux Pas
@Brachiator:
Bundled with a loan of a “mere” million dollars.
WhatsMyNym
Spanky
@jacy:
Next GoFundMe is going to be for an airplane ticket
(Fixed format)
Kraux Pas
@Cheryl Rofer:
At least it was thoughtful enough to phrase the slur against Warren correctly and warn us about that listening to
Harrislikely any female Senator can expose us to ear-damaging pitches of noise.trollhattan
@WhatsMyNym:
$12.7k is the median?
Old School
@PPCLI: The Reagan worship is mostly because the choices of recent Republican presidents to name things after at the beginning of the century were Nixon, Ford, and Reagan. So the cult developed around Ronnie.
Aleta
VeniceRiley
@Cheryl Rofer: I was just tweeting that. Schultz is setting some kind of land speed record for own goals in a 48 hour period.
WhatsMyNym
@trollhattan: Well they get tips, maybe. And Starbucks didn’t include the value of the benefits given, whatever they are.
I made more working as a part time waiter at a hotel in the late ’80’s.
Spanky
@jacy: I’m sorry you’re all het up, but damn! you’re entertaining.
catclub
@Cheryl Rofer: Archon mentioned that Schultz should be aiming at the GOP ticket. If he is, I think this is a smart way to go about it. Prove that you are hated by the Democrats.
If Trump disappears (it could happen!) he would have a shot.
On the other hand, even the GOP is not stupid enough to go for someone who promises to cut Social Security and Medicare. They prefer to be lied to about those.
Felanius Kootea
@catclub: Schultz needs to get a reality show stat if he wants to get those Trump voters.
Another Scott
@sukabi: I saw the Krugman tweet in his feed so I thought it was actually fake.
I can’t believe it’s actually true.
On second thought, of course it is…
:-/
But, on the gripping hand…
Cheers,
Scott.
joel hanes
@Martin:
If she has an electric oven, she should turn it on at 350
jl
Oh my God. Schultz is a nincompoop. I mean, he’s pure distilled nincompoop. Schultz is a clown, the only question is whether he is a paid clown or not.
Reagan’s competitors are Nixon, Ford, GHW Bush, GW Bush and Trump. Ranges from functional functionaries who did dubious things, to crooks and disasters.
And the mindless fawning over empty, trivial symbolism, tied at the hip to obvious falsehoods.
Schultz is either a fool, or paid agent of very establishment corporate interests who want to derail progressive trends in Democratic party, even if it means significantly increasing chances of a very dangerous, perhaps existential, threat like Trump is re-elected in 2020. I heard in the news he went after Harris? Harris might be great, I don’t know enough about her yet, but if you think Harris is an ‘un-American’ radical progressive, you are just out of it, or you have a destructive agenda.
Schultz is political poison. We don’t know the reason behind why he is poison, but he is poison. He could be a sad egotistical nincompoop, or he could be an operative.
And that doesn’t even touch his ‘un-American’ talk. Which is also poison to good civic democratic debate and governance.
Ghost of Joe Lieblings Dog
@WhatsMyNym:
So half of the employees gross barely a thousand bucks a month? Bow down to the Job Creator!
Jesus.
Mandalay
And here’s an excellent roast of another (racist) rich old white guy: Tom Brokaw’s Comment on Hispanics Wasn’t Racist. It Was White Magic.
The article gave Brokaw a well deserved skewering, but this was the most telling snippet:
HeleninEire
Ok. The airbed is inflated (and remarkably comfortable) and has sheets, a comforter, and pillows; the bathroom has a shower curtain and towels, and there’s a kettle, tea, and a mug in the kitchen. Basics DONE!
Barbara
@Aleta: What ideas? So far as I can tell, the only clear idea he has is that he specifically should not have to pay higher taxes. Nonetheless, really, I think there is a bit of an overreaction on the part of Democrats to his presumed candidacy. Of course, it’s also the effect of PTSD at the possibility of having to endure Trump for 4 more years.
ruemara
@Mary G: The idea that because you hate the same person, you’re on the same page, has never made sense to me.
bemused
Schultz sure doesn’t act or sound like he grew up in housing projects. He must be one of those self-made guys who pulled the ladder up behind him early on and got amnesia he wasn’t always filthy rich. I hate these people who try to talk like they want all americans to do better but that’s just self-deluded bullshit.
patrick II
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
He Is For Real if he prefers Trump to a liberal Democrat winning the presidency.
oldster
As soon as someone talks about “jackets in the Oval Office,” I know just who they are.
They are someone who did not like the blackety-black man in the White House, and thought his kind did not belong there.
Thanks, Howard, for telling us all loud and clear what issues you care about.
It makes me even happier that I wrote to Starbucks a few days ago to inform them about my boycott.
Then I was worried that you might be popular and help get Trump elected.
Now I’m less worried, and more disgusted.
Kraux Pas
@jl:
And more the former than the latter.
bemused
@Mandalay:
Old white guys like Brokaw can’t imagine they are the people who need to work harder at assimilating to the diverse culture we have. It’s 2019, not 1959.
jl
@Barbara: Besides not touching rich people’s money, he doesn’t want any public policy interfering with current US approach to corporate governance. And I think I heard on the news he is worried about policies that might pick unfairly on hedge fund managers.
His concern over any changes in how US handles corporate governance struck me since I just finished reading a book on the history of corporate governance, and in the US it has metastasized into a politically and economically dangerous mess, IMHO.
The very best case is that he is an egotistical fool who think that because he is very successful at marketing coffee, he is some sort of political and economic genius.
There is a lot of very bad stuff in Schultz candidacy and it needs to be crushed. In some ways Schultz is almost as much an ignorant reactionary as Trump, perhaps in some ways more so. Crush the Schultz candidacy. I think much more important than worrying about the likes of Gabbard or BS.
Kraux Pas
@germy:
Come to think of it, isn’t the real problem that so many CEOs want free employees?
misterpuff
Great Job, Homunculus!
PaulWartenberg
@Major Major Major Major:
The Far Right lives in a fantasy world where Saint Ronnie was “humble” and “respectful” and THE BEST ZOMG OH YOU GUYS I MIGHT WANNA STILL MARRY HIM SQUEE so anything and everything to make him Better Than Life – or at least Better Than Obama, who apparently shat on everything in the Oval Office and set the place on fire before he left – has to be the story that’s true.
Peale
@Major Major Major Major: O.K. Jimmy Carter’s most misremembered speech involved him wearing a cardigan sweater in the oval office. No one remembers the content of the speech, but the cardigan was one of the many things comics made fun of Jimmy for. The whole ‘Reagan only wore suits” meme wasn’t to contrast him with Clinton (despite Tweety’s obsession with it). It was proof that he was more leaderly than that softee wimp Carter.
VeniceRiley
Did I just read that Steve Schmidt’s company works for Oleg Deripaska? That explains a lot.
Kay
Pretending not to be a Republican in a bad cycle for Republicans isn’t innovative at all.
Neither is a book tour to launch your candidacy.
Literally the only thing he’s doing differently is refusing to run in a GOP primary, because he would lose a GOP primary. That’s the sum total of the “innovation” here- ignoring rules that might harm his personal ambitions. There’s just nothing admirable or new about this. It’s self-serving taken to the next level compared to an ordinary pol. They are LESS cynical and self serving than this approach. This has the added dollop of “deceptive”.
Dan B
Hiward Schultz voted 11 times in the 38 elections since 2005.
A real citizen there.
PaulWartenberg
@jl:
I mentioned it before, elsewhere. The only Presidents in living memory the Republicans could admire are Ike, Nixon, Ford Reagan, Bush the Elder, Bush the Lesser, and trump. Eisenhower allowed FDR’s New Deal legacy to flourish, Ford was a clumsy moderate, Bush the Elder betrayed the party on tax cuts, Bush the Lesser failed at everything (and tried honest immigration reform), and Nixon got caught. Reagan is it, the only Republican President they can canonize for sainthood. So anything that fits the mood and mindset of the GOP punditry at any given moment, it will be something they believe Reagan did and did it the best.
The Midnight Lurker
@chopper:
Stole the words right off my keyboard, Chopper. That’ll teach me to show up late for class.
You would think they would give this ‘Obama was a bad President because he took his jacket off and put his feet up on HIS OWN GODDAMN DESK’ shit a rest after all the times it’s gotten the snot curb-stomped out of it.
And one of the ‘I’m not a racist’ Republicans should really clue the rest of their party in that when they say unbelievably stupid shit like this, it just proves they’re all racists.
Now take off your jackets, put your feet up, and please SHUT THE FUCK UP!
bobbo
New talking point: Reagan was the best because he rolled up his sleeves and got to work for the American people!
laura
Today’s Jack Ohman editorial cartoon is spot on! My attempts to link all failed, but I encourage you to give it a look see.
Also, fuck Ronald Reagan’s corpse with a rusty shovel.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Steve in the ATL: Word.
The Moar You Know
@Soprano2: He does nothing of the sort. I was one.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Steve in the ATL: It was the 80’s, we all wore wild stuff in the 80’s.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Give Schultz break, he’s old, he means Regan never forgot to wear his pants.
gbbalto
@Martin: I assume that you had her check the filter and replace it if it was clogged; that’s the most common reason for overheating.
When I designed HVAC systems, I used the standard 2.5% temperature to determine the heating and cooling capacities, i.e. the high or low outdoor temperature that was not exceeded more than 2.5% of the time. That means that the units will run continuously at extreme temperatures, and should be capable of doing so. If you were to design based on more extreme temperatures than the 2.5%, the units would be oversized and would cycle on and off too frequently at more moderate temperatures.
/Mech Engineer
[email protected]
@Barbara: So far his outspoken idea seems to be: the two party system doesn’t work. If that’s his goal, he’d have plans to propose (what?) in the coming months. Elect more than one rep per district (so minority parties could participate in Congress)? End winner take all? I don’t know, but right now the plan seems to be to intentionally avoid details. He’s treating his candidacy like a product roll out. “I’m a whole new concept” is his selling point for now. (These are my idle speculations.) But he seems to be into structure.
The Midnight Lurker
Go home, Howard! You’re drunk!!
Aleta
@Barbara: So far his main outspoken idea seems to be: two party system doesn’t work. If so, his roll out of ideas would be (what?). More than one rep per district? End winner take all? Could be that he’s intentionally avoiding details, handling his candidacy like a new product roll out. Take a look, get excited, because I’m a new concept. (I’m just speculating.) But he seems to be a structure kind of guy. Changing the structure would be his philosophy, goal, gratification.
The Moar You Know
@PaulWartenberg: Reagan signed “amnesty” for 4 million Hispanics. SOMEHOW THAT KEEPS GETTING OVERLOOKED
misterpuff
@Kraux Pas: Imagine Reagan Admin in age of Twitter and social media.
“Why is this old senile fart Presidenting?”
Steve in the ATL
@schrodingers_cat:
Trump keeps his jacket on to cover up his giant fat belly
jl
@The Moar You Know: The real Ronald Reagan is a very ambiguous politician, and one of historical significance, whether we like him or not. He was the most recent GOP president since Eisenhower who was not a humdrum functionary, or some kind of disaster or near disaster. He made some correct decisions at a time when it was important to make correct decisions: dealing with Gorbachev, pursuit of arms control, reasonable policy on immigration. In some ways he was very bad, loony economic policies, used bigotry, racism, and class resentment, exploited a wide variety of cultural divides, as a cynical political tool. He could change his mind and adjust some of his loony economic policies after evidence came in that they had failed (his tax increase).
He wasn’t all that popular throughout his term. To some extent, he gets credit for riding on a conservative reaction to some stale New Deal and Great Society policies that needed updating and adjustment (instead of the abandonment and sabotage the Gingrich conservatives delivered). How much of the mystique of the Reagan political genius is really attributing the resurgence of economic and cultural conservatism to him personally. A third, half?
The St Reagan of current GOP political mythology has nothing to do with the historical Reagan. Absolutely nothing. Reagan has become a totem and a fetish. A signifier of cultural white tribal identity.
schrodingers_cat
@Steve in the ATL: And his huge backside!
wasabi gasp
Steve Schmidt is one of the advisers. Knowing that, I see this whole Schultz thing as not about winning, but rather, a backroom concoction to try to kill Trumpism and reclaim the GOP by implanting Schultz’s head on Trump’s Republican body in hopes that the orange melon will shrivel and fall off. If true, not only are they being dangerously risky, but also extremely dishonest.
Ladyraxterinok
@Kraux Pas: IIRC there was some catch to claim Starbucks would help employees pay for college.
Even if every claim of his being a really great employer is true–this fact makes him so wonderful he should be handed the presidency by a grateful nation?!?!
When did rich guys (so far no rich women seem to have caught the disease) start thinking that their amazing wealth meant they should be president?
I realize we’ve had some super wealthy presidents(eg FDR, JFK)– but I think it became toxic with Romney. To me, he seemed to think his wealth anointed him in ways previous GOP candidates/presidents did not.
There was, of course, W. It was bizarre how the media/pundits in 98, 99 kept gushing over how much $$$ he’d raised. Like the other possible GOP candidates should just hand the nomination over to him. IIRC no one seemed to think the whole country should hand over the presidency to him. After 9-11, however, there was the strong assumption in the media and GOP that no one should challenge him. Hence the virulent ‘swift boat’ attack on Kerry–he didn’t have the RIGHT to challenge W! No one did.—See RNC attitude toward anyone presuming to run against Trump!!
Jonas
@Adam L Silverman: But it’s Hillary who was an out of touch elitist. Smh
Panurge
@germy:
I see Newsweek no longer knows how to spell “yeah”. I’m not sure anyone does any more.
Ladyraxterinok
@schrodingers_cat: They really pushed the idea that W always wore a suit and tie while in the oval office ‘out of respect for the presidency.’
There was always the implication that the awful hillbilly Clinton wore dirty jeans and a torn sweatshirt and put his dirty boots on the desk.
Of course the Obama’s destroyed the respect for the presidency by showing up black and daring to be there at all.
Remember how Mrs Kemp claimed Stacey Abrams wouldn’t be able to keep the GA gov mansion clean?
Ladyraxterinok
@bemused: Lawyers guns money has good article tearing up his claims re his background, esp his competing stories about how he got into college. Lots of conflict between his stories and their examination of actual history of time.
Ladyraxterinok
@jl: Reagan
1)opens 80 campaign in Philadelphis MS praising ‘states rights’ (remember that was where the 3 civil rights workers were seized and murdered in 64!!!)
2)took immediate advantage of the rise of the Religious Right that occured at the end of the 70s with Falwell and the Moral Majority
Noah Brand
If we needed further proof that this is a Sorta-Liberal Centrist White-Guy-Supremacist fantasy, “never take your jacket off in the Oval Office” is an Aaron Sorkin thing. Pretty sure that’s where Captain Coffee got it.
RobNYNY
@Steve in the ATL:
No, the green plaid suit was the worst.
And by being a Halston suit instead of a Brooks Brothers suit, it thwarted the Rule of 20 Years for Presidential assassinations.
Jinchi
Simultaneously wrong and stupid. Any person who never takes his jacket off in his office is a person who doesn’t do any actual work there.
Jinchi
“They” being Republicans. Which makes it strange that Schultz claims to have been a Democrat. He has Republican political views, and conservative views on “respect” for the office of the presidency. Could there be a more vapid thought in the age of Trump?
The funny thing is Trump probably can honestly claim to never have taken his tie off in the Oval office. He appears to only use it for photo ops.