Jesus H.'s to-do list:
* Sneak into Mary's uterus, all stealthy-like (check)
* Bread/fishes for all the bros (check)
* Get crucified for the sins of man (check – harsh!)
* Think up a purpose for John Delaney (next Monday)
* Help the most devout team win the Super Bowl (ASAP!) https://t.co/RzelkTZKla— Slava Malamud (@SlavaMalamud) January 31, 2020
Pointing & mocking is the only reasonable conclusion. Ed Kilgore, at NYMag, “Delaney Was First In, and Now Is Finally Out”:
Every presidential election cycle, there are vanity candidates: pols or wealthy business people who have the determination, the resources, the ego to persist in the difficult task of running for president despite abundant signs that it’s not working. Many observers accuse 2020 candidates Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer of running that kind of campaign, wasting tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars better spent on promoting the Democratic Party or down-ballot candidates.
But before either of these men got into the fray, there was another wealthy candidate who launched a presidential campaign long before anyone else, made a brief but not necessarily positive mark on the contest, and then hung in through thick and mostly through thin before abruptly leaving the race just three days before the Iowa caucuses: former Maryland congressman John Delaney.
A three-term congressman from a gerrymandered district running from the D.C. suburbs into western Maryland, and before that a successful (and largely self-made) banker, Delaney emulated another Marylander, 2016 candidate Martin O’Malley, in following the “book” by getting into the race early and focusing obsessively on Iowa. Indeed, nobody was going to beat Delaney to the starting post: He announced his candidacy on July 28, 2017. Unlike O’Malley, Delaney was rich enough to self-fund (loaning over $20 million to his campaign), and by declining to run for reelection in 2018, he was able to run full-time. By the end of 2018, he had completed the so-called “full Grassley,” with appearances in all 99 Iowa counties, a feat many presidential candidates never accomplish. By the autumn of 2019, he had spent a total of 80 days in the state, holding 229 events. From the get-go, he identified himself as a member of the moderate, “pragmatic” wing of his party. But his early start didn’t do much for him in terms of early popularity…
From the Cosplay Socialists — d/b/a ‘dirtbag leftists’ — pushing their own vanity candidate:
This was probably the last question John Delaney was asked at the end of his two year plus presidential campaign pic.twitter.com/lddY3cq4h5
— Chapo Trap House (@CHAPOTRAPHOUSE) January 31, 2020
At least Delaney wasn’t being propped up by the Russians and the Republicans. Assuming there’s a difference between those two groups any longer.
Semi-Respite Open Thread: Sorry, Mr. Delaney, ‘Niche’ Is Not EnoughPost + Comments (78)