I’m decreeing today to be …silly. So let’s start with a dog picture:
She really likes the sun, and when it hits that white coat of hers, she almost glows. A good day.
What’s next? How about Donald Trump, celebrating Cinco de Mayo:
Happy #CincoDeMayo! The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics! https://t.co/ufoTeQd8yA pic.twitter.com/k01Mc6CuDI
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2016
He loves Hispanics!
Jon Carroll, tellin’ stories, like he do so well.
Finally, a new reader took note of the post on spanking, and sent in a couple of stills. With a note:
…the media spankings I remember best were from the Westerns series which were on television all the time when I was growing up in Britain. Series like Bronco- that sure dates me! These were more likely to be a father and his big misbehaving daughter of the sort of age I was at the time- so they were of interest to me, but since as in this one below a shapely actress of about twenty two was pretending to be a girl of seventeen the effect may be similar. The ambience is different though, and growing up I preferred it. The daughter’s been sent to Finishing School, but has run off to the Circus to trick ride by day and perform in burlesque and hoochie coochie dancing by night.
FATHER: And you know EXACTLY what I’m going to do when I get you home.
DAUGHTER: (laughing) But I’m too BIG now to have my BOTTOM spanked.
FATHER: You’ve been needing this for a long time
DAUGHTER: (squirming now) OOOH!! AWW!! Oh that’s ENOUGH!!!
No, I don’t know why her hair is blonde in the second shot. But I love the shots.
And with that, I’m outta gas. Good weekend, all. More links appreciated.
Brandon said on May 6, 2016 at 12:55 am
More links appreciated.
OK. Continuing the spanking and butts theme:
http://www.people.com/article/madonna-defends-met-gala-givenchy-outfit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nCxkFMxYPM
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Hattie said on May 6, 2016 at 12:55 am
Maybe Woody Allen could do a remake,starring himself and Soon Yes.
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Hattie said on May 6, 2016 at 12:56 am
That’s Yee. Dang autocorrect, but it kind of works.
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Jakash said on May 6, 2016 at 1:43 am
I thought Soon Yes was a deliberate joke. And a good one!
Alex, from previous thread, rock on!
But, I took it for granted that G. W. Bush would not win in 2000. I REALLY took it for granted that, after his pathetic first term, he could not be reelected in 2004.
I REALLY REALLY took it for granted, last autumn and up until well after Iowa and New Hampshire, that Rump would be this year’s Huckabee/Santorum from the previous two presidential cycles. The media certainly did more than their share of making every day about him, but those millions of people really did vote for him. And Hillary is not the strongest candidate in the world, as we’ve seen in back-to-back primary bids. Until I see Dexter, and loads of Bernie supporters like him, say they’re voting for her in November, I’m not taking anything for granted this time.
(Apologies for not getting with the silly theme, but it’s not really tomorrow yet.) ; )
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Dexter said on May 6, 2016 at 2:03 am
Jakash…I was working graveyard, headset radio on, NPR, election night 2000…around 2:30 AM they declared Gore and played a rousing rendition of “Rocky Mount, Rocky Mount Tennessee”. Then to my utter horror, around 4:30 AM, they apologized and declared Bush and played a lively version of “The Yellow Rose of Texas.” I still hate that song, never did before. And then the band played on for weeks and even David Boies could not help..not with a weighted SCOTUS. 🙁
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Sherri said on May 6, 2016 at 2:21 am
Rocky Top, Dexter, Rocky Top.
I’m on the audit committee at church, and we were doing the audit today. Our church treasurer is a highly-educated, very accomplished, retired former business school dean whom I respect and get along with very well, and he’s also a total Rush Limbaugh-listening wingnut. There was a brief foray into politics as we were eating dinner after we finished the audit, and I got to hear that Hillary is a liar and a crook, because BENGHAZI!!11!! We just rolled our eyes and changed the subject to baseball.
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Deborah said on May 6, 2016 at 6:24 am
I was trying to figure out which side street in Santa Fe near the Spanish Colonial Art Museum would have a small pawn shop, then I read on. Also, I’m pretty sure that museum is up on Art Hill which is surrounded by residences. But it’s beside the point.
The only people who celebrate Cinco de Mayo are white frat boys.
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Suzanne said on May 6, 2016 at 7:28 am
I feel for you Sherri. I know way too many intelligent, reasonably well educated, hard working people that follow Limbaugh, Beck, and the like and absolutely believe everything they spew. It is frightening.
I saw on Facebook this morning that Mary Matalin has bailed out on the GOP. I don’t think she’s all that relevant anymore, but there it is, nonetheless.
I also entered into the world of the Facebook hashtag Ben Sasse last night. He’s the GOP senator (I think Senator) from Nebraska who basically said we need a 3rd party candidate for president, one that is, you know, an adult. The comments were quite cruel to Mr Sasse as I guess he’s a tea party sort & seems to not grasp the role the party has played in this. Again, I am left astounded that the GOP just doesn’t get that their minions, who they have primed with fear and loathing, are rejecting their ideas & now fear & loathe the party. One commenter said something like that they’ve spent the past years shooting at everyone & everything they perceived as in the wrong only to discover they are now in a circle shooting each other.
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alex said on May 6, 2016 at 7:29 am
I searched in vain for Tracey Ullman’s delightful rendition of Rocky Top on her beloved and much too short-lived comedy show from the ’80s, but instead found the next best thing.
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Alan Stamm said on May 6, 2016 at 7:55 am
Speaking of Taco Bowl Man, I saw a perfectly delightful portmanteu on that topic: Hispandering.
Let’s use it in a sentence, shall we? “Hispandering by politicians goes into overtime today.”
Source: http://www.alternet.org/culture/lets-stop-hispandering-politicians-cinco-de-mayo
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Kirk said on May 6, 2016 at 8:42 am
I’m partial to Tracey Ullman’s “They Don’t Know.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9un119lq4c
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Diane said on May 6, 2016 at 8:59 am
Yesterday at work, I was encouraged to hear a co-worker who is a very conservative, observant Mormon say that the Republican Party lost her when Trump became the presumptive nominee. But then I didn’t know what to make of the rest of her statements. She won’t not vote. If it is Bernie v. Trump she will vote for Bernie but if it is Hillary v. Trump she will write in a third party candidate. I totally couldn’t get the Bernie part so I asked- she said she doesn’t think he’ll be able to get anything he wants done and he’s not Trump but even to stop Trump she cannot bring herself to vote for Hillary.
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alex said on May 6, 2016 at 9:16 am
That’s what twenty-some years of hysterics on Fox will do to people. I remember talking to a relative when Bill Clinton was still president and she kept harping on scary Hillary stuff and I asked her WTF? She was convinced that Hillary was Lucifer in the flesh or something. So there’s a lot of irrational Hillary hatred out there, and it’s just like the unswerving belief that Obama’s a Kenyan communist who eats white women for breakfast and their unborn fetuses for lunch.
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Dorothy said on May 6, 2016 at 10:41 am
Re the still pictures of the cowboy and the females: I’d lay 1,000:1 odds the first lady is his wife and the second is the daughter. The women are probably into some weird “Let’s see if Pop can tell us apart!” so they dressed in matching outfits. Sort of the precursor to the gum commercials where a young dude pinched a gal in the swimming pool and suddenly says “OH! Mrs. Robinson! Sorry – I thought you were your daughter!!” Or am I mis-remembering those commercials from the 60’s?!
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Bitter Scribe said on May 6, 2016 at 11:34 am
I’ll never forget this one letter to a newspaper advice columnist about spanking years ago. It was purportedly from a 16-year-old girl who was regularly spanked and agreed that her father (presumably? it was never made clear who did the spanking) was right to do it. It got weirder: the “girl” went into great detail about how she had to change into thong panties before being spanked, so that her butt was exposed but her “private parts” were covered up.
The columnist just published this letter at face value, but you know it had to be from some fetishist. He or she (I’m betting the former) was probably delighted to see it in print.
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LAMary said on May 6, 2016 at 11:41 am
I think the blonde one was a professional spanking stunt double. Very specific job description and fascinating resume.
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alex said on May 6, 2016 at 11:54 am
Somehow I suspect that Trump’s taco salad tweet was no foible. Sneering disingenuousness is the hallmark of right-wing triumphalism and that seems to just reek of it every bit as much as the stink being raised over public toilets.
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brian stouder said on May 6, 2016 at 11:54 am
I cannot imagine spanking our 11-year old daughter, let alone our 17-year old daughter; or for that matter, our 20-year old son…or when our son was 11 or 17, for that matter.
Scenes like that from a movie would be grounds for instant channel-change/exit from room
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Bitter Scribe said on May 6, 2016 at 11:57 am
Alex @17: I respectfully disagree. I think he really is that clueless. This is, after all, the man who bragged about his “great relationship with the blacks” (after he and his father were found guilty of discriminating against them in housing).
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brian stouder said on May 6, 2016 at 12:07 pm
Alex – indeed.
It is amazing that people are buying what Trump’s selling…and it reminds me of the Coca-Cola executive who was asked if Coke purposely enlivened their “Original Coca-Cola” with their amazingly unsuccessful “New Coke” push years ago…
and his response was “We’re not that stupid, and we’re not that smart!”
By way of saying, I used to be amazed by the stupid things the Donald would say, and now my chin is dropped and I cannot help but admit that he’s got something going on, that’s working.
I guess we’re stuck in “interesting times”, as the saying goes
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brian stouder said on May 6, 2016 at 12:25 pm
By the by, I’m noting that the angst within the rightwing noise machine is just barely on a leash. I’ve a habit of clicking Fox News’ website, to see what their headline is – and this morning they had a screaming, top-of-the-page/all-caps headline about Hillary-Benghazi-ignored-deadline-something something; plus flagged with all-cap red letters screaming “EXCLUSIVE”….and 90 minutes later, that headline was gone. It still appears on their main page, but way down on the bottom third of bullet-point headlines (still with the shrunken red “exclusive” tag, though)
They switched to a menacing headline directed at Paul Ryan – “’BIG MISTAKE’: Trump, allies respond to Paul Ryan’s endorsement snub”…apparently the developing narrative continue to be this oxymoronic “anti-establishment” mantra they seem to believe sells.
I like “establishment”/established order/established law/established mechanisms. The maze of mirrors the right seems to be lost in is their irrational desire to both win political power, and remain anti-establishment once they win it! I’d call it “anti-responsibility” or “anti-accountability”; when they lose they can say “the game is rigged!”, and when they win they can say “rules don’t apply to us, and the other side is cheating!”
But, it’s working
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Bitter Scribe said on May 6, 2016 at 12:57 pm
The “establishment” and its pundits are losing their shit because Trump’s campaign is revealing what they’ve been denying all along: Their appeal was based on racism. Their bullshit “doctrines” of tax cuts for the rich, small government and all the rest were never more than tolerated by the bigoted base.
The proof is that Trump is now backing off his previously declared positions on big tax cuts for the rich and against the minimum wage. Who knows what he really believes in that regard–I’m not sure he even knows himself. But the point is, he understands that he got this far because of the wall, Mexican rapists, keeping Muslims out of the country, the cheating Chinese, etc. Trump’s supporters have no fealty toward the rich as such, and that’s what the Charles Krauthammers of the world can’t tolerate or even understand.
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Sherri said on May 6, 2016 at 1:20 pm
Hillary is a strong woman. She is inherently threatening to authoritarians’ sense of order. From this WaPo opinion piece:
Consider her slogan, “Fighting for us.” For many men, this slogan would have to be experienced as emasculating. A woman fighting for them? Rightly or wrongly, the slogan rubs the wrong way in relation to traditional notions of masculinity. Her slogan itself reveals a limited conception of who she seeks to represent. This is a potentially fatal flaw in Clinton’s campaign. The more that Clinton takes Trump’s bait around the issue of his denigration of women, the more powerfully this flaw in her own campaign will show itself.
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Jakash said on May 6, 2016 at 1:28 pm
Well, Alex, that covers a portion of the range of attitudes folks have toward Hillary. (#13) “there’s a lot of irrational Hillary hatred out there” Indeed.
“it’s just like the unswerving belief that Obama’s a Kenyan communist…” For some people, yes.
The votes of people who hate Hillary as irrationally as certain people still hate Obama don’t really concern me. People like that wouldn’t be voting for ANY Democrat, IMHO. But I read and hear from plenty of folks who LOVE Obama, but have problems with Hillary. And I’m one of them, frankly. Those are the votes that I’m worried about. I was dee-freaking-lighted to vote for Obama in 2008 and 2012 and couldn’t believe that we’d come all the way back to being stuck with Hillary this year. I voted for her, and will again, but, if she didn’t have flaws (the hawkishness that lost Dexter being a prime example), she wouldn’t be having such problems with a guy like Bernie. Yes, she’s been on the good side of a lot of stuff, and is very competent and hard-working, but there are legitimate reasons why she’s so vulnerable from the left. Anyway, it’s not the Fox-news acolytes that worry me.
Dorothy, I don’t know if you’re misremembering, or not, (#14) but Julie Robinson is too young to have been in a commercial like that in the ’60s, no? ; )
And c’mon, everybody, what could be a more authentic and charming bid for Hispanic votes than “celebrating” a fake Mexican holiday at one’s Central Park-view desk by eating a faux Mexican lunch that was prepared at the local mom-and-pop taqueria known as Trump Tower Grill?
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jcburns said on May 6, 2016 at 2:04 pm
Good old Rocky Mount, Rocky Mount N….C…!
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Sue said on May 6, 2016 at 2:27 pm
Oh yay, a silly Hispanic day!
http://www.collegehumor.com/post/6942161/student-makes-telenovela-parody-for-spanish-class
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Scout said on May 6, 2016 at 2:29 pm
Andrea Mucino is my new spirit animal.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniemcneal/people-are-obsessed-with-this-womans-response-to-donald-trum
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Dexter said on May 6, 2016 at 2:30 pm
alex, that video was great, thanks.
So…many have forgotten, forgiven, turned a blind eye to HRC’s support of George W. Bush’s frolic into Iraq; there’s no sense in my drudging it up anymore, so I now and forevermore , with this link,
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2016/02/hillary_clinton_told_the_truth_about_her_iraq_war_vote.html
give the issue a final “fukkitt”. If you want a beholden-to-Wall Street bankers President, a war hawk who preaches diplomacy over invasions but really believes in a claw full of sharp arrows, have it your way.
My big dog and I were attacked by two neighboring pit bulls last night on our last pee-walk before bed…lots of snarling and barking but no bites to report.
I have these issues to occupy my time, and I have had it with this 2016 Presidential election.
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Dexter said on May 6, 2016 at 2:36 pm
I must have been shook up a bit from the pit bull attacks last night…Rocky Top, indeed. And yeah , jc has it right…Rocky Mount is in North Carolina and I actually spent time there as a young man playing baseball,just passing through.
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brian stouder said on May 6, 2016 at 2:45 pm
Scout – great link at 27!
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Sherri said on May 6, 2016 at 2:48 pm
I agree with many things that Bernie says, but I don’t like him, nor do I really trust him. The argument I hear from him is the same old class is the problem argument that’s used to claim that racism and sexism aren’t structural stumbling blocks in our economy. I’m not saying that Sanders believes that racism and sexism don’t exist; I’m saying he doesn’t understand it.
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Kirk said on May 6, 2016 at 2:53 pm
Re: Taco bowl moron
The notion expressed in Trump’s tweet, that all Hispanic people are the same, grates on plenty of Hispanic people. There are Mexicans, Guatemalans, Nicaraguans, Puerto Ricans, etc., etc., etc.
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alex said on May 6, 2016 at 2:56 pm
Don’t forget that most of the Dems in 2003 got bullied into voting for Iraq by a hysterical electorate and a lapdog press and I’m as angry about it as any of you but I don’t think it’s fair to dis Hillary and ignore the rest of her party. Our party.
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Jakash said on May 6, 2016 at 3:01 pm
An excellent link, Dexter. Apparently, you’re not persuaded by the argument and don’t agree with its conclusion, though: “in weighing her qualifications to be commander-in-chief, against those of Bernie Sanders, her simple yes and no votes of October 2002 should not be the determining factor.”
I’ve just about had it with this primary season, as well, and I don’t even pay as much attention as lots of folks. You haven’t said, however, whether, given Trump as the opposition, you think you’ll see your way clear to voting for Hillary in November if she’s the nominee. Unless that’s what “fukkitt” and “have it your way” indicate, and I’m not interpreting that comment correctly…
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Sherri said on May 6, 2016 at 3:09 pm
So, the Tea Partiers threatened to default on US debt not because they didn’t think it was a big deal, but because they were trying to get what they wanted. Trump, on the other hand, thinks you can just default on US debt just like he did with his bankruptcies.
I can see it now: “You’ll take 50 cents on the dollar, China, or I have some nukes just taking up space over here that I need to clean out of my closet anyway.” Of course, Trump also doesn’t realize that most US debt is held by Americans. I’m not sure he understand the difference between the deficit and the debt, or what defaulting on the debt would do to our ability to borrow. Hey, running a country is just like running a business, amirite?
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brian stouder said on May 6, 2016 at 3:19 pm
Sherri – you’re a TOOL!! A tool of the ESTABLISHMENT!!!
And, you Liiiie!
You’re a ly’in bleeding heart from Seattle – or should we say Lyin’ Liberal from the Left Coast!!
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Dexter said on May 6, 2016 at 3:26 pm
Here in my precinct we black out squares beside our candidates of choice and feed the paper into a scanner. Then we get the ubiquitous lapel sticker “I (heart) voting” or “I voted!”
A month ago I posted in earnest I would vote for Hillary over Trump if it came to that. And maybe, if they give me an extra black marker, I could do that, still.
So it’s either HRC or whoever third party person makes it to our ballot here in Ohio.
And no, I do not agree with that author’s conclusion, because years after the invasion of Iraq, Hillary Clinton was a big cheerleader in increasing funding of that war…she went on Sunday morning talk shows with her pro-Bush agenda and persuasive lectures on the merits of backing Bush rah rah blah blah. It went on for years, not just a confused mistake at Shock and Awe. On many levels, I do not appreciate budget-blowing blood thirsty war hawks. We need a little butter , not all guns…and plane-loads of palleted bundles of cash delivered to odious Iraqi “leaders”. BTW…know who this is?
http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Protesters+broke+Baghdad+Green+Zone+stormed+sA2J5n8YzWix.jpg
Moctada al-Sadr led the cleric-sponsored break-in into Baghdad’s Green Zone a few days ago. This shit ain’t over by a long shot, not with that goddam billion dollar embassy in The Green Zone.
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brian stouder said on May 6, 2016 at 3:26 pm
Y’know, and it’s only May….surely the Doanld’s act will get old, and he will lose in all 50 states, yes? (If Mondale could only win one, I’m thinking the Donald could be skunked, yes?)
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Jakash said on May 6, 2016 at 4:03 pm
Okay, Dexter. Thanks for the reply, as I must have missed your post a month ago about voting for Hillary over Trump. I understand your conviction about Hillary’s hawkishness and somewhat agree, but it’s not like Trump will be a better choice in that regard and I definitely don’t want a Supreme Court with SheWho and Ben Carson as the newest members…
Brian,
Rump’s act isn’t old enough, already? How long does it take? His act is what his supporters like! He’ll only lose in all 50 states if the people who are disgusted by the act VOTE, which they’re not all very reliable about.
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brian stouder said on May 6, 2016 at 4:55 pm
Jackash – entre nous* – absolutely agreed.
I cannot envision the guy winning – which is scary because it sounds like ‘famous last words’ to say that.
But fercrissakes – surely large majorities of other voting blocs will reject his ass, yes?
60%+ of women voters should reject him, yes?
And people who are Hispanic/Latino/Black/Asian/Muslim/…and Caucasion – not to mention people who have served in the military (John McCain is no hero? I’ll be go-to-hell he’s not!), people who don’t want to conduct a genocidal war, people who don’t think only billionaire oligarchs can be trusted, people who have daughters or sisters or wives that they love and respect, people who are – or who have daughters or sisters or sons or brothers who are gay, people who can disagree without being disagreeable….surely all those folks must add up to a really big number, yes?
And then add to that people who genuinely like HRC (count me in that column) – and….maybe we’re headed for a happy ending
*our Proprietress was the first person I ever read who used that saying (I think in the ol’ News-Sentinel), and I liked it immediately!
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Sherri said on May 6, 2016 at 5:08 pm
There is no way Trump will lose all 50 states. He will win in the South and the Great Plains. The parties are so aligned at this point that there is almost no crossover voting, and even most so-called independents reliably vote for a particular party. The number of voters truly up for grabs is pretty small, maybe 10%.
If we want a less hawkish government, we need to convince our fellow voters that attacking other countries is stupid. The problem is that too many Americans view too many countries as our enemies, and want to bomb them into the Stone Age.
I was having a discussion about health care the other day with a you Bernie supporter. He’s not a Bernie or buster, he will definitely vote for Hillary. He wants single-payer, which sure, so do I, but as I asked him, how do you get there? What do you do about the insurance companies? He’s too young to remember the health care battles of the 90’s, and I’m not sure how aware he is of the fact that without Obamacare, he himself probably wouldn’t have insurance right now (he’s still on his parents’ insurance, because he has taken several years to figure out what to do with himself after finishing his voice performance degree).
My point to him was, even though single payer seemed obvious to us, it doesn’t seem obvious to many people, and back in the 90’s, the insurance companies did a very good job of scaring people into thinking that government health care was going to take away what they had. Had Obama tried to cut the insurance companies out, they would have done the same thing again.
There is no magic wand the President gets to wave. If we want something to happen, we have to make it happen.
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BethB from Indiana said on May 6, 2016 at 5:31 pm
This is a blog I read regularly, and I urge you to read her entry today and the comments that follow. Lots of things to think about written by a bright star in the “elder” blog sphere. This is definitely worth your time to read. Sorry I don’t know how to “pretty-up” a link.
http://www.timegoesby.net/weblog/2016/05/old-people-talk-about-the-2016-presidential-campaign.html
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Diane said on May 6, 2016 at 5:35 pm
This is depressing:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2016/03/21/donald-trump-will-win-in-a-landslide-the-mind-behind-dilbert-explains-why/
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David C. said on May 6, 2016 at 5:55 pm
How can someone who doesn’t understand the debt be considered for President and will the press even bother to point out that he doesn’t understand it. If he wants to fuck the debt holders then he wants to fuck anyone with a pension, 401(k), or anyone who holds a government bond. He’s probably dumb as the common herd and thinks China and Japan hold most of the US debt when something like 65% is held by Americans. We’re not the PIIGS countries, our debt is in dollars and we could pay it off tomorrow if we wanted to (and were stupid). He’s stuck in gold standard thinking which makes his the perfect Republican.
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Jakash said on May 6, 2016 at 6:02 pm
Brian,
Yes, but lots of those folks are gonna have to do more than reject Rump, they need to vote for Hillary, not sit it out or find a third party alternative they find more appealing. Republicans rejecting Rump — that’s fine, no matter what else they do.
But, “Arizona Sen. John McCain says he’ll back Donald Trump as his presidential nominee because GOP voters have had their say.”
Can you imagine that, after what Rump said about McCain, not to mention everything ELSE he’s said? Hard to remember, but there was a time when I thought McCain deserved serious consideration as a candidate. That was long before this, of course… before he started palling around with SheWho… before he thought “Bomb Bomb Iran” was a hilarious pun…
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/05/politics/john-mccain-jeff-flake-donald-trump/index.html?eref=rss_politics
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Deborah said on May 6, 2016 at 6:18 pm
Hispandering is a great new word.
I’m tired, this has been a long week. I’m tired of living in a mess. The new paint went up today and looks great, much warmer than what we had before. The closet shelves etc get Installed on Tuesday so that will help clear out a lot of stuff from the middle of the room. The refinished platform for our bed comes on Mon. Inch by inch it’s coming together. Our furniture that we got from Design Within Reach doesn’t come until mid June though. It’s shipping from France or Italy I forget which.
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Sherri said on May 6, 2016 at 6:31 pm
Diane, Scott Adams is an MRA idiot, not a political scientist or a pundit. I’m not surprised he’s enamored with Trump.
http://boingboing.net/2015/12/13/mra-scott-adams-pictures-and.html
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Julie Robinson said on May 6, 2016 at 7:04 pm
Jackash, in the 60’s I was still Julie Pigott. 🙂
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Sherri said on May 6, 2016 at 7:47 pm
Here’s what that SuperPAC money is for: http://bigstory.ap.org/urn:publicid:ap.org:7055523056d94f72a96fdf10fe4af9c0
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Suzanne said on May 6, 2016 at 8:16 pm
I think Scott Adams is on to something. Cruz obviously does not get the emotional side of people at all & Trump played him like a fiddle. I’ve also known a few Trump sorts over the years. They have a innate 6th sense for people’s weaknesses and can hone in on them like a duck on a junebug. Look how he dismantled Jeb! & Rubio & everybody else that ran against him. Hillary is seasoned & tough, but can she withstand him? I don’t know. He’s very good at what he does–which is to exhibit psychopathic behavior.
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Jakash said on May 6, 2016 at 8:46 pm
If alienating 2/3 of the country in order to emotionally appeal to 1/3 is a good strategy for winning a general election, Scott Adams might be the next Karl Rove. Doubtful. Here’s hoping (and noticing from the polls) that there aren’t as many bamboozled “American, Alpha Males, and Women Who Like Alpha Males” as he evidently thinks there are.
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Sue said on May 6, 2016 at 9:25 pm
I dunno, I think Scott Adams is a jerk, but that seemed well thought out.
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Sherri said on May 7, 2016 at 1:12 am
I think the instant someone uses the words “alpha males” and “beta males”, they’ve demonstrated that “well thought out” should not be applied to what they’ve produced.
I’m not saying that it’s not possible for Trump to win, I just don’t find Adams particularly compelling. As much as MRAs like Adams wish otherwise, women vote, and women are increasingly sick of the misogyny.
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Sherri said on May 7, 2016 at 1:50 am
Your Republican scorecard: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/where-republicans-stand-on-donald-trump-a-cheat-sheet/481449/
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Dexter said on May 7, 2016 at 2:15 am
I stopped into a local party store and bought a delicious Crush grape soda to cool my jets after cutting the grass. A couple old gents were buying a few $415 million Powerball tickets, and yes, clowning around as to how they would change not if but when they win Saturday night. One of the guys I recognized because he lives a few blocks from me, with his pretty blond Labrador doggie in a beat, run-down sagging-roof old house that makes me sad to realize a guy has to live like that…so this guy says he would immediately turn Republican and get on his soapbox for Trump. I know, but this guy thinks Trump is old-school, protect the rich from any taxation and all that jazz, but none of us know what Trump would really do once the curtain recedes and we see the bluster balloon deflate and Trump’s trusted advisers run the country. Who knows…maybe he’ll have people like “Brownie” in charge of F.E.M.A. and a new David Stockman slashing school lunches. Maybe he’ll soften towards Bush43’s cadre and consult old Cheney, even Rummy, I mean, don’t yas really miss guys like that? Now we remember the clowns and asswipes the Republican Party brings to us. Think about the horrible mess Bush sank us into, and then think of how Bill Clinton’s true legacy was a balanced budget( I know…some financial geeks say that was a paper lie but fuck them!) Think of the refreshing exhilaration the nation collectively felt when Obama was elected, the pride at his inauguration…and then remember Congressman Wilson screaming “LIAR!” during Obama’s first SOTU.
I was wrong about Obama at first, because I was persuaded to vote for Hillary ad I did. Obama’s been one hell of an improvement from his predecessor.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 7, 2016 at 8:06 am
I’ve been reading Scott Adams almost as long as I’ve been reading here, and I don’t see him being a fan of Trump at all. He’s been frustrated in an amused sort of way that people from earlier in the campaign didn’t see happening what he anticipated, and what he still thinks is going on, about The Donald being The Great Disruptor . . . and Adams has spent lots of time writing up what that means in sales and marketing terms. So I haven’t read the last link, but if he says “and therefore I’m voting for him” I’ll be quite surprised.
The idea of a conservative saying “I could vote for Bernie and not Hillary” doesn’t surprise me a bit, but I doubt it would be quite for the argument stated earlier so much as because with Bernie, while yes there’s some disingenuousness implied in the “and he won’t get anything done he’s so liberal” it’s mainly because you see what you get, like it or not. My wife’s already looking for a Hillary yard sign (life-long GOP backer), but my hesitation, which I doubt will keep me from voting for her, is that I just don’t know what she will do. My worry is less about liberalism as a general sense that she’s just too willing to follow whatever trend she thinks is current, with no real core — and as many of you have said from the left here already, you can end up all kinds of odd and unfortunate places with that.
Obama has only continued to gain my respect and appreciation with each passing year, mainly because I think, the political posturing aside, he’s got a pretty consistent core set of beliefs and non-negotiables, and as Jeff Goldberg has outlined in his “The Atlantic” interview, he’s resisted a great deal of pressure from the “this is how it’s always been done in DC” faction (military and political) to stick with his ideals and put them into practice. He’s earned a good library in Chicago, and some respect from the right during this last year, and there are more folks like me out in the underbrush.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 7, 2016 at 8:10 am
Sorry, his phrase is “master persuader” — although he’s talked about Trump’s skill as a disruptor as well. Adams clearly still is NOT supporting The Donald — see the following:
“Adams, mind you, is not endorsing Trump or supporting his politics. (“I don’t think my political views align with anybody,” he tells The Post’s Comic Riffs, “not even another human being.”) And he is not saying that Trump would be the best president. What the Bay Area-based cartoonist recognizes, he says, is the careful art behind Trump’s rhetorical techniques. And The Donald, he says, is playing his competitors like a fiddle — before beating them like a drum.
Most simply put: Adams believes Trump will win because he’s “a master persuader.””
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alex said on May 7, 2016 at 9:56 am
Trump may be a master persuader, but I doubt he’ll master the finer points of policy before it’s time to debate Hillary. He’ll likely resort to his usual tactics of changing the subject and name-calling, or just pulling stuff out of his ass, and it’s this specter that has a lot of people scared. Romney managed to inflict some damage on Obama in one of their debates when Obama wasn’t quite prepared to deal with someone unmoored by any facts or rules who was simply going for the optics of being top dog, substance be damned. A lot of people don’t know shit about policy one way or the other and aren’t listening to the substance of the debate; they can be won over by whomever shows dominance. Hillary handled herself well during the Benghazi show trial, but debating this cold-blooded psychopath may be another matter entirely.
But I remain unconvinced that Trump has a following any larger than most asinine half of the GOP base, or that he can expand upon it much.
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beb said on May 7, 2016 at 10:27 am
I seem Tracy Ullman do a version of “Paint it Black”
It was noted that every news channel ran that picture of Trump in front of that Taco bowl. God, we live a world of suck-ups. But was there video of Trump actually putting that food into his mouth, chewing and swallowing? I mean it’s easy to sit in front of food and look like you love it then as soon as the picture was taken the food is whisked away.
People who don’t want to vote for Hillary because she’s such a war hawk haven’t been listening to Trump. He’s relishes the idea of dropping the Bomb on our enemies, who ever they may be. He’s frightenly reckless. Hillary may be more in favor of military action but Pres. Obama has rarely shied away from action either. But in comparison to Trump she’s restrained and thoughtful.
People who are thinking of voting for a third party candidate forgot the winner-take-all nature of our politics. Not voting for the Dem candidate is the same as voting for the GOP.
This column from The Raw Story makes a good point. Prince didn’t die because he took pain pills. He died from acute, chronic pain. He didn’t take pain pills for the fun of it, he took them because he hurt.
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/05/prince-did-not-die-from-pain-pills-he-died-from-chronic-pain/
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Jakash said on May 7, 2016 at 12:33 pm
I, for one, didn’t say anything about who I thought Adams would vote for, and couldn’t care less. I think he’s wrong about how effective Rump will be using his brilliance to persuade many more folks than are already drinking his rancid Kool-Aid. “the careful art behind Trump’s rhetorical techniques” With all due respect, mmo, talk about putting lipstick on a pig! I guess I never appreciated the “art” motivating second-graders to call each other liars, or call certain girls ugly and creepy, or claiming that they’re Yuge! and blustering that they’re the best at everything. Do they all grow up to be President?
Glad you’ve come to appreciate Obama though. And good for your wife! : )
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Brandon said on May 7, 2016 at 3:22 pm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/13/inside-the-bizarre-vladimir-putin-cafe—complete-with-barack-ob/
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Sherri said on May 7, 2016 at 5:18 pm
I’ve read a fair amount of Adams, though not recently; I read him when he first started blogging, discovered just how misogynistic he was, and Dilbert was less funny. I think he’s one of those independents who claim to not match up with anybody yet always end up in the same place. To me, he gives the game away here:
Trump is well on his way to owning the identities of American, Alpha Males, and Women Who Like Alpha Males. Clinton is well on her way to owning the identities of angry women, beta males, immigrants, and disenfranchised minorities.
Notice how Trump’s supporters are capitalized, and Clinton’s aren’t? Notice how he’s divided the world into “Women Who Like Alpha Males” and “angry women”? And, as I said earlier, at this point, especially in context of other things Adams has written, when he uses the terms alpha male and beta male, we know where he stands. Pretty much the only people using those terms regularly are the MRAs and PUAs, if there’s any distinction between those groups. I expect most of those people to proclaim their special snowflake brand of politics, but love Trump’s brand of authoritarianism.
Glancing through his recent blog entries, I see he’s also picked up on the far right meme that Hillary Clinton is sick. It reminds me of when a right wing friend of mine sent me some mimeographed paper years ago about how JFK had Graves disease, and how that explained some terrible things he did, and what a scandal it was.
Scott Adams whole schtick about Trump is based on his flawed understanding about women. He may not agree with Trump politically, but he admires Trump, and he doesn’t respect Hillary.
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Sherri said on May 7, 2016 at 5:22 pm
Flying while doing math: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/rampage/wp/2016/05/07/ivy-league-economist-interrogated-for-doing-math-on-american-airlines-flight/
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Sherri said on May 7, 2016 at 5:25 pm
In a Reddit AMA, here’s what Scott Adams had to say about Trump and women:
I think Trump has a strong argument for being more pro-woman in actions, albeit offensive in words.
For starters, he offends everyone. Men just care less that they are called short, sweaty, or “plenty of material to work with.” So he might start by acknowledging he is offensive, but not biased in important ways.
Second, he has a great business record for mentoring and and promoting women. Actions speak.
And he is the most anti-rape candidate, ironically. That was part of his reasoning for limiting immigration. He took the risk of being labelled Hitler to protect American women. Or at least you could see it that way.
He’s pretty strong on that issue. And Clinton has her husband problems.
As I said, Scott Adams has a flawed view of women.
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St Bitch said on May 7, 2016 at 5:56 pm
Give the devil his due…when he’ s trying, tRump can croon and coax with the creme-de-la-creme of snake oil salesmen. He can seduce with dulcet tones…listen to his voice during lulls in his rants. However, those moments of persuasive coherency are simply not sustainable…no matter how cunning and catchy.
Thanks for the cheat sheet Sherri @54. Most intesting!
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 7, 2016 at 5:59 pm
When he goes onto the subject of men’s right’s, I’m reminded of the strange phenomenon of Dave Sim, who if you never went through a comic geekery stage of your life will mean absolutely nothing. If you loved Cerebus the Aardvark, his delamination was one of the stranger features of one of comicdom’s more amazing runs, and it was a strange brew of religious fundamentalishdom and misogyny, and he’d articulately go on for pages about how any man who called Sim misogynist was clearly the one confused about women. Yet he could still be brilliant in terms of art and plotting, right down to the end of his 300 issue run.
I guess you can put Adams in that category, which leaves open the question: what is it about men and drawing comics? (Don’t look up too much about Charles Schultz and his marriages for fear of really wondering about the correlation, but then there’s Bill Watterson, who gives us hope.)
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 7, 2016 at 6:33 pm
Schulz, sorry.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 7, 2016 at 6:39 pm
I have to admit that this jpeg neatly sums up why I’m not quite as willing to vote for Hillary as my wife is, even if she’s clearly the more responsible choice over The Hairdo.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ch4lbzTXIAAEIDv.jpg:large
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Deborah said on May 7, 2016 at 8:25 pm
The cable guy came today, yay, we have wifi at last, I’m no longer solely reliant on my phone gobbling up data like crazy. The wifi is so fast since we don’t have stupid DSL. I spent about an hour futzing around with the new tv and it still amazes me how little there is to watch, we don’t have HBO or any of those extras, just basic. Worthless, but it comes with our monthly assessment so it feels like it’s free. This tv is gigantic but less than a quarter of an inch thick except at the lower third in the back, my husband wanted a big screen for his movie watching. We sent our previous one down to Santa Fe, Little Bird has enjoyed watching Game of Thrones on it, it’s bigger than the one she had. I’m marveling at the ability to pause tv shows, all this is newfangled to me.
Jeff, are you really going to vote for The Donald? Doesn’t seem like something you would do.
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MichaelG said on May 7, 2016 at 9:36 pm
Well, Jeff, if you’re going to let a stupid slogan, a video bite thing like that determine your vote, so be it. I had taken you for a more thoughtful guy.
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brian stouder said on May 7, 2016 at 9:56 pm
Deborah- I love/love/love the ability to be watching whatever you’re watching, and then when the young folks or Pam want to talk about this or that, or they have a question, or whatever – you can hit ‘pause’ and turn your undivided attention their way….and then whenever you return to the show, you can FF through the commercials – a Win/Win!
MichaelG – I think ol’ Jeff tmmo was shooting us the quick/condensed version of his trepidation.
HRC’s greatest good-fortune is that the worst clown the GOP could possibly run against her is who they chose.
If the Republican nominee was a person who has held elected office and shouldered public responsibilities before, then the anti-Hillary narrative would at least have some credibility.
I’d agree with the theory that Hillary has enough baggage that it could have been much more difficult (and possibly impossible) to vote for her in November, if she was running against almost any other of the Republicans who sought the nomination (possibly excepting Dr Carson)
As it stands, in my view, there isn’t even any ambiguity about who is the better choice for our nation, between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Honest to Goodness – I’d sooner vote for Dick Cheney for president, rather than Donald J Trump.
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Sherri said on May 7, 2016 at 11:05 pm
From Obama’s commencement speech at Howard University:
Number three: You have to go through life with more than just passion for change; you need a strategy. I’ll repeat that. I want you to have passion, but you have to have a strategy. Not just awareness, but action. Not just hashtags, but votes.
You see, change requires more than righteous anger. It requires a program, and it requires organizing. At the 1964 Democratic Convention, Fannie Lou Hamer — all five-feet-four-inches tall — gave a fiery speech on the national stage. But then she went back home to Mississippi and organized cotton pickers. And she didn’t have the tools and technology where you can whip up a movement in minutes. She had to go door to door. And I’m so proud of the new guard of black civil rights leaders who understand this. It’s thanks in large part to the activism of young people like many of you, from Black Twitter to Black Lives Matter, that America’s eyes have been opened — white, black, Democrat, Republican — to the real problems, for example, in our criminal justice system.
But to bring about structural change, lasting change, awareness is not enough. It requires changes in law, changes in custom. If you care about mass incarceration, let me ask you: How are you pressuring members of Congress to pass the criminal justice reform bill now pending before them? (Applause.) If you care about better policing, do you know who your district attorney is? Do you know who your state’s attorney general is? Do you know the difference? Do you know who appoints the police chief and who writes the police training manual? Find out who they are, what their responsibilities are. Mobilize the community, present them with a plan, work with them to bring about change, hold them accountable if they do not deliver. Passion is vital, but you’ve got to have a strategy.
and
So you got to vote all the time, not just when it’s cool, not just when it’s time to elect a President, not just when you’re inspired. It’s your duty. When it’s time to elect a member of Congress or a city councilman, or a school board member, or a sheriff. That’s how we change our politics — by electing people at every level who are representative of and accountable to us. It is not that complicated. Don’t make it complicated.
There’s of course plenty more good stuff in there, too.
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St Bitch said on May 8, 2016 at 12:50 am
What a sucker punch, Jeff(tmmo)@68! Hillary seems to be able to take it, but I can’t…this kind of randomly illogical smear. I can understand Dex’s objections, as well as his attraction to Bernie. But you…I’ll know better than to check out any links you post from now on.
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Jakash said on May 8, 2016 at 2:17 am
I’m giving Jeff (tmmo) a pass on that link, personally. It was lame as Hell, no doubt. But very uncharacteristic. He IS “a more thoughtful guy” than that, clearly. (And I only know what I read on this blog, of course, where he’s given plenty of evidence of how insightful he is.) But any circumspect Republican has got to be reeling right now. I don’t envy them their position. We all know that Hillary is a tough sell for BERNIE SUPPORTERS, let alone Republicans who’ve spent 25 years thinking of her as their version of what Reagan was for Democrats. And I gotta respectfully disagree with beb @ #59, when he said “Not voting for the Dem candidate is the same as voting for the GOP.” A DEMOCRAT or left-leaning independent not voting for Hillary, if she’s the nominee, is almost the same as voting for the GOP. But a Republican voting for anyone other than the R nominee is a plus for Hillary, IMHO. If Jeff’s Republican wife votes for Hillary and he can only see his way clear to voting write-in for Kasich, that would be okay by me. ; ) (Sorry if this comment is too presumptuous and/or stupid for any or all. It’s late!)
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Sherri said on May 8, 2016 at 2:37 am
Oh well, Jeff(tmmo), just think of the Edwin Edwards-David Duke gubernatorial race from a while back, when there were bumper-stickers saying “Vote for the Crook: It’s Important!”
I think you can get over yourself and do the right thing.
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Sherri said on May 8, 2016 at 2:50 am
BTW, Hillary is not going to be indicted, because she didn’t break the law. Not that it will matter to all the people who think she’s a liar and a crook.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/05/06/hillary-clinton-is-going-to-be-exonerated-on-the-email-controversy-it-wont-matter/
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 8, 2016 at 7:27 am
I can vote for someone who says something ludicrous. Saying “I can’t recall” many times and getting paid millions for your memoirs . . . if that’s not ironic, I don’t know what it is. But it’s not enough to make me say “I could never vote for her.” It certainly justifies a certain hesitation, in my opinion.
The memes that parse why I could never vote for Trump even if he picked Elizabeth Warren for his running mate would clog this feed right up to the end of the internet.
http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID20521/images/aaa(1).jpg
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 8, 2016 at 7:28 am
(And I think my post said clearly I was, in fact, still voting for her. I’m just not thrilled with my options right now.)
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 8, 2016 at 7:30 am
Darn it [misses edit button]. Here, just take your pick.
https://www.google.com/search?q=you+have+reached+the+end+of+the+internet&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiot-6RsMrMAhVIjz4KHeFuBoIQsAQIHA&biw=1234&bih=627
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Sherri said on May 8, 2016 at 12:17 pm
Someone who has said “I can not recall” a lot of time is someone who has been under attack constantly for invented scandal. Sometimes, where there’s a lot of smoke, there isn’t a fire, there’s a big smoke machine. Trey Gowdy’s hearings on BENGHAZI!!11!, which are still ongoing, are but one example of a smoke machine missing a fire.
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Sherri said on May 8, 2016 at 12:33 pm
Leave Elizabeth Warren in the Senate!
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/2016-elizabeth-warren-trump-us-senate-elections-democrats-politics-progressives-213874
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Julie Robinson said on May 8, 2016 at 1:11 pm
There is much I do not recall, and were I called to testify under oath, that would have to be my honest answer to many questions.
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brian stouder said on May 8, 2016 at 1:15 pm
Sherri – a great article! – and, agreed – leave Warren in the Senate.
But I still selfishly want Sec Clinton to draft Sherrod Brown of Ohio out of the Senate and into the Vice Presidency. His packaging (white male) is almost required, given the woman heading the ticket (Obama had to grab a boring white guy, too) – plus (as always) – OHIO!
Who the blazes does Trump tap, though? Leaving obvious jokes aside (for example, another reality-TV personage, such as Blake Shelton, or radio lip-flapper Oxy-Rush Limbaugh).
Seriously – no idea
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Jakash said on May 8, 2016 at 1:35 pm
Hear, hear!, Julie R. Me too. Frankly, I’m amazed when anybody, from the most heinous right-winger to the most egregious lefty, can recall specific details from certain days, meetings, negotiations… whatever. Yes, the meme makes for an ironic jab, but not easily recalling things when being grilled by a prosecutor or committee about some picayune detail they’re trying to nail you on certainly doesn’t preclude slapping together a few hundred pages of stuff to produce a memoir that covers years or decades of what’s actually significant to one about one’s own life.
Not that you’re on trial here, yourself, Jeff, but “my hesitation, which I doubt will keep me from voting for her, is that I just don’t know what she will do”, followed by “not quite as willing to vote for Hillary as my wife is” while posting that link, did not make it “clear” to me that you intend to vote for her. FWIW. : )
I just don’t know what ANY of them will do, and never have. But whereas I was quite convinced that Obama had the kind of temperament to carefully consider options and make good decisions, in general, I’m also convinced that, of the motley crew running this time, Hillary’s the one I’d trust the most to make what I’d consider reasonable decisions. People have a lot of gripes about her, but nobody has ever suggested that she’s not hard-working and well-informed about the issues.
Rump, not so much. Personally, I prefer that celebrities on reality TV shows use them the old-fashioned way, as pathetic, last-ditch efforts to stay in the public eye and cash in, rather than as springboards to the Presidency…
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 8, 2016 at 1:42 pm
I just heard P.J. O’Rourke (an OU alum, correct?) give an equally hearty yet equivocal “I can’t believe I’m doing this, but” endorsement of and affirmation of voting for Hillary on “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” — and the panel welcomed him into the abode of those living in the light.
I’d rather be a conservative on wry than be a party loyalist on toast, especially when what’s being served up is creamed chipped beef. Also known as . . .
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 8, 2016 at 1:44 pm
Julie, if anyone needs your memoirs in a hurry, I’m happy to ghost-write them for a mere 20% of the take (25% if the deadline is less than 90 days). Samples available on request.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 8, 2016 at 1:50 pm
Brian, the problem there is that, with the Democratic Party in such disarray these days in the Buckeye State, while Brown will have no problem getting re-elected, I’m not sure he’d be replaced by a D if he left now. They’ve put Strickland up against Portman, which is not much in doubt from what I’ve seen (Ted makes a brave show in a few polls, but they’re outliers, and the GOP only just started counterpunching last week, and with his dismal record even from the point of view of many in the state ODP there’s not much doubt Portman’s back in a walk). I should know, but don’t, exactly how the process works if Brown steps down, but I think the Gov makes the initial tap . . . and it’s been bantered about that Kasich might just appoint himself to fill the remainder and/or until the interim election, leaving the state with low-wattage Mary Taylor as governor (not something even the ORP folks would be happy about). Would it be worth losing a Senate seat for the Ds to get that edge to Sec. Clinton in the race? This gets above my pay grade, but it’s what folks above me are chattering about.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 8, 2016 at 1:52 pm
I knew I’d seen this limned somewhere recently (but it’s been a busy, busy week here):
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/4/29/1521640/-If-Brown-or-Warren-resign-special-election-could-be-held-11-8
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Deborah said on May 8, 2016 at 2:19 pm
I too would love to see Warren or Brown as VP but I’m also worried about the Senate, and it seems better to keep them there. I think it needs to be Booker or Castro, someone young and Hispanic (his pandering?) or Black. I like what I hear Booker say but some seem to think he’s too connected to Wall Street? Can you imagine the heads exploding on the far right with a Clinton/Castro ticket?
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Deborah said on May 8, 2016 at 2:20 pm
Hispandering
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nancy said on May 8, 2016 at 2:37 pm
P.J. O’Rourke is not a Bobcat, Jeff. He graduated from Miami, the great producer of preppy douchebags, and then headed east to polish his ass-kissing suckup skills at Johns Hopkins, where I believe they have a master’s program in that very skill.
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Sherri said on May 8, 2016 at 3:15 pm
Leave the Senate alone! Pick someone younger for VP, someone who might be a viable candidate in 8 years. Put Elizabeth Warren in charge of the VP selection process, maybe – she’s actually a Democrat, has been out raising money for progressive Democrats, and maybe the Bernie supporters would be okay with her involved in the process. But don’t name her VP; she’ll be 74 in 8 years, and she’s in a position to be powerful in the Senate, rather than neutered in the VP slot. Use the VP slot to give name recognition to an up and comer.
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Jolene said on May 8, 2016 at 3:54 pm
Amen, Sherri. David Plouffe, Barack Obama’s campaign manager, says that the nominee should simply choose whomever he or she would like and trust as a colleague because very few votes are influenced by the identity of the VP.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 8, 2016 at 4:12 pm
Miami’s lack of a quality marching band made them a non-starter in our search for a college; I’ll note that I can cross P.J. off the list of OU’s better qualities. I’m just happy about having a reason to keep patronizing Court Street Coffee.
I’ve always thought Plouffe’s point was correct, but why then do campaigns always act and choose as if it’s a key factor for victory? I’m sure that’s been studied by someone.
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Deborah said on May 8, 2016 at 4:18 pm
That’s interesting that Plouffe would say that. It doesn’t seem true to me, so much is made of who is chosen to be VP.
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Deborah said on May 8, 2016 at 4:36 pm
This is probably because of some algorithm of the Internet but I recently ordered some shoes from Zappos for my brother-in-law’s wedding in June and now those shoes and others like them keep showing up in ads on sites I visit. I mean I already ordered them, why would they be trying to sell me more exactly like them? I’ve noticed this when I’ve made other purchases on-line, it seems like such a waste of pixels.
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Jolene said on May 8, 2016 at 4:44 pm
There was no clear political reason for Obama to choose Biden. He is a great campaigner, but didn’t clearly bring a particular constituency to the party. Nor was winning already blue Delaware with its three electoral votes much of a reason to choose him.
I think a lot is made of the decision because, once the nominees are chosen, the selection of a VP is the only other major event in the race until the election itself. The national political press needs to have something to talk about, so it talks about who the VP will be.
According to at least some talking heads, the Kennedy-Johnson ticket is the last time the identity of the VP made a difference. He helped to carry a big state that Kennedy might not otherwise have won.
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jcburns said on May 8, 2016 at 5:15 pm
However, P.J. Bednarski (@pjbtweet on Twitter) DID attend Ohio University (and edit The Post).
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basset said on May 8, 2016 at 9:20 pm
We’re so far behind at our place that we are just now watching the first Borat movie… got it at a yard sale for a dollar, figured why not. Well, why not is it wasn’t funny, couldn’t finish it. Did feel some connection with the local morning show he disrupted, though… used to work at that station in a former life.
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brian stouder said on May 8, 2016 at 9:40 pm
Basset – I’ve never seen any Borat movie, so you’re more “with it” than I am. ‘Course, our 11 year old is more ‘with it’ than I am, too (she just saw the Captain Marvel versus Batman – or whatever the hell – today)
I think VP choice CAN do harm (think McCain/Palin, or McGovern/Eagleton), so that a choice that does no harm is therefore “doing good” – even if it’s not the decisive factor. Otherwise, by my lights, Jack Kemp should have gotten Bob Dole elected, twenty years ago
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brian stouder said on May 8, 2016 at 9:54 pm
…and I still wonder who the heck Trump nominates/who the heck would agree to be his running mate.
Presumably he has to select someone who has at least some policy gravitas, yes?
Or, he could make an “all in” sort of gambit, and name a personage like Bill O’Reilly…or maybe he can resurrect someone from yester-year politics, like Steve Forbes (talk about your million dollar ticket!)
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 8, 2016 at 10:07 pm
P.J. O’Rourke on “Wait, Wait” said that Trump would pick a running mate to improve his standing with women & minorities, so he’s betting it will be Bill Cosby.
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Deborah said on May 8, 2016 at 10:37 pm
Speaking of Bob Dole, what’s with his pants? I realize he’s somewhat incapacitated, but his belt is way up there by his armpits.
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