December 21, 2016

And the #1 quote of the year is: "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters."

It's the 11th annual "Yale Book of Quotations" list, compiled by Yale Law School librarian Fred Shapiro. Here's the whole list.

I blogged the "shoot somebody" quote back in January. I said it wasn't crazy, but: "a colorful way of referring to polls that say people have definitely decided to vote for him and they're not going to change their mind. It's some comic hyperbole."

Here's the rest of the Yale list, with links to posts of mine blogging those quotes. You can see that I didn't blog them all:
2. "When they go low, we go high." — Michelle Obama, commencement speech at Jackson State University, Jackson, Mississippi, April 23.

3. "You could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the 'basket of deplorables.'" — Hillary Clinton, remarks at a fundraiser, New York, Sept. 9.

4. "And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love cannot be killed or swept aside." — Lin-Manuel Miranda, poem about Orlando massacre read at Tony Awards ceremony, New York, June 12. [Poem blogged here, but with different quotes.]

5. "(In politics) you need both a public and a private position." — Hillary Clinton, speech to National Multi-Housing Council released by WikiLeaks, Oct. 7.

6. "I alone can fix it." — Donald Trump, speech at Republican National Convention, Cleveland, July 21.

7. "Have you even read the United States Constitution? ... You have sacrificed nothing and no one." — Khizr Khan, addressing Donald Trump in speech at Democratic National Convention, Philadelphia, July 28.

8. "Lucifer in the flesh. ... I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life." — Former Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner, describing Ted Cruz during talk at Stanford University, April 27.

9. "His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve. That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life." — Dan Turner, letter to judge prior to sentencing of his son, Brock Turner, after Brock's conviction for sexual assault of an unconscious woman, June [sic — it must be the date written incompletely, not the name of the unconscious woman].

10. "I'm not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps. I'm the first Simone Biles." — Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, interview, Rio de Janeiro, Aug. 11.
I didn't blog #2, which is a reprise of an old Obama campaign quote, referred to as "our motto" by Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention. Who said it first? I don't know, but I've always associated it with a very similar and very different quote that came from Barack Obama in 2008: "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun." The 2 quotes can be harmonized if you think a knife is low and a gun is high.

I don't know why I didn't blog ##3, 9, and 10. They're all good quotes that would have prompted me to blog if I'd seen them at a time when I was looking for bloggables and if I'd found them before too many other people were talking about them.

I wonder how Shapiro went about deciding what to put at #1 and whether I'd have picked that rather than the competition, which I consider to be ##3 and 6. ##1 and 3 are beautifully equivalent: The candidate says something with some weird words that's outrageous and damagingly revealing. You might say, but Hillary's quote actually damaged her to death. It was perhaps the most momentous quote we've ever heard from a candidate. But you might say Trump deserved the #1 spot because he won, and that bore out the truth of his statement — bigly. In fact, I'm just noticing what's not on Shapiro's list — "... Grab them by the pussy...." Perhaps the 5th Avenue shooting stands in for the not-fit-for-the-Yale-Library "pussy" remark.

You know, I used to have a blog tradition of picking out my favorite quotes from what I'd blogged over the course of the year. I've got a Michelle Obama quote on my 2007 list: "He still didn't put the butter up... I was like, 'You're just asking for it, you know I'm giving a speech. Why don't you just put the butter up?'"

That has one from Barack Obama too: "Sen. Clinton is claiming basically the entire eight years of the Clinton presidency as her own, except for the stuff that didn't work out, in which case she says she has nothing to do with it."

And here's one from Hillary Clinton: "I wallowed in a morass of general and specific dislike and pity for most people but me especially...."

Here's my list from 2008. That was a year! Full of Barack Obama: "Because I'm an ordinary person, I thought that they meant, 'What's your biggest weakness?' If I had gone last I would have known what the game was. And then I could have said, 'Well, ya know, I like to help old ladies across the street. Sometimes they don't want to be helped. It's terrible'"/"I don't get too high when I'm high, and I don't get too low when I'm low"/"I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother"/"It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation. Yes we can. It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom through the darkest of nights. Yes we can...."/"This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal."

Oh, good lord, that was only Part 1 of my 2008 list! That post ends with: "And this is the moment when I hit the wall. This gets us through the first half of the year. You'll have to wait for Part 2." The first half! Ha! No wonder I abandoned the tradition. The tradition was overpowering me. And then, there in the comments, the third one done is Meade, quoting my "And this is the moment when I hit the wall" and saying: "Know your limit; stay within it. Breath. Rehydrate. Have a bite of energy bar. You'll be fine. You went a little anaerobic there, that's all."

The new year came. In the first half of that year, I met Meade. In the second half, I married him. That changed some traditions around here.

ADDED: Meade reads this post and says: "You need a tag 'Meade the personal trainer.'" He restates it: "Meade the personal trainer who sometimes gets a little too personal."

124 comments:

Brando said...

Much like Oscar awards, a "quote of the year" really should not be assigned until later years when we can look back at what long term impact the quote had. A lot of the ones you mention here I don't remember from those years, though they probably seemed influential at the time. But some quotes stick with you years later.

David Begley said...

Number 4 by LMM is not his best work.

rhhardin said...

Grab them by the pussy.

A test of women's status as serious people.

Ann Althouse said...

I'd like to see the blog archive as a mineable resource, but it's too big. I've got over 3,000 posts this year. Even if I limited myself to quotes that made it into the post title, it would take a long time to get through them.

MayBee said...

Brando said...
Much like Oscar awards, a "quote of the year" really should not be assigned until later years when we can look back at what long term impact the quote had.


Yes!

There is such a movement lately to try to declare things as "historic" before we have any idea how history will see things.

cf said...

Aww, you save the best "years in review" treasure for last, sweet reminder for us all to enjoy the love around us. Thanks, and cheers to your traditions, Ann, old and new.

MayBee said...

The Obamas need to stop trying to make "They go low, we go high" happen. It isn't a thing. ;-)

Jason said...

Well, "Grab 'em by the pussy" isn't from 2016. It's 11 years old.

Paco Wové said...

"not his best work."

And how.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Meade the personal trainer who sometimes gets a little too personal."

I can use that.

I am Laslo.

Browndog said...

To me the first quote is an excerpt of a quote, and should read "You know what else they say about my people? The polls, they say I have the most loyal people. Did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay? It’s like incredible,"

If you excerpt a quote that changes the meaning of the original quote, I'd call that a Fake Quote.

Paco Wové said...

"over 3,000 posts this year"

And over 47,000 posts total, which is remarkable. (There, I've just remarked on it.)

Ann Althouse said...

@Browndog

If you click on the link to where I blogged it originally, that is also something I said:

"Transcribed and punctuated correctly, it looks like this:

""And you know what else they say about my people —the polls — they say I have the most loyal people — did you ever see that? — where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK? It's, like, incredible.""

Fernandinande said...

The Yale Book of False Statements that Sound Kinda Pithy if You're Lithping.

Meade said...

"I can use that."

You think you've got love and fitness problems? Try jogging 75 miles for sex, bitch!

I am not Laslo.

Bob Ellison said...

The year is not yet over. We still have time. I'll give it a shot.

Green is plant color. Greenists are plaint color.

Who among us farted?

In America, you can always find a cop! In Soviet Russia, cop always finds you.

A great blue heron flies by my house daily. He's pretty good, but not great.


I'd include one about how my college roommate and I invented the word "meh", but the explanation is too long.

MadisonMan said...

I enjoy re-reading those old Trump threads. What obtuse commenters.

MadisonMan said...

I'd like to see the blog archive as a mineable resource, but it's too big.

You need an intern.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Meade the personal trainer who sometimes gets a little too personal."

“Keep pushing! Keep pushing!”

“I’m trying, Meade, I’m pushing all I can push…”

“You can’t lift heavy ideas without maximum effort! And look at that posture: that’s unforgivable!”

“I’ll straighten up. Look: I’m straightening!”

“Look at those rolled shoulders! You’re defeated before you’ve even touched the keyboard!”

“I’m really trying, Meade…”

“Trying? Your chair is giving more effort than you are! Twenty squats, now!”

“Please, no. My inner thighs still hurt from yesterday…”

“Ideas require a strong core. A spongy core leads to spongy writing!”

“Okay: I’m squatting, I’m squatting!”

“Do you see what I see?”

“I don’t know…”

“Flabby thoughts! Flabby thoughts all over your screen!”

“I was going to edit it tighter, really…”

”Are you trying to upset me? Do you really want me to go “Full Metal Jacket” on you?”

“I don’t want to upset you, Meade, I really don’t…”

“Look at that! Look! You did that thing of putting in a lot of extra line breaks!”

“It was an accident, I swear! I’ll delete, I’ll delete!”

“If you are going to be a commenter here at the Althouse blog you better up your game! You think you can just comment the first flaccid thought that comes to your mind?”

“I’ll do better, I swear!”

“Commenting is hard work! Althouse puts maximum effort into a post, and you better respond in kind! Now: how do we like our comments?”

“Tight, sir!”

“That’s right: tight! And speaking of tight…”

“Yes, sir?”

“Ditch the yoga pants. There ain’t much sadder than a dude staring at a computer, wearing yoga pants…”


I am Laslo.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

MayBee said...

The Obamas need to stop trying to make "They go low, we go high" happen.

The proper response to that would have been to put that quote on the picture of Barack in college "going high".

Browndog said...

Ann Althouse said...

Indeed. If I recall, you were one of the few of note to see the quote for what it was.

I'm pushing back at those that are trying to set this "quote" in stone, as a matter of public record.

Fake History.

Del Hollingsworth said...

Obama bastardized the knife/gunfight quote from Sean Connery in "The Untouchables" where Connery's character said "isn't it just like a Guinea to bring a knife to a gunfight?" right before he shot an intruder. I cringed when I heard Obama deliver his version.

Wince said...

Laslo Spatula said...
"Meade the personal trainer who sometimes gets a little too personal."
“Keep pushing! Keep pushing!”
“I’m trying, Meade, I’m pushing all I can push…”


Everything You Got! Everything You Got! Everything You Got!

Meade said...

EDH, I've started tolike you a lot.

traditionalguy said...

Trump can now say even as he brings the Nuclear War Football with him to Fifth Avenue, my supporters will still vote for me no matter what.

Calling for Scott Adams: how do we disarm Trump?

Brando said...

"Obama bastardized the knife/gunfight quote from Sean Connery in "The Untouchables" where Connery's character said "isn't it just like a Guinea to bring a knife to a gunfight?" right before he shot an intruder. I cringed when I heard Obama deliver his version."

As part Italian, I would have had to give him points if he left in the ethnic slur.

Of course, the "you bring knife, we bring gun" Obama quote certainly had a lasting impact on his presidency--drove home the point to his opponents that this was going to be a long and dirty fight, not the "reach across the aisles" presidency we'd been told to expect.

Titus said...

My fave was Grab em by the pussy.

Michael K said...

"the ethnic slur. "

Back about 70 years ago, it wasn't really much of a "slur" as many people used those terms freely. "Wop" was more of a slur.

My mother was, apparently, rather dark complected when she was young. The family nickname for her was "Guinea," often shortened to "Gin." "Dago" was another term for Italian which was a bit less of a slur.

The knife and gun thing began as a rule for close quarter fighting. It was "Run from a knife but charge a gun." I think the concept was that a knife had a very short range and a gun would often jam or misfire if it was charged. That worked for the three Americans on that train in Belgium in September 2015.

Brando said...

"My fave was Grab em by the pussy."

That one does stand out, particularly because who ever actually grabs someone by the pussy?

Brando said...

"Back about 70 years ago, it wasn't really much of a "slur" as many people used those terms freely. "Wop" was more of a slur."

A lot of those terms were more used by the 'in-group'--"guinea" used by lighter skinned Italians to denigrate the darker, less civilized ones and "kike" used by more assimilated Jews to describe the more insular Jews coming from farther east in Europe. But you won't catch a president using any of those terms today, even if they were Jewish or Italian!

bagoh20 said...

The most influential quotes of the year had to be Trumps. Either:

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

or the grabbing pussy one.

Both were the subject of endless discussion, argument, and characterization throughout the whole campaign.

If not for those two quotes, I think Trump would have also won the popular vote.

The most telling quote was Hillary's: "You mean with a cloth or something?"

JHapp said...

People don't say things like "For fools rush in where angels fear to tread" anymore, or maybe just not the people on TV.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

That has one from Barack Obama too: "Sen. Clinton is claiming basically the entire eight years of the Clinton presidency as her own, except for the stuff that didn't work out, in which case she says she has nothing to do with it."

And now this is the same metric Barrack is applying to his own woeful eight years. He is weirdly detached from his own policies, and doesn't suffer any criticism from the DNCMedia.

Matt said...

What a bunch of navel-gazing asshats our society has become. "Quote of the Year"? That strikes me about as important as the "official tire of the NFL".

Susan said...

What? No "We're going to build the wall and make Mexico pay for it."?

Wasn't that the quote that got the supposed "deploreables" on his side in the first place?

Meade said...

That was the old quote. The new quote is "We broke through the Blue Wall and made the Clintons pay for it."

bagoh20 said...

Has there ever been a more ubiquitous and disputed presidential motto than "Make America Great Again"? Here in Los Angeles there were very few campaign signs of any flavor compared to the past. A stronghold for Hillary, but I saw very few signs or bumper stickers for her or him.

tcrosse said...

Rhetorical question of the year: "Why aren't I 50 points ahead, you might ask ?"

Matt Sablan said...

"The Obamas need to stop trying to make "They go low, we go high" happen."

-- If it came from a politician that actually positively campaigned and eschewed normal political point scoring, it might be worth something. But coming from the Obama administration, which made sure that people knew "I won" from the word go, it is just empty words that like minded people use to signal that they, too, like Obama.

But worst of all was Hillary Clinton -- of all people -- trying to co-opt the phrase.

The quote is meaningless double speak now.

mikee said...

"The 2 quotes can be harmonized if you think a knife is low and a gun is high."

That makes no sense except as an excuse for a horrible thing Obama said. The two quotes harmonize even better if you realize Michelle Obama has never gone high in her entire life, never will, and follows her husband's violent admonition to destroy the opposition rather than recognize it as valid.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Has there ever been a candidate who just used one stylized initial instead of their name for bumper stickers and shirts? Hillary made a lot of bad choices and after the democratmedia get over their depression and crazy spell, there should be (but might not be) some salient analysis of just how very awful she was as a candidate. Just the worst of the worst are

> Too many slogans, none of them good or inspiring.
> The stupid stylized H with an arrow (will always remind me she should have gone to the hospital on 9/11 but she didn't, which was weird).
> Launching, relaunching and reintroducing herself was a bizarre spectacle and foreshadowed a campaign of missteps).
> NOT campaigning about 50% of the time. WTHIUWT?
> Her obsession with winning the popular vote cost her the real vote in the electoral college.


There's many more delicious bits to be reexamined. This has truly been a schadenfreudastic year!

bagoh20 said...

Before the election, I saw a lot of comedians and others emphatically telling us that Trump would never be President - including our current President. We need to see those quotes replayed a bunch more times just for some perspective on the wisdom of our influential, over-paid custodians of the zeitgeist.

Known Unknown said...

""Meade the personal trainer who sometimes gets a little too personal.""

I hired an impersonal trainer.

He didn't give a damn how much weight I lost.

mikee said...

Mike: Here in Texas in the 2004 election, I saw a small number of 3"x3" bumper stickers, a gray background with a black "W" on them.

Subtle. An elegant bumper sticker for a more civilized age.

Known Unknown said...

"Has there ever been a candidate who just used one stylized initial instead of their name for bumper stickers and shirts?"

There were simple "W" stickers during the 2004 election. You can still buy one.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Good call Mikee. Of course people actually (I did) refer to him as W too. Nobody calls Hillary H. It's like an inside joke. She didn't appeal to non-worshippers.

AllenS said...

House Democrats are set to introduce legislation Wednesday calling for a formal probe into Russian cyber hacking in the 2016 election

Hacked? You mean like with a tomahawk or something?

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Having just finished up a CD lecture series borrowed from the library, I turned on the car radio this morning to NPR. President Obama was yammering something about how "the right" has a hair trigger when it comes to complaining about "political correctness" and "tender snowflakes" but they, themselves, are guilty of being super sensitive in complaining about being put upon by things like the MSM and the entertainment industry.

And I'm, like, "Jesus fucking Christ mixing pancake batter, that's the fucking President of the United States. That's what he does with his time?"

Matt Sablan said...

The love is love quote is... vapid. He could have just said "love conquers evil" if he wanted a to say something trite and thoughtless while appearing deep.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Agree with others that "Like with a cloth?" ought to be in there too.

Nice twist, AllenS.

Matt Sablan said...

"This has truly been a schadenfreudastic year!"

-- And ended on the highest point of that when Democrats lost more than they gained with the faithless electors gambit.

bgates said...

Hacked? You mean like with a tomahawk or something?

With ten days left, I'm calling that Quote of the Year.

Matt Sablan said...

Re-reading them, very few of these quotes will be remembered in the future, except maybe basket of deplorables, and some of the Trump quotes that will be trotted out when the left needs another 15 minute hate session.

The quote from Simone Biles is a nice, pithy answer, but I doubt it will be remembered.

Michael K said...

" that's the fucking President of the United States. That's what he does with his time?"

No, there's golf and pardons.

Hacked? You mean like with a tomahawk or something?

With ten days left, I'm calling that Quote of the Year.


Scroll down.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Matthew quoted my "This has truly been a schadenfreudastic year!" and I admit that this is not the first time I've written this same exact phrase on Althouse blog. It's my own personal remembrance of 2016. I wrote repeatedly on here throughout summer and Fall that it was delightful to watch the SS Hillary heading for the iceberg, imploding, taking on water, meeting her fate, whatever your metaphor. It was a delight to watch it happen. I rarely allowed doubt that Trump would pull it off.

"This has truly been a schadenfreudastic year!"

Dust Bunny Queen said...

HOWEVER, the #1 quote of the year is MIS quoted. Trump didn't say exactly that. It is like the Tina Fey statement about being able to see Alaska is now permanently and incorrectly attributed to Palin.

Trump was speaking about how loyal his voters/supporters are and went on to say (I don't have the exact clip right now) : ".................Some people even say that I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters."

He didn't say that himself....he said that other people said.

Mis-quoting and taking out of context is standard for the lying media. Is it any wonder we don't believe them on anything anymore?

Rick said...

2. "When they go low, we go high." — Michelle Obama, commencement speech at Jackson State University, Jackson, Mississippi, April 23.

This should always be followed by "We need an adult in the White House" which either shows her preference for the low or is an admission her husband's naive platitudes aren't an effective governing platform.

Titus said...

The personal trainers at my gym don't give a shit about their clients. The clients will be doing some exercise and the PT is looking at his phone or checking out other gym rats.

The poor fat thing paying for the PT has no clue.

n.n said...

The number one quote was: What difference, at this point, what difference does it make?

Prophetic.

The number one Tweet was #HateLovesAbortion

Character.

Chuck said...

I will always look at the Trump quote about shooting someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and marvel at what it really says (coming from Trump) about his own supporters. The most inescapably direct meaning of the sentence, is that Trump regards his own supporters as rubes. People, for whom facts and reality don't even matter. A brazen crime would be overlooked in the interest of Trump fandom.

Because there are a thousand other ways to express the sentiment that Althouse so generously assigns to Trump. ("It was a colorful way of referring to polls that say people have definitely decided to vote for him and they're not going to change their mind.")

The first comment in that old post from last January was from regular commenter jr565:

jr565 said...
it is incredible. in that its kind of accurate. Trump supporters are that dumb. Sorry, but its true.
Its hyperbole, but its also true.
I'm sure he's amazed that he's said what he's said and none of his supporters have said "What? Did Trump just say that?"
This was the same thing that occured with obama, by the way. he could go to a church that says GOD DAMN AMERIKKKA! and no one would bat an eye that him sitting in that pew for 20 years might have some indication of who he hung out with or his sensibilities.
And now, we have the same thing occuring on the right.
Only, I'm not convinced that most of the people saying they are for Trump are conservatives. Or even for Trump. Its an operation to undermine other Republican candidates. I'm sure of it. Its either the media doing it or the democrats are doing it. they are propping him up so people like Bush spend all their money and drop out and you are left with Trump. Then when electoin time comes around and he's the nomineee, all the support drops out.
Its either that, or there are a lot of dumb people out there. Maybe thats the way it always will be. There will always be a group of people that fall for the cult of personality.


"There's a sucker born every minute."
"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."
"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK? It's, like, incredible."

Althouse tried to soften it at the time; pointing out that Trump was talking about what the polls and the pundits following the polls were saying about his voters. And that much must be acknowledged. But if it is the polls that are proving such a thing -- and of course there was never, ever any poll about Trump shooting anyone in the middle of Fifth Avenue; that imagery is pure Trump by himself -- it remains an "incredible" (another Trumpism) indictment and insult of those voters' extremist fanaticism.


TRISTRAM said...

Blogger Del Hollingsworth said...
Obama bastardized the knife/gunfight quote from Sean Connery in "The Untouchables" where Connery's character said "isn't it just like a Guinea to bring a knife to a gunfight?" right before he shot an intruder. I cringed when I heard Obama deliver his version.


There was another scene where Malone (Connery's Character) was talking to Elliot Ness:


Ness: I want to get Capone! I don't know how to do it.

Malone: You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. *That's* the *Chicago* way! And that's how you get Capone. Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that? I'm offering you a deal. Do you want this deal?

Guildofcannonballs said...

2008 deserves a voice over by a magic negro such as the guy in The Hudsucker Proxy, Bill Cobbs. He is from Ohio too.

"Dean Barnett (July 13, 1967 – October 27, 2008) was an American columnist and blogger and occasional fill-in radio host for Hugh Hewitt." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Barnett

Dean had predicted the Patriots going 19-0 the prior season, ending Feb. 3rd, 2008, with the Giants of New York defeating the undefeated 18-0 New England team 17-14.


Little poopin' furball Barnett, the goofiest goofball to ever done goof, was born in August of 2008, named after Dean.

My lil' fella was about 11 weeks old when we met, more fright at first sight than love. But it worked out. Probably two weeks until the effect was such my life was much different.



Drago said...

"Have you even read the United States Constitution? ... You have sacrificed nothing and no one." — Khizr Khan, addressing Donald Trump in speech at Democratic National Convention, Philadelphia, July 28


We have an all volunteer force. The Khans son, who volunteered himself, is the one who sacrificed, not the extended non-spouse/child family.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Chuck said: I will always look at the Trump quote about shooting someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and marvel at what it really says (coming from Trump) about his own supporters. The most inescapably direct meaning of the sentence, is that Trump regards his own supporters as rubes. People, for whom facts and reality don't even matter. A brazen crime would be overlooked in the interest of Trump fandom.

Poor Chuck...he doesn't understand hyperbole. No wonder he is so confused.

It must be difficult to read a work of fiction or a poem if he is so literally focused on not getting it.

"I'm so hungry I could eat a horse"....hint.....I'm not really going to eat a horse.
"To the moon Alice"....not really going to the moon

Brando said...

"Because there are a thousand other ways to express the sentiment that Althouse so generously assigns to Trump. ("It was a colorful way of referring to polls that say people have definitely decided to vote for him and they're not going to change their mind.")"

Althouse is in the habit of trying to twist everything Trump says to find the meaning most beneficial to Trump. This is nothing new. She is drawn to the Maned One in ways even she cannot explain.

The quote speaks for itself--a statement where he marveled at just how rock solid his support was, and how nothing he could say or do would shake that support. And the campaign proved him right! Nothing controversial about that. It also suggests that whatever he does with his presidency, he does not have to worry about losing his core supporters. It's the non-core supporters that could bolt.

Brando said...

""I'm so hungry I could eat a horse"....hint.....I'm not really going to eat a horse."

No, but Althouse's reading of the quote would be like saying "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse" really means you'd prefer to have meat on your plate instead of just the soup.

Saying "I could shoot someone and not lose my support" says something about the unshakeable loyalty of your supporters. It doesn't need to be taken literally to convey that meaning.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Or, Chuck, it could be that Trump recognized that his supporters were so sick of Hillary, Obama, lawlessness, open borders, weakness home and abroad, "leading from behind," war on coal and war on oil and war on fracking and war on pipelines but no war against ISIS, global warming hysteria, home-permitting doubling from a 41-day wait to over 80-days for a project, the weaponized IRS (for which no one was punished), the way the democrats cheat and use their media moles to subvert politics, cop killers, and dynasties -- sick of business as usual that they would vote for him despite his flaws.

Your failure to recognize hyperbole does your analytical skills a disservice. Trump is all about the message more than the specific words deployed. You've heard this before" the mistake is taking him literally but not seriously when you should do the reverse. Did you think Dylan was really warning us about hard, hard rain that was "gonna fall" or was he saying something else? Use your noodle man!

Kathy from Boston said...

Why aren't I fifty points ahead, you might ask?

Big Mike said...

Depends on who Trump shot. A mugger pointing a gun at some hapless old woman when her wallet doesn't contain as much money as the mugger thinks it should? A Muslim pointing an AK-47 at a crowd? We wouldn't still vote for him; we'd canonize him.

Chuck said...

Of course I understand hyperbole. No one, anywhere, thought that Trump was actually going to go out and shoot anyone. I didn't. I took nothing, in any overly-literalistic way.

So forget about any real shooting. The gist -- the essential meaning -- was that Trump was beyond any critical thinking on the part of his people. They would overlook all of the stupid things he had done and said in the past.

And that part was essentially, and very significantly, true! A large number of American voters -- not a majority, and not even a plurality -- but just barely enough in the right states, voted for Trump despite his history of bankruptcies, disastrous divorces, crazy and vindictive litigation, all manner of falsehoods from General Pershing to the thousands of people cheering the fall of the WTC, all manner of reckless and unthinking insults including John McCain's heroic time as a POW, his Trump University debacle, his Birtherism, his Trutherism, his Vaxxerism and finally and most significant to me, his draft dodging.

The more I think and type about it, this quote really is a good choice as quote of the year.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Ann Althouse said...I didn't blog #2, which is a reprise of an old Obama campaign quote, referred to as "our motto" by Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention. Who said it first? I don't know, but I've always associated it with a very similar and very different quote that came from Barack Obama in 2008: "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun." The 2 quotes can be harmonized if you think a knife is low and a gun is high.

But...if you think of a knife as low and a gun as high it changes the meaning of that phrase entirely. The "low/high" distinction isn't one of degree--it's talking about a qualitative (moral) difference. The "gun/knife" distinction is one of degree--it's saying that you'll respond with greater enthusiasm/vigor/force if attacked/provoked/opposed. Right?

Since that's true, your statement that the two can be harmonized by entirely changing the meaning of one of the phrases seems...odd. It's true, but it's also silly: 1 and 3 are the same if you add 2 to the 1. Uh, yeah, but otherwise they're very different.

Michael K said...

It also suggests that whatever he does with his presidency, he does not have to worry about losing his core supporters. It's the non-core supporters that could bolt.

No, I think he would lose them if he turned out to be a standard issue Republican and began to "grow in office" as so many GOP politicians do.

I always thought that Reagan gave up too much by making GHW Bush his VP. He was regarded with a suspicion almost as strong as that directed at Trump. Many have forgotten the hostility directed at Reagan by the GOPe. Trump is a more extreme example but the voters got tired of being lied to by the likes of Ryan and McConnell.

If Trump went back on his promises, he would be dropped like a hot rock by the bulk of his supporters.

I think he knows that and, as he has no need to cultivate donors or post incumbency income sources, he will probably do just what he says.

Brando said...

We're better off deciding what the "quote of the year" for 2012 was, so we now have a chance to measure the impact. At the time, many might have said it was "you didn't build that" because the GOP made so much hay out of it, but then Obama won anyway so maybe it wasn't so impactful. Liberals might say "binders full of women" was the big quote, and maybe they have a point as it exemplified Romney's stumbling over words and a campaign based on nailing people over gaffes.

A few years from now we'll look back and decide what lasted out of 2016's quotes. A lot of those will be forgotten.

Brando said...

"No, I think he would lose them if he turned out to be a standard issue Republican and began to "grow in office" as so many GOP politicians do."

That all depends on whether they see him as doing that. What you or I might see as "he's becoming part of the establishment" may simply not matter to his die hard supporters. Particularly if he convinces them that that's not the case.

Let's see how he and the GOP handle Obamacare.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"Blogger MayBee said...
Brando said...
Much like Oscar awards, a "quote of the year" really should not be assigned until later years when we can look back at what long term impact the quote had.

Yes!

There is such a movement lately to try to declare things as "historic" before we have any idea how history will see things.

12/21/16, 7:16 AM"

Actually, ....

No, I am kidding, I won't start with "Actually," because it is too cliched and Orwell would smite me from Heaven with snickerdoodle temptations through dreams as well as the old standby yet firmly relevant locusts.

So, in all seriousness, these cultural bombs you deploy sans consciousness of the effect your bombs have is part of the process that "history" uses to ultimately, for a brief moment though really, arrive at differing conclusions from earlier supposed zeitgeists.

In short, you wage war against that which you claim to champion, every bit as much so as what Lenin noted as idiots, of use.

By forming the narrative now, history will be found to be different, to such extent abstract thought can help arrive at divergent viewpoints within a contextualized comparison to what did not transpire.

The sun shines, they make hay, and trying to claim a higher order level of classifying the hay quantity/quality understand those doing the making have a determinative role, hence why they spend the time doing the making not the mere prognosticating.

mccullough said...

Trump said way too many quotable things this year to pick a top one. He should have all of the top 100 quotes.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

No one, anywhere, thought that Trump was actually going to go out and shoot anyone. I didn't. I took nothing, in any overly-literalistic way.

Well, I can think of several people that IF Trump did shoot them in the middle of Fifth Avenue, I would applaud, approve and be thankful. Plus....good shooting! Nice pattern!

That was hyperbole...sort of :-D

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Chuck said...the gist -- the essential meaning -- was that Trump was beyond any critical thinking on the part of his people. They would overlook all of the stupid things he had done and said in the past.

No, Chuck, that's not the essential meaning; your 2nd sentence here is correct but what you identify as the essential meaning is not equal to your 2nd sentence!
The essential meaning is something like "his supporters will support him despite his bad actions and bad statements (past & present)." That <> his supporters do not engage in critical thinking. To prove that it's sufficient to find one example where a supporter--by which we might here define as a Trump voter--engaged in critical thought but nevertheless voted for (ie supported in the most important way) Trump.
Aren't you such a person, Chuck? I mean, you probably don't consider yourself a Trump supporter...but you voted for the guy, yeah? And you're a well known critical thinker.
You don't count yourself as a supporter, fine, I get that. Do you imagine that NONE of the people you consider Trump supporters (at the time he made that statement, say) thought critically about Turmp & their options & probabilities of success w/other candidates and said "you know what, I'm going to give this Trump guy MASSIVE leeway w/r/t what behavior from him I'll tolerate and still support him--he's not a great guy and not my ideal candidate, but given the options I think supporting him is the best way to achieve my goal (of denying Hillary the White House, etc)?"

If some of them did, Chuck, then your take on the "essential meaning" of that quote is just wrong.

Chuck said...

Brando said...
...
Althouse is in the habit of trying to twist everything Trump says to find the meaning most beneficial to Trump. This is nothing new. She is drawn to the Maned One in ways even she cannot explain.


Brando, that brings me to my own nomination for Althouse Quote of the Year. This one is easy; there is no list, and no second place. It explains, I think, the year-long acceptance/curiosity/humoring of All Things Trump.

Althouse:
"I think he [Trump] is pro-gay and is being cagey about it."

God only knows how it happened, that Trump vaulted over Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Ted Cruz to win the endorsements from a significant number of Southern Baptist Convention leaders and other evangelical Christian political leaders. I don't get it; I continue to wonder about it.

Althouse saw it, and as I have said many times before, I think she saw it correctly.

It is easily my Althouse Quote of the Year.


M Jordan said...

Still, the top comment of my adult life is this: "Why can't we all just get along?" That was Rodney King, of course. The answer, alas, will not be found in secular society. The answer is Jesus Christ. But it's a very slow to be proven right answer.

Chuck said...

Hoodlum:
That Trump quote came from the PRIMARY season. When the choices included [other?] Republicans.
So, yeah. I am not a Trump supporter. And yeah, I voted for him. Last January, when they were taking the polls that Trump was talking about, I would not have given Trump a thing. Not any nod, in any poll. I was a Bush/Rubio/Kasich supporter, before I resigned myself to voting for Trump.
Trump's "shooting someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue" might not have cost him my vote. But I never supported him, and my vote was never any credit to Trump. It was loathing of the alternative.

Rick said...

The 2 quotes can be harmonized if you think a knife is low and a gun is high.

Who thinks a gun is "high"? This quote clearly contradicts the other, which ties into Hillary's admission there's a public and private position. For all the left claims the mantle of hope and aspiration in fact their only political tactic is hate.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Del Hollingsworth said...Obama bastardized the knife/gunfight quote from Sean Connery in "The Untouchables" where Connery's character said "isn't it just like a Guinea to bring a knife to a gunfight?" right before he shot an intruder.

I'm afraid you need to watch that scene again, Del--Connery's character has the intruder at (shot)gunpoint, says the line you quote, and then shoos the intruder out of the apartment...only to be ambushed by a gunman across the alley and mortally wounded (from a tommy gun, I think).
There's a lesson in that, too: When you have to shoot, shoot; don't talk.

[Also, unrelated: I think the ethnic slur he uses is "wop."]

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Chuck said...the gist -- the essential meaning -- was that Trump was beyond any critical thinking on the part of his people. They would overlook all of the stupid things he had done and said in the past.

This is a prime example of using a logical fallacy. While your second sentence is mostly correct, the first sentence sets up the fallacy.

The A Priori Argument (Also, Rationalization; Proof Texting.): A corrupt argument from logos, starting with a given, pre-set belief, dogma, doctrine, scripture verse, "fact" or conclusion and then searching for any reasonable or reasonable-sounding argument to rationalize, defend or justify it.

The pre-set belief, that Trump's supporters are beyond critical thinking aka....stupid. This is the argument that corrupts the conclusion. Chuck believes X, without being able to present any proof other than his belief that X is true, He then concludes Y because it fits into his preferred pre-set view of X.

William said...

Lincoln said a number of things that sound like they were lifted from the King James Bible, but he was the one who actually said them. None of these quotes sound Lincolnesque.......,,Obama can deliver a speech, but the grandiosity is more memorable than the grandeur. He'll be most remembered for the oceans began to fall line......Trump has said any number of crass and stupid things, but, for whatever reason, I'm more inclined to attribute them to bluster and hyperbole than to malice. So he can shoot off his mouth and get away with it......I'm less forgiving with Hillary. Her statements aren't crass like those of Trump, but they're more self riighteous and annoying..........I suppose we got the quotes we deserved.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Chuck said...Hoodlum: That Trump quote came from the PRIMARY season

Yeah, I get that, I do; but I'll still argue that it's not impossible that someone thought, at the time Trump made that statement about the loyalty of his supporters, that at least some of those supporters engaged in critical thought and concluded that despite his faults Trump was the best choice. You're arguing that all of Trump's primary supporters exercised no critical thought. I'm arguing that you're wrong--that it's likely that at least SOME of his primary supporters were pragmatic realists who thought critically about Trump & the other candidates and decided that Trump was the best bet.

I guess more broadly I'm saying that you seem to be concluding something like "I, Chuck, can't imagine anyone rationally coming to this decision/making this judgement so therefore no rational person could (and therefore anyone who did must either be irrational or have made that decision irrationally {without critical thought}). I'm pointing out that your conclusion isn't supported by a logical proof...and more generally it's not too far from an assertion like "people who disagree with me on important issue X are just crazy--no sane person could come to a different conclusion than I do." You're not quite saying that, but it's close.

[Now, having said that, I agree that non-cult of personality-swayed people who supported Trump in the primary for pragmatic, calculated reasons...well, they sure saw something I didn't! They were correct, as it turns out, though, so it seems odd to just declare that they were making an irrational choice at the time.]

Howard said...

Was Trump's shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue quip a setup for the eventual grab the p#$$y leak?

FullMoon said...

Chuck said... [hush]​[hide comment]

I will always look at the Trump quote about shooting someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and marvel at what it really says (coming from Trump) about his own supporters. The most inescapably direct meaning of the sentence, is that Trump regards his own supporters as rubes. People, for whom facts and reality don't even matter. A brazen crime would be overlooked in the interest of Trump fandom.


What many fail to consider regarding Trump voters is that their feelings may have been 20-30% for Trump and 70-80% against Hillary.
Personally, I intended to vote against Clinton, no matter who the Republican nominee was.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Mike said...Or, Chuck, it could be that Trump recognized that his supporters were so sick of Hillary, Obama, lawlessness, open borders, weakness home and abroad [etc]"

Yes, and going back to the point that this statement was made during the primary I think you have to include the idea that those supporters felt that none of the other Republican candidates were either significantly better on those issues than Hillary, or likely to beat Hillary, or both. That's important because it seems like Chuck wants to say that the only reason people could have been so unusually loyal to Trump is because those people were conned or were unthinkingly taken in by celebrity, etc--and while that's probably true of some of Trump's supporters it's not necessisarily true of all of them.

And, again, you can certainly disagree with the beliefs that (as of that time in the Repub. primary) Trump was the most likely to beat Hillary or that only Trump was "good" on this or that issue (that the other Repubs were just as bad as Hillary)...but given that Trump DID in fact beat Hillary I don't think it's fair to say now that it was a crazy belief! I certainly didn't think so at the time, and I don't blame anyone who bet that way at the time, but given that the facts proved otherwise it makes more sense to assume that I missed something (as opposed to assuming that people who believed in a way that turned out to be correct were/are just all crazy).

FullMoon said...

Regarding knife/gun. First hear it in high school metal shop after a scuffle. One kid said he would bring a knife tomorrow- other kid, said he would bring a gun.

Neither did.



Brando said...

"Who thinks a gun is "high"?"

Not me, but I have noticed that in movies the good guys use guns and fists but it's very rare to see a good guy using a knife. A sword, maybe, but knives are generally sneaky weapons, fit for people who kill in cold blood or are willing to kill dogs or women.

Chuck said...

Mike said...Or, Chuck, it could be that Trump recognized that his supporters were so sick of Hillary, Obama, lawlessness, open borders, weakness home and abroad [etc]"

Jonah Goldberg did a column on the demise of #NeverTrump last weekend. And in it, he pointed how out little he cares about claims of, "...But, Hillary! And, Obama!"

http://www.nationalreview.com/g-file/443133/never-trump-finished-russia-election-hacking-criticism

Yeah, I was sick of Obama, and I too did not want a third term of more of the same. I REEEEAALLY did not want Trump, because I thought he'd guarantee that ugly prospect. That Trump would lose the most winnable race for the President for Republicans since the 1920's. I was wrong about that. Thankfully. But Hillary and Obama have absolutely nothing to do with Donald Trump's odious and laughable distastefulness.

And if you are good with Trump, then good on you. I could not care less. Just let me know, before I waste any of my own time on you.

Gahrie said...

And if you are good with Trump, then good on you. I could not care less.

Then why do you come here and talk shit about him nearly every single day?

before I waste any of my own time on you.

Earth to Chuckles...you're "wasting" your time on us. Again.

How about waiting until Trump actually becomes president before trashing him 24/7?

Chuck said...

Gahrie said...
...
How about waiting until Trump actually becomes president before trashing him 24/7?

I expect that it would surprise you, the extent to which I think that Trump will be a perfectly acceptable (to me) president.

I don't think a Republican Congress, and Jeff Sessions, will allow Trump to screw things up too badly.

My trashing Trump is almost entirely personal. I loathe him, personally. I am amazed, at how far his schtick has gotten him. I owe him nothing. He represents almost nothing of what I believe in, and what I like about politics. He's just a thing. Of considerable curiosity, and much disgust.

MadisonMan said...

One kid said he would bring a knife tomorrow- other kid, said he would bring a gun.

Neither did.


Because school was cancelled when someone overheard it, and the two kids spent the day in Prison.

That's how it'd work today.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Chuck said...that Trump would lose the most winnable race for the President for Republicans since the 1920's. I was wrong about that. Thankfully. But Hillary and Obama have absolutely nothing to do with Donald Trump's odious and laughable distastefulness.

Well, no; not "nothing to do with." The badness of Hillary & Obama is what made the relative choice of someone as bad as Trump tolerable (as a choice for Pres) to a lot of people. Now, yeah, Trump ought to be judged on his own--based on his own current & future actions, of course, and Goldberg is correct that pleas of "well, Hillary would have been worse" won't go very far...but those pleas might still be true!

And if you are good with Trump, then good on you.
I'm not sure what you mean. "Good with Trump?" If you are good with gravity, let me know. Like...it's a fact, bro. Trump's President (soon). Given the available alternative (Pres. Hillary) I'm "good with" Trump. I don't see him as some sort of new Reagan, but I'm "good with" him insofar as I accept he's gonna be Pres. and I think there's a possibility he might do a good job. There's a good chance he won't do a good job...but if "good with" means I'm not 100% certain he'll be terrible, then I guess I'm "good with Trump" myself.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

The gist -- the essential meaning -- was that Trump was beyond any critical thinking on the part of his people.

Wrong. Try this mental exercise:

We were so sick of progressive bullshit we would vote for ANYBODY BUT HILLARY. I know he said loyalty, but he was wrong. The reason we were supporting him despite his flaws was not loyalty to HIM, but aversion to HER.

Now maybe that's just my take and no one agrees. I don't know. (Still need to read the posts after 10:01.) But his hyperbole and gratitude, to me, meant that he appreciated the fact we were going to stick with him no matter what the MSMDNC threw at him.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

And...

The more I think and type about it, this quote really is a good choice as quote of the year.

We agree.

Chuck said...

"Who thinks a gun is 'high'?"

Trump supporters? If it is Trump's gun?

I am beginning to get a feel for how much Trump is like Obama. They both seem to be in permanent campaign mode. They are of course much different, in the things they propose to do. I always lash out at anybody who proposes that the two major political parties are both the same and all alike. Tell Mike Lee and Barbara Boxer that they are the same. Tell Jim Inhofe and Sheldon Whitehouse that they are effectively part of the same party. Tell it to Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid!

So yes I understand that Trump is not Obama, and Obama is not Trump. But both of them seem most comfortable doing stump speeches. And stump speeches is seemingly all that they do. Policies, driven by stump speeches. Above all. Oh; and golf. Don't forget golf. The golf course might be the safest place for them, and for us as well during their respective presidencies.

Chuck said...

Mike;
That's what I did! I voted for "anybody but Hillary."
I voted for "the Republican nominee."

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Chuck was it a lack of critical think that led you to vote for Trump? That phrase you repeatedly used is the whole reason for my disagreement with you. It pisses me off when people insinuate -- or state clearly as you often do -- that people who voted for Trump are unthinking automatons. So are you one? Do you REALLY think that about the rest of us?

And before you swerve out into another topic to distract from this one, I want to pin you down on the rallies, because in my fuzzy memory I recall you were even harder on these people, as if going to see a candidate somehow made them even LESS critical thinkers. And I think, knowing what we now know, Trumps supporters were surprisingly nonviolent and calm in the face of organized, violent attacks orchestrated by HRC and the sitting president. This is quite unprecedented and is a sign of the degradation of our system wrought by progressives.

So are these Americans exercising their right to peacefully assemble (in the climate of fake paid violent protesters) capable of critical thinking, Chuck?

Drago said...

Mike: "Chuck was it a lack of critical think that led you to vote for Trump?"

There is of course no way to actually verify whether or not "lifelong Republican" Chuck voted for Trump.

It would be perfectly reasonable to conclude he is lying about that.

Brando said...

"Because school was cancelled when someone overheard it, and the two kids spent the day in Prison.

That's how it'd work today."

Hell, that's what would happen if one of them drew a picture of a knife, and the other carved a piece of soap to vaguely resemble a gun.

I remember as a kid we brought toy guns to school all the time. And they were fairly realistic looking too--not the day-glo colors they use now to make it hard to mistake them for real guns (though maybe they make real guns in day-glo colors as well, so people don't realize it's a real one when you're about to do some street shootin').

Guildofcannonballs said...

Here it is, soak up this wisdom dolts:

Global Warming Fear = Gay Marriage Fear.

Popular Vote delusions = Except for Cali and New York delusions.

This ain't vanity it is incomprehension on your parts. I will do your comprehending whenceforth.

traditionalguy said...

The Red Cap needs a Little Red Book of Chairman Trump's sayings we can send to liberal friends as a gift set gag. I will buy one of them for Chuck. And for an extra shipping charge we will have it sent from Moscow, Russia with a smiling Putin Decal on the return address of the package.

Chuck said...

It would be so easy, for me to say that I didn't vote for Trump. In that case, I wouldn't have to answer Mike's questions about why I voted for him. But I did vote for Trump in the general election, after wishing and hoping that Trump would never get the nomination. I have not much more than contempt, for the people who made Trump the Republican nominee. As for the people who voted for Trump as the Least Worst Choice, I count among them most of my friends... and myself.

And how easy would it be, for me to stop fighting with Drago, who still doesn't believe me when I claim that I really DID vote for Trump? He doesn't seem to want to believe it. My problem is that if I had taken a photograph of my absentee ballot and posted it for Drago to see, I'd be in violation of Michigan's anti-ballot exposure law.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

I didn't ask why. I asked if you did it UNthinkingly.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Swerve noted.

Drago said...

Chuck: "And how easy would it be, for me to stop fighting with Drago, who still doesn't believe me when I claim that I really DID vote for Trump?"

Your assertions, my assertions are irrelevant.

It's clear what and who you are and no one is fooled.

As with lefty "Unknown", GWash et al, your pre-election tactics have proven to be utterly ineffective and not suited to a new political reality on the ground.

The fact that you have not yet adapted to the new reality is a good thing from a republican point of view.

Drago said...

So feel free to continue your pre-election bashing of all things Trump from a zillion years ago as well as the continued trashing of all Trump voters all the while studiously avoiding any detailed criticism (at all) of anything done by the dems or the left.

'cuz that's real convincing!

LOL

Anonymous said...

Some more bullshit phrases Trump used, which he's now dropped.

http://thehill.com/homenews/news/311296-gingrich-trump-doesnt-want-to-drain-the-swamp-anymore

"Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said in a new interview that Donald Trump has taken a different tone as president-elect and may be leaving behind his campaign promise to “drain the swamp.”

Gingrich told NPR's "Morning Edition" that he was told Trump “now says [the phrase] was cute, but he doesn’t want to use it anymore.”

Gingrich, who has been a close adviser to Trump, said he likes "drain the swamp" because it “vividly illustrates the problem, because all people in this city who are the alligators are going to hate the swamp being drained.”

“But, you know, he is my leader, and if he decides to drop the swamp and the alligator I will drop the swamp and the alligator,” he said.

Gingrich also said he’d noticed Trump’s change in attitude toward his supporters chanting “lock her up” at his post-election rallies, referring to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton."

Bad Lieutenant said...

Guildofcannonballs said...
I will do your comprehending whenceforth.

12/21/16, 12:31 PM

Thanks G!
Could you do it quietly?
Or, sober?

Drago said...

I wonder what Unknowns opinion on "Shovel Ready Jobs" might be?

LOL

Kirk Parker said...

Matthew,

No, the quote from Simone Biles is just solipsism on steroids. How ungracious to object to being compared (favorably!) to the greats of the past.

Drago said...

Given today's meeting between Russia, Iran and Turkey (now that obama has officially ceded all influence in the Middle East to his beloved Putin (for whom obama has shown remarkable "flexibility")) I wonder if we should revisit the wisdom of obamas surrender policy of "Leading From Behind".

BTW, for those who are paying attention, "Leading from Behind" has nothing to do with any Kardashians.....yet.

mccullough said...

Were the never Trump people against him because of his character, personality, and his various comments or were they against him because they did not agree with his policies on trade, immigration, and US military intervention (or both)?

Yancey Ward said...

In the end analysis, Chuck would have voted for Trump even if he had gunned down someone on 5th Avenue. Isn't that about right?

Drago said...

Blogger Yancey Ward: "In the end analysis, Chuck would have voted for Trump even if he had gunned down someone on 5th Avenue. Isn't that about right?"

Well, "lifelong Republican" Chuck would still CLAIM to have voted for Trump.

Chuck said...

Mike said...
I didn't ask why. I asked if you did it UNthinkingly.


I did not vote for Trump unthinkingly. I voted for Trump because I thought about it, and thought him the least-worst of the options. I voted for Trump in the sincere hope that he would be far more Republican, than he would be "reckless populist charlatan." I voted for Trump reluctantly, and saddened by the good candidates that Trump defeated with mere pluralities in primary season. And I voted
for Trump while cursing the primary voters who made him the nominee.

Chuck said...

In the end analysis, Chuck would have voted for Trump even if he had gunned down someone on 5th Avenue. Isn't that about right?

Since I have been instructed that Trump was only speaking in humorous hyperbole when he talked about "shooting someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue," and that only a fool would take him in any literal sense, I shall never have to worry about whether I would have voted for Trump if he shot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue.

Meade said...

@mccullough, for the NeverTrump people I know, it was all about character, personality, his various comments — all making him seem un-conservative. They also doubted Trump's ability to win the general election against Clinton. For the most part, they agreed with Trump's positions on trade, immigration, US military intervention, and the goal of making the American economy great again.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Drago said...
I wonder what Unknowns opinion on "Shovel Ready Jobs" might be?

LOL

12/21/16, 3:20 PM

Oh, I think she got one of those jobs. She spends a lot of time shoveling bullshit on these threads.

Robert said...

Two top quotes from 2016 happened back to back.


Gary Johnson: And what is Aleppo?

Mike Barnicle: You're kidding.


If I had to rank them in importance, I'm leaning toward putting Barnicle ahead of Johnson only because Johnson was never really important. Mike Barnicle's comment represents the media judging more than reporting. And that is 2016 to me.

Robert

n.n said...

"Grab them by the pussy...." is a condemnation of liberal social mores and humanitarian pornographers.

"Make abortion not life" is also trending in progressive liberal circles. Just Left of #HateLovesAbortion.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will be judged by the "color of their skin" rather than by the content of their character" is a unifying meme for anti-nativists and class diversitists.

Progressive wars, what are they good for? Social "justice", immigration "reform", democratic leverage, and redistributive change (e.g. natural resources).