Wow. The restoration of youth to the face, the unfathomable color, the earthquake terminology — "TRUMP SHAKES WORLD ORDER."
The link goes to a tame Reuters item: "Foreign diplomats voicing alarm to U.S. officials about Trump." ("On Tuesday, General Philip Breedlove, the United States' top military commander in Europe, said... 'I get a lot of questions from our European counterparts on our election process this time in general... And I think they see a very different sort of public discussion than they have in the past.'")
The phrase "World Order" does not appear in the Reuters article. It sounds foreboding. I see that Henry Kissenger published a book 2 years ago with the title "World Order." From the NYT review:
There has always been a dark, almost Spenglerian cast to Mr. Kissinger’s thinking, and he sees ominous signs today of a descent back into a Hobbesian state of nature — in the bedlam overtaking Syria and Iraq, where “no common rules other than the law of superior force” seem to hold; in the spread of weapons of mass destruction and “the persistence of genocidal practices”; and in the Wild West of cyberspace, which has “revolutionized vulnerabilities.” In fact, he says, we are “insistently, at times almost desperately, in pursuit of a concept of world order,” at this moment in history when “chaos threatens side by side with unprecedented interdependence.”
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274 comments:
1 – 200 of 274 Newer› Newest»The world order that Drudge is referring to is of the conspiratorial, secret society type, the world order that is bankrolling the power elite.
Blondes have more fun!
I'm not paying much attention to this Trump thing.
Is anybody saying "a new broom sweeps clean" or is that too old-fashioned?
Europe is worried about Donald Trump? Is this the same Europe that celebrated the election of Barack Obama in 2008? Maybe I'll have to give Trump a chance after all. No...more likely a broken clock thing.
Maybe the cliché should be updated to account for the success of the Dyson vacuum cleaner.
The candidate who doesn't lose suction!
Eric the Fruit Bat said...Is anybody saying "a new broom sweeps clean" or is that too old-fashioned?
It's too sexist.
And of course, this isn't the first time Drudge has done this. You are absolutely correct about this, Professor.
I've loved the Drudge Report since it began in the late nineties.
It has become something very perverse.
Nothing about Trump University? Nothing about the torture proposal(s)? The secret New York Times interview tape? The old lawsuits? The pending lawsuits? The fake General Pershing story? The fake 9/11 cheering story? The McCain insult?
Let's remember that Trump is by all accounts an avid Drudge reader, and regularly mentions Drudge reader polls (which are all wildly inaccurate in overstating Trump popularity and even wider polling of debate performances).
Matt Drudge lost his fucking mind a couple years ago when he started regularly linking to infowars/prisonplanet. His support for Trump is not surprising as he's firmly in the far right conspiratorial fringe.
Drudgereport is still a good news aggregator, though.
Thank you, Obama.
The Germans might spend some time worrying about their own elections since Merkel opened the borders.
The anti-immigrant AFD - Alternative for Germany - party has scored massive gains in municipal weekend elections which reflect growing public anger at the refugee policies of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The polls for councils in the state of Hesse saw the AFD make significant inroads on the two main established parties - Merkel's conservative CDU and the centre-left SPD - to come in third with 13.2 percent of the vote, knocking the environmental Greens into fourth place.
"he's firmly in the far right conspiratorial fringe."
I would call that the worried about immigration "fringe."
I am voting for Rubio. I like that guy.
Michael K, apparently you have never heard of Alex Jones. Matt Drudge regularly linking to Alex Jones indicates that Drudge himself is a conspiracy theorist.
I see this as professional courtesy from one talented Establishment attacking rogue to another talented establishment attacking rogue.
And as Trump has said over and over about the Europeans and their old Colonies, we North Americans hold all of the cards. And finally, we don't care how angry that makes them.
Drudge's support of and bias for Trump is obvious. I don't know who's who on the nasty, right wing nut fringe, but I have noticed links to Roger Stone.
Drudge has had a crush on Trump since this whole circus began last summer. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen him link a truly negative story about Trump in that time. He's the perfect candidate for Drudge: a mercurial headline generating loose canon that's all controversy, showbiz and flash. It's been depressing visiting Drudge these past few months. Hell, it's been depressing visiting most news sites.
related question: Any propaganda analysis of NYT's choice today to pair a photo of Bill de Blasio at a lectern with an outstretched right hand with the article New York is thriving under Mayor de Blasio, much to business leader's relief ?
From the article:
"U.S. officials said it was highly unusual for foreign diplomats to express concern, even privately, about candidates in the midst of a presidential campaign."
It's also highly unusual for American diplomats to seek out the press with the design of damaging a presidential candidate.
It isn't just the Republican "establishment" that scared of Trump. He threatens all elements of the Federal apparatus (in and out of elective or appointive office.) Now they are attacking him as a potential despot, and it's starting to stick. He isn't a potential despot, but his verbal carelessness has given them enough ammunition to make many worry that the charge may be correct. Even Althouse, a cool and steady student of the power of propaganda, is now Officially Concerned. That bodes poorly for Trump.
Drudge Hannity and Rush are all in the tank for Trump.
Rush is mildly neutral on the candidates, but spends some time (when I happen to listen) making excuses for Donny.
Eric the Fruit Bat said...
I'm not paying much attention to this Trump thing.
Is anybody saying "a new broom sweeps clean" or is that too old-fashioned?
It's too old fashioned, and most people don't believe it anymore. They are probably right. The dirt is so encrusted and hardened that it's now part of the support system for the rickety and rotting floor. You don't cure that with just a broom.
AprilApple, add Fox News Channel to that list. They started out mostly anti-Trump, in spite of the network's financial ties to him, and are going more and more pro-Trump over time.
Much like Rush Limbaugh. I think these media folks are in the bargaining stage. They think it'll be a Trump v. Hillary election, and they're trying to figure out how to work that out.
The last issue in the two men duel in the sun comes down to who can beat Hillary in the General election.
Cruz as a good lawyer now opens with a statement that Trump cannot beat hillary, followed by spokesperson witnessing that line and Closing with the Argument that Trump can not beat Hillary.
All Rush, Hannity and Drudge have had to say to their listeners is that Cruz is feeding them total BS. It is only Trump that can win a coalition of states across the areas from Massachusetts to Michigan and from Texas across to South Carolina.
the unfathomable color,
Yellow houses have more curb appeal, but yellow interior walls are less likely to be touched. How that relates to the photo of the younger Trump, I don't know.
It is refreshing to see a pro-trump media outlet transposed against the completely over-the-top "conservative" standard bearer, National Review. National review looks like Salon and ThinkProgress these days. Basically unreadable.
It is a bit rich for the Europeans to complain about Trump's trade views. They are moderately effective protectionists, although all the fake 'Italian' goods coming out of China have really hurt the Italian economy.
Trump's shaking things up, including the complacency of globalist elites, lol.
It doesn't seem stunning.
Little Baby Satan! So scary.
Drudge is like, "Don't think about his little hands! Or you'll laugh at him."
Dude what part of the National Review (of the WSJ editorial page, or the Weekly Standard, or even The American Spectator -- which hosts columns by Trumpsters Jeff Lord and Esther Goldberg) do you think is fake-conservative? Or as you put it, "conservative" in scare-quotes.
The anti-Trump part I accept. They don't like Trump, and have made their view clear on that.
But what part is not conservative? What parts make you think of, as you say, Salon?
Was Trump ever considered a handsome man? He seems to have acquired some handsome women, but that may have little to do with his looks or other things.
I wondered the same about John Kerry, and also John McCain: handsome?
Handsome Men's Club (Jimmy Kimmel).
Show of handsome?
Bob Ellison -- Agreed (I don't have cable, or Fox News, so I will take your word for it.) It fits with everything else. Sessions and Newt are in the camp Trump.
Some of the "dreaded" establishment types are in that same bargaining stage. If find myself there too. Though I have no illusions that he is much weaker against Hillary than people think. pop-culture Trumps.
@ Bob Ellison- I recently read through an old article from the late 80s from some MSM source and it compared his looks to Robert Redford. I'm not quite seeing it, but he certainly was more handsome back in the day when you could see his eyes.
"Drudge Hannity and Rush are all in the tank for Trump."
They are following their listeners' opinions rather than leading them. Hannity is of course the weakest of hacks, having long supported without question the party line (even when the party line was "establishment") and can pivot like the best of them to try and get along with the mood of his fan base.
If Trump had topped out at 10% in the polls, we'd never hear a peep about him from these people.
Media bigwigs like Drudge and Rush aren't pushing Trump because he would make the best President. They do it because they think they can benefit from a close relationship with him. Just think of the deals they can make! All those connections, all those Billions!
Trump is what they long to be.
I don't know if this is the best Comments thread for it, but speaking of Trump's hands...
Trump's schtick after the Thursday debate was to mention the size of his hands in every stump speech, and to say essentially, "these hands can drive a golf ball 285 yards."
If Trump averaged 285 yards off the tee, he'd be about 150th on the PGA Tour driving distance list. He'd be ahead of Tour winners Matt Kuchar, Zach Johnson, Spencer Levin, Bryce Molder, Kevin Na, Graeme McDowell and Stuart Appleby.
"Some of the "dreaded" establishment types are in that same bargaining stage. If find myself there too. Though I have no illusions that he is much weaker against Hillary than people think. pop-culture Trumps."
I'm in the stage where I'm accepting that I have a "European style" choice (Sort of like being asked to pick between Hollande and LePen, with no viable semi-libertarian choice at all) because I think Trump will be the GOP nominee. I also think Trump is very weak against Hillary as it stands now--there are simply too many people who won't consider voting for Trump. That may change over the next few months, but if it doesn't we are looking at the Clinton coronation just the way Bill engineered it.
Drudge Hannity and Rush are all in the tank for Trump.
Rush is mildly neutral on the candidates, but spends some time (when I happen to listen) making excuses for Donny.
Rush has said in the past that his show is much easier to do when a Democrat is in the WH, and you can imagine that Trump would be even better than that for conservative talk show hosts. They must like him for the same reasons that Trump voters do- constant controversy, entertainment, and irritation of both the Democratic Party and the GOPe.
"If Trump averaged 285 yards off the tee, he'd be about 150th on the PGA Tour driving distance list. He'd be ahead of Tour winners Matt Kuchar, Zach Johnson, Spencer Levin, Bryce Molder, Kevin Na, Graeme McDowell and Stuart Appleby."
You sound like one of those naysayers who doubted that Kim Jong Il hit a hole in one on his first ever game of golf.
Drudge already has a poll up showing that a yuuuge majority want to shake up the world order.
"It isn't just the Republican "establishment" that scared of Trump. He threatens all elements of the Federal apparatus (in and out of elective or appointive office.)"
Yes and that is at the root of the panic.
Chuck, professional golf success rests on putting, not driving.
Oh, Michael I really don't give a rip about that.
All I care about is another Trump lie. A reckless, slightly psychotic lie. One of those lies that we could actually get right up in Trump's face at one of his golf courses and demand proof. Make a bet that he couldn't drive one ball in a dozen 285 yards into a fairway.
When it comes to golf, he's a cheater and a liar and a real pussy.
All the guys who actually do average 285 yards on the Tour could outdrive Trump with a 5-wood.
Man's progress was everywhere in a beautiful World Order in June ,1914. But two months later it became a 49 month Mass Suicide Order.
Every year from spring to fall for four years a million or two men were killed in a mile or two long offenses several times charging machine guns nests after 8,000 artillery pieces fired a half million shells for a week or two, but it still did not work.
World order is not under our control. After 1950, Mutually Assured Destruction weapons only slowed it down some.
I think you're overreacting
Chuck, I don't think he was saying he averages 285 yards. He was saying he could do it. Downhill, maybe on the moon, with a tail-wind.
Brando said...
"Drudge Hannity and Rush are all in the tank for Trump."
They are following their listeners' opinions rather than leading them. Hannity is of course the weakest of hacks, having long supported without question the party line ...
I'm going to put this nicely.
This is not true.
The US has to withdraw from the one-world global nonsense view of Western Europe.
Russia, China, and Japan aren't taking Syrian refugees or getting bogged down in the Middle East. Those countries look out for their own interests, which used to be our foreign policy until the Soviet Union fell. Europe needs to build up their militaries and figure out how to deal with the Middle East chaos that lies just beneath them. If they don't want millions of people from radically different countries flowing into Europe then they need to either push them back or go in with their militaries and take over in Syria like the US did in Iraq.
NATO should have been disbanded after the Soviet Union fell and Germany was reunited.
Ann Althouse said... The restoration of youth to the face, the unfathomable color, the earthquake terminology
Unfathomable? It's yellow. I mean, I see yellow--I'm not certain what other see. Am I supposed to think deeply about that and realize that subjective experience/interpretation can never really be shared btw people so that I can never really know what "yellow" means to someone else and thus all color description is in a sense futile as I can never grasp what color really means to you? Or is it just, you know, yellow?
As for the "restoration of youth" I think it's just an old picture. News outlets do that sometimes, although it can be manipulative (eg Trayvon Martin).
"Shake" could be used in the "shake up" sense and not the "ground shaking"/earthquake sense.
Honestly I don't follow Drudge closely enough to know how strange an entry this particular one is, so if you say it's stunning, Professor, I'll take your word for it. I'm not sure "unfathomable" can be supported in any case, though.
Yellow journalism.
I hit the ball 285 once. Flew it over the crest of a steep hill where it rolled and rolled and rolled. Still managed to bogey.
A good place to hit the ball 285 is from one end of a giant macadam parking lot. BOING !
"I'm going to put this nicely.
This is not true."
About Hannity? Maybe I missed it, but when has he taken a stand against the GOP or mainstream conservative opinion in the past decade? His support of Trump is the only time I've seen him do this, and as Trump is the leading contender for the nomination, that's the plurality choice. By contrast, I've seen O'Reilly frequently depart from the party line (on Iraq, gay marriage, etc.).
I am voting for Rubio. I like that guy.
Freshman senator with few, or maybe no accomplishments.
I've seen this movie before, and it doesn't turn out very well.
You know I don't give a rip about which media folks or bloggers are in which camp. You can toss things around like the New York Times and the Washington Post and the Podunk Gazette are firmly attached to Hillary's posterior like a remora to a shark (albeit a fat amoral shark in a pantsuit); and various bloggers are in love with Trump/Cruz/Rubio or you name it; and yet other Reich Wing commentators have their own ponies in the race. So what?
Unless you assume that the Sheeple (a Daily Kos term that I despise) are so stupid and ill informed that they will be (mis)led down the garden path to some conclusion you don't like, what does it matter?
Make up your own minds. And unless you are convinced that your braying your views will change some other person's mind, remember that you have just one vote. I've got mine, and I'll vote the way I like. [Well I might be able to cast more than one vote if I lived in Chicago--but that's another issue.}
@Brando
You have not been listening. He's been killing Boehner and McConnell for years about the budget, supreme court picks, immigration. Like his buddy, Mark Levin, Hannity often talks about how the establishment stabs conservative in the back, and fails to do the very things they were elected to do. Or even try. Hannity pointedly describes himself as conservative, not Republican.
With modern drivers and distance balls 285 is not a long drive. The challenge is still keeping it down the middle and short of or over the sand trap put there by the intelligent designer.
"When it comes to golf, he's a cheater and a liar and a real pussy."
So, how many times have you played with him?
The hatred oozes out of your comments.
When I was 15, I could the ball that far, especially with the modern woods.
I had to give up golf five years ago but still had a 9 handicap and could only drive about 200.
Where I think Trump came from.
"With modern drivers and distance balls 285 is not a long drive."
The major courses, including Augusta, have all been rebuilt the past ten years, 285 is no big deal anymore. They are all 100 years longer than they were ten years ago if a PGA event is played there.
"You have not been listening. He's been killing Boehner and McConnell for years about the budget, supreme court picks, immigration. Like his buddy, Mark Levin, Hannity often talks about how the establishment stabs conservative in the back, and fails to do the very things they were elected to do. Or even try. Hannity pointedly describes himself as conservative, not Republican."
I'm not aware of any conservative pundit who hasn't been making those same charges. I'm not talking about "slamming Republicans" so much as "drifting from the (conservative, not specifically GOP) line". But I've never found much use for Hannity so maybe he's been saying a lot that fell under my radar. O'Reilly sometimes can surprise you.
"Freshman senator with few, or maybe no accomplishments.
I've seen this movie before, and it doesn't turn out very well."
Well, the only candidate with accomplishments is polling at about 10%. Apparently we jettisoned the whole "accomplishments" thing a long time ago.
" he sees ominous signs today of a descent back into a Hobbesian state of nature"
He's right. There are lots of "rough beasts" slouching around.
What is most interesting to me is that Cruz is the most likely to disrupt the current system, as evidenced by the FACT that the other politicians do not like him intruding on business as usual.
"he's firmly in the far right conspiratorial fringe"
In the last few years I have seen more than enough solid support for some of the ideas of the "conspiratorial fringe". If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck ...
It's not a question of fighting THE establishment, the election is about choosing which establishment we prefer. Trump is the MEDIAe candidate put up against the GOPe, with the media more gleeful than anyone about his successes and actively promoting his progress. They're playing the tune and getting a lot of people to dance to their music.
Michael K, you hit a golf ball 285 yards?
"Unless you assume that the Sheeple (a Daily Kos term that I despise) are so stupid and ill informed that they will be (mis)led down the garden path to some conclusion you don't like, what does it matter?"
If you consider the (to me rather compelling) arguments of the school of public choice economics, the fact of the people being led down a garden path is not a matter of defects in the people but the inevitable consequences of the system.
"It's not a question of fighting THE establishment, the election is about choosing which establishment we prefer. Trump is the MEDIAe candidate put up against the GOPe, with the media more gleeful than anyone about his successes and actively promoting his progress. They're playing the tune and getting a lot of people to dance to their music."
They created him--look at the free airtime they've given him his whole career, and especially in this campaign. From a media perspective, he is a godsend--endless copy and plenty of attention forever.
A true outsider by definition could never win this game.
Brando,
Are you suggesting Cruz has few accomplishments? I would say his legal career -- not just graduating from law school -- was one of real accomplishment.
Paddy O:
Agree completely about media support of Trump.
buwaya puti:
Exactly right, as to public choice economics. James Buchanan did not win the Nobel for guesswork.
Don't world leaders ALWAYS bitch when a Republican might get in the White House, according to the press?
I remember Kerry running on that against Bush.
Are you suggesting Cruz has few accomplishments? I would say his legal career -- not just graduating from law school -- was one of real accomplishment.
Yeah. Unlike Obama, Hillary, Bill --- Cruz has had a REALLY impressive legal career.
"Are you suggesting Cruz has few accomplishments? I would say his legal career -- not just graduating from law school -- was one of real accomplishment."
No--but then all of them have accomplishments (speaker of Florida House before age 40, even real estate developer)--but the one with the most relevant accomplishments compared to the presidency would be (IMHO) Kasich, both for being governor of a large, purple state and heading key congressional committees in the '90s.
Though in fairness, we've had very successful presidents who did not have executive political experience so it's really just one of several factors to consider. Judgment, temperament, character, intelligence--those can outweigh experience too.
Kasich would be DESTROYED over his high finance jobs he had before becoming governor. It doesn't get mentioned much, but Hillary would slaughter him over it and he wouldn't fight back.
"Michael K, you hit a golf ball 285 yards?"
When I was 15 I used to play a course south of Chicago named "Glenwoodie." It was a club that had gone broke in the depression and it is still there and owned by the Catholic Church, I think. I last played it about ten years ago. It is my favorite course in all the world, I played it every day when I was 15-16 in the summer. Often 36 holes a day.
The back nine had two side-by-side holes that were 449 yards, in those days the maximum for a par four. If I could reach the downslope just in front of the green which was elevated, my second shot was a wedge. There was a creek at the bottom of the little swale but it was almost 400 yards and I never rolled into it. With the aid of the slope, I could reach about 350. On a level hole, and this was with real wood woods, I could hit close to 300. My father did not want me to go to college. He wanted me to be a golf pro but I knew too many pros and it was not a good life at that time. 1955.
If you are in the Chicago area, you should play it. It was in great shape when I last saw it about five years ago. There was a rumor the Church was going to use it for a cemetery and I think the town may now own it.
I miss golf but a spine fusion 20 years ago and now some slippage from probably too much golf has put me in the spectator class.
"At Mass today, across the Archdiocese of Toronto, all homilies were suspended so that a statement could be read by our Cardinal Collins against the Ottawa government’s impending “euthanasia” legislation. This our Parliament was ordered to write and pass by Canada’s Supreme Court: a junto of nine who are a law unto themselves. The Parliamentary Committee discussing the matter, now dominated by the Liberal Party, has made recommendations such as forcing all doctors and other medical staff to participate in the killings; and arranging for children and the mentally ill to be terminated on the advice of one “care giver” or another. It is a monstrous, unambiguously evil measure they are contemplating — which, like abortion, targets the defenceless."-http://www.davidwarrenonline.com/
What does this have to do with a thread on Trump creating world-wide havoc? Because the next president can tip the balance to the court such that something like this could happen here. But..but..but you say--Bill Of Rights! I think the rationalization for the SSM ruling has made it crystal clear that progressives putting on their magic rights spectacles can find anything they want emanating from the constitution.
We know what kind of judge Hillary! will nominate. We don't know whether Trump's nominee will be any better-- but it's a chance I'm willing to take.
He is not even my third choice, but riling a few European liberals will pass. The next supreme court justice will have effects that may make everything else moot.
"Are you suggesting Cruz has few accomplishments? I would say his legal career -- not just graduating from law school -- was one of real accomplishment."
Yes, that's why I would favor him for the USSC.
Rubio has none.
"Kasich would be DESTROYED over his high finance jobs he had before becoming governor."- damikesc
Are you referring to the guilt by insinuation, like you're doing here, or are you referring to something specific?
Get real. Anybody so afraid Trump is a liberal because Lying Ted says so is too scared to be allowed to have have a Driver's License. And therefore will have no Photo ID needed to vote.
Michael; they are using Trackman and lasers to measure drives on the PGA Tour. They aren't trying to recall what they did when they were 15 or 16.
They are measuring hundreds of drives from each player, and averaging them to tenths of a yard. These are all guys who played college golf (unlike Trump) and were in many cases All-Americans and Walker Cup or Palmer Cup players (Trump can't even conceive of how good those guys are). The elite of the elite. The two hundred best golfers in the world.
And Trump claims to drive it like they do.
I am so sick and tired of Trump's asinine bullshit. He just deserves to be ridiculed; but more than anything, challenged on what he says.
Bubba is a Panhandle Florida red neck that went to UGA on a Golf Scholarship and he drives it 330, routinely. But unlike The Donald, Bubba is not beloved by all his co-workers.
I suggest a man on man driving Contest with Trump for the USA and Putin for Russia. We can call it the Miracle on Grass.
I drive the ball 286 yards.
Are you referring to the guilt by insinuation, like you're doing here, or are you referring to something specific?
I don't care about his jobs. I just find him a sanctimonious, windbag asshole whose face needs a vicious slapping.
To pretend the Dems won't obliterate him WORSE than they did Romney is pure foolishness. His unwillingness to discuss it much is going to be a problem and will give him the same image issues Hillary has when people start to investigate.
The top 50 women golfers average over 260 yards. Why wouldn't Trump be able to hit the ball further than a 120 pound woman?
Chuck Norris wishes he could drive a golf ball as far as the Donald.
(surprised I haven't seen this meme yet.)
@ mccullough: you seem to forget the real reason for NATO: keep the Germans down, the Russians out and the Americans in. What Merkel has done is unbelievable in it's stupidity. What the EU has done in it's arrogance and over reaching is unbelievable (with Merkel pushing the EU). These smug, arrogant European leaders are oblivious to warning claxons. I hope I'm wrong but if I am not it is going to get a lot uglier in Europe when real fascists take power again. And all thanks to these arrogant, smug fools like Merkel and the like.
(Stupidest election season ever)
"They aren't trying to recall what they did when they were 15 or 16."
You didn't ask me. You are being a jerk. Go away. What's your handicap, Chuck ?
I can't explain why Drudge chose this image, but I can at least explain the "unfathomable color." It seems Drudge swiped this image from an article "Donald Trump: The Brand" that appeared in the May 2, 2011, issue of Adweek. It was Adweek that painted the background yellow.
Drudge hates the Clintons and made his career starting with the Clintons. Trump will not hold back any punches on the Clintons. Trump has no animosity to gays and Drudge is gay. It isn't that difficult to see why Drudge seems to be supporting Trump. If nothing else Trump is entertaining. Cruz on the other hand isn't entertaining at all and Drudge is in the news as entertainment business.
Trump was kind of sexy when he was younger.
Now he looks like a freak.
Hitting a golf ball off a tee with a driver 285 yards isn't a big deal. Power to drive it that distance isn't the problem most male golfers have (especially with modern drivers)- it is the control. Put PGA players on a tee at a driving range, and 100% of them will average well over 300 yards. I can probably still hit the occasional ball 300 yards at the range at age 50 though I haven't played in over 5 years, but I never had the kind of control that even allowed me to hit once with such ferocity on an actual course.
Is Trump lying? Probably not, if properly parsed. Does he regularly hit the ball off the tee 285 yards on a course? I doubt it.
Chuck's only handicap is hanging from his rear view mirror.
The anti-native factions fear a change from the status quo.
The consequences of debasing capital and labor through liberal fiscal policies will be exposed.
The mass exodus from second and third-world nations under pressure from environmental sequestration, social justice movements, and progressive wars will become visible despite mainstream human and civil rights efforts to suppress or reorient its causes.
The restoration of individual dignity will be realized with rejection of nurtured prejudice through class diversity policies.
The human rights violations and pro-choice religion justifying/rationalizing reactive parenthood (i.e. abortion rites) and Planned Parenthood (i.e. cannibalistic trials) will come under increasing scrutiny as the premeditated termination and redistribution of millions of wholly innocent human lives can no longer be denied.
Probably not. The modern orthodoxy has a characteristically narrow outlook. It will fight to the last baby in order to enjoy the wealth, pleasure, and leisure that follow from establishing monopolies of capital and control.
As for the Drudge picture, I don't think Drudge is doing Trump a favor- it just reminds people that Trump is quite old today, though he is definitely more vigorous than the cadaver and corpse routine being put on by Shelob and Bernie.
"To pretend the Dems won't obliterate him WORSE than they did Romney is pure foolishness. His unwillingness to discuss it much is going to be a problem and will give him the same image issues Hillary has when people start to investigate."- damikesc
Pretty much a load of BS. He's more than willing to discuss it.
"...But for Mr. Kasich, business was more a second career after a long string of successes in politics. He left Congress in January 2001 after an 18-year career that included a role as one of Newt Gingrich’s lieutenants when he was House speaker, a stint as House Budget Committee chairman and a failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
A friend helped him land an interview at Lehman Brothers.
“I came away thinking: interesting guy, not like a major door-opener,” recalled Gary Weinstein, who interviewed him and became his boss. As to what the congressman knew about banking, Mr. Weinstein said, “Zero. It was shocking to me.”
Working in Columbus out of a two-man office, Mr. Kasich struggled at first to gain acceptance from New York bankers who seemed to have little use for him. “They didn’t welcome him into the club,” said Wilber James, the friend who helped arrange the interview.
But Mr. Kasich could still open some doors. He took bankers to California to meet Sheryl Sandberg, then a Google executive and a former Treasury Department official, which led to a small role for Lehman in Google’s 2004 public stock offering.
Here in Ohio, Mr. Kasich got Lehman involved in the public offering for Designer Shoe Warehouse, or DSW, a Columbus-based shoe retailer founded by the Schottenstein family, which employed Mr. Kasich after Lehman’s demise.
Mr. Kasich also made introductions for Lehman to Ohio state pension funds, which drew the ire of Democrats after the funds lost hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-fated investments with the bank. Mr. Kasich has said his contacts did not result in any business for Lehman.
But friends say Mr. Kasich was most captivated — and perhaps influenced — by his work in Silicon Valley, where he had grown close to Mark Kvamme, a venture capitalist. “You’re from Silicon Valley. Are you rich?” Mr. Kvamme recalls the blunt Mr. Kasich asking when they first met.
Mr. Kvamme made introductions to other venture capitalists and tech entrepreneurs, and over time, Mr. Kasich and his longtime aide, Jai Chabria, the other half of the two-man Lehman operation in Columbus, eventually managed relationships with 45 companies.
Then, in 2008, Lehman collapsed, a victim of its own risky mortgage investments, which Mr. Kasich said did not involve him. “I was a banker,” he said. “I wasn’t offering home loans to anybody.”
Like other Lehman employees who held stock options, Mr. Kasich lost money when the firm collapsed. (He also said he was “diversified,” with income from his work as a Fox News analyst, corporate boards and public speaking.) What he gained, he said, was an understanding “of the way C.E.O.s think.”"
NYT story here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/25/us/politics/john-kasich-balances-his-blue-collar-roots-and-ties-to-wall-street.html?_r=1
I want a non-entertaining president, thank you very much.
Kenny Perry is 55 years old and still averages 296 yards on the Champions Tour. Trump is 69, which is 137 in golf years, so I'd be very surprised if he averages 285 off the peg, although that's not what he claimed. Could he occasionally find the screws and get 285? Possibly.
"I don't care about his jobs. I just find him a sanctimonious, windbag asshole whose face needs a vicious slapping."- damikesc
Based on that, I'd guess you're a Trump supporter. They seem to have anger issues.
I want a president who recognizes the constitution for what it is, embraces it, and defends it. And to be left the heck alone.
"What he gained, he said, was an understanding “of the way C.E.O.s think.”"
Of all the places to learn how CEOs think, Lehman was probably the best as long as you concentrated on NOT doing what they did.
" They seem to have anger issues."
Nobody has worse anger issues than Trump haters.
Some of us are just spectators. Some of even used to hit a golf ball 300 yards.
This election is now about Trump vs. Everybody Else. There is no longer a Democratic/Repiblican dichotomy. No longer a Liberal/Conservative polarity. It isn't even Establishment vs. Outsider anymore. It's Trump vs. the World.
Pick which side you want to be on. Then batten down the hatches, Elly May, a storm's a-coming.
"Hannity often talks about how the establishment stabs conservative in the back, and fails to do the very things they were elected to do." Many "establishment" pols didn't campaign as conservatives and were not elected to to do particularly conservative things, for the simple reason that they would have lost if they had. The GOP in Congress can therefore only be as conservative as the least conservative members needed to make a majority. The point of being conservative is to take the world as it is. In the world as it is there are not enough conservatives to keep a GOP majority in Congress and make it do consistently conservative things. Gotta get more conservatives in swing states first. Of course, the Hannity et al. support for Trump rests on a non sequitur: we are upset at the"GOPe" for not being conservative enough, therefore we support someone who does not even pretend to be conservative--someone who will lie about anything and everything, except that.
Michael -
With respect to Donald Trump, I am trying to be an annoying, harassing insufferable prick. I would like nothing better than to smear him and hurt him. You thought that I was "oozing" hatred toward Trump. That disappoints me. Mere "oozing"? I want my Trump-hatred to be slathered on, like jelly on a peanut butter sandwich. I hate the idiotic and odious Trump so much, I even hate his supporters.
And; any time you want to get me a match with Trump, I will play him even-up. My index is 9.7. Trump's index is supposedly 3. He should beat me easily. I don't think he can. The only thing I want, is for there to be a match referee to prevent Trump from his legendary cheating.
https://www.reddit.com/r/golf/comments/3omfnd/can_we_talk_about_donald_trumps_handicap_for_a_sec/
"Trump was kind of sexy when he was younger.
Now he looks like a freak."
So do we all, at that age. We look worse later.
Sic transit gloria mundi
M Jordan:
So you believe Cruz is on the insider side? Based on his profound philosophical differences that led to genuine hatred of him, what evidence supports that view, if you hold it?
Bickel,
Yep. Cruz is not Trump so that makes him one of the Other.
"With respect to Donald Trump, I am trying to be an annoying, harassing insufferable prick. I would like nothing better than to smear him and hurt him. You thought that I was "oozing" hatred toward Trump. That disappoints me. Mere "oozing"? I want my Trump-hatred to be slathered on, like jelly on a peanut butter sandwich. I hate the idiotic and odious Trump so much, I even hate his supporters."
Speaking as a neutral party, I advise moderation.
Not for anyone else's sake, nor for any political reason, but for your own sake.
"Forgive them, for they know not what they do" - applies to all of us.
Bickel,
The evidence is simply that Trump is gonna be the nominee at which point all the other must decide, support him or not. If they support him, my thesis is proven. If they don't, it's proven as well.
I think Trump is using an alias in here...
M Jordan:
After you are disabused of your hopes by either a President Clinton or Trump doing more of the insider shit, I will politely remind everybody of their choices when it could have mattered.
My hopes for a President Trump are non-existent, so I won't be disappointed.
M Jordan:
A "theory" that is supported regardless of the outcome is, by definition, not a theory.
"Of all the places to learn how CEOs think, Lehman was probably the best as long as you concentrated on NOT doing what they did."- Michael K
LOL
Yeah, it's too bad he hadn't gone to work for GS.
On Kissinger and Spengler and Yeats and and the rather unsettling nature of this year, I feel the lack of English, and talent, because there is poetry due. We are in a state of dread anticipation, with signs and portents coming in every hour.
I would call it "On the Death of a Turtle".
Yeats still works very well though.
"My hopes for a President Trump are non-existent, so I won't be disappointed."
That's sort of where I am. If he demonstrated any shred of wisdom, character or restraint, I would be pleasantly surprised.
I'd feel the same about President Hillary.
" I am trying to be an annoying, harassing insufferable prick."
Congratulations on your success.
With an Index of 9.7 I probably would have beaten you and I'm 78. I was 70 when I was playing to that Index.
I think the real Trump haters, like you, are helping to convince neutrals, like me, that he must be doing something right.
I try not to ally myself with jerks.
I don't care about you, Michael. I don't care what sort of golfer you are, or used to be. I'll take you on now even-up, if you are 78 and have a bad back. Let's put some money on it and make it worth my while, okay? Let's find a long course; the longer the better. If my handicap was faked, the guys I play with would break me.
If you want to support Trump right now as a matter of record, I'm okay with that. I want a list of people to blame, if Trump takes the Republican nomination and then gets schlonged in November.
Golf numbers...everyone's handicap is a strange phenomenon, manufactured out of top reported scores, looking much better than reality.
There's an easy way to find out about Trump's report. Let him report to a driving range and measure his distance. Don't have to measure anything else or critique his swing.
285 is a long way to go.
I love to play golf for money. Can I get in on this action?
Fabi, I haven't played in a while, but if you'll give me a 29 handicap, I'll put up $10, even odds!
None of you are to blame.
Really, the idea is absurd.
We are all a lot of political aficionados commenting here in a not terribly influential venue.(apologies to our kindly salonniere Ms. Althouse, successful as it is the views expressed here in comments aren't going to change primary results anywhere in any way)
The people who will make a difference aren't here, nor are any disputes here going to influence many voters.
We all do this for our own rather perverse amusement.
Golf is better than pistols at ten paces.
Depends on the state of your back of course.
Never declare your handicap (or driving distance) first, Bob Ellison! LOL
GOLF:
I am a stunningly bad golfer. I mean terrifyingly bad. I sold my clubs as a gift to humanity.
But I was a very good hitter in baseball and softball. The swings are easier to transition. Golf just doesn't translate to my swing.
The type of people of go to Davos and Bilderberg are reputed to favor a unified world government. Real? Or crazy conspiracy theory? Either way, there are plenty of wealthy people who attend those conferences who are much less than enthused by a Donald Trump candidacy, much less a Donald Trump presidency.
If Trump gets the nomination (I favor Cruz) then he'll be up against the weakest Democrat opponent since Michael Dukakis.
Drudge (Rush, Hannity, etc.) likes Trump because they are in the same racket: entertainment. Drudge links to other entertainers like Alex Jones because that's what his fan base wants. That people ascribe ideology to their artistic choices are naive at best and likely willing dupes at worst.
Glad to see the debate elevated from finger length to drive distance.
It ain't over till it's over.
A famous yogi said that.
It's not the distance, it's what you do with it.
The Trump phenomenon has been berry berry good to Drudge, who, after all, is (like all other for-profit media) driven by eyeballs and mouse-clicks far more than any kind of ideology. Trump provides tons of the former. He only provides the latter for those who are extremely gullible.
"That people ascribe ideology to their artistic choices are naive at best and likely willing dupes at worst. "
This is neither naive nor duplicitous.
As Instapundit likes to say, politics is downstream of culture. He is absolutely correct. Culture drives ideology which drives politics. Much of subsequent political and economic analysis is just a process of clever rationalization, to make it acceptable to those inclined to think that way - or to think of themselves as rational.
A lot of people don't like to think about why they think what they think.
"I'll take you on now even-up, if you are 78 and have a bad back. Let's put some money on it and make it worth my while, okay?"
Spoken like the jerk you are.
I'm sure you would have not mentioned the money if I had not mentioned the back.
I'm not yet a Trump supporter inspite of your efforts.
Keep it up, though.
"...But for Mr. Kasich, business was more a second career after a long string of successes in politics. He left Congress in January 2001 after an 18-year career that included a role as one of Newt Gingrich’s lieutenants when he was House speaker, a stint as House Budget Committee chairman and a failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
A friend helped him land an interview at Lehman Brothers.
“I came away thinking: interesting guy, not like a major door-opener,” recalled Gary Weinstein, who interviewed him and became his boss. As to what the congressman knew about banking, Mr. Weinstein said, “Zero. It was shocking to me.”
Working in Columbus out of a two-man office, Mr. Kasich struggled at first to gain acceptance from New York bankers who seemed to have little use for him. “They didn’t welcome him into the club,” said Wilber James, the friend who helped arrange the interview.
But Mr. Kasich could still open some doors. He took bankers to California to meet Sheryl Sandberg, then a Google executive and a former Treasury Department official, which led to a small role for Lehman in Google’s 2004 public stock offering.
Here in Ohio, Mr. Kasich got Lehman involved in the public offering for Designer Shoe Warehouse, or DSW, a Columbus-based shoe retailer founded by the Schottenstein family, which employed Mr. Kasich after Lehman’s demise.
Mr. Kasich also made introductions for Lehman to Ohio state pension funds, which drew the ire of Democrats after the funds lost hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-fated investments with the bank. Mr. Kasich has said his contacts did not result in any business for Lehman.
But friends say Mr. Kasich was most captivated — and perhaps influenced — by his work in Silicon Valley, where he had grown close to Mark Kvamme, a venture capitalist. “You’re from Silicon Valley. Are you rich?” Mr. Kvamme recalls the blunt Mr. Kasich asking when they first met.
Mr. Kvamme made introductions to other venture capitalists and tech entrepreneurs, and over time, Mr. Kasich and his longtime aide, Jai Chabria, the other half of the two-man Lehman operation in Columbus, eventually managed relationships with 45 companies.
Then, in 2008, Lehman collapsed, a victim of its own risky mortgage investments, which Mr. Kasich said did not involve him. “I was a banker,” he said. “I wasn’t offering home loans to anybody.”
Like other Lehman employees who held stock options, Mr. Kasich lost money when the firm collapsed. (He also said he was “diversified,” with income from his work as a Fox News analyst, corporate boards and public speaking.) What he gained, he said, was an understanding “of the way C.E.O.s think.”"
NYT story here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/25/us/politics/john-kasich-balances-his-blue-collar-roots-and-ties-to-wall-street.html?_
Ahh, you're a fan of fluff. Got it. Little discussion of what he did.
Keep in mind, Romney was accused of MURDERING A GUY'S WIFE. Do you REALLY think Kasich, Mr. "Adult in the Room" won't be accused of worse and, as usual, be too fucking lame to respond?
Based on that, I'd guess you're a Trump supporter. They seem to have anger issues.
Cruz supporter, actually.
Must be a Kasich guy. He is wrong on most things, also. And then he couches his idiocy in terrible theology.
The evidence is simply that Trump is gonna be the nominee at which point all the other must decide, support him or not. If they support him, my thesis is proven. If they don't, it's proven as well.
I have serious doubts he hits the delegate requirement to win outright. He's not winning enough to get there.
"Keep in mind, Romney was accused of MURDERING A GUY'S WIFE. Do you REALLY think Kasich, Mr. "Adult in the Room" won't be accused of worse and, as usual, be too fucking lame to respond?"
I've seen this a lot, but why are we so sure Kasich wouldn't hit back effectively? He does have plenty of electoral experience and was active in politics throughout the first Clinton era. Maybe he would go limp like Romney, but that's not a given. It could be that he hits back forcefully and because of his low negatives turns a lot of people against Hillary (particularly because she has very high negatives, and is known for these stunts). I wouldn't assume out of hand that just because he parades the "nice guy" image he would wilt under assault.
Though I don't see him getting nominated, so it's a moo point. A cow's opinion. No one cares, it's moo.
"I have serious doubts he hits the delegate requirement to win outright. He's not winning enough to get there."
He'll get there, barring some unexpected implosion. A lot of winner take all states are coming up, and he's been strong in the bigger states too. I've already accepted the choice this November will suck worse than any I've seen.
“I cried because I had Obama. Then I met a man who had Trump.”
Brando:
Early voting states will favor Trump too.
Cruz has been building momentum with Republicans.
But Trump rides the free media train very well.
Meade cheated and removed his deletion...
Anybody gain the Meade Curse this week?
"Early voting states will favor Trump too.
Cruz has been building momentum with Republicans.
But Trump rides the free media train very well."
Yeah Trump seems to do worse among late-deciders. I think some are starting to see Cruz as being a more stable, reliable and competent version of the "outsider" that Trump claims to be. Though I think (contrary to the CW going around on TV this weekend) Cruz benefits by keeping Kasich and Rubio in the race, because their voters tend more moderate and are as likely to go to Trump if Rubio or Kasich drop out. In fact, Rubio doing a bit better than he is now would make a Cruz victory more likely in later states.
Likableness of Personality as why we vote for someone is an admission that humans are not motivated by reason. That is shown by it being all Kasich has needed so far.
Hug me somebody powerful. But I don't believe in any God because I am rational. Give me a break.
We have an alley fighter from Queens who only wants a crack at the Title Bout. He will even pay for it himself. But the Mob wants some weak loser who will take a dive for them. Christie was offered that roll but quit out of pride. Kasich sees that roll and since he has nothing else to do, will try it out. Rubio had become a favorite player of the roll after the Mob's made member Bush was knocked out silly by the Queens Killer, but Rubio has no legs and The Killer has put a deep cut over his eye.
Enter the substitute Cruz. The Mob's carefully groomed back up boxer dressed as A Pure Conservative as a joke.
Brando,
The Rubio voters seemed almost exclusively to go to Cruz.
traditionalguy:
You are dull and boring.
This place was better before campaign operatives started posting here.
As for betting that Trump can't drive a ball 285 yards, you better watch Tin Cup before you put any money down.
Not to mention on a rock hard South Florida fairway with a stiff wind at one's back, it isn't that hard to do it once in a while. Which is all he needs to be telling the truth. These kind of attacks that depend on omission and slight of hand and general dishonesty just inoculate Trump, who is a stalking horse for Hillary.
Damikesc,
I been an admirer of Kasich since the early 90's when each year he would propose a balanced budget and everyone, I mean everyone thought he was nuts.
You may think he's not conservative enough, but strides were made during the Gingrich years to be frittered away.
You ever wonder why the GOPe has never embraced Kasich? Sitting governor of a must win state with high approval ratings and proven history of taking on the government, who left at the height of his career because he didn't think Congress was meant to be a sinecure?
Anyway, I like Cruz-- but more than anything I want to win in 2016. Kasich is more likely able to win those disaffected independents and blue-collar democrats than Cruz. The next Supreme Court justice will determine the future of the country....period. If a liberal/progressive/statist takes Scalia's seat-- there will be no conservative policy every enacted that won't be in jeopardy of SS veto. Every conservative initiative will be unconstitutional. Illegal in the country? Constitutional right to vote. Border wall? We don't need no stinkin' border wall (how racist of me). Entitlement reform. Nope. Constitution says so.
That said, if Trump gets the nomination, I will have no hesitancy to voting for him.
When I use the word dull, I mean dullard.
I once drove a dozen golf balls approximately five miles. All the way from WalMart to my house. Gave 'em to my neighbor for her birthday. Big fuckin' deal, it was easy.
Yesterday's Drudge pic of "little Marco" in a giant rocking chair, with his feet dangling like a little kid was a killer. Reminded me of my kids when they were small.
BTW, wonder how Putin and crazy Korea guy like these short jokes?
FullMoon:
Putin rode a bear. Li'l Kim threatened a nuclear attack.
So, they handled it pretty well.
"This place was better before campaign operatives started posting here.
As for betting that Trump can't drive a ball 285 yards, you better watch Tin Cup before you put any money down."
Tin Cup was pretty good. The trick shots they showed I have seen guys do and a few I could do when I was a kid.
I enjoy talking about golf and don't see why it has to be political but there are other blogs where you can talk about things other than politics.
Birkel, one of the best golfers I ever played with was a guy I met at the first tee at the Papago Golf Course (shhh...don't tell anyone about this muni spot).
His swing was awful, just awful. Looked like he was trying to behead a gopher, not hit a golf ball.
But damn, he hit the hell outta that thing. 240 yards was easy, low, and straight.
His short game and putting were even better.
I asked how he came to be so good. He said well, he had been a minor-league baseball player known for hitting, and he did well enough to retire pretty young, and then started golfing every day.
One of the happiest guys I've ever met. An older black guy who did well and got where he wanted. But damn, how did he get that much distance from such a sucky swing?
Can someone tell me how one figures a guy is "more electable in the general" if he can't even win in the primaries? How exactly does it work? Do people from the other party trust you more because you only get to single digits with the base? Is that it? But then how do you expect to get bunches of other party voters when they have their own candidates to Vote for? I have never understood how this line of thinking goes.
I am serious and not being facetious. I really can't grasp this. Maybe it would help if I was a robot.
I hit nearly .600 playing baseball in high school and I just do not do well with golf. And I would rather use my money for things besides lessons.
Pretty good at racquetball though.
Hey, Marco Rubio!
The next time some damn reporter asks you what state, other than Florida, you're going to win, you say...
New York!
And instead of playing defense, you take the fight to that bastard.
You tell the world that we are a nation of immigrants!
Ellis Island!
Statue of Liberty!
Is Donald Trump going to tear down the statue of liberty and put up a Trump tower? With his big ugly face on it? Hell no he's not!
Take the fight to New York City, Marco Rubio!
You win that state, boy. And predict it like Joe Namath! The mouth from the south!
Christie was offered that roll
I see what you did there.
You ever wonder why the GOPe has never embraced Kasich? Sitting governor of a must win state with high approval ratings and proven history of taking on the government, who left at the height of his career because he didn't think Congress was meant to be a sinecure?
Because his idiotic Medicare expansion (which, shockingly, has blown through projections --- I know, nobody could've seen that coming) belied his former bona fides as a deficit hawk. And his defense of a God awful policy was the lamest religious moralizing I've seen in a long time. I used to like Kasich and Rep. Tim Penny quite a lot. I loved him writing budgets. But he's changed. His deficit hawk act seems to be gone.
He is unelectable nationally. He can't claim fiscal discipline any longer. He isn't terribly likeable. He is a sanctimonious ass. And there's plenty of stories of staffers calling him a tyrant --- which is not an issue if it is Hillary but quite the issue if it is a Republican. Not fair, but that is life.
Anyway, I like Cruz-- but more than anything I want to win in 2016. Kasich is more likely able to win those disaffected independents and blue-collar democrats than Cruz.
I'm just not seeing it. He has Romney's same "Well, this idiotic policy --- yeah, I did it TOO" issue. You can't cover it up. He's also not terribly liked by most voters looking at the results. If he could win over the disaffected blue collar Dems and independents, he'd be Trump (those two groups are the core of Trump presently).
I'd be a bit surprised if he manages to even win OH.
Kasich is, in my eyes, running a cowardly campaign. When you're facing what is viewed as an existential problem for your party and country, you don't stay "above the fray". You unload on him, both barrels. "Adult in the room" is usually a nice way of saying "loser". The "adult" never wins.
Cruz is the outsider Trump wishes he was, plus the most intelligent and consistent candidate running.
I'll vote for anybody who wins, even a guy who is a sanctimonious ass. I'll vote for Trump who is a loudmouth prick, too. And I support Cruz, who is a sleazy-looking used car salesman.
All are better than older-than-dirt criminals or idiots who refuse to learn and cannot hold a job outside of government.
And I don't want to see Rubio's career end...so he REALLY needs to drop out. A very likely bad loss in FL won't do him favors.
I enjoy talking about golf and don't see why it has to be political but there are other blogs where you can talk about things other than politics.
I'm talking about the people who push their talking points regardless of the topic at hand, monkeys flinging shit, hating on everybody not their guy. Happy to destroy the Republican Party and leave it a smoking wreck if their guy can't win. Those guys. Althouse puts up a picture of a sunrise, and its all about Trump is this, Rubio is that, blah blah blah. And to make matters worse, they push the same points over and over and over as if they get them in an email with instructions to push them. This blog used to be about discussion, now it's just one shit storm thread after another. These talking point regurgitators, as rhardin points out, are just labeling themselves as partisans, and partisans are seldom persuasive.
Is Donald Trump going to tear down the statue of liberty and put up a Trump tower?
Funny! He just might. "tear down that statue.."
"These talking point regurgitators, as rhardin points out, are just labeling themselves as partisans, and partisans are seldom persuasive.'
I agree. Why not say it one ? I don't like Trump !
Now, how did you like the story in Tin Cup ? I frankly thought it was silly until that British Open when van de Velde let his caddy talk him into disaster.
Michael K, my problem with Tin Cup is the final scene, where he tries to hit the green with a 3-wood several times, and it keeps rolling back into the water hazard.
That's not the way 3-woods work. They don't have backspin. It's impossible. If he hit ground, the ball would go forward.
Dumbest golf movie ever made, yet often called the bestest.
Why would anybody not 'like' Trump?
I worry that the politics he pursues, even assuming a victory or indictment, will expand the size and scope of government.
But then I only vote for the single issue of what is best for the country.
The idea of him insisting on hitting all of his balls to "prove" he could make a shot? It's too embarrassing to watch, so I stop watching the movie before it gets to that point. It is just so unrealistic that it sort of makes it obvious that a lot of the rest of the movie was probably just index cards of hoary old golf anecdotes and nineteenth hole legends strung together with a love triangle for some glue.
Rene Russo, though. Wow.
At least Kevin Costner could somewhat fake a golf swing. Watch Colin Firth in Arthur Newman, and it will hurt your eyes to watch that swing.
@Michael K: One of the golf magazines interviewed Jean van de Velde several years after his meltdown on the 72nd hole. They asked him about that hole, of course, and then asked him about the playoff -- which if you remember had its start delayed by about fifteen minutes.
Jean said that he was so mentally empty that he grabbed his wife after regulation play and told her "Let's go do it." She replied that it was not the right time and he then said "It is the time!" and they did the deed.
When he finally showed up to the tee for the playoff he was rebuked for being late and told the starting official that he has to go get a sweater!
"Dumbest golf movie ever made, yet often called the bestest."
It's actually pretty good in places. That scene where he keeps hitting in the water, I thought silly until the 1999 British Open.
The trick shots, like hitting the ball in the bar, I've seen. My father had a golf driving range when I was a kid and I used to play with the local assistant pros every Tuesday. We would have a tensome and would have a lot of fun. We played quarter skin games. I was 15 and won some money. I would play 36 holes a day and hit 800 golf balls. Of course, I had to go out and pick them up after.
"At least Kevin Costner could somewhat fake a golf swing"
Costner is a jock and played college baseball in southern California. His golf came later. I used to use his locker at Lakeside where he was a member. Andy Garcia is the club champion there and he is the real thing. Index I think is 2.
Costner's golf swing is not bad but not what you're see in a real pro. His baseball is the real thing.
Trump isn't hitting balata balls with a persimmon wood driver. I play golf with plenty of guys in their late 60s and 70s who can hit it 285 once in awhile (wide fairway a little wind at the back). It's about consistency and accuracy more than raw distance, which is why the pros 290 average is higher than Trump's once in awhile 285.
"Watch Colin Firth in Arthur Newman, and it will hurt your eyes to watch that swing."
A friend of mine said "Watch out for the guy with the terrible swing because he has gotten used to it and will beat you."
The same friend played in the Pebble Beach pro-am with Lawrence Welk and Arnold Palmer one year. He told me Welk's swing was so bad that, after they finished , Palmer had to go take a lesson to get it out of his head.
There was a pro about 30 or 40 years ago with terrible swing. I've forgotten his name. It looked like he was killing a rat.
"Because his idiotic Medicare expansion (which, shockingly, has blown through projections --- I know, nobody could've seen that coming) belied his former bona fides as a deficit hawk. And his defense of a God awful policy was the lamest religious moralizing I've seen in a long time. I used to like Kasich and Rep. Tim Penny quite a lot. I loved him writing budgets. But he's changed. His deficit hawk act seems to be gone."- Damikesc
I assume you meant Medicaid funding.
"Despite higher-than-expected enrollment of Ohioans newly eligible for Medicaid, overall costs of the tax-funded health-insurance program in the most-recent fiscal year were nearly $2 billion below original estimates.
According to a report released on Wednesday by Gov. John Kasich’s administration, total Medicaid spending was $23.5 billion in the fiscal year that ended June 30; that was 7.6 percent less than projected."
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/08/12/medicaid-costs-below-estimates.html
Look, as governor his first responsibility is to look out for Ohioans.
I think his intention as President is to find a path to a balanced budget. I don't think that has changed.
I would like an unbiased assessment of how well Ohio's economy has grown, relative to other state's with similar economic problems. Has he done a good job for Ohio?
"Republican presidential candidate and Gov. John Kasich has surged to an all-time high job approval rating among voters in his home state of Ohio, according to the results of the latest Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday.
More than six in 10—62 percent—said they approve of the job their governor is doing. Kasich, a GOP presidential candidate, drew just 29 percent disapproval. The numbers are in line with Kasich's previous high of 61 percent to 28 percent in August, still within the statistical margin of error."
This report was released Oct. 29 2015, so it's fairly recent. It seems he's fairly popular.
How we solve the health delivery problems in this country is not going to be easy. There are conservative plans out there. I think some of the ideas he's using in Ohio might work nationwide.
He is for the repeal of PPACA aka Obamacare. But that is just what he's against. What do we replace it with?
There's still a pro with a terrible swing: Jim Furyk. Ugly, but it woryks for him.
"It's about consistency and accuracy more than raw distance, which is why the pros 290 average is higher than Trump's once in awhile 285."
The club I belonged to the last ten or twelve years was a 27 hole setup designed by Gary Player. It is not very long but very, very tight. It was perfect for old guys like me but it was murder on young guys who hit it a mile.
I think it went broke after I quit. Too tough on young wild long hitters.
Glenwoodie is much better for long hitters but I could not do well there the last few years. Still, I loved it for the memories. If anybody is in the Chicago area, try it.
I've seen Trump's swing. I have serious doubts he is a genuine 3.
Could he hit a tee ball 285? No doubt, it just takes the right conditions. I've hit 340 yard par fours from the tee (before my rotator tear), but those were flukey.
A truism: the better a golfer is, the harder it is to get him (or her) to say so.
Additionally, Trump, you can be sure, has the best fitted equipment money can buy.
"Dumbest golf movie ever made, yet often called the bestest"
Dumbest golf movie ever made, and without doubt, by far the best - "Caddyshack".
Also relevant vis a vis current politics.
Oh, and Bloomberg says he's staying out.
Did Hitler play golf?
Because then we could really get this thread rolling.
You can never have enough Hitler, that's what I say.
I am Laslo.
"Can someone tell me how one figures a guy is "more electable in the general" if he can't even win in the primaries? How exactly does it work? Do people from the other party trust you more because you only get to single digits with the base? Is that it? But then how do you expect to get bunches of other party voters when they have their own candidates to Vote for? I have never understood how this line of thinking goes.
I am serious and not being facetious. I really can't grasp this. Maybe it would help if I was a robot."- Susan
I think at this point there are more self-identified independents in this country than either democrats or republicans. I think it's something like 40% independent, 32% democrat, 23% republican. So Republicans are nominating a candidate that must pick up voters that lean Republican or can be persuaded that the candidate will represent their values to win.
So that's the million dollar question. What qualities are those independent voters looking for? Obviously the candidate has to appeal to Republicans- how many republicans stayed home when Romney and McCain ran? So the candidate has to excite (or at least not tick off conservatives) and appeal to independents.
What qualities do you think would be most important?
Wilbur said, "Could [Trump] hit a tee ball 285? No doubt, it just takes the right conditions."
Like down-hill? Off an asteroid? Or with an explosive device inside the club head (they exist, by the way)?
No, I doubt Trump could come even close to 285. I doubt he can hit 200 on even ground.
Despite my stellar athletic background in football, track and basketball (which ended around 1971) I could never do well at any aspects of golf.
However, I was motivated to try based on a Johnny Carson interview with Arnold Palmer. There was some line about how his wife gave him luck by kissing his balls.
I am not Laslo.
Blogger Fabi said...
I love to play golf for money. Can I get in on this action?
How's your skeet shooting?
I'll spot you 10 clays.
Let's make it a decathlon. I've always wanted to do curling. We could add tiddly-winks and brick-laying.
Dumbest golf movie ever made, and without doubt, by far the best - "Caddyshack".
I would suggest the dumbest golf movie ever made was "Happy Gilmore."
"Caddyshack" has become a classic though.
Michael,
I've played Glenwoodie. It's a fun, classic course. Old school. I started playing golf in the mid 1980s when I was 11 and the persimmon woods with the steel shafts, the forged blades with the steel shafts and the balata balls. The courses had much more roll off the tee then, and the trajectory on the irons was higher than these days when a 5-iron now has the loft of the 3-iron and a 9-iron is like the old 7-iron). And theclub face was so much smaller you really had to deliver the sweet spot to the ball to be good.
"The Rubio voters seemed almost exclusively to go to Cruz."
Interesting--I would have guessed the Rubio voters would have been too moderate (though it's odd--Rubio has a "moderate" image in this election for some reason, even though he's actually quite conservative--if he were nominated he'd be the most conservative nominee since Reagan). But perhaps it's part of a larger "non-trump" vote. If Rubio does drop out soon we'll see if that bears out.
"Can someone tell me how one figures a guy is "more electable in the general" if he can't even win in the primaries?"
The theory of course is that the people the candidate cannot win in the primaries will come around in time for the general election when the alternative is the opposition party, and the candidate will also win non-party voters in the general election who did not have a chance to support him in the primary. This is rarely tested of course--if you can't win the primaries you never find out how you'd do in the general election. But one example of where this worked was Joe Lieberman's last Senate race in 2006, when he lost the primary and then won the general election (though that was a three way race at that point).
"Can someone tell me how one figures a guy is "more electable in the general" if he can't even win in the primaries?"
Arnold Schwarzenegger won the governor race in an open recall election. He was far from the conservatives choice and he could never have won a Republican primary in the state to get the nomination for a general election.
Tom McClintock was the choice for Republicans, and Bill Simon was the guy who won the primary in California for the general election of 2002. Neither were electable in the State. The guy in 2002 who would have been electable, I think, was Richard Riordan, but the CA party tends to be very conservative and happy being a minority party.
Whether Arnold was a good choice is still up in the air. He promised a huge amount, put up a great fight against the establishment for a year, then pretty much settled into the establishment for another 7 years. Politics wasn't his passion and he didn't know what to do, it seems, after a major pushback by public unions. So, he was really more of a conservative Democratic in style.
Now he's campaigning for Kasich, curiously enough.
I think at this point there are more self-identified independents in this country than either democrats or republicans. I think it's something like 40% independent, 32% democrat, 23% republican. So Republicans are nominating a candidate that must pick up voters that lean Republican or can be persuaded that the candidate will represent their values to win.
Exactly, and then there's turnout. The GOP problem right now is that virtually 100% of their voters are motivated to vote against Hillary (or Bernie) but a sizable number of them will (might?) stay home if anyone but Trump is the nominee and a different sizable number of them will (might?) stay home if Trump is the nominee. I think the latter number is larger but then Trump will undoubtedly pull in more Independents and even crossover Dems, so that might make up for it.
Remarkably few evil dictators played golf.
Kim Jong Il pretty much stands alone in this.
Franco and Marcos did play a bit, but don't stand too high in those ranks.
Marcos cheated.
Maybe there's a lesson there.
I haven't shot skeet in years, Rusty, but I'm an excellent shot when duck hunting. Spotting me 10 clays in a round of 25 might be a bold statement.
I'm not voting for Trump. I don't want to have to say to my kids "I voted for that asshole". I will probably have to say "I wrote in a name."
How do the Nixon voters feel today?
Electability is not to hard to discern. It's not to say the person will win the general, just that they have the best chance of the primary candidates to do so. You can look at match up polls between various Republican candidates and Hillary or Bernie. Also, you can look at the purple states and subdivide the demographics and see which issues are most important to persuadable voters and measure the candidates position on those issues. Social issues aren't big this election but if Hillary or Bernie is ranting about BLM stuff while campaigning in the fall of Cruz is talking about a constitutional amendment to overturn gay marriage then something is wrong.
And likeabikity matters. The reason Rubio or Kasich would do well against Hillary or Sanders is because they are more likable, which matters a lot to swing voters. Cruz is not likable. Even if you agree with the guy, you don't like him. Same with Hillary. Trump is a wildcard. He has high negatives like Hillary but is entertaining. The debates will get Super Bowl level ratings.
"I've played Glenwoodie. It's a fun, classic course."
Isn't it, though ?
I think when it was a club in the 1920s, the clubhouse was there on that hill where the school is and the two 449 par 4s were 9 and 18. Many good memories. I can still play it in my mind.
"Can someone tell me how one figures a guy is "more electable in the general" if he can't even win in the primaries? How exactly does it work? Do people from the other party trust you more because you only get to single digits with the base? Is that it? But then how do you expect to get bunches of other party voters when they have their own candidates to Vote for? I have never understood how this line of thinking goes.
I am serious and not being facetious. I really can't grasp this. Maybe it would help if I was a robot."
I am more and more of what I infer is your persuasion- the idea is going to ludicrous most of the time- at least in a general national election. At the state level, I think the idea makes more sense, and I can point to numerous examples over the years in governor and senate races. People often cite both Goldwater and McGovern as such cases, but I think it didn't matter who the Republicans and the Democrats put up in those elections- a landslide was coming regardless.
As for Tin Cup- that 18th hole wasn't a case of back spin, if memory serves- there was a big slope to the water just near hole level. If I remember correctly, his first shot at the hole the ball almost stops, but then slowly begins rolling towards the water.
Latest polls show Trump's leads in Ohio and Florida are down to single digits. At least it won't be boring for the next week or so.
What Donald Trump does not understand is that we are not the party of fear. We are not the party of hate. We are not the party of anger. That's the Democrat party! Go back to the Democrat party, Donnie, if you want to be afraid, or angry, or hateful.
This is the Republican party! And it's our party! And we are the party of love, not hate. We are the party of hope, not fear. We are the party of charity, not anger.
And when I say charity, I mean private charity. What I don't mean is corporate welfare! What I don't mean is corrupt people getting access to the public till and robbing the taxpayers blind. I'll tell you one thing. I don't want to go to Trump University! And I bet you don't either!
(That's a freebie, Marco).
"What qualities do you think would be most important?"
I am an extremely conservative individual, myself, so if it were me, id I'd go with the most conservative person. Which would be Cruz. I don't care if someone necessarily has government experience because the founding fathers didn't think that was all that important. Trump is not a politician, a mark in his favor to me, but he is not a conservative at all. Which severely detracts from his appeal. As does the fact that he is an appallingly uncouth vulgarian.
However, I will crawl over broken glass to vote against the Clinton crime syndicate or Stalin's Great-Grandpappy, whichever gets the nod on the dem side. I was a registered Democrat for many years although I have never in my life voted for one. My mother was Democrat party precinct chairwoman but it took until the first Clinton regime to get her to see the light. I switched parties before she did. She held out hope for many years they would become the party of the people they always pretended they were.
Party of virtue signaling grifters and cronies is what they have been all my voting life.
Golf. When I was 40 I could hit the 250 backboard at the driving range often enough to think I could make 300 in a perfect storm. And my gear was mediocre. 285 seems understandable. As some one posted the key to the pro is to do it everytime on much tougher courses. I watch the pros and know I would hit it 285 but be in the extreme rough every shot. 10 yard wide dogleg
Ok, it's not a drive, but who remembers Tiger's chip during the 2005 Masters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpRmF__A33U
I was over at Bookworm Room and she was talking about something Cruz said at the last debate:
"[Y]ou cannot, in fact, care about conservative Supreme Court justices and support Jimmy Carter for president. You cannot care about conservative Supreme Court justices and support John Kerry for president, as Donald did. You cannot care about conservative Supreme Court justices and support Harry Reid for Senate majority leader.
And you cannot care about conservative Supreme Court justices and write four checks to Hillary Clinton for her to be president if you care at all about the Second Amendment or religious liberty or anything else."
I think if Trump is the nominee, he'd better put out a list of SC nominees before the election.
Republicans are funny. Their bubble extends to matters far beyond our own borders.
Do they realize that Trump's candidacy is viewed abroad as one of the biggest and most dangerous farces to have ever come out of this country?
Republicans will say anything to themselves to justify how they feel.
"As for Tin Cup- that 18th hole wasn't a case of back spin,"
I agree. I hate false front greens which it seems to me that was. I was playing a Jack Nicklaus designed course one time and one of my group hit a 150 yard wedge to a false front green and then got in his cart and drove up to the green. He looked for his ball and it was back where he had hit the shot.
"Do they realize that Trump's candidacy is viewed abroad as one of the biggest and most dangerous farces to have ever come out of this country? "
Yes, so the EU bureaucracy says as Muslims riot around them.
Nice discussion of Trump's illegal immigrant proposals here.
Almost half of illegal immigrants are visa overstays. They came here legally. Building a wall up and down the Mexican border won't stop any of that.
But the nightmarish part is the forced relocations that Trump is talking about. It's 100 times bigger than rounding up all the Japanese-Americans and putting them in internment camps.
This is aside from his advocating torture and murdering the relatives of terrorists.
The solution is obviously much more debt, all around.
"Do they realize that Trump's candidacy is viewed abroad as one of the biggest and most dangerous farces to have ever come out of this country? "
R&B, do you realize that the news people abroad get is filtered through sources that are fundamentally hostile to the "conservative" side in US politics?
It was quite a revelation, when I found things like "The National Review" and "The Spectator" in the (at the time) Army&Navy Club library in Manila. We certainly didn't get this side of the news from Time and Newsweek and the International Herald Tribune. The US as presented by the US mass media was a strange, distorted place, which was something I found out for myself when I came here.
Also, interestingly, it turned out that anti-Americanism in intellectual circles was, much of it, imported from the US. The power of US cultural hegemony was such that even hatred of America was manufactured in America, and was adopted by foreigners as it was the height of fashion.
This is not unique to the US btw. If you care to try figure out any country by the media available in foreign parts you are very likely making big mistakes.
Consider who is being parochial here.
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