October 12, 2018

"Watching hours of Trump at his rallies, it’s easy to sympathize with the desire to ignore them."

"John Dean tweeted a picture of the crowd waiting in line for the Erie rally and derided it as a 'meaningless show.' For supporters, it’s hyperbole, just rhetoric, entertainment, part of the unvarnished appeal; for opponents, it’s old news painful to watch, maybe, but inconsequential, narrow-casting to his base... But what the President of the United States is actually saying is extraordinary... It’s not just the whoppers or the particular outrage riffs.... It’s the hate, and the sense of actual menace that the President is trying to convey to his supporters. Democrats aren’t just wrong in the manner of traditional partisan differences; they are scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous. Trump and Trump alone stands between his audiences and disaster. I listen because I think we are making a mistake by dismissing him, by pretending the words of the most powerful man in the world are meaningless...."

From "I Listened to All Six Trump Rallies in October. You Should, Too/It’s not a reality show. It’s real" — by Susan B. Glasser in The New Yorker.

I was just inquiring into who's properly characterized as "exhausted." Supposedly, according to "Hidden Tribes: A Study of America’s Polarized Landscape," it's everybody but the progressive activists, the traditional conservatives, and the devoted conservatives.

But that New Yorker writer sounds powerfully exhausted and she's talking to New Yorker readers who she presumes are exhausted.

By the way, I had to laugh at the line "Democrats aren’t just wrong in the manner of traditional partisan differences; they are scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous." Glasser is disparaging Trump for saying that. She's paraphrasing. But you could just as well paraphrase the message from Democrats as: Republicans are not just wrong in the manner of traditional partisan differences; they are scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous. Glasser acts appalled by "the sense of actual menace" that Trump supposedly is "trying to convey to" his audience, but Glasser seems to be trying to convey a sense of actual menace to hers.

I would be exhausted if I were not amused.

229 comments:

1 – 200 of 229   Newer›   Newest»
Michael K said...

Which John Dean ? The mastermind of Watergate ?

rhhardin said...

It's the story of the wolf that cries bear.

buwaya said...

The most important datum, in context, from Trumps rallies is the size of the crowds.

Most of these liberal-side analyses miss the implications behind that.

Jupiter said...

"Democrats aren’t just wrong in the manner of traditional partisan differences; they are scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous. Trump and Trump alone stands between his audiences and disaster."

And that is exactly how I see the matter. I went to bed early on election night, because I needed to get up early, and had no desire to watch the media scum exulting over Her victory. Her, the Dark One. I expected to wake up in a world where I would soon need to decide whether I was going to fight to keep my guns. I figured it was worth my life to take a few of them with me, but I worry about my family. I'm old, but my kids are young.

Donald Trump's election was the best thing that has happened to me since my son was born. Salvation! I just worry the bastards will kill him. The media scum are trying to work up their degenerates to the point of assassination.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

But you could just as well paraphrase the message from Democrats as: "Republicans are not just wrong in the manner of traditional partisan differences; they are scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous".

Or you could paraphrase it as Republicans want to destroy what you stand for, what you care about.

MBunge said...

Uhm...we've seen angry mobs of people scream at and harass Republican officials in public places. We had a liberal partisan try to murder a bunch of GOP Congressman. The most recent Democratic candidate for President JUST SAID, 'You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for.'

How is this not "actual menace?"

It's as if these people think this is a monarchy where they're just waiting for the inevitable restoration of the rightful ruler and the chance for revenge on the vile usurpers.

Mike

Wince said...

Democrats aren’t just wrong in the manner of traditional partisan differences; they are scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous. Trump and Trump alone stands between his audiences and disaster.

Well, yeah.

But is she criticizing Trump for leaving out the never-Trumpers, or just fearful that now -- thanks to the "scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous" Democrats -- they and the "exhausted" are now are now joining the Trumpian fold?

Nonapod said...

Count De Monet: I have come on the most urgent of business. It is said that the people are revolting!

King Louis: You said it; they stink on ice.

Greg P said...

I do love the complete and utter lack of self awareness required to be a Democrat these days

Ah, well, I can't be surprised that the Party of Hollywood is also the Party of Projection

Bay Area Guy said...

But that New Yorker writer sounds powerfully exhausted and she's talking to New Yorker readers who she presumes are exhausted.

Again, I reiterate, for those who suffer from political exhaustion: (1) take a break from the internet, (2) take a nice long hike and (3) a good, hearty rogering of the woman in your life.

Big Mike said...

Glazer is writing for people who live in the same bubble she inhabits.

Big Mike said...

Glasser

Michael K said...

I'm with Jupiter. I woke up pleasantly surprised but he result of the 2016 election.

I suspect I will be pleasantly surprised by the election in November. I was living in New Hampshire in 1994 and did not anticipate the result of that election but I enjoyed it.

Michael K said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
AlbertAnonymous said...

“...a good, hearty rogering of the woman in your life”.

OMG disqualified from service of the SCOTUS.

eric said...

It's interesting.

All of the drama is designed to make us exhausted.

But it seems to be backfiring this time.

Chuck said...

Of course, Althouse you and Susan Glasser are both right at the same time. Trump is indeed saying that, "Democrats aren’t just wrong in the manner of traditional partisan differences; they are scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous. Trump and Trump alone stands between his audiences and disaster." Susan Glasser is right about that. I think it is a very well-crafted sentence.

And you, Althouse, are also correct. "...[Y]ou could just as well paraphrase the message from Democrats as: Republicans are not just wrong in the manner of traditional partisan differences; they are scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous..."

I see it in the same places that you do. Democrats attracted to Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and the elevator-shouters.

Then on the comments pages of your blog, we see the commenters furious at Mitch McConnell and Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham for being insufficiently angry and not fighting enough. Because the Left is truly evil and must be destroyed.

I am trying to figure out a way to let the two extremes kill each other while I continue to practice law and play golf and watch college football, undisturbed.

JohnAnnArbor said...

"Democrats aren’t just wrong in the manner of traditional partisan differences; they are scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous."

Replace "Democrats" with "Republicans" and you have the rhetoric that Democrats have been using since Eisenhower.

Ezekiel Flenser said...

Oh I used to be disgusted
But now I try to be amused

tim in vermont said...

One of the reasons my ex wife is my ex wife is that the only way to have peace around the house was to give her her way. Democrats want to be your ex wife. Fine, have a nice life Democrats.

Fernandinande said...

It’s the hate, and the sense of actual menace that the President is trying to convey to his supporters.

Why no quotes from Trump in the excerpt?

Okay, I'll try reading it...

Letter from Trump’s Washington

Shouldn't that be "Trump's America" or "Era of Trump's America"?

No results found for "Letter from Obama's Washington". Poor Obama!

Skimmed it - there are no quotes in the excerpt because there are no quotes in the article and the "hate, and sense of actual menace" are being expressed by the authorette, not Trump.

Michael said...

If it weren't for projection, Democrats and their media acolytes would have nothing to say. Everything they claim the Right does or wants to do is simply what they know that they do or would do if they had the chance. They think everyone is like them. You don't have to get beyond Freshman Psych to see that.

Biotrekker said...

Glasser has no self-awareness. The Trump crowds appear happy and energized - people are smiling. The Dem/Lefty crowds appear angry and hysterical - they are screaming, their faces pink, their eyes bugging out. Also, look how Trump lives in these people's heads:

"Susan B. Glasser is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where she writes a weekly column on life in Trump’s Washington."

It's TRUMP's Washington!

tim in vermont said...

Daisy Ad

Democrats would never demonize their opponents as enemies of all humanity, would they?

10:10 Video

Oh, here's one!

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/3/18/1285725/-Republican-Mass-Murderers

#NotAMob

tim in vermont said...

Note that the DailyKos accusation of mass murder comes before Trump ever even ran for president. Just like all of the others.

Kevin said...

“Republicans want to destroy what you stand for, what you care about.”

Republicans want people to leave them alone.

If what you stand for, what you care about, is forcing other people to be the way you want them to be, then hell yes Republicans are trying to destroy your efforts.

You’re not the boss of anyone but yourself.

Nonapod said...

scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous

That's how the left has been describing the right for decades. It used to be that most Republicans categorized Democrats as wrong and stupid while Democrats would categorize Republicans as evil (the Charles Krauthammer theorem).

More recently I've started to see more people on the Right categorize certain figures in the upper echelons of the Left as straight up evil though. Given some of the more underhanded activities that key figures on the Left have engaged in over the past few years it's become more difficult to simply say they're just not aware of how destructive they've become.

As just one single example among many: Benghazi. Obama and his minions knowingly lied to the American public to serve their own interests. Of course they knew it was wrong.

Ann Althouse said...

@Ezekiel Flenser

Thanks for hearing the sound that played in my head when I wrote that!

Hagar said...

"Progressives" are totalitarians; there is nothing "liberal" about them.

gahrie said...

Which party has been the party of fear and personal destruction for the last fifty years? Which party has called every single Republican candidate for president since Goldwater a Fascist, racist, sexist homophobe who hates puppies? Which party riots whenever their opponents attempt to speak? Who is swinging bike locks and roundhouse kicking women? Who is shooting on baseball diamonds? Who is hounding people out of public spaces?

John said...

Republicans want people to leave them alone.

That’s what libertarians want. Libertarian /= Republican.

gahrie said...

Then on the comments pages of your blog, we see the commenters furious at Mitch McConnell and Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham for being insufficiently angry and not fighting enough. Because the Left is truly evil and must be destroyed.

No because the Left is truly evil and you accomplish nothing by constantly submitting to them. We don't want someone who will destroy the Democrats, we want someone who will fight to defend us from them.

John said...

Which party has called every single Democratic candidate for president since FDR a Communist, socialist, abortionist, moral degenerate, enemy of stay at home moms and apple pie?

Gabriel, do you really not see it?

Chuck said...

No because the Left is truly evil and you accomplish nothing by constantly submitting to them. We don't want someone who will destroy the Democrats, we want someone who will fight to defend us from them.


Never, ever, not once do I ever recall myself or anyone like myself "submitting" to Democrats. Perhaps you have a really clear and convincing example.

I don't believe in "submitting" to any Democrats. I also don't believe in saying stupid reckless things on an almost daily basis.

Big Mike said...

Democrats aren’t just wrong in the manner of traditional partisan differences; they are scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous.

@Chuck, Trump gets it and you don’t.

John said...

I wonder if I can pull up some John Birch Society articles to put this in perspective?

Mike Sylwester said...

If you want to know about John Dean's honesty, then read the book Silent Coup by Len Colodny.

Dean ordered the Watergate break-in in order to find information about his girlfriend Maureen (Mo) Kane.

Connie said...

Blogger tim in vermont said...
One of the reasons my ex wife is my ex wife is that the only way to have peace around the house was to give her her way. Democrats want to be your ex wife. Fine, have a nice life Democrats.

Democrats were accepting of Republicans that did little, if anything, but slow the tide to their control of every aspect of our lives. It was only when Republicans began trying to stop, or God forbid, roll back some of their excesses that the true intolerance of the left emerged. All of this nationally is Wisconsin after Act 10. It was aggravating to the left when Wisconsin had Tommy Thompson, who kicked them a bit, but still managed to expand the scope and reach of government. When Republicans dared shine the light on the left's excess and tried to take that away, well that could not be tolerated.

gahrie said...

Never, ever, not once do I ever recall myself or anyone like myself "submitting" to Democrats. Perhaps you have a really clear and convincing example.

Mitt Romney's entire presidential campaign for starters.

hombre said...

This is typical lefty projection. It is not Trump supporters banging on the doors of the Supreme Courthouse, forcing traffic detours, vandalizing cars and buildings in Portland, chasing speakers off campus, shooting cops in Dallas and Congressmen on softball fields, etc.

Comanche Voter said...

Why I'd say that the writer was all wee wee'd up. I've watched portions of a Trump rally or two--not only on Fox News, but also on CNN and MSNBC. To some extent most of them consist of the same old shtick--but then so did Chautaqua meetings in the early part of the 20th century. You play it in Philadelphia, then you take the show to Phoenix, and on to Omaha and so on. But to the local audience, it's new each time.

And yes Trump has a message--albeit it comes with some bloviating. And the rubes, the deplorables and the dregs of society are all eating it up like it was vanilla ice cream. The Dems should get over it--they created the conditions that make the message attractive.

traditionalguy said...

The dying dirge of the Globalists straight out of their NYC base is a funny sound. A real hoot. But it is understandable that they hate the Undertaker from Queens continually holding celebrations for his Nationalist base. It smells like victory.

gahrie said...

Gabriel, do you really not see it?

If you're talking to me, the handle is g a h r i e.

Please provide examples of Rightwing political violence against Lefties in the last forty years.


Dave Begley said...

Here is part of what I wrote at Power Line blog regarding the Iowa rally.

"President Trump has perfected his performance art. Since I have seen him do it live six times, I can say he has it down cold now. It is a combination of comedy routine, vaudeville, football pep rally and sermon. It has standard parts: noting the crowd size (it was full), introducing local GOP politicians, recounting his accomplishments, news items, agenda items, personal stories, attacking opponents and crowd participation (“Build That Wall” and my personal favorite, “Lock Her Up” — now including Dianne Feinstein)."

I sat in the press area. I think Susan B. Glaser sat right by me but I can't tell for sure as The New Yorker has a drawing of her and not a photograph. The woman I saw looked very, very unhappy. Just exhausted that she wasn't in NYC. She wore jeans.

buwaya said...

This is yet another article that does not bother to analyze the situation.

It is all feelings about feelings about feelings.

Comanche Voter said...

Tim in Vermont; re ex wives. The funniest thing I ever heard about Hillary Clinton occurred when she was running for President in 2008. Comedian Dennis Miller said he'd listened to one of her campaign speeches and realized, "she sounds like my first ex wife".

Sexist? Miogynistic? Absolutely--but funnier than heck.

traditionalguy said...

See, 2 Corinthians 2:15-21. Trump is equal to such a task. His rally supporters smell life unto life. Meanwhile the New Yorker can only smell death unto death.

John said...

Please provide examples of Rightwing political violence against Lefties in the last forty years.

Oaklahoma City?

Molly said...

(eaglebeak)

Hillary Clinton sounds like everyone's first ex-wife. Even if you were never married. Even if you were married to a man.

When Trump's telling his audience about the evils of the other side, he manages to sound upbeat and cheerful--despite what New Yorker gal thinks.

When Hillary's talking about anything, she manages to sound as if she just walked off the set of Macbeth -- cackling and shrieking. And hissing.

gahrie said...

Oaklahoma City?

That was violence against the Federal government, not Leftwingers.

Darkisland said...

Supposedly, according to "Hidden Tribes: A Study of America’s Polarized Landscape," it's everybody but the progressive activists, the traditional conservatives, and the devoted conservatives.

I wish people would stop using this "progressive" euphemism.

Why not call them what they are? Fascists.

A bit of political honesty would be refreshing.

John Henry

Michael Fitzgerald said...

What fucking asshole brought some business executives into his office, after turning an angry mob on them, then told them: "I'm the only one between you and the pitchforks"?

Chuck said...

Big Mike said...
"Democrats aren’t just wrong in the manner of traditional partisan differences; they are scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous."

@Chuck, Trump gets it and you don’t.


So you are agreeing with Susan Glasser's appraisal of Trumpism, that indeed the claim really is that "Democrats aren't just wrong... they are scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous..."?

And my problem is that I "don't get it"?

You are proving my point. That Susan Glasser was right, and that the converse is also correct; the Democrat-Left thinks that way about Republicans. (Like, uh, Justice Kavanaugh.) Thinking that Republicans are scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous.

Those are the two extremes and they seem to each be gathering strength.

When somebody accuses me of being "scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous...", my reaction is NOT to say, "Oh yeah? I'll kill you for that!" My reaction is to NOT be scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous.


Ralph L said...

Projection isn't just a river in Egypt.

Sydney said...

The party that is for abortion at all stages, for euthanasia, for giving drugs to change the appearance of gender to children on the cusp of adolescence, for ruining people's livelihoods who don't embrace their definition of marriage, for eliminating due process, for eliminating the electoral college, is party that is scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous.

Bay Area Guy said...

@Mike Sylvester,

"If you want to know about John Dean's honesty, then read the book Silent Coup by Len Colodny."

One of my favorite books. Really digs deep into the Watergate mess, beyond the superficial narrative. Dean was a lying weasel.

Kevin said...

Libertarian /= Republican

That’s why most of them vote Democrat.

Howard said...

This so-called division is the result of asymmetrical amplification of minority idiotlogue voices on the right and left. Most people are focused on work, family, chores and entertainment and don't get sucked into the TeleNovela cacophony. I am become amused.

Darkisland said...

Blogger John said...


That’s what libertarians want. Libertarian /= Republican.

That's another John, not me. But in addition to a name, we share huge brains.

Damn well said, John.

Nor do conservatives = libertarians. Conservatives, in general, want to be just as controlling as fascists (or "progressives" if you prefer the euphemism), just in different ways to benefit different groups.

One of the reasons I've never identified as a conservative and push back when others do. I prefer "liberal" (A/K/A libertarian)

OTOH, President Trump contra all the claims that he is authoritarian, is the most liberal president perhaps ever. Not only in ideas but in actually getting liberal stuff done and liberal policies enacted.

I stand with DJT! Not tired yet.

John Henry

gahrie said...

When somebody accuses me of being "scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous...", my reaction is NOT to say, "Oh yeah? I'll kill you for that!" My reaction is to NOT be scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous.

No, your reaction is to roll over and wave your paws in the air.

We don't want people to say "I'll kill you for that" (not even Trump does that) we want people to say "We aren't scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous and you're an asshole for constantly saying I am."

Connie said...

Never, ever, not once do I ever recall myself or anyone like myself "submitting" to Democrats. Perhaps you have a really clear and convincing example.


On a broader scope, GHW Bush going back on "no new taxes" comes to mind.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

You know what's exhausting - Hillary and Bill never retreating or going away.

The left want her to run again. Yuck. She'll lose again but all that exhaustion over and over again. Gross.

Chuck said...

gahrie said...
"Oaklahoma City?"

That was violence against the Federal government, not Leftwingers.


Interesting. So there is a Wikipedia list of Right-wing terror attacks.

It includes the Murrah Federal Building bombing, which you deny was a "right wing" attack. I understand your point. But of course it was in fact a classic terrorism attack, killing dozens and dozens of innocents who had no position on federal government issues.

I suspect that you might likewise deny that the Charlottesville car-attack terrorism was "right-wing." I know that the attack represented nothing that I would ever recognize in conservatism. Ditto the murders of the abortion doctors. The AME church slaughter in Charleston, SC.

What about on the Left? Would they say that attacks that we routinely categorize as "Left-wing" attacks are in fact something else? Mental illness? Environmental extremism? Radical feminism? Anything, other than left-wing politics?

Chuck said...

Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...
You know what's exhausting - Hillary and Bill never retreating or going away.

The left want her to run again. Yuck. She'll lose again but all that exhaustion over and over again. Gross.


She'd be perfect, as the 21st Century Adlai Stevenson. They could name a thousand middle schools after her.

mccullough said...

Trump is funny. Much funnier than any entertainer in the US these days.

Can’t understand Trump without understanding the humor.

It’s the earnest people like Glasser and Chuck who don’t get it. Some people aren’t very smart. And that’s OK.

Howard said...

Kevin: I am a LLL and voted mostly rethuglickin up until the failed WOT and Great Recession that capped the end of Bush. I remember the old days of Instapundit when it was mostly libertarian. Not enough money in that demographic, so the Pajama Boys created a safe-space for racists, mysogynists, transhomophobes and chickenhawk war mongers. PJMedia income depends on keeping the idea of deep division an open, bleeding wound, a hero's journey to slay the dragon.

Darkisland said...

Blogger Comanche Voter said...

You play it in Philadelphia, then you take the show to Phoenix, and on to Omaha and so on. But to the local audience, it's new each time.

As Paul Harvey said "When you get a good speech you don't change the speech, you change the audience."

Comedian Ron White was on Joe Rogan a while back and said that he turned down a NetFlix special because it would "burn" a lot of great material. Once everyone saw it on NetFlix, he would not be able to do it in clubs as people always want something new.

Ann linked to a doco about Spike Jones recently that made a similar point. Jones had a finely crafted show that was honed and improved to a knife edge. He did the same show in every city and drew amazing crowds. So the obvious thing is to put it on TV, right?

Wrong. He failed miserably because it was impossible to come up with new material on a weekly basis.

I've listened to a number of President Trump's rallies and always enjoy them. But they are, more or less, the same. My enjoyment is the way that I enjoy hearing multiple playings of a Beccy Cole CD as opposed to the enjoyment of hearing a Beccy Cole CD for the first time.

John Henry

tim in vermont said...

PJMedia income depends on keeping the idea of deep division an open, bleeding wound,

Don't tell me, CNN and MSNBC are about healing division, along with Hollywood, the awards shows in all categories, and the rest of the "news media."

Plus Howard, you keep using terms incorrectly for somebody who ever voted Republican. You need to get the shibboleths right if you want to pass for something you are not.

mccullough said...

Conservatve violence is invading a country that posed no threat to the US and getting hundreds of thousands of people killed. “Compassionate conservatism” has a very high body count.

Seeing Red said...

Trump and Trump alone stands between his audiences and disaster.

Who stood between the pitchforks and the bankers again?

Yes rallies are different than fundraising dinners but bitter clingers and

BREAKING: LEAKED VIDEO: in a 2011 speech in TX, Democratic Senate candidate @kyrstensinema mocks Arizonans as “Crazy” and calls Arizona the “crazy” state.

"I want to talk to you about some of the things that I think that you can do to stop your state from becoming Arizona.”


All that.

Those people need to get a life.

Howard said...

I take it nobody here ever served on a public board or commission? Because to get shit done, you need to make compromises and tradeoffs with people you don't like. Saying you never submit to a democrat is not only false bravado, it is also pretty stoopid if you want to actually get something accomplished. It must suck to be trapped in perpetual ideological butt-hurt. The angst-filled New Yorker writers are just like you... immature and insecure.

tim in vermont said...

But to the local audience, it's new each time.

Because the media refuses to report what he says. It's almost as if he plays them like a violin.

Chuck said...

Althouse, it took no particular insight or foresight on my part, but as I suggested, your commenters seem to be proving Susan Glasser right. A great many of your most active commenters really do think, as Glasser said; "Democrats aren’t just wrong in the manner of traditional partisan differences; they are scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous. Trump and Trump alone stands between his audiences and disaster."

I think that many of your readers agree with every word of that. And particularly interesting is the second sentence. That "Trump and Trump alone stands between his audiences and disaster." Trump is the man; the ONLY man who can do it. Not Mitch McConnell or Paul Ryan or any other Republican. It isn't any principle or ideology to be vindicated; it is this one man, the great dealmaker. The only guy we can trust. Because everybody else is untrustworthy. All the others are crooks or cheats or liars or low energy or their fathers hung out with Lee Harvey Oswald.

mccullough said...

Howard,

Relax, dude.

mccullough said...

Of course Paul Ryan can’t do it. He’s going to K Street to cash in. He’ll do more good there.

Howard said...

Tim : If it bleeds, it leads. The MSM sucks and they are mostly promoters of global corporate status quo with a few humanistic crumbs to appear to be liberal. What you are saying is "they do it too".

gahrie said...

It includes the Murrah Federal Building bombing, which you deny was a "right wing" attack

Can you read? I did no such thing. I denied it was an attack against the Left.

I suspect that you might likewise deny that the Charlottesville car-attack terrorism was "right-wing."

I don't know enough to opine. I suspect that it wasn't an attack, but rather a panic reaction though.

Ditto the murders of the abortion doctors.

I would consider this Rightwing political violence

The AME church slaughter in Charleston, SC.

This was an attack by a White racist. I consider White racism to be a product of the Left as it has been in the past. I think it is illuminating that you consider it to be from the Right.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I’m old enough to remember when it was the GOP who was inexhaustibly evil, mean spirited and cold hearted.

https://youtu.be/OGnE83A1Z4U

Mark O said...

Thankfully, we are amused.

tim in vermont said...

It must suck to be trapped in perpetual ideological butt-hurt.

Oh I think you have first hand knowledge you won't cop to. Look at the scoreboard. But it is good to remind ourselves how thoroughly the Democrats hate us.

Look at this ripped from the pages of today's New York Times:

ormer Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has held himself out as a Democratic rarity: unwilling to give up on the white working-class voters who lifted Mr. Trump, but unafraid to go nose to nose with their president. . - New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/12/us/politics/trump-democrats-insults.html

That's right, the Democrats kicked a huge part of their base to the curb because they just weren't fit to be introduced to polite company, I guess.

Howard said...

mccullough: I'll relax when I'm dead. Maybe you should think about manning up.

gahrie said...

Trump is the man; the ONLY man who can do it. Not Mitch McConnell or Paul Ryan or any other Republican.

Not the only one who can do it, the only man willing to do it.

Darkisland said...


Blogger mccullough said...

Of course Paul Ryan can’t do it. He’s going to K Street to cash in. He’ll do more good there.

Don't you mean he will do "well" there?

In any event, though I doubt he will do any good, he will at least do less harm. Still, it would be nice to see him go back to Wisco and get an honest job. I hear FoxConn is hiring. He might find something there he qualifies for. Board stuffing or the like perhaps.

John Henry

gahrie said...

Because to get shit done, you need to make compromises and tradeoffs with people you don't like.

Cite any compromise the Democrats have made in the last twenty years.

Drago said...

LOL

Our "Brian Stelter" republican Chuck is in full-blown lefty/dem obfuscation mode!

Again!

Unexpectedly.

However it is good to see LLR Chuck back off a bit on defending his heroic Stolen Valor dem D "Da Nang Dick". Even Chuck realizes that would be a bridge too far for now...

Even funnier is how LLR Chuck desperately, desperately, tries to lump Lindsay Graham back into the Never Trump/Never Conservative/Always Dem camp!

One pictures LLR Chuck curled up in a corner with printouts of his racist comments while lamenting Lindsays departure from Club Kristol Dems!

Too funny.

tim in vermont said...

Trump is the man; the ONLY man who can do it.

He may not be the only man who "could" do it, but he's the only man wiling to do it. I don't know who you wanted the Republicans to run, but based on your irredentism, I am going with Cruz. How do you like the mainstream comic media bashing Cruz on his looks. Here is a joke from a couple of days ago, pushed into a slot between moves, next to a picture of him "His hair is so dark, it won't even vote for him." Told by a white left late-nite hose, of course.

mccullough said...

Howard,

“Manning up”? Are you older than Bernie Sanders?

Bernie and Howard are old fashioned names. You should go by Howie like you did when you were a kid in the 50s. Make you feel younger like Bernie.

Howard said...

Scoreboard? only ideologues look at government as a scoreboard. Zero-sum game thinking is Un-American. The democrats set the stage for Trump when the Clintons ignored Ross Perot and went full-tilt globalist money-changer too big to fail.

Gk1 said...

This garden variety concern trolling of the left is as old as the hills. I can remember reading similar articles about Reagan rallies when I was in college but these were in rags like Rolling Stone and Harpers. Back then NYT and other media at least pretended to be even handed or had editors guarding against their brand becoming polluted. This piece is just a hymnal for the true believers of the failing NY Times.

Chuck said...

gahrie said...
"Trump is the man; the ONLY man who can do it. Not Mitch McConnell or Paul Ryan or any other Republican."

Not the only one who can do it, the only man willing to do it.


Exactly; at least according to you. Susan Glasser had you pegged perfectly. Nailed it, in fact. You and everyone like you.

Yancey Ward said...

I am going to call her out on the claim she actually listened to all six of the rallies she claimed to have done so. I don't believe her.

Chuck said...

tim in vermont said...
"Trump is the man; the ONLY man who can do it."

He may not be the only man who "could" do it, but he's the only man wiling to do it. I don't know who you wanted the Republicans to run, but based on your irredentism, I am going with Cruz. How do you like the mainstream comic media bashing Cruz on his looks. Here is a joke from a couple of days ago, pushed into a slot between moves, next to a picture of him "His hair is so dark, it won't even vote for him." Told by a white left late-nite hose, of course.


Ditto; more proof of Susan Glasser's having described you perfectly.

gahrie said...

Exactly; at least according to you

And the American electorate thank God.

mccullough said...

Paul Ryan hasn’t had an honest job since he worked at McDonald’s. Like Obama, it’s time for him to get paid by the people whose water he carried the last 20 years.

These guys all have the same ideology. Get paid.

tim in vermont said...

Howard, maybe you didn't realize that you are the entertainment here. Sort of like Dinner for Schmucks.

gahrie said...

He may not be the only man who "could" do it, but he's the only man wiling to do it. I don't know who you wanted the Republicans to run, but based on your irredentism, I am going with Cruz.

Are you kidding? Chuckles hates Cruz worse than Trump...he's a Jeb man.

Michael K said...

The democrats set the stage for Trump when the Clintons ignored Ross Perot and went full-tilt globalist money-changer too big to fail.

I think I agree with this but Howard is often obscure to us deplorables.

Ross Perot and Sarah Palin were both warnings ignored by Democrats.

mccullough said...

Chuck is a Romney guy. I think he’s one of Mitt’s Michigan cousins.

tim in vermont said...

Ditto; more proof of Susan Glasser's having described you perfectly.

Chuck, I provide you with three links that I cam up with in about ten seconds of the Democrats describing Republicans as existential threats to humanity or mass murderers. Do you really think that they wouldn't be doing the exact same thing to Ted Cruz. And BTW, maybe you can explain to us how Ted Cruz could have picked the Democrats' lock on the "Blue Wall"? More rhetoric on the "trickle down" benefits of free trade?

Darrell said...

Chuck defending Susan Glasser is comedy gold.
A complete lack of self-awareness.

Howard said...

Happy to oblige, Tim. Although, it seems a bit presumptuous of you to speech for the hole group of Althouse fans.

tim in vermont said...

Are you kidding? Chuckles hates Cruz worse than Trump...he's a Jeb man.

Ha! Did he really say that? Explains an awful lot.

Yancey Ward said...

Chuck wrote:

"Then on the comments pages of your blog, we see the commenters furious at Mitch McConnell and Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham for being insufficiently angry and not fighting enough. Because the Left is truly evil and must be destroyed."

This all pretty much true, so I have to ask you, Chuck- what exactly turned Graham into the man we saw at the Kavanaugh hearing? His broadside was so effective precisely because it came from such an unexpected direction with an unexpected tone. He looked to me like a man who finally had opened his eyes for the first time and looked around.

Howard said...

Trump has "live-boy" photos of Lindsay endilicktoflagrante

Michael K said...

Blogger Howard said...
I take it nobody here ever served on a public board or commission? Because to get shit done, you need to make compromises and tradeoffs with people you don't like


Howard, come on. You can't be this clueless.

I served as a planning commissioner for years in the city I lived in for 40 years.

I spent 8 years, longer than the maximum term, on the CMA's Legislative Commission. We did deals with Democrats mostly in California but that was back when Democrats were sane. I knew lots of them including Jesse Unruh who was a very smart guy.

The CA D Party would not let him in the door these days.

tim in vermont said...

it seems a bit presumptuous of you to speech for the hole group of Althouse fans.

If it makes you feel better to think you are scoring points. What did you call it? "Strafing"? I think that I can speak for the vast majority of conservatives on here that you guys are a big part of the entertainment here.

If I wanted like minded conservative hive mind, I would be over at Lucianne.com. Or Insty.

Howard said...

You are the exception that proves the rule, Mike. Thank you for your service. So tell us, were you hot-headed and combative or did you make compromises for the greater good?

tim in vermont said...

As mayor, I guess that Howard would say, if his coalition lost a lot of seats on the city council, "I have a pen and a phone!" Fuck you voters, fuck you constitution!"

Say what you will about Bill Clinton, at least he recognized that to get something done, he had to deal with the political facts on the ground. He didn't whip up a "legacy" of executive orders that could be undone by executive orders.

MadisonMan said...

Here is a different article from the New Yorker, about Obama.

[reporter] was standing to the side of the stage. Nearby, a stout older man appeared in the aisle, dressed in a worn, beribboned military uniform and holding a Trump sign. People spotted him quickly and the jeering began. Then came the chant “Hil-la-ry! Hil-la-ry!”

Credit to Obama for standing up for the guy. But note how the Rally turned negative. Of course, that wasn't a Trump rally -- so New Yorker doesn't have a pearl-clutch about it. Because reasons.

Chuck said...

gahrie said...
"Exactly; at least according to you"

And the American electorate thank God.


Well, I am part of the electorate that helped Trump win. I am a uniquely important part of that electorate, because I voted for Trump after opposing him all the way to the general election. And my vote, in Michigan, helped Trump secure his most-narrow of wins in a series of narrow wins (Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin). I honestly think that the two most important voting groups in the entire United States were (a) all of the urban/black voters who stayed home in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin (especially Michigan), and (b) all of the "Against Trump" Republicans who relented and made the binary choice of Trump over Clinton in the general.

I am walking, talking, living, breathing proof that Trump voters do not all think of Trump as the one and only man who can save the nation. I think of Trump as a rotten choice, the lesser of two evils (there we go with "evil" again), and an all-around asshole. And who redeemed my vote for him by nominating Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh. But who has done nothing to inspire any personal faith in him on my part.

So there; that's a Trump voter for ya.

tim in vermont said...

Democrats' version of "compromise" is "impeachment and removal" and reversal of elections. That's what they are running on.

n.n said...

The most important datum, in context, from Trumps rallies is the size of the crowds.

Yes. It's unconventional for conservatives or libertarians to assemble with any significant numbers for a political cause.

Howard said...

tim: my intended audience of strafing are not the vast majority of conservatives. this is a guilty pleasure. a form of performance art I do for my own entertainment. "you people" live in a Kevlar bubble just like the urban coastal elites, therefore, immune from outside views

Jeff Brokaw said...

I was lookin' for hate in all the wrong places
Lookin' for hate in too many faces
Searchin' their eyes
Lookin' for traces of what I'm dreaming of

Howard said...

it's like the Clinton impeachment never happened

rcocean said...

Yeah, its John 'Its always worse then Watergate' Dean.

He's always been a fucking liar and a liberal. Look at this recent tweet:

I’ve ordered @MaxBoot’s new book. I once thought I was a conservative but today conservatives think I am a liberal, yet I stayed in the same place. We can all learn from Max’s journey which is more recent. He’s also an excellent writer.

He was known as a liberal Republican in Nixon's white house! And he's voted for every Democrat since Carter. He took down Earl Butz in 1976 for telling a joke, and has used the "Worse than Watergate" on every Republican scandal for the last 42 years.

mccullough said...

Howard,

Don’t be homophobic. No one cares if Lindsay Graham is gay, except you. But since you are an old-timer we’ll give you a pass.

Howard said...

tim: i agree. i tell my librul friends all the time that Obama's feelgood shortcuts are ripe for Trump to tear down. in fact, the dismantling of executive orders is more constitutional IMO. Also, that was lost in the Bart OK hearings was his support for presidential orders and ruling by executive fiat.

rcocean said...

Its hilarious how the Liberal MSM always points to Dan Rather and John Dean as authoritative voices.

Howard said...

rc: can you recite the Earl Butz joke?

rcocean said...

Plus Carl "My father was a commie and I'm proud of it" Bernstein. He's another American Giant of Journalism, that's always pointed to by the MSM.

What in the hell Bernstein has done in the last 42 years, is anyone's guess, but he's still a Giant of Journalism, who we must listen to.

Chuck said...

Yancey Ward said...
Chuck wrote:

"Then on the comments pages of your blog, we see the commenters furious at Mitch McConnell and Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham for being insufficiently angry and not fighting enough. Because the Left is truly evil and must be destroyed."

This all pretty much true, so I have to ask you, Chuck- what exactly turned Graham into the man we saw at the Kavanaugh hearing? His broadside was so effective precisely because it came from such an unexpected direction with an unexpected tone. He looked to me like a man who finally had opened his eyes for the first time and looked around.


Lindsey Graham didn't "turn" into anything at the Kavanaugh hearing. What you saw with Kavanaugh was Republicans standing for Republican principles. An nominee right out of the Federalist Society playbook; standard Democratic Party gamesmanship and ugliness. A good old fashioned partisan donnybrook.

Only in the age of Trump, with Rush/Hannity/Tucker all attacking Republican leadership, would Lindsey Graham's Republicanism ever be doubted. I don't know who those cocksuckers hate more; the Dem leadership or the Republican leadership. I think they spend more time bashing Republicans. A rear-guard action that is utterly unlike anything the Dems have to deal with. Sean Hannity is a pure traitor to the Republican Party, every bit as bad or worse than the tiny handful of former conservatives who would not stand up for Kavanaugh.

mccullough said...

Chuck,

Trump won because 10% of the people in battleground states who voted for Obama also voted for Trump. Don’t pat yourself on the back. You and the handful of your country club friends who aren’t Democrats now had no effect on the outcome. You guys are no different than the PUMAs in 2008.

n.n said...

I wish people would stop using this "progressive" euphemism.

Progress is monotonic. Liberalism is divergent. Conservatism is prudent. #PrinciplesMatter

n.n said...

No one cares if Lindsay Graham is gay

Character before "color."

mccullough said...

Chuck,

“Cocksuckers” is a homophobic slur. Be better. Your making the Federalist Society look bad.

Howard said...

self-proclaimed political labels are typically correct as reciprocals.

Howard said...

stasis is monotonic

Francisco D said...

He was known as a liberal Republican in Nixon's white house!

Nixon was a liberal Republican.

The Left despised him because he was a strong anti-communist. By any other measure, he was a liberal.

Howard said...

cocksucker is misogynistic mccullough, but you might not know that from personal experience.

narciso said...

Now the new Yorker is decidedly a figment of someone's imagination,

Grahams attitude is expressed in his reflexive attitude toward Prince Salman as if the experience with bin Ali, Mubarak and qaddafi fought him nothing

Chuck said...

mccullough said...
Chuck,

Trump won because 10% of the people in battleground states who voted for Obama also voted for Trump. Don’t pat yourself on the back. You and the handful of your country club friends who aren’t Democrats now had no effect on the outcome. You guys are no different than the PUMAs in 2008.


I think that the technical term for someone who would vote for Barack Obama over Mitt Romney, and who then turned around and voted for Trump is "Dumb Fuck."

And if 10% of Republicans in Michigan had simply not voted (never mind voting for Clinton, which we'd n-e-v-e-r do), Trump would have lost the state. Trump won Michigan by about 0.3%.

Original Mike said...

Blogger Kevin said...”Libertarian /= Republican

That’s why most of them vote Democrat.”


I doubt that. Do you have data?

Howard said...

The left hated Nixon because he destroyed Helen Gahagan Douglas the right hates him because he got shit done. It's no surprise that Bill Clinton and Nixon got on so well.

narciso said...


Trump is a fusion candidate like le Guardia or teddy Roosevelt who leans right

https://sethfrantzman.com/2018/10/11/the-khashoggi-files-as-case-builds-against-riyadh-what-the-wikileaks-files-tell-us-about-history-and-kingdom/

chuck said...

John Dean? Really? The New Yorker lives on another planet.

Chuck said...

mccullough said...
Chuck,

“Cocksuckers” is a homophobic slur. Be better. Your making the Federalist Society look bad.


Trying hard to use the language that Hannity watchers might understand.

narciso said...

And took down alger hiss, their rising star who had been a gru asset for nearly 15 years

Howard said...

TR was a Man's man, Trump is a Ladies Man. Exact opposites. Also, Teddy suffered from medical problems his hole life and didn't Bone-Spur out of duty.

elkh1 said...

Didn't Obama say he was the one between you and the pitch fork folks?

Nice projection.

When Republicans are mad, they go to the polls.

When leftists are mad, they try to intimidate the rest of us, to create chaos e.g. Antifa, unless we comply with what they want; to be uncivil (Hillary) until they get back power. Is that a threat?

Trump really doesn't have to say how scary Democrats are, we saw them on TV in the last few weeks against Kavanaugh: unhinged, vicious. They wanted to dismantle America's most precious inheritance: due process, the rule of law. They wanted us to believe their accusations without evidence, or witnesses. They are totalitarian-wannabes. Don't

hstad said...

John Dean is just another manufactured hero from the MSM. John Dean mixed up the dates and content of conversations, pointing the finger at Nixon and clearing himself. Many of the distortions reflected Dean's own self-image; he tended to recall his role as more central than it really was. Moreover, his memory for even the “gist” of conversations was quite poor except where that gist had been rehearsed in advance or frequently repeated.

Never could understand John Dean's rise to stardom other than just another MSM trick!

Howard said...

narc: Yes Hiss was just as important factor in Nixon hate as HGD.

PM said...

Sure, invective is fun, but in the big picture, these are fine times. The Supreme Court is finally fixed. Job 1 is done. Everything else is just ants running around trying to protect their little eggs.

Darrell said...

When Lefties lose, they are intolerable. When Lefties win, they are intolerable.
You decide.

gahrie said...

I don't know who those cocksuckers hate more; the Dem leadership or the Republican leadership.

I'd settle for being able to tell the difference between them.

Molly said...

What happened to the vaunted "fact checking" of the New Yorker? From the article: "Among the things I heard the President of the United States do: make fun of a female candidate in Iowa by giving her a derogatory nickname. Accuse a U.S. senator of being a “drunk.” "

From Axios: https://www.axios.com/trump-tweet-mark-warner-drunken-state-bob-mueller-00f5564f-ac14-4126-8d2c-da99eb3555b8.html

"Editor's note: An earlier version of this post incorrectly claimed that the president, without evidence, accused Warner of drunkenness. It has been updated to reflect that Trump had only claimed he was "perhaps in a near drunken state.""

And here's what Senator Warner actually said: " “If you get me one more glass of wine, I’ll tell you stuff only Bob Mueller and I know. " (quote from Axios, cited above.)

narciso said...

Both were republicans but not in the traditional manner, they had to hire a ringer in halpers case, to make the tie to papasop, which by that narrow ground khashiggi was having spoken at timofeevs valdai club

Michael K said...

Blogger Howard said...
TR was a Man's man, Trump is a Ladies Man. Exact opposites. Also, Teddy suffered from medical problems his hole life and didn't Bone-Spur out of duty.


AStham is disqualifying just as bine spurs are.

I've been reading Rove's biography of McKinley. He is remembered only as being assassinated to make Teddy president.

He was a great man and would have been a great president. Teddy gave us Wilson through his narcissism.

Most of the Texas Republicans in 1896 were black

Michael K said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mccullough said...

Chuck,

You are very misinformed. Look at Gary Johnson’s percentage of the vote in Michigan from 2012 to 2016. Look at the turnout in Michigan in 2016 (to 2012)

You also overestimate the number of people who identify as Republican. Trump got 150,000 more votes than Romney even though Johnson got 100,000 more votes in 2016.

You and the handful of you country club friends who have. Switched the Dem party are nobodies. You are a rounding error.

Michael K said...

Blogger Howard said...
The left hated Nixon because he destroyed Helen Gahagan Douglas the right hates him because he got shit done. It's no surprise that Bill Clinton and Nixon got on so well.


Once again, facts not in evidence. Nixon campaigned for Goldwater when the rest of the GOP had written him off.

Nixon was hated by the left, initially because he called Johnson's mistress Helen Gahagan Douglas "The Pink Lady." Much more important was his take down of Hiss, the communist who was at FDR's side at Yalta.

narciso said...

And halper had toes to a former?? Deputy svr chief,

mccullough said...

Chuck,

Like many mediocre people, you look down on others.

narciso said...

Nixon brought in wage and price controls the papa signed off on an coastal oil drilling ban,

Howard said...

Mike K: Your disrespect for TR is due, in part, to the fact you arn't a Navy man.

Howard said...

Nixon's my favorite president especially given his Shakespearean fall from grace and how he took it like a man in the arena.

tcrosse said...

When Nixon came into office, the quality of shipboard food improved quite a bit. So did the Quality of Life for Enlisted Personnel.

narciso said...

Oh that's not suzpicious:
https://mobile.twitter.com/justin_hart/status/1050797850794254336

Sam L. said...

Wellllllllllllll, Democrats HAVE been attacking Republicans. Ask Steve Scalise and Ted Cruz. Haven't heard of any Dems being shot or assaulted.

narciso said...


It's two to tango


https://mobile.twitter.com/abdbozkurt

Anthony said...

Completely and entirely off-topic but. . . . . .


Blogger Comanche Voter said...
Tim in Vermont; re ex wives. The funniest thing I ever heard about Hillary Clinton occurred when she was running for President in 2008. Comedian Dennis Miller said he'd listened to one of her campaign speeches and realized, "she sounds like my first ex wife".

Sexist? Miogynistic? Absolutely--but funnier than heck.


Funniest Miller ever, at about 3:30: Dennis Miller on Eminen.

Michael K said...

Blogger Howard said...
Mike K: Your disrespect for TR is due, in part, to the fact you arn't a Navy man.


True I'm not Navy. I was Air Force and Army Reserve but TR was OK until he undercut Taft, why was trying to do a good job.

TR gave us Wilson, who was a racist and Progressive with a capital P. He also got us into a war we should have stayed out of.

Michael K said...

"who was trying."

Sebastian said...

"I Listened to All Six Trump Rallies in October. You Should, Too/It’s not a reality show. It’s real"

Progs cannot bear very much reality.

They barely realize what's real about the real.

Which is our continual advantage.

Achilles said...

Howard said...
I take it nobody here ever served on a public board or commission? Because to get shit done, you need to make compromises and tradeoffs with people you don't like. Saying you never submit to a democrat is not only false bravado, it is also pretty stoopid if you want to actually get something accomplished. It must suck to be trapped in perpetual ideological butt-hurt. The angst-filled New Yorker writers are just like you... immature and insecure.

There are things you can compromise on and things you can't.

You can compromise on abortion, taxes, whatever.

You cannot compromise on First Principles. The Rule of Law, Presumption of Innocence, Right to Speak and Associate, Vote, Right to Bear Arms and Self Defense, Right to Private Property.

The democrat party is squarely opposed to every First Principle listed.

Because they are bad people.

Francisco D said...

Anyone know how Nixon funded his first race for Congress?

Hint: He made the money while serving in the US Navy.

Drago said...

Nixon = Navy = Funds = Poker

Achilles said...

Republican voters are energized because Bush, McCain, Romney and Ryan are no longer leaders of the republican party.

The last president to sign a new entitlement into law was George Bush who also gave us lots of stupid wars we had no intention of winning. Not as many as Obama but they were both on the same team so it doesn't matter.

Kelly said...

When I lived in Texas when Hillary was running against Obama, I went to a Hillary Clinton rally headlined by Bill and Ted Danson. Hillary wasn’t there. I only went because I wanted to see a President in person. Anyway, the crowd was small it being a military community. Some kid warming up the audience asked for a show of hands for anyone who knew someone killed or injured in Iraq. Remember, military community. Most of us raised our hands. He said, wow! That’s a lot🤦🏽‍♀️

Drago said...

LLR Chuck: "Trying hard to use the language that Hannity watchers might understand."

After Chuck attempted to pass off his racist comments onto Trump, our "Brian Stelter republican" Chuck now attempts to pass off his homophobic comments onto Hannity.

Unexpectedly....

LOL

Drago said...

LLR Chuck: "I think that the technical term for someone who would vote for Barack Obama over Mitt Romney, and who then turned around and voted for Trump is "Dumb Fuck."'

I think the precise term for those people is simply "Americans who desperately serk someone who will represent their interests without condescending toward them".

LLR Chuck is too busy being the primary DickDurbin/StolenValor"Da Nang Dick" cuckholster to be that.

In this case, all too expectedly.

narciso said...

Nixon brought white collar ethics and southerners fully into the party

Seeing Red said...

BTW when the other side wants to burn it all down because they can’t persuade or terrorize or other voters to their POV or “voting in their self-interest,” can one really complain or sniff that Trump isn’t acting “presidential?”

Perhaps he’s getting things done because he’s not acting as a visiting professor lecturing the great unwashed uneducated masses.

tim in vermont said...

"you people" live in a Kevlar bubble just like the urban coastal elites, therefore, immune from outside views

You do know that I live in Vermont, right? And when in Florida, I live in a black majority district. I would be more than happy to post on a liberal blog where I didn't get immediately banned, or worse, doxxed, because I disagree. Talk about perpetuating a bubble. For a while they were allowing heterodox comments over at Brock's place, and you would be amazed at the butt hurt that I was even allowed to speak. Of course I was banned as soon as a new admin came in. But don't worry, they are a 501c and so non partisan!

Drago said...

narciso: "Nixon brought white collar ethics and southerners fully into the party"

Not hardly.

Nixon only won 4 of the 10 deep south states in 68 and the dems nominated a commie in 72 so Nixon won everything that year.

It would be another 30 years for republicans bring southerners fully into the republican party.

Chuck said...

mccullough said...
Chuck,

You are very misinformed. Look at Gary Johnson’s percentage of the vote in Michigan from 2012 to 2016. Look at the turnout in Michigan in 2016 (to 2012)

You also overestimate the number of people who identify as Republican. Trump got 150,000 more votes than Romney even though Johnson got 100,000 more votes in 2016.

You and the handful of you country club friends who have. Switched the Dem party are nobodies. You are a rounding error



Turnout in Michigan was very slightly higher in 2016 (64.87%), than in 2012 (63.46%). Which is remarkable, because turnout in some of Michigan's urban centers was significantly down. Hillary Clinton did not get close to the massive turnout that Obama had among urban blacks.

I think it is clear that some out-state voters were excited by the 2016 race in a way that they were not in 2012. Although one difference in 2016 was that we knew (and were surprised by) the fact that Michigan was remaining competitive into the last days of the race, and Trump (along with Bill Clinton) spent day after day stumping in Michigan up to the eve of the election.

It is true; Trump got 150,000 more votes than Mitt Romney did. But Mitt Romney gave up on Michigan in October of 2012. To work on Ohio, Florida, Nevada, etc. With Clinton, she was doing so poorly, that Trump could make it close in Michigan and did.

The big (150,000 votes+) increase for Gary Johnson and the Libertarians was no doubt a great many Republicans who didn't like Trump, and other freedom-minded voters from the right and left who were disgusted by both Clinton and Trump.

I honestly don't know how to classify the people who voted for Obama in 2012, and maybe in 2008 as well, but who then voted for Trump in 2016. I have no idea what Obama or Trump would, or could, say to such people.

Michael K said...

It would be another 30 years for republicans bring southerners fully into the republican party.

Air conditioning brought southerners into the GOP as young white collar workers moved south.

In the 1920s, malnutrition was so bad that vitamins were discovered to treat pellagra, of which there were 20,000 cases in Georgia in 1930.

A public health physician, named Joseph Goldberger, discovered that diet was the cause.

Michael K said...

But Mitt Romney gave up on Michigan in October of 2012.

Remember that Sarah Palin wanted to campaign in Michigan in 2008 and was blocked by the McCain people.

I don't know if she would have been enough to make a real difference but the McCain people, who are all on MSNBC these days, did not want to find out.

Chuck said...

Drago said...
LLR Chuck: "I think that the technical term for someone who would vote for Barack Obama over Mitt Romney, and who then turned around and voted for Trump is "Dumb Fuck."'

I think the precise term for those people is simply "Americans who desperately serk someone who will represent their interests without condescending toward them".



Sooooo; do those voters like Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court? Or more GinsburgSotomayorKagans? Did they like the Affordable Care Act? Or did they hate it and think it was a disaster? Did they like Eric Holder as their Attorney General? Or do they like Jeff Sessions as AG? Were they happy with the Department of Education being run as a social services agency? Or did they want a game-changer like Betsy DeVos? Did they like TARP? And did they think that the economy was making steady progress in 2012-16? Or did they think that the country was a disaster?

I actually think I know what you are talking about Drago. You are talking about poor, poorly-educated, poorly-informed people who couldn't name half the Justices of the Supreme Court and who could not give us the name of a single US Attorney General. People who could not articulate a single policy point of the ACA. People who are fearful about next month's bills, and have little time for anything else. People who hear a snippet of Barack Obama talking about free stuff, and love it. People who hear Trump talking about Mexicans coming across the border and are frightened and think that Trump is the strong man to save us. Low-information voters. Dumb fucks.

Chuck said...

Michael K said...
But Mitt Romney gave up on Michigan in October of 2012.

Remember that Sarah Palin wanted to campaign in Michigan in 2008 and was blocked by the McCain people.

I don't know if she would have been enough to make a real difference but the McCain people, who are all on MSNBC these days, did not want to find out.


My recollection is that McCain, who had two very big primary wins in Michigan (2000, in addition to 2008), wanted to keep going in Michigan himself. But he never had a chance in Michigan, against the Obama turnout machine. It was not a dumb decision. Sorry to say that, but it was the only smart choice. Obama beat McCain by 16% in Michigan.

Seeing Red said...

People who could not articulate a single policy point of the ACA.

Sure they could on ACA. Then they actually passed the bill and we found out what’s in it.

Darkisland said...

Howard,

I'm a Navy man. I am a fan of tr as an author. He is simply great on a number of topics. Read his 4 vol history of opening the American west. Or his book on the expedition up the river of doubt. Or his history of the war of1812.

On the other hand, he wrote The Great Adventure propagandizing us involvement in ww1 for, mainly, national pride and militaristic jingoism.

He co founded the Museum of Natural History with private finding. Was noted as an ornithologist and herptologist and a number of other things.

I am a big fan of the man. As a politician he was shit. A big government "progressive" Mussolini credited a lot of the ideology in his Fascism to tr.

It's a real shame McKinley got shot. TR is one more proof tbat vps almost never make good presidents

John Henry

Robert Cook said...

"I went to bed early on election night, because I needed to get up early, and had no desire to watch the media scum exulting over Her victory. Her, the Dark One. I expected to wake up in a world where I would soon need to decide whether I was going to fight to keep my guns. I figured it was worth my life to take a few of them with me, but I worry about my family. I'm old, but my kids are young."

You think Hillary would have sent the feds out to confiscate your guns? Really? You were prepared to "take a few of them with (you)..."? You sound like a lunatic.

"Donald Trump's election was the best thing that has happened to me since my son was born. Salvation!" You are a lunatic!

Jim at said...

Who spends hours upon hours watching campaign rallies? Of any candidate?
Get a freakin' life.

Robert Cook said...

"Benghazi. Obama and his minions knowingly lied to the American public to serve their own interests."

And...? This is true of every president and every administration, including the current one.

narciso said...

He didn't even try, Chuck to leverage Macomb county, because they had the Jones memo as an excuse.

Michael K said...

Blogger Robert Cook said...
"Benghazi. Obama and his minions knowingly lied to the American public to serve their own interests."

And...? This is true of every president and every administration, including the current one


Cookie, you are right about previous administrations of both parties. This one seems to be an exception even though you don't like what they are doing.

Trump, for the first time since Eisenhower, is keeping promises.

Michael K said...

It was not a dumb decision. Sorry to say that, but it was the only smart choice. Obama beat McCain by 16% in Michigan.

You miss my point. They had her doing NOTHING! What did they have to lose?

Nonapod said...

And...? This is true of every president and every administration, including the current one.

That an administration or a politician lies isn't what's necessarily unexpected or even that bad. It's what they lie about that's significant. I believe the Obama adminstration lies were far more destructive than our current administrations exaggerations and overly reductive mischarcterizations.

You may disagree or (knowing you) just simply declare that they're all equally awful. But at the very least it's certainly difficult to make the case that the media doesn't treat the lies from one side the same as the other, and that alone is more dangerous.

Michael K said...

People who hear Trump talking about Mexicans coming across the border and are frightened and think that Trump is the strong man to save us. Low-information voters. Dumb fucks.

I am so glad your wing is not running the GOP anymore.

"Country Club Republicans" fits you so well.

Rabel said...

Chuck said:

A great many of your most active commenters really do think, as Glasser said; "Democrats aren’t just wrong in the manner of traditional partisan differences; they are scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous. Trump and Trump alone stands between his audiences and disaster."

Count me in.

tim in vermont said...

Chuck's wing of the Republican Party wants the cheap labor. He can't believe that there is a Republican President who takes protecting workers' wages seriously. Where is the cheap household help going to come from? Luuvy! Luuuvy!

tim in vermont said...

Chuck, do you believe that "illegal immigration" is exactly the same as "legal immigration"?

Do you believe that Congress has a right to enact laws regulating immigration and that the president has the obligation to enforce them?

This will be one of the questions that Chuck simply overlooks.

narciso said...

So now you know where some of these stories come from, an associate of the convicted al queda operative abdulrahman (sic) alamo who also happens Elton have been an associate of Grover norquist.

The Obama administration covered up the assassination of an American ambassador on foreign soil, the first in 30 years

Michael K said...

Some of Howard's friends were out again last night.

Tonight, we put the Republican Party on notice, in defiance to the policy of mass misery. They have championed.

The U.S. government has established concentration camps around the country for Latino people, shamelessly murdering black people, and continues its war machine that has slaughtered Muslim people with impunity for decades. The so-called “Land of the Free” leads the world in incarceration rates per capita, all the while profiteering in the new plantation within the prison walls.

While these atrocities persist unabated the Metropolitan Republican Club chose to invite a hipster fascist clown to dance for them, content to revel in their treachery against humanity. The Republican Party joined by their spineless partners in crime, the Democrats institute a policy of domestic and foreign terror felt the world over.

Our attack is merely a beginning. We are not passive, we are not civil, and we will not apologize. Those of good conscience and clear mind know this state of oppression cannot remain. The US fascist political system is one of the most savage institutions in history and we will combat it relentlessly until all are free of American barbarism.


Those are your guys and gals, Howard. and if they went to central Oregon, or southern Arizona, and pulled what they did in Portland, they would get their ass shot off.

In Arizona, you can assume that almost all motorists are armed.

Chuck said...

tim in vermont said...
Chuck, do you believe that "illegal immigration" is exactly the same as "legal immigration"?

Do you believe that Congress has a right to enact laws regulating immigration and that the president has the obligation to enforce them?

This will be one of the questions that Chuck simply overlooks.



Absolutely not.

Yes.

Yes.

I'd be an "immigration hawk" in Washington. I have a hard time finding any disagreements with Ann Coulter (Michigan Law '88) on the subject of immigration although it is so hard to keep up with her commentary, writing and appearances I'm fearful of committing to her in any way. I don't always agree with her; my point here is illustrative, not technical.

I think that Republicans must never compromise on any so-called "comprehensive immigration reform" that provides citizenship. I am okay with expanded guest worker programs that don't provide citizenship.

I'd like a serious debate (and it will be a hard one) about ending birthright citizenship. At least the abuses of birthright citizenship.

So how's that for not overlooking your question? Any more questions?

tim in vermont said...

People who hear Trump talking about Mexicans coming across the border and are frightened and think that Trump is the strong man to save us.

So the above sentence was written by Life Long "Immigration Hawk" Chuck.

tim in vermont said...

I am not even an "immigration hawk." If we decide through Constitutional processes to have more immigration, great! But unlimited tolerance for illegal immigration is a kind of suicide pact. Look at the recent Quebec elections.

Francisco D said...

I don't want to get in the middle of the Drago-Chuck spat, but I have a few observations.

Low information voters and dumb fucks are not necessarily the same people.

Research in the 1980's indicated that people watching TV newscasts paid far more attention to pictures than content. Many people get their news while getting ready for work, driving to work and driving home. They get snippets while distracted. That is how they remain low information voters vulnerable to manipulation, mostly from the MSM. They are not necessary dumb.

There are plenty of dumb, scared voters. "Mediscare" was big in the 1980's and seems to have reemerged this election, particularly in AZ. Republican candidates are being lambasted for supporting Medicare repeal and something I never heard of "the age tax." The Dems seem to my biased perspective, to engage un these scares to motivate their traditional base and scare vulnerable citizens to vote. These are dumb fuck voters.

bagoh20 said...



I agree, but I didn't learn that from listening to Trump. Maybe it was the vicious attacks on Republican politicians, kids with MAGA hats, or random conservatives, and Trump supporters. They include intimidation, assaults, racist slurs, property damage, attempted murder, actual murder, and rioting.

By contrast, I've been to conservative protests and rallies, and every single one was friendly, family friendly, peaceful, positive, and clean during and after. The Left is different from the Right on more than politics. One group generally builds, protects, conserves, and repects. The other breaks, destroys, steals, tramples, poops, and wields disrespect like a flag. I'm constantly amazed at how popular their champions remain while representing such unappealing people. They're downright deplorable.

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