January 11, 2019

"What brought Clinton down was public exposure not to her personality... but extended public scrutiny of every detail of a decades-long career in public life."

"This, in turn, is the exact same problem Biden will inevitably face as a presidential candidate.... And by 2020, there’s simply no reason to do that again. Most of the party’s bench consists of people like Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker, who are young enough not to have participated in the [Iraq] war debate in Congress.... Foreign policy experience theoretically should be a big Biden advantage over his rivals. But in reality, on one of the only foreign policy controversies voters actually paid attention to or remember, Biden got it wrong in a big way.... Old, mostly funny articles like '9 Times Joe Biden Creepily Whispered in Women’s Ears' will get fresh rereads for the #MeToo era, especially because Biden himself can’t seem to decide what he thinks about his handling of the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings — alternately apologizing for having mishandled things and griping that it’s unfair for Anita Hill to blame him.... The entire spectacle of once again re-fighting every intraparty battle from the past two generations of Democratic Party politics would be bad for almost everyone at a time when Democrats should be talking about their ideas for the future rather than raking over the past."

Writes Matthew Yglesias in "Americans want outsiders, reformers, and fresh faces, not politicians with decades of baggage" (Vox).

113 comments:

Achilles said...

If Democrats didn’t have double standards, they would have no standards at all.

Yancey Ward said...

To his credit, I think Yglesias is mostly right here. However, he is downplaying the Creepy Biden issue. Biden is creepy- had I done things like that where I worked, I would have been summarily fired, and I think most people who work in today's corporate environment know it, too. The worst thing for Biden isn't it would something a Republican would exploit- it would happen in the Democrat primaries, and be done to him by other Democrats.

Yancey Ward said...

I think Biden won't run, nor will Sanders. I don't think Biden's endorsement will even be sought, though Sanders' will be.

elkh1 said...

Anyone more outside the GOP than Donald Trump, the former-Democrat-and-donor-to-Democrat-politicians?

I'm Full of Soup said...

It too him quite a while to realize this. 63 Million Americans knew this way back in 2016.

Achilles said...

What brought Hillary down is there are only 60 million Americans and several million illegal voters who would tolerate an obvious criminal and traitor as president. She ran a foundation that took in over 2 billion dollars in “donations” and gave obvious quid pro quo’s to foreign and domestic billionaires and cronies.

The problem is the people that support this corruption.

Unknown said...

Someone else Yglesias knows got the only big foreign policy issue of his lifetime wrong.

Henry said...

Extended public scrutiny of every detail of failure is usually bad for votes.

robother said...

Socialism! An idea about the future whose time is always coming.

gahrie said...

The entire spectacle of once again re-fighting every intraparty battle from the past two generations of Democratic Party politics would be bad for almost everyone at a time when Democrats should be talking about their ideas for the future rather than raking over the past.

A bigger problem is that all of their ideas for the future rely on failed ideologies from the past.

Expat(ish) said...

Personally, if Trump puts a third conservative justice on the court he base would forgive almost anything at the thought of 2-3 more in the next term.

Is that enough to get him elected? Darn good question.

-XC

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I want to hear more about socialized medicare for all and tax rape.
and how Immigration and customs = the KKK.

rehajm said...

A bigger problem is that all of their ideas for the future rely on failed ideologies from the past.

Amen. What the fuck are we doing reviving the capitalism vs socialism debate? Socialism lost! The cold war is over!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Matthew Yglesias is truly creepy and has said some really creepy stuff over the years. So he'd know!

Bill Peschel said...

"Americans want outsiders, reformers, and fresh faces, not politicians with decades of baggage"

Isn't that why we got Trump?

The next big problem we have to deal with is runaway spending, but the pols don't want us to think about that. Instead, we get "look, she's dancing!"

And the media plays along.

Ambrose said...

"We need someone fresh and young - who can lie about what they intend to do."

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The Gloss over Hillary still persists inside the leftwing. They are only annoyed with her because she got caught.

Same with Bill. Otherwise, they LOVE the clintons.

Sydney said...

What brought Hillary Clinton down is her inherent dishonesty. Also, we don't want a president who can break the law and get away with it.

Anonymous said...

If anything, Yglesias is too cautious. I don't see the public hungering for a next-politican-up candidate like Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, or Cory Booker in 2020. Nothing has changed since 2016 on that score.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

"Americans want outsiders [who push socialism], reformers [who push socialism], and fresh faces [who push socialism], not politicians with decades of baggage..."

fixed.

CJinPA said...

Yglesias is an opinion writer, and I think he is right. What will be interesting is watching all of the actual political "reporters" signal the same warning to Democrats in the months ahead.

Bay Area Guy said...

Matty Y is one of those "booksmart" liberals, who hasn't done much of anything in his life, but still pines for a socialist utopia to govern our lives.

He has some good insights, which are valuable to read, because it gives you the sense of what the other side is thinking.

He's mostly right about Hillary and Biden, but notice how he refrains from advising who he affirmatively supports:

Democrats should be talking about their ideas for the future rather than raking over the past.

He wants AOC or some young socialist like her, but doesn't think she can yet win. So, he holds his tongue.

rehajm said...

So it wasn't the graft, corruption, felonies, hypocrisy, theft, personality...

Limited blogger said...

Klobuchar, Harris or Booker? Fine. Only Booker has a nickname at this point.

CJinPA said...

"Americans want outsiders [who push socialism], reformers [who push socialism], and fresh faces [who push socialism], not politicians with decades of baggage..."

fixed.

I honestly don't think most voters give a damn about the "socialism" label. If a politician is promising more stuff, and the average voter doesn't have to pay for it (directly, in tax hikes), what do they care what it's called?

YoungHegelian said...

Yglesias is such an idiot! "Decades long scrutiny" my left testicle!

What brought HRC down was that she was corrupt, and unashamedly & unabashedly so. DC is full of people like her, who think that they're Ubermenschen &that the rules that apply to the rest of us don't apply to them.

Well, the courts never brought her to justice, but the Deplorables robbed her of that which she desired above all else, God bless their pea-pickin' hearts!

lgv said...

HIs baggage assessment is correct. If Obama ran again, there would plenty of baggage to poke through. That's the advantage of the outsider. He knows that the elders in the ring have huge drawbacks. He wants one that he can help and take credit for helping.


bagoh20 said...

How about we elect smart, reasonable people with lots of experience handling big operations rather than close our eyes and pick from the bin of new stuff, most of which will be proven to be bullshit. That's why experience and a record matter. You can't evaluate something or someone who is untested, and inexperienced. It's like when a product on Amazon has no reviews yet. I'm not interested in being the guinea pig on a product that cost $20, let alone a political leader that could cost us everything.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Yglasias voted for Hillary and cried after she lost.

Screw him.

Mountain Maven said...

The candidate with the more appealing personality almost always wins. and the more positive candidate wins. Throw in some obvious. Corruption and felony coverup and she gone.

Inglesias is not any kind of smart. Like aoc his last name is what got him the job.

Mountain Maven said...

The govt taking stuff from people and giving it to others is a pillar of socialism. Those who want that are socialists even if they dont know it.

Bill Peschel said...

The joke in this narrative is that there wasn't any one reason why Clinton failed.

The people who voted against her were many and varied:

* The people who genuinely liked Trump. I can't imagine there were many of them, but let's assume that's the case.

* The people who voted for Trump because they didn't like Hillary more. This includes those who voted for Jill Stein and other candidates.

* Bernie Bros who stayed home after they were told the system was rigged against him.

* People who didn't like HRC's personality. I remember that after a string of public appearances, her polls went down. The more you saw of her, the less you liked her.

* People who remembered her lying about Libya and other scandals.

* Any member of the military who saw her skate for passing along Top Secret data over an unsecured server were especially livid.

* People who saw her collapse and wondered if she had the strength to undergo the strain of four years in the White House.

* People who simply did not want another Clinton in the White House, just as they didn't want another Bush! in the White House.

Obama offered people far fewer reasons to vote against him, and offered the prospect of virtue signaling by voting for him.

It took a lot of cheating to get her past Bernie, and a lot of vote fraud to get her within eyeshot of the White House. Add to that the enormous bias (and as the leaked emails revealed, cooperation from) the media, that she couldn't seal the deal reveals just how radioactive she really was.

Sebastian said...

"What brought Clinton down was public exposure not to her personality... but extended public scrutiny of every detail of a decades-long career in public life."

That scrutiny didn't bring her down: she got off easy.

During the elections, we didn't even know that she had colluded with a UK spy and Russian operatives to railroad Trump, and that Dem operatives in the O administration were running an entrapment scheme against his campaign.

Of course, real scrutiny only hurts if it exposes evildoings. The existence which Yglesias implicitly acknowledges in Hill's case.

Otto said...

For me MY , whether he realizes it or not, is really saying that the Democrat party policies of the last half century have failed and he is resorting to style over substance to win the day.

eric said...

He's wrong about what Americans want.

But he is right about what Democrats want.

They have terrible policy ideas, so they can't talk about that.

They've got decades of contradictions in policy proscription because they have terrible policy ideas,so they can't talk about that.

The only hope Dems have is lack of media scrutiny and a fresh face who also happens that be a minority. Because that's all they can talk about. It's all they want to talk about.

And sadly, it's all they need to talk about to win.

Elliott A said...

There should be a 75 year old age limit on running for president. Once people get past 75 they do not think quickly, clearly or intuitively. That has to be a prerequisite for the job.

FullMoon said...

Multiple reasons to not vote for Hillary.
But, if her campaign had followed Bill's advice instead of thinking they knew better, she would be President.

Or, probably a dozen things she could have done different and she would have won.

Was not her disgusting personality, her obvious criminality, her lying and cheating and hatred that lost for her. It was her bad campaign choices.

Seriously, look at how many stupid politicians are in office because they simply ran a better campaign that the opposition.

Chuck said...

This is not new. For generations, the common wisdom was that the U.S. Senate was the place to produce Presidential candidates. Presidential candidates who lost.

Kennedy was the exception. LBJ was the asterisk. And then there is Obama, who was exceptional in so many ways as to break any molds.

Carter - a governor, not a Senator.
Reagan - a governor, not a Senator.
Clinton - a governor, not a Senator.
Bush41 - a governor, not a Senator.

And all of the many losers from the Senate: Clinton, Kerry, Dole, Mondale, McGovern, Humphrey, Adlai Stevenson...

AllenS said...

Let's wait until April 11, 2019 at New York in the Beacon Theatre when the Bill and Hillary Show starts up again. Can't wait to see the small crowd. What will Crooked Hillary do then? The writing will be on the wall. Will she care?

William said...

AOC is not such a clean slate. Her previous public service job, that of middle school hall monitor, was rife with charges of favoritism and elitism. The media is covering this up, but the truth will come out.

Chuck said...

btw: If (and I don't presume it to be true no matter how much I might like it) the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearing served to kill off all chances that Joe Biden might have for the Presidency, then that debacle was a win-win.

doctrev said...

Bill Peschel said...

The people who voted against her were many and varied:


Obama offered people far fewer reasons to vote against him, and offered the prospect of virtue signaling by voting for him.

1/11/19, 12:59 PM

No, no, NO! First time I've been moved to post here, but this stale thinking of personalities and scandals is exactly why Hillary lost a very easy election. Massive shifts away from the Democrats occurred in industrial states. While personality may have had some role in things, it wasn't enough to shift them from academic Obama to war veteran McCain. What mattered was POLICY. Make America Great Again depended on a great deal of discussion about trade and non-estalishment foreign policy: right now, that's a policy the Democrats are losing, and badly so. The Chinese economy is taking a beating, Russia is under massive diplomatic pressure and economic sanctions, the EU is tearing itself apart from the inside as the Italian government openly hopes for a people's revolt in France, and the President has Saudi Arabia on the same side as Israel in the Middle East.

So what's the Democrat solution? Why, get Max Boot and Bill Kristol onside to serve up some warmed over Bushonomics. If they can't do a lot better, and quickly, the President has a major part of his re-election campaign already written.

Leland said...

Matt didn't figure that out in 2008? That's why McCain needed to pick Palin, and the GPO ticket support was split between those that supported him and those that supported her. But Democrats went for Obama, and Obama, realizing the Matt's of the world existed, picked Biden. Still, take the Obama supporters and Palin supporters, and we see a majority of people wanting outsiders, fresh faces, and politicians without baggage.

Wince said...

doctrev, you should post more comments.

Nonapod said...

He wants AOC or some young socialist like her, but doesn't think she can yet win. So, he holds his tongue.

Technically she can't even run in 2020 since she'll only be like 31. But yeah, he obviously wants some young upstart socialist to repackage those old failed ideas in a nice, bright and friendly package.

Of course, we on the Right tend to scoff at all this, but it's certainly possible that it could work in 2020. Always remember, just because something seems unlikely to you doesn't mean it won't happen. There was a time when a President Trump seemed unlikely to most people. And there's a lot of gullible young people who have been listening to the endless drumbeat of "Orange Man is Bad" for the past two years and "Socialism is Cool" from their teachers and professors for years and years. That drumbeat will get louder and louder the closer the election gets, drowning out any positive news that could even remotely be attributed to Trump.

narciso said...

Yes yglesias is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. They ignore policy but that is the clearest evidence of their failure.

tcrosse said...

You mean it wasn't the Russians who stole the election from Hillary? Any day now Robert Mueller will supply ample proof that it was.

stevew said...

If Hillary's and Biden's pasts were more positive than littered with corruption and incompetence you can be sure Matt would be lauding them.

derek said...

His whole thesis is falsifiable by the fact that Trump won. Are these people so parochial that they don't look outside their own very very very small room and group of people?

Democrats need new faces because they are awful people once you get to know them.

SteveR said...

They could be old if they were accomplished.

Seeing Red said...

I can assure youMatt, her personality factored in my vote.

FIDO said...

Translation: Having a record has a really bad effect on Democrat candidates because their records tend to be VERY unpopular. While 'The Big O' is popular due to media adulation, could he really win again with Cash for Clunkers, Obamacare and 'Racial Healing' tied around his neck?

I don't think so. He was a novelty candidate and the Big Zero: nothing known about him.

So the Big Y is trying to once again run someone without a record (and without the ability to lead or compromise, but he hasn't thought that far yet).

Problem is you only get one First Black President and their women are all Feminist Shrews and mostly ugly.

Who wants to elect an ugly woman as president?

Rick said...

"Americans want outsiders, reformers, and fresh faces, not politicians with decades of baggage" (Vox).

How does an article about about Dem Party factional conflict become "America" in the headline? It's also bizarre an article about the candidate's lack of appeal highlights only appeals to the far left of his own party. Yglesias seems strangely invested in the premise that Biden must recover Clinton's losses among the far left rather than focusing on the unaligned or moderates. Even if you believe those losses explain Clinton's loss (which is wrong) her weaknesses don't transfer to Biden.

A more accurate headline would be:

"Dems need to brand candidates as moderate but insist on complete ideological conformity."

Subhead: "Compromise: Choose trusted ideologues without much history so their true positions cannot be proven to conflict with the branding".

FullMoon said...

I don't think so. He was a novelty candidate and the Big Zero: nothing known about him.

I think Obama was doing a practice run against Hillary and was surprised as everybody else when it began to look like he actually had a chance to beat her.

Obama lowered the bar as far as experience was concerned. Trump lowered it even more.

Obama had a political machine to guide him, Trump had himself.

Francisco D said...

It says something about the culture of the Democrat party when lack of experience is the most desirable quality in a presidential candidate.

What could go wrong? It got Obama elected.

Mike Sylwester said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mike Sylwester said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mike Sylwester said...

What brought Hillary Clinton down was that Russians spent tens of thousands of dollars on Facebook ads that undermined Americans' faith in our Democracy.

Such ads showed, for example, Jesus arm-wrestling with Clinton. Such ads targeted voters in Wisconsin and Michigan and thus stole the election for Donald Trump.

Trump told Putin which US states should be targeted by Russia's Facebook ads. Trump and Putin communicated with each other through Russia's secret agent Carter Page, who traveled back and forth between Trump Tower and the Kremlin.

The US Department of Justice and the FBI knew that Page was Russia's secret agent. DOJ and FBI knew about Page, because they had been informed by a British dude, Christopher Steele, who had informants inside Russian Intelligence. Steele's sources were Source A, Source B, Source C, Source D and Source E.

These Russian Intelligence insiders informed the British dude, who informed DOJ/FBI. This was reasonable grounds for the FBI to search and seize all of Page's communications -- past, present and future -- with anybody and everybody. By the way, Page was on the staff of Trump's election campaign.

All this Russian election-meddling and election-stealing will be explained very soon by Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller. The USA will learn that FBI's counter-intelligence officials are heroic geniuses who have saved the USA's Democracy by uncovering and investigating how Russia meddles in and steals our elections for Donald Trump.

Putin and Trump stole the 2016 election from Clinton, and Putin and Trump again can steal the 2020 election from a Democrat candidate who is younger than Clinton.

Carter Page still has not been arrested, even though he is a secret agent of Russia. Just as Page traveled back and forth between Trump Tower and and Kremlin in 2016, he can travel back and forth again in 2020.

WAKE UP, AMERICA !!!

Original Mike said...

"This, in turn, is the exact same problem Biden will inevitably face as a presidential candidate..."

Did Biden run goverment business off his own homebrew server so that he could rack in millions from foreign governments, then destroy the evidence when he got caught? Yeah, then sure Matt...

They still can't admit what she did.

FullMoon said...


Blogger Mike Sylwester said...

What brought Hillary Clinton down was that Russians spent tens of thousands of dollars on Facebook ads that undermined Americans' faith in our Democracy. ....etc..


Well, ya just saved Inga the trouble of 'splainin' it to us again !

bagoh20 said...

Trump was one of the most qualified and experienced candidates ever. He had an entire life (decades) of experience running large organizations, meeting challenges, and succeeding while working with thousands of people, unions, bureaucrats, banks, and often with foreign leaders and systems. He did this everyday for many decades, with no breaks, retirements, or hiding. He was also one of the best known candidates becuase of the same. He had a long record of challenges and his responses to them. His opinions and personality were well known. I think he may be the most transparent ever as in what he was selling was pretty much what we got. Trump has not surprised anybody except when he is more Trump than you expect. He never changed just becuase he won. Look at other politicians and what they said compared to what they do. Obama was one of the worst in this respect. He broke numerous pledges made during his campaign, not becuase he couldn't keep them. He never intended to. This was a bait and switch often against his base, but also against the others he was only courting for a vote.

jg said...

maybe it's both

steve uhr said...

It was her phony personality and lack of character that brought her down. Biden is nothing like Hillary.

bagoh20 said...

What was the reason for voting for Hillary? What did she ever accomplish? What are her successes? Why do we even know who she is. People voted for her for three reasons:

1) She was a woman
2) She was a Democrat
3) They hated Trump

She only got the opportunity becuase she was married to Bill Clinton.

In a just world, she never would have even been a candidate. She was a big nobody who had done nothing.

PB said...

Matt doesn't get it. The Clinton's are criminals and grifters. The scandal is that so many still support them.

Mike Sylwester said...

Trump and Putin can steal the Presidential election again in 2020, even if the Democrat candidate is much younger than Hillary Clinton.

Carter Page is not the only secret agent of Russia who is free to travel around and enable Russians to meddle in and steal our elections.

Also still free to travel around are Joseph Mifsud and George Papadopoulos. Mifsud is a Maltese dude, but he too is a secret agent of Russia. In 2016, Russian Intelligence insiders told Mifsud that Russian Intelligence had thousands of Clinton's e-mails. And then Mifsud told this secret to Papadopoulos, who told it to an Australian dude who is named Alexander Downer. Afterwards, Downer told the secret to the US Department of State, which told the secret to the US Department of Justice, which told the secret to the FBI.

Because the FBI got this secret, which had originated in Russian Intelligence, the FBI initiated a counter-intelligence investigation of Papadopoulis. By the way, Papadopoulos was on Trump's campaign staff, so the FBI had reasonable cause to investigate the Trump campaign staff too. This FBI investigation is called Crossfire Hurricane.

It's all very complicated, but it all will be explained soon by Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller, who is saving the USA's Democracy from Trump's and Putin's plots to meddle in and steal our elections.

Mueller had to do this investigation, because Jeff Sessions, the new US Attorney General, had been on Trump's campaign staff. Plus, Sessions had met with some Russians while he still was a US Senator in 2016. Therefore, Sessions could not be trusted to involve himself in the super-ultra-secret Crossfire Hurricane investigation.

If Sessions had been involved, he might have tried to obstruct justice by asking nosy questions about Page, Mifsud, Papadopoulos and other such secret agents of Russia. For sure, Sessions would have spoiled the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation, and so Sessions had to recuse himself.

After Mueller explains it all, the USA will owe a huge debt of gratitude to that British dude, Christopher Steele, who got all the secret information from his Source A, Source B, Source C, Source D and Source E -- who are Russian Intelligence insiders.

FullMoon said...


'fess up, Mike,you are Trumpit, right? Every bit as good.

Mike Sylwester said...

Trump and Putin can steal the Presidential election again in 2020, even if the Democrat candidate is much younger than Hillary Clinton.

Carter Page is not the only secret agent of Russia who is free to travel around and enable Russians to meddle in and steal our elections.

Also still free to travel around are Joseph Mifsud and George Papadopoulos. Mifsud is a Maltese dude, but he too is a secret agent of Russia. In 2016, Russian Intelligence insiders told Mifsud that Russian Intelligence had thousands of Clinton's e-mails. And then Mifsud told this secret to Papadopoulos, who told it to an Australian dude who is named Alexander Downer. Afterwards, Downer told the secret to the US Department of State, which told the secret to the US Department of Justice, which told the secret to the FBI. ....etc

Bilwick said...

"Americans want outsiders, reformers, fresh faces. . . ." I'd be happy if some of those fresh faces were actually PRO-freedom. Get it, statists? PRO-freedom!

madAsHell said...

What brought Clinton down was public exposure not to her personality — which was sparkling enough to make her the most admired woman in America for 17 years straight before losing the claim to Michelle Obama in 2018 — but extended public scrutiny of every detail of a decades-long career in public life.

How does one read that sentence, and not laugh out loud??

I'm Full of Soup said...

Biden is a dumb blowhard. I have nicknamed him IBM aka Irish Big Mouth. He's as phony as they come and hides his corruption well. His family members have prospered off of govt programs and ties.

FullMoon said...

He never changed just becuase he won. Look at other politicians and what they said compared to what they do. Obama was one of the worst in this respect. He broke numerous pledges made during his campaign, not becuase he couldn't keep them. He never intended to. This was a bait and switch often against his base, but also against the others he was only courting for a vote.

Yep. In 2020, one of Trump's slogans will emphasize that he kept his promises. Might be the main reason he is dedicated to building the wall.
He said he would do it, so he gonna do his best. And, I would not be surprised to see him somehow get Mexico to pay for it. Especially now that the "cost of the wall" seems to be only five billion and change.

CJinPA said...

Trump and Putin can steal the Presidential election again in 2020, even if the Democrat candidate is much younger than Hillary Clinton.

If Mexico can meddle in U.S. elections, why not Russia? It's only fair.

Gk1 said...

I still don't get why people give two shits what Matt has to say as he's never done a thing in his life other than be a 30 something (soon to be 40 something) jackass pundit. I'll always remember this quote “Fighting dishonesty with dishonesty is sometimes the right thing for advocates to do, yes,” Has he ever presciently predicted anything that wasn't blindingly obvious? He was sure wrong about the 2012 democratic congressional wipe out and now Trump. He pays no price for being routinely wrong and out of touch with half of the country. I guess the fact even he is not blinkered enough to think Biden is a good candidate is a sobering commentary on Biden's chances.

Rabel said...

Matty doesn't cut Joe much slack on Iraq considering that he was a war hawk himself at the time. He also wanted to "take out" Iran and North Korea.

gilbar said...

Bill mentioned a Lot of reasons, including:
* People who saw her collapse and wondered if she had the strength

I really think that This was it. Enough people (finally) saw her collapse and realized that she just wasn't up to the job. If you want, add in her lack of campaigning (everywhere, not just WI).

Anonymous said...

And then there is Obama, who was exceptional in so many ways as to break any molds.

And even there, he was a Senator for what, 3 months or so, before he became candidate Obama.

tcrosse said...

Hillary's 2008 primary campaign was a shitshow, IIRC. Everybody who was anybody among the Democrats dropped her like a dead rat as soon as Obama appeared.

Kevin said...

Nobody's doing hit pieces on haughty old men who don't have pictures of them inappropriately touching young girls.

Does that mean they're too over the hill to even be considered? Or that they're being given the green light to run?

Asking for a friend of John Kerry's.

alanc709 said...

I read Mike Sylwester's posts and I have to remind myself they aren't parodies, they're that deluded.

JAORE said...

Biden is a dumb blowhard.

And yet he was picked as Obama's running mate to add gravitas.

And, in hindsight that makes sense.

Big Mike said...

Matt needs to get outside his bubble. Out in the real world people don’t vote for openly corrupt candidates (Louisiana the main exception). You have to go back to the 19th century to find anyone remotely as corrupt as she is.

cubanbob said...

Hillary Clinton is a grifter, criminal and traitor. No decent person could have voted for. That she got so many votes doesn't say much good about the the electorate. As Yglesias, he is clever but smart. Willie Brown's bimbo and Spartacus are lightweights of the first order. They really couldn't stand public scrutiny. Harris's history as a prosecutor is enough to sink her with any half-intelligent voter and Booker is a joke. Amy whatshername has done herself no favors in the Kavanaugh hearings. And if Ginsburg retires or worse dies, the shitshow the Democrats in the Senate will put on including the Bimbo, Spartacus and Amy whatshername put on will pretty much make them radioactive to a lot of independents. The Democrats have a problem, they are so far Left they left the country behind.

Big Mike said...

I always thought Bill Clinton was the luckiest candidate of my lifetime, but when you look at who Obama had to beat to be elected — Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and finally Mitt Romney, there’s no one in his league for luck.

narciso said...

You can add that mifsud has connections to the kingdom (prince turki) british and Italian foreign intelligence, and Papadopoulos to Cyprus and Israel, some peculiar Russian connections, dontcha think,

rehajm said...

How about we elect smart, reasonable people with lots of experience handling big operations

Those people tend to fail the retail politics part of the job, getting pigeonholed by the opposition then kicked to the curb when their supporters fall for it.

That's how you get more Trump, who just so happens to fit your job description, too.

Maillard Reactionary said...

Limited Blogger said: "Klobuchar, Harris or Booker? Fine. Only Booker has a nickname at this point."

Well, I have one for Harris: Towlette. Because she comes pre-moistened.

(See for example https://madworldnews.com/kamala-harris-sex-jeff-sessions/)

"Towelette Harris". Has a nice sound to it, don't you think?

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

oh FFS! "decades long scrutiny of public service" is only a liability
IF YOU SUCK.

FullMoon said...

Big Mike said...

Matt needs to get outside his bubble. Out in the real world people don’t vote for openly corrupt candidates


Clinton got the majority.
Most voters are ignorant. They are working and living normal lives and only get news from radio to and from work, or local TV.

I do not think most voters were aware of the Benghazi lies, or the hundreds of thousands Bill and Hill got for speeches.
Or, dodging sniper fire.

Gospace said...

bagoh20 said...

Trump was one of the most qualified and experienced candidates ever. He had an entire life (decades) of experience running large organizations, meeting challenges, and succeeding ßwhile working with thousands of people, unions, bureaucrats, banks, and often with foreign leaders and systems.


His whole comment just about hits everything right. Trump was/is qualified.

Bill Peschel is living in a bubble. * The people who genuinely liked Trump. I can't imagine there were many of them, but let's assume that's the case. Perilously close to a Pauline Kaelism.

And FullMoon's statement Obama lowered the bar as far as experience was concerned. Trump lowered it even more. Typical of anti-Trumpers. As far as experience the real world outside of politics and academia goes- there are few in the house or senate who can even come close. Trump's accomplishments are things he did, things he directed, things he was part of, not policies he supported, votes he rendered, other people's money he spent or gave away with no accountability.

I'm assuming what Mike Sylwester wrote was some kind of strange sarcasm, because no sane person could believe that garbage. Not with what's come out so far as far as actual facts go.

I've read a few things recently that point out that if you actually go back and analyze all the interviews and public statements (I haven't done so.) Trump has made in his career- that nothing he is doing as POTUS should come as any surprise. The one thing that surprises both politicians and pundits alike is- he's doing pretty much exactly what he said he wanted to do. He wasn't positioning his views and statements for votes- he meant it. No triangulation for Trump. And from my point of view, everything he has done so far can be summed up as- he does what he feels is best for America and Americans. And since his job title is President of the United States, not NAFTA administrator or European Union Representative or Middle East Peacemaker or Global Sheriff- that's exactly what he should be doing. I may not agree with every little thing he does, but then, unlike some previous Presidents, he doesn't do every little thing. He delegates- He's a businessman. That's what they do. If he doesn't like what his subordinates are doing- he replaces them. He doesn't care about optics, he cares about results, and that HIS goals are being accomplished. Hence- no more Mattis. You want to fight war? You want Mattis. You want to end a war? You need someone else.

donald said...

We have one Matt.

John henry said...

As a former vice president, Biden is probably the most unqualified 35 year old+ natural born us citizen in the world.

This has nothing to do with his odious personality or his loathesome history and politics.

His vice presidency disqualifies him completely and unequivocally.

I can't for the life of me understand why people are talking about him running.

John Henry

Jupiter said...

Isn't Matt Yglesias a ways past his pull date? Can't Vox find any younger liars who haven't been spectacularly wrong about so many things?

FIDO said...


Hillary is to 'public service' what Boss Tweed was in the 19th Century.

Martin said...

Yglesias is such a dishonest, lying POS.

Clinton was a terrible candidate who ran a weak campaign; plus, her 40+ years in public life (back to her Wellesley graduation speech in 1969) provided plenty of real things for people to dislike. It wasn't just some free-floating look into her history, it was many specific things she had done.

Big Mike said...

@FullMoon, good point. I may be in a sort of a bubble myself.

FIDO said...

I'm sorry. Is ANYONE talking seriously about Biden besides shills for Biden?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

What brought Hillary down (according to even her own admission at times) was that she had NO political skill or touch or knack for the politics of being to relate to others, and yet still for some bizarre reason thought that she should be president. She might have been a good technocrat. Who knows. But her unwillingness to have an iota of appreciation for what it means to just be able to basically fucking to relate to other people on any personal level whatsoever made her unusual. And her belief in her destiny as a president despite all that, just bizarre.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Most voters are ignorant.

And others just drop out of school, spend their life refurbishing countertops and resenting college grads, and complain that NASA, NOAA and the Pentagon must be somehow completely ignorant and wrong when it comes to how they calculate the relationship between the sun's energy and the earth's atmosphere.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Obama lowered the bar as far as experience was concerned. Trump lowered it even more.

Obama had a political machine to guide him, Trump had himself.


Well, Trump also had some lawyers at one time. But then they got busted for being in on the motherfucker's crimes.

Good thing he can appoint Kavanaugh and Whitacre and other scuzzbags who keep pushing the idea that the president should be above the law, huh?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Private Server still the giant pink elephant in the room. Nobody on the left sees it.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

But everyone in law enforcement will react to it. Just as soon as April Apple shows prosecutors her silver-plastic sheriff badge that she got from a Cracker Jack box, invades their offices, and demand they take down the Blonde Menace.

Every Republican has a mental problem. Some want walls for things that don't go through where the walls would be. And some of them can't look down at their vaginas without seeing Hillary Clinton's head popping out.

narciso said...

Yes Obama was the tool of reiko and alinski and bill Ayers and nahim auchi, the Iraqi version of raymond reddington

Paul said...

"What brought Clinton down was public exposure not to her personality... but extended public scrutiny of every detail of a decades-long career in public life."

No no no.... It was her personality as well as every detail of every crooked deal, every crooked deed, every lie she told, and just every slimy thing about her. THAT was what turned people off.

narciso said...

Biden has been lying since he misrepresented who caused his wife's accident. To all the times he misrepresented his cv.

alanc709 said...

The thread is much more readable, if you just remind yourself that PPPT couldn't recognize the truth if it was tattooed on his forehead.

Hanoi Paris Hilton said...

From a back-channel exchange with Mike Sylwester some years ago, maybe over at Belmont Club, it came out —IIRC— that Mike was a combat troop, maybe in armor or armored cav in VN. He's no idiot and this is some class A hyperbole he's running here. Way to go, Mike!

Known Unknown said...

"* People who saw her collapse and wondered if she had the strength to undergo the strain of four years in the White House."

I still believe this killed her last chance. Who wants to vote for a frail person that might keel over at any given moment?

Known Unknown said...

It was also telling that she did the opposite of what her husband told her to do. You know, the guy who won 2 terms to the highest office in the land.

walter said...

"extended public scrutiny of every detail of a decades-long career in public life."
--
Yes, yes..things got too crowded under that stanky rug.

walter said...

Even though..
It was high time.
She wanted it.

walter said...

The "I suppose this makes me a hack" media did their best.

Rusty said...

White House travel office scandal. That was my first indication of the kind of person she is. My opinion never changed.