२६ फेब्रुवारी, २०१९

Richard Cohen (the WaPo columnist) doesn't "quite know what a handbasket is, but the Democratic Party is heading in one to electoral hell with its talk of socialism and reparations."

He's got an image, but he can't picture it. I picture something like this:



But damn, I find it annoying, starting off a column so lazily.
I don't quite know what a handbasket is, but the Democratic Party is heading in one to electoral hell with its talk of socialism and reparations. Given a Republican incumbent who has never exceeded 50 percent in Gallup's approval ratings poll and who won the presidency thanks to a dysfunctional electoral college, the party is nevertheless determined to give Donald Trump a fair shot at re-election by sabotaging itself....
Yes, yes, I know, it's perfectly predictable, the point you're going to make. But you waste my time with a cliché, and you don't know how to use it. It pops in your head and you just start jabbering, padding out your column with the tedious news that you don't understand your own unfresh metaphor. How do you head anywhere in a basket? Is someone carrying the basket? Is it a basket with some automotive power? Is it a basket placed for some reason — by whom? — at the top of a slippery slope?

I'm so glad I stopped to ask, rather than to continue to read the scribblings of Richard Cohen (who is not, I hasten to add, the Richard Cohen to whom I once said, as quoted in the previous post, "Maybe it's not right to bring children into this world"). I presume the column continues to point out the obvious, which you're free to expound on in the comments. I want to talk about going to hell in a handbasket.

First, here's the fantastic Hieronymus Bosch painting, "The Haywain Triptych" (click to enlarge):



Wikipedia explains the painting:
The central panel features a large wagon of hay surrounded by a multitude of fools engaged in a variety of sins... An angel on top of the wagon looks to the sky, praying, but none of the other figures see Christ [in the cloud] looking down on the world. The rightward bow of the figures around the wagon provides the force for the viewer’s eye to move with them on their journey and the cart is drawn by infernal beings which drag everyone to Hell, depicted on the right panel.
So it's a hay wagon, and the movement toward Hell is generated by some nasty characters:



I found that through the Wikipedia article "To hell in a handbasket," but a hay wagon is not a handbasket. A wagon has wheels. So how does a handbasket — which doesn't sound like something with wheels — work as a coveyance to hell?
"Going to hell in a handbasket", "going to hell in a handcart", "going to hell in a handbag", "go to hell in a bucket", "sending something to hell in a handbasket" and "something being like hell in a handbasket" are variations on an American allegorical locution of unclear origin, which describes a situation headed for disaster inescapably or precipitately.
So apparently, not only doesn't Richard Cohen know, Wikipedia doesn't know! But it does offer this:
I. Windslow Ayer's 1865 polemic alleges, "Judge Morris of the Circuit Court of Illinois at an August meeting of Order of the Sons of Liberty said: "Thousands of our best men were prisoners in Camp Douglas, and if once at liberty would 'send abolitionists to hell in a hand basket.'"
That's the idea of sending and not simply going. Notice that in Cohen's locution, getting into a handbasket is a quick way to go to Hell. But why? If someone else puts you in a basket — Mrs. Gulch or the Sons of Liberty — then they've got themselves in good position to take you wherever they want, the nasty demons....



But Cohen imagines the Democrats getting into a handbasket on their own. Won't it just sit there, going nowhere?



Cohen hasn't thought this through, so I will. Once they get in the basket, they've made it easy for their antagonists to pick up the basket and throw it wherever they like. And it won't be the White House.



Oh! There's Trump, building his wall!

१७७ टिप्पण्या:

Mike Sylwester म्हणाले...

Why does Richard Cohen call the Electoral College "dysfunctional"?

Because of the Electoral College, Donald Trump won the 2016 Presidential election. That was a superb result of the Electoral College's functioning.

traditionalguy म्हणाले...

This phrase assumes that members of a group will suffer the Judgemnent due to their evil leaders.

Seeing Red म्हणाले...

Those dead white men were smart.

rehajm म्हणाले...

I've always imagined it's like you're one of those fru fru dogs and a Kardashian or a Hilton is lugging you to Hell with them.

Henry म्हणाले...

I don't quite know what a bucket is, but the Democratic Party is kicking it to electoral hell with its talk of socialism and reparations.

I don't quite know what a highway is, but the Democratic Party is taking one to electoral hell with its talk of socialism and reparations.

There are more, I'm sure.

AlbertAnonymous म्हणाले...

Trump “won the presidency thanks to a dysfunctional electoral college?”

Seems to me it worked as designed.

Does Cohen ever go back to that reference and explain? Oh never mind, IDGAS

tcrosse म्हणाले...

The Electoral College was dysfunctional in the sense that the bone-headed Clinton compaign couldn't figure out how it worked.

Bryan Townsend म्हणाले...

More and more the quality of writing on the Internet, especially in the mass media, is worse and worse. Undigested clichés, meandering logic, arguments without point and just general prolixity. Word processing makes it all too easy to write crap.

bagoh20 म्हणाले...

"Oh! There's Trump, building his wall!"

The artist did really capture the hair with a stylistic flare - and so early with it - truely visionary.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves म्हणाले...

Hillary will jump in if it all goes too far left.

Oh goodie! Institutionalized corruption - so titillating. The Clintons are not finished fleecing.

Lucid-Ideas म्हणाले...

My gf and I enjoy picnicking. Enjoy is an understatement actually. When the weather warms up we do it almost every weekend. She inherited the cutest most adorable picnic basket from her late grandmother which I have never seen anywhere else. It was likely made in the first or second decade of the 20th, lacquered wicker, fantastically woven (no loose ends or fraying to catch on clothing), super sturdy handle (I've put north of 50lbs in it), and plenty big.

If one word comes to my mind to describe it, it would be 'cozy'.

When I thought of "going to hell in a handbasket" the image of our picnic basket immediately sprang to mind and I thought well hell that doesn't sound so bad. If life is all about the journey and not the destination, I can't think of a better way to get to hell than in our handbasket. Anyone know of decent crossroads where the devil might be found? I'd sell my soul before I sell that basket.

mccullough म्हणाले...

Going to hell in a bucket doesn’t make sense either. Maybe it’s like going over Niagsra Falls in a barrel. At least they’ll enjoy the ride.

JHapp म्हणाले...

A good estimate for the number of slaves taken into the Muslim world is 50 million and counting. I think we should start there.

Wince म्हणाले...

Last night I watched the HBO documentary paean to Breslin and Hamill.

You can see the roots of Trump hate run deep.

Gail Collins and Richard Cohen were prominent talking heads, to name two from this morning's Althouse posts.

That Trump ascended to the presidency and is succeeding must be killing all of them psychically.

Mark Jones म्हणाले...

Why does Cohen call the Electoral College "dysfunctional"? Because it forces the Democrats to pay attention to the deplorables in flyover country.

It doesn't matter if Hillary (or whoever in 2020) wins California or New York by many millions of votes, or by a single vote. They still get only a fixed number of electoral votes. Running up the vote tally in solidly Democratic states doesn't do them any good. But it would if the "national public vote" bullshit were enacted, which is why they want it.

But as it stands now, they have to persuade people all over the country, and persuasion (rather than coercion) is not their forte.

Wince म्हणाले...

Another dystopian scenario for the Democrats: The Handbasket's Tale.

Shouting Thomas म्हणाले...

This is how you go to hell in a bucket.

You're supposed to enjoy the ride.

Bob Boyd म्हणाले...

Shorter Cohen: "Stop not lying!"

Mike Sylwester म्हणाले...

The story in the musical Oklahoma features lunch (hand) baskets. At an auction, the villain Curly buys the heroine Laurey's lunch basket.

This purchase leads ultimately to Curly getting killed and going to hell. In that sense, Curly goes to hell because of a hand basket.

You can buy lunch baskets that are made in the shape of Oklahoma.

tcrosse म्हणाले...

It looks like 1972 all over again.

bagoh20 म्हणाले...

I know all this talk of socialism and the other mindless immoralities they are playing with seem suicidal, but the problem is that it is moving the Overton window, and so many young minds are full of mush that I fear the real idiocracy is starting to get a foothold.

Bernie Sanders' positions and policy ideas are reprehensibly stupid, disproved foolishness, and known catastrophes, yet he has a huge following. He is not stupid enough to believe what he says, becuase I don't think anyone could be that stupid and still manage to own three homes and make a career of never having a real job. My new test of a person and their minimal intellect is what they think of Sanders. If they do not see him as dangerous and dishonest, then they do not have even my basic level of respect about politics or much else.

John henry म्हणाले...

Blogger JHapp said...

A good estimate for the number of slaves taken into the Muslim world is 50 million and counting. I think we should start there.

Sowell and others put the number as high as 100 million in the thousand years between 900 and 1900 (or so)

That is sub-Saharan blacks taken into slavery by (mostly) Arab slave traders. Most went east. About half died on the journey which makes the 50mm a reasonable estimate as well if counting how many arrived rather than how many were taken.

About 10mm went to South American and the Caribbean.

About 1mm came to what is now the US.

John Henry

Two-eyed Jack म्हणाले...

The road to hell is paved with lazy metaphors.

Bill, Republic of Texas म्हणाले...

It looks like 1972 all over again.

In 1972 we still had a few pioneers, depression and WWII survivors.

Now we have baby-boomers and the illeducated Gen Xers and Millennials.

Charlie Currie म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
Ice Nine म्हणाले...

The video decidedly shows a picnic basket, not a handbasket. Lid/no lid. (Yes, of course one carries a picnic basket with the hand...and apparently you can tote small pets in them as well as picnic food.)

Amadeus 48 म्हणाले...

Windslow Ayer's 1865 polemic alleges, "Judge Morris of the Circuit Court of Illinois at an August meeting of Order of the Sons of Liberty said: "Thousands of our best men were prisoners in Camp Douglas, and if once at liberty would 'send abolitionists to hell in a hand basket.'"

Curious quote, that. Camp Douglas was a Confederate POW camp in Chicago, where thousands died from unsanitary conditions. Judge Morris of the Circuit Court of Illinois must have been a Copperhead, urging the dispatch of abolitionists to hell by liberated Rebel soldiers. I hope he had to stand for re-election. The Union forever! Hurrah, boys, hurrah! Down with the traitors, and up with the stars!

Stoutcat म्हणाले...

A) Not to be overly nit-picky, but it's MISS Gulch, not Mrs.

B) Mike Sylwester said... The story in the musical Oklahoma features lunch (hand) baskets. At an auction, the villain Curly buys the heroine Laurey's lunch basket

Curly is the hero in Oklahoma!, not the villain. The villain is the loutish Jud Frye. During the box social, the bidding between Curly and Jud is fierce, but Curly wins the bidding on the lunch (hand) basket (and thereby, the company of Laurey during the meal), by selling his horse and his gun.

Nonapod म्हणाले...

The word "Handbasket" has more hard consonants in it (which are always the funniest sounding letters) than "haywagon" or "handcart". Multisyllabic words with lots of hard consonants are inherently silly sounding. For example: "Nagasaki" is funnier sounding than "Hiroshima".

CWJ म्हणाले...

"That is sub-Saharan blacks taken into slavery by (mostly) Arab slave traders."

This is why I've always chuckled when African Americans cast aside their "slave names" in favor of Arab names.

John henry म्हणाले...

ST,

Thanks for the link. Grateful Dead "Hell in a bucket"

Chorus: "I may be heading for Hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride."

reminds me of what I said about McCain and Romney and why I supported Obama in 2012 and would have supported him in 2008 had Sarah Palin not been on the ticket.

I said multiple times in many venues that the US is going to Hell in a handcart and that all Romney, McCain and others would do would be to make the rid more comfortable with perhaps better seating and food service. Maybe, if we got really lucky, they would try to slow the handcart a bit.

I supported Obama because, as Lenin famously said "Worse is better" We needed someone who would stop, or at least try to stop the handcart. Someone who would try to turn it around.

That is President Trump. We would not have gotten him without Obama.

Thanks Obama. Thank you for bringing us President Trump.

And thanks to AOC for helping bring his 2nd term.

John Henry

MadisonMan म्हणाले...

If you pad your column start with a paragraph or two of nonsense you don't understand, you are then better able to fulfill your contractural obligations and cash your paycheck.

Otherwise, the Editor is going to come back and bark at you that he needs two more column inches stat.

Amadeus 48 म्हणाले...

That infamous interstate compact to cast electoral votes for the popular vote winner will last right until Trump gets a popular vote majority in 2020. I relish California casting its electoral votes for Trump after Trump loses the state by 3,000,000 votes.

Skeptical Voter म्हणाले...

Ah dear old goofmeister Richard Cohen. He can't see much since his head is usually firmly inserted about 12 inches above the lower end of his alimentary canal. But he knows what he knows, and actually said it this column. "Trump is a rotten President."

My favorite Cohen column involved him out riding his bicycle. He said that as he rode, he experienced an epiphany---the subject was Barack Obama. I don't know if Barack was wearing a halo in that Cohen fever dream or not--but he probably was.

But Cohen could have used a different metaphor for this particular column. No handbasket involved. Just "flushing their electoral hopes down the commode".

Jake म्हणाले...

Are they at least enjoying the ride?

Fernandinande म्हणाले...

Oh, what a tangled basket we weave, when first we practice to deceive!

Mike Sylwester म्हणाले...

Stoutcat, thanks for correcting my comment.

tcrosse म्हणाले...

Richard Cohen is a basket case.

Nonapod म्हणाले...

Richard Cohen's skull is the handbasket for his brain.

Left Bank of the Charles म्हणाले...

I’ve always thought going to hell in a hand basket referred to losing your head. I picture that you’ve been beheaded and your head is scooped up into handbasket to be carried off to hell. Who does the carrying? Never really thought about that, the person or thing that caused you to lose your head, I would suppose.

Going to hell in a bucket would be the same thing. Going to hell in a wheelbarrow or handcart I imagine as meaning you’re dead but not dismembered, or perhaps just mostly dead, such as in Monty Python’s Holy Grail or Princess Bride.

MacMacConnell म्हणाले...

Nothing says, "I'm an elitist fuckwad" than "I don't know what a handbasket is".

Limited blogger म्हणाले...

I told you. To their credit the Dems realize 2020 is lost.

They're just throwing shit against wall to see what sticks.

Kevin म्हणाले...

Is someone carrying the basket?

AOC, urged on by a party overly-infatuated with the young, female, non-white, college-educated, progressive sliver of their base.

They keep telling us she's the future.

TML म्हणाले...

"El Bosco"

tcrosse म्हणाले...

Where did that basket go?

MBunge म्हणाले...

"Handbasket" = small basket carried with one hand. How do you not know that? The only other option would be "handbasket" = basket used to carried hands.

Mike

Left Bank of the Charles म्हणाले...

If I am right, then going to hell in a handbasket is the ultimate dead metaphor.

MacMacConnell म्हणाले...

I missed the Oscars and the threads concerning it here. I have watched some local news coverage, but I'm confused. Why was Spike Lee dressed as a bellhop?

narciso म्हणाले...

that's probably true, john henry, the huntress was the only one who gave cohen as much agita,
as with madden murphy Wallace, noonan, et al,
btw what up with cortez's older sister, the mayor of san juan

Jeff Gee म्हणाले...

I've always thought 'going to hell in a hand basket' meant you're tucked into a nice cosy basket full of delicious stuff to eat, and you think you're heading to a sunny picnic, but when they yank off that checkered blanket, it turns out you're in Hell. Maybe there's even a Fleischer Brothers cartoon like that?

John henry म्हणाले...

Blogger narciso said...

btw what up with cortez's older sister, the mayor of san juan

She's dancing as fast as she can, trying to stay out of jail.

De donde estas, Narciso? Estas de aqui?

John Henry

Left Bank of the Charles म्हणाले...

Basket case may share some of the same origin. That phrase supposedly referred to some who lost both arms and both legs, and so had to be picked up in a basket (but not a handbasket).

Basket rhymes with casket. My Iowa grandfather always talked about how he was going to be buried in a basket, which was a form of humble brag.

John henry म्हणाले...

Blogger Jeff Gee said...

I've always thought 'going to hell in a hand basket' meant you're tucked into a nice cosy basket full of delicious stuff to eat, and you think you're heading to a sunny picnic, but when they yank off that checkered blanket, it turns out you're in Hell. Maybe there's even a Fleischer Brothers cartoon like that?

Alternately, when they yank off that blanket, all you see is cannibals with knives and forks. The good news is that you are at that sunny picnic. The bad news is that you are the delicious stuff to eat that the basket is full of.

John Henry

Bob Boyd म्हणाले...

The Easter Bunny uses a hand basket. Has for years. Seems to work well for him.
I don't know if he visits hell or hides eggs for the damned.

Jack Klompus म्हणाले...

Sitting through Hell in a Bucket at a Dead show is almost as bad as being around all the people who religiously attend Dead shows.

MadisonMan म्हणाले...

During the box social, the bidding between Curly and Jud is fierce, but Curly wins the bidding on the lunch (hand) basket (and thereby, the company of Laurey during the meal), by selling his horse and his gun.

Jud eventually sets fire to the hay pile that Curly and Laurey are on top of, and when Curly jumps down onto Jud, Jud falls on his own knife, dead. Poor Jud is then dead.

narciso म्हणाले...

no, but' i'm somewhat near Orlando, little san juan, are they actually investigating her or her predecessor only, it seems rosello's cabinet has more than a few bugs in the soup, like the former housing secretary,

Left Bank of the Charles म्हणाले...

At rural Iowa funerals there is always a bit of pride in the number of pallbearers, which can be increased beyond the physical limitations of the casket size by naming honorary pallbearers. Going to hell in a handbasket implies one pallbearer, which would humiliate a rural Iowan.

narciso म्हणाले...

meanwhile across the great lakes, we have dumpster fires in snow,


https://www.steynonline.com/9214/fake-hate-crimes-and-fake-resignations

jaydub म्हणाले...

Venezuela is proving once again that while an electorate can vote its way into socialism, it has to shoot its way out. Given the abject failure of socialism and communism in the history of the world and the death and misery it has visited upon the countries that tragically adopted it, the promotion of socialism in the US by the Democrat party is a clear evidence of that party's unworthiness to govern. The US will never take the socialist road because socialism requires that we surrender our freedom, our property and our families to the state. That's the only way socialism can prevail. Ain't gonna happen. Cohen is right.

Darrell म्हणाले...

When you die and Osirus weighs your soul against a feather, if your soul is heavier it is carried to the underworld in a handbasket. It floats away to "heaven" otherwise. . .

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM म्हणाले...

(hand)"Basket of Deplorables"

Jupiter म्हणाले...

I see it as being all nicely packaged up and tucked in, so as to be easily carried to one's destination. Wherefore, there is little chance of ending up anywhere else.

Peter म्हणाले...

We tend to think something can't be a misquote or oxymoronic or a mixed metaphor simply because it's old. Going the hell in a handbasket is incoherent and probably made no more sense in the 19th century than it does today, although going there in a handcart makes some sense.

Jupiter म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
dreams म्हणाले...

I think these are obviously handbaskets.

https://www.prairiewoodbasketry.com/index.php/2016/02/03/basket-weaving-in-south-central-kentucky/

MountainMan म्हणाले...

I wonder how "dysfunctional" he thought the Electoral College was in 1992 when Bill Clinton won the presidency with just 42% of the so-called popular vote? And I guess he would have been displeased in 1860 that Abraham Lincoln won with just 39.8%.

Yancey Ward म्हणाले...

The Democratic candidates proposals are insane, but if you had told me a decade ago that the field would be stating them publicly today, I would thought you were insane. Things have changed, and that should be worrying.

Jupiter म्हणाले...

At Mount Bachelor, south of Bend, they used to employ personable young marketing ladies to stand next to the lifts at the bottom with a clipboard and ask "Where are you from?" as you got on. If you replied "Helena", she would poise her pen over her clipboard and brightly inquire, "Helena, Montana?". There was just time to answer, "No, Helena Handbasket!", before the chair swung you up into the sky.

MadisonMan म्हणाले...

On the plus side, Jud's fingernails never looked so clean.

He was a deplorable.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM म्हणाले...

" 'Hand--basket'? What the hell is a 'hand-basket' " --Che

Stepper म्हणाले...

Perhaps the destination is named Hellinahandbasket, and that's where some people are going to. Hellinahandbasket, Texas, or something like that, probably where Ima & Ura Hogg live.

RK म्हणाले...

I don't quite know what a handbasket is,...

Journalists -- not educated or intelligent enough to figure out what a handbasket is, but they have a confident opinion about the really complicated stuff.

Robert Cook म्हणाले...

Since when is the Democratic Party talking about socialism and reparations?

A few individuals in the party advocating such things is not the party as a whole. The party as a whole acts as a shill for the corporate/military/intelligence complex. Baseless and coordinated chatter that "the party" is talking of such things just shows that no discussion of any policy proposals outside the accepted limited norms will be tolerated.

Ralph L म्हणाले...

Oh! There's Trump, building his wall!

With the help of a black man!

Anne in Rockwall, TX म्हणाले...

Grocery stores call those plastic baskets with the two wire handles hadnbaskets.

hombre म्हणाले...

For some time the Democrat platform has been abortion on demand, climate chaos, race baiting, genitalia obsessing and not much else. The addition of socialism, reparations and, let’s not forget, infanticide would seem apt.

The Evil Party’s journey to Hell, in a handbasket or otherwise, has less to do with electoral politics than with abandoning God, dealing death to 60 million preborn babies and conspiring to legalize infanticide.

Sebastian म्हणाले...

"who won the presidency thanks to a dysfunctional electoral college"

Except that the EC functioned just as intended. Thanks, Framers!

OK, so now leading Dem candidates push socialism and reparations and GND.

Yet Althouse, as is her wont, focuses on word play and pictures.

At what point will she and her nice, reasonable midwestern sisters, supposedly clamoring for "serious" candidates, get serious themselves, draw a line, and tell the Dems to go to hell?

I'd like to think Cohen is right, but judging by the midterms there are plenty of nice women who will abet Dem insanity.

Big Mike म्हणाले...

@Althouse, by getting all hung up on the “Hell in a handbasket” metaphor you missed a better bon mot:

“In fact, [the Democrat Party is] veering so far to the left it could lose an election in 1950s Bulgaria.”

Now THAT is cold!

Robert Cook म्हणाले...

"I wonder how 'dysfunctional' he thought the Electoral College was in 1992 when Bill Clinton won the presidency with just 42% of the so-called popular vote? And I guess he would have been displeased in 1860 that Abraham Lincoln won with just 39.8%."

It's not what percentage of the popular vote they get, it's how much they get in relation to their opponents. Did George HW Bush get a greater percentage of the popular vote than Clinton? No. Clinton's vote percentage was greater. Likewise, Lincoln in 1860 received, by far, a much greater percentage of the popular vote than any of his opponents individually, (though more people voted for his opponents collectively than voted for Lincoln).

Hillary Clinton did receive a greater percentage of the popular vote than Trump, but not in the states that delivered the necessary electoral votes. This is, of course, how the Electoral College can work, but it is rare, and this is where musings on the "dysfuntion" of the Electoral College come from. The founders wanted there to be a mechanism that would mitigate pure democracy.

hombre म्हणाले...

What are Democrats to do when 49%, a plurality, of 18-29 year olds (Pew Research) favor socialism, tell the truth? Unthinkable! Besides, who among their leaders has experience with truth-telling?

Michael K म्हणाले...

The founders wanted there to be a mechanism that would mitigate pure democracy.

They also did not anticipate a state with 30 million people. Good point.

rhhardin म्हणाले...

After management gives a talk, as you walk out, say, "What are all these handbaskets for?"

Not Sure म्हणाले...

In the early days of automobile design, wicker seats were sometimes used to reduce vehicle weight. Such cars were commonly referred to as "Handbaskets." Also, a common measure of a car's reliability was how long a day trip could be made without overheating its engine. The standard measure became a two-hour drive.

Since Hell, Michigan, is about an hour's drive from Detroit, the phrase "to Hell and back" became a common way to refer to the two-hour-drive standard of reliability. Making that trip in a car with wicker seats therefore came to be called "Going to Hell in a Handbasket."

Sigivald म्हणाले...

A handbasket is a hand-held basket. Such as one uses at a grocery store, if one is not using a cart.

What world does he live in...?

hombre म्हणाले...

Cook wrote: “Since when is the Democratic Party talking about socialism and reparations?”

You must get out more, Cook. Bernie Sanders is a self-described “Democratic Socialist” who made a credible run for the Democrat nomination for President. AOC’s party designation is “Democratic Socialist.”

It is silly, even for you, to pretend that the Democrat followers of these two are just “a few individuals.”

Lincolntf म्हणाले...

Ann, I am taking classes at a local tech college. One of the classes is Writing and Inquiry. I have used a few of your posts to demonstrate proper paragraphing, persuasive speech, etc. So, thanks for being a resource.

David Begley म्हणाले...

Do the Obama kids get reparations? Bill Cosby?

wwww म्हणाले...

"The founders wanted there to be a mechanism that would mitigate pure democracy."

And it was the only way they could get enough smaller states to sign on to the Constitution. Americans may have a better understanding of the Declaration of Independence then the Constitution. Americans understand consent of the governed & democracy. Popular understandings view "no taxation without representation" to be majority rule vote by all adults citizen voters. Many see minority wins & minority rule as illegitimate.

Americans are less educated about what it means to live in a Constitutional Republic. There's a strong mythos that majority vote of the citizens will rule. However, that's now how the Constitution works for choosing the Commander-In-Chief. Majority votes of the states determines that vote.

Robert Cook म्हणाले...

"You must get out more, Cook. Bernie Sanders is a self-described 'Democratic Socialist' who made a credible run for the Democrat nomination for President. AOC’s party designation is 'Democratic Socialist.'

"It is silly, even for you, to pretend that the Democrat followers of these two are just 'a few individuals.'"


When people talk of "the Democrats" speaking of socialism and reparations, they're referring to the Democrats in Congress, to the party as a whole, not to the followers of the handful of Dems who are promoting various degrees of left-leaning policies.

In short, they're lying.

Big Mike म्हणाले...

Simple defense of the Electoral College: no one sane would want to live in a country where the President is chosen by a coalition of Californicators and the denizens of Néw York City.

MikeR म्हणाले...

Must be hard to be a Trump-hater right now. Two things can happen in the next month that would be as devastating as the 2016 election: a) Peace with North Korea, and b) Mueller doesn't report collusion.
They would of course talk themselves into ignoring them, but still.
They must pin their hopes on Chairman Kim. No peace, Kim! Be stubborn!

wwww म्हणाले...

I agree with R. Cook.

Lots of people voted for Sanders as a protest vote for HRC or other reasons. AOC represents her district, that's it, maybe 12K people voted in that election. The attention comes for other reasons, and older male conservatives tend to give her the most attention & talk a lot about how she looks. She's got little power. See Senator F. tell the kids she's not voting for AOC's idea.

Now, a lot of leftists have declared for the Presidency. That's one lane in the primary vote. Only 1 moderate has declared so far. It's early, and there's a significant and large moderate lane. If all of the leftists split the primary vote, the winner is going to be a moderate, even if she eats salad with a fork, gets upset when aids forget her coat when flying to MN, and tells people she would "trade 3 of you for a bottle of water."

wwww म्हणाले...

Prediction:

This may be the largest group of candidates to run in recent memory. Prepare for people to win primaries w/ 20% of the vote. Vote splitting between coalitions is going to be a big problem.

A possibility: Booker & Kamala & Warren split their coalition's vote, while the moderates coalesce around 1 candidate. But, if the moderates start splitting their vote, then who knows? Anyways, it's still way too early to guess.

Nonapod म्हणाले...

The Democrats need worthy candidates -- some who can occupy the media's idle hours in Iowa and remind America that the party is not in the least Trotskyite. Joe Biden would fit the bill. So would John Kerry and, of course, so would Mike Bloomberg. Kamala Harris, who has the necessary happy countenance of the successful politician, would suffice if, as I suspect, she turns out to be more moderate than she now appears.

Kamala Harris claimed to be for reparations. Even if she later goes back on that, or "clarifies" that position (which I expect she will), it looks like shifty pandering. But in general she seems to be a bit too underpolished for the hypothetical mainstream Dem voter.

Joe Biden is a gaffe machine with a less than ideal record of being a little too handsy with women and girls in many public events over the years. That won't play well in the #metoo era. Plus he's a really old white dude.

Kerry is a supercilious twit who has always had trouble understanding and appealing to the lumpenprole. He already lost the presidency because of it. Also too old and white

Bloomberg is a weird plutocrat nanny stater who also seems too old and white to appeal to the new Dem party much.

reader म्हणाले...

I prefer baskets that can carry a letter to my love.

Carter Wood म्हणाले...

Ella Fitzgerald alludes to expropriation in her hit, "A Tisket a Tasket."

Carter Wood म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
tommyesq म्हणाले...

I always thought "to hell in a handbasket" implied that you were sinning in a more passive way, such as blindly following a person who leads you to bad ends, effectively carrying you with them to hell. Seems like an appropriate metaphor for current circumstances, if I am right.

Eleanor म्हणाले...

My ancient Latin teacher liked to go off on tangents. She described "going to hell in a handbasket" as your head dropping into a basket after the guillotine had done its job. We believed her since she was old enough to have lived through the French Revolution and to have seen it with her own eyes. Or so she told us

Rick म्हणाले...

Only 1 moderate has declared so far.

Is this supposed to be Klobuchar? Or Booker?

Klobuchar's spokesperson said "she would sign on to support the Green New Deal."

Booker announced himself as a co-sponsor.

So they may be moderates in the sense they're slightly less fervently crazy but they're not moderate in any meaningful way.

In fact the only large constituency of moderates in the Democratic Party today (or among the left generally) is people who aren't very engaged politically but trust the mythology that Dems look out for individuals / oppose racism. These people don't have much of a say because they (1) are less likely to vote in the primary, and (2) will vote for any Dem.

Lurker21 म्हणाले...

The saying "going to Hell in handbasket" goes back to the 1680s. Perhaps it was a combination of "going to Hell in a handcart" and "give your head in a handbasket," a saying relating to the practice of execution by beheading. If you would "give the devil your head in a handbasket" for something, then you obviously want it very much. Both sayings rely on alliteration and the very strangeness of "going to Hell in a handbasket" could have made it stick around longer than others.

About Cohen: 1) When a writer uses an archaic phrase or expression, it's pretty common for the writer to disclaim knowledge of what the rare words in the expression are. Readers probably don't know either, and just waving the archaisms away is preferable to either tediously explaining them or giving befuddled readers the impression that they are words one ought to know. 2) If you didn't want Trump to win in 2016 (or Bush to win in 2000), chances are you probably think there is something "dysfunctional" about the Electoral College. If you did, then you don't. Every tribe has its verities and shibboleths, and if one focuses on them, one isn't going to get very far.

BUMBLE BEE म्हणाले...

Slightly off topic... Our Brazilian MAGA Hat girl is illegal, in ICE custody, faces deportation.
Winning!

Drago म्हणाले...

wwww: "The attention comes for other reasons, and older male conservatives tend to give her the most attention & talk a lot about how she looks."

This is laughably and demonstrably false as lefty talking heads and lefty media personalities and lefty activist groups and lefty dem Presidential candidates and lefty magazine/webzine owners/editors and lefty newspaper owners/editors all went gaga over AOC and pumped her up beyond all reason.

Then AOC kept running her mouth and exposing her utterly empty and mindless leftism, at which point the lefties, as wwww has done here, shifted to the entirely predictable and boring "republicans pounce!" narrative.

Just because all normal people are laughing at the stupidity of AOC doesnt mean anyone is pouncing.

MBunge म्हणाले...

"you probably think there is something "dysfunctional" about the Electoral College"

No, it is a bit more than that. If you don't understand the Electoral College, you don't understand how the American political system works and WHY it works that way. There are a few direct democracy cranks out there but most Electoral College hate comes from those who identify with the coastal political elite and can't stand to be reminded the rest of the country actually matters.

It's the same reason we get VASTLY more complaining about Iowa leading off the presidential nominating process, even though every crtiticsm of Iowa applies even more to New Hampshire.

Mike

n.n म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
dustbunny म्हणाले...

Althouse outdoes herself when she finds such delicious material. A columnist’s sloppilly worded imagery combined with her art history savvy produces a garden of delights. Bravo!

MadTownGuy म्हणाले...

More about handbasket. From the article:

"The first version of 'to hell in a handbasket' that I can find in print comes from the Weekly pacquet of advice from Rome: or, The history of popery, 1682:

"...that noise of a Popish Plot was nothing in the world but an intrigue of the Whigs to destroy the Kings best Friends, and the Devil fetch me to Hell in a Hand basket, if I might have my will, there should not be one Fanatical Dog left alive in the three Kingdoms."

The widely held belief that 'hell in a handbasket' is of US origin is incorrect, although it isn't often now used outside the USA. There are variants of the phrase that use various forms of transport, travelling either to hell or to heaven. The English preacher Thomas Adams referred to 'going to heaven in a wheelbarrow' in Gods Bounty on Proverbs, 1618:

Oh, this oppressor [that is, one who was wealthy but gave little to the church] must needs go to heaven! What shall hinder him? But it will be, as the byword is, in a wheelbarrow: the fiends, and not the angels, will take hold on him.
"

n.n म्हणाले...

Also, the Americans, and our Posterity, who stood against slavery, and who today stand against a persistent and toxic diversity. The Americans who stood with native Americans against other native Americans bent on their genocide, slavery, diversity, and redistributive change.

n.n म्हणाले...

Our Brazilian MAGA Hat girl is illegal, in ICE custody

That explains why the bright red hat provoked her aggression. It could have been an awkward grade school gesture, but, alas, it probably was not.

Kirk Parker म्हणाले...

"At what point will she and her nice, reasonable midwestern sisters, supposedly clamoring for "serious" candidates, get serious themselves, draw a line, and tell the Dems to go to hell?"

Althouse won't abandon her Cruel Neutrality posture until they're grabbing her screaming self and pushing her onto the tumbril....


Robert Cook,

You appear to have a decent understanding of the purpose of the EC. However, I'd advise you to avoid the term Popular Vote when talking about presidential elections, since totalling up the individual votes of all 51 separate elections has no more bearing on who wins the election than the question of which team gained more yardage determines who wins a football game.


wwww,

"no taxation without representation"

We need to start working on the converse, too: No Representation Without Taxation. It's too easy for those with no skin in the game to vote for taking things away from those who do.

Bay Area Guy म्हणाले...

Cohen sees clearly how going Left, endangers the Dems' chances to beat Trump.

But still - not everything has to be about Trump.

It'd be nice if Cohen could articulate how going Left hurts the country and our people, but maybe that's asking too much.

Bruce Hayden म्हणाले...

It isn't just socialism, of course. The Senate yesterday failed to get enough votes (60) to move S.311 ("Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act") along. Voting against it were 44 of 47 Democrats (all except Casey, Manchin, and Jones), with a couple of female Republican squishes not voting. This is at a time when abortion, per se, is, for the first time in a long time, losing out in recent polling. At a time when the majority of the population is questioning any abortion, the Democrats in the Senate (which includes a large number of their announced Presidential candidates) are voting for post birth abortion (aka Infanticide). And, of course, AOC is championing Americans having no children, because, no doubt, she read somewhere that that is the best way to control carbon emissions, or some such nonsense.

Bruce Hayden म्हणाले...

(Reposted from an earlier thread)

If you are worried about the next election, and what the Democrats will likely try to do if they win the next election, you might want to download the Zipped file at this link:

https://mega.nz/#!6YdRmIBK!qKFOLkmQGDBHTLVe6AdJOjBNyO7G0HMoPtzmyx06VO8

It didn't work with Firefox, but I was successful with Win 8.1 IE.

Hint - The NJ AG was attempting to keep this information off of the Internet.

gahrie म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
narciso म्हणाले...

In other news:
https://pjmedia.com/blog/liveblogevent/live-blog-195/entry-254455/

gahrie म्हणाले...

In fact the only large constituency of moderates in the Democratic Party today (or among the left generally) is people who aren't very engaged politically but trust the mythology that Dems look out for individuals / oppose racism.

It's hard to believe that less than 20 years ago Joe Lieberman was the vice presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.

gahrie म्हणाले...

It's not what percentage of the popular vote they get, it's how much they get in relation to their opponents.

Not always. In 1824 Jackson got more popular votes and more Electoral College votes than any of his three opponents and still lost the election.

Rick म्हणाले...

It's hard to believe that less than 20 years ago Joe Lieberman was the vice presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.

Was it the next cycle when he lost the Democratic Primary for his own Senate seat? Even then he was a figurehead to distract from how far left the Dems had already moved and they've moved much further left since then.

Bilwick म्हणाले...

Pretty much the "liberal" Hive its Democratic Eloi have turned into Miss Gulch. They want to stuff those of us who value liberty into a handbasket and ride off with us to Gehenna.

Maillard Reactionary म्हणाले...

This has all been very informative. For years, I've been wondering where we were going, and why we are in this handbasket.

My sincere thanks to all, and not least to that trippin' crazy man Hieronymus Bosch. What a wild and crazy guy he was.

wwww म्हणाले...

"We need to start working on the converse, too: No Representation Without Taxation. It's too easy for those with no skin in the game to vote for taking things away from those who do."

I don't know if that's in the American grain. Americans rejected it around the time of Andrew Jackson. Got rid of property or taxation requirements much earlier then places like the British colonies in what is now Canada. It's very American to go all-in on Thomas Paine's revolutionary ideas, wanting to include sailors or indentured servants or men without property.

wwww म्हणाले...

ok Drago, we disagree. Anyways most people don't know or care who she is.

Still, it's my opinion she's getting a lot of twitter notice from conservative men, who talk about her a LOT. My personal opinion is a lot of it is about her youth & looks. There are a lot of dumb representatives, who say really dumb stuff, that people ignore. She won 1 election that 12K people voted in. The USA is filled with 320 million people. She might get primaried in her next election if people are annoyed enough about Amazon. If not, she's not especially liked by the moderate caucus.

Anyways, she's a Jr. member in a 400 person body & eminently ignorable. But we disagree about that & that's fine.

Rick म्हणाले...

Got rid of property or taxation requirements

I suspect he's thinking about enforcing this the opposite way by ensuring everyone pays some federal income tax and having every tax increase effect everyone.

Rick म्हणाले...

There are a lot of dumb representatives, who say really dumb stuff, that people ignore.

So that would be different from launching an initiative to completely rework the economy within ten years which draws public support from every announced presidential candidate in her party right?

It's interesting that the left was hyping her before the right but people who can only criticize the right pretend half this process never actually occurred.

wwww म्हणाले...

"Is this supposed to be Klobuchar? Or Booker?"


It's Klobuchar. She is the only moderate, although Booker will try to grab some of those votes. Mostly he'll be to the left. A.K. will run as a moderate in the primaries & caucuses, and go for the moderate votes. She will throw stuff out there and appeal to those votes, but she's not going to say yes to free college or a bunch of the other stuff.

The others are all running to the left as fast as possible to get those votes. That's why they're sounding like they are. They want to position themselves as the number 1 in that lane.

There's a moderate lane and a leftist lane in the primary. Right now all of the candidates but A.K. are in the leftist lane. If Biden gets in he'll be in the moderate lane, and A.K and Biden will split the moderate vote, unless one is the clear front runner.

Michael K म्हणाले...

It's hard to believe that less than 20 years ago Joe Lieberman was the vice presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.

Lieberman lost the Dims primary to a trust fund baby named Ned Lamont who is typical of the 21st century Democrats. He is now Governor of Connecticut.

He is the great-grandson of former J. P. Morgan & Co. chair Thomas W. Lamont and a grand-nephew of former American Civil Liberties Union director Corliss Lamont.[8]

Lamont's family moved to Laurel Hollow on Long Island when he was seven years old. The eldest of three children, he and his sisters attended East Woods School.[4][9] He later attended Phillips Exeter Academy, and served as president of the student newspaper, The Exonian. After graduating Phillips Exeter in 1972, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Harvard College in 1976 and a Master of Business Administration from the Yale School of Management in 1980.


Standard left wing trust fund kid.

Browndog म्हणाले...

Bernie is a 'take from the rich, give to the poor' socialist--just like every single democrat in my lifetime.

Libs loved Bernie because he was upfront about.

There are no "varying degrees" in the goals of democrats, only to what extent they're willing to lie to hide their true intent.

wwww म्हणाले...

"It's interesting that the left was hyping her before the right but people who can only criticize the right pretend half this process never actually occurred."

I agree there's a segment on the left that hypes her up. & she got a LOT of press from her surprise win. & now she still gets media coverage because of her looks & youth. She gets ratings. I will agree her twitter following gets her a certain amount of soft power. But it's not hard power unless people listen to her, and write laws according to her wishes. I'm doubtful their support of her ideas are anything more then lip service to win the primary.

Just my POV. I could be wrong. Let's see what happens in the general.

Drago म्हणाले...

wwww: "It's Klobuchar. She is the only moderate, ..."

LOL

Klobuchar has publicly supported the insane Green New Deal and "Medicare For All" as discussion starting points for the democrats.

Klobuchar supports the option of whacking babies born alive.

Behold, a democrat "moderate".

Wilbur म्हणाले...

Ecce moderata!

narciso म्हणाले...

so the real life louis winthorpe, or a younger Sherman McCoy even though he was newer money, (btw, that penguy is a tool)

wwww म्हणाले...

Drago,

huh, chill. NOTE: I'm not arguing to the blog commentariat she is your definition of "moderate." I am stating she is running in the moderate lane of the primary and she will be going for those votes in the Democratic primary.

I may or may not think she is moderate. But it's irrelevant, because I am discussing my my analysis of her strategy & the votes she's competing for in the democratic primary. I'm interested in the analysis of the state-of-play and their strategies. That's it.

If you don't think Moderate-leaning Dems, who VOTE IN THE PRIMARY, will vote for her, well, ok. But if you're arguing that a devoted Trump supporter does not think she's a moderate, that's fine for what it is, but it has nothing to do with my comment.

Will Cate म्हणाले...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9Bs4xhDyxw

wwww म्हणाले...


Arguing & name calling is boring for me. Talking about their strategy is fun. I can name all of your talking points before you say them, so it's boring. I don't really get what you get out of arguing with people on the internet.

Now, that's i'm curious about. Why? What do you get out of it? Nobody convinces anybody else on the internet. Why doesn't it bore you? If you gotta get out aggression, why aren't video games or hockey or boxing more fun?

I find it tedious if the discussion is not a intellectual debate, or chatting about something fun or curious (music! piano! cost of raising kids!), or strategy analysis.

narciso म्हणाले...

right because moderates is who run the primaries, tell me another one,

https://saraacarter.com/holder-calls-the-electoral-college-undemocratic-and-vestige-of-the-past/

narciso म्हणाले...

it will be interesting if last week's events made an impression on the citizens of the windy city in today's primary, I would be pleasantly surprised,

Birkel म्हणाले...

Hieronymus Bosch is also the name of the main character on an Amazon show called, sure enough, Bosch.
Just an aside that is marginally on topic.

narciso म्हणाले...

are they afraid of the truth, you betcha:

https://www.oneangrygamer.net/2019/02/youtube-terminates-don-shipleys-channel-that-exposed-nathan-phillips-stolen-valor/77685/

Birkel म्हणाले...

wwww: Setting the terms by which others may debate on the internet while determining the value of doing things differently than she would prefer. And making it look easy, too!

Also, wwww has determined that she knows all the counter arguments that any of us might offer. That's a useful talent. Life must be really boring for the omniscient.

I challenge wwww to present a conservative argument, faithfully.

Kirk Parker म्हणाले...

wwww, Rick:

Notice how I introduce the point by saying "need to start working" on it? I indeed have not the slightest idea how to make such a concept palatable in our current political situation... so just take it as my attempt to point out that Voting For Free Stuff is part of what is killing us.

StephenFearby म्हणाले...

In addition to hand baskets, there's also head baskets. Did Louis XVI go to heaven or hell in a head basket?

French Kissed by the Guillotine
BY LAETITIA BARBIER APRIL 22, 2013

"...In 1790, power changed hands as the French people overthrew the monarchy. In 1793, the wigged head of Louis XVI fell into a basket under the screams of a furious crowd...."

"...Behind the scaffolds, a 32-year-old woman undertook the gruesome labor of casting in wax the severed heads of the enemies of the Revolution. The effigies were then paraded on picks in the streets as symbolic sacraments of the people’s victory. The diligent wax manufacturer’s name was Marie Grosholz, a name she promptly changed after her wedding to become Madame Tussaud."

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/morbid-monday-french-kissed-by-the-guillotine

Inga...Allie Oop म्हणाले...

I agree there's a segment on the left that hypes her up. & she got a LOT of press from her surprise win. & now she still gets media coverage because of her looks & youth. She gets ratings. I will agree her twitter following gets her a certain amount of soft power. But it's not hard power unless people listen to her, and write laws according to her wishes. I'm doubtful their support of her ideas are anything more then lip service to win the primary.

Exactly right.

Browndog म्हणाले...

Blogger Birkel said...

wwww: Setting the terms by which others may debate on the internet while determining the value of doing things differently than she would prefer. And making it look easy, too!


Heh-

Rick म्हणाले...

Right now all of the candidates but A.K. are in the leftist lane.

Right now all the candidates including A.K are in the leftist lane.

alanc709 म्हणाले...

The Moderate channel of the primaries? Is that the Mencheviks? Progressive and moderates don't play well together.

Rick म्हणाले...

But it's not hard power unless people listen to her, and write laws according to her wishes. I'm doubtful their support of her ideas are anything more then lip service to win the primary.

But the attention is conservative men paying attention to her looks and not presidential candidates co-sponsoring her agenda.

That's a totally credible position.

Birkel म्हणाले...

The Leftist presidential candidates are scared of losing the Leftist activist base.
AOC is a faithful representation of the Leftist activist base.
AOC may not have power but all the presidential candidates act like she does.

But Leftists know power comes from the barrel of a gun.

Inga...Allie Oop म्हणाले...

“But Leftists know power comes from the barrel of a gun.”

Says a Rightist who worships guns.

Birkel म्हणाले...

Royal ass Inga,
I am just paraphrasing one of yours.
Try to be smarter.

Sorry that people are going to point and laugh at you again.
Maybe delete your foolishness.

narciso म्हणाले...

occasionally she gets off her soapbox, but not usually, a firearm is a tool, for certain purposes, notably self defense, against oppressive government, that was the purpose of the second amendment, now on the frontier, it was as necessary to deal with predators, human and animal,

Inga...Allie Oop म्हणाले...

“I am just paraphrasing one of yours.”

Yeah right. I’d suggest you don’t make it so easy for me to mock you.

narciso म्हणाले...

there's as bad as everytown, putting the tsaernaev brothers as victims of gun violence,

https://dailycaller.com/2019/02/25/jetblue-fugitive-shakur-black-history/

narciso म्हणाले...

how about that?

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/26/rosiane-santos-woman-charged-assaulting-man-maga-h/

Birkel म्हणाले...

Mao Zedong, Royal ass Inga.
One of yours.

Ignorance is truly your strength.

Bruce Hayden म्हणाले...

“The Leftist presidential candidates are scared of losing the Leftist activist base.
AOC is a faithful representation of the Leftist activist base.
AOC may not have power but all the presidential candidates act like she does”

If enough people act like she has powe, then she has power. Hers may be soft power, but is still power. Kinda like the pope, who really doesn’t have that nanny troops reporting to him, but is one of the most consequential human on the planet thanks to the hundreds of Olin Roman Catholics in his church.

Josephbleau म्हणाले...

The “ to hell in a bucket” is a false memory. It is misapplied from the famous: “ There was a miss from Nantucket, Who went to the moon in a bucket, And when she got there, They asked for her fare, So she showed them her blank and said blank.”

Birkel म्हणाले...

Quite right, Bruce Hayden.

But don't discount my Mao Zedong reference and Royal ass Inga's ignorance of same.

Jokes in the era of that's not funny should be celebrated.

Ken B म्हणाले...

What a vacuous Wikipedia article.

Here is an occurrence from 1682 https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/hell-in-a-handbasket.html
That refutes several theories.

Ken B म्हणाले...

Robert Cooke says the Democrats are not in fact talking socialism and reparations. My response: New party, who dat?

Mike (MJB Wolf) म्हणाले...

Drago 1
www 0

Your side exposed and promoted her. We’re laughing. Now you wanna blame us for discovering her. Right.

Ken B म्हणाले...

Cooke forgets there were living founders in 1824, when the minority vote getter won due to the electoral college. These living founders included Jefferson, Adams and Madison. They made no complaint.
Don’t they teach US history in America? I’m a Canadian, I know this stuff.

Drago म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
Drago म्हणाले...

wwww: "I agree there's a segment on the left that hypes her up."

Reality does not require your agreement.

The pathetic (but amusing) lefty backpedal after the entirety of the left/LLR's hyping of her simply because she blurted out the truth of what the left/LLR are really after is entirely expected.

In precisely the same fashion as the lefties spinning like whirling dervishes pretending that all across the country democrats aren't offering and passing legislation to allow for the butchering of babies born alive.

A baby, born alive, umbilical cord detached, struggling for life.....

...the lefts response?

Meh.

"Moral leadership".....

Drago म्हणाले...

Birkel: "Mao Zedong, Royal ass Inga.
One of yours."

That wont work Birkel.

Within the last week Inga officially pronounced estimates of 100 million human beings murdered by commie regimes in the 20th century "propaganda".

In the past Inga has labeled as "propaganda" the fact that the Clinton admin abused FBI secret background files of republicans, under oath testimony of the coup plotters McCabe/Bruce Ohr/Simpson/Steele, and any number of other established facts.

Kirk Parker म्हणाले...

"propaganda"? Nah, it's "Marketing".

wwww म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
wwww म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
wwww म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
pacwest म्हणाले...

"Anyways, she's a Jr. member in a 400 person body & eminently ignorable. But we disagree about that & that's fine."

Sounds like a recent President we had. Thats what makes her so scary. Eminently ignorable? No. More like never again.

Marcus Bressler म्हणाले...

The "Popular Vote" only matters at the state level.

I've heard (and used) the handbasket expression because I anticipate going there due to my dark and inappropriate humor, not to mention acting out on my character defects. Getting sober may not save me, but hopefully slow down the ride.

THEOLDMAN

Browndog म्हणाले...

One author starts removing their comment, next thing you know it's a trend.

TheThinMan म्हणाले...

Cohen’s clumsy use of a metaphor does its job of distracting the reader as he pulls off his real crime:

“Given a Republican incumbent who has never exceeded 50 percent in Gallup's approval ratings poll and who won the presidency thanks to a dysfunctional electoral college,”

“Given”? He’s sneaking in a lie in the guise of a well-known, boring fact he needs to briefly remind us of before going on with his clever opinions. The unwitting reader has a seed planted in his mind that some hanky panky went on in the electoral college, whatever it was, and if it had just done their job Trump wouldn’t be president. This fake fact does its job of hardening Trump Derangement Syndrome in the liberal reader and perhaps infecting the non liberal.

Not clumsy writing at all.

Robert Cook म्हणाले...

"Cooke forgets there were living founders in 1824, when the minority vote getter won due to the electoral college. These living founders included Jefferson, Adams and Madison. They made no complaint.
Don’t they teach US history in America? I’m a Canadian, I know this stuff."


I know this stuff, too. I didn't make a complaint, either. I even stated plainly, the founders instituted the Electoral College as a mechanism to mitigate pure democracy. The founders were fearful the proles who owned no land would appropriate the wealth and power that was rightfully theirs.

I don't think we should have an Electoral College, but we do, and that's how it works.

Rance Fasoldt म्हणाले...

The vote is for President of the United States, not President of the Americans. Every state has its say.

PresbyPoet म्हणाले...

Imagine having to have a recount for the entire country. In 1960 Kennedy wins 34.2 million to 34.1 million. Kennedy only wins the popular vote total because in Alabama the democrat electors were 5 Kennedy and 6 unpledged, but 100% of the votes are allocated to Kennedy in the vote total. If you allocate at the 5/6 proportion, Nixon is the vote leader by a few thousand out of 68.8 million. In Alabama that year it was even stranger, since they voted for individual electors, and each elector got different # of votes. There was no slate voting .

You think Florida was tough.Imagine recounting 69 million votes. In 1960, the electoral vote was 303 to 219 with Harry Byrd getting 15, and so the electoral college was not as close as the actual vote. That tends to be the way it works, it is rare for a close electoral college vote.
The electoral college is a fortunate accident. It means that the winner must have support in a majority of the country, and small states cannot be ignored. It vastly reduces the impact of fraud in the election.

Joanne Jacobs म्हणाले...

We know the road to hell is paved with good intentions. If the good intentions are slick and the road is downhill, one could slide to hell in a handbasket. C.S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters: “Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope . . . "

Or perhaps Donald Trump will have his undocumented hotel staff carry the Democrats' handbasket to hell. It would be labor intensive, but they work cheap.