August 14, 2022

High-level cogitation.

Tribe's link goes to the latest Maureen Dowd column. It's kind of funny to be railing against Trump for making lemonade out of the lemons his enemies foisted on him. Joyce Carol Oates's alternate universe is more amusing, even though comparing what is to what might have been is always a hotbed of delusion.

128 comments:

Beasts of England said...

Sad.

hombre said...

We would be fretting about Tribe's dementia and it's impact on the Court.

We would be fretting less about the global warming hoax because the Presidency would have provided enough graft that Gore wouldn't have needed the cash cow.

It is unlikely that Trump would be bankrupt; highly likely that the country wkuld be.

Joe Smith said...

Is T***p like Voldemort...you can't say the name?

These people are so immature it's astounding...

Saint Croix said...

Tribe has always been dishonest, in my opinion, and I've never liked him or his work.

In his abortion book (Obama helped on that book), Tribe says something about how it's obvious that a baby in the middle of birth is a person.

After the partial-birth cases came up, I e-mailed him about that. I can't remember if he just failed to respond or tried to distinguish.

Intellectually contemptible, is how I feel about Tribe. Not very nice but there you have it.

Saint Croix said...

Althouse is pro-choice. You can be pro-choice and still be honest.

At a certain level, I think there has to be a layer of delusion to stay pro-choice. Althouse is honest because you can see her work through the issues and try to deal with them.

I used to be pro-choice, eons ago.

Tribe literally writes that a baby in the middle of birth is a person, in his abortion book. So I expected him to, you know, struggle with it. When I asked John Edwards at a townhall meeting, in an audience of thousands of people at Glaxo headquarters, what he thought about partial-birth abortion (after I described the procedure), he said he was "appalled by it."

I believed him, and voted for him. Then the fucker voted on a statue making partial-birth abortion legal. I sent him an anguished e-mail. And he responded blah blah blah. And I have never voted for a Democrat since then.

Anyway, Althouse -- great honest person who struggles to find the truth out in public.

John Edwards -- perhaps ignorant on the subject, gives a convincing statement that he's "appalled" by it, avoids eye contact with me when he shakes my hand, then votes in favor of the damn thing. So kind of an ordinary politician.

Laurance Tribe -- Writes a dishonest book, pretends to be an intellectual, gets questioned about his admission that a baby in the middle of birth is a person, doesn't give a fuck, either doesn't respond because he thinks he's too important to respond, or gave a half-shit answer that didn't even register with me. I can't fucking remember what he did. This is a guy who wrote an entire book about abortion! And he just waves the issue away.

Imagine a Supreme Court Justice who said that a baby in the middle of birth is a person in one case, and then, years later, in Carhart, just ignores that shit and signs on to infanticide.

Saint Croix said...

I understand every lawyer wants to be on the Supreme Court (it's a sweet gig, almost impossible to get fired, and you can let your clerks do all your work if that's what you want to do).

Damn few of them deserve to be up there.

And our inability to fire Supreme Court Justices is still a major problem, in my opinion. They haven't been voted into anything by a popular vote. An impeachment vote should changed to majority rule in the Senate, maybe.

Or, better, a retention election by the American people.

gilbar said...

wait a minute!
i thought, al gore DID win?
like stacy abrams?
like hilary! ?
like biden?

J Melcher said...

A fun SciFi "boy's adventure" series set in the President Gore alternative universe is free for Amazon "unlimited" members, here:

https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Truth-Science-Fiction-Techno-Thriller-ebook/dp/B01FVGG8WQ

I enjoyed the entire series, but then, I am in the demographic to which the story is targeted.

RNB said...

"...[W]hat would we be fretting about today...?" Joyce Carol Oates's unfortunate and messy morals charge.

Carol said...

I unfollowed her because she seemed like just another reactionary liberal.

Her story "Black Water" was brilliant though. Even her book Them had its moments, but I couldn't finish it.

Quayle said...

“ what would we be fretting about today”

Unfortunately I suspect you’d find something else. Fretting and discontent are a choice.

Leland said...

Setting aside the "how dare Donald Trump make money while we are literally selling bad news about him to make money ourselves". The news with Trump would be how there are too many people on the planet, and what to do with them. Because of Donald Trump, that stuff isn't talked about in the open, because if it was, Trump could lead people to resist it. With Trump out of the way, they can work on ways to get the 7 to 8 billion of us down to 500 million they consider sustainable.

Achilles said...

They are just like the NeverTrumpers who think they are smarter than Trump.

Most are lawyers and communications majors and "intellectuals" and over educated women that have never produced anything or done anything in a complex system.

None of these people have the intelligence or ability to build a hotel in New York city. They wouldn't be able to negotiate with unions, inspectors, architects. They wouldn't have the foggiest idea how to deal with so many variables. They think they are smarter than Trump.

But when you are looking up on the IQ curve you can see about 20 points.

Beyond that people just seem crazy.

gilbar said...

seriously, If we're going to talk alternatives... Let's look at the whatif Trump won?

whatif Trump pulled off those states he was up in at midnight?
whatif Trump WON the electoral college without the popular vote?

WHAT WOULD THE DEMOCRATS DONE THEN?
Would there have been protests?
Would they have been "mostly peaceful"?
What would the WaPo and the NYT's said if Antifa had taken the Capitol Building on Jan6th?
How many people would have have to DIE before they said it wasn't "justified"?

Anyone? Come ON! Let's PLAY!!

narciso said...

if not for the dinosaur hunters,

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

With my glasses off, I misread the title as “High-level Constipation”.

I’m not sure I was wrong.

Jon Burack said...

Shouldn't the heading be "High-Level" Cogitation, not "High-Level Cogitation"?

Pettifogger said...

We would be fretting about which plants in the neighborhood are edible and how to more efficiently catch songbirds to eat.

Kevin said...

They continue to act as if Trump is a singular entity

There is no acknowledgement that he represents half the country they desire to rule.

Dave Begley said...

If Gore won? We’d all be speaking Arabic.

These people are fucking insane. No other way to put it.

Drago said...

Gore wins? Tribe on the Supreme Court?

NeverTrump swoons and wistfully sighs at what might have been.....

....to conservatively conserve "conservatism" of course...(wink wink)

Narayanan said...

Trump appreciates extra supply of lemons for his coiffure enhancements

Does lemon really lighten your hair?
The citric acid of a lemon reacts with the hair’s melanin (the molecules that make up your hair color) in an oxidizing process that removes color, thus lightening the hair. The process is permanent, so once lightened, the color won’t fade over time.

Narr said...

Someone mentioned in another thread that they never read Cafe' comments. In my case, I come to Althouse looking forward to Cafes' in the full knowledge that I'll also find posts like this one.

Oates is one of those writers whose books I can't pick up.

Lurker21 said...

I doubt Tribe would be on the Supreme Court. The Democrats weren't so solidly united 20 years ago and the party left wasn't so strong. 9/11 would have shaken things up and kept Gore from imposing a Biden-like agenda, even if he had wanted to. I remember reading an article 15 years or so ago saying that Gore would have gone into Iraq just as Bush did. I'm skeptical. Gore didn't have the family history with Saddam Hussein that Bush did. But if the Deep State had wanted war, maybe he would have gone along with them.

We would be in the same place today if Gore won because he wouldn't have dealt with the immigration and trade and deindustrialization issues. When it came to such matters, he was on the same page as Clinton and Bush. So there would still have been an opening for a Trump-like candidate, if not Trump himself. I do think about that 2000 election, though. Trump thought about running then. So did Oprah, Warren Beatty, and Cybill Shepherd. What if one of them became president?

We read Oates' story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" in college. I was impressed. In later years I tried to listen to one of her novels on CD. I wasn't impressed. She writes so much. How much of it can be good? Yes, one could say the same for Balzac or Dickens or Galdos, but does Oates really have her finger on the pulse of the nation in the way that 19th century novelists did?

Readering said...

We'd be fretting about the need for 80 year old Trube to retire from USSC.

Spiros said...

Why would Tribe be on the Supreme Court? Alito and Roberts were nominated in 2005. Gore winning in 2000 doesn't means Dems win in 2004. Heck, I think McCain wins in 2004 and we're at war with Iran!

Anyways, one thing is 100% certain -- 9/11 wouldn't of happened. The Clinton administration was preparing a massive response against al Qaeda following the USS Cole bombing but declined to commit after Gore's loss. I think it is fair to assume that the Gore Administration would have devastated al Qaeda, disrupting its ability to operate and, ultimately, preventing 9/11.

Narayanan said...

I am pro-choice for DIY abortion >>> if woman wants to kill/dismember entity/tissue hanging from umbilical chord through her vagina I say go ahead.

it is involving others and absolving them are the questions to answer.

Saint Croix said...

Her story "Black Water" was brilliant though.

Is that the Ted Kennedy one?

A thousand kudos to her for writing a book about a Democrat Senator killing a woman.

As literature, it's fine. She's a good writer.

But I am seriously impressed at her ability to get anti-Democrat talking points out into the world in art form. That is tough. (Believe me on that!)

Another one who pulled it off is Ian McEwan.

We were talking about Shakespeare on another thread. Ian McEwan takes Shakespeare, and makes Hamlet an unborn baby.

That is fucking awesome.

Michael K said...

The IQ arguments always seem to silly. Of course the Affirmative Action forces are at war with IQ. Duke Power started the "college or nothing" trend which is now collapsing as far too many college graduates are working at Starbucks. There just are not enough HR jobs for low IQ college graduates.

Some college low IQ administrator just punished a college professor for quoting the Declaration of Independence.

Narayanan said...

The Clinton administration was preparing a massive response against al Qaeda following the USS Cole bombing but declined to commit after Gore's loss
=========
is this explanation for FBI failure to check out flight school complaints/info?

Michael K said...

I think it is fair to assume that the Gore Administration would have devastated al Qaeda, disrupting its ability to operate and, ultimately, preventing 9/11.

Fantasy life is powerful in some minds. Walter Mitty or Joe Biden for example.

JPS said...

In any counterfactual spanning a couple of decades, you can assume that everything that went right would have gone right anyway had your political heroes been in power, because your opponents deserve no credit for anything.

But anything your side would have done would have been a huge success, if only they'd had the chance.

I was going to write that before I saw Spiros' wonderful case in point, where Clinton, who spent the early through late '90s watching al Qaeda gather strength and doing roughly fuck-all about it, would have finally gotten serious after the USS Cole bombing. I mean, it's not just possible, it's 100% certain 9/11 wouldn't have happened.

By the way, Spiros: "The Clinton administration ... declined to commit after Gore's loss."

Don't you see that as incredible, murderous cowardice given that you believe their response would 100% certainly have forestalled the 9/11 attacks? I mean, if I granted your premise, I can't think of any greater indictment of the people you seem to wish had been in charge a little longer.

Joe Smith said...

'There just are not enough HR jobs for low IQ college graduates.'

Best line of the day : )

mccullough said...

If Gore won in 2000, he would have lost in 2004. Voters would have held Clinton-Gore responsible for 9/11. Same crew tried to blow up the WTC in February of 1993.

There were no openings on the Supreme Court for 11 years. First new opening was in 2005 when Rehnquist died.

So the question is who would have been president in 2005? After a major terror attack in NYC and Gore making excuses and diddling, maybe Donald Trump emerges. The face of NYC telling everyone how we should blow up Saudi Arabia and bomb the shit out of Afghanistan.

Trump wins then appoints his sister to the Supreme Court.

And unlikely Obama gets far in politics if Gore had been president.

Might have been a fair trade for the GOP.

Jaq said...

She used to be a good writer, she should have stuck with it.

jim5301 said...

Achilles - Don't forget his multiple bankruptcies and the hundreds of millions he got from daddy. However, he has been a mobster his entire adult life and has yet to spend one day behind bars. So I'll give him that.

On the other hand, Tribe, math major at Harvard, summa cum laude, has argued some of the most complex and diverse cases before SCOTUS, and corporations around the world would kill for his services because they know how smart he is. But if you had to pick someone to argue a case of monumental importance to your livelihood, you pick Donald. Says something about your intelligence.

Earnest Prole said...

It reads like Greek tragedy: Time has revealed Laurence Tribe to be a raging Keith Olberman-style hack without a trace of judicial temperament; time has revealed Donald Trump to be nothing more, and nothing less, than what he always was.

narciso said...

they must be cribbing from hunter's stash,

the earlier reference was a pic of a dinosaur passed off as a safari trophy,

Ceciliahere said...

I don’t see Tribe complaining about Hillary “fund raising” offthe FBI raid with her dumb photo wearing a hat. Trump has a right to raise money for his future campaign. After all,it was HIS house that was raided, not Hillary’s. But she is still a parasite sucking the blood from any news that she thinks benefits her and her bank account. What a sleaze she is. But, no one is surprised at her attempt to get the spotlight and a little cash too!

Christopher B said...

I think Lurker21 has the best take. If Gore had won in 2000 he probably would have won in 2004 on the strength of 9/11 (I see no reason to assume the attack wouldn't take place regardless of who was in the White House) but I don't think we'd have fought in Iraq. I doubt the Democrats would have won in 2012 since two Gore terms following two Clinton terms would have been 16 years of Democrat control of the WH. Twelve years has been about the maximum any one party has held the White House. Assuming Romney runs and wins in 2012 (beating Hillary Clinton), 2016 is a bit of a crapshoot. Most of the forces that have driven real structural change in our politics go beyond the yelling and screaming about Trump, and really wouldn't have been affected by switching from W to Gore or Romney to Obama. I think there might have been an opening for a more populist/DLC Democrat in 2016 but in the end I think it's highly probable that Barack Obama could have been nominated and elected then, and would be in his second term now.

Issues would be pretty much the same though I think we'd be surprised by a tacit alliance between Israel and Saudi Arabia to counter Iran. Inflation would be roaring back, and we'd see even more regulation and centralized control. COVID vaccines would just barely becoming on-line but would be widely mandatory with boosters stretching into the future along with mandatory flu vaccines. Systemic racism and equity would be at the top of the agenda but with similar pushback from conservatives. Roe v Wade would still be a precedent.

Achilles said...

If Gore had won there would not have been a lane for Mitt Romney to run in in 2012.

charis said...

Long ago I went to a JCO lecture at a college. She was so thin and waifish, a strong wind would have blown her away. She said when she likes a book she is reading, and she gets near the end, she must keep it in the room where she is sleeping, lest it mysteriously vanish in the night.

She has imbibed her opinions from her tribe. I would not expect her to think otherwise.

narciso said...

e pleb nista, now the 9/11 operation wasn't really tracked because many of the players had been involved in operations in the balkans,

Leland said...

Related, much of this Trump stuff seems to be conveniently preventing discussion on the bloated federal budget the Democrats are passing. If not for the Mar-a-lago raid, we would be talking about how the IRS will cost more per year than they could raise from taxing the rich at 100%, which means the middle class will be paying the rest.

Drago said...

Spiros: "I think it is fair to assume that the Gore Administration would have devastated al Qaeda, disrupting its ability to operate and, ultimately, preventing 9/11."

Are there lots of aspirin factories in Iran?

rehajm said...

At the moment Tribe’s tribe controls the executive, House and Senate, Federal bureaucracy, media mainstream and social and enough of the judicial to Hawaiian judge anything SCOTUS hands down…

….and all they can do is whine about Trump?

J Melcher said...

Anyway, Althouse -- great honest person who struggles to find the truth out in public.

We don't affirm that often enough around here.

Or that she often brings that truth closer to many of us.

gadfly said...

Tribe's tweet is not a "railing against Trump for making lemonade out of the lemons his enemies foisted on him."

Rather, it is a description of Trump's actions for the past seven years to rip off his supporters to finance his expensive and totally bizarre lifestyle. No-Trumpers could never imagine (but who really knows about liberals) a concocted scheme to permit lying to Trump supporters (whose tongues seem to hang out) to pay for Trump's demented regime. But a mob-taught grifter like Donald smiles all the way to the bank.

Sadly, leaders at the RNC are coughing up the biggest payouts for TFG and his former White House staff including all unnecessary legal fees surrounding involvement in too-many lawsuits.

As MoDo pointed out:

"It was inevitable that the scofflaw and the law would clash."

"It is the greatest con of the century’s greatest con man: hijacking his own party."

pacwest said...

It's kind of funny

Viewed in a certain light the whole thing borders on a "they actually think they can get away with this crap in the US?" way. Laugh out loud hilarious. But given the reality that they are getting away with it not so funny. The line between humor and tragedy gets blurry sometimes.

Zavier Onasses said...

What would we be fretting about? The breadth of Federal Government control of the national economy (education, medicine, housing, finance, food production, energy, manufacturing); the depth of Federal Government corruption; and the scope of fraud in elections of Federal Government officials.

gadfly said...

Michael K said...
I think it is fair to assume that the Gore Administration would have devastated al Qaeda, disrupting its ability to operate and, ultimately, preventing 9/11.

Fantasy life is powerful in some minds. Walter Mitty or Joe Biden for example.


Then there is the fantasy coming from the ego-weakened mind of Donald Trump.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Spiros said...
Anyways, one thing is 100% certain -- 9/11 wouldn't of happened. The Clinton administration was preparing a massive response against al Qaeda following the USS Cole bombing but declined to commit after Gore's loss. I think it is fair to assume that the Gore Administration would have devastated al Qaeda, disrupting its ability to operate and, ultimately, preventing 9/11.

This is sarcasm, right?

Tina Trent said...

Joyce Carol Oates stalked Mike Tyson. She became perversely obsessed with him.
Not since Mandingo has there been such cringingly racist writing by a white woman. Other authors worried about her. But she suffered no consequences.

Lawrence Tribe is a fatuous liar. And anyone who praises Elena Kagan as he did ad infinitum is praising the woman who secretly worked to make sure serial killers of women or little boys or little girls or adult men would never be counted as hate killers, no matter how high their body count or how extensive their torture.

Gore proved himself to be gross.

This cohort actually make Trump seem classy, not one of his strong points,of which he does have many.

PigHelmet said...

JCO’s novel THE ACCURSED made Woodrow Wilson a literal vampire.

Saint Croix said...

In Black Water the Senator murders the girl in the lake.

I don't think Senator Kennedy intentionally killed her.

The drunk fuck just drove his car into a lake, she died, he called his campaign manager, they spoke for hours, and then finally the fat fucker called the police.

And then he showed up at court in a neck brace.

They loved him in Massachusetts. I know it's unfair, but Massachusetts? That was dumb as fuck. You had a killer for a senator and you did shit all about it.

Have you even acknowledged it today?

Anyway, Oates book nails the guy.

And, can I say, what fucking weak Republican didn't go on the rampage and call Teddy Kennedy a drunk driving woman killer? I know you don't want to go too dark in your campaign ads. But holy fuck, how could you not point that out to the people of Massachusetts?

One-party states are evil as shit. And if the Republican party in Massachusetts can't manage to call Teddy Kennedy out for his woman-killing, fuck you. Way to cover up with him, swamp rats.

Saint Croix said...

Ted Kennedy would later unfairly malign Robert Bork, and accuse him of being a segregationist.

That's what you get, Republicans, for your tongue-biting and your refusal to be honest.

Ted Kennedy staying in power after he drunk drove into a lake and killed a woman is ridiculous.

My tentative conclusion is that the media in the 1970's and 1980's was insanely dishonest and orchestrated a cover-up.

Somebody explain to me why Richard Nixon was a criminal, but Ted "I killed an innocent woman" Kennedy remained in power. Think about that lopsided shit for 10 seconds.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

If I'm reading her right, Oates is kind of tacitly admitting that the behavior of the Trump haters is all too often over the top. Why on earth would a prof with Tribe's reputation be ranting about the fund-raising of a guy who made a few bucks in real estate and managed to serve one term as Pres? Did the foundations of the universe shake so that the Professor has to run around with Gorilla Glue to try to fix things? Is it out of the question to ask whether the FBI over-reached in seeking a specific search warrant and ransacking a private home belonging to people who have never been charged with any crime? Is he frothing at the mouth? Has he developed a twitch on one side of his face, like Clouseau's boss Dreyfus twitching and saying or slurring "Clouseau, Clouseau"?

Oates probably thinks that if Trump hadn't won the free and fair election of 2016, all these Trump haters would be the fair-minded and decent people she knows them to be. I wonder. As the prison warder says in a Waugh novel, sometimes you can tell people are crazy as soon as they are locked up, but other times it takes a while in chokey for the crazy that was always there to emerge.

Saint Croix said...

JCO’s novel THE ACCURSED made Woodrow Wilson a literal vampire.

Awesome, thank you, I got to read that.

Wilson was one of the main bad guys in Liberal Fascism, which is a fantastic book.

And the Hitler mustache on the smiley face? Dude. I will always be a fan of Jonah Goldberg.

Saint Croix said...

To take shots at Ted Kennedy and Woodrow Wilson?

Is she a secret Republican?

(Isn't it insane that people have to hide their party affiliation to get jobs in certain industries?)

Think about that shit.

Saint Croix said...

What's nice about Trump, and why I'm liking him more and more

he would definitely say shit about Ted Kennedy killing a woman

Drago said...

The Hopeless gadfly: "Rather, it is a description of Trump's actions for the past seven years to rip off his supporters to finance his expensive and totally bizarre lifestyle. No-Trumpers could never imagine (but who really knows about liberals) a concocted scheme to permit lying to Trump supporters (whose tongues seem to hang out) to pay for Trump's demented regime."

Whoa whoa whoa! Stop hitting us with so much precise detail and evidentiary back up!

LOL

Gadfly makes his fellow leftist dolt Inga seem like Thucydides in comparison.

William said...

The internment of Japanese-Americans occurred over the objections of J. Edgar Hoover and with the urging and and encouragement of Walter Lippmann. Not that FDR needed much persuading. The available evidence shows that the conservatives aren't always wrong and the liberals aren't always right, but that's not something you'd pick up on by reading the Times......I read Dowd's column. She quotes the elder Bush with approval. Bush resigned from the NRA when the NRA complained about "jack booted thugs" enforcing gun control regulations....Has any Democrat on the national stage ever protested the demonization of the police? Mostly they join in as do the columnists on the Times.....Chauvin may have acted with negligence or even cruelty toward Floyd, but he wasn't a concentration camp guard shoving Anne Frank in the oven. Even beyond the punishment that Chauvin received, the other officers present at the scene have received substantial prison sentences for not acting to restrain Chauvin. I have yet to read a liberal columnist arguing that this might be overreach. Lots columns though about how seditious it is to criticize the FBI raid.

Saint Croix said...

look at this pathetic Wikipedia page

Rhonda said...

Hotbed of delusion……love that line and intend to use it the first chance I get, thanks. Also love that I don’t need (or want to) subscribe to NYT, New Yorker or WaPo……you tell me everything I need to not know, thanks for that as well…..

William said...

I read a book by JCO. I forget the name of it or what it was about....She writes lots of books and gets good reviews. Most literate people have read one of her books. I was always tempted to read her book about Marilyn Monroe, but never got around to it.

robother said...

"Desecrating our democracy"? Tribe, having banished the traditionally sacred from the public sphere, now sacralizes the public sphere itself. Trump--or any other sincere populist--defiles the temple merely by virtue of their election.

Of course, Oates agrees: in her mind, even Bushitler's elevation to the Presidency in 2000 was illegitimate ("not my President!") because he interfered with the historically inevitable evolution of the USA into a one-party state. Our new Elect are, after all, on the right side of History. The only legitimate role of the Republicans in our quadrennial celebration of Mass Democracy is to put up a gentlemanly fight but go down to defeat, the perennial Washington Generals (e.g., Mitt Romney).

Achilles said...

jim5301 said...

Achilles - Don't forget his multiple bankruptcies and the hundreds of millions he got from daddy. However, he has been a mobster his entire adult life and has yet to spend one day behind bars. So I'll give him that.

Case in point.

jim5301 is a below average intelligence that just cannot understand how Trump managed to do the things he did.

So jim makes up a bunch of lies and tells himself Trump cheated somehow.

These people are just stupid and mean.

John henry said...

Hombre,

Is our president emeritus bankrupt?

It does not look like he was in 2020, still had many billions. What happened between then and now?

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7218604-Donald-Trump-2020-Personal-Financial-Disclosure

John LGBTQ+ Henry

Michael K said...

Rather, it is a description of Trump's actions for the past seven years to rip off his supporters to finance his expensive and totally bizarre lifestyle.

Yeah, the $2.4 billion he made last year wasn't enough. Get back on your meds, lunatic.

rcocean said...

I don't find it amusing. These shits laughed at the murder of Ashli babbitt, ahd cheer when Trump supporters are jailed for doing no more than tresspassing. These Leftists support breaking historical norms and traditions, bankrupting and jailing an ex-POTUS, and using the American Gestapo to harrass and destroy dissent.

All the while chanting "Democracy". None of these Left-wing shits can tell you why - in specific policy terms - why Trump and his supporters are so evil. Trump and his supporter's only real crime is opposing the leftwing agenda.

We need to break up the USA. We CANNOT live in the same country with these amoral totalitarians who spit on American traditions and love of free speech and rule of law.

Joe Smith said...

'Don't forget his multiple bankruptcies and the hundreds of millions he got from daddy.'

Companies declare bankruptcy all the time...it's called 'trying.'

Getting $ from your family is preferable to VC money.

Do you bitch about Kerry for being a know-nothing gigolo?

Tribe is a left-wing academic who has built exactly nothing.

Trump is the man in the arena...

Michael K said...

On the other hand, Tribe, math major at Harvard, summa cum laude,

jim1234 loves him some math majors, like Ted Kazinski.

Joe Smith said...

'...to finance his expensive and totally bizarre lifestyle.'

How is it 'bizarre'?

He lives like a rich guy.

rcocean said...

That was dumb as fuck.

WHat was "Dumb" about it? Is it "Dumb" to leave a woman to die, and then lie about?
Whoopsie, first I leave my fly open and then I leave woman to die and lie about it. Gosh what was I thinking? Guess I needed more coffee!

And what's "Dumb" about voting for a slimeball who left a woman to die. Its evil.

rcocean said...

Joyce Carol Oates stalked Mike Tyson.

we know what thats all about. Middle-aged white women go on "sex tourism" In Africa. I kid you not.

Joe Smith said...

'I don't think Senator Kennedy intentionally killed her.'

But he's the 'Lion of the Senate'!!

Talk about daddy's bankroll : )

Lions will fuck anything, but they're not usually fat, drunk, and stupid (with apologies to 'Animal House').

John henry said...

Blogger jim5301 said...

Don't forget his multiple bankruptcies

Did any creditors lose anything in any of the bankruptcies? Can you name any? One would have expected them to be paraded during 2016 and 2020 if they actually existed. Along with all the mythical contractors that he screwed.

Creditors, not investors. There is no obligation to make money for investors.

And how does his win/loss percentage stack up? @75% of all new businesses fail. Donald Trump started 100 or so new businesses. 4 went into bankruptcy. 4% failure rate vs 75%? Not too shabby.

John LGBTQ+ Henry

Inga said...

These past few days, reading the many excuses and alternate realities that his cultists have put forth is sort of sad. It’s like witnessing a cult member slowly, ever so slowly inching away from the cult leader after finally sensing that the cult leader may be dangerous to their existence, but they are still not ready to make a full break. The ties that bind them to the cult leader are very strong and the cultists may actually sustain injuries to their psyche tearing themselves away from the cult leader in one large strong attempt.

As the days and weeks go by and more details come to light, it will become more painful to Trump’s cult members and some will finally be free of his influence, but there will always be the hard core cultists who have so internalized Trumpism that to leave it would be akin to suicide. There is life without Trump, embrace it.

Maynard said...

If Gore had won he would have stopped Climate Change ...

...and the Earth would not have been destroyed in 2010 as he predicted.

Maynard said...

If Gore had won he would have stopped Climate Change ...

...and the Earth would not have been destroyed in 2010 as he predicted.

Maynard said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Eric Rathmann said...

More and more, I think about Jonathan Swift's quote: When a true genius appears, you will know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him".
Initially it was just people like Obama, Pelosi, Clooney, Hanks and others who, by laughing about the idea of President Trump in 2015 and 2016, proved themselves to be dunces. And then the "russia, russia, russia" crowd. Proven dunces.
More and more, I am starting to believe that Trump is not just a narcissistic blowhard, but he must be a genius.

n.n said...

Impeachment 3.0 has everyone on edge. The first two were self-deprecating flops. Will the sequel be viable?

That said, if we can keep our constitutional republic, which, in principle, is not a democratic/dictatorial duality.

n.n said...

A suitable religion (i.e. moral, ethical, legal) for people capable of self-moderation. Competing interests to mitigate progress of others running amuck. This is why secular left-wing regimes inevitably collapse under an intrinsic burden.

Mikey NTH said...

A hot bed of delusion is a good description of the New York literary, art, theater, music, media, and random hangers-on scene.

William said...

I don't read much fiction anymore. In my senescence I read a lot of history, bios, and memoirs....I recently read a bio of DeGaulle. Prior to WWII, he wanted to form two battalions of mobile tank units staffed not by conscripts but by a dedicated force who knew how to service and operate those machines. The proposal was defeated. The left felt that DeGaulle was a fascist who would use those tank units to overthrow The Republic. There you have it. The wish to take up effective arms against Hitler was considered fascist by the left. The sorrow and the pity of those jerks......DeGaulle was wrong about a lot of things, but he was never a fascist. He voluntarily stepped down from power on several occasions and his suppression of the pied noirs prevented France from falling into a civil war. He deserves a much better reputation.....There's a lot of things you learn by reading history instead of fiction. DeGaulle is just not the kind of guy who would inspire a sympathetic novel, but he was a far, far better man than those assholes who toppled his regime.

effinayright said...

Saint Croix said...

"They loved [Ted Kennedy] in Massachusetts. I know it's unfair, but Massachusetts? That was dumb as fuck. You had a killer for a senator and you did shit all about it.

Have you even acknowledged it today?"

************************

Popular Boston talkshow host Howie Carr, and many of his callers, savage Teddy almost every day as a killer, drunk and dreadful human being.

And as grossly obese as as Jabba the Hutt.

Highly entertaining.

Rollo said...

Politics is also a dirty business. How did Joe Biden go from being "the poorest man in the Senate" to having millions? Then there are the Clintons and Pelosis. And they were all cashing in on the public's trust. Trump certainly isn't the worst of our political class.

The Accursed sounds like a Gothic horror version of EL Doctorow or Gore Vidal. Was that really something anyone needed? Maybe posterity would think better of Oates if she wrote less and left the vampire stuff to Stephenie Meyer and Charlaine Harris.

When Gore Vidal was once asked what the saddest words in the English language were, he replied, "Joyce Carol Oates." I thought I knew what he meant, but maybe he just had to be his usual nasty self.

Drago said...

Blogger Inga said...
These past few days, reading the many excuses and alternate realities that his cultists have put forth is sort of sad. Russia Collusion Truther and Hillary Hoax Dossier Dead Ender Inga: "It’s like witnessing a cult member slowly, ever so slowly inching away from the cult leader after finally sensing that the cult leader may be dangerous to their existence, but they are still not ready to make a full break. The ties that bind them to the cult leader are very strong and the cultists may actually sustain injuries to their psyche tearing themselves away from the cult leader in one large strong attempt."

Inga still believes the pee tape exists.

Inga does not believe Hunter Biden is a coke/crackhead who "parties" with underage trafficked girls forced into prostitution.

Needless to say, Inga still believes russia collusion is real, the hoax dossier was "mostly verified" and "proven true". Etc etc etc

The longer the list of debunked hoaxes Inga clings to becomes, the more she attempts to cover herself by projecting her psychoses onto others.

This latest post of hers is almost verbatim what she posted at the peak of each hoax in 2015/2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 (who will ever forget her daily mindreading "reports" of what "Bob Mueller knows" back then?), 2020 and 2021.

And now, 2022 as well.

The "legacy" grows...

Drago said...

Jim5301: "Don't forget his multiple bankruptcies ..."

- How many bankruptcies total?
- Over how many years?
- What is the total number of businesses owned by Trump over his adult lifetime?
- what was the total number of corporate/business entities declared by Trump in his taxes the year he took office? (Spoiler: its over.....540)
- what is the ratio of Never Declared Bankruptcy entities to Declared Bankruptcy entities over Trump's entire business lifetime?
- What was the final disposition/outcome in each of the bankruptcy cases?
- In how many bankruptcy cases did creditors not receive what they were owed (assuming no legal judgement against them)?

Now everyone sit back and enjoy the answers sure to be proffered shortly by our resident lefties.....

Smilin' Jack said...

Gore’s #1 issue was global warming, so while we’re dreaming let’s assume he successfully reversed it. Then the long-overdue next ice age, temporarily delayed by anthropogenic warming, would have begun in earnest, and the glaciers would be on their long march south. Cheeseheads would be migrating to the Driftless Area, hoping it holds again.

Michael K said...

The ties that bind them to the cult leader are very strong and the cultists may actually sustain injuries to their psyche tearing themselves away from the cult leader in one large strong attempt.

The resident dullard tries to explain Obama.

Saint Croix said...

What was "Dumb" about it?

You misunderstood. I wasn't accusing Ted Kennedy of being dumb. He's not dumb. He's smart, and very selfish, and very corrupt.

You ever see the TV show House of Cards? He would fit right in on that show. I have been railing about Satan, and I want to take care not to demonize people. He's a sinner like we all are. But Kennedy was deeply corrupt. He was a drunk when he was driving his car. I base this on all the other times he was drunk, and his nose with all his broken capillaries, and (I got some Irish in me so I will go ahead and slander a whole people) his damn Irish culture. He was a drunk bastard and he killed a woman by driving his car into a lake.

And instead of praying for forgiveness in front of God

which requires confession, bitch!

he faked his own injury and manipulated the people of Massachusetts in true Machiavellian fashion. You would think some fucking artist would have ripped him one.

How many drunk driving murderers are in the Senate, anyway? People have been driven out of the Senate for touching women or calling them "baby" or whatever shit Bob Packwood did.

Richard Nixon (Republican) -- driven from office
Bob Packwood (Republican) -- driven from office

compare their slight transgressions with drunk ass woman-killer Ted Kennedy bloviating about the evil of the Republican party. I mean it's just insane. And the people of Massachusetts are dumb for swallowing the Camelot fucking fairy tale and ignoring the dead woman in the news.

So that's who I'm calling stupid, a whole state of people in the 1970's and 1980's and 1990's. Unpunished and unrepentant Ted Kennedy, who fucking ran for president. That was his punishment! He didn't get to be president!

The double standard in our media is insane. It's so lopsided. Ted Kennedy should have been hounded out of office (clearly) and quite possibly should have spent some time in jail. It would have been better for our country. And, frankly, it would have been better for Ted Kennedy, too. God is not fooled by your lies.

loudogblog said...

The alt universe where Al Gore became President is actually in a film called, The One, with Jet Li.

Jim at said...

I think it is fair to assume that the Gore Administration would have devastated al Qaeda, disrupting its ability to operate and, ultimately, preventing 9/11.

Um, hate to break it to you Sparky, but they used the eight years of Clinton/Gore to prepare for 9/11.

But maybe you could clue us in on all these things Clinton did after the first bombing of WTC in 1993. You know. Since there was some sort of massive plan in response to the Cole bombing. Or was it the Khobar Towers bombing?

Seems there were a lot of attacks during those years and I somehow missed all of Clinton's bad-assed plans that didn't involve bombing as aspirin factory.

Jim at said...

There is life without Trump, embrace it.

That's hilarious coming from you.

We're not the ones who spend every, waking moment screaming about Trump, you twit.

Saint Croix said...

Let me use Al Franken as a comparison, since both he and Ted Kennedy are Democrats.

Hence, my comment is not partisan. Right?

Ted Kennedy. Drunk bastard. Killed a woman. Lied about it. Covered it up. Pretended it was an accident and he was a swell human being. Stayed in power for decades and ran for president.

Media loves that fucker.

Al Franken. Nerd. Not funny. Not related to famous people like JFK or RFK. Stupid comedian who makes a stupid joke about grabbing the breasts of a soldier who is sleeping.

I remember Republicans going after Franken on this blog and I defended the guy. Because the charge was horseshit.

But the fucking comparison, between "Al Franken has to resign" and "Ted Kennedy is my hero," is so fucking illogical Spock's brain just blew a fuse.

Ted Kennedy was a shitty Senator and should have spent at least a few days in jail thinking about that innocent woman he killed. And he should have been hounded from office. And some prosecutor should have tried to prosecute him for drunk driving.

Just try, motherfucker. The results are out of our hands, but you can fucking try.

I'd like to hear anybody defend Ted Kennedy. Please. Somebody slap Chris Matthews or something. That embarrassing fuck.

Kate said...

As many people said, how can Oates reimagine 2000 without including 9/11? The past 22 years don't lend themselves to light and cute anecdotes.

Robert Cook said...

”If Gore won? We’d all be speaking Arabic.

“These people are fucking insane. No other way to put it.“


Talk about insane! There’s no other way to put it.

Saint Croix said...

Popular Boston talkshow host Howie Carr, and many of his callers, savage Teddy almost every day as a killer, drunk and dreadful human being.

Thanks! I'm sure a lot of people in Massachusetts know the truth now, on some level. But it was hidden for so long.

The rise of talk radio and the internet has broken the evil monopoly the Pravda left has held on television. The American people (or at least the people of Massachusetts) have been fooled.

This was true on abortion. Many Americans -- I think maybe most Americans -- haven't really grappled with the infanticide issue. That's because the media has been hiding the bodies.

Ted Kennedy is super-weird because a woman died, we all know she died, he did it, we all know he did it, there is no conspiracy theory.

He just got away with it. Out in the open. Because of a Pravda press that wanted to protect him. And chickenshit Republicans said nothing mean in a debate (I presume) because he was never challenged on it.

And feminists should be ashamed of themselves (obviously) for not going after Ted Kennedy. (I suspect many of them had a crush on John and Bobby and so covered up Ted and his killing, his maybe rapes, his assaults and all his other drunk shit).

Look at this propaganda from Larry King. As he builds up the "tragedy" of what happened to John and Bobby. Yes, they were assassinated, it was awful.

But you are interviewing a man who was drunk and killed a woman in his car when he drove into a fucking lake. I suspect (I can't prove this) that he was planning on cheating on his wife. He went off somewhere to drink and fuck like John Belushi in Animal House, the night goes bad, and the media props his shit up high. Truly, truly embarrassing journalism from a lot of fucking people.

Robert Cook said...

”If Gore won in 2000, he would have lost in 2004. Voters would have held Clinton-Gore responsible for 9/11. Same crew tried to blow up the WTC in February of 1993.”

That makes no sense. The public didn’t hold Bush/Cheney responsible, even though they ignored warnings that bin Laden had intentions to attack the US. They didn’t bother looking into him or what he might have had in the works. Then, they fucked up by attacking Afghanistan and then Iraq, two countries that had nothing to do with 9/11, rather than planning how to capture bin Laden and his confederates. The truth is, bin Laden gave them the excuse to do what they had wanted to do anyway.

Saint Croix said...

Over decades (probably because of feminism), American society has dramatically changed in how men treat women. Yes?

In fact, I think we have gone way too far in the other direction.

We've got fainting women who cry if you call them a woman. Don't get me started.

But if we can (and should) castigate feminism for this insane state of affairs today, we should also take a look back at the "bad old days" when powerful men killed women and the media hushed it up.

Think about that, liberals. I beg you.

garrison said...

I'm so tired of old people.

kamas716 said...

There appears to be an issue for people distinguishing between cause and effect. Trump wasn’t then, and isn’t now, the cause of pushback against Democrats and establishment Republicans. He’s the effect of so many peoples disillusionment with “establishment” politicians. He’s the mirror image of the Progressive’s Bernie Sanders. Both represent a challenge to the power of the establishment. Trump is less likely to cave in than Bernie, and so is seen as a greater threat.

Gk1 said...

I wonder how many "happy endings" that perv Al Gore would have gotten in office. That's about the only thing worth speculating about a fraud like Gore.

Joe Smith said...

'You misunderstood. I wasn't accusing Ted Kennedy of being dumb. He's not dumb. He's smart, and very selfish, and very corrupt.'

He was pretty dumb.

Not Mazie Hirono dumb, but any dumber he'd be a ward of the state...

Michael K said...

garrison said...

I'm so tired of old people.


Try to imagine how tired we are of you.

Michael K said...

That makes no sense. The public didn’t hold Bush/Cheney responsible, even though they ignored warnings that bin Laden had intentions to attack the US.

Liar Cook at it again. The Democrats, in their rage at losing the election, blocked most of Bush's nominees from confirmation. Clinton ignored terrorism for 7 years and Bush had no time to get his administration organized.

I agree with you a bit on Iraq and Afghanistan so why lie ?

Drago said...

Cook: "That makes no sense. The public didn’t hold Bush/Cheney responsible, even though they ignored warnings that bin Laden had intentions to attack the US."

LOL

Our resident Stalinist is still peddling that BS.

Notice cookie provides no link for this aged dumb smear. Because he dares not. For if he did the reader would see that this supposed intel from our "top nen" boiled down to this:
Hey, you know that terrorist dude that has attacked us in the past? Yeah, well, he still wants to. We have no idea when or where of course. And we have no idea how. But he sure wants to! We know that!

Gee, we have that level of "intel" and heads up "warning" right now.

And the dems have given us open borders and have transported hundreds of watchlisted characters directly into the US after Biden's "Provide Free Arms For The Entire Taliban Army while Leaving Americans Behind While Laughing And Laughing" Program.

Drago said...

Saint Croix: "I remember Republicans going after Franken on this blog and I defended the guy. Because the charge was horseshit."

Making the New Soviet Democraticals live up to their very own horses*** rules that they inflict on everyone else is not, itself, horses***.

1 set of rules for everybody. No more "respectable republican" acceptance of the New Soviet Democraticals double standards.

Josephbleau said...

“DeGaulle is just not the kind of guy who would inspire a sympathetic novel, but he was a far, far better man than those assholes who toppled his regime.“

DeGaulle went to Montreal and supported Québécois rebellion against Canada. But Trump is the evil one.

Narr said...

Ted Kennedy? The greatest What-If of modern American political history summarized in a parody Volkswagen ad.

Says it all.

Gunner said...

If President Gore means no Obama, maybe that would have been for the best. It might be better to live in a Dhimmi state than the LGBTQRS funhouse we now have.

B. said...

Three saddest words in the English language: “Joyce Carol Oates.”
https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/06-11-2015/books-book-of-the-week-the-three-saddest-words-in-the-english-language-said-gore-vidal-are-joyce-carol-oates

Saint Croix said...

Josiah Spaulding was the Republican who ran against Kennedy in 1970.

Do you have a sense, looking at his faded photograph, that he gave Ted Kennedy a hard time for killing that woman?

"Can't bring it up, that would be rude."

I'm making this quote up, I have no idea who he is. But that says something, yes? Imagine running against a drunk who killed a woman and ran away from the crime scene, and you still fucking lose.

Saint Croix said...

I am getting the audiobook for A Book of American Martyrs

Gus Vorhees is an eminent doctor at the Muskegee Falls Women's Center, Ohio. One morning as he arrives at the clinic, he is ambushed by a hardline Christian, Luther Dunphy, and shot dead. This action leaves in its wake two fatherless families: the Vorhees, who are affluent, highly educated, secular and pro-choice, and the Dunphys, their opposite on all counts. When the daughters of the two families, Natalie Vorhees and Dawn Dunphy, glimpse each other at the trial of Luther Dunphy, their initial response is mutual hatred. But their lives are tangled together forever by what has happened, and throughout the years to come and the events that follow, including the eventual execution of Luther Dunphy after years on Death Row, neither can quite forget the other.

Saint Croix said...

tweet from Oates...

a friend who is a literary agent told me that he cannot even get editors to read first novels by young white male writers, no matter how good; they are just not interested. this is heartbreaking for writers who may, in fact, be brilliant, & critical of their own "privilege."

What you are describing, ma'am, is actually illegal. Race discrimination and sex discrimination. Name those editors so we can sue the shit out of them!

I know your agent friend (probably your agent?) has to deal with these editors, and doesn't want to fight them.

Also, I know you're trying to help.

But requiring authors who are white or male or both to criticize their own "privilege" in order to write is Stalinist. The requirement that Hemingway has to be brilliant and self-hating, well, shit. You're a sweet artist but you're not really standing up to the evil that you're talking about.

Name your friend! Name these editors! What they are doing is illegal! Wake the fuck up, Joyce Carol Oates!

Saint Croix said...

Look at this shit.

From Kirkus. (These are people who reviewed my book. I had to pay them to review it).

Joyce Carol Oates once again raised eyebrows on Twitter, this time with a tweet suggesting young White men are being discriminated against in publishing.

Seriously, you capitalize White, because racial division is important, and you think she is raising eyebrows? She is a sweet little old lady, Kirkus Reviews, and you are publishing racist trash.

You think it's impossible white men are being discriminated against? Why did you capitalize White, fatherfucker, if not to emphasize pigment?

What's insane about this is that when you read a book, you can't see the color or the gender or anything about the author. It's a very basic fact of the book industry. All you literally have to do is read the book and judge that. No reader knows the color or the gender of the author. It was easy as fuck for authors to "pass" in the old days because authors are fucking invisible in the book industry.

You dehumanizing, regressive, racist, identity politicking fucks are the ones who are raising eyebrows. That sweet little old lady is gently suggesting you are fucked in the head. And you think she's the problem?

Saint Croix said...

The only thing that matters in the book industry is the quality of the book.

The color, the sex, everything else, is utterly irrelevant. A.I. computer could write the book. It doesn't matter!

The only thing that matters is the quality of the book.

Imagine some racist fuckers who insist that everybody on the Althouse blog has to identify. Race, sex, gender, orientation, the whole invasive stupid identity politics horseshit. And then they start eliminating posts (and people!) because of "representation."

It would destroy the Althouse blog. That's what these dumb fucks are doing to the book industry, right now.

Is it really that hard to say "free speech" and "equal protection" and just fucking enforce these core concepts?

There are so many things that we can fight about. But we fought wars to get free speech and equal protection put in the Constitution. These are the basic ideas of a liberal society. It's insane that the book industry doesn't know that.

Saint Croix said...

They think identity politics is the future and it's regressive as shit.

It's astounding to me that thinking human beings could reduce humanity to White and Black in the 21st century. To capitalize it, to emphasize it, and to negate everything else(!)

And reduce Man and Woman to They.

Y'all are bunch of a dehumanizing fucks.

Saint Croix said...

At 2:17 p.m. yesterday I said "God is not fooled by your lies."

I should have said "our"

"God is not fooled by our lies."

Saint Croix said...

(I should have mentioned A Book of American Martyrs is by Oates).

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

Saint Croix said...

"What you are describing, ma'am, is actually illegal. Race discrimination and sex discrimination. Name those editors so we can sue the shit out of them!"

Illegal? I'm doubtful. Publishing isn't employment. I've never heard of a law covering this.

Unethical? Absolutely! Dumb? Yep. Cutting out half your talent pool is dumb. But probably legal.

Saint Croix said...

Publishing isn't employment.

If it's legal, they should up front about it. Honest. "We only publish X authors."

The secrecy gives it away. They're ashamed of it, and if you confront them, they will deny it. Because it's racist as shit.

Saint Croix said...

And I'm not sure I believe you that it's legal to refuse to serve white people in your business.

I would apply the Civil Rights Act, for instance.

I'm not a practicing attorney any more. But I suspect there's a reason they are denying it and it's secret racism.

And aside from the legality of it, it pisses people off. It violates cultural norms. The Woke mob has no idea how unpopular their shit is.

PM said...

If Gore had won, there wouldn't have been an Obama.

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

Since publishing is neither employment nor a public accommodation, how would the Civil Rights Act apply?

As a former attorney, you must know that wrong and stupid are not illegal. If it’s illegal, there has to be an actual law violated. I’d like to know what it is.

Assuming it’s true (and I’m not saying it isn’t), they could be concealing it simply because they want to avoid a backlash. You’re not wrong about how stupid and malicious this would be. But you haven’t demonstrated illegality.

Saint Croix said...

Martin,

Racial discrimination in business is illegal. Your attempt to limit the Civil Rights Act to "employment" and "public accommodation" is noted, but I think you are wrong to construe that statute narrowly.

We had a big fight over the Civil Rights Act. I would define that statute broadly!

Here is the text of the statute.

Now, you are saying that an author is not an employee of a book publishing company. Yes, that's right. He's an independent contractor with the publishing company.

And your opinion, I think, is that it's legal for employers to racially discriminate against independent contractors?

I'm an independent contractor now, and I assure you the company with whom I do all my work (the Motley Fool) does not racially discriminate. Because they are nice people but also because it's against the fucking law

You can't fire all your employees and only hire "independent contractors" and then say "Irish need not apply."

It's racist as shit! And illegal.