;)
The Commentariat -- December 13, 2017
Afternoon Update:
Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "House and Senate Republicans have reached an agreement, in principle, on a consensus tax bill on Wednesday, keeping the party on track for final votes next week with the aim of delivering a bill to President Trump's desk by Christmas, according to people briefed on the deal. Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the majority whip, told reporters that Republicans will be briefed on the deal today, and that he is confident it will be approved next week. Details on the deal were not immediately available."
Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The release Tuesday night of F.B.I. officials' text messages describing the possibility of a victory by Donald J. Trump as 'terrifying' and saying that Hillary Clinton 'just has to win' is fueling a Republican campaign to attack the impartiality of the Justice Department and its special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III -- and possibly hamper him with an investigation of the special counsel's office. Accusations of bias, primed by the newly released texts from an F.B.I. agent, Peter Strzok, and an F.B.I. lawyer, Lisa Page, took center stage on Wednesday when Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who appointed Mr. Mueller as special counsel, began testifying before the House Judiciary Committee. Republicans pressed Mr. Rosenstein to appoint a second special counsel to investigate political partisanship in the department and to scrutinize Mr. Trump's former presidential rival, Mrs. Clinton." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is fairly nutty. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) in questioning Rosenstein, went over a list of contributions Rosenstein & other top DOJ officials had given to Republicans (and zero to Democrats). In other words, Republican partisanship is A-okay, but even lower-level officials cannot support Democrats. Could someone please explain "hypocrisy" & "double standards" to these dopes?
This Is Downright Hilarious. Julia Glum of Newsweek: "The White House confirmed Wednesday morning that Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former Apprentice contestant often known by just her first name, is leaving her job in the Trump administration. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Omarosa resigned Tuesday 'to pursue other opportunities' and will leave her position as director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison on January 20.... Journalist April Ryan tweeted that she'd heard there was 'drama' surrounding the departure. Ryan described the alleged resignation as a 'firing' and said Omarosa had been escorted off White House property. 'Sources say General Kelly did the firing and Omarosa is alleged to have acted very vulgar and cursed a lot and said she helped elect President Trump,' Ryan, the White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, added." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The scuttlebutt on CNN is that Omarosa tried to break into the residence, & the Secret Service had to stop her. Everything is going very smoothly. ...
... Update: Here's April Ryan's story (audio).
*****
This is how Doug & Louise Jones celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.... Alexander Burns & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Doug Jones, a Democratic former prosecutor who mounted a seemingly quixotic Senate campaign in the face of Republican dominance [in Alabama], defeated his scandal-scarred opponent, Roy S. Moore, after a brutal campaign marked by accusations of sexual abuse and child molestation against the Republican, according to The Associated Press. The upset delivered an unimagined victory for Democrats and shaved Republicans' unstable Senate majority to a single seat." Mrs. McC: Jones' term would end in January 2021. ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: The miracle this year is not on 34th Street. Thank you, thank you, "urban people." And thank you, Senator-Elect Jones. ...
... Sean Sullivan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Democrat Doug Jones has won the special election to fill a Senate seat in Alabama, according to exit polls and returns -- a shocking upset in a solidly Republican state, in which massive turnout among African American voters helped defeat a candidate enthusiastically backed by President Trump. The Associated Press called the race at 10:23 p.m. Eastern time.... The night's early returns showed [Roy] Moore ahead, as mainly rural votes came in. But he surged ahead after 10 p.m. Eastern, as large cities like Mobile, Montgomery and Birmingham reported huge increases in turnout and large margins for the Democrat. Overall, news reports indicated that statewide turnout had smashed expectations, roughly doubling what officials had predicted.... [Mitch] McConnell on Tuesday said [Sen. Luther] Strange, who was appointed by the governor to temporarily fill [Jeff] Sessions's seat, will remain in the Senate through the end of the current session." ...
... "Moore Won't Concede." Margaret Hartmann: "... President Trump (or the person who absconded with his phone) responded [to Doug Jones' win] with this gracious, coherent, and properly punctuated tweet:... 'Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends!'... However, in an entirely unsurprising development, [Roy] Moore refused to accept defeat, and told supporters that God still isn't done with the Alabama Senate race.... Under Alabama law, there's an automatic recount at the state's expense if the results are within half a percentage point. But the gap between Jones and Moore is 1.54 percent, or about 20,715 votes.... Moore's campaign mentioned that military ballots have yet to be counted, but the Washington Post notes that there are only 8,700 people from Alabama serving in the armed forces. Even if every single one of those troops voted for Moore, he still wouldn't win.... [Alabama Secretary of State John] Merrill suggested on CNN that after that Moore could opt to pay for a recount, even if his loss is still greater than half a percentage point. However, Election Law Blog's Rick Hasen said he thinks that's incorrect; the law only applies to state offices, not federal elections." ...
... Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Aides acknowledged that Mr. Trump, who jumped in with a strong endorsement of Roy S. Moore without telling most of his advisers, rarely assumes responsibility for a misstep, and they anticipated him looking for someone to blame. By early Wednesday, the president was weighing in -- and painting the loss as a sign of prescience.... 'The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!'... But aides said that Mr. Trump might still fault others for the loss." ...
... Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "... the stunning victory by Democrat Doug Jones was a devastating blow to a party wracked by divisions and intraparty rivalries and a humiliating defeat for President Trump.... Trump suffered mightily after fully embracing [Roy] Moore in the final weeks of the campaign, despite credible allegations that Moore had engaged in sexually improper behavior with teenage girls when he was in his 30s.... For Trump, nothing good has come from that appointment [of Jeff Sessions as AG] '' from a special counsel investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 election to a pair of losses in the Alabama races. The outcome was a bad moment as well for Stephen K. Bannon.... Bannon has threatened a year of turmoil for the GOP, but in this high-profile test, both he and the president proved to have limited ability to transfer Trump's popularity to another candidate." ...
... Alex Shephard of the New Republic: "Doug Jones, a Democrat, should not have won a Senate seat in Alabama.... Donald Trump won the state by 28 points in the 2016 election.... There is no way to overstate the significance of this upset.... Republican voters are demoralized because the Republican president is enormously unpopular and the Republican Party has spent the past year doing enormously unpopular things. Yes, the Moore allegations made a big difference in this race. But they obscure the most important aspect of the special election in Alabama, which is that Republican voters are staying home across the country, while Democrats are voting at unprecedented levels." ...
... Andrew Prokop of Vox: "Doug Jones's shocking victory in Alabama’s Senate special election is a tremendous humiliation for former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who had made Moore's candidacy the centerpiece of his effort to reshape the Republican Party. And Bannon's enemies -- Republican congressional leaders and their allies, and conservatives who've long been skeptical of President Trump -- are wasting no time in blaming him for it." ...
... "F[u]ck You & the Horse You Rode in on." Jonathan Chait: "Roy Moore is Donald Trump, but more so. He is a buffoon, a racist authoritarian demagogue, a sexual predator. In all these qualities, save buffoonery, he exceeds Trump. His defeat in one of America’s reddest states signals deep trouble for the party that has given rise to both men.... But Moore's sexual history did not hurt him too much, because -- as Moore and Donald trump have demonstrated -- no personal failing can hurt a Republican nominee too much. The conservative media infrastructure creates an alternative information universe, in which any failing can be denied or whatabout-ed away." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Nice job, Stephen. You may not have Roy Moore to kick around any more.
Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "President Trump attacked Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in a sexually suggestive tweet Tuesday morning that implied Gillibrand would do just about anything for money, prompting a swift and immediate backlash. 'Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Charles E. Schumer and someone who would come to my office "begging" for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump,' the president wrote. 'Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn of Mother Jones: "The Republican National Committee has joined ... Donald Trump's all-out attack on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, blasting out an email Tuesday containing opposition research about the New York Democrat. The RNC's broadside follows a back-and-forth between Gillibrand and the White House over allegations that Trump -- who was infamously caught on tape boasting about assaulting women -- had engaged in multiple acts of sexual misconduct before becoming president.... The email marks the second time in recent weeks that the RNC has rushed to back up Trump in a fight over sexual misconduct allegations. In November, the RNC cut off its fundraising support for Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore following accusations that Moore had sexually assaulted teenage girls.... But the RNC quickly reversed course earlier this month, once again throwing its support behind Moore after Trump endorsed him." ...
... ** USA Today Editors: "With his latest tweet, clearly implying that a United States senator would trade sexual favors for campaign cash, President Trump has shown he is not fit for office. Rock bottom is no impediment for a president who can always find room for a new low.... A president who would all but call Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand a whore is not fit to clean the toilets in the Barack Obama Presidential Library or to shine the shoes of George W. Bush.... It should surprise no one how low he went with Gillibrand. When accused during the campaign of sexually harassing or molesting women in the past, Trump's response was to belittle the looks of his accusers.... Trump's utter lack of morality, ethics and simple humanity has been underscored during his 11 months in office.... It is a shock that only six Democratic senators are calling for our unstable president to resign." ...
... Mrs. Huckleberry Threatens CNN's Jim Acosta. Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "After Trump signed [a bill into law], he got up and began walking out of the Roosevelt Room. [Jim] Acosta [of CNN] asked: Mr. President, what did you mean when you said that Kirsten Gillibrand would do anything for a campaign contribution?' Later on, Acosta told CNN colleague Wolf Blitzer..., 'In the moments before I asked the president the question..., the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, pulled me aside.... And she warned me that if I asked the president a question at this pool spray, as we call them, that she could not promise that I would be allowed into a pool spray again,' said Acosta. 'Wolf, this was a direct threat coming from the press secretary to me....'" It is customary for reporters to ask questions during a pool spray. ...
... Katie Van Syckle of New York: "Stacia Robitalle, wife of former New York Ranger Luc Robitalle, is the latest woman to come forward and accuse of President Trump of harassment. 'I was once on a elevator alone with @realDonaldTrump (& a man w/him) at Madison Square Gardens,' Stacia Robitalle wrote Monday night on Twitter. 'He was aggressive & told me I was coming home with him. I laughed, stating I was married to a Ranger. He guaranteed me my husband didn't make as much money as him.' In response to critics claiming Robitalle was just out for attention, she tweeted: 'I'm not a liberal lefty and I'm not looking for attention. Just felt bad keeping it to myself.' Currently, nineteen women have accused Trump of sexual harassment, with one of them suing him, and now others are demanding that Congress investigates their claims." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: If you're alone on an elevator with two men who appear to be friends & one of them is hitting on you, it is reasonable to believe you're in danger. (Was the man with Trump his beefy bodyguard Keith Schiller?) P.S. In case anyone thinks "You're coming home with me" is some kind of sideways compliment, it isn't. It's a threat. ...
... ** Judd Legum of ThinkProgress: "On Monday..., Sarah Sanders promised that she would produce a list of eyewitnesses to exonerate President Trump from allegations of sexual harassment and assault. In a statement, the White House said these eyewitnesses 'totally disputed in most cases' the accusations that women have raised against Trump.... Overall, at least 14 women have publicly accused Trump of sexual assault -- with others alleging other forms of sexual harassment and predation. Sanders sent the list of supposed eyewitnesses to ThinkProgress late Monday night. It contains the names of three people." Legum details the "evidence" the eyewitnesses provide & sums it up: "So the White House's list of 'eyewitnesses' consists of two women who don't even claim to be eyewitnesses and a British man with an incredible story and a documented history of deception." Mrs. McC: Just fucking astounding. Mrs. Huckleberry definitely belongs in the front seat of the clown car. (Also linked yesterday.)
Mrs. McCrabbie: For anyone who doesn't think Trump has lost it, he doesn't know when his own birthday is. Also, his family members don't know how to vote. (Also linked yesterday.)
Zeynep Bilginsoy & Sarah El Deeb of the AP: "Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Arab and Islamic leaders on Wednesday that the United States is no longer fit to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal and should be replaced as mediator by the United Nations, outlining a significant policy shift in response to ... Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. In an impassionate speech, Abbas said his people will no longer accept the United States as a peace broker but added that they remain committed to international resolutions which have formed the basis of the process."
Kyle Swenson of the Washington Post: "In September 2016, as the heated presidential election ... swung into a final phase, a Louisiana private investigator repeatedly attempted to access the Republican candidate's tax returns. According to court documents, Jordan Hamlett used Trump's Social Security number to apply for federal student aid in hopes of gaining access to the candidate's tax records. But the breach was detected by federal authorities.... Hamlett pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to a charge of misuse of a Social Security number. He faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine."
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Two FBI agents assigned to the investigation into alleged collusion between ... Donald Trump's campaign and Russia exchanged text messages referring to the future president as an 'idiot,' according to copies of messages turned over to Congress Tuesday night by the Justice Department. Special Counsel Robert Mueller removed one of the agents, Peter Strzok, from the Russia probe "immediately" after learning of the texts in late July, the department said in a letter to lawmakers. The other agent, Lisa Page, had already ended her assignment to Mueller's office.... The agents sometimes expressed respect or outright support for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The agents sometimes expressed respect or outright support for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.... The messages, which were turned up during a Justice Department inspector general investigation into potential political influence on investigative decisions during the campaign, are fueling Republican calls for a second special counsel to investigate Mueller's operation." Strzok also called Bernie Sanders an idiot. ...
... Mike Allen of Axios: "President Trump's legal team believes Attorney General Jeff Session's Justice Department and the FBI -- more than special counsel Robert Mueller himself -- are to blame for what they see as a witch hunt. The result: They want an additional special counsel named to investigate the investigators." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... That's Because.... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. New York Times Editors: Flame-throwing Fox "News" personalities are persuading their viewers, including the head-of-household at 1600 Pa. Ave. & many GOP legislators -- like Sen. Lindsey Graham -- that the Mueller investigation is corrupt & is aimed at taking down Trump rather than at finding the truth. "If the president's supporters are upset about how close that investigation is getting to the Oval Office, they should ask not whether any F.B.I. investigator has ever held an opinion about politics, but rather why Mr. Trump chose as his closest advisers people with a tendency to talk to Russian officials and then fail to tell the truth, again and again, about the nature of those communications." ...
... Alex Shephard: "Donald Trump's team is inching closer to firing Robert Mueller.... A Fox News report ... revealed that Brian Ohr, a senior DOJ official, had been demoted for failing to disclose meetings with Fusion GPS, the firm behind the infamous Steele dossier, during the 2016 election. Ohr's wife was also employed by Fusion GPS in 2016. Republicans have seized on the report to discredit the Steele dossier -- arguing that it was only taken seriously because of partisanship at the DOJ -- despite the fact that much of it has already been verified.... By demanding that the Department of Justice appoint someone to effectively investigate the investigators, Trump's legal team is doing two things. First, it's trying to cloud the issue.... And second, the White House is laying the groundwork for Mueller's potential firing." ...
... Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Special counsel Robert Mueller on Tuesday completed interviews with the last in a slate of about two dozen current and former White House witnesses he's initially requested as part of the investigation into Russia's actions in the presidential election, White House attorney Ty Cobb said. It's unclear if Mueller will seek follow-up interviews or seek to question additional people beyond the initial batch of witnesses...." ...
... Maggie Haberman & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Donald Trump Jr. ... has asked the House Intelligence Committee to investigate information that was leaked from his closed interview with the committee last week. Alan S. Futerfas, Mr. Trump's lawyer, warned on Tuesday that a leak inquiry was needed 'to maintain the credibility' of the committee''s investigation into Russian efforts to interfere with the 2016 election.... While the interview was underway and after it was completed, he said, accounts of what Mr. Trump had said in private began appearing in media reports.... A spokesman for [Rep. Adam] Schiff [D-Calif.]..., denied that the congressman or his staff had leaked classified or confidential information. But, he said, Mr. Schiff reserved the right to speak out about the 'noncooperation' of a witness."
Alan Rappeport & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "Republican lawmakers, scrambling to reach agreement on a final tax bill that they hope to pass next week, are coalescing around a plan that would slightly raise the proposed corporate tax rate, lower the top rate on the richest Americans and scale back the existing mortgage interest deduction.... Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said that House and Senate negotiators were making progress in their effort to agree on a final tax bill and that a deal could be reached shortly. 'We don't have it right this minute, but we're getting closer,' Mr. Cornyn said shortly before lunchtime (Tuesday)."
Ted Barrett, et al., of CNN: "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley issued a rare rebuke Tuesday of two of ... Donald Trump's most controversial judicial nominees, urging the White House to rethink the picks. Grassley told CNN that he is advising the White House to 'reconsider' the nomination of Jeff Mateer, who was selected to become a federal judge in Texas. He said the White House 'should not proceed' on the nomination of Brett Talley, whom Trump picked to become a federal judge in Alabama."
Mike Allen: "Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he was the victim of a fake news hit on Tuesday, and has turned over to Capitol Police a document that purports to detail lurid sexual harassment accusations by a former staffer.... This was an apparent effort to dupe reporters and smear a senator -- both symptoms of an amped-up news environment where harassment charges are proliferating and reporters have become targets for fraud. The former staffer told me in a phone interview that she did not author the document, that none of the charges ring true, and that her signature was forged."
Mrs. McCrabbie: Like me, Erik Wemple wants to know what sex-related offense Ryan Lizza is supposed to have committed that led to his firing by the New Yorker & his suspension by CNN. It sounds as if the complaint comes from a woman he dated, presumably consenually. (Also linked yesterday.)
Julia Moskin & Kim Severson of the New York Times: "From almost the day in 2004 that it opened on West 11th Street with the backing of investors like Jay-Z, Michael Stipe and the celebrity chef Mario Batali, the Spotted Pig shot to the top of the list of New York City's hottest restaurants and stayed there. A clubby place whose third floor is a renowned private playroom for handpicked V.I.P.s, the Spotted Pig has racked up Michelin stars and accolades for its chef, April Bloomfield. In 2016, the James Beard Foundation named [owner Ken] Friedman, known for his charisma and business acumen, its outstanding restaurateur of the year.... [But] Even by the loose standards of the hospitality business..., employees described Mr. Friedman's restaurants as unusually sexualized and coercive. Ten women said that Mr. Friedman, 56, had subjected them to unwanted sexual advances: groping them in public, demanding sex or making text requests for nude pictures or group sex. Many others also said that working for him required tolerating daily kisses and touches, pulling all-night shifts at private parties that included public sex and nudity, and enduring catcalls and gropes from guests who are Mr. Friedman's friends." ...
... Here's the Times' report, by Christine Hauser & others, on Mario Batali, who is also as porcine as prosciutto crudo.
Beyond the Beltway
Phillip Bailey & Thomas Novelly of the Louisville Courier-Journal: "A Kentucky lawmaker accused of sexually abusing a teenager said Tuesday that he would not resign from office.... 'This allegation concerning this lady, this young girl, absolutely has no merit, these are unfounded accusations, totally,' state Rep. Dan Johnson, R-Mount Washington, said at a press conference at his church attended by family, campaign volunteers and members of his congregation. Johnson, a self-anointed 'pope' of his congregation, is accused of sexually abusing a member of Heart of Fire Church in the Fern Creek area when she was 17.... Johnson ... said the woman's claims are partly motivated by his political opponents and his support of conservative causes. He claimed the woman was a supporter of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race and supports abortion rights.... The allegations caused a flurry of condemnations from both Republicans and Democrats, and members of both parties have called for Johnson's resignation." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm thinking of moving to Kentucky, so I can make myself pope and/or self-certify as a doctor. "Mrs." is a good enough title, but "Pope" or "Dr." would be great.
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Reader Comments (20)
A couple of FBI investigators called the Pretender an idiot, and that makes them poor investigators?
Did they get it wrong?
Let's ask someone who has come to know him well.
His Secretary of State.
Will go to bed smiling,
Unbelievable! Doug Jones wins, perverts lose. Trump (one of the biggest perverts) loses AGAIN in Alabama. I guess his pal, white supremacist, KKK Steve, was right when he said outsiders like himself couldn’t come to Alabama and tell people what to do! Fuck you too Massa Bannon. Go peddle your lame-ass shit in some other cesspool.
As for Roy the Molester (alleged, ahem), get back on your horse and ride over the nearest cliff.
Haven’t had a night this good in a looong time.
One downside to this immense show of support from “urban folk”. After tonight, you can bet your antique Confederate plantation slave shackle collection that red states will redouble their efforts to make sure black voters are as disenfranchised as a Jim Crow sharecropper.
But for now, as the French say, “Fuck the begrudgers!”
Kevin Drum of Mother Jones uncovered some great news about Social Security's solvency thanks to the magical asterisks and obelisks used to construct the Republican's super amazing economic growth machine to pay for tax cuts for the super wealthy and corporate "citizens".
I hope Democrats roll this chart out every time Lyin' Ryan starts talking about "welfare" cuts for his rich bffs.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/12/social-security-will-be-solvent-for-the-rest-of-the-century/
Good news! The sound you just heard is all the Republican members of Congress peeing in their pants.
Holy cow! looks to me like Roy's god done do a big dump on him. Like Akhilleus, I haven't felt this good in a long time. Oh, and by the by, my antique Confederate plantation slave shackle collection was traded years ago for some McGovern campaign buttons along with a nifty silver flask filled with Jamisons ––fortification on cold nights when riding my horse through hill and dale––mostly dale.
Are things looking up?
Read some of the alleged scandalous 'texts' between the FBI agent and his office paramour in the Washington Post. None of which rose to the level of the big hoo-hah going on about it. If these texts are examples of what they 'privately' shared...this whole episode is just another Squirrrrrl cry from the WH.
Good news this morning re Alabama! I was afraid to stay up and link to news sites so instead I watched Netflix until bedtime. Still hesitant I waited until this morning! Whew! Let's see, do you think the Republicans are beginning to get the message? Or will they double down? The answer is: they don't know when to quit.
More good news-thanks safari@ from Mother Jone's:
"As we all know, the official OMB/Treasury estimate of future economic growth is 2.9 percent, which means the trust fund will be flush with cash far into the future. This means everyone can stand down and leave Social Security alone. In fact, it’s doing so well that Congress might want to think about raising benefits. Hooray!"
Oh, yes, come on Democrats––blow up that chart and present it on the floor pronto! Make sure our blue–eyed Irishman is there to feast his gaze on it. Wanna bet he'll do one of his flim flam speeches denouncing the accuracy of the FACTS.
What is it about people like Ryan, Huckleberry, and CONway? How did they learn to doublespeak so pretty? I take that back––-it isn't pretty, but it SOUNDS pretty good if you don't realize they all are liars.
PD,
This morning I read that Chester the Molester (ahem, alleged) refuses to concede. He wants to remind all the Bible bangers who now seem to believe that molesting young girls is the Christian Way, that "God is in charge!" Got that right, Chester, and he just smacked your bigoted, molesting ass out the way.
But, as MAG points out, it's probably a lead pipe cinch that Confederates will not draw the right lessons from this incredible ass kicking (and so far, listening to and reading responses from most of them, that lead pipe is everywhere in evidence).
Reminds me of that old joke about prayer.
During an enormous rain storm, a man answers a knock on his door. A police officer tells him that the surrounding area is sure to flood and he'll be happy to give the man a ride to safety. The man says, "Nope, I prayed to god. He'll save me." The cop leaves.
A while later, the water is up over his front porch. A rescue worker in a motor boat offers to take the man to safety. He refuses. "God will help me" he says.
Shortly, the water has engulfed the house and the man, sitting on the roof sees a helicopter flying down to save him. He refuses. "God is on my side" he says. "He'll save me." The chopper flies off.
Half and hour later, the man drowns.
At the Pearly Gates, he sees a pissed off god waiting for him. The man looks up and says, "Lord! I prayed to you! I believed in you. Why didn't you save me?"
God says "Are you kidding? I sent you a cop, a motorboat, and a helicopter. What the hell more did you want?"
Confederates will convince themselves that there was some dark business afoot involving commies and blacks and liberals and haters and that's why they lost in Alabama. Trump Will Save Us!
Right. And the moon is made of cheese.
But for now, ahhhhhhh......life is good.
Social Security is already raising benefits. Just got a notification
that mine will be increased next year by an amazing .002%. That's
right, 2 one-thousandths of a percent. Or about 3 cans of cat food.
Fortunately I'm not totally dependent on SS but millions are and
the liars will find a way in the next 3 years, I have no doubt.
forrest morris,
I haven't got my SS notification yet but using your data, my wife and I will receive $93 more next year, before taxes. Wow, I am so excited.
And Trumptweet: ‘I Said Roy Moore Will Not Be Able to Win’
Trump is never wrong. Proof that the bully is just a coward.
And we need a national poll. Is Trump's tweet about Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand the most disgusting words to ever come out of a POTUS?
@Marvin: Your last sentence––it's a pattern, isn't it? How he describes (denigrates) women––Rosie, Megyn, Elizabeth, Nancy, Kirsten, et al. But––he keeps telling us how much he loves women––"Nobody loves and admires women more than I." But then nobody has done anything better than he has––listen to his speeches––in almost every one he tells us this. There's something so pathetic about this man–-he's a miserable human being that has spent most of his life pretending he isn't. He needs so desperately to be affirmed ––prove to Daddy that he isn't one of those losers.
And I want him out of our lives––he has absolutely no business being our president. His buddy, Bannon, also needs to shut the fuck up and go back to making his stupid films. Granted, the prospect of Pence taking over gives me the willies, but you can count on him not to call Kirsten a slut.
I thought for a moment that Marvin was kidding about the little king tweeting that he always said Moore would lose.
He wasn't. Kidding that is.
This is incredible even for a lying, no good asswipe like Trump. Now he claims that not only didn't he think Moore could win, he suggests that he didn't even endorse him. He's pulling out all the stops to try to ensure that the Moore stink doesn't stick to his baggy Brionis.
Nothing bad that happens is ever his fault. He's like that character in the Ring Lardner story, "Alibi Ike" who told a reporter that he would've had a better batting average the previous season except that he had malaria the whole year. Another time he complained that he only struck out because the scoreboard showed him having 1 strike instead of 2. "I'd have hit a homer except that scoreboard was wrong".
Sure, sure.
But if Trump didn't endorse Moore, why the huge rally for him? Why record a robocall? Why put your ass on the line for a child molester? Why suggest that Doug Jones was a threat to humanity? White House staff are on their toes, helping the little king look for someone to blame. He certainly couldn't be held accountable. Why, he's the greatest president in history!
A disgrace. A liar. A cheat. A gold rimmed spittoon.
PD,
No, I'm pretty sure little mikey pence wouldn't call Kirsten Gillibrand a whore, but he'd be an untrustworthy little shit on so many other counts.
We all know that certain things we did as younger versions of ourselves probably shouldn't count against a lifetime's record of doing things differently. I surely wouldn't want to be judged by some of the crazy stuff I did as a young guy. But actions in certain circumstances actually do point to personality traits that grow more evident with the passing years.
As a college kid, little mikey belonged to a fraternity at Hanover College in Indiana. The school had a no-alcohol policy (does that EVER work in college?) so frat brothers had to sneak in the kegs for parties. During one blowout, a college administrator heard that pence's fraternity had kegs on hand and marched over to find them. Little mikey met him at the door. According to the former member relating the story, the standing agreement was that one brother would take the fall for the beer so the whole fraternity wasn't hammered. Little mikey didn't work that way. He ratted out the whole bunch. Led the administrator right to the hidden kegs and told him the entire fraternity was to blame.
"Phi Gamma Delta was severely punished as a result.
'They really raked us over the coals,' [the former member] said. 'The whole house was locked down.'"
But little mikey?
He got rewarded with a cushy job at the college.
Another weasel. Where do they find them? They must raise them in test tubes. There can't possibly be that many reprehensible assholes in one political party, can there?
(Interestingly, his high morals don't preclude his working to support an adulterer, cheater, serial liar, and sexual predator. But you can bet your boots that when Administrator Mueller comes knocking, little mikey will rat out everyone in the joint as long as he can come out tight as a weasel's puckered ass.)
Marie,
Thanks for the Roy Orbison clip. An excellent choice for the day. Maybe you can run it again upon the defenestration of the little king. The choice of Orbison also raises the issue of how quick Confederates are to paint themselves as victims, as decent people sabotaged tragically by shadowy types "out to get them". Orbison had real tragedy in his life, nothing invented about it, but kept going and resurrected his career before he himself died too young.
To listen to Confederates, no one has it worse. Those well off, privileged white guys are so persecuted and abused, the poor dears!
@Akhilleus: As with many a super-Christian, mike's morality is transactional. He's a good boy so he gets some top real estate in heaven; he's a good boy so he gets a good job in college; he's a good boy so he gets to be veep. Whatever is good for mike.
Thanks for passing along the story. What a sniveling dweeb.
The Racing for Cover has begun in earnest.
It's instructive, now and then, to see how the other side spins events like last night's Trump-Moore-RNC-Confederate debacle.
Right-wing rag, the National Review, which prides itself as a serious conservative journal and had a big sad over the Trumpy Takeover of its party is, in the wake of the stunning ass kicking in Alabama, trying to rewrite history (a favorite winger pastime) by instructing its loyal readers not to worry, that "real" Republicans would never be caught dead voting for a child molester and serial bigot:
"Republicans weren’t going to show up in droves to vote for a man credibly accused of child molestation, a fellow who deployed his campaign spokespeople to explain that Muslims can’t sit in Congress and that homosexuals ought to wind up in prison."
Really? Then who voted for him? Zombies? Maybe there weren't "droves", but the turnout for this election far surpassed predictions and a large number were white Republicans who got out of bed to vote for a man who was banned from the mall for "eyeing little girls with bad intent".
The larger goal of this piece is to declare that the Legend of Trump as the answer to all Confederate problems has been short-circuited. According to the National Review, Trump won because Hillary was the devil incarnate. The writer also goes on to compare Trump with Barack Obama (and Hillary, natch) as equally unreliable, nasty people, because both sides. But a big part of pieces like this is to try to put some distance between how some Republicans need to see themselves (decent, reasonable, patriotic Americans) and what they truly are (supporters of treason and hatred).
You voted for Trump? You own him. You're a Republican? You showed up to vote for a child molester? You own that. You can't take it off like a suit with a stain on the pants and drop it off at the cleaners so it'll be nice and fresh for the next primary campaign.
The Confederate Party owns Trump and Moore. They own bigotry and hatred. They own unrepentant sexual abusers. They own racism and support for the wealthy at the expense of average Americans. They own fact-less attacks. They own unreason.
Writing a whiny piece in one of the "respected" winger journals doesn't change any of that.
Run for cover, you bastards. It won't help. Bad intent is catching.
In the spirit of reconciliation and bipartisanship I will allow myself to sing one line from that lamentable right wing dirge "Sweet home Alabama, where the sky is so blue"
Jonster,
In "Sweet Home Alabama",written and recorded by Florida boys, Lynard Skynard, they say that "Watergate does not bother me" followed by "Does your conscience bother you?" which I've heard interpreted as Nixon's sins were northern sins and so listen up: Nixon's bad acts are yours as well. AND because northerners (liberals) are to blame for Nixon, listeners from up north shouldn't take issue with Alabama racism.
Not sure it works that way. Sounds like an early example of bothsiderism.
"How 'bout you?"
From the Weasels Rip Your Flesh Department (apologies to Frank Zappa):
Nixon necrophiliac Roger Stone is apparently sitting, buzzard-like, on a gnarled tree limb somewhere near the White House, waiting to make a killing off what he sees as Trump's ineluctable quietus.
Of course it won't be Trumpy's fault. Stone resurrects that sorriest and hoariest of right-wing excuses for the failure of their ideological excesses, suggesting that Trump has been "stabbed in the back" by such as Nikki Haley who disloyally suggested that the horde of women abused by Trump over the years might deserve a listen. He then points out "disloyal Cabinet members and other top officials" who would be okay with the invocation of the 25th amendment.
Stone also reveals that, according to his thinking, Mueller will bring charges against Trump, charges that won't be anything serious like collusion, but will be picayune, weenie, lying, liberal accusations of dull "process-related" matters. Insignificant things to Stone, like obstruction of justice. Before scoffing, remember that Stone has, on his back, a tattoo of Nixon, supreme, duplicitous avatar of justice obstruction.
Stone, who made a bundle on a book about Trump's rise, now looks to make another killing on another dull tome about his demise, without admitting, of course, that Trump is a treasonous liar, misogynistic lout, un-American con-man, and narcissistic nihilist.
Stone is just another one of those opportunistic vultures on the right who have no real loyalty to anyone but themselves.
The list is a long one.
As for the Frank Zappa reference, I couldn't think of a more practiced weasel to rip Trump's flesh.
About Social Security: my net reimbursement for this year will be less than last year because they're deducting more for Medicare.