;)
The Commentariat -- Feb. 25, 2016
Julie Davis & David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "Mr. Obama ... telephoned senators and pulled one aside [-- Orrin Hatch (R-Ossified-Utah) --] on Wednesday, took to the Internet to detail his 'careful deliberation' over potential nominees, and reproached Republicans for siding with 'extreme' elements in their party.... In what appeared to be a political feint, one potential nominee's name leaked out, Nevada's Republican governor, Brian Sandoval, a candidate seemingly calculated to demonstrate the depths of Republican obstreperousness. The president invited senior Republicans and Democrats to the White House Thursday to discuss the process, then postponed the meeting Wednesday night after it became clear Republicans were unlikely to show." ...
... UPDATE: Burgess Everett of Politico: "President Barack Obama plans to pick a 'moderate' Supreme Court nominee, Sen. Orrin Hatch said in an interview Thursday after meeting with the president a day earlier. 'I saw him yesterday, and he told me he'll send somebody that'll be moderate. And, we'll wait and see...,' said Hatch, the most senior Republican senator." ...
... Dana Milbank: With few better options, Democratic Senators hold a sham hearing on their Republican colleagues' planned obstruction of any Supreme Court nominee.
... Kevin Liptak & Manu Raju of CNN: "President Barack Obama said Wednesday it would be 'difficult' for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to explain his decision not to consider a Supreme Court nominee without looking like he's motivated by politics. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid suggested a Republican, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, as a potential nominee. A source confirmed to CNN that the White House is vetting Sandoval." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Here's President Obama's blogpost on ScotusBlog, outlining the criteria he intends to use in selecting a nominee. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Charles Pierce thinks a Sandoval nomination would be a good idea. At least liberals can hollar with honesty against his nomination; maybe that would make Senate Repubicans blink. But to what end? ...
... Josh Marshall of TPM: "... let's not forget the massive stakes for Republicans in the next Supreme Court nominee. Many Republicans would genuinely prefer to maintain control of the Supreme Court than elect the next President. Republican control of the Court, a de facto reality for more than a generation with total control going back a decade, is that big a deal. Yet there's a lot more weakness to Senate Republicans' embrace of the 'three nos' yesterday than I think most observers, certainly most Beltway observers, realize. Not just no confirmation, but no vote, no hearings, not even courtesy meetings.... The battle captures an aspect of governmental dysfunction, the arbitrariness of the breakdown of governance that matters a great deal to ... people who aren't tightly aligned with one party or ideology."
** Crackpot Justice Dies during Crackpot Secret Society Hunting Party. Amy Brittain & Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post: "When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died 11 days ago at a West Texas ranch, he was among high-ranking members of an exclusive fraternity for hunters called the International Order of St. Hubertus, an Austrian society that dates back to the 1600s.... Members of the worldwide, male-only society wear dark-green robes emblazoned with a large cross and the motto 'Deum Diligite Animalia Diligentes,' which means 'Honoring God by honoring His creatures.'... Some hold titles, such as Grand Master, Prior and Knight Grand Officer.... It is unclear what, if any, official association Scalia had with the group." ...
... CW: I wrote shortly after his death that it would be interesting to find out who-all was in Scalia's hunting party. Ha! Now, maybe this is just a bunch of jolly good sports, but it sounds to me like a walk on the Dark Side. Maybe that wasn't a pillowcase over Scalia's head; it was a hood. Anyhow, time's up on that "De mortuis nihil nisi bonum" thing. No need to invent crackpot conspiracy theories when the old boy croaked while perhaps participating in a ritualized conspiracy. BTW, the "lord protector" of the Order of St. Hubert is the former King Juan Carlos. of Spain. And why is Juan Carlos the former king? Because he got caught killing elephants for sport (oh, in company of a German mistress), & the Spanish public said basta! BTW, the person who introduced me to Juan Carlos was Hillary Clinton. It's a club, people, and we're not in it. ...
... Ariana Cha of the Washington Post: Antonin Scalia may have died because he forgot to activate a breathing apparatus that helps mitigate his sleep apnea, "a potentially life-threatening condition caused by either a blockage of the airway or a signaling issue from the brain regarding breathing during sleep." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
John Fritze & Yvonne Wenger of the Baltimore Sun: "President Barack Obama on Wednesday nominated the longtime director of Baltimore's public library system to lead the Library of Congress, a venerable institution that has faced criticism in recent years for a perceived reluctance to embrace technology. Carla Hayden, the CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library since 1993, would become the first woman and the first African-American to oversee the 214-year-old library...." ...
... CW: Yeah, so what? Hayden seems like a highly-qualified candidate, but the next sentence in the Sun's report begins with a kicker: "If confirmed by the Senate...." Plus, there's this: "Hayden, a former president of the American Library Association, captured national attention in 2003 for a public spat with then-Attorney General John Ashcroft over the Patriot Act. Hayden objected to a provision that allowed federal authorities to look at library borrowing records to identify potential terrorists.... Republican reaction to Hayden was muted Wednesday." ...
Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "After President Obama on Tuesday morning revealed his plan to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) threw it right in the trash. A video uploaded to Twitter shows Roberts holding Obama's proposal to close the prison used to detain terrorists. 'This is what I think of the President's plan to send terrorists to the United States,' Roberts says in the video before crumpling the plan into a ball and throwing it into a wastebasket." ...
... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "Even for those who deny the inherent racism involved in attempting to delegitimize this country's first African American president, it is obvious that ... it is dangerous to the very underpinnings of our democracy. When the people have spoken and elected someone to lead this country - but they are thwarted in carrying out their Constitutional duties to do so by attempts from the opposing Party to undermine them - it is ... a challenge to all of us who participated in that electoral process.... Our democracy is not based on all of us agreeing with each other. The founders gave us a process for voicing those disagreements...."
Eliza Collins of Politico: "President Barack Obama is using his first job as an ice-cream scooper at Baskin-Robbins to announce a new summer job initiative for young people. Obama announced the Summer Opportunity Project in a post on LinkedIn Thursday. 'My first summer job wasn't exactly glamorous, but it taught me some valuable lessons. Responsibility. Hard work. Balancing a job with friends, family, and school,' Obama wrote in the post." ...
... This is from last week, but it's funny enough to run late rather than never:
... P.S. from Miss Emily Manners-Post: If you aren't black, don't try this yourself.
Matt Apuzzo & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Apple engineers have begun developing new security measures that would make it impossible for the government to break into a locked iPhone using methods similar to those now at the center of a court fight in California, according to people close to the company and security experts.... The only way out of this scenario, experts say, is for Congress to get involved. Federal wiretapping laws require traditional phone carriers to make their data accessible to law enforcement agencies. But tech companies like Apple and Google are not covered, and they have strongly resisted legislation that would place similar requirements on them."
White Boys' Town. Mike McPhate of the New York Times: "Men far outnumber women as directors, writers and industry executives. Minorities are drastically underrepresented in acting roles. Lesbian, gay and transgender characters are almost nonexistent. This is the portrait of an 'epidemic of invisibility' in Hollywood described by researchers in a study released on Monday of more than 400 movies and scripted television series from 2014 and 2015."
Presidential Race
Manu Raju of CNN: "Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid announced Wednesday in an exclusive interview with CNN that he is endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, a sign that Democratic leaders are eager to put the party's contentious primary fight behind them."
Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times: In Columbia, S.C., "Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont began his day of campaigning Wednesday by criticizing Hillary Clinton’s support of welfare reform in 1996, accusing her of backing legislation that ultimately increased poverty levels and led more Americans to face economic anxiety. Mr. Sanders said Mrs. Clinton helped round up votes to pass the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, the welfare reform legislation that President Bill Clinton signed into law. The senator said the bill hurt Americans by punishing poor people rather than helping them." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jordan Weismann of Slate: "Bernie Sanders has rightfully taken flack for his campaign's willingness to promote wildly optimistic claims about how his policy ideas would supercharge the American economy. But when it comes to growth, Sanders gets at least one thing absolutely right: Even though we aren't in a recession, the United States needs some good old-fashioned Keynesian stimulus spending right now, and dropping a gaudy sum of money to rebuild our decaying roads and bridges would be a great way to do it."
Ben Smith of BuzzFeed: "If Hillary Clinton manages to beat Bernie Sanders, the early primaries have already revealed that there's only one strategy for the general election against a Republican, be it Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, or Ted Cruz: Scorch the earth.... 'The slogan is "Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid,"' said Paul Begala, who is an adviser to the pro-Clinton super PAC Priorities USA.... 'It will be her versus a fucking asshole in almost any scenario,' mused one prominent Obama loyalist." ...
... Ed Kilgore: "Truth is, Bernie Sanders is just as likely as Hillary Clinton to 'go negative' in a general election, and with good reason: His entire agenda depends on arousing so much popular anger at conservative perfidy that a 'political revolution' -- currently a complete nonstarter -- becomes feasible."
The Republican candidates debate again tonight. CNN will air the debate beginning at 8:30 pm ET.
Charles Bagli & Megan Twohey of the New York Times: "In his quest for the Republican presidential nomination, Mr. Trump has stoked his crowds by promising to bring back jobs that have been snatched by illegal immigrants or outsourced by corporations, and voters worried about immigration have been his strongest backers. But he has also pursued more than 500 visas for foreign workers at Mar-a-Lago[, his Palm Beach, Florida, club,] since 2010, according to the United States Department of Labor, while hundreds of domestic applicants failed to get the same jobs.... According to federal records, only 17 [American residents] have been hired.... In Palm Beach County, Tom Veenstra, senior director of support services at CareerSource, a job placement service, took issue with Mr. Trump's contention that he could not staff his clubs with locals. 'We have hundreds of qualified applicants for jobs like those,' he said.... Industry experts say [guest workers] can be attractive to employers because they are essentially a captive work force." ...
... OR, as the headline writer for Eric Levitz of New York sums it up: "Donald Trump Has Turned Away Hundreds of American Workers to Hire Cheap Foreign Labor Instead." ...
... The Devoluption of TrumpCare. Gail Collins: "The bottom line is that once you really pin him down, Donald Trump is a mail-order conservative Republican, except more trash-talking about Muslims and Mexicans. Surrender hope and be careful not to die in the streets." ...
... Fox "News": "There might be a 'bombshell' revelation to be discovered in ... Donald Trump's tax returns, 2012 party nominee Mitt Romney said Wednesday. He also called on the entire GOP field to release their tax returns. 'I think there's something there,' Romney said of Trump's returns, 'Either he's not anywhere near as wealthy as he says he is, or he hasn't been paying the kind of taxes we would expect him to pay,' Romney ... told Fox News' Neil Cavuto...." ...
... Paul Waldman: We don't know what kind of general-election candidate Trump would be, but he has already signaled that he will change the color of his hair from reddish to bluish. "He's only presenting himself as a conservative Republican now -- to the degree that he's even doing that -- because he's running in a Republican primary.... While ordinary politicians try to convince you of their consistency, Trump proudly says that he'll turn himself into whatever the situation demands. And if it demands someone who has moderate positions, that's what he'll be." ...
Speaking from a goldplated, silk-wrapped Louis XV-style throne in a gilt & marble salon dripping crystal chandeliers -- which looks pretty much like most people's rec rooms -- Melania Trump says she keeps life "as normal as possible" for her son. The hard-hitting interviewer, natch, is Mika Brzezinski. Via Jessica Roy of New York. One thing I learned from listening to Mrs. T: Slovene doesn't have articles (like "the" and "a"). So the interview was educational. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Thoroughly Conventional Marco. Greg Sargent: "At a rally late yesterday, Rubio called out Trump by name and faulted him for being insufficiently hostile to Obamacare and insufficiently supportive of Israel. 'He thinks parts of Obamacare are pretty good,' Rubio scoffed, before casting himself as the only true scourge of the law. Rubio noted that Trump 'has said he's not going to take sides on Israel versus the Palestinians because he wants to be an honest broker.'... Rubio's new attacks on Trump remain comfortably within the boundaries of GOP orthodoxy.... But if we've learned anything, it's that ... Trump does not proceed from the assumption that government is the problem; government mismanaged by stupid and/or corrupt elites is the problem." ...
... CW: This is why Rubio (and the Tailgunner, too) is a worse candidate than Trump. Frankly, I'd rather see the government (1) engage in a make-work "beautiful" border wall & expand Medicare than see (2) an equally-harsh immigration policy, sans wall, & a return to pre-ObamaCare days. Of course it is impossible to know what a President Trump would do. It appears he has some conventional GOP lackeys write his policy papers, & those flacks pretty much ignore what the candidate says. It's likely these would be the same kind of people who would write Prez Trump's actual proposed legislation while the boss was busy with trivial pursuits; a disastrous Dubya presidency on steroids.
Dana Milbank: "There is something amusing in watching Rubio and Donald Trump come to the shocking discovery that Cruz is a scoundrel.... Cruz has been smearing and fabricating since he arrived in Washington three years ago.... Back in the 1950s, Joe McCarthy rose during the Truman years with his smears about communists in the government. But when he began to go after fellow Republicans in the Eisenhower administration in 1953, he quickly lost support and within two years was censured by the Senate. Now that Republicans are suffering from Tricky Ted's smears, perhaps they will come to a similar conclusion about the damage he does." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Finally. The Grifter's Tale. David Graham of the Atlantic: "For months, reporters and political operatives (including me) have been pointing out that Ben Carson's campaign bears many of the hallmarks of a political scam operation. Now Carson seems to agree. On CNN on Tuesday, Carson discussed his year-end staff shake-up: 'We had people who didn't really seem to understand finances,' a laughing Carson told CNN's Poppy Harlow..., adding, 'or maybe they did -- maybe they were doing it on purpose.' It's a remarkable statement -- especially because he's so blithe about it.... Carson seemed to suggest ... he was taken advantage of by aides who treated the campaign as an ATM." ...
... Aaron Rupar of Think Progress: "The profligacy of Carson's campaign stands in sharp contrast to the discussion of fiscal responsibility on his website, which says, 'The fiscal irresponsibility of our federal government must stop. We cannot go on mortgaging our future to wasteful spending and pretend that nothing is wrong. I will institute fiscal discipline in Washington in order to restore a bright future for our children and grandchildren.'..." ...
... digby: "... it's pathetic that he keeps right on chugging, appearing in debates, messing up the primary and collecting money from average Americans who think he's that guy who wrote 'Healing Hands' instead of the creepy weirdo he is today."
Congressional Election
Harper Neidig of the Hill: "Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) said on Wednesday that he still plans to retire at the end of the year, saying that he wants to leave office at the same time as the first black president."
Beyond the Beltway
Kirk Johnson of the New York Times: "Defendants charged with leading an armed occupation at a federal wildlife refuge in rural southeastern Oregon this year formally pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in a hearing [in Portland, Oregon] at Federal District Court, saying little and sitting obediently.... The 25 men and women face up to six years in prison on charges that they impeded federal government employees from performing their duties in occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in a 40-day standoff. At a pretrial hearing on Wednesday, prosecutors in Federal District Court said they still intended to file more charges based on evidence compiled after the last occupation holdouts surrendered earlier this month."
Peggy Fikac & David Rauf of the Houston Chronicle: "Texas' highest criminal court on Wednesday tossed out the remaining charge against former Gov. Rick Perry in the abuse-of-power case against him. The court also affirmed a previous ruling for Perry that dismissed a second felony charge of coercion of a public official." CW: Like all candidates, Perry suspended, not ended, his presidential campaign. Maybe he should get back in the race now that he's free of any outstanding felony charges. I'll see you one "Oops!" for three "The American people ... people ... people." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
"A Militia of Toddlers." Lindsey Bever of the Washington Post: Iowa's "House of Representatives voted Tuesday to pass a bill that would permit children under age 14 to use 'a pistol, revolver or the ammunition' while under direct parental supervision.... The current law has no restrictions on children using long guns or shotguns under their parents' instruction but prohibits them from using handguns."
Andrew Knapp & Dave Munday of the Charleston, South Carolina, Post & Courier: "A woman who was arrested at a hospital over the summer for failing to pay court fines died the next day because she was deprived of water at the Charleston County jail, her family's attorneys said Wednesday.... [Joyce] Curnell's death came at a time of increased scrutiny of how black women are handled behind bars."
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Reader Comments (20)
Hmm...so Nino, Grand High Hood Wearing Scepter Holding Looker After of Animals Right Up to the Moment He Shot Them in "Controlled" Hunting Extravaganzas, had a thing for secretive medieval societies. Who ever woulda think it? I mean the guy was so forward looking and all. Maybe the founders he was always bowing to weren't Hamilton and Madison and Jefferson but a bunch of pissed off nobles from The fields of Runneymede.
Which makes me wonder if he could have been involved in other secretive medieval groups. I've always pictured Scalia as a natural for some kind of Star Chamber where hooded "judges" handed down verdicts in complete secrecy to be carried out by nefarious operatives. He was a natural for that sort of thing. Oh well, I suppose everyone needs a hobby. Painting pictures of cute puppies and piggy toes in a sudsy bath wasn't his thing apparently.
And not for nothin' but am I the only one who thinks it sounds a tad weird that a group supposedly gathered to honor god's creatures did so by shooting them? Not to mention that laughing at environmental protection is an equally odd way to honor those same critters. Oh well, they're all gonna be trophies on some castle wall soon enough. Fuck the environment.
So far we have had Trump compared with Mussolini, Hitler, Huey Long, Andrew Jackson, and... but yesterday Jeet Heer from TNR––one of the better writers still at that magazine––compares the Donald to Daddy Warbucks. I found this interesting because I always thought of D.W. as a benevolent caretaker with a cranky side to him. So I did a little research and was thrilled to find that the cartoon was fashioned from an 1885 poem by James Whitcomb Riley called "Little Orphant Annie" ––the very same poem that was in a book of his poems that my mother read to me on her knee and was one of my favorites because it was so scary (the illustrations were marvelous). So I give you the two last stanzas––the refrain is exactly the message we need to remember if certain goblins have their way with us.
An’ one time a little girl ‘ud allus laugh an’ grin,
An’ make fun of ever’one, an’ all her blood an’ kin;
An’ onc’t, when they was “company," an’ ole folks was there,
She mocked ‘em an’ shocked ‘em, an’ said she didn’t care!
An’ thist as she kicked her heels, an’ turn’t to run an’ hide,
They was two great big Black Things a-standin’ by her side,
An’ they snatched her through the ceilin’ ‘fore she knowed what she’s about!
An’ the Gobble-uns’ll git you
Ef you
Don’t
Watch
Out!
An’ little Orphant Annie says when the blaze is blue,
An’ the lamp-wick sputters, an’ the wind goes woo-oo!
An’ you hear the crickets quit, an’ the moon is gray,
An’ the lightnin’-bugs in dew is all squenched away,--
You better mind yer parents, an’ yer teachers fond an’ dear,
An’ churish them ‘at loves you, an’ dry the orphant’s tear,
An’ he’p the pore an’ needy ones ‘at clusters all about,
Er the Gobble-uns’ll git you
Ef you
Don’t
Watch
Out!
The web page for the St. Hubertus outfit says that its establishment in the U.S. was at the Bohemian Grove, another bastion of privilege where the plutocrats notoriously pee on trees during the summer session. Marie is right (a la George Carlin), there is a Club and you definitely aren't in it.
But, Akhilleus, although I am not a hunter or fisher, I have to acknowledge that people who take that seriously (as opposed to yahoos who jacklight deer, etc.) are also largely responsible for promotion of conservation and game management. It's a complicated relationship with the animals you shoot at. And I'd welcome the boys into my suburban neighborhood to clear out those pesky whitetails (arrows only please) anytime.
As for the nature of this particular society, I suppose the titled Hapsburgs have to do SOMETHING with their spare time. As societies go, this one seems pretty harmless.
But they are also kind of crackpotty. On their website they take partial credit for keeping the Soviets out of Austria after WWII, with their hunting guns ever ready. I doubt Marshall Zhukov was really impressed.
Yesterday Amy Klobuchar, one of the best of the bunch, along with many of her senator colleagues, chaired a hearing on the possible curtailment of the judicial nomination for the S.C. There were four stellar law professors, both democrats and conservatives, who were all in agreement of the necessity for Obama to nominate someone now. "You don't abandon your job! And if you decide to do so, you should lose that job."
@AK: Remember Nino was a great lover of opera––so maybe the phrase, "Well, you don't need to make an opera out of it!" is something he ignored and indeed did just that donned with green robes and fancy hoods. And yes, I do think it a tad weird that they showed their love for God's creatures by killing them––pretty dodgy goings on in them dark dank woods, doncha think?
@Patrick: And we never have to wonder any more where Scalia got the idea that the Second Amendment protected an individual's right to own a firearm. Who needs the lumpen proletariat of the NRA when you can turn instead to Grandmaster Franz, Duke of Bavaria & heir to the Stuart kings, to learn all about staving off the commie oppressors with your trusty muskets? (One does have to hope the commies arrange themselves in respectful sitting-duck formation so the gentlemen of the hunt can dress up in "traditional European shooting attire [as they do] for the boxed bird shoot competition” to save us all.)
Marie
A couple of thoughts on the SC nomination:
1. When I voted in 2012, one of the things I voted for, consciously, was that the presidential nominee for whom I voted would be the one to nominate justices should a vacancy arise during his term. And I was voting AGAINST having the other fellow be able to do that. So when Sen. McConnell & Co. assert that the people's will should prevail, I agree. But I and millions of other people already expressed that will in 2012. What right does the GOP have to deny it?
2. Last night we on the I-95 corridor got some seriously nasty wind and rain that seemed aimed at Washington right during the commute. So, God took Scalia so that Obama could replace him, McConnell obstructs that, and within days God sends his wrath to D.C. to signal McConnell to back off. How come these RWNJs ignore the will o' God?
Why Sandoval is being floated around is answered by Jason Linkins as he sees it:
1) Obama really thinks Sandoval is a great nominee and genuinely wants to see this happen.
2) Obama doesn't think Sandoval is that great, but he does believe filling the Supreme Court as quickly as possible is more important than securing a liberal legacy, and he figures Sandoval would at least be acceptable.
3) Obama is basically trolling the GOP, hoping they react in a way that makes them look idiotic.
and Jason thinks answer is behind door 3––let's hope.
@ Patrick: answer to YOUR question: Cuz they think they be greater than God, and you know how God feels about that! He's not to going to take that lying down, no sireee, Bud, he's planning a wrath greater than a few ill winds and rainy days.
Posted on Facebook:
A YouGov/Economist poll asked readers if they approved or disapproved of "the executive order that freed all slaves in the states that were in rebellion against the federal government," also known as the Emancipation Proclamation.
About 1 in 5 Trump supporters polled in this particular YouGov/Economist poll said they disapproved of it. An additional 17 percent said they "weren't sure."
I think that it actually means that the question was presented too difficultly for 37% of Trump supporters to figure out what it actually meant.
I don't know if I'd want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member....When it's hosted by a poindexter and populated by egregiously esthetically unappealing old white men who'd make Augusta denizens look robust by comparison, I'm thinking I like my crowd. These guys don't "hunt"; they divide up the world's spoils they've acquired through nefarious means.
@MB: Good to see you back on the NYTimes (Gail Collins) commenting! and garnering the recommends as ever!
How's about some ho-ho-hos, tee-hee-hees, and a couple of tra-la-las from RWW?
I notice that The Rat is wagging a very large finger in the direction of a certain carrot-topped clown, suggesting, through gnawing little rodent teeth, that financial transparency for all candidates is necessary and wonders aloud, in his usual snippy superior manner that perhaps Trump has something to hide, like maybe he hasn't been paying all the taxes he should, like a good citizen.
Pardon while I bust a gut. This from the guy who dragged his feet for months about giving out with the tiniest bits of information about his finances in 2012 and finally deigned to release two years of back taxes after which he shut the door on further transparency. Queen Ann donned her tiara and went on national television to declare that "We've given you people enough!" Then we found out about all those offshore accounts Mr and Mrs Rat use to hide their money so they don't have to pay their fair share of taxes. Like good citizens.
You may also recall that back in '08, when McCain's people were sizing up the RomBot as a possible VP candidate , they demanded a complete financial accounting. What they saw must have raised more red flags than a parade around the Kremlin because McCain said no thanks and instead bet the house on an imbecile.
But now that cheese eating rat wants to present himself as the financial transparency hall monitor for Confederate candidates.
I swear none of these people own mirrors.
@P.D. Pepe: Thanks for bringing up Riley's "Little Orphant Annie" and quoting those stanzas. My mother read that to me and my brother, too, as well as many other marvelous poems. Hadn't thought about it in years!
Regarding the Sandoval vetting you brought up, Matthew Yglesias has a good analysis in Slate. There are downsides and there are upsides (hedging bets against a Republican win in November is certainly one).
@PD Pepe: Thanks so much for the James Whitcomb Riley poem. My father used to recite a part of that poem -- it seems he combined verses -- as a bedtime story. He treated the punchline "And the goblins'll git you if you don't watch out" as a joke, not a warning, so it wasn't a scary bedtime story. I knew it was "an old poem," but I've never known who wrote it, & I'd never heard the complete poem.
Of course it will no longer be a joke if there's a President Trump. Candidate Trump is funny; President Trump would be the scariest American story since the Civil War.
Marie
PD,
Beg pardon, but might you have the contact information for the goblins mentioned in that Little Orphan Annie poem? They seem like very capable chaps and there are a few people I'd like them to visit.
Many thanks.
Some days ago I wrote - mystified by why ' dirt " ' about He, Trump has not really been used by his opponents.
Just saw over on HuffPost a possible explanation. Nobody took him seriously! : "...That researcher estimated that of all the material they’ve compiled -- court and property records, newspaper clips and videos -- approximately 80 percent of it has yet to surface in this election cycle."
Though I sometime find reading her a slog, Marilyn Robinson has much good to say about the state of our education, economy and politics in this Harper's article. Found it intriguing, too, that she opens with Emerson, another writer great at the sentence level but not so great at prolonged, reasoned argument, but nonetheless worth the effort. Similar voices, IMHO.
https://harpers.org/archive/2016/03/save-our-public-universities/
@MAG: Relatedly, I wondered why his opponents, Jeb! included, went easy on Trump. If anyone could have ripped Trump to shreds, it would have been Chris Christie, but he chose Marco instead. His "explanation," Yahoo News reports, is along the lines of, "I was gonna wait till the field narrowed down to him & me." That worked well.
Marie
Yes, Bernie is pushing infrastructure investment. Obama tried to push infrastructure investment when we really needed the jobs and money was cheap but the Rs blocked it.
Interest rates are still low, and we really really need to invest in the basic things that keep life going. We have mooched off of our parents and our grandparents for too long. They built stuff to last, but we haven't picked up the ball to start replacing those 100-year-old water lines that were built to last 80 years.
This is a view I have had for a long time, but it's kinda pressing right now. We're under a "boil water" order for the next few days while they fix a water main break that expanded and became 8 breaks when valves didn't work properly.
Bloomberg/Christie Third Party Ticket?
Kochs et al dump the Grand Old Plutocracy and start a new one?
K.O.C.H. -- Kleptocrats Oligarchs Capitalists & Henchmen?
Motto: "Let Them Eat Nachos!"
Battle of the Billionaires? Make America Gilded Again! Ramen Noodles and Circuses for all!
Le Donald has proved that Barnum was right and nothing is impossible in the Good Old USA!
Followed one of Charlie Pierce's links today, over on Rolling Stone there's a good piece on the unstoppable Trump " by Mike Taibbi.
Perhaps the uprising is about to get some momentum? — Charles C. W. Cooke, staff writer at National Review seems to be feeling the panic "!
Hah! Stopping the unstoppable!