US Politics Thread |OT| THE DARKEST TIMELINE

[benjipwns]

Kara Lessin is a 23-year-old in her final year at Harvard who has volunteered for Sanders but was excited by Clinton eight years ago. “The ‘I’m a woman and it’s OK to vote with your uterus’ message is tired,” she said. “Bernie really understands systemic oppression. Her neo-liberal politics is pretty tired.”

[benjipwns]

get a hotfix out quick #PatchTuesday

[benjipwns]

 

[Madrun Badrun]

O man he loves this attention. 

[benjipwns]

Jeb Bush said Monday he would "eliminate" the Supreme Court decision that paved the way for super PACs.

"If I could do it all again I'd eliminate the Supreme Court ruling" Citizens United, Bush told CNN's Dana Bash. "This is a ridiculous system we have now where you have campaigns that struggle to raise money directly and they can't be held accountable for the spending of the super PAC that's their affiliate."

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
Now that Bush has wasted $120 million of special interest money on his failed campaign, he says he would end super PACs. Sad!
2:47 PM - 8 Feb 2016

[Oblivion]

The Donald ain't wrong tho. 

[Great Rumbler]

Super PACs are bad, says the candidate whose Super PAC has raised the most money by far.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Talking about Hillary, of course.

[close]

[Joe Molotov]

Sad!

[benjipwns]

[benjipwns]

http://theresurgent.com/the-marco-rubio-robot-bull/

Much of the political press leans left and has zero experience in politics. Perhaps they graduated Ivy League, did a tour or two at Salon or some lefty blog, then got in on the ground floor at a national media outlet covering politics. They can afford to split rent with five other bros or gals, buy a couple pairs of skinny jeans that they’ll refer to in the singular as a pant or a jean, and silently mock all the people they encounter on the campaign trail who are not cool or sophisticated or dressed like they robbed a Goodwill store in Bangkok. These political reporters have decided that Marco Rubio is a robot because they hear him repeat his lines all the time. They are idiots and Marco knows what he is doing.

The truth of the matter is that while the candidates on the debate stage with Marco and the reporters who resentfully follow him around all the time have heard the same lines over and over and over, most of the American public has not. And when the people in Nashua, NH hear it for the first time, it may be new to the press, but in Manchester it is new to the crowd and old to the press. By the time Rubio gets to Lebanon, NH, the crowd again hears it for the first time, but the press has heard it incessantly.

Therefore Rubio is a robot to the press and his debate stage opponents.

To the public, though, he is on message. For eight years the GOP elite and pundit class have bitched and moaned that the GOP needed to stay focused and on message. Along come Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio who both relentlessly stay on message and the GOP have decided one is unlikable and the other is a robot. It is all nonsense. It is a mutually sympathetic circle jerk of pundits and press racing each other to come up with the wittiest stereotype to capture the imagination of bored politicos tired of the cold in Iowa and New Hampshire. It is a game to the press, but is a life and death, daily struggle to the voters who yearn for something more and something else. Just as the “Cruz is not likable” line is unfair to Cruz, the “Rubio is a robot” line is unfair to Rubio. Cruz may be unlikable to Washington politicos and Rubio a repetitive robot to the same group, but the American public have not seemed to notice.

Just read this from Chris Cillizza.

The first time you watch Marco Rubio debate, you will almost certainly be wowed. He speaks not in sentences but in paragraphs. He has an answer, fully formed, for every question. He comes across as deeply well-versed and well-spoken on, well, everything.

The second time you watch Rubio debate, you’ll probably feel the same. Maybe even the third time.

But, over time, you’ll start to notice that the paragraphs that Rubio speaks in start to sound a lot alike. That’s because they are. And, you’ll start to see Rubio as less the smartest kid in the class and more as the kid who memorized every answer in the book but doesn’t have much of a clue about what it all really means.

Who the hell watches debates that much besides the political junkies and the press? I eat, breathe, and sleep this business, have flown to several debates, and been to my fair share of Iowa diners. Even I have not watched all the debates. The American people surely have not.

...

The Circle of Jerks may be tired of it, but the American people are only just tuning in. That the media and Rubio’s political opponents have generated an entire caricature of Rubio over his ability to stay on message says more about Rubio’s critics than it does Rubio. In a season when nobody knows what anybody stands for, Rubio’s repetition paints his positions in bold colors. Everyone knows where he stands — he thinks Barack Obama has committed malfeasance in office while Chris Christie, who attacked Rubio for repetition, cannot stay on message on guns, abortion, or even whether what he thinks of Barack Obama.

  DAVID BROOKS ALERT

spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/09/opinion/i-miss-barack-obama.html?_r=0

As this primary season has gone along, a strange sensation has come over me: I miss Barack Obama. Now, obviously I disagree with a lot of Obama’s policy decisions. I’ve been disappointed by aspects of his presidency. I hope the next presidency is a philosophic departure.

But over the course of this campaign it feels as if there’s been a decline in behavioral standards across the board. Many of the traits of character and leadership that Obama possesses, and that maybe we have taken too much for granted, have suddenly gone missing or are in short supply.

The first and most important of these is basic integrity. The Obama administration has been remarkably scandal-free.

...

Hillary Clinton is constantly having to hold these defensive press conferences when she’s trying to explain away some vaguely shady shortcut she’s taken, or decision she has made, but Obama has not had to do that.

He and his wife have not only displayed superior integrity themselves, they have mostly attracted and hired people with high personal standards. There are all sorts of unsightly characters floating around politics, including in the Clinton camp and in Gov. Chris Christie’s administration. This sort has been blocked from team Obama.

Second, a sense of basic humanity. ...

He’s exuded this basic care and respect for the dignity of others time and time again. Let’s put it this way: Imagine if Barack and Michelle Obama joined the board of a charity you’re involved in. You’d be happy to have such people in your community. Could you say that comfortably about Ted Cruz? The quality of a president’s humanity flows out in the unexpected but important moments.

Third, a soundness in his decision-making process. ...

Obama’s basic approach is to promote his values as much as he can within the limits of the situation. Bernie Sanders, by contrast, has been so blinded by his values that the reality of the situation does not seem to penetrate his mind.

Take health care. Passing Obamacare was a mighty lift that led to two gigantic midterm election defeats. As Megan McArdle pointed out in her Bloomberg View column, Obamacare took coverage away from only a small minority of Americans. Sanderscare would take employer coverage away from tens of millions of satisfied customers, destroy the health insurance business and levy massive new tax hikes. This is epic social disruption.

To think you could pass Sanderscare through a polarized Washington and in a country deeply suspicious of government is to live in intellectual fairyland. President Obama may have been too cautious, especially in the Middle East, but at least he’s able to grasp the reality of the situation.

Fourth, grace under pressure. I happen to find it charming that Marco Rubio gets nervous on the big occasions — that he grabs for the bottle of water, breaks out in a sweat and went robotic in the last debate. It shows Rubio is a normal person. And I happen to think overconfidence is one of Obama’s great flaws. But a president has to maintain equipoise under enormous pressure. Obama has done that, especially amid the financial crisis. After Saturday night, this is now an open question about Rubio.

Fifth, a resilient sense of optimism. ...

People are motivated to make wise choices more by hope and opportunity than by fear, cynicism, hatred and despair. Unlike many current candidates, Obama has not appealed to those passions.

No, Obama has not been temperamentally perfect. Too often he’s been disdainful, aloof, resentful and insular. But there is a tone of ugliness creeping across the world, as democracies retreat, as tribalism mounts, as suspiciousness and authoritarianism take center stage.

Obama radiates an ethos of integrity, humanity, good manners and elegance that I’m beginning to miss, and that I suspect we will all miss a bit, regardless of who replaces him.

[close]

[Phoenix Dark]

 

But Brooks...is right. We're gonna miss Barry brehs.

[benjipwns]

Jeb!

[benjipwns]

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/flint-water-crisis/michigan-board-approves-petition-recall-gov-rick-snyder-n514316

   A Michigan state board has approved circulation of a petition to recall Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder — but not over the water crisis in Flint.

The Board of State Canvassers, part of the secretary of state's office, rejected nine other recall petitions, six of them based on Snyder's widely criticized handling of lead from corroded pipes that began leaching into Flint homes following a cost-saving move to pump water from the Flint River.

But the petition approved Monday seeks to remove Snyder, a Republican, from office over his decision last year to take control of the state office to reform schools, which organizers say disregards local prerogatives, according to The Detroit News and The Associated Press.

It takes three members of the four-person member board, which is split between Republicans and Democrats, to approve a recall petition.

The vote gives organizers 180 days to gather enough signatures to add a ballot measure later this year asking voters to oust Snyder, who told NBC station WEYI of Flint on Monday that he had no intention of resigning.

"I want to solve this problem," Snyder said, contending that things "are clearly going in the right direction" in Flint.

[Joe Molotov]

But Brooks...is right. We're gonna miss Barry brehs.

I can't wait for Republicans to wistfully remember Obama as someone they could at least work with, not like that hysterical bitch Hillary.

[CatsCatsCats]

So for New Hampshire is it like each county votes and that's a delegate assigned per county or district or whateve?

[Mandark]

I think it's just proportional based on share of the vote, though on the GOP side you need at least 10 percent, and any unassigned delegates go to the first place finisher.

[Human Snorenado]

I think it's just proportional based on share of the vote, though on the GOP side you need at least 10 percent, and any unassigned delegates go to the first place finisher.

If that's the case, Trump is gonna clean up

[CatsCatsCats]

Oh yeah, with the field spread so much top GOP cleanin up

Re: Hill/Bern + Feminism, our own Drinky crow shared this in the facebot and I found it pretty interesting perspective https://m.facebook.com/notes/shasta-willson/feminists-of-a-certain-age/10153906138332486/

[Phoenix Dark]

#AllRobotsMatter

[Steve Contra]

Oh yeah, with the field spread so much top GOP cleanin up

Re: Hill/Bern + Feminism, our own Drinky crow shared this in the facebot and I found it pretty interesting perspective https://m.facebook.com/notes/shasta-willson/feminists-of-a-certain-age/10153906138332486/

All I'm getting out of this is it's really fucking hard to be a woman in politics.  iI, like so many young woman say, it doesn't matter anymore why the fuck is it still a deafening roar.

[Brehvolution]

http://www.mediaite.com/online/alex-jones-the-pathetic-scum-supporting-bernie-sanders-need-their-jaws-broken/

 

[Joe Molotov]

Santorum is dropping out of the race, which comes as a huge shock to everyone to find that Santorum was still in the race.

[brawndolicious]

New Hampshire is his unicorn.

[Steve Contra]

Santorum is dropping out of the race, which comes as a huge shock to everyone to find that Santorum was still in the race.

I thought he dropped out last tuesday? 

[Mandark]

Yeah, dropped out and endorsed Rubio last week.

[Phoenix Dark]

I guess he dropped out and the spread is still landing in different places huh 

[Samson Manhug]

I hope some more drop out this week because I was planning on writing about the remaining candidates and it would be tough to keep it under 800 words with nine of them still running. Please go, Carson, Fiorina, Gilmore, and Kacich.

[Steve Contra]

Gilmore

There, saved you some words

[Samson Manhug]

I almost wrote (?) after his name

[Steve Contra]

The only thing I know about him (I guess it's a him because they'd have mentioned another woman) is the name Gilmore keeps coming up in lists of people running for president.

[Phoenix Dark]

A fierce Obama hater at work is talking about the Brooks piece and using it to shit on how "divisive" Hillary and Bernie are 

it begins

[benjipwns]

In another wide-ranging interview with talk-radio host Michael Savage, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested President Obama might not have a desire to defeat the Islamic jihadist group ISIS, and the real-estate billionaire shied away from declaring he would win the New Hampshire primary Tuesday.

Trump repeated his observation that President Obama refuses to identify the enemy as “radical Islamic terrorism,” insisting ISIS and other groups have nothing to do with Islam.

“It’s radical Islamic terrorism, and we have a president who won’t even use the words,” he said. “If you don’t use the words, you’re never going to get rid of the problem.

“Maybe he doesn’t want to get rid of the problem,” Trump said. “I don’t know exactly what’s going on.”

Savage asked Trump about the mix-up during the introductions for the ABC News Republican debate Saturday night in which Ben Carson missed his call and stood at the stage entrance while other candidates passed him.

Savage noted Trump was the only one who didn’t “step over him.”

“All the others walked by him, like he wasn’t there,” Savage said. “He didn’t hear it, or something. You actually stood there and you told him his name was called. And you said, ‘Ben, go ahead, you were called first.'”

Trump said it wasn’t Carson’s fault.

“You couldn’t hear a thing back there. It was really the fault of the network,” Trump said.

So, I walked out and I saw Ben standing, and I said, ‘What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be out there.’

“I stood with him until they got it straight,” he said.

Savage commented that the other candidates “stepped over, basically, a person who had fallen in the street.”

“And that tells you an awful lot about people,” the talk host said.

[Samson Manhug]

I thought Gilmore was the old, white, conservative, military veteran, politician from Virginia but that's impossible because then who is Jim Webb?

[Mandark]

Gilmore's the former one-term Republican governor of Virginia.

No, not that one.  Gilmore's the one who's not going to jail.

[Phoenix Dark]

Well now you've made me think of George Allen for the first time in years. I've lost the Bush Aughts version of The Game
 

[benjipwns]

Jim GilmoreVerified account
‏@gov_gilmore
Started out as 1 of 17 GOP Candidates, now with Rand Paul & Rick Santorum out, 1 or 9. #StillStanding

[Great Rumbler]

[Samson Manhug]

I don't see how this is getting so much attention, honestly. Candidates give the same speeches over and over — this is bound to happen. It's like singing a song and realizing you just restarted the same verse unintentionally.

[Mandark]

Haven't seen the debates, but had heard a lot of people comment on Rubio seeming especially scripted in his responses, and had read similar stuff about him on the campaign trail.  Then he had that moment with Christie, which was terrible (after being called out specifically relying on canned quotes, he pulled out the exact same one he had just said).

That got enough attention that people are now going to be keeping an eagle eye out for similar slip-ups, fair or not.

[brawndolicious]

I don't see how this is getting so much attention, honestly. Candidates give the same speeches over and over — this is bound to happen. It's like singing a song and realizing you just restarted the same verse unintentionally.

Yeah at stump speeches in different cities. Doing that in your debate rebuttal though? Really cuts hard when his main criticism is his accomplishments and experience.

[Joe Molotov]

Jim GilmoreVerified account
‏@gov_gilmore
Started out as 1 of 17 GOP Candidates, now with Rand Paul & Rick Santorum out, 1 or 9. #StillStanding

His odds of getting the nomination have increased from ~6% to 11%.

[recursivelyenumerable]

the mystery to me is why would that be your go-to canned zinger?

like
1) it had no obvious relation to the context or question ever
2) the phrasing - "dispel with this notion" etc. - would sound stilted even were it semantically correct
3) on the surface it's "vote Rubio because Obama knows what he's doing", which,
4) even if you parse the actual argument he's making, it's confusing and doesn't exactly smell like red meat - can't he at least throw in some scary example of the iniquity of The Rest of the World?

is there some context I'm missing that would make this resonate with the GOP base?

[Mandark]

The intention is for audiences to hear it as "he's not fucking up by accident, he's destroying this country because he hates it."

It's something that should resonate with the constituency Rubio's pitching himself to, but it's not a good line to repeat like a mantra.  Make America Great Again is really clean and simple, by comparison.

[Joe Molotov]

ok, but why would that be your go-to canned zinger? "vote Rubio because Obama knows what he's doing"

He's trying to combat the other establishment candidates that are like "Obama was a one-term senator that didn't know wtf he's doing, we need someone with experience, not Marco Man-Child Rubio!" and Rubio's like "Nuh uh, Obama totally knew what he was doing, he was just fucking up the country on purpose. I know what I'm doing too and if you vote for me I'll fuck up the country even better than Obama did!"

[recursivelyenumerable]

The intention is for audiences to hear it as "he's not fucking up by accident, he's destroying this country because he hates it."

It's something that should resonate with the constituency Rubio's pitching himself to, but it's not a good line to repeat like a mantra.  Make America Great Again is really clean and simple, by comparison.

Yeah I get that, but it's pretty oblique for a soundbite, and wtf does it have to do with getting someone to vote for Rubio over the other primary candidates even if they agree with the sentiment.

[recursivelyenumerable]

ok, but why would that be your go-to canned zinger? "vote Rubio because Obama knows what he's doing"

He's trying to combat the other establishment candidates that are like "Obama was a one-term senator that didn't know wtf he's doing, we need someone with experience, not Marco Man-Child Rubio!" and Rubio's like "Nuh uh, Obama totally knew what he was doing, he was just fucking up the country on purpose. I know what I'm doing too and if you vote for me I'll fuck up the country even better than Obama did!"

yeah that was the only interpretation I could think of, but he didn't do a whole lot to connect those dots.

[Mandark]

Yeah I get that, but it's pretty oblique for a soundbite, and wtf does it have to do with getting someone to vote for Rubio over the other primary candidates even if they agree with the sentiment.

As a (comparatively) mainstream, milquetoast candidate, Rubio has to prove his credentials by stressing just how monstrous he feels Obama is.  Romney did basically the same thing, proving his commitment to conservatism not by adopting far-right policy positions but by letting the voters know that he, too, loathed Obama.

I mean, it's not going to make actual sense, but it has a sort of internal logic.

[CatsCatsCats]

Google already saying Sanders won with 13% reporting, must be by district or somethin


Trump too.


Trump v Sanders would be my dream general, just sayin

[Mandark]

Only 14% reporting, but looks like Rubio's running 5th?  And no clear geographic trend that would make me think the early returns are particularly skewed one way.

Interesting times.

[Human Snorenado]

If Rubio can't get 10% he gets no delegates. He's at like 10.5 now with 25 % reporting. COME ON NEW HAMPSHIRE, LET'S MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN

[ToxicAdam]

Were Kasich's numbers a surprise or where they were supposed to be?

[Phoenix Dark]

Were Kasich's numbers a surprise or where they were supposed to be?

He's been campaigning in the state longer and harder than anyone. Also lots of independents in the state and he appealed to them as well.

[Mandark]

He's a point or two above his RCP average for NH, but it's basically expected.

Basically everyone's finishing where they were meant to, except Rubio.

[Phoenix Dark]

He's a point or two above his RCP average for NH, but it's basically expected.

Basically everyone's finishing where they were meant to, except Rubio.

Can't find the link now but the exit polls showed that two thirds of GOP voters found the last debate to be very important, and around that same amount said they made up their mind in the last few days. That debate sunk Rubio.

[Human Snorenado]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/clinton-campaign-memo-new-hampshire

Moments after the New Hampshire Democratic primary was called for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) by the major networks, Hillary Clinton's campaign blasted out a three-page memo penned by campaign manager Robby Mook stressing the importance of the primaries that come after the first four in February.

[Phoenix Dark]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/clinton-campaign-memo-new-hampshire

Moments after the New Hampshire Democratic primary was called for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) by the major networks, Hillary Clinton's campaign blasted out a three-page memo penned by campaign manager Robby Mook stressing the importance of the primaries that come after the first four in February.

I've seen this movie before, but they recast the lead as a 70yo white guy.

#RemakesSoWhite

[Syph]

rubio showing hurting me brehs
#only53percentreporting

[Phoenix Dark]

https://vine.co/v/i1E5LTtKwgP

[Human Snorenado]

For the record: I think Hillary is going to end up beating Bernie.

However, his candidacy has underlined a weakness: she really doesn't have a message other than "Vote for me! I can fix it! Or not fuck it up!"

Granted, in the general, she's likely to be running against a lunatic, so that may play well. But, I think she thought that she could run on that in the primary too.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Why is Trump still winning? I hate America, Benji give me 4 of those dildos and a bag of chips the supporters sent you, it's stand off time