2016 Presidential Race

[Jerloma]

The worst thing is that with all the fun everyone is having with the plagiarism, there's less attention being paid to how hateful the program was. I mean, calling up victims of violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants for the purpose of deceiving people into believing that illegal immigrants pose some kind of threat - even though native-born Americans are by far a more violent group than immigrants, legal or illegal.

Between this shit and the false claims about American Muslims celebrating 9/11 and about people calling for a minute of silence for the guy who shot the cops in Dallas, this is starting to scare me. It's far too similar to 1930s Germany for my liking.

The entire fucking platform is full of lies and straw men and pretty much a manual for how to legislate bigotry. I'm sorry, but I don't know how anyone even remotely concerned about human progress can attempt to vote these assholes into the White House. They could have just wrote "So we're basically going to spend four years trying to repeal every law that was ever created to provide groups of people who aren't us with equal rights."

[P.D.X.]

The entire fucking platform is full of lies and straw men and pretty much a manual for how to legislate bigotry. I'm sorry, but I don't know how anyone even remotely concerned about human progress can attempt to vote these assholes into the White House.

That's not their audience.

[rass]

...

[Pruitt]

The worst thing is that with all the fun everyone is having with the plagiarism, there's less attention being paid to how hateful the program was. I mean, calling up victims of violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants for the purpose of deceiving people into believing that illegal immigrants pose some kind of threat - even though native-born Americans are by far a more violent group than immigrants, legal or illegal.

Between this shit and the false claims about American Muslims celebrating 9/11 and about people calling for a minute of silence for the guy who shot the cops in Dallas, this is starting to scare me. It's far too similar to 1930s Germany for my liking.

The entire fucking platform is full of lies and straw men and pretty much a manual for how to legislate bigotry. I'm sorry, but I don't know how anyone even remotely concerned about human progress can attempt to vote these assholes into the White House. They could have just wrote "So we're basically going to spend four years trying to repeal every law that was ever created to provide groups of people who aren't us with equal rights."

And I will bet American dollars that Trump gets close to 45% of voting americans to put an X next to his name.

They could have had people shitting on the stage, yelling the N word and the C word and promising to repeal freedom of speech and assembly...

And they could still get 40% of the vote. What is going on?

[The Sybian]

The worst thing is that with all the fun everyone is having with the plagiarism, there's less attention being paid to how hateful the program was.

I wondered if this wasn't intentional, to bring the focus away from the enormous lies that were the entire basis for the themes of the night. I fully expected Benghazi to be a theme, but holy fuck did they drill that argument. Would have been great if the guy running the Benghazi video slipped in the Fox News interview where Trey Gowdy admitted there was nothing Hillary could have done to save Stevens and he others. Disgusting how they are politicizing these deaths. Where was the outrage when 13 embassies and consulates were attacked under Bush and 60 people died? Or when the Republicans in Congress voted down the State Department's pleas for additional security at embassies? Putting The mother on the stage was an all-time low.

[DaveInSeattle]

They could have had people shitting on the stage...

Which may just happen..

A handful of Republican staff members in Cleveland for the GOP convention were reported to be suffering Tuesday from a possible norovirus infection.

And if there are a few people with norovirus, it’s likely there will be more.

As many as 11 members of the California delegation’s advance team are showing symptoms that are consistent with the norovirus, according to Peter Schade, the Erie County health commissioner, who is investigating the outbreak. They are staying at a hotel in Sandusky, Ohio, about an hour from Cleveland.

“We’ve got about 11 who have been sick over the last few days, and we’ve been out there every day and working with them to eliminate the spread [between] the resort and the delegation from California,” Schade said.

The health department is running tests to confirm whether the Republican staff members have norovirus.

[degenerasian]

And they could still get 40% of the vote. What is going on?

It's so polarized right now. I hope somehow it changes this time. That Trump loses by a landslide in the electoral college and the popular vote. Then it will mean that The Republicans in its current form lost to a nut who lost to Hillary by a landslide. In it's current form, the Republicans are going the way of the Whigs and will never win another presidential election.

[Johnnie]

"....And after 4 days of debauchery in a massive miasmic, diarrhetic orgy, you know what they called it?"

"The Aristocrats."

[degenerasian]

i heard this and thought of Howard.

Even with all this mess, Trump still have a better chance at the Presidency than Bumgarner getting a base hit.

[vandwagon]

I just read this:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/ ... eat-214068

It's about GOP delegates talking about how bad the economy is, but how things are so good where they're from. The first paragraph contains this sentence:

“The president has been regulating to death a free-market economy he doesn’t like and doesn’t understand,” the GOP platform declares.

How in the world does a political party platform contain that sentence? The president doesn't like or understand the economy.

The whole rest of the article is just people choosing to totally avoid reality because they don't think a Democratic President (especially a black one) is a legitimate President.

I don't know how this is resolved. They'll do the same thing if Hillary is elected and if by some horrible circumstance Trump is elected, I'm sure they'll say that any bad economic news is a lie.

It's insane.

[A_B]

I just read this:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/ ... eat-214068

It's about GOP delegates talking about how bad the economy is, but how things are so good where they're from. The first paragraph contains this sentence:

“The president has been regulating to death a free-market economy he doesn’t like and doesn’t understand,” the GOP platform declares.

How in the world does a political party platform contain that sentence? The president doesn't like or understand the economy.

The whole rest of the article is just people choosing to totally avoid reality because they don't think a Democratic President (especially a black one) is a legitimate President.

I don't know how this is resolved. They'll do the same thing if Hillary is elected and if by some horrible circumstance Trump is elected, I'm sure they'll say that any bad economic news is a lie.

It's insane.

No they will say it's Obama's fault.

[vandwagon]

I just read this:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/ ... eat-214068

It's about GOP delegates talking about how bad the economy is, but how things are so good where they're from. The first paragraph contains this sentence:

“The president has been regulating to death a free-market economy he doesn’t like and doesn’t understand,” the GOP platform declares.

How in the world does a political party platform contain that sentence? The president doesn't like or understand the economy.

The whole rest of the article is just people choosing to totally avoid reality because they don't think a Democratic President (especially a black one) is a legitimate President.

I don't know how this is resolved. They'll do the same thing if Hillary is elected and if by some horrible circumstance Trump is elected, I'm sure they'll say that any bad economic news is a lie.

It's insane.

No they will say it's Obama's fault.

Damn, you're right, how did I miss that one?

[Nonlinear FC]

The worst thing is that with all the fun everyone is having with the plagiarism, there's less attention being paid to how hateful the program was.

I wondered if this wasn't intentional, to bring the focus away from the enormous lies that were the entire basis for the themes of the night. I fully expected Benghazi to be a theme, but holy fuck did they drill that argument. Would have been great if the guy running the Benghazi video slipped in the Fox News interview where Trey Gowdy admitted there was nothing Hillary could have done to save Stevens and he others. Disgusting how they are politicizing these deaths. Where was the outrage when 13 embassies and consulates were attacked under Bush and 60 people died? Or when the Republicans in Congress voted down the State Department's pleas for additional security at embassies? Putting The mother on the stage was an all-time low.

I'm pretty sure it was orchestrated by a disgruntled person high up in the campaign. A number of people probably had a hand in writing and editing that piece. There's very little chance they are thinking they need to distract anyone from what they see as key message points. WE think it's all crazy and nonsensical, they have all mainlined this Kool*Aid a long time ago.

The other thing I was thinking... and this is truly a long shot... But maybe Melania DID write it... Or chunks of it. And she did that by going back and watching/reading recent ones that got good reviews... Maybe she did what your average high school slacker did and just cut and paste stuff.

Would be interesting to run the rest of that thing through the plagiarize machine (i'm sure it has been done) to see if other sections were boosted.

[Pruitt]

"....And after 4 days of debauchery in a massive miasmic, diarrhetic orgy, you know what they called it?"

"The Aristocrats."

I don't use text abbreviations, so let me just say Laugh out Loud!

[brian]

The one thing I'll say is most political speeches are so banal and full of platitudes that on some level it's gotta be hard not to crib anything. I'm well aware her speech last night was beyond the pale even given that, but there's not a lot of new ground being written in political speechmaking these days.

[Steve of phpBB]

The one thing I'll say is most political speeches are so banal and full of platitudes that on some level it's gotta be hard not to crib anything. I'm well aware her speech last night was beyond the pale even given that, but there's not a lot of new ground being written in political speechmaking these days.

Then again, Trump himself seems to be breaking a lot of new ground in political speechmaking.

[howard]

https://vine.co/v/5uUqqQXhXjz

[sancarlos]

So, reading the normally liberal SF newspaper today, it seems the media gave them much more of a pass than I would have expected.

The plagiarism was mentioned only in passing, as was the call for a roll call vote and the walkout of the Colorado contingent. But, Scott Baio, the underwear model and the ZZ Top video extras were noted as if they were real celebrities.

[howard]

So, reading the normally liberal SF newspaper today…

What paper is that? My ol' Chronicle I never thought of as particularly liberal.

(Slurping up to Dianne, Barbara, Nancy and Jerry doesn't count as liberal in my jaded, cynical book, though.)

[duff]

It has to be liberal if it is from SF!

[sancarlos]

So, reading the normally liberal SF newspaper today…

What paper is that? My ol' Chronicle I never thought of as particularly liberal.

(Slurping up to Dianne, Barbara, Nancy and Jerry doesn't count as liberal in my jaded, cynical book, though.)

Maybe not as overtly liberal as some others. It's not the Village Voice, or the old Bay Guardian, but they never miss a chance to mock Trump (not that I hold that against them.)

[howard]

Then again, clownishness, which is the Chron's forté, is never partisan. Also, I suppose, since Hearst bought the Chron, they prob moved to the left. I forget that was like fifteen years ago, and aside from the sports page online I haven't read it regularly for a long ass time, excepts on visits home.

[duff]

They are streaming the RNC on Twitch.

[howard]

I love this guy's twitter feed.

[govmentchedda]

My fave of these

[Rush2112]

It has to be liberal if it is from SF!

Well, they may have different headlines like the Arizona Republic.

[howard]

You've heard me say we are witnessing the slow death of the GOP. Great minds?

George W. Bush worried he'll be 'the last Republican president'

now I have to rethink this

[Brontoburglar]

It has to be liberal if it is from SF!

Well, they may have different headlines like the Arizona Republic.

The context Rush's post badly, badly needs.

Last Friday night in downtown Phoenix, protesters walked peacefully through the streets in an event related to how police treat members of communities of color.That changed a bit near the end of the event when officers used pepper spray to disperse some of the protesters.

The rally’s change of tone was reflected in the Arizona Republic headlines on Saturday morning. There’s been concern expressed on social media that those modified headlines were the result of different editions being sent to different parts of the Valley rather the result of rapidly changing news.

To learn about why there were different headlines, we spoke with John D’Anna, the Republic’s A1 editor.

[brian]

Yeah, it was a second edition vs. a first edition, which happens in every major newspaper market in the country since the dawn of the printing press. You might as well consider it as sinister that the Chicago Tribune didn't change its "Dewey defeats Truman" headline for subsequent editions.

[Jerloma]

Ben Carson said last night that we shouldn't vote for Hilary because some guy she did a thesis on had a foreword in a book where he sarcastically referenced "Lucifer, the original radical."

Now think about that. This is a nation where our founding document, the Declaration of Independence, talks about certain inalienable rights that come from our Creator. This is a nation where our Pledge of Allegiance says we are one nation “Under God.” This is a nation where every coin in our pocket and every bill in our wallet says “In God We Trust.” So are we willing to elect someone as President who has as their role model, somebody who acknowledges Lucifer? Think about that!

Doesn't Ben Carson as well as pretty much everyone in that room acknowledge Lucifer?

[brian]

So if I have this right, these nimrods are in a tizzy because Obama or Democrats won't say "radical Islam", but are upset that Hillary once decades ago referred to Lucifer (who doesn't exist) as a "radical".

Think I got it.

[DaveInSeattle]

From today's NYTimes:

But according to the Kasich adviser (who spoke only under the condition that he not be named), Donald Jr. wanted to make him an offer nonetheless: Did he have any interest in being the most powerful vice president in history?
When Kasich’s adviser asked how this would be the case, Donald Jr. explained that his father’s vice president would be in charge of domestic and foreign policy.

Then what, the adviser asked, would Trump be in charge of?

“Making America great again” was the casual reply.

I think I'm going to go live in a Cabin off the grid for a while...

[Steve of phpBB]

It sounds like Paul Ryan gave the best pro-Hillary argument I've heard:

Meanwhile, what choice has the other party made in this incredible year filled with so many surprises? [...] They are offering a third Obama term brought to you by another Clinton.

[DaveInSeattle]

You've heard me say we are witnessing the slow death of the GOP. Great minds?

George W. Bush worried he'll be 'the last Republican president'

now I have to rethink this

Same here....except for the "worried" part...

[The Sybian]

So if I have this right, these nimrods are in a tizzy because Obama or Democrats won't say "radical Islam", but are upset that Hillary once decades ago referred to Lucifer (who doesn't exist) as a "radical".

Think I got it.

Worse. In college, she wrote a paper about Saul Alinsky, and in Saul Alinsky's book, he acknowledged Satan. I love how Carson said Clinton admired Alinsky, and the crowd goes wild. How many people in that crowd, including Carson, have a clue about Alinsky? How many of them were remotely aware Alinsky existed prior to Palin's "palling around with terrorists" line? Same thing with George Soros. I constantly hear George Soros as the evil mastermind running the DNC, yet I have never heard one reason Soros is evil, what his goals are or anything about him. I feel like the majority of arguments and battle cries from the right are empty slogans with no meaning, yet rile up fear and anger.

[Joe K]

So if I have this right, these nimrods are in a tizzy because Obama or Democrats won't say "radical Islam", but are upset that Hillary once decades ago referred to Lucifer (who doesn't exist) as a "radical".

Think I got it.

Worse. In college, she wrote a paper about Saul Alinsky, and in Saul Alinsky's book, he acknowledged Satan. I love how Carson said Clinton admired Alinsky, and the crowd goes wild. How many people in that crowd, including Carson, have a clue about Alinsky? How many of them were remotely aware Alinsky existed prior to Palin's "palling around with terrorists" line? Same thing with George Soros. I constantly hear George Soros as the evil mastermind running the DNC, yet I have never heard one reason Soros is evil, what his goals are or anything about him. I feel like the majority of arguments and battle cries from the right are empty slogans with no meaning, yet rile up fear and anger.

Soros is evil because he's an ultra-rich guy who uses his wealth to support left wing causes. In contrast, ultra-rich guys who use their wealth to support right wing causes (Kochs, Thiel, Adelson, etc.) are great American citizens.

[The Sybian]

So if I have this right, these nimrods are in a tizzy because Obama or Democrats won't say "radical Islam", but are upset that Hillary once decades ago referred to Lucifer (who doesn't exist) as a "radical".

Think I got it.

Worse. In college, she wrote a paper about Saul Alinsky, and in Saul Alinsky's book, he acknowledged Satan. I love how Carson said Clinton admired Alinsky, and the crowd goes wild. How many people in that crowd, including Carson, have a clue about Alinsky? How many of them were remotely aware Alinsky existed prior to Palin's "palling around with terrorists" line? Same thing with George Soros. I constantly hear George Soros as the evil mastermind running the DNC, yet I have never heard one reason Soros is evil, what his goals are or anything about him. I feel like the majority of arguments and battle cries from the right are empty slogans with no meaning, yet rile up fear and anger.

Soros is evil because he's an ultra-rich guy who uses his wealth to support left wing causes. In contrast, ultra-rich guys who use their wealth to support right wing causes (Kochs, Thiel, Adelson, etc.) are great American citizens.

Sure, but the Kochs are vilified because of specific enumerated causes, like abolishing the EPA, so they can save money through polluting, decreasing taxes on the wealthy, cutting "entitlements" to the poor and needy, hosting Scalia and Clarence Thomas at their "strategy sessions," funding the campaigns of school board candidates who promote revising textbooks to delete any reference to anything bad the US has ever done and naming Moses as a Founding Father... and that is just scratching the surface.

[A_B]

Soros thinks he's god. No, really:

"I have always harboured an exaggerated view of my self-importance,’ he wrote. ‘To put it bluntly, I fancied myself as some kind of god or an economic reformer like Keynes, or, even better, like Einstein"

[brian]

You can't have a conversation about the outsized importance of money in politics without mentioning Soros, but at least most Democrats are intellectually honest enough to admit that it's as off-putting as what the right is doing.

Some right-wing nut jobs would have you believe Citizens United was all about making sure that Soros could spend as much as he wants on elections.

ETA: (And it should be noted somehow Clinton gets attacked on the left as well about Citizens United, which is a complete mind-boggler.)

[Nonlinear FC]

So, I assume the assembled crowd here has seen that a Trump employee fell on the sword this morning about Melania's speech. To summarize: In trying to fall on the sword, but in a way that still sort of equivocates, the woman says that Melania didn't like the speech she was given by two speech writers* and tore it up. She went back to read first lady speeches that inspired** her, and read passages from a number of speeches and the woman/writer jotted down notes and didn't go back to check if the passages were lifted directly from Obama****.

* - So, all this stuff about Melania writing her own speech... That's not really true, until it was true after she tore up the speech. This is a minor point.

** - OK, Melania was reading speeches to this woman/writer over the phone and yet, somehow it didn't occur to her that she was basically dictating directly from the speeches Melania was reading to her? That makes NO FUCKING SENSE. I mean just fucking admit you fucked up.

*** - So... Isn't Michelle Obama the devil? What am I missing here? She's inspired by Lucifer? Ok, got it.

**** - Just to be clear - Melania reads snippets of speeches to this person, it shows up in large chunks, just as she read it to the woman, and yet... She doesn't at any point recognize the verbatim quotes and go back to the person and say "Hey, at least flip some of these words around... A little effort, please."

It's just such a shoddy job, once again, of handling a crisis. Fucking amateur hour.

Oh, and I'm not even addressing the fact that this letter was on Trump corporate letterhead. Do they not know having a Trump employee work on campaign stuff is a blatant violation of federal law?