[Terez]

amphibian, on 04 March 2016 - 03:01 AM, said:

Terez, on 04 March 2016 - 02:48 AM, said:

I still can't get over the fact that this debate started with Trump claiming he has a big penis.

LBJ spent years harassing people with his large penis over legislation battles. He had the grace to do this out of the public eye though.

Yeah, that's the thing. This was on national TV. Of course, you could blame Marco Rubio for that. He tried out the hands thing and it apparently didn't go over like he hoped so he dialed it back that very evening (with grace, I might add).

Rubio's biggest mistake, though, was saying tonight that he would support Trump if he were the nominee. That goes for everyone. Of course, they're all thinking, "I can keep my word and not support him because there's no way Trump is going to come out of the convention the nominee." But they can't be real about that with the voters, so they look like hypocrites because they've said he's a con man and that he's not fit to be president. Christie hasn't gone that far and he already looks bad. Rubio has used the #NeverTrump hashtag, which is all about principled conservatives who refuse to support Trump on principle. These are people who have said they will vote for Hillary or Bloomberg before they vote for Trump. But all the candidates signed the pledge saying they'd support the eventual nominee.

[worry]

100% agree on that supporting Trump as nominee thing. Especially since Trump isn't agreeing to it for them. This just helps him look even more like the king of the hill. It doesn't look at all like party loyalty or doing what's best for the country, since they clearly hate him. Instead they look defeated.

[Terez]

This is an important story about Hillary's attempts to neutralize the power of the Office of the Inspector General:

http://www.nakedcapi...-watchdogs.html

Bill Black said:

WSJ said:

Newly released emails indicate that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her top staff were involved in the selection process for the State Department's internal watchdog, a position that ultimately went unfilled throughout her four-year tenure.

The WSJ's angle is that such involvement in the selection of the Inspector General (IG) is a threat to the IG's vital independence. True, and also true as the story notes that Hillary was far from rare as an agency or department head in seeking to select behind the scenes the supposedly independent IGs.

The function of the IG is to "speak truth to power." Naturally, "power" hates IGs with a purple passion. Government leaders are most likely to hate having its abuses made public by IG when the government leader is secretly acting in concert with immensely powerful private leaders for their mutual benefit at the expense of the public.

What the WSJ missed is that the Clintons, for decades, have sought to destroy the independence and effectiveness of the IGs precisely because of the threat that they pose of blowing the whistle on these abuses. The Obama administration, of course, is famous for its prosecutions of those who blow the whistle on such abuses. The real story is not that Hillary attempted to select a lap dog as IG – the real story is that for her entire tenure as Secretary, four years, she left unfilled the leadership position of the only institution in the State Department dedicated to maintaining integrity and preventing the abuse of public power to aid cronies. That aid, of course, comes with the clear expectation that the cronies will make the head of the State Department wealthy as soon as she or he steps down. There is no possible defense for that, and it does not happen accidentally.

[worry]

Pretty interesting article on Bobby Jindal buoying Louisiana's budget with austerity and Ponzi scheme tactics -- aka business-as-usual conservative economic policy -- and leaving it a wreck nearing financial "doomsday". This stuff really doesn't work at any level of government, it seems.

https://www.washingt...or-left-behind/

Jindal had wise words to say of his own recently on the presidential race:

“I believe that voters tend to act in open-seat presidential elections to correct for the perceived deficiencies of the incumbent,” argues Jindal, “After seven years of the cool, weak and endlessly nuanced ‘no drama Obama,’ voters are looking for a strong leader who speaks in short, declarative sentences.”

http://nymag.com/dai...too-mature.html

[amphibian]

To add onto the Jindal has cratered Louisiana story: https://www.washingt...or-left-behind/

Hospitals, schools, and programs for abused kids closing; 30,000 government workers fired, many other agencies handed 60% budget cuts; no reserve funds left.

It's a disaster and Jindal presided over it/provided most of the push for it.

[Illuyankas]

But you don't understaaaaaaaaaand, the Republican party is the party of fiscal responsiblity

[worry]

Not to Godwin up the place, but how's this for a visual?


Obviously he's been overtly racist constantly in the way that's easily couched in rule-of-law and globalization concerns, but he's also very very thinly veiled dogwhistling. This can't be an accident, as often as it comes up. Like I don't think he actually believes a lot of it, but he's more than passively courting the white supremacy vote.

[Terez]

Ted Cruz won Kansas. Too early to call on the Dem side.

[Terez]

Kansas called for Bernie.

Still waiting on Kentucky, Louisiana, and for the GOP, Maine. The Dems vote in Maine tomorrow.

[Terez]

Cruz got Maine.

[worry]

That's funny. Maybe everyone there is starting to hate LePage? I don't know what his reputation is in-state, but I can't imagine it's gone up.

[Terez]

Nebraska called for Bernie.

[Terez]

I didn't realize Dems weren't voting in Kentucky today, either. March 17.

As for Maine, these are the people who elected Paul LePage, but he's been losing popularity since his last election. And Stephen King came out strongly against Trump.

[Terez]

Louisiana called for Hillary.

[Terez]

Louisiana called for Trump.

[Terez]

Now Trump's lead in Louisiana is narrowing fast and Nate Silver is chiding networks for having called this one too early. Late deciders going to Cruz.

[Terez]

Here comes Trump's victory speech, though he hasn't officially won a state yet today.

[worry]

Even if LA officially goes to Trump it looks like a 15/14 delegate split, so very very close. I really do hope everyone goes for the long haul.

[Terez]

Briar King, on 06 March 2016 - 06:10 AM, said:

Terez, on 06 March 2016 - 02:19 AM, said:

Louisiana called for Hillary.

.........................

Does this really surprise you?

Summary of the evening, with a few precincts still out in Nebraska:




Hillary's delegate total includes superdelegates. She only has 663 pledged delegates.

[worry]

Yeah I do agree the proportion there is crazy. But you'd be surprised how many people pay literally 0 attention. Like the kind of people who were always on Jay Leno's Jaywalking segments. Not rare. I woudln't be shocked if a huge proportion of people haven't even heard of Bernie Sanders or have but wouldn't recognize his face.