Conventional Mealy Mouths: The 2016 Primary Voting Thread, Part 5

FDR memorial is kinda diffuse, hard to imagine it toppling all at once.

small enough that I can drown them in a bathtub, obviously

Jesus fucking Christ @ Bill Clinton

I feel so fatigued by this primary right now. Facebook argument got weirdly personal. Election campaigns just should not be anywhere near this long, people are losing it.

no different than 2008 except FB hadn't exploded yet

In what sense had Facebook not exploded yet in 2008?

a lot of people were still on MySpace.

I barely used FB until just after the election, and many of my friends hadn't made the switchover yet. it definitely wasn't as omnipresent as it is now.

the link-sharing mechanism wasn't in place yet, so people weren't shitting links to political articles they hadn't read yet. even "Like" feature hadn't come out yet.

it was more a place where you wrote shit like "Neanderthal is looking at oranges and deciding which one he wants to eat" type posts.

In what sense had Facebook not exploded yet in 2008?

― Andrew Farrell, Friday, April 8, 2016

In my circle FB wasn't a thing until much later in the year. MySpace was still used.

and the following WaPo headline summary is a perfect example of the amorality of the Beltway press:

In a year when the drama has mostly been on the Republican side, it made for great political theater. And it gave Bill Clinton another unforgettable “Sister Souljah Moment."

Put those predators in their place!

There's a scene of Clinton sneering at AIDS protestors who interrupted him in '92 in How to Survive a Plague. Similar except he's more like a wheezy Southern sheriff now.

@mtaibbi
There have been more instances of Bill publicly losing his cool during Hillary's presidential runs than in the entire rest of his career.

tbf he's probably uptight about anything that risks his chance at becoming the first male First Lady

First Steer

Not sure why "Beltway" needs to become so pejorative. It's a road.

People can live in it, near it, and some even manage to -gasp- drive on it without being hopelessly corrupted down to their very core.

imo it's just as lazy as using "DC" or "New York" to mean "evil" on the right.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_first_gentlemen_in_the_United_States

shorthand bub, don't get emo. xp

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fb/Kisses_for_My_President_-_1964_-_Poster.png

is the left-wing disdain for krugman a new thing bc of his hillary support? i thought just a few years ago he was like the economist darling of the american left and now it seems everyone is calling him a lying corrupt hack. were there other things that got us to this pt or is this really just scorned bernie supporters? (and similarly barney frank who i thought was beloved up until he supported hillary over bernie.)

Despite his new corporate connections, I still respect Frank. He knows his bill and how tough it really is. The Rubin-Frank battle was a century-long feud about what to do with "the system."

er, Reich-Frank

Partially yes xp. There were always lefties that disdained Krugman, but some of it is definitely about the election. And tbh, I really think his columns have changed and gotten more politically hacky.

yeah I've always had loads of respect for Frank, even moreso now that I've read his bio

xp

Barney Frank sniffed haughtily over Occupy, and he's way too up to his eyes in conventional capitalist tropes to ever have been loved by "the left." (except for the gay/social issues stuff, which of course is all not-so-left Dems need to love him, along with the obnoxious 'directness')

I think Krugman is often a pedantic writer and wasn't surprised when in that New Yorker article several years ago he admitted that his wife insists on editing him before he files.

Frank's often right though

*er, Krugman. I need to get lunch.

is the left-wing disdain for krugman a new thing bc of his hillary support? i thought just a few years ago he was like the economist darling of the american left and now it seems everyone is calling him a lying corrupt hack. were there other things that got us to this pt or is this really just scorned bernie supporters? (and similarly barney frank who i thought was beloved up until he supported hillary over bernie.)

― Mordy, Friday, April 8, 2016 11:22 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

elelction krugman and policy krugman are totally different beasts. i think his election "coverage" has been pretty pathetic but he's still a great economist and a good read as far as actual policy is concerned

If Facebook were smart, they would release a feature to let you filter out political posts. My wife actively hates Bernie now because of the constant hectoring posts linked by friends on her FB feed.

Barney Frank sniffed haughtily over Occupy, and he's way too up to his eyes in conventional capitalist tropes to ever have been loved by "the left."

his bio makes clear that his understanding that writing policy + political legwork far outstrip the effectiveness of more strident direct action tactics, and that this has always divided him from the more radical left since the beginning of his career.

frank is a good guy but him turning into a DNC-bot this election season is pretty sad. i mean in that debate he went after sanders (completely unprompted, btw) for his "mccarthyite" attacks on clinton, and for questioning obama re: criminal charges for bank execs. he might as well be debbie wasserman-shultz at this point

it depends what the policy is "effective" AT!

the best part about frank going after sanders for daring to question obama (and the way he said it made it sound like obama had recently, tragically died and ought not be spoken ill of) is that he qualified it to say that he actually agreed lol

his point that Clinton isn't responsible for prosecuting WS malfeasance is accurate - that lack of prosecution (which Barney agrees is a problem) is the fault of Obama (and I guess the Justice Dept/SEC?)

he admitted that his wife insists on editing him before he files

what kind of sicko writer doesn't give their spouse final edit

that's why gays belong to the superior race :)

looks like they kissed + made up:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/04/08/bernie_sanders_says_of_course_hillary_clinton_is_qualified_to_be_president.html

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/david-mamet-881849

You attended a fundraiser for Ted Cruz, didn't you?

Did I? Yes I did! I liked him very much.

What did you guys talk about.

He talked about Glengarry Glen Ross. I said, "Hi Mr. Cruz, pleasure to meet you." He said, "Oh, I love your work. I’ve used a lot of the ideas in Glengarry Glen Ross in talking to people while I was governing. In talking about senate and politics and all of that stuff."

You're kidding.

No, not all all.

Like which ideas? "Always Be Closing?"

He mentioned that. He mentioned a lot of stuff from the play. The interesting thing to me about Ted Cruz is everybody that one talks to, they say, "I don't like him," and you say, "Oh, well why?" And they can’t tell you.

Pretty sure everyone who's ever met Ted Cruz can and will tell you why they don't like him, at length and in detail.

He said, "Oh, I love your work. I’ve used a lot of the ideas in Glengarry Glen Ross in talking to people while I was governing.

so Ted Cruz was a governor too eh

The interesting thing to me about Ted Cruz is everybody that one talks to, they say, "I don't like him," and you say, "Oh, well why?" And they can’t tell you.
I’ve used a lot of the ideas in Glengarry Glen Ross in talking to people while I was governing. In talking about senate and politics and all of that stuff.
The interesting thing to me about Ted Cruz is everybody that one talks to, they say, "I don't like him," and you say, "Oh, well why?" And they can’t tell you.
I’ve used a lot of the ideas in Glengarry Glen Ross in talking to people while I was governing. In talking about senate and politics and all of that stuff.
The interesting thing to me about Ted Cruz is everybody that one talks to, they say, "I don't like him," and you say, "Oh, well why?" And they can’t tell you.
I’ve used a lot of the ideas in Glengarry Glen Ross in talking to people while I was governing. In talking about senate and politics and all of that stuff.
The interesting thing to me about Ted Cruz is everybody that one talks to, they say, "I don't like him," and you say, "Oh, well why?" And they can’t tell you.
I’ve used a lot of the ideas in Glengarry Glen Ross in talking to people while I was governing. In talking about senate and politics and all of that stuff.
The interesting thing to me about Ted Cruz is everybody that one talks to, they say, "I don't like him," and you say, "Oh, well why?" And they can’t tell you.
I’ve used a lot of the ideas in Glengarry Glen Ross in talking to people while I was governing. In talking about senate and politics and all of that stuff.
The interesting thing to me about Ted Cruz is everybody that one talks to, they say, "I don't like him," and you say, "Oh, well why?" And they can’t tell you.
I’ve used a lot of the ideas in Glengarry Glen Ross in talking to people while I was governing. In talking about senate and politics and all of that stuff.

if Facebook were smart, they would release a feature to let you filter out political posts. My wife actively hates Bernie now because of the constant hectoring posts linked by friends on her FB feed.
― o. nate, Friday, April 8, 2016 11:31 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

There's a third party FB extension called Purity for your browser that can do that. Blocks all posts with keywords you specify. I barely see those posts anymore

also in the Reporter, Sanders interviewed by Spike Lee

We're doing phenomenally well with all of the young people — white, black, Latino, you name it, Asian-American. And we're getting killed, frankly, not just with older African-Americans but also older whites, older Latinos. It's the weirdest thing in the world. And what really bothers me is I spent half my life in Congress helping to lead the effort for senior citizens: We led the effort against cuts to Social Security — we want to expand Social Security; we took on the drug companies who are doing terrible things to elderly people. You know seniors are cutting their prescription drugs in half. So we have a lot of work to do in terms of reaching out to seniors, not just African-Americans, but seniors all across the board. We're figuring out how you get the message out there....

Vermont and rural America, people talk about guns, you know what they're talking about? They're talking about hunting. And it is something that my state, tens and tens of thousands of people do. They take their kids into the woods, there's target practice, there are antique gun shows, and that's what guns are. I do know that guns mean something very different around urban America. And what we have got to do is get a handle on this horrific gun violence. There's no question about that. I have a D-minus voting record from the NRA. D-minus voting record. And I have stood up to them for years. In 1988, Spike, I ran for the United States Congress in the state of Vermont. I lost that election because I was the only candidate who said, "You know what, maybe we should not be selling and distributing military-style assault weapons in this country, weapons designed just to kill people?" I lost by three points, and perhaps that was the reason.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/bernie-sanders-interviewed-by-spike-880788

his point that Clinton isn't responsible for prosecuting WS malfeasance is accurate - that lack of prosecution (which Barney agrees is a problem) is the fault of Obama (and I guess the Justice Dept/SEC?)

― Οὖτις, Friday, April 8, 2016 11:44 AM (19 minutes ago)

i wasn't disputing that -- i was noting the fact that he used the same cheap tactic of "oh i guess if you're for [insert liberal fantasy] what you're really saying is you're disagreeing with (gasp) president obama!" that clinton and some of her DNC minions have been using

i'm sorry but we should deal with things of substance in this thread

please watch

https://twitter.com/MicheleBachmann/status/718449601049673728

you can say you like frank while also saying his knee-jerk Good Dem stuff is lame. don't tell me you've lost all capacity for nuance xp

i think there's a non-zero chance that what bernie supporters mostly dislike about frank + krugman is that they aren't endorsing bernie.

bernie btw released a statement about his 10,000 gaza deaths statement:
https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/12938213_471625293036783_2993797711925271968_n.png?oh=eda4edafc33b8ddd0a07142be37dc9c8&oe=5784B828

contains this gem: "There is no candidate for president who will be a stronger supporter of Israel's right to exist in freedom, peace and security."

you can say you like frank while also saying his knee-jerk Good Dem stuff is lame.

his point about Obama was clumsily made and largely unnecessary so even tho I think he was technically correct I agree it was a pointless digression

everybody that one talks to, they say, "I don't like him,"

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