"Will you shut up, man?" US Politics October 2020

If abortions were a for profit, lucrative industry, Republicans would rebrand it with another term, sell a concierge version to rich people, and promote the fuck out of it.

Same reason why they'd never go back and ban beer again

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-harry-truman-ran-a-bourbon-soaked-white-house

One of the small stories in Nixonland or the Invisible Bridge has a drunk Nixon on the end of his tether wandering the halls of the White House ranting at Presidential portraits.

Pretty much the basis of this film:

https://www.criterion.com/films/955-secret-honor

hell yeah Philip Baker Hall. I’ve been meaning to check this out for a minute

Nixon used to duck out to Trader Vic's and down a couple of Navy Grogs.

lol of course alfred is ILX's source for every 20th c. president's martini habits

and why not indeed

presidents should smoke weed, maaan

(not really joking)

― A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Chooglin (will), Saturday, October 17, 2020 1:50 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Jimmy Carter's son Chip smoked weed at the White House with Willie Nelson.

https://time.com/4342019/drunk-president-history/

The President drank Cutty Sark scotch and soda out of a large white plastic foam cup. Periodically, Johnson would slow down and hold his left arm outside the car, shaking the cup and ice. A Secret Service agent would run up to the car, take the cup and go back to the station wagon. There another agent would refill it with ice, scotch, and soda as the first agent trotted behind the wagon. Then the first agent would run the refilled cup up to LBJ’s outstretched and waiting hand, as the President’s car moved slowly along.

oh, man, I do that too!

People who have figured out how to live ...

Pretty much the basis of this film:

https://www.criterion.com/films/955-secret-honor

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, October 17, 2020

just watched Secret Honor a few nights ago!

Drunk Nixon is also front and center for the last half-hour of Oliver Stone's film. (Drunk Pat, too, in at least one scene.)

Ulysses S. Grant to thread

The White House was opened to all for a post-inaugural reception and was filled by the public even before Jackson arrived on horseback.[1] Soon afterward, Jackson left by a window[1][4] or a side entrance,[5] and proceeded to Gadsby's Hotel in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. The crowd continued to descend into a drunken mob, only dispersed when bowls of liquor and punch were placed on the front lawn of the White House.[4] "I never saw such a mixture," said Joseph Story, then a justice of the Supreme Court: "The reign of King Mob seemed triumphant."[1] The White House was left a mess, including several thousand dollars worth of broken china.[5]

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

is Oliver Stone's Nixon bonkers in a bad or in an amusing way?

It's one of my favourite films; I am way, way in the minority on that one. The first warning I always give is that have to be able to accept Anthony Hopkins' not-really-Nixon performance; if you can't get past that--to the point where he becomes one of the film's fascinations--forget it.

"you have to be able"

MSNBC making sure per final-word expert guest on the subject that the public knows QAnon followers are "not gullible and not stupid"

what I ask would a gullible person look like

narrator: they were gullible and stupid

It's like calling a chinchilla gullible and stupid, is I think what he meant. N/A.

Checking in to see JFK Jr. made his appearance.

he was on fire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMhAnbJ02HQ

And Then You Destroy Yourself: Nixon at the Movies
List of actors who played Richard Nixon on screen
"Kissinger tape: Nixon too drunk to speak with British PM"

Not a joke, folks: Biden says that once he's president he's gonna "pick up the phone" and calls Republicans "and say, let's get together."

He predicts that with Trump gone, "there's going to be, I promise you, between 4 and 8 Republican senators" willing to work with him.

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) October 16, 2020

Cue up the Arrested Development credits music

lucy_football.gif

so suddenly the masses waiting for hours in queues ask what the purpose is and go home and others stay there. Gorlumme picking a moment is quite important right now innit?
& i don't think this was the one.

oh no we don’t want any Republican cooties

i guess i am not voting for biden

I remember a time when presidential candidates would need to show (or at least lie about) who could best "cross the aisle" to get legislation passed. It was way back in every election ever.

Ida thunk current GOP cooties would be pretty nasty. removes spine, makes you sell out at the drop of a hat. or whatever euphemism currently in use, buying in?
give money to big business instead of dealing with a pandemic, which is quite extreme cooties innit.

I thought people wanted to go for Republican voters and not the republican politicians and enablers who one would want to be getting rid of to try to return some kind of justice to the place.

Vote count at 27.5 million, a hair under 20% of the 2016 vote total.

4-8 senators willing to hold their nose while pulling him right foe a huge win is probably true.

Texas now leads the country in the raw number of people who have voted early (nearly 3.9 million) and as a percentage of their 2016 vote (43.2%) https://t.co/s8K2xFDeSA

— Michael McDonald (@ElectProject) October 18, 2020

really disappointing that that isn't THAT Michael McDonald

how could he tally votes, he keeps forgettin

Small thing but worth noting that New York early voting won't start until Saturday the 24th -- if the overall numbers before then approach the 2016 level of early voting at 47 million (and there's a good chance it could), the final total will be a hell of a thing.

If Biden wants to try to persuade Republican senators to work with him, I say go for it. But he needs to quickly pivot once it becomes clear that they have no interest in doing so. It can't be a prolonged courtship that prevents Democrats from moving forward. (Hopefully, we won't need them, anyway.)

it worked last time he was in the white house!

so will there be another October surprise to sink Trump the Friday before (and not a long-promised dump that never surfaces)?

bets here

The n-word tapes haven't made an appearance yet...

A useful note in a new NYT piece here:

“Our base loves the stuff about Hunter Biden, laptops and Mayor Giuliani,” Mr. Kochel added. “But they’re already voting for Trump.”

Lol welcome to Southern California where this is the main story

I’m in Newport Beach, where the president is holding a fundraiser this afternoon. Trump supporters are significantly outnumbered by a group of Armenian Americans holding a protest pic.twitter.com/DQfSyxOgAs

— Arit John (@aritbenie) October 18, 2020

WTF is it with Blue states with short early voting windows? Maryland’s early voting is only one week, starting next week. Meanwhile Georgia and Texas have already begun.

Good question. I feel it's usually longer where I am, too. This year the earliest I can vote is tomorrow, though I know early voting started weeks ago in other parts of the state.

DC doesn’t start early voting until Oct 27!