Beware the Ides of March -- U.S. Politics March 2021

Eternally the guy who lost the very easy sinecure of Harvard President by saying women were naturally not as good at science

It’s a stretch to say “very easy sinecure” but also literally everyone hated him as far as I could tell

I’ll at least assume Larry Summers thought of it more as a plum make-work assignment than Drew Faust did afterwards, how hard is it really to raise money for Harvard tho

Well, Rudenstine was extremely good at at it and, as far as I can tell, Summers is the only one who has been bad at it

How’s he still a public figure???

The unaccountable longevity of Clinton guys I guess

(Probably because as mentioned before, everyone hates him)

full disclosure: I once met him during a party at the Kennedy School during the 2004 DNC and he spent the entire 4 minute conversation scanning the room looking for someone famous to talk to so, while it would be a stretch to say he should have paid attention to me, he was certainly extremely rude a d incapable of normal conversation

(By contrast, Rudenstine is a delightful dude who is engaged with anyone who talks to him, regardless of how important they are)

He's not even that rich for all the evil work he's done. The graffiti artist who drew a mural for Zuck's office is worth hundreds of millions more.

As hard as it may be to believe, I don't think getting rich is his main goal. Feeling important is.

That’s what makes people like him more horrifying though - absent avarice or the pursuit of raw power, they’re like trophy hunters of human misery. Stuff and mount that family of four who lost their home so Bill Clinton will take my phone call.

🚨 Stimulus cash is already out the door. This is a bank posting sent to me by a member of a family of four making under $150,000. 🚨 pic.twitter.com/iunzWcK1o8

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) March 13, 2021

Yep, I know someone who already has it pending in their account

Just checked my bank account, it’s there.

so this just happened live on Fox pic.twitter.com/1b7WNhu6q7

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) March 12, 2021

What happens in this video

An old white man jerks off

Rare instance of relatable content on Fox

Well going to be so much better if it starts acknowledging it's a comedy channel. Might need better writers though.

https://img.ifunny.co/images/88f30f0493583c57ddd3059fa608fe823173bcf3cd164da83930d3d6a6e8a40e_1.jpg

If you need more cutesy murder memes

WATCH: Ron Johnson says he never "felt threatened" on 1/6 because "I knew those were people that love this country" but if "those were tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and antifa protesters, I might have been a little concerned." pic.twitter.com/PZcs89bl1T

— America's Worst Senator (@TheWorstSenator) March 13, 2021

Competition:

If every willing person in America is vaccinated for #COVID19 by May, as POTUS has said, why put our lives on hold till July the 4th?

— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) March 12, 2021

I always suspected Cornyn had issues with comprehension, but still. I do find it hard to believe these people are this stupid, yet if they're doing a bit (as I've read people suggest Cruz, Kennedy, etc are doing), that just seems as exhausting to affect as it is for everyone to experience.

How could anyone doubt that cruz is doing a bit

Yeah it’s all just lack-of-virtue signaling.

I think makes him sound good to most people?

Three words to describe the first weeks of the Biden administration: boring but radical. pic.twitter.com/dEDeHFjOCo

— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) March 13, 2021

"Boring but radical"? Where does this shit come from?

Just imagining him coming up with that and thinking it’s hot stuff

"Joe Biden: Jumbo Shrimp."

The obvious flip side for Cruz, I suppose, was the previous occupant: Wildly Entertaining but Perfectly Sober Governance.

I do find it hard to believe these people are this stupid

Politics abounds with opportunities for people who can do this well. Mostly it comes to them naturally, because it's so hard to fake convincingly. Look at Ted Cruz.

Is it just because his speaking cadence is akin to a pastor? Do Texan Republicans just subliminally enjoy being spoken to like children?

I’m reading the bit in the Caro book about the 1941 senate race Johnson lost to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Lee_O%27Daniel, who was like donald trump for “housewives” and composed literal nursery rhymes, and the answer is yes.

The real grand bargain that needs to be struck here is the Republicans agree to let the Democrats govern — because they are the only one of the two parties that actually knows how to or wants to — and the Republicans get to consolidate their position as a pyramid scheme constantly grifting their supporters by getting them riled up over stupid bullshit so they’ll send in donations and consume right-wing media. Like, every 6 months or so some top Dem can leak a fake plan to make Santa Claus a Muslim cleric or something, just to keep the outrage simmering.

BORING

but RADICAL

sick burn

these fuckers have forgotten not only how to govern but how to insult, everything is based on the grand trump reign

This piece goes places.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/13/capitol-riot-navy-white-supremacist-475714

And he said the government’s discovery of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and “The Turner Diaries” at Hale-Cusanelli’s home “does not mention that there were hundreds of other books in Mr. Hale-Cusanelli’s collection.”

I didn't know there were so many racist Seuss books.

I feel like that story needs a “See? NCIS is totally a real thing!” subhead.

https://www.thisfuckeduphomerdoesnotexist.com/p/p/677b1fdf🕸

_And he said the government’s discovery of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and “The Turner Diaries” at Hale-Cusanelli’s home “does not mention that there were hundreds of other books in Mr. Hale-Cusanelli’s collection.”_


I didn't know there were so many racist Seuss books.

In which Frank Luntz convenes another focus group with GOP voters, this time about gettin' jabbed.

Many other proposed or actual messengers fell flat: The group panned a public service announcement released last week, for instance, featuring former presidents Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. One attendee called the ad “propaganda,” and another said the former presidents were “bad actors.”

“It actually kind of annoys me,” said a voter named Debbie from Georgia.

The group also condemned Anthony S. Fauci — the government infectious-disease specialist relentlessly attacked by Trump and conservative media for the past year — as a “liar,” “flip-flopper” and “opportunistic.”

Fauci, whom multiple participants also blamed for Trump’s missteps on the virus, told “Fox News Sunday” that Trump should make his own public service announcement. But the focus group of Trump voters didn’t warm to that idea, with attendees universally saying that their spouse or doctor would be more influential on their decision than hearing from the former president.

Luntz, who told The Washington Post last week that he didn’t “need a focus group to tell me that nothing would have a greater impact than a Donald Trump PSA,” said he was surprised that Trump’s participation was rejected by people he characterized as die-hard supporters. “Those people are beginning to move on,” he theorized. A Fox News pro-vaccine PSA also drew shrugs from the group.

One Republican politician did make a persuasive pitch: former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who relayed his own story of contracting the coronavirus while advising Trump in the White House — and developing a case so serious that it landed him in the intensive care unit for a week. Christie also revealed that two of his family members died of the virus, focusing on the “randomness” of how the coronavirus could seriously affect even healthy people, including Trump’s 30-something adviser, Hope Hicks.

“We really shouldn’t be all marching in lockstep like lemmings to go and do what the government tells us to do,” said the former two-term governor, positioning himself as a political outsider. “They’ve screwed up too many times for us to do that. But I really do believe the facts that I’ve learned, and the experiences I’ve had, should make at least everybody … think hard” about getting a vaccination.

goddamn if them foregoing vaccination wouldn’t just make it harder on poor people with less access to healthcare I would be cheering these clowns and their death drive.

but no, they’ll all live comfortably into old age, owning the libs while they suck up resources and all the air in the room

Good morning!

Was it noted here or elsewhere that the percentage of GOP currently vaccinated is more or less in line with the percentage of total vaccinations? Which is to say, somewhere around 20-25%. All these paranoid Republicans, let's see how many of them actually get the jab when they finally get a shot.

Maybe, but I bet those Republicans tend to be in and around cities. The more rural counties around where I live have tons of vaccine leftover because there's so little demand, so lots of teachers and others from here are making drives of 30-90 minutes to get stuck in podunk places.

I'd heard the same thing, but it seems pretty anecdotal. I've also heard of people in the distant burbs traveling closer to the city for shots, so who knows. I'm not sure there is any place particularly rich in unclaimed vaccines.

it's perfectly reasonable to think that 25% of Republicans are just as motivated to get the vaccine as anyone else. As the overall vaccination rate rises, perhaps that enthusiasm will dwindle.

I've been wondering how many of the elderly fascists at The Villages in Florida got the jab, seems like that might be a telling stat about their dedication to the 'COVID is no biggie' bit.

DeSantis has made sure his rich elderly donors get jabbed.