Il Douché and His Discontents: The 2016 Primary Voting Thread, Part 4

538 has Bern up to a 12% shot in Illinois, so that's in the bag

what's insane is that i think that many of the same old white men who watch endless History Channel specials on Hitler are also big Trump fans

― Karl Malone, Tuesday, March 15, 2016 2:41 PM (42 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Realize any memory of that programming is pushed out of their skulls in favor of hours and hours of Duck Dynasty reruns and Ancient Aliens, Ax Men, Pawn Stars, etc. for the last 10 years or so.

One thing I find odd in watching election results on TV/online is the way people speak as though the election is still happening and the candidates are personally causing the votes to turn toward their favor.

8 PM: "With 7% of the vote in, Smith is holding steady with 54%. Jones is going to need to make up that deficit in the downstate counties where his support is strongest."

9 PM: "Now, with 20% counted, we're seeing Jones surging ahead! Smith is really going to have to do well in urban areas as well as in Burp County, where I'm just now being told there is a glitch with the vote-counting because the precinct captain experienced some traffic."

10 PM: "It's neck and neck between Smith and Jones, currently just separated by 11 votes, with 45% of precincts reporting. We're getting word that some of the votes still to be counted are from Smorb County, which has a big student population. That could bode well for Smith, who's been campaigning heavily to get out the youth vote. But Jones could still pull ahead, given his strong support in Glop County."

11 PM: "Smith has opened up a ten-point lead now. It's going to be very hard for Jones to make up the difference. Jones needs to do really well in these outer suburbs, like in Hupp and Reep Counties."

DUDES. Chill. It has all already HAPPENED. No one is surging ahead, falling behind, or making up the difference. Everybody's already voted and gone home. All we're doing now is just counting. Yeah I KNOW they have to say something to fill the air, and over the last 30 years of watching election returns I've sometimes fallen into that same Karl-Rovian trap - "Hey! Schmoop County hasn't come in yet; maybe there's still hope!"

These days, I prefer to go to bed early, or watch a movie and drink, then set an alarm to wake up around midnight so that I am more likely to get actual tangible results, rather than do the emotional rollercoaster of hitting refresh all evening only to see that it's still inconclusive.

It's good that Kasich's speaking up, but it's laughable watching him pretend, in an interview he just did with CNN, that he "didn't know the extent" of what Trump's been out there saying the past few months.

Have the open carry crazies ever made their presence known at a polling station, or debate, or convention, etc?

538 has Bern up to a 12% shot in Illinois, so that's in the bag

― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 15 March 2016 19:29 (48 minutes ago) Permalink

aka the CYA threshold

Have the open carry crazies ever made their presence known at a polling station, or debate, or convention, etc?

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, March 15, 2016 4:14 PM (4 minutes ago)

uh you mean, historically? or this year

This year.

give trump's people a little more time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYHLaBBs5pY

Jake Tapper calls today "Survival Tuesday." Chuck Todd was trying to sell "Separation Tuesday" the other day. The Moody Blues yet to weigh in.

How about the Hold Steady?

I'm on a different timeline.

Another stellar character witness for Trump (though he denies it):

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/25517699/pete-rose-would-like-to-clarify-that-hes-not-endorsing-donald-trump?linkId=22303550

DSCC gets the knives out:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/03/15/democrats-rub-salt-in-the-gops-festering-trump-wound/

Fwiw, I heard turnout in IL is predicted to be around 40%, which is, of course, low, but at the same time is I guess twice 2012. Which is good.

‏@micahuetricht
Bill Clinton, in Chicago today: "There is a blame candidate and a responsibility candidate in this race.

scumfuck

I blame the responsible candidate.

in a post-jerry springer world, that dscc "attack ad" is underwhelming

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/upshot/measuring-donald-trumps-mammoth-advantage-in-free-media.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

tl,dr: Trump's gotten ~$2billion in free media

Fucking hacks: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/2016/03/15/76d2b98a-eabe-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_trump-reporters-6pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/03/15/trump-gets-huge-win-in-northern-mariana-islands-gop-caucus.html

this is his first majority btw

I'm enjoying YMP's logistical beatdowns of the constructedness of election reportage

It uses the same framing as sports coverage

Yes - and like a long season I like the wearying aspects of it that he gets at

@micahuetricht
Bill Clinton, in Chicago today: "There is a blame candidate and a responsibility candidate in this race.

Yeah we learned that in 1994 with welfare reform

did he say the same line when Hillary found out about Moncia?

is it worse for the GOP for trump to lock it up tonight or for kasich to win and a convention battle? seems like the latter is more likely to happen

*and then a convention battle

In sports, they generally talk about it _when it's happening_.

It would be like if the teams each played their portion of the game alone, in an otherwise empty stadium, and then the crowd came in and listened to the sportscasters talk about what happened in the game, breathlessly but in random order.

leaning on the side that it's better the GOP (and worse for the country) to see Trump win the nom

i suppose my ultimate concern is what's best for the country. it just so happens that that's whatever happens to be worse for the GOP

what a coincidence

Jerry Springer - hell, Trump's campaign is more like the old Donahue show with all of the Nazis, Klan members and militiamen endorsing him.

Here is my list:
Vanguard News Network
Stormfront
David Duke
Traditionalist Workers Party
Alex Jones

...and countless internet racists.

Oh, and The Daily Stormer endorsed him, too.

not Donahue, Morton Downey Jr.

weird they haven't called florida for clinton yet

weird they haven't called florida for clinton yet

People still voting in the Panhandle, I believe

chris matthews just said that american politics is too "predictable, it's paint by numbers"

Clinton's lead in Florida is commanding. She's got it.

Apparently Rubio's only won the Cuban vote lol

NBC calling Florida for HRC.

rubio just said "we had a great team" and then corrected himself and said "we have a great team"

heckler. rubio: "don't worry, he won't get beaten up here"

it's rubio i'm worried for

It's your friend you should worry about. What on earth am I to do?

and it's official he is suspending his campaign

"suspending"

how I wish I could enjoy this guy suffer in a context not tied to Trump becoming the republican nominee

oh SHUT UP with your aspirational twaddle, Rubes