Curb Your Authoritarianism? The 2016 Conventional Wisdom Thread (Elections, Part 6)

^ It certainly is a defense in depth, so I guess "profound" would apply in one of its meanings, but even though I fully appreciate the hatred that has been aimed at Hillary and how little of it has been merited by her actions, I did not find myself "moved" by that essay. It is just a reasonable summary of the history of hillary-bashing.

yeah ignore the title/URL, still kind of a nice read when LYIN CROOKED HILLARY is pretty much a nonstop meme now

most of that is 100% otm, partic in invoking petraeus, whose ridic escapade was the most actually shocking, in the sense of unexpected and to my mind completely disqualifying, d.c. scandal of my lifetime maybe?

but wrt her speaking fees which take up an awful lot

For millions of Americans struggling to pay their bills, the very idea that someone can make $100,000 or more for just giving a speech or hanging out at a Vegas nightclub is obscene. But as Richard Nixon used to say, “don’t hate the player, hate the game.” Hillary didn’t invent the speaking engagement industry, and she isn’t anywhere near the first person to make a lot of money from it. And while her fees are in the upper range of what speakers make, neither they nor the total amount of money she has made are unusual. It’s just unusual FOR A WOMAN.

but the point of bringing up the speaking fees is not to imply that she is literally taking bribes from goldman sachs but to imply that her beliefs are so amenable to the executives of goldman sachs that they will happily pay hundreds of thousands of dollars just to listen to them

obv the argument against that is she's a politician she works constituencies she doesn't have to believe the stuff she says to goldman sachs or act exclusively on it and anyway i thought you said she was lyin hillary

i don't think she's lyin hillary particularly tho and i think she prob believes in and is proud, in a modest private way, of the content of her speeches, which are prob m/l the pragmatic technocratic Democratic globally-investing equivalent of mitt's 47% "gaffe" and public knowledge of which prob would not partic help her, or the project of dgaf-gonna-go-ahead-and-call-it-neoliberalism, in her+its present fight v fascism

nevertheless i am sure that a lot of people think she is literally taking bribes

one thing that occurred to me: the republicans have spent eight years treating the president as illigitimate, obv, but w the exception of the birthers, whom iirc the party elders at least affected to hold themselves above; and of benghazi, which has been all hillary's (in part strategically); they have not actually spent eight years launching investigations into him for insane petty shit. maybe partly this is because (unlike bill) obama has self-discipline, but is the rest because the "optics" on furiously investigating the black guy again would be bad even for the gop? if it is, too bad for them, cuz maybe they coulda kept the trumpists and the god market.

well, according to the GOP, they have investigated a corrupt administration: IRS, BENGHAZI, emails.

https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/749239879645687808

no wonder reddit likes this guy so much

fucking unreal

It was scheepishly removed soon after, the Star of David replaced by a circle. Was gonna post it to the 'is this anti-semitism' thread but really, no arguing here. Terrible.

*sheepishly

retracted with a wink and a nod, no doubt.

Im at a Walgreens where a cashier said "Bless you" to a customer who sneezed and the customer responded, "God bless the United States of America." (4th of July humor.)

i thought that was the standard response to "bless you," as well as anything else a person says to you

Shit wrong thread!

took it as a report on the climate

Follow up piece to that Hillary article linked above: https://medium.com/@michaelarnovitz/thinking-about-hillary-a-follow-up-2e01a963a632#.bur63zvo1

nothing unexpected: https://twitter.com/TeddyDavisCNN/status/749347441057603588

the amount of dust kicked up around those emails will require considerable wind to blow the air clear again, which was, of course, the main point of those doing the kicking.

thanks, nhex, that michael arnovitz article is one of the best peices of long-form political writing i've read in a long time. strangely inspirational in its real talk earnestness, though that's clearly not the author's intent.

First genuinely encouraging thing I've read about Hillary imo:

“To be crystal clear: She has led many battles where you can’t compromise on principle,” Ms. Tanden added. “But she also loves socializing, loves having people and spouses over, and really loves talking over drinks.”

....

Mrs. Clinton’s ability to use alcohol as a political lubricant came up repeatedly when allies and advisers were asked how she might work with Republicans. Her tale about a drinking contest with Senator John McCain of Arizona is now a Washington legend. (She said they called it quits before things got out of hand.) She believes that a relaxed, frank discussion is more authentic than trying to bond awkwardly with adversaries over sports — and more productive than keeping them at arm’s length, as Mr. Obama has often done.

Make America Drunk Again

a taste for alcohol is definitely one of the more humanizing of her traits, mostly because it cuts against the various caricatures folks have created of her.

in the same way that obama's erstwhile smoking habit was kind of charming in that it showed that the stresses of his jobs were taking their toll, even though he appeared so unflappable.

hope Obama doesn't go full LBJ self-destruct mode post-presidency

Seems unlikely...?

Obama is way too preternaturally calm/sociopathic.

he'll be fine. he needs to find something to do for like 30 years though, he's so young.

First time I've ever heard Sherrod Brown interviewed (This Week). Thought I was watching an old Columbo episode--he's weird.

I just head Chuck Todd praise Jonathan Rauch's anti-democracy essay as "maybe a seminal" essay -- too delicious an encapsulation of the Beltway pundit class.

hope Obama doesn't go full LBJ self-destruct mode post-presidency

― ejemplo (crüt), Sunday, July 3, 2016 4:11 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Seems unlikely...?

― Οὖτις, Sunday, July 3, 2016 4:13 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Obama is way too preternaturally calm/sociopathic.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, July 3, 2016 4:17 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

obama has had a frustrating presidency but not, like lbj, a completely shattering one

however lbj put up way more psycho flags than obama imo

I like to imagine HRC will nominate Obama to the Supreme Court.

Back to Hillary's somewhat humanizing affection for intoxicating beverages, she writes the following in a piece for the Toast:

Barbara Mikulski famously started a tradition of dinner parties for all the women of the Senate. Over a glass of wine — okay, maybe three....

http://the-toast.net/2016/07/01/a-note-on-the-toast/

Also, not sure I buy Obama on the Court. It'd certainly make Dems like me happy and be a major fuck-you move to the right. But who thinks he'd be happy effectively immobilized on a pedestal, frozen in a robe for the rest of his life? He's young and rich and funny. Let the dude roam free to travel, speak, write, appear on Fallon, campaign for congresscritters.

It's also been floated that he wants to join in owning a basketball team. If I were he I'd choose somewhere in between those extremes in terms of gravitas. Then again, in DC we have a former council member (Jim Graham) who, after leaving politics and having nothing to lose, went to work for a strip club. I think Obama might do well in a certain type of adult films, if that's what he wants to do.

ahahahaha of course

https://mic.com/articles/147711/donald-trump-s-star-of-david-hillary-clinton-meme-was-created-by-white-supremacists#.g13DXXpHI

Jesus Christ, of fucking course. Also:

As lawyer and writer William Hodges pointed out, at least two of the points of the original star are still visible from below the circle on the new image on Trump's twitter.

There's probably a joke to be made about the difficulty of wanting to goose-step in clown shoes that large...

https://65.media.tumblr.com/1555467f49f395c7fb82391da0ac093d/tumblr_nsq1u3QbAB1r75glho1_500.jpg

Obama to the Supreme Court sounds cool but I fear it would establish some fucked up death of the republic situation where all ex presidents go to the court and politicize the ever loving shit out of it for the rest of their lives.

Ex-president Taft went to the SCOTUS, so there is a good precedent.

I'm pretty sure Obama has said that he isn't interested in SC because it's a bit too cloistered, doesn't allow him to work with the people, etc.

He would also SUCK on criminal procedure.

^^^^ yes

Also: Taft was a horror on the Court.

lmao @ "Sheriff's Star"

obama would be wasted on the supreme court, dude is too entertaining and engaging. I'm sure he could do some good, doing something.

American Bandstand revival

Important to note that the Taft analogy only works if John Roberts were to die and HRC appoints Obama to chief justice. I can't imagine a court in which a former president sits with a chief justice.

Speaking of which, where are we with the nomination process for the Scalia replacement? Is it really pushed back to after November?

It is pushed back until the Senate Republicans either relent or lose their majority in the next election. Majority Leader Sen. Blobfish (R-Ky.) shows no indication of having second thoughts about this ugly obstructionism.

back when there was still a fair amount of coverage, the theory was that maybe during lame duck session if the GOP is looking at a president hillary clinton plus a democratic senate & thus ability to appoint and confirm someone more liberal, they'd get their act together and confirm garland. doubt it'll happen before then but maybe they will at least start hearings by the time they come back?

https://twitter.com/GarrettHaake/status/750084259101061120

trump out with another statement which doesn't explain the source of the image, who was responsible, just accusations about clinton
will keep this story going longer

i have no sympathy for the GOP being stuck with this guy. their leadership should have stood up against his racism from day 1 of his campaign.

but they agree with it