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

i remember all my friends in '04 being convinced that bush was toast and i was like, have you seen kerry in action?

jefferson beauregard sessions

feed is down :(

here we go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x5axmyoinM

jeez giuliani is stressing me out

gee rudy i wonder

Fuck this guy man

Did Guiliani call Clinton accountable or a cannibal?

"Hillary Clinton advocated for the overthrow of Ghaddafi". Yup. How much flack do you think would Rudy be giving her now for "advocating for the preservation of Ghaddafi's regime in Libya"?

lol what just happened

MELANIA

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnsarvLWcAANMH4.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/32/e9/e0/32e9e0e4b7c49bd50cbfe0cb8e58b813.jpg

so we can all agree that it's bizarre, but is this going well for Trump/Republicans or no?

never forget:

https://nobodyputsbabyinahorner.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/giuliani_in_drag_2.jpg

omigod Bob Dole was yanked out of his seat

never gonna tell a lie and..

noticed that too

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnsbPxDWAAQIA9K.jpg

I'm wary of making such statements after having to eat my hat on the nomination, but when I see this convention lineup, it's really, really hard for me to believe they can win this year.

I watched the Cotton/Sessions/Giuliani lineup and had the same feeling, but I've been burned by confirmation bias with these things before, so I'm not resting too comfortably just yet. If tonight is supposed to be national security/foreign policy night, then it seems kind of telling that the big applause line is that Obama won't say "radical Islamist terrorism". I mean maybe it's a good dog-whistle line for the crypto-birthers out there who think Obama is secretly a Muslim, but I think it's got to have a little substance behind it to cross over to undecideds, and I just don't see it. I mean this is the big failure of Obama's presidency, that he doesn't use the right words to talk about terrorism? Seems like a tough sell.

Ramesh Ponnuru
✔
@RameshPonnuru

Melania Trump is giving a perfectly good speech for a candidate who does not bear much resemblance to her husband.

you know i actually flipped over to that o'reilly interview trump called into, for a few min, and he was saying oh melania will give a great speech, this is her night, it's all about her

so obvs trump had to 1) call into o'reilly the same night to be on tv and 2) do a dramatic entrance for himself so everyone talked about nothing but that

he's giving the people what they want. folks are heading to the exits now that he's gone.

axelrod: "if i'm a convention planner i did not want rudy giuliani spilling into the ten o'clock hour and scaring americans out of their wits"

Fuck Chris Matthews for sitting next to Hugh Hewitt as he praises Giuliani for being a beloved figure.

beloved????????

such unreality

"street smart"

i know no one on any of these panels is going to say anything bad about melania's speech because it feels like a line they don't want to cross, since tbh she probably didn't want to be involved in politics at all.. it was super robotic and impersonal. there was nothing about it that was going to encourage anyone to reconsider their view of trump

oh look another angry, angry ranting guy who looks like he would like to personally strangle someone rn

angry guy yelling about war and bathrooms

this will def go over well w/swing voters

you know i actually flipped over to that o'reilly interview trump called into, for a few min, and he was saying oh melania will give a great speech, this is her night, it's all about her

so obvs trump had to 1) call into o'reilly the same night to be on tv and 2) do a dramatic entrance for himself so everyone talked about nothing but that

Imagine the pathos of Melania's fake orgasms with this fucker.

This military dude is fucking insane

I can't think of a single time when a prez candidate's wife didn't get "she was warm" and "X's secret weapon" and "Wait till the country gets to know her!" from the press.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1455567/Is-she-Kerrys-secret-weapon.html

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2008/10/john_mccain_unleashes_his_secr.html

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-07-02/ann-romney-interview/55966990/1

http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Ted-Cruz-s-secret-weapon-Heidi-Cruz-6678881.php

wow

the crowd now chanting "lock her up"

downright horrifying

He's very persuasive--Clinton may drop out.

fascist

This guy yelling on the stream right now, who is he? Because I'm scared of him.

Does this asshole know that he has a microphone and does not need to yell so much?

a big round of applause for freedom from the lock her up brigade

no big rounds of applause for 20 minutes, despite what it sounds like

https://twitter.com/rickklein/status/755238034262650880

lmao

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2DGF5UYBox0/hqdefault.jpg

https://twitter.com/kenvogel/status/755242089659654144

To be fair, it's getting close to midnight in Cleveland, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens at 10am. You have to get up and get breakfast and hustle there early if you want to beat the crowds, because apparently it is free for these killjoy racist assholes:

MUSIC CHANGED THE WORLD.

Since its creation, Rock & Roll has triggered, focused and facilitated political conversations throughout the world. As Cleveland welcomes the 2016 Republican National Convention, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame explores music’s impact on public opinion. The featured exhibit Louder Than Words: Rock, Power and Politics looks at rock’s power to change attitudes about patriotism, peace, equality and freedom. The experience tells stories from the fall of Communism to Black Lives Matter, from war protests to LGBT rights and everything in between. These stories are told by a diverse range of artists and politicians with a wide range of political perspectives

The Rock Hall welcomes everyone to be a part of this conversation. From July 18-21, we're open and offering free admission to all who want to visit, courtesy of underwriting from AT&T. We’ll welcome a number of artists, political figures, and dignitaries, as well as serve as a host to thousands of media outlets from around the world.

Music has the power to challenge our thinking, offer new points of view and bring people together, regardless of political perspective. During the RNC, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will use this platform as an opportunity to extend our mission to engage, teach and inspire through the power of Rock & Roll and offer new points of view — asking us to recognize and embrace differences, and talk about ways people can come together and find common ground.

We welcome everyone to be a part of this conversation and look to share stories that ignite passions, challenge thinking and encourage participation in the democratic process.

Subversive!

Sean Oneal is back at the AV Club and writes this summary of Scott Baio's political wisdom/contributions