The Commentariat -- Sept. 26, 2016
Presidential Race
Tonight's presidential debate begins at 9 pm ET. Brian Barrett of Wired lists many of the media outlets that are airing it. -- CW
Fuddy-Duddies Unaware Donald Trump Is GOP Nominee. Jill Disis and Brian Stelter of CNN: "The Commission on Presidential Debates has some advice for debate moderators this fall: leave the fact-checking to the candidates. The Trump campaign is taking the same position. So are some former moderators, like Jim Lehrer, who has facilitated twelve presidential debates. But many others -- including a wide array of journalists -- want the man moderating Monday night's debate, Lester Holt, to intervene if egregious lies are said on stage." -- CW ...
... E. J. Dionne: "... the Clinton camp wants the moderators to call out the candidates when they lie, while Trump wants to leave this task to his opponent. Never has a candidate signaled as clearly as Trump that he is terrified of fact-checking.... The notion that moderators can take themselves out of the debate is absurd.... If one candidate actually does lie more than the other, moderators who are passive in the face of whoppers place the more honest candidate at a profound disadvantage." -- CW ...
... CW: There's a very easy way moderators can not-fact-check/fact-check the candidate: "But Mr. Trump, you said the opposite last week. Which one is it?" or "But Mr. Trump, the independent Tax Policy Center said would mostly benefit the rich & would cause the national debt to soar. You have 30 seconds to respond."
The Fox & the Hedgehog. John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "In showcasing her knowledge, her experience, her calmness under pressure, and the range of worthwhile programs she has to offer, Clinton could well end up outfoxing her prickly opponent." CW: This optimistic post may sound quaint tomorrow; I hope not.
Paul Krugman: "... anyone who complains that there aren't big new ideas in this campaign simply isn't paying attention. One candidate, at least, has ideas that would make a big, positive difference to millions of American families." -- CW
Steve Coll of the New Yorker: "As this dystopian Presidential campaign enters its final phase, the intermingling of persistent terrorism and resilient Trumpism is painful to contemplate." Trump saber-rattles while Clinton has evidence-based plans to counter domestic terrorism, but the public may be too fearful to opt for sensible. -- CW
... Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the reminder.
** "Why Donald Trump Should Not Be President." The New York Times Editors count the ways.
You know, it doesn't really matter what [the media] write as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of ass. -- Donald Trump, Esquire interview, 1991
... Mary Jordan of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump's threat to seat Gennifer Flowers, who had an extramarital affair with Bill Clinton, in the front row at Monday night's presidential debate focuses new attention on Trump's own history of infidelity and could further weaken his support among female voters.... Trump -- who has been married three times -- separated from his first wife, Ivana, after his affair with Marla Maples became widely known. Trump and Ivana finalized their divorce in 1992. Trump married Maples in December 1993, two months after she gave birth to a daughter.... When he was single, Trump was frequently seen out on the town with different women. He ... publicly boasted about his sex life.... While Trump made the kind of 'media noise' that he loves to create, [Republican strategist Mike] Murphy said, this move was 'typical Trump: all impulse and no strategy.'" -- CW
We're going to rebuild our inner cities because our African American communities are absolutely in the worst shape they've ever been in before. Ever, ever, ever. -- Donald Trump, in Kenansville, N.C., last week ...
... Janell Ross of the Washington Post: "In an interview aired Sunday on ABC's 'This Week,' the manager of Donald Trump's campaign, Kellyanne Conway, chided President Obama for his response to claims by the Republican presidential nominee that life has never "ever" been worse for African Americans than it is today. When asked about Trump's characterization of black life, Obama said, 'I think even an 8-year-old will tell you that whole slavery thing wasn't very good for black people. Jim Crow wasn't very good for black people.'... Conway described Obama's comments as inappropriate and did not address the accuracy of Trump's claim." -- CW ...
... "But Hillary Clinton...." Driftglass focuses his almost weekly review of the Sunday showz on Hugh Hewitt's performance & takeover of the pretend-journialstic NBC News' effort formerly known as Press the Meat. ...
... ... "But Hillary Clinton...." Matthew Watkins of the Texas Tribune: "One day after endorsing Donald Trump for president, Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz refused Saturday to say whether he thinks the Republican nominee is fit to lead the country." -- CW
Other News & Views
Patricia Cohen of the New York Times: "More than seven years after the recession ended, employers are finally being compelled to reach deeper into the pools of untapped labor, creating more jobs, especially among retailers, restaurants and hotels, and paying higher wages to attract workers and meet new minimum wage requirements.... Poverty declined among every group. But African-Americans and Hispanics -- who account for more than 45 percent of those below the poverty line of $24,300 for a family of four in most states -- experienced the largest improvement.... Over all, 2.9 million more jobs were created from 2014 to 2015, helping millions of unemployed people cross over into the ranks of regular wage earners. Many part-time workers increased the number of hours on the job. Wages, adjusted for inflation, climbed." -- CW
Louisa Loveluck & Liz Sly of the Washington Post: "The United States accused Russia of 'barbarism' and war crimes in Syria on Sunday as Moscow's airstrikes over Aleppo pushed a humanitarian crisis there to new depths. The nations sparred verbally at an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting called to demand that Russia rein in its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and halt the blistering attacks on Syria's second city." -- CW
CW: I apologize for not timely embedding President Obama's speech at the opening of the National Museum of African American History & Culture. I had good intentions; thanks to contributor Diane for reminding me to follow thru. How lovely to hear remarks of dignity & hope in this time of our national infamy:
... Mark Landler of the New York Times: "... when Michelle Obama hugged former President George W. Bush on Saturday, at a ceremony to open the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the image quickly took flight online. However one chose to interpret it -- and overinterpretation is a hazard in such exercises -- it became an instant metaphor. Some saw the lost virtue of civility in politics; others, the unlikely friendships that blossom at the rarefied heights of public life. To critics on the left, it was a shameful case of political amnesia by the wife of a president who spent years cleaning up the mess left by his predecessor." -- CW
Remember the Supremes! Jeff Toobin of the New Yorker: "For the first time in decades, there is now a realistic chance that the Supreme Court will become an engine of progressive change rather than an obstacle to it.... The hopes for a liberal Court will begin -- or, just as certainly, end -- with the results on Election Day." -- CW
Beyond the Beltway
Lindsay Ellis & Dane Schiller of the Houston Chronicle: "Several people have been shot and injured by a shooter in southwest Houston Monday morning. The shooter has now been shot by Houston Police, according to the HPD Twitter page.No information was immediately available on the shooter's current condition." This is a developing story. -- CW
News Ledes
New York Times: "Arnold Palmer, the champion golfer whose full-bore style of play, thrilling tournament victories and magnetic personality inspired an American golf boom, attracted a following known as Arnie's Army and made him one of the most popular athletes in the world, died on Sunday, according to a spokesman for his business enterprises. Palmer was 87." -- CW
Miami Herald: "Miami Marlins pitcher José Fernández, who fled Cuba on a speedboat eight years ago to become one of baseball's dominant players and a hometown hero to fans well beyond the stadium walls, died early Sunday in a violent boat crash off South Beach. He was 24. Two friends were also killed in the accident, which remains under investigation and led Major League Baseball to promptly cancel Sunday's home game against the Atlanta Braves." -- CW
Share Article
Reader Comments (22)
A flip side to the relatively good news regarding employment & wages (sorry I've never successfully been able to embed). The Comments are predictably awful.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/09/23/why-amazing-video-games-could-be-causing-a-big-problem-for-america/
Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, as well as Trump and his entire team, have all assumed a full frontal strategy that has thus far seemed impenetrable. As soon as Trump's personal insults/blatant lies/racist whistles are called out, each Trump squad member deflects the conversation from Trump's idiocy to any other person possible, and then hold the conversation hostage, eventually running it into the ground. Watching Trumpbots defend their "presidential" candidate, none, not even Trump, can defend his egregious actions. They go straight to 6th grade bullying and pointing fingers. It's the equivalent of grown ups winning conversations by plugging their ears, and drowning out the adult conversations with white noise. This is how serious political discourse works these days.
I was watching one of Bill Mayer's videos when he had Kellyanne Conway on his show. Various videos and articles about the encounter reference how they "sparred", "fought" and how he "confronted her" about Trump's serial lying. But no. In reality, the entire segment ends up talking about Hillary Clinton. Mayer gets a few lines in but overall Trump came out looking great and Hillary gained a few more "clouds" around her. Mayer couldn't get the subject onto Trump, it just drifts away like real journalism. It was very, incredibly disappointing.
If you can stomach it, here it is (Sept. 16th): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maL6-l3DdHk
If Trump feels any fire being put to his toes tonight, expect this ploy to be a central weapon in his arsenal. Moderators need to stay patient, stay on topic, and take the wind out of the sails as the gasbag furiously tries to send all his serious defects downstream in the U.S.S. Hillary's Fault.
John Oliver is back and it's raining raisins––his metaphor for "all lies" Trump. There is a scene where Trumpy Jr. is being interviewed by George S. re: the "Blind Trust" and Jr. is saying that he and his siblings will run the Foundation without his father's input so it will indeed be a blind trust. No, says George, that is not a blind trust because you are the children of the "prospective" President––Jr. doesn't understand what exactly a blind trust is so he repeats his promise that his father will have no say and they, the siblings will never talk to their father about it––not even whisper a teeny tiny thing about it. The clincher here is what Jr, says at the end of all this bullshit––"Trust me."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/john-oliver-raisins-scandals_us_57e8c100e4b0e80b1ba2ced0?section=&
As we watch the news on TV and read the papers the last few days the big topic is the debate. But the subject rarely even mentions anything about policy. No, it's all about Trump performance. This debate is not about America, it is all about whether Trump can act sort of presidential for all of 90 minutes.
So the media admits that he is seriously uncontrolled idiot but completely ignores that fact. The idea that the test is he has to behave like a normal human somehow manages to miss the obvious: he is therefore not a normal human.
So if he lies repeatedly but doesn't hit Hillary in the face, he wins.
Welcome to America the land of the free and the home of the Kardashians.
@safari: I wrote about that same Maher segment last week and came to the same conclusion you have. Bill, who usually has ice water in his veins treated Conway with kid gloves. When she said Hillary had nothing of substance on her website and Bill let that slide, I knew she had him. And yes, any discussion with Trump's minions results in the "you stole the cookie"––"but she stole two" kind of yapping. They can't defend their master so they blame everything on the mistress.
Did anyone else have a chuckle over the two Wash Po journalist's names? Louisa Loveluck and Liz Sly–––these two could go on the road with those tags and rid the country of all it's ills. A real Clancy and Lacy duo.
Re: Cassidy's piece:
Many have observed that Berlin was himself both hedgehog and fox, that he had his own one big thing ~~~not a system, not a doctrine, but an insistence that the fox was right.
As far as fact checking during the debates: Why not have a separate table set up just for this procedure. A few fact checkers sitting there with a red colored buzzer similar to the one in the Staples' ads and whenever a candidate tells a whopper, the buzzer gets punched. These buzzer dudes will be, of course, schooled in all issues foreign and domestic (oh, where to find people like this) and will be responsible for ferreting out the fox and the fiend's tall tales. This leaves the moderators free to just ask their questions without having to say––wait a minute, mister, you said this at that time, but now you are saying...
Just an idea.
Beautiful day here in the Black Hills with another day of pedaling a bicycle uphill (and then blessedly, down) ahead of us. Will try not to obsess about tonight's debate and its consequences for the nation, but know I will continue to dwell on the mall shooting last Friday very near our home in Washington State. Somehow, can't help but think tonight's debate and the rash of mall shootings are related, at least peripherally enough to invite more thought than I can give it this AM.
Did come up with a riddle on yesterday's ride though: What's the difference between 50 and 5? Answer: An AK-47.
If I swiped that, apologies to all. These day I hesitate to claim originality for much of anything.
Look forward to all the wise comments here on tonight's performance art next time I have internet access.
@PD Pepe: Because the debate commission doesn't want to is the short answer.
In a debate between two normal candidates, both will make statements that are at least somewhat subjective & could be construed as true even if PolitiFact or some such organization, after study & deliberation, decides a remark is "mostly false" or "half-true" or "mostly true."
And you can't expect a candidate, working without notes, to stop & explain where she got her numbers or what historian said whatever. I wouldn't want to listen to a debate where you couldn't hear the candidates because some pedant was always pressing his buzzer.
Some news organizations, like the Times & the WashPo, do some nearly-instant (say, withing 15 minutes), informal fact-checking of the whoppers.
That's why my suggestion, to allow a knowledgeable moderator to question the candidates on their whoppers, is the best we can hope for.
Unfortunately, the debate commission chose all teevee newspeople -- as opposed to print journalists -- to moderate the debates, & fact-checking is not necessarily part of their day jobs. So I'm not hoping for much. But even if a moderator catches Trump in one of his standard big lies, his response will be "Did not," or a word-salad deflection. And the moderator really can't become a Did-too Third Debater while Clinton stands there trying to get a word in edgewise.
I'm not envying Lester Holt right now.
Marie
The picture of Michelle Obama giving Bush a hug was not the first time she has shown affection to Bush. During the Dallas service, she sat next to Bush and patted him, and seemed to be comforting him at times. I would say finds something in him that triggers a maternal instinct. Although I find him kinda repugnant, Michelle Obama walks the walk. Apparently, she sees him as a human being like her and he seems to feel the same.
Marvin's comment about the obtuse and shallow nature of current political understanding across great swaths of voters references a particularly vacuous nexus of zero calorie pop culture, shimmering solipsism, and self-promotion: the Kardashians.
If you want to take the temperature of the current political climate as experienced by millions of potential voters (potential only if they can tear themselves away from the TV and their iPads to do so), google Kim Kardashian, Trump. You'll get almost seven million links. Seven. Million. Links. All breathlessly describing whether or not Kim Kardashian will vote for the Donald after all. OMG! What will KIMMY DO?? We have to know! Fuck domestic policy. I mean, what is that anyway? A guide to handling the help?
Turns out that Kimmy has been "on the fence" for a long time, which in itself demonstrates her fundamental disqualification for advising anyone on the current race between a sane, highly qualified candidate and a brutish, lying, know-nothing douchebag. One reality TV pseudo-star contemplating electing another reality TV pseudo-star to the highest office in the land. No doubt her dithering about whether or not to vote for a fucking Nazi was useful in keeping her "brand" constantly before the public. To hell with what's good for the country; what's in it for little Kimmy? How can I turn a national crisis into cheap and quick publicity capital for myself? Helped, of course by a decumbent press and millions of sapless followers, better categorized as pseudo-citizens.
My sense is that policy chops will not help Hillary at all. This will be a contest, but not one of experience, competency or will or the ability to get things done. This will be Donald Trump playing Eddie Haskell ("Oh no, Mrs. Cleaver, I would never use a switchblade!") and getting every benefit of the doubt and big rave reviews because he didn't hit Clinton in the head with a blackjack.
At the end of the night I expect not a single Kardashian fan will be able to tell you one thing Hillary Clinton had to say, but they'll all gush about how "presidential" Eddie Haskell looked. He was on such good behavior! I mean, he never even called her a name. Now he's ready to take on the problems of the world and make America.....er....ah....something...again. Yay! Quick! Turn the channel. Let's see who's winning on The Voice. Did you hear what Blake Shelton said last night? OOOOooohh...
I have to agree with Diane about the Bush-Michelle Obama picture. There must be some kind of natural connection between occupants, present and former, of the White House. There are so few humans who know what that's like, like being one of the twelve astronauts who have walked on the moon. But over and above that, I do believe that Michelle Obama is simply a decent human being. The fact that I personally wouldn't piss on Bush if he were on fire is beside the point. I'm probably not nearly as nice a human being as Michelle.
Nonetheless, few things hit the internet that aren't immediately appropriated and this image is no different. A flurry of Photoshopped verisions has hit the web. Here's a good one. And another.
It's nice (I think) to see that Bush can respond to humanity after all those years of fucking up and causing the deaths of so many other humans.
I'm not sure what pieces like the John Cassidy article in the New Yorker are intended to do. Is he trying to make people like us (who live in the rational world) feel better about a positive outcome based on the victory of light over darkness? I'm sorry, but I don't feel very positive. I certainly hope that's the case, but it's been clear for a long time that very few members of the public care about policy. Too many of them care about looks, about optics, about the presentation. And they've been told, by the media, and by Donald, and by Fox, that all that counts is that she's old looking and a woman and he's a rich man with a "great piece of ass" for a wife.
I'm sorry to be a party pooper but I'm not overly sanguine about any of this. Since we're on Isaiah Berlin ground with the Cassidy piece, let's recall another essay, the one on historical inevitability. Trump plays up this concept every time he opens his mouth, and it is exactly the sort of thing that authoritarians like Donaldavich's BFF Putin resorts to when they say or imply things like they are the only ones who can save their country. Their victories, presaging the return to greatness of their respective nations, are an historical inevitability. Berlin spent years unpacking the essence of totalitarian statehood. Why? Because it had been such a powerful force in tearing down not just the two senses of liberty of which he has written, but all liberty of any kind. For demagogues like Trump and Putin, liberty is for them and whomever else they decide may be allowed to bask in their generosity. For everyone else, it's the wall or the gulag or radioactive poisoning.
And the idea of historical inevitability is baked into the Confederate mindset. America is great because it's the best because George Washington and Jesus and the Bible. And now Trump. It's a lie and it's entirely unsupportable by either history or intellectual or moral standards but Trumpbots, and very likely the Kim Kardashian undecideds don't care about obscure, academic sounding shit like that. They want to know who will make them look the best, who is the coolest, who can smack down the other guy hardest.
I very much hope I'm wrong, but I have a very bad feeling about how all this will play out. This isn't to suggest in any way that Trump is unbeatable. He is without a doubt the weakest, stupidest, most unqualified candidate I can recall in the history of the country. But he does have a huge media base helping him and hordes of ignoramuses being catered to by a both sides mindset and a not so subtle misogyny. I think all he has to do is show up, not fall over, and not say anything too stupid, and it will be hard for Clinton to be seen as the winner in any of these debates.
But then again, it's not a historical inevitability, so...
Well here's some good news.
The governor of Mitchy McConnell's home state, Kentucky, a tax evading, douche'bagging, Bible banging dilettante named Matt Bevin, the one who went before the Jesus crowd a few weeks ago and announced that if Hillary was elected, people were going to have to be murdered, has been told by the state supreme court that he'll have to give back millions he looted from state college budgets.
Bevin, since he took office, apparently, has been on a crusade to destroy education in any way he can because, as you know, Confederates are not down with 'readin', 'writin', and 'rithmetic. People should read the Bible and do what they're told, like that nice Kim Davis. Fuck that education shit.
I'm thinking Bevin may have added a few names to his list of people needing the Second Amendment treatment.
Assholes are everywhere. Luckily, they're not all above the law.
Early this summer I was concerned that HRC's lead would be so great over DJT that it would be dangerous ... that a lot of HRC voters would fail to show because they would assume their votes were not needed. And DJT could come out on top because of voter apathy.
I'm not worried about that any more. The threat of DJT's popularity should bring out a record vote. With luck HRC will have coattails on her pantsuit.
The print press has been pretty good in the past few weeks articulating specifics of DJT's mendacity. But the broadcast talking heads, not so great, although more of them seem to be pressing DJT surrogates like KellyAnn, whose defensive responses are automatic like squid ink. Like Marie the other day, I am astounded at the numbers of people (voters?) who just cannot recognize BS when they are standing in it, or, worse, who like to stand in BS.
Don't worry so much. GOTV.
Ted Cruz quoted in the Texas Tribune piece:
“If Hillary Clinton is elected president, the court will be lost for a generation and that means my daughter’s rights will be lost for a generation.”
Does he mean his daughter's right to prevent my daughter from getting an abortion?
Or his daughter's right to prevent my daughter from marrying the woman she loves?
Or his daughter’s right to prevent my daughter from getting health care coverage that includes contraceptives?
It would certainly be a shame to deprive Ted’s daughter of these cherished rights.
Monoloco: Strange how Cruz will rail at what evil will happen if Hillary is elected but refuses to say that Trump is qualified to be president.
Bought a case of vino today. Plan to have a glass every time I think
trump is lying as I watch the debates. Probably won't see the end at
10:30 but hope to catch up on RealityChex tomorrow (or maybe
Wednesday).
Forrest, please have a swallow per lie, not a glass. Otherwise you'll be dead by 9:30 EDT.
Forrest,
Man, if you're thinking of a glass for every Trump lie I'd suggest making two calls. First, the Guinness world record people, and second, several EMTs with special training in alcohol poisoning so you can survive to see your name attached to a new world record.
I was planning to get loaded before, not during, the big event. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to tolerate listening to Hair Drumpf.
One good thing to come out of this debacle should be the death of the ubiquitous phrase "That's not who we are!"