The Commentariat -- July 29, 2016
Afternoonish Update:
At 1:10 pm ET, Hillary Clinton & Tim Kaine are about to speak (or something) in Philadelphia. MSNBC appears to be going to air their remarks.
Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "A federal appeals court on Friday struck down North Carolina's requirement that voters show identification before casting ballots and reinstated an additional week of early voting. The decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit was an overwhelming victory for civil rights groups and the Justice Department that argued the voting law was designed to dampen the growing political clout of African American voters, who participated in record numbers in elections in 2008 and 2012. 'We can only conclude that the North Carolina General Assembly enacted the challenged provisions of the law with discriminatory intent,' Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote for the panel." CW: Motz is a Clinton appointee. Elections matter.
John Wisely of the Detroit Free Press: "Six more state employees were charged with crimes today for their roles in the Flint Water Crisis because of negligence and arrogance, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said. 'Some people failed to act, others minimized harm done and arrogantly chose to ignore data, some intentionally altered figures ... and covered up significant health risks,' he said at a news conference today. The result, Schuette said, 'was water was poisoned.' Charged today were three employees of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality; Liane Shekter Smith, Adam Rosenthal, and Patrick Cook, as well as three others from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services; Nancy Peeler, Corinne Miller, Robert Scott." -- CW
Tim Egan makes the case against having a despotic traitor as president. (Yes, it has come to that.) "Trump is now a national security risk, actively rooting for a foreign adversary to tamper with an American election. And very soon, he will start receiving classified briefings on that adversary. Ehhhhhcellent!" -- CW
CW P.S.: If you hated my comment (below) on Chelsea's speech, as I 'm sure many of you did, there's more on it in the comments under "Tale Told by an Idiot" where a writer made an implied complaint & I responded.
*****
Democratic Convention & Presidential Race
New York Times photo.Patrick Healy & Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton, who sacrificed personal ambition for her husband's political career and then rose to be a globally influential figure, became the first woman to accept a major party's presidential nomination on Thursday night.... Declaring that the nation was at 'a moment of reckoning,' Mrs. Clinton, 68, urged voters to reject the divisive policy ideas and combative politics of ... Donald J. Trump. She offered herself as a steady and patriotic American who would stand up for citizens of all races and creeds and unite the country to persevere against Islamic terrorists, economic troubles, and the chaos of gun violence." -- CW ...
... Politico has the full text of Clinton's speech, as prepared. -- CW ...
... Jonathan Chait: "... protesters began shouting on the first day [of the Democratic convention], and despite urgent efforts to mollify them, their effect never fully disappeared.... On the other hand, having unhinged extremists screaming at the stage beats having unhinged extremists screaming from the stage, as was the case in Cleveland. And that, of course, is the whole nub of the election. Clinton finds herself in a situation where her ordinariness and familiarity can work to her advantage. She is the one and only sane, competent candidate in the race, and her address underscored those qualities." -- CW ...
... Greg Sargent: "... because of Trump's uniquely troubling temperament and his explicitly xenophobic campaign, there is space here for Clinton to both reaffirm the party's commitment to American values of pluralism and tolerance while simultaneously becoming the candidate of unity and stability.... If she succeeds in both moving to the left while simultaneously expanding the Democratic Party's appeal among GOP-leaning voter groups -- Trump's unique unsuitability for the job may be why." -- CW ...
... Katherine Krueger of TPM: "After the GOP nominee lambasted the Democrats on Twitter for displaying what he viewed as too few American flags, there was a sea of waving flags as far as the eye could see when Hillary Clinton became the first woman to accept a major party's nomination on Thursday.... The evening also hammered home the stark tonal difference between the two conventions. After Trump painted America as a downcast country in need of a billionaire savior, night after night of all-star DNC speakers preached a sermon of American exceptionalism, with values that unify us all -- talking points once exclusively owned by Republicans." Krueger reproduces tweets of conservatives "praising the DNC and bemoaning the state of affairs in their own party." -- CW
CW: I know Donald Trump had to get his kids to speak on his behalf because nobody else would, but the Clintons' decision to have Chelsea introduce Hillary was unnecessary & foolish. Chelsea's speech was not only embarrassingly ineffectual & cloying, it was also a high-profile testimony to what is wrong with legacy politics, therefore a reminder of why we should feel uncomfortable about the nominee herself. Just stupid.
Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump was speaking at an event in Iowa, complaining that America was not allowed to waterboard terrorists, when Khizr Khan and his wife walked up to the microphone at the Democratic convention.... Khan's son, Humayun, was a captain in the U.S. Army. When a vehicle packed with explosives approached his compound in Iraq in 2004, he instructed his men to seek cover as he ran toward it. The car exploded, killing Khan instantly.... [Khizr Khan] spoke of his son's dreams ... and how Hillary Clinton had referred to his son as 'the best of America'... 'If it was up to Donald Trump, [Humayun] never would have been in America,' Khan said. 'Donald Trump consistently smears the character of Muslims. He disrespects other minorities, women, judges, even his own party leadership. He vows to build walls and ban us from this country.'... In Iowa..., Trump was talking about polls." Includes video. -- CW
Janell Ross of the Washington Post: "... what the Rev. William Barber II stopped by the Democratic National Convention Thursday night to tell you was just about the most engaging version of everything that every other speaker touched on over the course of the four day event. What he delivered -- eight years after this brand of liberation theology took a beating from uninformed corners of the conservative commentariat -- was evidence of a long tradition of liberal, religious patriotism":
... The New York Times' live briefings are here. -- CW ...
... Brian Stelter of CNN: "President Obama's prime time speech lifted the Democratic convention to its third straight night of ratings wins over the Republican convention last week -- and now the Trump campaign is exhorting supporters not to watch the Democrats' final night." --
How would the CIA and the other intelligence agencies brief this guy? How could they do that? I would suggest to the intelligence agencies, if you're forced to brief this guy, don't tell him anything, just fake it, because this man is dangerous. Fake it, pretend you're doing a briefing, but you can't give the guy any information. This guy, he's part of a foreign power. We knew he liked Putin before this, but this is quite ridiculous. -- Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Minority Leader, on Donald Trump, in a Huff Post interview ...
... Sam Stein & Amanda Terkel of the Huffington Post: "The chairman of Hillary Clinton's campaign urged U.S. intelligence agencies on Wednesday to get an ironclad agreement from Donald Trump that he would not leak information to the Russians before providing him with presidential candidate briefings. 'I think it's an issue that ... Jim Clapper's going to have to come to grips with,' John Podesta said in an interview with The Huffington Post, referring to the director of national intelligence. 'And I think they'll have to find a way to negotiate with him and with his campaign to get ... more than assurances ― sort of some proof that they can be able to hold on to that information.'" ...
... CW: In all seriousness, the national security team should dispense with the presidential briefings this year. Donald Trump cannot be trusted with any "secret" information, & his campaign guru Paul Manafort almost certainly would share any relevant secrets with some of his despotic clients. Hillary Clinton pretty much already knows what she needs to know, and what she doesn't, she likely can learn from sources still inside the State Department & elsewhere. ...
... Update. CW: Boo-hoo-hoo, Nobody Ever Listens to Me. Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "U.S. spy agencies are preparing to deliver a classified briefing to ... Donald Trump, the nation's intelligence director said Thursday, despite deep unease among many spy officials with the real estate mogul's pro-Russian rhetoric. National Intelligence Director James R. Clapper Jr. indicated that Trump and ... Hillary Clinton are eligible to receive intelligence briefings within days of the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention.... But Clapper's remarks came amid new signs of deep discomfort with Trump among the upper ranks of the intelligence community.... One senior intelligence official said Wednesday that he would decline to participate in any session with Trump.... Clapper said that the White House in the coming days would contact the Trump and Clinton campaigns, offering 'fairly general' overviews on issues including the threat posed by the Islamic State and other terror groups." -- CW ...
... Welcome to the U.S.S.R. Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump called President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia 'a better leader' than President Obama, offering the praise in an interview with 'Fox and Friends' on Thursday.... Mr. Trump also tried to walk back, in part, comments he made Wednesday about Russia hacking Mrs. Clinton's emails.... 'Of course, I'm being sarcastic'" Mr. Trump said in the interview taped Wednesday.... 'But you have 33,000 emails deleted, and the real problem is what was said in those emails from the Democratic National Committee. You take a look at what was said in those emails, it's disgraceful. It's disgraceful.' Mr. Trump seemed to be conflating the roughly 30,000 emails on Mrs. Clinton's private server during her time as secretary of state, which her lawyers deleted as personal, and the roughly 20,000 emails Democratic National Committee emails that had been hacked." ...
... CW: That is, Trump thinks "a better leader" is one who offs, jails or otherwise suppresses his critics, who controls the press & takes over foreign countries (or parts thereof) because he can. Trump would model his presidency on the acts & styles of despots. ...
... Paul Waldman agrees: "If only Obama would order some journalists murdered, that would really bump him up in the leadership category." -- CW
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Here's why this sarcasm explanation doesn't hold water: 1. Trump campaign officials never said he was joking on Wednesday. They mounted a robust defense, mind you, but they didn't say it was a joke.... 2. Trump doubled down. In a tweet after the comments exploded on social media, Trump ... [made] no mention of joking around.... 3. He said it twice.... He initially said he hoped the Russians had the emails, and then he returned later to say that if they didn't have them, he hoped they would obtain them.... 4. A reporter gave him an out -- that he didn't take. NBC's Katy Tur, later in Wednesday's press conference, basically asked Trump twice if he was serious. In response, Trump indicated he had no qualms about, in Tur's words, 'asking a foreign government -- Russia, China, anybody -- to interfere, to hack into the system of anybody's in this country.'... 5. He's mentioned it before.... Last month he said he thought 'our enemies' already had them." CW: As Blake points out, Trump regularly makes changing & noncredible excuses for his bizarre comments. ...
... Max Fisher in the New York Times: "Nations pursue their interests, whether other countries like it or not. Great powers in particular, including the United States, often meddle in foreign elections. But such operations are conducted in secret because they are hostile acts, meant to subvert the will of the targeted country's population and the sanctity of its institutions. Mr. Trump, in openly inviting such foreign interference, was undercutting one of the most fundamental national interests of a democratic state.... Mr. Trump ... solicit[ed] an adversary, and encourag[ed] it to violate United States law on his behalf." -- CW
Michael Hayden of ABC News: "Donald Trump said Thursday afternoon he wanted to 'hit' some of the Democratic National Convention speakers 'so hard' while watching them.... 'You know what I wanted to. I wanted to hit a couple of those speakers so hard,' Trump said. "I would have hit them. No, no. I was going to hit them, I was all set and then I got a call from a highly respected governor.' Trump didn't immediately clarify what he meant.... 'I was gonna hit one guy in particular, a very little guy,' he said. 'I was gonna hit this guy so hard his head would spin and he wouldn't know what the hell happened.'" ...
... CW: The one "very little guy" who spoke Wednesday night was Ryan Moore, who suffers from spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia dwarfism & who spoke about how Hillary Clinton had helped him & kept in touch with him since 1994. Trump's remark was apparently designed to live up to his record of saying or tweeting something vile & disqualifying every day. ...
... Update: Greg Sargent thinks the "very little guy" Trump wants "to hit so hard his head would spin" was former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He might be right.
Alex Zielinski of Think Progress: "... Donald Trump used his company's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act as the sole example of how he's respectful to people with disabilities. 'I spend millions of dollars making buildings good for people that are disabled,' Trump told reporter Brian Kilmeade in a Fox & Friends interview.... This isn't the first time Trump's talked about his compliance with a federal law like it's an act of charity.... Trump also claimed he's 'given more money to the ADA' than anyone else. The ADA, however, is a law -- not something you can donate money to.... However, Trump hasn't even consistently followed this federal law." Individuals have sued Trump properties for noncompliance, & Trump's Taj Mahal had to settle with the DOJ after it cited the hotel for noncompliance. -- CW
Jessica Garrison, et al., of BuzzFeed: "Donald Trump has made restoring American jobs a centerpiece of his campaign, a pledge he reiterated last week when he accepted the Republican nomination for president.... This month, Trump ... looks to hire 78 servers, housekeepers, and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach and the nearby Trump National Golf Club, Jupiter. But instead of making sure those jobs go to Americans, he is seeking to import foreign workers for the positions.... He filed applications this month claiming he couldn't find enough Americans to do that work.... Tom Veenstra, a senior director at Palm Beach's career services center, told BuzzFeed News ... his agency ... has a database of 1,327 Palm Beach County residents interested in server, cook, and chef positions." -- CW ...
... Eric Levitz of New York: "Trump isn't even willing to temporarily increase his company's labor costs, for the sake of maintaining his campaign's central narrative." -- CW
I'm honored that POTUS would plagiarize a line from my speech last week. Where's the outrage? -- Donald Trump, Jr., in a tweet ...
... Aaron Blake: "Obama said at one point in his speech on Wednesday night, 'That is not the America I know.' And Donald Trump Jr. used that exact same line just a week prior -- albeit with -- a contraction: '... That's not the America I know.' Case closed. It's plagiarism. The media's double standard at work, yet again. Except that, by this standard, Obama didn't plagiarize the line from Trump Jr. until Trump Jr. had already plagiarized it from him. Obama, after all, has said this phrase on several occasions. And that wasn't even its first bout of plagiarizing; none other than George W. Bush used it before Obama." So did many people before him. CW: Junior is so thoroughly stupid he doesn't know that repeating common sayings & idioms is not plagiarism. Who is a politician supposed to credit when s/he says "God bless America" at the end of every speech? Irving Berlin? Richard Nixon? ...
... Aaron Rupar of Think Progress with an Update: Junior "now says he was just joking with the plagiarism accusation." CW: Sound familiar? Yup, still a chip off the old blockhead. ...
... MEANWHILE, it turns out the Trump-Family-Plagiarizer-in-Chief is also a Résumé-Inflator: Christina Wilkie of the Huffington Post: "The professional website of Melania Trump ... has apparently been deleted from the internet as of Wednesday afternoon. The disappearance of Trump's elaborate website comes just days after news outlets, including The Huffington Post, raised serious questions about whether she actually earned an undergraduate degree in architecture from the University of Ljubljana, which is in Trump's native Slovenia. Her online biography claimed she had, but a book about her life published earlier this year says she left the university after one year so she could pursue a modeling career." -- CW ...
... CW P.S. When are we going to hear more from Donald's classmates at U. Penn? ...
... Update: Oh, look. I'm not the only one skeptical about Trump's vaunted education. Dan Spinelli of Politico: Speaking in primetime [at the Democratic convention, Rep. Xavier] Becerra of California called out the Republican nominee for refusing to disclose his Wharton transcript while having urged President Barack Obama to do the same with his undergraduate grades at Columbia University." Funny how Trump claims his U. Penn education proves he's "like, very, very smart" but he won't share his transcripts, & how he boasts he's "very, very rich," but he won't release his tax returns. Cynics might think he's scamming us.
Wanted: President of the United States. No Experience Required. Steve Benen: Not only aren't Republicans very concerned about Donald Trump asking Russia to spy on Hillary Clinton, they're not concerned about his appalling lack of experience. In fact, Marco Rubio thinks he'll do fine by learning on the job: "And then there was Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla), making the case yesterday that Trump will become more competent eventually. BuzzFeed reported: 'I view the Senate as a place that can always act as a check and balance on whoever the next president is,' Rubio said ...on Wednesday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Akhilleus: So does it worry any Republican, voter or pol or pundit or apparatchik, that they are all lining up to give a big thumbs up to a guy most of them realize couldn't start a car with the keys in the ignition? ...
... CW: Hard to believe, but Marco must not read Reality Chex. As I wrote yesterday, "Jokers like Mitch McConnell [& now, make that Marco Rubio,] obviously are kidding themselves -- and us -- when they claim the Congress, the Pentagon & other governmental agencies would keep Trump in check. Nixon used loons, losers & bunglers like the Watergate burglars & the 'plumbers' to carry out his dirty tricks. If American institutions defy Trump, he will turn to sophisticated foreign operators to do his dirty work.
Shame, Shame, Shame ... Oh, Wait a Minute. Maybe Not. The AP, through the Washington Post: "Republicans from North Carolina have apologized to Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine for mistakenly critiquing him for wearing a foreign flag during his acceptance speech. The state GOP sent out a tweet Wednesday night saying it was 'shameful' for Kaine to wear a Honduras flag during his speech at the Democratic National Convention.... Kaine's pin was actually the symbol for families with a member serving in the military. Kaine's son, a Marine, is currently deployed." Akhilleus: Honduran flag, Marine symbol, eh, it's all the same. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... CW P.S." Thanks, North Carolina GOP for pointing out to all Americans that Kaine's son is serving in the military. I did not know that.
Jonathan Chait: "Jill Stein Explains Her Plan to Stop Trump by Electing Him President." CW: I'll let Chait do his best at parsing what he calls Stein's "gibberish." But if you're contemplating voting Green party, and if you have all your marbles, reading Chait will be helpful.
Other News & Views
** Paul Krugman: "If what bothers you about America is ... the fact that it doesn't look exactly the way it did in the past (or the way you imagine it looked in the past), then you don't love your country -- you care only about your tribe. And all too many influential figures on the right are tribalists, not patriots.... If it seems strange to you that these days Democrats are sounding patriotic while Republicans aren't, you just weren't paying attention. The people who now seem to love America always did; the people who suddenly no longer sound like patriots never were." -- CW
Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "Russian government hackers have breached the computers of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, according to individuals familiar with the matter. The intrusion appeared to be carried out by the same Russian intelligence service that hacked the Democratic National Committee earlier this year, the individuals said. The FBI is investigating this breach as part of a broader probe into hacking of political organizations." -- CW ...
... The report by Joseph Menn & others of Reuters, who broke the story, is here. "The newly disclosed breach at the DCCC may have been intended to gather information about donors, rather than to steal money, the sources said on Thursday. It was not clear what data was exposed, although donors typically submit a variety of personal information including names, email addresses and credit card details when making a contribution." -- CW ...
... Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "Two dozen Republican national security experts signed a letter to congressional leaders Thursday asking for an immediate investigation into the cyberattack on the Democratic National Committee, writing that 'this is not a partisan issue' but rather 'an assault on the integrity of the entire American political process.'" -- CW
Christian Davenport of the Washington Post: "The Air Force is close to certifying that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is ready for combat, a declaration that would become one of the most significant milestones in the long and tortured history of the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program ever. After years of delays, cost overruns and controversy, top Pentagon officials could make the decision as early as next week, some 15 years after the program began." -- CW
Sam LaGrone of U.S. Naval Institute News: "The Navy is set to name a ship after the gay rights icon and San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, according to a Congressional notification obtained by USNI News.... Milk came from a Navy family and commissioned in the service in 1951. He served as a diving officer in San Diego during the Korean War on the submarine rescue ship Kittiwake until 1955." -- CW ...
... MEANWHILE.... ACLU: "Imprisoned whistleblower Chelsea Manning received a document from Army officials [Thursday] informing her that she is being investigated for serious new charges related to her July 5th attempt to take her own life. If convicted of these 'administrative offenses,' she could be placed in indefinite solitary confinement for the remainder of her decades-long sentence.... Since she was first taken into custody in 2010, Chelsea, a transgender woman being forced to serve out her sentence in an all-male prison, has been subjected to long stretches of solitary confinement and denied medical treatment related to her gender dysphoria." -- CW
Lynh Bui, et al., of the Washington Post: Prosecutors have dropped all charges against Ingmar Guandique, the man convicted of killing Congressional intern Chandra Levy, after the prosecution's chief witness Armando Morales reportedly said in secret tapes recorded by an acquaintance that he had lied when he testified in an earlier trial that Guandique had confessed to him that he had murdered Levy. Guandique was up for a retrial set to begin this fall.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Tesla Motors has told Senate investigators that its crash-prevention system failed to work properly in a fatal crash, but said its Autopilot technology was not at fault, according to a Senate staff member. Instead, Tesla told members of the Senate Commerce Committee staff on Thursday that the problem involved the car's automatic braking system, said the staff member...." -- CW
New York Times: "The American economy barely rebounded last quarter from its winter doldrums, weighed down by anemic business spending, overstocked shelves at factories and warehouses, and a surprisingly weak housing sector. Consumer spending remained healthy but it was swamped by the poor showing in other sectors of the economy." -- CW
Guardian: "Florida likely has the first cases of Zika virus transmitted by mosquitoes on US soil, the state's governor said on Friday." ...
... CW: According to the CDC, that isn't true. In this July 24 report, the CDC warns, "Local mosquito transmission of Zika virus infection (Zika) has been reported in Puerto Rico."
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Reader Comments (19)
Following on yesterday's comments (still today as of this writing, but not according to the filing system) I offer a concise presentation of a Trump presidency, as portrayed by Mel Brooks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk47saogI8o
I thought yesterday's DNC speakers were great. Today is looking better. I cried listening to the Muslim father of the dead Iraq hero.
These are not politicians but 'ordinary' Americans.
And I was also wondering about telling a mentally ill person national secrets. Lastly I want to make a prediction, Trump refuses to have any debates with Hillary. He is scared shit. His excuse, no contact with Ms. "Crooked".
I am having a hard time imagining how a debate would go, though I hope they manage to hold several. Structuring the program so HRC doesn't have to use up her time debunking the nonsense that emanates from DJT's mouth is key.
DAY 4: THE ENDGAME
To the lyrics of "The Fight Song" the woman in white walked onto the stage. "What a remarkable week it's been," she said. Remarkable, indeed. This convention was orestrated perfectly and beautifully covering all the bases of the Democratic messages.
"When there are no ceilings, the skies the limit."
We learn that Hillary's mother, Dorothy, was abandoned as a child, schooling Hillary in all its guises, so that in a very real way she has been taking care of that abandoned little girl ever since––over and over. A life work. This, I think, is the core of Clinton.
So the night ended with those hundreds of gigantic red ,white and blue balloons flooding the arena, people playing with them like children. Lots of happy faces. A good omen, I hope.
John Cassidy fron the New Yorker: How progressive WAS Clinton's acceptance speech?
http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/how-progressive-was-hillary-clintons-acceptance-speech?intcid=mod-latest
Trump & Russia: Even historians see no precedent. And Trump's flimsy excuse of sarcasm is ridiculous.
Jane Mayer: http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/trump-and-russia-even-historians-see-no-precedent
Before we get too excited...
Thomas Frank The Guardian: Hillary Clinton needs to wake up. Trump is stealing the voters she takes for granted " Selling out the rank and file " ...as our modern Clintonists of 2016 move instinctively to dismiss the concerns of working people, however, they should keep this in mind: those people may have finally found somewhere else to go."
"...So far, Democrats are acting as though nothing has really changed. In speech after speech at the Philadelphia convention they are denouncing Trump as though he was just an outrageous extension of the familiar conservative demonology, rather than an altogether different monster.
This liberal concern has cropped up in several online pieces and it is something to worry about. The Philadelphia convention was masterly orchestrated—but, did it reach those disenfranchised that Frank writes about? They probably weren't even watching, but they might be voting. Who are these people who seem drawn to Trump?
Recently, I happened upon news stories with large crowd images. The Clinton/Sanders rally that Marie attended in Portsmouth, NH had a very different audience than the one Trump held this past Wednesday in Scranton, PA. Since I am somewhat familiar with both communities, I studied the photos for faces I might recognize. No luck. But, recalling the the video of the Scranton rally...and the chants of "Lock her up..." that began almost immediately after Trump started to speak made me want to 'see' more of that audience. I zoomed in and what I saw was a startling contrast of those attracted to each candidate(s). To echo James Carville, "it's the economy, stupid." life is a lot harsher for people in a place like Scranton...to them, Trump is a larger than life figure. He's rich! He's on television. And, sadly he's reaching them with his provocative and outrageous statements.
Later, watching Trump's reaction from Iowa (to Bloomberg's support for Hillary), he was completely unhinged & repeated to the delight of his crowd there "...I wanted to hit them/him/the 'little guy' so hard his head would spin." Very dignified. NOT. Very presidential! NOT.
This what Hillary has to overcome.
And he should not get the nuclear codes—now, not ever! Never! Never!
DNC inspires Google searches for 'voter registration' to spike 190%
If a conversation I had this morning is any indicator, the biggest factor Democrats have to overcome in this & every upcoming election is a combination of voter ignorance and ennui. The guy I spoke with claims to be an "independent," but this so-called "independence" clearly is based on his premise that "all politicians are crooks" and "they can't get anything done."
He blamed President Obama for "not passing laws" to improve Americans' lives. He said "illegal immigrants are taking American jobs" and they were "'criminals' who should be punished for coming into this country illegally." Also, they don't want to integrate into our culture and "don't even learn the language." Also, too, "there are too many people here already."
He said "government regulations were hurting small businesses." In other words, he knew all the Republican talking points & then some.
I patiently, and at length, knocked down all of his arguments. Some were easy -- presidents don't pass laws -- but some, like his arguments against "illegal immigrants" required a short-course in macroeconomics. Hes' not a stupid guy, & I tried to explain it in laymen's terms, but I have a feeling it went in one ear & out the other. New information, like the huge contributions "illegal immigrants" make to our economy, is hard for people who are already prejudiced against non-native Americans to swallow.
But, to me, it's worth a try. If you're a Reality Chex reader, you likely have a grasp of valid counterarguments to every fallacious winger bromide. Use that knowledge. If you change just a few votes from stupid to "might as well vote for the Democrat," you've done your civic duty.
Marie
So Trump wants to hit people, wants to commit an act of treason, doesn't know what state the Dem. VP candidate comes from and this is just the last few days. My guess his totally uncontrollable stupidity will get even worse. Can't wait to see the Dem. TV ads. There not going to be about Hillary.
I believe that when DJT says he wants to "hit" someone, he means "send a nasty tweet." The concept of physically engaging in anything that could stress or hurt him probably makes him queasy. Even striking a cripple could hurt your hand. But sending a nasty-gram, like one of the mean girls, is right up his alley.
What a wimp.
@Patrick: I believe you're right. After all, it may be that Trump's fingers are too short to form a manly fist.
Marie
A tape of Khizr Khan offering his pocket constitution and declaring that Trump has never sacrificed anything or anyone would be a powerful Clinton ad. And no, I don't think using a patriot to speak for you is exploitative.
The small group of those people disrupting the speeches reached the summit of shameful with their yelling during the remarks of the young man who won the CMH. Regardless of your views on the wars, he made a great sacrifice in service to other human beings. There is no justification for attempting to demean him personally.
The after party is always enlightening. Nicole Wallace ( only slightly less slavishly devoted to the Bush family than M. Matlin) said she had contacted a senior Trump aide after the Clinton speech for comment. The Trump aide said that they had to lock Trump in the bathroom and take away his phone. I was really hoping that some media would pick that up.
Its sad when Michael Steele comes up with better feedback that Hayes and Fineman. They both get in their own way, Fineman with the wise old dude routine and Hayes with "Jeez I'm so smart I can't stand myself. " Steele's commented that the Dem convention was definitely more "fun" than the GOP and at the Dem's convention there was "drinking for the right reasons."
For me the most important takeaway, of course, came from Obama. He flipped the script. All those demands for non white people to assimilate into the majority culture is fast becoming the exact opposite. American values, for which Obama has a definition that is unimpeachable and universally American, no longer belongs exclusively to white male Americans. The train left the station awhile ago and this election may be the last gasp of that outdated thinking, represented in its pathetic and most extreme form by Trump.
Lastly, I have to say B. Williams calling my girl Joy Reid, "Joy Brown" was cartoonish.
...Darn, those the crystal balls!
According to Steven F. Hayward who is a visiting professor at Pepperdine University's Graduate School of Public Policy and the author of "The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counter-Revolution, 1980-1989, he wrote: "...The brazen outsider never succeeds because ultimately the "median voter" beloved of political scientists actually prefers blandness to candor. The outspokenness that sends candidates like Trump aloft eventually costs more votes than it gains, as the accumulation of mistakes and controversies take a toll.
This is not to say that a person of strong views can't get elected; they merely need to have considerable political skill. Ronald Reagan and Obama both knew how to navigate a campaign. Trump does not. He'll be gone by Thanksgiving. "
Unfortunately, Hayward made his prediction on July 8, 2015 about " Trump, as a Thanksgiving turkey "
Let's hope we'll be thankful come this November that Mr. Hayward merely got the year wrong.
Marie
I really, really think that every progressive, liberal or anyone who can think for themselves, from the DNC on down to the people on this site, should not to get too smug or condescending towards the trump troopers. I deal with these people daily in my business. Be they construction workers or farmers, trying to reason with them is like trying to reason with Homer Simpson.
Just today, for the third time in as many months, I get the same badly photo shopped cut and paste of Valerie Jarrett's 1977 Sanford Yearbook photo and bio where she states her Islamic faith will guide her well in changing America into an Islamic nation. And three times I forward links to Snoops, Truthorfiction or Rumorcheck debunking this story. He then sends me ten links to sites that claim to have documented evidence that she is a Muslim infiltrator.
We may think them lacking in critical thinking skills and get out and vote motivation. But just remember, one email from the NRA and you will see a massive national mobilization.
The Democratic National Convention was very inspiring (to us). But how many in that trump crowd actually watched?
Take nothing for granted, you have been warned.
@Dan Lowery: I agree there's no point in talking to the Muslims-infiltrating-the-government crowd. (I guess you could say, yes, Muslims are infiltrating the government, but so far not so much as Christians.) But there are a lot of people like my "independent" friend who are sympathetic to Republican talking points (Republicans spout 'em because they work), but may be susceptible to easy-to-understand reason. However, as a precaution, unless my "independent" friend independently puts a Hillary-Kaine sign in his front yard, I won't offer to take him to the polls.
Marie
Well, slight disappointment in Hills' address...here's why. She will never possess the ability to produce soaring rhetoric like her friend Barack. Never. Few can. She will always sound like she is repeating talking points in a memo. But she is not going to lie us into a war, I don't think, and she doesn't threaten to hit people and invite the Russians to hack the Dems. I do not care how wooden she is, because the man she is opposing is a dangerous sociopath. That's all I need. And I didn't hate Chelsea's introduction particularly...I kept hearing in my head the insults the teenage Chelsea endured, and I think she deserved a moment in the sun. I am reserving my scorn at this point for the pointless drivel provided by the MSNBC hosts, sometimes over what was happening on stage. The scales have fallen from my eyes, and I am upset by Rachel and disgusted by Nicole and Chuck Toad (gach--)and really tired of most of the rest of them. I realize that they had to talk endlessly, but they were pretty sour the whole week. I switched channels a lot, out of nausea-- I'm glad it's over, and I liked a lot of the speakers. SO much better than the idiots in Cleveland.
In the end what is important is not the speeches or the tweets or the endorsements. It's how many Americans are sold on the idea of bringing both parties down. Those are the numbers that need counting.
@Diane: enjoyed your report on the pundit's prognostications. And did Williams actually call Joy, Joy Brown? Did he catch himself? good heavens! Chris may be the smartest kid in the class (Rachel seems to think so) but I find him irritating. And yes, Steele's "one more for the road"––nothing like a convention to fortify yourself.
@MAG: If Thomas Frank gets one to brush the blush off the rose the link I put on yesterday––debate between Reich and Hedges–– will damn near kill off the whole bush.
@Marie: Evidently Chelsea's speech warmed the big bear hearts of many of the women in the audience. Camera shots revealed smiling faces and a few tears. I, myself, felt it was genuine, albeit mighty sweet. Perhaps the old adage of children should be seen but not heard will be paid attention to in the future?
AK: Re: the tale of the scorpion and the frog –-this tale has got a lot of mileage over the years––it's truth is so relevant. Robert Oppenheimer used the two scorpion's in a jar to illustrate the results of a nuclear war.