Rumored Presidential Appointments

[atomationage]

Then Dobbs should be arrested for harassment.  Twitter should definitely suspend his account.

[car54]

Hillary has already said she'd do some of the social things herself.   She also said she hoped to have Bill work specifically with areas of the country who have deep poverty, trying to help improve things.

[Lillybee]

3 hours ago, starri said:

 

I'm not even going to be snarky about this.  I'm opening myself up to ridicule, but I teared up watching this.

I know she doesn't have any interest in holding office herself, but if she ever does, I will move just so I can vote for her.

I so agree, Michelle is the best. She has set a high bar for the next First Lady or Gent.

[pivot]

3 hours ago, starri said:

Made doubly-so because in a hypothetical Hillary Clinton presidency, the traditional First Lady duties will most likely be done by Chelsea.  She did a similar function during the last year of her father's administration when Hillary was off running for Senate.

God I hope not. That won't help Hillary with her approval numbers. Chelsea is even more unlikable than her mother and less articulate. Seriously, the Clintons need to stop trying make Chelsea happen. 

1 hour ago, mythoughtis said:

Back to the surrogates - can anyone name the democratic ones?  Usually the ones I see are on CNN and other than Paul, I think they are CNN employees.   I am not watching tonight yet, as I need to make sure I am totally calm before I start. 

James Carville and he is horrendous. 

[car54]

Hillary Surrogates

Al Franken, Jen Granholm, Howard Dean, Chris Murphy, Barbara Boxer, Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Amy Klobuchar 

[Grommet]

16 minutes ago, car54 said:

Hillary Surrogates

Al Franken, Jen Granholm, Howard Dean, Chris Murphy, Barbara Boxer, Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Amy Klobuchar 

Love, love, meh, who?, meh, love, meh, LOVE.

Chris Hayes eviscerated whichever Trumbot was on his show tonight (I suck with names). He managed to be both civil and full of disdain.

[car54]

Chris Murphy led the all night gun filibuster--Senator -CT--his district had the Sandy Hook shootings.

[33kaitykaity]

1 hour ago, mythoughtis said:

Back to the surrogates - can anyone name the democratic ones?  Usually the ones I see are on CNN and other than Paul, I think they are CNN employees.   I am not watching tonight yet, as I need to make sure I am totally calm before I start. 

The only ones I can think of are both former governors, Jennifer Granholm and Ed Randell.  Also not technically a surrogate, but Malcolm Nance has whipped up on Boris Epshsteyn with Joy's lovely help.  
 

[33kaitykaity]

Could be a columnist, a talk radio host, a former Msnbc personality, just someone with an off-kilter point of view, but their primary value is much-needed sanity, logic, reason, humor, all the stuff that's left off of teh TeeVee.  

[HunterHunted]

I wonder Hillary would use some of her Hillaryland friends for some of the first lady duties.

[biakbiak]

Ken Bone learns that being an Internet celebrity can build you up and tear you down in a matter of days.

Edited October 14, 2016 by biakbiak

[Grommet]

7 hours ago, car54 said:

Chris Murphy led the all night gun filibuster--Senator -CT--his district had the Sandy Hook shootings.

Eek, I should have known that. Love him too.

[Kromm]

5 hours ago, biakbiak said:

Ken Bone learns that being an Internet celebrity can build you up and tear you down in a matter of days.

I feel sorry for him. The R rated comments of his really aren't THAT bad,  and while he makes for an easy outrage target with his statement on Martin,  he was hardly lionizing or championing Zimmerman. There's a middle ground to think someone is misguided rather than racist,  and Bone seems to fall in that zone.   So far.  I say that fully aware that people will likely keep digging on him and who knows what's to be found?

[biakbiak]

22 minutes ago, Kromm said:

I feel sorry for him. The R rated comments of his really aren't THAT bad,  and while he makes for an easy outrage target with his statement on Martin,  he was hardly lionizing or championing Zimmerman. There's a middle ground to think someone is misguided rather than racist,  and Bone seems to fall in that zone.   So far.  I say that fully aware that people will likely keep digging on him and who knows what's to be found?

My issue has nothing to do with him personally it was the way the Internet celebrated and made him a star knowing nothing but his name and that he wore a red sweater.

I forget who tweeted shortly after his question something along the lines of let us hear nothing more about Ken Bone and than he will remain awesome in that moment. He isnt wrong to turn down he down money from Uber Select or opportunities to do shows but he should have realized with "fame" comes people looking into your life. 

Edited October 14, 2016 by biakbiak

[fastiller]

On 10/12/2016 at 7:04 PM, Kromm said:

Ugh. Can't go there on Bush. Even BEFORE I knew he was Dubya's cousin (reason enough to be wary), he always rang a "smarm" alarm for me. He just felt slick and insincere constantly. That "hug for Bushie" moment is very typical of how he comes off.

 

On 10/12/2016 at 9:32 PM, car54 said:

The reason Billy got busted is that he bragged about the incident and that is what caused Access Hollywood to go looking for it.    Not sorry--he fully participated in that conversation and egged Trump on.   He was a grown man with 3 kids when it happened, no excuse for it.

I have wondered since the release of that tape why Billy Bush (and seriously, how old are you that you're still going by "Billy"?) never told cousin Jeb about it during the primaries.    If he was bragging about it, he recalled that it existed.  Family get togethres in the extended Bush family are going to be awkward!

[starri]

Josh Barro.  He's on MSNBC as a commentator, but he is savagely funny on Twitter.

Ezra Klein and Joan Walsh too.

[atomationage]

I'd bet that the Bush cousins don't get together at all.  Billy's father is a bit of a nuisance to the family, IIRC, acting like an elderly version of his son.  I remember liking him because he seemed like the anti-Bush back whenever he was interviewed, but when you look into it, he's had legal problems with some sketchy financial dealings.

I saw this "Ken Bone" person because I saw the debate, but I haven't paid the slightest attention to whatever has happened next with his 15 minutes of fame.   If you're on the internet and not anonymous as we all are here, people can pick through everything you've ever said under your name. 

[starri]

Really Ben Carson?  REALLY?

Joe Scarborough earned back a smidge of respect from me.  Just a smidge.

Edited October 14, 2016 by starri

[Princess Sparkle]

Until literally 20 minutes ago, I thought Ken Bone was the guy who asked them to say something nice about each other.  Now that I know it's not him, I REALLY don't get the fascination.  

[biakbiak]

2 minutes ago, Princess Sparkle said:

Until literally 20 minutes ago, I thought Ken Bone was the guy who asked them to say something nice about each other.  Now that I know it's not him, I REALLY don't get the fascination.  

His last name is Bone and he wore red. SM needs nothing more to make him a star.

[atomationage]

11 minutes ago, Princess Sparkle said:

Until literally 20 minutes ago, I thought Ken Bone was the guy who asked them to say something nice about each other.

Until you posted this, I thought exactly the same thing.  I don't even want to know what he actually said now that he's a fan of a Zimmerman.  I'm assuming that's the one from Sanford, Fl., a town that I used to suggest have their name changed to Rain, because it was raining every time I went there.

[33kaitykaity]

Renee Elmmers (R-NC) and Craig Melvin of MSNBC -- unreal, the fracturing of reality here.  Groping is no big deal in her world.  

[Landsnark]

I watched the Ben Carson debacle in real time at the gym.  I swear I've never seen anything like that before.  He made Sarah Palin look like Ben Franklin or Mark Twain.  "Moron" doesn't fully address his awesomely stupid inadequacies. 
He just made Katrina Pierson seem like William F. Buckley.  He set a standard for stupidity that will never, can never, be matched.

Biased surrogate accuses TV host of being responsible for all media bias.  Because... the media observed Trump's OWN claims of sexual assault, and observed purported victims claiming they were abused.
Bible thumping Christian Patriot claims election cycles are no place for religion, morality, or ethics.  Twice.
Demands that a co-host's microphone is turned off because she'd like for him to actually answer his question.
Claims that asking if "Do you think they lied?" is a gotcha question and proves media bias.  Or something.

Just amazing.

(to add... just in case you were never clear, THAT RIGHT THERE is the reason women don't tend to come forward with accusations of sexual assault.  And he's a doctor.  He's fucking disgusting, said Captain Obvious.)

Edited October 14, 2016 by Landsnark

[starri]

1 minute ago, 33kaitykaity said:

Renee Elmmers (R-NC) and Craig Melvin of MSNBC -- unreal, the fracturing of reality here.  Groping is no big deal in her world.  

If it makes you feel any better, Elmers lost her primary so she's not returning to Congress next year.

This plane-truther bullshit is the most inane thing I've ever seen in my life.

[33kaitykaity]

2 minutes ago, starri said:

If it makes you feel any better, Elmers lost her primary so she's not returning to Congress next year.

This plane-truther bullshit is the most inane thing I've ever seen in my life.

It does make me feel better, thank you!!  

[biakbiak]

Josh Marshall and his Talking Points Memo which as a crazy liberal lead me through more elections than 538 or Daily kos. 

[Princess Sparkle]

28 minutes ago, starri said:

Really Ben Carson?  REALLY?

Joe Scarborough earned back a smidge of respect from me.  Just a smidge.

Now every time I see Ben Carson, I think of that SNL joke they made about him last year - "Are we sure when people are calling Ben Carson a brain surgeon, they aren't doing it sarcastically?"

[Hanahope]

I think he question had something to do with energy.  But I agree, when people first started talking about him, I assumed it was the 'say something nice about your opponent' question.  When it wasn't I wondered why the big deal about him, his question wasn't any more substantive than the muslim woman who asked a question about discrimination, or the other questioners.  I eventually decided that what made him different was his name, and how juvenile the men were likely being, giggling over a man named "bone" because that's really what they think about half the time, 'boners'.

[atomationage]

19 minutes ago, Princess Sparkle said:

"Are we sure when people are calling Ben Carson a brain surgeon, they aren't doing it sarcastically?"

It would be a dead giveaway if they were calling him a Rocket Surgeon, like the Mental Floss T-shirt.

[Kromm]

Katrina am not smurt! 

[starri]

By the way, Junior, FUCK YOU too.

[Kromm]

1 hour ago, atomationage said:

Until you posted this, I thought exactly the same thing.  I don't even want to know what he actually said now that he's a fan of a Zimmerman.  I'm assuming that's the one from Sanford, Fl., a town that I used to suggest have their name changed to Rain, because it was raining every time I went there.

No,  he said Zimmerman was 'a bad guy'. This is why I said I feel a bit sorry for Bone.  He's now part of that inevitable cycle where what people suppose he said supplants what he actually said.  Not that what he actually  said is all that lovely, but it was in that middle ground where you could see him being wrong and white privileged without him being quite as disgusting as being someone championing that piece of crap Zimmerman. 

Quote

[Queena]

32 minutes ago, starri said:

By the way, Junior, FUCK YOU too.

That little fucker scares me more than his creepy ass Father. What in the fuck?! Sorry for the curse words, but only the Trumps, (ok, and a few others) can bring out this level of anger in me. Seriously dude, quit if we don't want to be sexually harassed? Are we in the 1800's? Does having a vagina mean that men can just grab it whenever they want? I am beyond disgusted. Beyond! Everyone always talks about the good job that he did raising his kids, well I disagree. He didn't raise those creepy adults, nannies raised them, and I find that the boys want to be just like him. Ivanka is equally weird, because if she wasn't, she would've disowned her father the minute he made sexually suggestive comments about her. What kind of family is that?!

Edited October 14, 2016 by Queena

[atomationage]

Thanks, @Kromm, I usually avoid stories having anything to do with Zimmerman.  I've been to Sanford many times (back in the 80s and early 90s).  There was a big deal about a loitering ordinance directed at young African-American men who were selling drugs outside of convenience stores.  The thing about it for me was that if you actually talked to the loiterers, they were nice polite intelligent guys, who happened to be selling drugs.  In Florida, in many towns, I found out that if you went to a convenience store, and pulled up on the side of the building instead of the front, you would be approached by someone selling a product, who seemed to appear out of nowhere.   The guys in Sanford though were definitely younger.  

On the surrogates, people are reaching into the past to claim that a candidate is racist because of things that their surrogates had done  in 2008.  I thought it was worrisome back then that Obama's supporters were making exaggerated claims for him that couldn't possibly be true, and that other people were questioning his birthplace, when his birthplace was completely irrelevant to his qualifications, since his mother was a US citizen, and it's never been an issue with other candidates that actually weren't born in the USA.  This kind of discussion was rampant on the right wing media, but now it is supposed to have something to do with Hillary Clinton in some kind of weird revisionism of history promoted by Breitbart and wherever else the latest old conspiracy theories are being hatched. 

[xaxat]

1 hour ago, Kromm said:

Katrina am not smurt! 

 

How dare you criticize one of our nation's foremost experts on commercial aviation history!

In a season full of weird shit, the whole "first class in planes during the 80's didn't have retractable armrests" ranks way up there. She was so specific, naming individual planes and routes. And how the hell did they come up with that for a defense? "I know! If there was an armrest in the way Mr. Trump wouldn't be able to reach over to grab her by the. . . "

[MulletorHater]

50 minutes ago, starri said:

By the way, Junior, FUCK YOU too.

That's why I've adopted Bill Maher's nicknames for these fuckers:  Uday and Qusay.  They both have punchable faces and are as vile as their father.  Their thinking is warped.  Heaven forbid if women (or anyone for that matter) should want to work in an environment where she isn't groped, stroked, or subjected to verbal harassment and then retaliated against for daring to complain.  It's clear that no one in that family has any moral compass.  

Perhaps this fucker should give the same advice to his amazingly thin-skinned father.  If he can't handle the heat of being criticized or given advice he doesn't want to hear, then he should likewise find another line of "work."  

I shudder at the thought of Trump and his awful fambly trying to run this country.  

[car54]

When Don Jr does things like this, I'm kind of glad because after his convention speech, he got a lot of praise and the suggestion was he seek a career in politics himself--so when he retweets Pepe the frog, or says things like this---I think it's good to keep his assholishness front and center.  

[backformore]

What happened to Rudy Giuliani?

Quote

The former mayor has no such worries these days. Eight years after his own presidential bid failed, Giuliani has emerged as Donald Trump’s unflinching chief apologist, cheerleader and rhetorical Rottweiler, even as GOP leaders far and wide abandon their party’s candidate.

It’s a role that confounds allies and admirers who remember Giuliani’s rise as a law-and-order Republican twice elected in the country’s largest bastion of liberalism. Giuliani has long been an attention seeker, but his bombast was tempered by moderate, socially liberal politics — a model for many Republicans hoping to expand their base.

Yet here was Giuliani, ricocheting between Sunday talk shows, heralding Trump as a “genius” for having claimed nearly a billion dollars in losses and not paying taxes. Here he was describing Trump’s vulgar boasts about “grabbing” women’s genitalia as little more than “locker-room talk.”

And here was Giuliani — eyes wide, voice rising, thin lips curling into a hard scowl — dredging up former President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky to batter Hillary Clinton. (“There was semen on her dress!” he shouted on MSNBC.)

[atomationage]

Ghouliani may be hanging around outside blood banks at night,  or helping NYC's rat problem by catching them and drinking their blood.  Nah, it's just the blood banks, the rats would be too fast for him. 

[fastiller]

On 10/12/2016 at 10:58 PM, xaxat said:

I still think "taco truck on every corner" guy had the best reason for voting for Hilary.

A good taco is delicious and it would create a lot of jobs.

I would like to add a couple of shawarma carts too (though this is also 'brown people' food so it may equally offend).

On 10/13/2016 at 2:51 AM, lordonia said:

At least my worldview is once again aligned. I used to think Giuliani was a hypocritical, vindictive, lying, buffoon and then he acted, for the most part, decently and wisely after 9/11 and I was mollified. But now I can go back to loathing him.

I never stopped loathing him after 9.11.2001.  His vindictive, lying buffoonery was only magnified by the tragedy.  A friend of mine is a firefighter (he was a probey on the day) and he & I talked about the whole "getting all the city emergency agencies on the same page" that was supposed to have happened post-09.11.  Totally never happened.  My friend scoffed every time he heard Giuliani's name.

@starri - re: FLOTUS, I posted this:

[potatoradio]

Sigh. Oh, Governor Pence. THIS is why you are, in some ways, so much more dangerous than Trump. You can, with a straight face, tell CBS that you can't understand Michelle Obama's "claim" against Trump? There are many, many voters who will gladly explain it to you. Oh, wait...most of your events have been canceled due to lack of interest. Nevermind. You keep on with your condescending, smug, "Christian" responses to sexism and racism, k? I"m sure you'll be a rising star in the remains of the uptight, rich white men party...

[starri]

6 minutes ago, fastiller said:

I never stopped loathing him after 9.11.2001.  His vindictive, lying buffoonery was only magnified by the tragedy.  A friend of mine is a firefighter (he was a probey on the day) and he & I talked about the whole "getting all the city emergency agencies on the same page" that was supposed to have happened post-09.11.  Totally never happened.  My friend scoffed every time he heard Giuliani's name.

Not to mention the fact that the reason that the city's Emergency Operations Center was destroyed was because he had it placed at 7 World Trade Center instead of in Brooklyn which was the recommendation (and also where it's currently located).  This was because the Financial District was closer to A) TV cameras, and B) his mistress.  And this after the WTC had already been attacked once.

[33kaitykaity]

Steve Cortes is a Trump surrogate.  He was just on Msnbc.  Nothing he says makes sense.  One statement almost totally contradicts the next.  He says don't believe Drumpf's accusers, but you simply must take everything the Bill Clinton accusers say as gospel, even though all of those allegations were fully investigated years ago and found wanting.  

He says he's a business guy.  I hope all of his clients/customers run screaming from him when they realize what a sleazy liar he is.  

[fastiller]

1 minute ago, starri said:

Not to mention the fact that the reason that the city's Emergency Operations Center was destroyed was because he had it placed at 7 World Trade Center instead of in Brooklyn which was the recommendation (and also where it's currently located).  This was because the Financial District was closer to A) TV cameras, and B) his mistress.  And this after the WTC had already been attacked once.

That's part of why my friend scoffed at his name.  He was stupid before and he was stupid after.

And just because, totally off topic, here's my friends story of that day and days/weeks after (not sure why the newsletter is dated 09.01.2001, but anyway): Alumnus Firefighter Shares His Experiences At Ground Zero.  Actually, I am sure why: it's because of how it contrasts with Giuliani's buffoonery (which brings it back on topic).

[starri]

The man wanted to move his mistress into Gracie Mansion WHILE HIS ESTRANGED WIFE AND CHILDREN WERE LIVING THERE.  He has no moral authority on anything.

And there's the not inconsiderable fact that after 9/11 when he was due to leave office in a few months, he felt that the democratic process should be circumvented by either A) allowing him to remain for a third term without an election, or B) allow him to directly appoint his successor.

[Princess Sparkle]

I think he technically goes here - yesterday, Curt Schilling went on tv to defend Trump's "In 10 years, I'll be dating her statement".  Today, he had a meltdown defending his defense of "sometimes I find my daughter's friends attractive."  I actually think it's an understatement to say "What the fuck?"

[tom87]

5 hours ago, 33kaitykaity said:

 

Renee Elmmers (R-NC) and Craig Melvin of MSNBC -- unreal, the fracturing of reality here.  Groping is no big deal in her world.  

"He's never claimed to be a choir boy, he never claimed to be a saint"

No but he has claimed to more respectful of women than anyone else. 

Edited October 14, 2016 by tom87

[Moose135]

40 minutes ago, starri said:

Not to mention the fact that the reason that the city's Emergency Operations Center was destroyed was because he had it placed at 7 World Trade Center instead of in Brooklyn which was the recommendation (and also where it's currently located).  This was because the Financial District was closer to A) TV cameras, and B) his mistress.  And this after the WTC had already been attacked once.

A number of years ago, I read this book Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11 that detailed the problems in NYC emergency preparations prior to 9/11 and how they effected the response that day and in the weeks that followed.

[atomationage]

On Youtube, David Pakman, on his own channel:

and Keith Olbermann on the GQ channel:

[madmaverick]

Not for the first time have I wondered how someone like Ben Carson could be a neurosurgeon.   Just how dumb do you want to seem on TV?   The temerity to demand another (female) speaker's mic be turned off when you can't answer a question!  Is it male entitlement, male privilege at work?  I don't see how a brain surgeon could be so clueless.  And then he had to go and say that it didn't matter whether these women accusers were saying the truth or not?  Wtf.