Patterico's Pontifications

5/31/2016

Mitch McConnell on Endorsing Trump

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:33 am



This pretty much says it all:

Even so, McConnell matter-of-factly endorsed Trump when it was clear the real-estate mogul would win the nomination, a stark contrast to the continuing deliberations by House Speaker Paul Ryan. McConnell sees no political percentage in Republicans trying to disassociate themselves from the presumptive nominee by saying they won’t vote for him.

“I think that would be a mistake,” McConnell says, “because, obviously, you would like the people who are voting for your candidate for president to vote for you.”

With this guy, it’s all about getting people to vote for you. What you have to do in order to get that vote is almost completely irrelevant. (Perhaps the word “almost” doesn’t even belong in the previous sentence.)

Donald Trump is the culmination of this philosophy: a man who stands for absolutely nothing (except, in Trump’s case, selling the perception that he is a Tough Guy).

He and McConnell are made for each other.

207 Responses to “Mitch McConnell on Endorsing Trump”

  1. Donald Trump is the culmination of this philosophy: a man who stands for absolutely nothing except selling the perception that he is a Tough Guy.

    Mitch McConnell stands for everything that Trump does, except he’s no tough guy.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  2. you see this weird pattern throughout failmerican history where senators support their party’s presidential nominee

    it’s kooky

    happyfeet (831175)

  3. we have no interest in your failmerica history mr. happyfeet

    failmerica is the poor country you live in

    we live in America

    that is the country whose history we are interested in

    nk (dbc370)

  4. And really, how can ANYONE justify ragging on the GOP for their plodding march to power (interrupted by not winning in 2012) and then have their revolutionary leader cuddle up to the man who is best describes as “the single point of failure.”

    Were it not for McConnell putting his beloved (and fantasy) Senate before the interests of the people, Obama would have had to veto a popular bill every week and have every last judge voted down. But no. They still have the filibuster and McConnell still believes that comity exists in the Senate, when it has not existed at any time this century and never will in the same form again. Does he really think that Chuck Schumer will be LESS partisan than Reid?

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  5. Kevin M,

    I tweaked the wording and punctuation to make my point clearer; I was not calling McConnell an aspiring tough guy but stated it poorly.

    Patterico (fbc353)

  6. We’re going to be governed by the winner of the electoral college, regardless of how we feel about that person. That’s just reality.

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  7. I agree with nk. If you want to live in “failamerica” move to Compton or something. Take Bozo with you. The rest of us want to build for the future, not act out resentments amid the rubble.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  8. Patterico,

    I wasn’t criticizing your wording. I was underlining McConnell’s enduring worthlessness. Boehner was a giant compared to him.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  9. We’re going to be governed by the winner of the electoral college

    I’m hoping there isn’t one. I have other hopes as well. They all involve neither major party candidate taking the oath.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  10. Our esteemed host wrote:

    With this guy, it’s all about getting people to vote for you. What you have to do in order to get that vote is almost completely irrelevant. (Perhaps the word “almost” doesn’t even belong in the previous sentence.)

    There are no points for second place. Mitt Romney won 47% of the vote in 2012, and has exactly 0% of the power resulting from that.

    The Dana who understands the difference between winning and losing (f6a568)

  11. Mitch McConnell has one very important talent: he can win elections. Matt Bevin was popular enough to win the gubernatorial election in the Bluegrass State, surprising a lot of people along the way, but Senator McConnell beat him like a drum in the 2014 senatorial primary. In the general election in 2014, the Democrats put up an attractive candidate, who had already won a statewide election, for Secretary of State, and Senator McConnell stomped her into the ground as well.

    The Dana who grew up in Kentucky (f6a568)

  12. If Mitch McConnell had a pair, we wouldn’t have Trump and his Nationalist Socialist Disgruntled Americans Party.

    There. I said it.

    nk (dbc370)

  13. If Mitch McConnell had a pair, we wouldn’t have Trump and his Beer Hall Putsch.

    FIFY.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  14. Kentucky probably is one of those places where the trailer trash who want the guvmint to take away the welfare of those uppity blacks and job-stealing furriners and give it to them are a significant Republican constituency. Back in April, Paul Rand said he’d support Agent Orange too.

    nk who has never been to Kentucky (dbc370)

  15. Dana, Bevins learned electoral politics at the [stomping] feet of McConnell. It’s not clear he would have lost had those campaigns been run in the other order. What IS clear is that McConnell will never be elected again. His opponent will have a billion dollars to use against him.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  16. #9 Kevin M,

    Do you really reside in a childlike fantasy world, where the bad things in life don’t happen if you wish them away?
    We’re going to be governed by the winner of the electoral college. Nobody cares if you object. (LOL)

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  17. Republicans did well in 2010 and 2014 after they established principled opposition to bad ideas and policies (e.g., ObamaCare, the bailout, the stimulus, cash for clunkers, etc). They lost in 2012 when the presidential nominee had failed to come out against ObamaCare when it mattered, i.e. before its passage.

    We do well, in the long run, when we stand for our principles. I cannot help but think that even from a purely pragmatic perspective, standing against Donald Trump will reap benefits in years to come. It establishes us as credible voices for what government should look like.

    bridget (37b281)

  18. We’re five months out from Hillary being declared the next President, and we’ve got Kevin M preaching fire and brimstone against … Mitch McConnell.

    Jesus, this is why we lose elections.

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  19. Still obssessing on the bunny rabbit, question to mcturtle will you enact trump’s agenda?

    narciso (732bc0)

  20. you see this weird pattern throughout failmerican history where senators support their party’s presidential nominee

    it’s kooky

    happyfeet (831175) — 5/31/2016 @ 7:42 am

    yes yes

    we need the failmerican king to be supported so his goldy sacky men can get their money

    its kooky to think otherwise

    we support the Don because he will take it to all these senators we hate because they sold us out

    so its great to see them supporting the Don so they can continue the sell out

    making selling out great again

    sadfeet (e04f50)

  21. Chuckie Schumer for Senate Majority Leader, January 2017!
    (LOL)

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  22. Mr M wrote:

    Dana, Bevins learned electoral politics at the [stomping] feet of McConnell. It’s not clear he would have lost had those campaigns been run in the other order. What IS clear is that McConnell will never be elected again. His opponent will have a billion dollars to use against him.

    That Mr Bevin learned from his previous campaign is very likely; experience is a hard teacher. But he lost by almost two-to-one; that’s a pretty huge hurdle to overcome.

    Mitch McConnell knows how to win elections, having defeated an incumbent Democrat senator in his first try, and having won re-election fairly easily every subsequent time. You might not like him, but Mr McConnell is a winner.

    The Dana from Kentucky (f6a568)

  23. If not, which ones, do they practice any journalism not at the basilisk or politico.

    narciso (732bc0)

  24. Yes but he won as gov, where he can probably do more good.

    narciso (732bc0)

  25. We’re five months out from Hillary being declared the next President, and we’ve got Kevin M preaching fire and brimstone against … Mitch McConnell.

    Jesus, this is why we lose elections.

    Because, you see, the voters who read the comments sections of Patterico.com are undecided about whether or not Hillary would be a good president.

    CayleyGraph (353727)

  26. The nk who admitted that he knew nothing about Kentucky wrote:

    Kentucky probably is one of those places where the trailer trash who want the guvmint to take away the welfare of those uppity blacks and job-stealing furriners and give it to them are a significant Republican constituency.

    Kentucky is one of the last Southern Democrat strongholds, where the state House is controlled by the Democrats and, prior to Mr Bevin’s win in 2015, had elected only two Republican governors since before either of us had been born. Kentucky Democrats are moderate to conservative Democrats, the kind of Democrats we don’t have to be ashamed of.

    Kentuckians are hard-working people, who have a problem with people who won’t work for a living.

    The University of Kentucky alumnus Dana (f6a568)

  27. Its one of those places Williamson would rather let die off.

    narciso (732bc0)

  28. Because, you see, the voters who read the comments sections of Patterico.com are undecided about whether or not Hillary would be a good president.

    CayleyGraph (353727) — 5/31/2016 @ 9:12 am

    Nobody here is undecided on that. They both would be terrible. The debate is who would be worse. Some think Trump, some think Clinton. I fall into the former camp. Trump will be worse for our country, the Republican Party (not that I can about it, but its a necessary means to further liberty), and the liberty movement.

    Patrick Henry, the 2nd (e04f50)

  29. Boyd and raglan would shoot one for those illconsidered sentiments, raglan probably twice.

    narciso (732bc0)

  30. Raglan’s a fag. It’s sad to see this crap and the other one, The Hot Kid, be the capstone to Elmore Leonard’s career. But I guess you don’t stop needing money when you lose your talent.

    nk (dbc370)

  31. Glenn Reynolds’s USA TODAY COLUMN: Donald Trump Is The Response To Politically Correct Madness: Abusive political correctness drives voters into the impolitic billionaire’s loud embrace.

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/235088-2/

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  32. Kevin M’s the first to curtsy? Say it isn’t so!

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  33. The teleplay is more sardonic than the prise which is very dark.

    narciso (732bc0)

  34. First one to pull his finger wins… http://americandigest.org/sidelines/2016/05/#a033641

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  35. We’re going to be governed by the winner of the electoral college. Nobody cares if you object.

    Then it will be Hillary, and no one cares if you object.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  36. Because, you see, the voters who read the comments sections of Patterico.com are undecided about whether or not Hillary would be a good president.

    No, it’s that we can’t decide which sh1theel is worse. Goering or Goebells.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  37. Now you’re talking like a Trumpkin, Haiku. That’s the way. Trumpkins want a sugar-daddy to give them their share of government goodies and protect them” from them mean old browning Democrats, and it’s the non-Trumpkins who are “emasculated”.

    nk (dbc370)

  38. Too late for you, nk. You’ve thrown in with the Chicago Way killers and employers of the soft bigotry of lower expectations crowd. You’ve chosen to be a fast follower of a felonious criminal cabal.

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  39. One wonders if something like the old “Nader Trader” that worked so well in 2000 could be arranged in 2016.

    I won’t be voting form Mr Trump, but, here in the Keystone State, it won’t make any difference.

    The practical Dana (f6a568)

  40. Judging by the comments of the men at work, they will all be voting for Donald Trump, and I was criticized as voting for the “wrong man” when I voted for Ted Cruz in the primary.

    The Dana who runs a concrete plant (f6a568)

  41. i would be proud to cast my vote for Mr. Trump if i was gonna vote

    he holds it until he can find a bathroom

    and i admire that

    happyfeet (831175)

  42. Be extra careful of the Cement Shoes Effect, Dana!

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  43. Hillary knows where the bodies are buried, speaking mostly figuratively. She could actually make things happen that Trump could not. Additionally, she’s an Alinskyite, a crook, a hater of traditional America. We know this about her. Trump…who knows? Hard to think he might be as bad.

    Richard Aubrey (472a6f)

  44. Well she buried them in north africa, in the donbas and Euphrates river valley.

    narciso (732bc0)

  45. Cruz Supporter has it right. Next January the winner of the electoral college will be installed as President. It’s true that regardless of whether Sanders or Clinton prevails (or if the Dems in a Hail Mary pass throw up a Fauxcahontas-Biden ticket) we will wind up being governed by the lesser of two weasels.

    Folks can get their lace curtain Irish up and sneer that none of the candidates are really “our kind of people”, and Patrick Frey, our host has been remarkably “lacy” in that regard re Trump. You are danged right that he is not our kind (or at least my kind) of people. But what else is on offer?

    My Dad was a yellow dog Texas Democrat and raised me to believe that Richard Milhous Nixon was Satan incarnate. And yet as I stood as a young man in the voting booth in 1972, I was faced with the choice of Nixon versus George McGovern. Both were equally repellent to me.

    I don’t know (and don’t want to know) how each of you may vote in November. But suck it up buttercups, you are either going to vote for somebody, or you are going to stay home and let the rest of us decide for you. Your electoral moral chastity will be preserved if you stay home. I don’t know if preserving that electoral moral chastity is useful in governing the country.

    Skeptical Voter (1d5c8b)

  46. “THE HOUSE OF STEPHANOPOULOS HAS A SAD. Watch: Trump calls ABC reporter Tom Llamas ‘sleaze.’

    Flashback: George Stephanopoulos discloses $75,000 contribution to Clinton Foundation.

    Related: This is rich:

    “When Democrats are raising questions, the press is also reflecting what your opposition is saying about you,” said another reporter. “We’re not just us throwing questions at you.” *

    Trump responded that he didn’t mind the criticism coming from the opposition, but said it’s different when it comes from the press.

    “I think the political press is among the most dishonest I’ve ever seen,’ he said. “I have to tell you that. But I think the political press – I see the stories and the way they’re couched.”

    As the press conference ended, a reporter told Trump he had “set a new bar in being contentious with the press” and asked whether this is what it would be like if Trump wins the White House.

    “Yeah it is,” Trump responded.

    “I”m going to continue to attack the press,” he added. “I find the press to be dishonest. I find the political press to be extremely dishonest.”

    Well they are. Just ask Katie Couric, Dan Rather, Brian Williams, Scott “Holocaust Denier” Pelley, Face the Nation host John Dickerson who advised Obama in 2013 to ‘Destroy the GOP,’ etc., etc.

    All of which is why, “If this news conference turns into a press-driven referendum on how the press is doing,” Ari Fleischer tweets, “Trump will have won the day.”

    Or as Jonah Goldberg wrote in 2000 when George Bush was caught on a hot mic calling insulting Adam Clymer, “Here is a secret about presidential politics that nobody is willing to admit but everyone knows: It never hurts to call a reporter from the New York Times an a**hole.”

    Last year at the National Press Club, Ben Carson warned the press, “I got to tell you guys, that’s why people don’t trust you anymore. I mean you’re down there with used car salesmen.” I agree – although apologies to used car salesmen for the unfair comparison.

    *Right – you’re acting as Democrat party operatives with bylines, amplifying your bosses’ message.”

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/235102-2/

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  47. 44. Well she buried them in north africa, in the donbas and Euphrates river valley.

    narciso (732bc0) — 5/31/2016 @ 10:45 am

    And why should she have trouble sleeping when a dozen or so men were fighting for their lives in Libya when she when thousands were killed while in Afghanistan, she was willing to negotiate with the Taliban without making stop killing Americans a precondition.

    It’s a lousy situation when my I have to choose between candidates with the least American blood on their hands.

    Donald Trump only counter sued. I guess I’m supposed to consider that a step up.

    Steve57 (e33d44)

  48. #45 Skeptical Voter, if I had your writing talent, I would have written that.
    We all tried to get Cruz, Rubio, Fiorina, Jindal, or Walker nominated, but they all got their butts kicked. And so as adults, we ask responsibly, “What’s our next best option?”

    Hiding in the basement for the next four years is not our next best option. And hiding in the basement does not magically absolve us from being governed by the winner of the electoral college. So we should ask ourselves, “Who’s the lesser of the two evils?
    And then we should vote for that person.
    This child-like fantasy notion that the person you vote for President has to be a George Washington & Mother Teresa hybrid is crackhead logic.
    And while Hillary is threatening to take the reigns of the executive branch, we have chest-thumping conservatives spending their time bashing Mitch McConnell.
    I swear, there are some utopian conservatives who are breaking into a cold sweat, saying, “But I want Calvin Coolidge, but I want Calvin Coolidge, but I want Calvin Coolidge.”

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  49. “And everybody dealing with Trump — including Bill Kristol and everybody else trying to take him out — is making the big mistake of trying to plug Trump into the age-old political handbook. Trump’s not part of that. You don’t deal with Trump in the standard, political handbook way on policy and issues and things like that. That’s not the way to separate Trump supporters from Trump. It isn’t gonna work.”

    – Rush Limbaugh

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  50. Yes we had to get Warren Harding first, and he has been seriously underrated.

    narciso (732bc0)

  51. We don’t need to separate Trump supporters from Trump. The latest numbers are 11.6 million compared to the ~125 million total turnout in the general election in 2012. He may take them home with him. We want people who vote for America not for Trump.

    nk (dbc370)

  52. So, this is the point where “Cruz Supporter” changes his name to “Trump Supporter,” right? Since he’s lecturing everyone about pragmatism. Let go of the past, dude!

    Leviticus (efada1)

  53. Clinton delenda est

    Why does the decision to vote for evil- in order to prevent evil+ need to be announced five months prior to the election? I will never vote for Crooked Hillary but if she is up by 8 the weekend before the election, why would I vote for Trumpy the Fraud? Why should anyone in a non-competitive state ever consider voting for Trumpy the Fraud?

    Rick Ballard (161c5b)

  54. “…a man who stands for absolutely nothing…”

    He stands for castrating the media with a butter knife, which is a position I support heartily. The media is the enemy of this country, and the enemy of my enemy is my friend these days, because nobody else seems to have the nuts to take the bastards on.

    Ray Van Dune (78d53f)

  55. Well said, Ray Van Dune.

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  56. Let the others grease the skids for the coronation of the Demoness Dowager Clinton. I’ll have no part in that.

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  57. Pay attention to what these facilitators will effectively do, not so much their expressed opinions.

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  58. Wait, wait, I thought we were at war with EAST Asia! What’s all this “McConnell is my friend” crap from the Trumpkins? The last vestiges of your rationale for this travesty just crumbled.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  59. INGSOC has nothing on TRUMPSOC.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  60. Demsuck has nothing on Kevsuck.

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  61. Colonel, why do you have to make things personal? Do you have no better arguments than ad hominums? Pretty telling, actually. As with candidates, character counts.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  62. Yes we had to get Warren Harding first, and he has been seriously underrated.

    He won primarily because the GOP had championed women’s suffrage and when the 19th Amendment passed, all the ladies came out and voted Republican.

    He was a TERRIBLE president and his administration was among the crookedest ever. But he had the good grace to die in office and give us Coolidge.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  63. There are some arguments for Trump that could sway me. For example, if he has a good VP choice, I could become convinced that the chances for impeachment or death were high enough that I should vote based on the VP. The Senate Dems would never impeach Hillary no matter what, but they would be shocked SHOCKED to find out some of the things Trump might do and Trump’s GOP support will always be shallow, as Nixon’s was.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  64. Let me dig up your ad hominum from the other night, Kevin, before I bathe in your hypocritical tears…

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  65. Patrick Henry, the 2nd (e04f50) — 5/31/2016 @ 9:18 am

    They both would be terrible. The debate is who would be worse. Some think Trump, some think Clinton.

    I don’t think that has a simple answer.

    I think the median of Hillary Clinton is definitely worse, and her distribution skews left, but the standard deviation of Donald Trump is larger, and, at somewhere between 2 and 3 standard deviations from the mean, the outcome is worse.

    Sammy Finkelman (eb1481)

  66. This shouldn’t be a surprise.

    Sen. McConnell was widely quoted in 2010-2011 for having said that his top priority was to make President Obama a one-term President. Not, say, that his highest priority was to achieve a conservative revolution in governance, or to deal with the aftermath of the financial crisis, or to win the war on Terror, or to serve the interests of the people of the country. To achieve a particular *electoral* outcome.

    The man’s professional life seems to be centered on partisan fighting, not on public service, and it’s no different today than it was five years ago.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  67. aphrael, please note, if his professional life has been focused on partisan fighting, he’s not good at it. I suspect it’s something else.

    Steve57 (e33d44)

  68. It is a goddam shame McConnell didn’t realize that priority, aphrael. The country, Hell… the world would’ve been saved a lot of grief and been much better off.

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  69. india has now banned apple products not made in india buts says american establishment believes in free trade so they shouldn’t retaliate by not buying from india or voting for donald trump. this is why populists have taken over republican party!

    inis tells america (5da5ec)

  70. Kevin M (25bbee) — 5/31/2016 @ 12:16 pm

    He [Harding] was a TERRIBLE president and his administration was among the crookedest ever. But he had the good grace to die in office and give us Coolidge.

    Wait a second. He wasn’t so crooked personally, and he may have been murdered because maybe he would unearthed the guilty people – go ahead try to find out the actual cause of death (and it’s not beyond the bounds of probability that the same man who plotted his death also plotted the death of John F. Kennedy, but that’s just a fascinating theory at this point, but much better than most.)

    And I was just reading today in a book something about Calvin Coolidge:

    In the period between the two World Wars, Germany was far from unique in adopting laws based on eugenic ideas. In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge signed into law a bill that restricted the inflow of immigrants to the United States in accordance with then-dominant eugenic ideas. Coolidge himself had made his views known earlier. “America must be kept American,” he had said. “Biological laws show…that Hordics deteriorate when mixed with other races.”

    – Blood Matters: From Inherited Illness to Designer Babies, How the World and I Found Ourselves in the Future of the Gene by Masha Gessen (Harcourt, Inc, 2008) page 63. [616.042 in the Dewey Decimal system]

    An endnote on page 293 (they are unnumbered) reveals the Coolidge quote comes from an article in Good Housekeeping in the issue dated February 1921 (Volume 72) printed on or starting on page 14 entitled: “Whose Country is This?”

    By the way, it is incorrect to say this started in 1924 – the first law putting a quota on immigrants and dividing them by country – called National Origins – was passed in 1921 and signed President Hardng and went into effect in July, 1921. President Harding a year or two later actually broached reconsidering this, but a Senator told him immigration was responsible for the depression of 1920-1921. The 1924 law modified this and limited immigration more strictly. It went back two censuses I think, from 1910 to 1890, and reduced the numbers of the quotas. Immigration remained unrestricted by quotas only from Ireland, where the quota was very high, and above demand, and from independent countries in the western hemisphere, and they were not affected by a quota until January 1, 1968. There were some other exceptions to the quotas, too, like spouses and clergymen (I think clergymen were exemoted in 1927)

    Also, between 1921 and 1924, the quota had been determined only upon arrival, so that ships were racing each other across the Atlantic to get to New York by the start of the month, but not earlier, and that system was abandoned. In 1929 the law was amended to apply to country of birth, not citizenship.

    Sammy Finkelman (eb1481)

  71. Mitch McConnell was born in 1942. If I had this amount of time to practice I’d be good at it.

    Steve57 (e33d44)

  72. Errata: Coolidge wrote the word Nordics in the Feb. 1921 issue of Good Housekeeping, not Hordics.

    Sammy Finkelman (eb1481)

  73. I am the human who opens doors for my dogs.

    As Romeo just pointedly reminded me. With vigor.

    Steve57 (e33d44)

  74. Mitch McConnel has an Op-Ed piece today in the Wall Street Journal. He says one party should never force its will on another, and cites the 1964 Civil Rights Act in contrast to Obamacare. He said they got a few passed in the last two years even though none of them would get the average primary voter on his feet. Not one word about Donald Trump. It’s adapted from his new book.

    The New York Times has an interesting story by the way, on how the Obama Adminsitration bullied through, over he objections of civil servants, spending money that not have been authorized – this is about the same thing that the current U.S. Supreme Court case bought by the House is about.

    Sammy Finkelman (eb1481)

  75. YES. THIS. EXACTLY: Victor Davis Hanson makes cogent observations on the “high IQs” of the establishment political class:

    “Turn on an evening cable show and ask which interviewer is married to which anchor on another channel, or which of the pundits are former politicos, or how many in the White House worked for Big News or are married or related to someone who does. How many pundits were advisers to political candidates or related to someone who was? How does Ben Rhodes do an interview on CBS News or George Stephanopoulos interview Hillary Clinton or a writer expound on the primaries when he is also an adviser to a particular campaign? The problem is not just that all this is incestuous or unethical, but that it blinds a tiny elite to what millions of quite different Americans value and experience.

    Charles Murray recently wrote in anger, addressing those who would vote for Trump because “Hillary is even worse”: “I know that I am unlikely to persuade any of my fellow Establishmentarians to change their minds. But I cannot end without urging you to resist that sin to which people with high IQs (which most of you have) are unusually prone: Using your intellectual powers to convince yourself of something despite the evidence plainly before you. Just watch and listen to the man. Don’t concoct elaborate rationalizations. Just watch and listen.” . . .

    Murray has a point that Trump’s crudity and buffoonery should be taken seriously, but when he says establishmentarians have “high IQs,” what exactly does he mean? Did a high IQ prevent an infatuated David Brooks (whom he quotes approvingly) from fathoming presidential success as if he were a sartorial seancer, from the crease of Senator Obama pants leg? What was the IQ of the presidential historian who declared Obama the smartest man ever to be elevated to the White House? . . . Or perhaps the conservative wit who once wrote that Obama has a “first-class temperament and a first-class intellect,” and that he is the rare politician who “writes his own books,” which were “first rate”?

    Establishmentarian high IQs? The point is not to castigate past poor judgment, but to offer New Testament reminders about hubris and the casting of first stones — and why hoi polloi are skeptical of their supposed intellectual betters.

    So how did a blond comb-over real-estate dealer destroy an impressive and decent Republican field and find himself near dead even with Hillary Clinton — to the complete astonishment, and later fury, of the Washington establishment? Simply because lots of people have become exhausted by political and media elites who have thought very highly of themselves — but on what grounds it has become increasingly impossible to figure out.

    Indeed. If I hear one more of my conservative/libertarian “high IQ” colleagues (many of them long-time friends) denigrate Trump as stupid, racist, sexist or (I kid you not) not “really” successful–I may puke.

    One certainly may oppose Trump’s policies on a principled basis. But to hear the right-of-center intelligentsia (who may be well-educated and perhaps even have high IQs, but are not necessarily intelligent) denigrate the presumptive GOP nominee–selected by We the People–using the same leftist tactics used to denigrate George W. Bush and many other conservative standard-bearers, is nauseating.

    These “high IQ” members of the GOP intelligentsia simply cannot hide their disdain for ordinary Americans’ selection of a GOP nominee, yet they simultaneously claim that the GOP represents ordinary Americans’ values. The GOP intelligentsia is behaving like a delusional narcissist, reveling in its (false) superiority over the little people.”

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/235111-2/

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  76. Those of us who have an inordinately high opinion of ourselves know who we are. Time to come clean, redemption is near.

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  77. I don’t care if you lived or died. Damage control in WWII. Heroes all. Flashlights all around.

    Steve57 (e33d44)

  78. Coronello, I have an ordinately high opinion of myself.

    Steve57 (e33d44)

  79. “Donald Trump is the culmination of this philosophy: a man who stands for absolutely nothing…”

    Uh no. In fact, he’s a pragmatist and not an ideologue. Seems the Children of Reagan are going to have to learn this the hard way.

    DCSCA (a343d5)

  80. You don’t qualify, Steve. Lol

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  81. Harding had some issues with the veterans bureau, Daugherty wasn’t prosecuted of memory serves, he did reverse much of Wilson”s enemy action, brought taxes back to normal. And he picked Coolidge.

    narciso (732bc0)

  82. Musashi said, point your sword at his face. That’ll teach him.

    Steve57 (e33d44)

  83. Not qualifying since, what, 1985, Coronello?

    Steve57 (e33d44)

  84. Kristol reminds me of Robert Quarrels in Justified.

    mg (31009b)

  85. 52.So, this is the point where “Cruz Supporter” changes his name to “Trump Supporter,” right? Since he’s lecturing everyone about pragmatism. Let go of the past, dude!
    Leviticus (efada1) — 5/31/2016 @ 11:26 am

    When the man has a point, the man has a point. Cruz ain’t in it any more so the name, like buggy whips, has out lived it’s usefulness. But he needn’t dive right into the deep end with Trump Supporter. How about: Former Cruz Supporter, Reluctant Trump Supporter, Trump Voter or even the Secret Hillary Supporter?

    There is one notable problem and that is one needn’t be a “supporter” to realize one needs to vote for Trump. The primary is over. It’s no longer between Cruz and Trump. But apparently many of you guys, Leviticus included may favor the leftist Hildebeast so perhaps it’s time you all came out of the closet. You guys can only beat up on Trump and Trump supporters for so long before they figure out you’re not for Trump and by default you are for Hillary.

    I voted for Cruz and he lost therefore, since my choice is between Hillary and Trump, I’m voting for Trump.

    Rev. Hoagie© (734193)

  86. 52. So, this is the point where “Cruz Supporter” changes his name to “Trump Supporter,” right? Since he’s lecturing everyone about pragmatism. Let go of the past, dude!

    Leviticus (efada1) — 5/31/2016 @ 11:26 am

    I plan on lecturing you long in the future.

    Somebody has to.

    Steve57 (e33d44)

  87. So Daugherty was dragged through the mud, like meese, by two independent but in the end they deadlocked on conviction, on a subsequent matter, Charlie Forbes of the Veteran bureau was liable I think, Jess Smith killed himself, he was the deputy, he was replaced by Harlan fiske stone who went on the court,

    narciso (732bc0)

  88. maybe shinseki or macdonald should suffer such a fate,

    With millions of dollars at his disposal, Forbes hired 30,000 new workers at the Veterans’ Bureau, many of whom were personal friends to Forbes. The Veterans’ Bureau under Forbes was overstaffed and many appointed agents looked for means to justify their paid positions. During his tenure as director, Forbes ignored the needs of the wounded veterans. In the less than two years that Forbes held his position, he embezzled approximately $2 million, mainly in connection with the building of veterans’ hospitals, from selling hospital supplies intended for the bureau, and from kickbacks from contractors. The budget for the Veterans’ Bureau during his tenure was $1.3 billion in total. Forbes had rejected thousands of legitimate claims by veterans.[6]

    narciso (732bc0)

  89. The last cavalry charge.

    http://www.edwinpriceramsey.com/

    http://www.edwinpriceramsey.com/26th_cavalry.php

    The DIs tried to make me give up. I think I’ll drop and give ten.

    Steve57 (e33d44)

  90. would that this be the fate of those two,

    Forbes was prosecuted and convicted of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Government, fined $10,000, and sentenced to a prison term of two years. He was put in prison on March 21, 1926. He served one year, eight months and six days at the Leavenworth federal penitentiary. Forbes was prisoner number 25021. On entering prison Forbes said, “I don’t suppose any prison is a pleasant place to go, but I shall try to make the best of it.” [12] Forbes had appealed his trial, however, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld his conviction.[2]

    narciso (732bc0)

  91. > But apparently many of you guys, Leviticus included may favor the leftist Hildebeast so perhaps it’s time you all came out of the closet.

    I voted against her in 2008, and were I registered as a Democrat today, I’d vote against her next week.

    That said … I believe Trump is the most dangerous political candidate of my lifetime, because he’s an ignorant demagogue whose persona is based on bringing out the hateful in his supporters … and that’s a terrifying demon to unleash.

    I will vote for Sen. Clinton or Gov. Johnson in the fall. I will *never* vote for Donald Trump.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  92. and you thought obama was better why exactly, from the wiki I don’t recall any dead veterans as a result of the embezzlement of charlie forbes,

    narciso (732bc0)

  93. Mr. Trump is the best one of the choices we have

    he’s America’s candidate like how oreos are America’s cookie

    that doesn’t mean you get to crumble Mr. Trump over ice cream

    he’s got judges to appoint

    and vast numbers of positions to fill

    and he has to help get government off people’s backs

    and he has to help make it to where people respect our borders

    and we need him to help us heal after this divisive campaign

    the healing can’t start soon enough for me

    people have been so hurtful

    happyfeet (831175)

  94. the veterans bureau, is why the veteran administration, was eventually established, but I don’t see the trade off,

    narciso (732bc0)

  95. Narciso: *laugh* you’re telling me you think that Sen. Clinton is so terrible that even Donald Trump would be preferable, but you can’t imagine how someone would think President Obama was better than Sen. Clinton?

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  96. I believe Trump is the most dangerous political candidate of my lifetime,…

    I will vote for Sen. Clinton or Gov. Johnson in the fall. I will *never* vote for Donald Trump.

    And I consider Hillary to be not only the most dangerous political candidate of my lifetime but also the most corrupt. Which is why I will vote for Mr. Trump in the fall. I will *never* vote for Hillary or any other communist.

    It takes as much courage for you to come out for that corrupt, communist grifter as it does for me to vote for the idiot, vulgar liar. Too bad you don’t want to Make America Great Again. Maybe another time?

    Rev. Hoagie© (734193)

  97. if you knew anything about his record, but you probably didnt know anything more than unicorns, and other ephemera.

    narciso (732bc0)

  98. I’d love to work to make America greater than she is today.

    I just don’t believe that Trump is capable of doing it – I believe his entire campaign is built on lies.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  99. > but you probably didnt know anything more than unicorns, and other ephemera.

    Ah! See, in 2008, I was in close-to-daily contact with a person who had been a classmate of his at HLS, with whom I actively talked about him.

    I was never a TrueBeliever(tm), and I think if you were to search my comments here at that time, they would bear out my claim; I viewed him as better than the alternative, which I still believe he was.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  100. lol turns out Kristol did pick a harvardtrash white boy?

    maybe Ringling Bros. can replace the elephants with #nevertrumpers

    happyfeet (831175)

  101. well he was iraq veteran, like our fave, senator cotton,

    narciso (732bc0)

  102. everyone in the military who fought in iraq is an iraq veteran

    hello this qualifies you to work at starbucks, not doing president stuff

    happyfeet (831175)

  103. If Mitch McConnell had a pair, we wouldn’t have Trump and his Nationalist Socialist Disgruntled Americans Party.

    There. I said it.

    nk (dbc370) — 5/31/2016 @ 8:32 am

    If Mitch McConnell had a pair, we wouldn’t have Trump and his Beer Hall Putsch.

    FIFY.

    Kevin M (25bbee) — 5/31/2016 @ 8:35 am

    There is only one national socialist on the ballot. SO are yu saying Trump is campaigning for Bernie?

    Delusional. Also calumny perfidious and a lie.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  104. he’s done some valuable work at the american center for law and justice, and the alliance defending freedom,

    narciso (732bc0)

  105. Aphrael thinks the zoo personnel could have talked the gorilla into giving up his hostage.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  106. he has been fighting the good fight against the assault against christianity, his wife even helped collaborate with the huntress’s small tome,

    narciso (732bc0)

  107. well why isn’t he already president then

    explain that

    happyfeet (831175)

  108. [Wild Bill sends in a woman to challenge Donald Trump to a gunfight]

    Donald Trump: What did he say?
    Woman in bar: He said that you were a horse molester.
    Donald Trump: He say what horse?

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  109. Aphrael thinks the zoo personnel could have talked the gorilla into giving up his hostage.

    Aphrael thinks.

    Steve57 (e33d44)

  110. I viewed him as better than the alternative, which I still believe he was.

    aphrael, if you actually believed a one term senator with no accomplishments, no voting record save “present”, a hidden past, a history of questionable associations from Murdering Bill Ayers to Tony Rezko to Rev. Wright and many other notable blemishes was preferable to a war hero who had spent his entire career in service to his country (rather than himself) you judgment is suspect at best. Especially after seeing what the idiot in the White House has done to the republic. Perhaps not voting at all is a viable alternative for you.

    I just don’t believe that Trump is capable of doing it – I believe his entire campaign is built on lies.

    Trump’s campaign is based on loud-mouthed buffoonery and self aggrandizement but if you and others insist on lies it’s fine since Hillary is now and has always told the truth about everything. Oh wait! She’s a filthy liar too but her lies cover up where she got $140 million, and how she let four Americans die in Benghazi, and cattle futures and a plethora of other crap. Trump lies to make himself look big. Hillary lies to cover up her crimes. You really should consider sitting this election out.

    Rev. Hoagie© (734193)

  111. they have their pluses and minuses,

    narciso (732bc0)

  112. And I consider Hillary to be not only the most dangerous political candidate of my lifetime but also the most corrupt. Which is why I will vote for Mr. Trump in the fall. I will *never* vote for Hillary or any other communist.

    It takes as much courage for you to come out for that corrupt, communist grifter as it does for me to vote for the idiot, vulgar liar. Too bad you don’t want to Make America Great Again. Maybe another time?

    Rev. Hoagie© (734193)

    I love it when people on the internet praise their own courage. Doesn’t sound like you’re familiar with actual courage.

    Trump donated generously to Hillary, who you call a corrupt communist grifter. Trump says he did this because it greased the wheels for his businesses, which he used to do corrupt things like serial bankruptcy sweetheart deals and getting government to seize people’s homes for his parking lots.

    You cannot support Trump over Hillary on the basis of corruption when Trump supporting Hillary for his corruption.

    You pretend doing so makes America great, but America was great because of character and principles, not compromising your principles because you’re desperate and scared.

    Dustin (2a8be7)

  113. I love it when people on the internet praise their own courage. Doesn’t sound like you’re familiar with actual courage.

    Dustin, are you actually challenging my courage? Are you calling me a coward?

    Rev. Hoagie© (734193)

  114. papertiger, at 106:

    > Aphrael thinks the zoo personnel could have talked the gorilla into giving up his hostage.

    *puzzled look*

    I don’t think I’ve expressed an opinion on the subject you are raising.

    Nor do I actually think I know enough to express an opinion one way or another.

    I suppose you are hypothesizing that this is what you *think* I would think, given what I’ve said about other things; I’d appreciate it if you’d do me the courtesy of saying that, rather than asserting that I think something about a subject I’ve never spoken about. 🙂

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  115. Rev Hoagie, at 113:

    (a) I thought we were talking about the primary election – since I brought the 2008 election up by noting that I had not voted for Sen. Clinton then, and there were no contextual clues to indicate that we had switched to the topic of the general election.

    (b) You really should consider sitting this election out.

    Hah.

    I’ve always believed that voting is a *responsibility* rather than a *right*, and so there’s simply no chance of me doing that.

    That said, your comments here go a long way towards demonstrating what I find so disturbing about this election: I’m making arguments about the character of the *candidates*, and you are responding with aspersions against *my* character.

    There’s an element to which that’s always true in political fights, on some level; and yet it’s way, way, way worse this year – because Trump’s campaign traffics in it.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  116. Dustin, are you actually challenging my courage? Are you calling me a coward?

    Rev. Hoagie© (734193)

    I’m mocking you praising your own courage over your internet support of Trump. Doesn’t sound to me like you’re familiar with actual courage.

    I think that was pretty clear from the previous comment.

    Dustin (2a8be7)

  117. If you were to make a list of all the business men or women in Texas (or any other state) who haven’t used their money, acquaintance, or the influence they may hold, or given gifts – large or small – to benefit themselves or their business, it would most likely be a relatively short list. Just sayin’…

    Let he who hasn’t sinned cast the first stone.

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  118. In other words, there’s corruption and then there’s CORRUPTION… the kind that gets people killed, ruins lives, sets continents on the road to ruin, and disregards the security of well over 320,000,000 people.

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  119. Actually aphrael, I had no intention of making aspersions against your character. I only said your judgment was suspect and by no means should that impinge on your character, honesty or morality. My comment about sitting out the election was supposed to be snarky, not insulting. Sorry.

    Now if you want to see real character assassination look no further than the douchebag Dustin. He challenge my honor and insinuated I’m a coward. Let’s see Dustin. I spent 32 months in Vietnam, had 79 confirmed kills (two or more witnesses), engaged in 13 separate battles, was wounded twice earning two Purple Hearts and received a Bronze Star with “V”. What did you do in the war Dustin?

    Rev. Hoagie© (734193)

  120. Anybody insane enough to consider casting a vote for Hillary Clinton is in serious need of professional counseling and help. Your judgment is in your ass.

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  121. I’d love to work to make America greater than she is today.

    I just don’t believe that Trump is capable of doing it – I believe his entire campaign is built on lies.

    aphrael (e0cdc9) — 5/31/2016 @ 4:02 pm

    Ah Aphrael, you included Mr. Trump’s entire campaign, characterizing it as a lie.

    The press asked Trump his opinion on the gorilla, and he said “I don’t think they had a choice”, referring to whether or not shooting the ape.

    Since you say that’s a lie, your position must be similar to my formulation. Send for the hostage negotiator.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  122. “If this were poker, which hand looks stronger to you for a national election?”
    Donald Trump will win in a landslide. *The mind behind “Dilbert” explains why. Writes Adams:

    “Identity is always the strongest level of persuasion. The only way to beat it is with dirty tricks or a stronger identity play. … [And] Trump is well on his way to owning the identities of American, Alpha Males, and Women Who Like Alpha Males. Clinton is well on her way to owning the identities of angry women, beta males, immigrants, and disenfranchised minorities.”

    http://americandigest.org/sidelines/2016/05/#a033619

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  123. Kristol meth and his band of elitist no Trump followers only now hate the senate leader. Pathetic.

    mg (31009b)

  124. I need to apologize to you Dustin. Regardless of what you call me I should not respond like a spiteful child. Suffice it to say I was not attempting to tout my courage by comparing aphrael for Hillary to me being for Trump. I was attempting to draw the point we are both supporting a-holes.

    I does interest me however, that any Trump support, even when the alternative is a democrat/leftist/commie/grifter is met with such hostility to the supporter. I almost understood it during the primary when we had a load of good candidates. But against the very person we’ve all loathed and have been against for years? Interesting.

    Again Dustin, I apologize.

    Rev. Hoagie© (734193)

  125. I think “the mind behind Dilbert” puts on lace panties and frilly garters and calls himself “Mrs. Trump” while doing strange things to himself with a variety of strange things under a mirrored ceiling. Talk about “man crush”.

    nk (dbc370)

  126. Papertiger, thank you for the clarification.

    I obviously don’t know everything that Trump, or his campaign, has said or done. No more than I know everything that Sen. Clinton, or Sen. McConnell, or anyone else, has said or done. So interpreting my statement that Trump’s “entire campaign is built on lies” to imply that I *do* have such knowledge and then imputing to me an opinion about some matter that Trump, or his spokesperson, has opined on is … bizarre.

    Furthermore, I think it’s pretty clear that one can say that something is *based on lies* without asserting that *every utterance is a lie*; those are different claims. Conflating the two may be to your rhetorical benefit, but it’s also a dishonest argumentative tactic if engaged in deliberately.

    So: are you deliberately engaging in a dishonest debating tactic? Or are you unable to tell the difference between ‘his entire campaign is based on lies’ and ‘everything he says is a lie’?

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  127. tmi, nk, scott adams has been keenly observing the corporate world and has seen what works and what doesn’t.

    narciso (732bc0)

  128. A stun gun maybe? Are stun guns gorilla strength tested?

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  129. Coming from a fellow who finds the swarthy Huma Abedin to be a very attractive woman, that’s a hoot. Thanks for the chuckle.

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  130. Trump’s entire campaign is based on lies. A great many lies that Trump tells incessantly and as many that Trumpkins tell to themselves and try to sell to others. Case in point “the mind behind Dilbert”.

    I am not even convinced that “Trump is running for President” is truthful. I consider it just as likely that it is a deal he made with the Democrats to give the election to Hillary in order to avoid sharing a prison cell with Bernie Madoff. It is speculation, but a sealed indictment for fraud, tax evasion and racketeering would not surprise me.

    nk (dbc370)

  131. > A stun gun maybe? Are stun guns gorilla strength tested?

    I have no idea.

    I don’t actually *care*, to be honest. From what I can tell: a child somehow got into an enclosure at a zoo and was attacked by the enclosed animal. The zoo killed the animal.

    Maybe it was the right call. Maybe it wasn’t. Second-guessing the zoo would be a waste of my time and energy – it might be a great way to provide me with a basis to feel righteously outraged, but it would be a silly basis for such outrage, and the fact that we’re even spending time talking about it is depressing.

    The child survived. The parents of the child and the zoo management will have a discussion, and possibly a lawsuit, about the quality of the enclosure’s safeguards. Beyond those two facts, why should I care at all?

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  132. that more correctly have been said of our last two nominees, one defacto one dejure, ‘sound and fury, signifying nothing told by an idiot;

    narciso (732bc0)

  133. The Art Of The Deal 2: How I Stayed Out Of Prison By Fooling 12 Million Morons, An Autobiography,
    by Donald Trump

    nk (dbc370)

  134. what is significant is the anthropomorphing of animals, first with cecil, and the downgrading of people, the responsibility of the parents is another issue,

    narciso (732bc0)

  135. I brought up harding, because he upended a good deal of the prog infrastructure, and they never forgave him for that, some of his staff’s poor judgement, and his own personal peccadiloes were turned against him, and coolidge’s reforms came from that.

    narciso (732bc0)

  136. Notice who he saves the invective for. Hillary Clinton would have to do some very terrible things to even get a mention. Oh… wait…

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  137. and this is significant, because wilson was put in office, in part because of tr’s vanity, and the first of many lapses in judgement on the part of web dubois, with future dalliances with stalinism and kwame nkrumah in the future,

    narciso (732bc0)

  138. > Notice who he saves the invective for

    Assuming you are talking about me (it’s not clear who ‘he’ is in your statement, after all) – of course.

    I had no such invective for Gov. Romney, or Sen. McCain, or Pres. Bush. I had no such invective for any of the other Republican candidates this year, including the ones that I had a negative view of, and I’m actually *voting* for Sen. Cruz next week.

    I have a lot of invective regarding Trump because I consider him a sui generis threat to the republic, and so I think he is *deserving* of the invective in the way no other politician in my lifetime has been. It’s not *partisan* in the Democrat-vs-Republican sense; it’s unique and isolated to *Donald Trump* as an individual.

    That does not mean I think Sen. Clinton is good; I would not vote for her if I were voting in the Democratic primary, and I have not voted for her when the opportunity has presented itself in the past. I think she’s a *terrible* candidate and wish the Democrats could nominate someone else.

    But there’s a difference between a bad candidate and a unique threat to the Republic.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  139. well he also wants to put tammy, a zaphod enabler in office,

    narciso (732bc0)

  140. That was for and about nk.

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  141. trump fans can be so dramatic. It would be cute if it weren’t so destructive.

    Dustin (2a8be7)

  142. They should have taught KoKo “Don’t hurt the baby”.

    With my dog all you’d need to say is “leave it”, and stare him down a little.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  143. duckworth, who was negligent in her oversight of veteran activities,

    like delenda est O’Donnell, dustin, how well did that work out, was there ever an apology”

    narciso (732bc0)

  144. I am acquanted with the officer who killed Jabari.

    Steve57 (e33d44)

  145. Steve57, I think some wires have been crossed.

    I thought we were talking about the incident this weekend in the Cincinanati zoo, where a boy entered the gorilla’s enclosure. (http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/31/us/gorilla-shot-harambe/)

    Your link seems to be a 2004 news report about a different incident in the Dallas Zoo, where the gorilla escaped.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  146. whAT gave them that idea:

    http://www.npr.org/sections/ombudsman/2016/05/27/479588582/did-ploughshares-grant-skew-nprs-iran-deal-coverage

    isn’t that how planet of the apes latest iteration begins although in san francisco,

    narciso (732bc0)

  147. If you like what you’ve lived through the last 8 years, by all means, elect the Democrat. Hillary Clinton is major league corrupt, she’s rotten right down to her marrow and you’d have to have had your head in the sand not to understand this. Sanders is an old Commie who should live in North Korea, if he had any integrity.

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  148. Well, actually, just to be clear, the invective is for Trumpkins. The worst things about Trump are his supporters. “Alpha males”, heh! You’re a hoot, Mr. Dilbert.

    nk (dbc370)

  149. Mince >>>>>> with Hillary!

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  150. Wires having been crossed is the story of my life.

    Steve57 (e33d44)

  151. Which Democrat should we elect, Coronello?

    Steve57 (e33d44)

  152. The sort of Democrat who can be entrusted with our national security, who would promote a climate conducive to job growth, work with Congress and his cabinet to lessen the burden on small business and promote lowering the tax burden on American citizens doesn’t exist any more, Steve.

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  153. Well f*ck me sideways with a spoon, coronello.

    Steve57 (e33d44)

  154. I’ll leave that for nk, Steve, that’s his bag, baby, yeah…

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  155. I doubt even nk would take me up.

    Steve57 (e33d44)

  156. No offense, I hope, Steve. We can still be friends?

    nk (dbc370)

  157. Hillary Clinton is major league corrupt, she’s rotten right down to her marrow and you’d have to have had your head in the sand not to understand this.

    Problem is, if you replaced HC’s name with DT’s name, that sentence would be entirely and equally accurate.

    In conversation with a customer and a co-worker, both of them originally from Haiti, mention was made of the election troubles in Haiti. Me: “Could be worse. Donald Trump could be running for president there.”. General laughter, after which the customer went on to compare the US election to a choice between two poisons. Should you choose the quicker poison and get the dying over and done with…or the slower one, in the hopes that a miracle antidote will appear before you die.

    This mind you from a female “of color” whom the DNC is relying on to fall in lockstep behind Hillary.

    kishnevi (050eae)

  158. in north korea, they marvel at this kind of writing,

    https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080526212125AANHPxq

    narciso (732bc0)

  159. funny you say that, I went to school with the pm from the last administration, there.

    narciso (732bc0)

  160. I’m watching the Adams segment on Bill Moro Maher and it’s very interesting, worth a look.

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  161. We’re hoping to split the “I hate whity” vote.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  162. nk, if you’re not with it just saying if you f*ck with the bull you get the horns.

    Steve57 (e33d44)

  163. like I say, there might have been a conflict of interest,

    http://sdlrla.com/scholarship/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/La-Raza-Dinnner-Program-2014-FINAL.pdf

    narciso (732bc0)

  164. If enough of us just abstain from voting, then neither of these two jerky candidates will become the newly elected President come January 2017. At least that’s what I heard on the internet. (LOL)

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  165. Well… papertiger, Rev. Hoagie, Colonel Haiku, and the other Trump supporters have me nearly convinced. I have rarely seen such persuasiveness online. I am seriously considering changing my prospective vote from Zombie Reagan to Hillary Clinton. Thank you gentlemen. Carry on.

    Stashiu3 (0525a4)

  166. I’m actually becoming inspired. I may begin to assist her campaign.

    Stashiu3 (0525a4)

  167. heh, what difference does it make,

    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinton-urged-obama-to-close-guantanamo-bay/

    ask doherty and woods that question,

    narciso (732bc0)

  168. I wish it were Cruz, Stashiu, but I won’t be passive while an out and out evil stain on humanity like the Demoness Dowager Clinton gets elected POTUS. Not gonna do it. Let your conscience be YOUR guide.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  169. Best be quick before the indictment, though…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  170. Oh, I agree. Since it’s clear character is not an issue, you’ve convinced me. I’ll start volunteering for the Clinton campaign as soon as possible.

    Stashiu3 (0525a4)

  171. honestly, they have collaborated in slashing our military down to pre world war 2, not just red queen, but panetta and gates, who were also part of the transfer of our uranium stockpile
    to volodya, empowering the boko pandemic, giving the jayvee free reign, it’s all on them,

    narciso (732bc0)

  172. Have fun!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  173. indictment, inspector dreyfus will let loose fitz on libby, the horror that is martha stewart, but a real target, I don’t see it, and lynch, well that’s not even rhetorical.

    narciso (732bc0)

  174. If you see something, say something.

    nk (dbc370)

  175. i’m reminded of that classic b movie, the class of 1999, the premise was clinton was removed from office, so the department of educational defense, and they put in combat robots as instructors, to pacify the public schools,

    narciso (732bc0)

  176. Make sure you have dated receipts for all your Chinese-made products if Trump is elected.

    nk (dbc370)

  177. Donald Trump is no great shakes, but he’ll be better than Hillary. I imagine that the socio-economic level of the collective commentariat here at Patterico skews a lot higher than that of the average American. Many people here will likely still be able to eat and keep a roof over their heads during a Hillary Dictatorship.
    But there are a lot of Americans who are month-to-month, and one kid’s appendicitis operation away from losing the proverbial farm. I can’t believe people are contemplating sitting out the election to spite Mitch McConnell or Paul Ryan or Reince Priebus when there are so many people who are already hurting in this country.

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  178. Stashiu3: it’s been a long time! welcome back. I hope you are well. 🙂

    aphrael (3f0569)

  179. Only Clinton republicans buy Chinese.

    mg (31009b)

  180. lemmings have gotten a bumrap they are not that selfdestructive,

    narciso (732bc0)

  181. I have no intention of sitting out the election. I am going to assess as best as I can which one of the two is going to win and vote for people most likely to oppose or impeach her. I have said this before.

    Thing is, CS, that 11.6 million Trumpkins is tolerable. But if he gets even 40 million votes, we’ll need to reassess this democracy thing. A short period under a military/judicial/mercantile junta while we draft a new constitution that imposes a property requirement and literacy test for voting among other things, maybe?

    nk (dbc370)

  182. now you think pattakos and papadapoulos had some good ideas,

    narciso (732bc0)

  183. Cheetos for the Clinton republicans.
    Clinton/Beck/2016

    mg (31009b)

  184. Oh, man up. You live in the belly of the beast in Chicago, you have the stomach for just about anything. And you actually lecturing people on the pitfalls of democracy… now that’s rich!

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  185. Oh, go hide in your nursing home and eat your strained spinach, Haiku. You always make everything personal, and I have no interest in exchanging middle-school insults with you.

    nk (dbc370)

  186. Go help a victim of Chicago’s Democrat governance… do something constructive with your day, nk.

    Colonel Haiku (b3205b)

  187. Yes the colonels wanted to make ‘greece great again, ‘hellenas, help me translate, maybe it’s more like fujimori or berlusconi.

    narciso (732bc0)

  188. Sorry bordaberry. That will be the next charge.

    narciso (732bc0)

  189. I don’t need no Cuban insulting Greece, neither, narciso.

    nk (dbc370)

  190. I’m not just pointing out the ridiculousness of your statement, btw if batista had been as effective as Papadopoulos problem solved.

    narciso (732bc0)

  191. I have no clue what parallels you are trying to draw. America is not Greece. Or Italy. Or Chile.

    nk (dbc370)

  192. America is not Greece

    Yet!

    Dustin (2a8be7)

  193. Hi Stashiu3!! *waves frantically, hoping to get attention*

    Patterico (86c8ed)

  194. Kevin M (25bbee) — 5/31/2016 @ 10:05 am

    we can’t decide which sh1theel is worse. Goering or Goebells.

    I think Goebbels, although he was far from the worst of the top Nazis, because Goering didn’t do very much besides steal art and make mistakes in the bombing of Britain, which, from an objective point of view, was a good thing. His biggest crimes were his role in the seizure of power and preparing and waging war, which included war crimes.

    [and the truth is, what the prosecutors in Nuremberg were mostly interested in was their category 2: waging aggressive war, that is, starting World War II. And 1) the seizure of power was part of that; and 3) war crimes and 4) crimes against humanity (= crimes not related to pursuing the war) was added almost secondarily. Hermann Goering was a big shot with regard to the first two.]

    He always maintained his extremely high ranking position till near the end, and had a little something to do with everything, but he didn’t do too much besides steal and plunder, and things like use slave labor for his almost private military purposes involving airplanes. He signed certain decrees, and maybe personally intervened to get a few people killed, although I can’t verify that quickly. And then he became a drug addict and had to be cured by American doctors before he could be brought to trial. At the very end Hitler ordered Himmler and Goering killed, because he suspected them, correctly, of plotting against him, [they thought they could somehow escape punishment, so that’s a point in his favor.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6ring_Telegram

    Goering killed himself the day before he was to be hanged in Nuremberg. Goebbels killed himself, and his children, and his wife committed suicide also. Himmler, trusting he would get a fair trial, after first trying to destroy all remaining bodies of people he was responsible for killing, mostly in 1941, when they had shot people in mass graves, apparently misunderstanding what the requirement for a corpus delecti was under British common law, or maybe hoping to combine that with statistics “proving” the Jews and others he killed had never lived in the first place – decided to rest his hopes on attempting to avoid capture, or at least identification, and had a cyanide pill with him in case he didn’t. His suicide after capture was not prevented. Heydrich was killed in 1942 by the British, because of a mistaken premise (he was not going to stay in Bohemia but waas headed toward Paris next) but this probably saved countless lives during the war. Of those four, he was the worst, or most dedicated or efficient. You can rank them.

    Sammy Finkelman (eb1481)

  195. *fails*

    Patterico (86c8ed)

  196. Patterico, I wish there were many more posts from Stashiu3 to read. Don’t you?

    Simon Jester (bb7e0e)

  197. By the way, Patterico, this is the value of some of your commenters. When I had some awful issues to deal with regarding my father and his dementia, Stashiu3 was patient, kind, and helpful with advice.

    I miss his input.

    Simon Jester (bb7e0e)

  198. Yes, I do.

    Patterico (86c8ed)


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