Patterico's Pontifications

12/4/2018

The Left Side Of The Aisle: Avenatti, Biden, And Of Course, Hillary…

Filed under: General — Dana @ 3:45 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Ready or not, 2020 is right around the corner. In an effort to avoid thinking about a possible Trump in 2020, I am choosing instead to post about the amusing haps on the left side of the political aisle. First, let me say this regarding the names popping up as possible contenders, and I say it with sneering gusto: These people

First, in a crushing announcement, Michael Avenatti informed America that he will not be throwing his hat into the ring after all. While claiming consideration of his family, it appears that he nonetheless truly believes he is taking the more noble path by (self-)righteously soldering on in his battle against President Trump:

“I do not make this decision lightly — I make it out of respect for my family,” said Avenatti, who first gained fame and infamy for his representation of porn star Stormy Daniels in multiple legal cases involving President Donald Trump.

“But for their concerns, I would run,” he said in a statement posted on Twitter. The twice-married Avenatti has three children.

“I remain concerned that the Democratic Party will move toward nominating an individual who might make an exceptional president but has no chance of actually beating Donald Trump,” he wrote.

“The party must immediately recognize that many of the likely candidates are not battle-tested, and have no real chance at winning. We will not prevail in 2020 without a fighter. I remain hopeful the party finds one.”

And here is the Noble Cause:

I will continue to represent Stormy Daniels and others against Donald Trump and his cronies and will not rest until Trump is removed from office, and our republic and its values are restored.

Avenatti

In so many ways, America has dodged a serious bullet of batcrap crazy here. A Trump-Avenatti debate would be the ultimate circus, making the 2016 debates look like amateur hour. Anyway, Avenatti already has a lot on his plate:

Avenatti’s decision not to press forward with a presidential run comes several weeks after police in Los Angeles arrested him in connection with an investigation into an accustation of domestic violence lodged by an actress, Mareli Miniutti, with whom he had been living.

Avenatti is also embroiled in several legal fights related to debts involving his law firm, and an effort by Trump’s lawyers to recoup hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees from a since-dismissed defamation lawsuit by Daniels against the president.

Basta!, indeed.

Also this week, Joe Biden declared that he is the most qualified person to be president:

Former Vice President Joe Biden on Monday said his decision on whether to enter the 2020 presidential race will rest on a whether he and his family are “ready,” even as he argued that his strengths as a potential candidate far outweigh any perceived liabilities.

Biden’s comments came during a brief tour promoting the paperback release of his 2017 memoir, “Promise Me, Dad,” in which he details how the death of his eldest son, Beau, from brain cancer kept him out of the 2016 presidential race.

“I think I’m the most qualified person in the country to be president. The issues that we face as a country today are the issues that I’ve worked on my whole life — the plight of the middle class and foreign policy,” Biden told an audience in Montana, according to The Missoula Current. “But my family and I need to decide as a unit whether we’re ready — we do everything as a family.”

Joe Biden is 76 years old. And while Bernie Sanders was 76 years old when he ran for the presidency, he didn’t bring the creepy baggage factor of being too handsy with the ladies. Biden is an anachronism in the #MeToo era. A relic from the past. A time where cuddling up to unsuspecting women was smiled upon, joked about, or people wrote it all off as “that’s just Joe being Joe.” Or worse, knew his behavior was inappropriate but said nothing – for the sake of the party. But how does that play in today’s world of heightened awareness? Do you believe Democrats would risk backing an old, white man man who has consistently viewed females as the willing recipients of his free-range hands, in spite of his years in the political arena? After Trump, one would think both parties would vigorously avoid backing anyone, no matter their level of political experience, who has demonstrated the slightest hint of impropriety toward the opposite sex. (But again, this post isn’t about the GOP and Trump…)

Maybe at the end of the day, it remains OK for the legendary former vice-president to snuggle up to females other than his wife, but not OK for everyday Joes to do the same. After all, it’s not like any abuse of power would ever happen at the hands of those holding the two highest offices in land, right?

Which leads me to another past-their-prime potential candidate: Hillary Clinton. Ugh. You might ask: Will we never be rid of the Clintons on the public stage? Don’t be silly. I bring her up because I am currently watching A&E’s “The Clinton Affair,” and find myself still marveling at the amoral and vicious ooze in which the power couple make themselves at home. Amusingly, Maureen Dowd wrote about their pathological need to be relevant:

I’m looking around Scotiabank Arena, the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and it’s a depressing sight. It’s two-for-the-price-of-one in half the arena. The hockey rink is half curtained off, but even with that, organizers are scrambling at the last minute to cordon off more sections behind thick black curtains, they say due to a lack of sales. I paid $177 weeks in advance. (I passed on the pricey meet-and-greet option.) On the day of the event, some unsold tickets are slashed to single digits.

I get reassigned to another section as the Clintons’ audience space shrinks. But even with all the herding, I’m still looking at large swaths of empty seats — and I cringe at the thought that the Clintons will look out and see that, too.

I can’t fathom why the Clintons would make like aging rock stars and go on a tour of Canada and the U.S. at a moment when Democrats are hoping to break the stranglehold of their cloistered, superannuated leadership and exult in a mosaic of exciting new faces.

What is the point? It’s not inspirational. It’s not for charity. They’re not raising awareness about a cause, like Al Gore with global warming. They’re only raising awareness about the Clintons.

It can’t be the money at this point. Have they even spent all the Goldman gold yet? Do they want to swim in their cash like Scrooge McDuck?

The Clintons’ tin cup is worthy of the Smithsonian. They hoovered more than $2 billion in contributions to their campaigns, foundation and philanthropies.

Some in Clintonworld say Hillary fully intends to be the nominee. Once more, in Toronto, she didn’t rule it out, dodging the question with a lame joke. She carries herself with the air of a president in exile. Her consigliere, Philippe Reines, has prodded reporters on including her name when they write about 2020 candidates.

The Clintons refuse to be discarded. It has been their joint project for half a century to be at the center of the public scene and debate. The way that the whole thing came crashing down in 2016 is too hard for them to bear. They would like to rewrite the ending, but there is no way to do that.

Nothing they have done lately suggests that they have learned anything, including their obtuse post-#MeToo comments about Monica Lewinsky, who has been far more candid and sympathetic in the 20th anniversary retellings of the impeachment saga. The Clintons are still unable to hold themselves accountable. The formerly golden couple who dominated their party for nearly three decades is traveling North America in a bubble, shockingly un-self-aware.

I just cannot imagine the Democratic party thinking a Biden or Clinton presidential run would be a viable option. Especially not when Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) are all flirting with a possible run.

P.S. The Washington Post reports approximately 38 individuals have expressed some interest in running for the Democratic nomination!

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

130 Responses to “The Left Side Of The Aisle: Avenatti, Biden, And Of Course, Hillary…”

  1. These people, indeed.

    Dana (023079)

  2. joe biden raised an entire family of coke fiends

    this has direct bearing on any remotely objective assessment of his character i think

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  3. Paris Hilton had more talent as … whatever she had talent at .. than Michael Avenatti has promise as a politician.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  4. And we still haven’t heard the last of Jerry Brown. If the Democrats want to do for America what they have done for California, there is no better candidate.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  5. and you know who’s always sniffing around joe biden

    meghan mccain (yuck)

    these people indeed

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  6. Kevin M,

    Jerry Brown is 80 years old. Just another old, white guy. In today’s political book, thats just so GOP, no?

    Dana (023079)

  7. Here in my neck of the woods, there is a qualified candidate with decent executive experience, but Governor Jay Inslee has two strikes against him in the Democrat Party: (1) he’s white, (2) he’s male.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  8. whoever’s running is just trying to position themselves for 2024

    President Trump is our president now

    he’s so beautiful and he’s brought the country together in a way i don’t think anybody thought was possible

    together we’re stronger and better

    but we’re also kinder, and more thoughtful

    we are very blessed

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  9. P.S. The Washington Post reports approximately 38 individuals have expressed some interest in running for the Democratic nomination!

    Dana (023079)

  10. After what happened in Paris you still think sky dragon is a good play.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  11. Oh good Lord:

    SCOOP: Beto O’Rourke met with President Obama as he ponders a 2020 presidential campaign. The Nov. 16 meeting in DC came as Obama aides are encouraging O’Rourke to run the same kind of inspirational campaign that caught fire in 2008. https://www.

    Dana (023079)

  12. Picture this scenario: a political party sees an excellent opportunity to ride back into power as they watch a narcissistic cult of personality President from the other party falter. So every single qualified and accomplished party member — governors, Senators, non-government businesspeople, former office holders — young and old throws their hate into the ring. And then for the next six months, they slowly eat themselves up by dividing party loyalties until some doddering old New York billionaire who isn’t even a consistent member of the party magically wins the nomination and goes on to surprisingly capture the White House.

    Say hello to President Michael Bloomberg.

    JVW (42615e)

  13. Brilliant, JVW!

    Dana (023079)

  14. When the Polaroid SX-70 was brand new technology;
    When Skylab was launched;
    When the Watergate hearings began;
    When gasoline averaged 40 cents a gallon;
    When the World Trade Center became the tallest buildings in the world;
    When the U.S. withdrew from Vietnam;
    When Bill Gates started as a freshman at Harvard;
    When Roger Moore first played ‘James Bond’ in Live And Let Die;
    When ‘Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree’ by Tony Orlando & Dawn was the #1 one song;
    When the Sony Betamax was still two years in the future
    When Jeff Bezos was 9, Elon Musk was 2 and Monica Lewinsky was born:

    Joe Biden was a 31 year old senator from Delaware.

    If elected president, on January 20, 2021 Biden would be 78 taking office into a four year term.

    He’s ‘qualified’ to be too [expletive deleted] old to be President the United States.

    End of story.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  15. I noticed that above I wrote “young and old throws their hate into the ring.” I was going to correct that, but the more I think about it, the more I think that I got it right the first time.

    JVW (42615e)

  16. When ‘Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree’ by Tony Orlando & Dawn was the #1 one song;

    If he makes that his campaign theme song then I’m going to vote for him in the Dem primary. I think I am still on record as requesting a Democrat ballot in California.

    JVW (42615e)

  17. Say hello to President Michael Bloomberg.

    Only after a couple move Supreme Court seats are filled.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  18. A Trump-Avenatti debate would be the ultimate circus, making the 2016 debates look like amateur hour.

    I don’t see any real reason in principle why you couldn’t hold a debate with both candidates in prison…

    Dave (b420d1)

  19. Mitt Romney is only 71. Just sayin’

    Wouldn’t it be funny if Trump announced he wasn’t running again in March 2020?

    Kevin M (a57144)

  20. Avenatti was a fart in a soap bubble. And now the bubble has burst.

    nk (dbc370)

  21. I don’t see any real reason in principle why you couldn’t hold a debate with both candidates in prison…

    Trump can’t be tried until he’s impeached, and under the “you gotta beat the champ by more and a couple points” rule, it won’t be for spitting on the sidewalk.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  22. How come I type “than” and it comes out “and”?

    Kevin M (a57144)

  23. Gun control amnesty and climate change that’s a winning platform seriously.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  24. Wouldn’t it be funny if Trump announced he wasn’t running again in March 2020?

    no

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  25. Do you want Paris type taxes unlimited immigration kow towing to Islamists then cheer bloomberg.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  26. Trump can’t be tried until he’s impeached, and under the “you gotta beat the champ by more and a couple points” rule, it won’t be for spitting on the sidewalk.

    Roberts might need to impose bail while the Senate trial proceeds, in view of the flight risk and the accused’s history of witness-tampering…

    Dave (b420d1)

  27. My $5 is on Oprah.

    -Doesn’t need to announce this early; her run; her terms
    -Pre-sold ‘product’ in key markets across America;
    -Can afford to finance a run at or below Trump costs on her terms;
    -Proven success w/executive skills and experience on multiple business platforms;
    -Dynamic demographics: popular appeal w/key black/brown/white/male/female voting blocks;
    -Personable: liked by nearly everyone; beholden to almost no one; speaks ‘kitchen table’ English
    -Excellent communicator in all mediums; by group or one-on-one
    -Scares the crap out of Donald Trump

    If the stars align and she decides runs, in the America of the early 21st century, she’d win.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  28. Why stoop to the level of the hopeless Democrats? Beto? Why not just call him Skippy… or Sparky… or Skatey, since the man’s fond of skateboards.

    Since O’Rourke is said to have presidential teeth – for reals – give him a reality check and call the pinche pendejo by his real name: Robert Francis O ‘Rourke.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  29. I call him robertico (diminutive) now someone brought up Bryan who was also a congressman then a populist Democrat nominee, but Bryan believes in something real.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  30. I like Beto because it assonates with puto.

    nk (dbc370)

  31. So Herr Mueller and team recommend little to no jail time for Flynn. I guess they’re satisfied with bankrupting him and ruining his life.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  32. Never plead guilty!

    nk (dbc370)

  33. Ain’t that the truth, the process is the punishment, do not challenge the wisdom of the powers that be.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  34. Never talk to the FBI,
    If you’re under orders to lie!

    Not Congress, neither.

    nk (dbc370)

  35. flight risk

    Really? I mean, some would hope, but really?

    Kevin M (a57144)

  36. I guess they’re satisfied with bankrupting him and ruining his life.

    Well, it was a pissant charge anyway.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  37. Flynn was the powers that be.
    Cohen was a wannabe.
    Manafort was a parasite.

    nk (dbc370)

  38. Flynn, Cohen and Manafort walk into a bar. None of them noticed that the cell door was closed.

    nk (dbc370)

  39. No the permanent intelligence establishment, they decide that playing shooting gallery in Afghanistan is a strategy, they pretended Syria wasnt on fire because we were coddling Iran, that the young Google exec was the face of the Egyptian revolution, nice preyending.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  40. The more I think about it, the more I see that lawyers have far too much power. Since the judicial branch is reserved to lawyers, I say we should reserve the legislative branch to non-lawyers.

    Sure the laws will be poorly drafted, contradictory and have unexpected consequences but we have that now. Let’s give plumbers and car salesmen the chance to write our laws.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  41. flynn was the one that was set up by dirty sally yates

    she set up this earnest-but-none-too-bright little army boy so they could take down a president

    and he’s this army idiot that knows nothing about the real whirl and they ate him ALIVE

    she’s as vile as she is treasonous

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  42. She’s a mean girl from the right side of the tracks pikachu, what is the real side of this world a war that has gone on for 17 years because Pakistan has provided sanctuary?

    Narciso (d1f714)

  43. Inslee and Dayton/Target suffer from having ducked adversity, Inslee lost a more rural seat then 3 cycles later moved closer to Seattle to run and win a new seat. Dayton relocated his staff office in DC after a terrorist scare

    urbanleftbehind (380f76)

  44. yes yes for 17 years the vaunted morons of the us military have been fighting with one hand tied behind their back and slapping their own idiot faces with the other hand

    it’s not a good look

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  45. Plumbers and electricians are honorable; its the mechanics and dentists I worry about.

    urbanleftbehind (380f76)

  46. flight risk

    You think Putin’s just gonna write off an asset that valuable?

    Dave (1bb933)

  47. Well you’ve seen marathon man not to mention little shop of horrors, haven’t you

    Narciso (d1f714)

  48. Sally Yates is a Julia Roberts character come to life.

    urbanleftbehind (380f76)

  49. More like Jessica Chastain who is getting a certain vibe.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  50. narciso, Flynn was the Pentagon’s top spy, and a three-star general.

    nk (dbc370)

  51. He rose through the ranks to it. He was as permanent intelligence establishment as a person could be and not have been born in the CIA headquarters.

    nk (dbc370)

  52. John Sinclair Michael Flynn

    They done you in, Michael Flynn
    Fought the power but you can’t win
    They ruined yer life, it’s a sin
    You took it all on the chin
    Let him be, set him free
    Let him be like you and me
    They took his money too
    What else can Herr Mueller do?
    Gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta,
    Gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta,
    Gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta,
    Gotta, gotta, gotta set him free

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  53. Did brennan get to the top of the sticky pole by talent how about jeh general magoo, do they ever sound like they know what they are talking about.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  54. What’s that got to do with whether Flynn was permanent intelligence establishment and, in any event, it was Obama who appointed him DNI and Obama’s Pentagon which gave him his third star.

    nk (dbc370)

  55. Actually, the Laura Dern general in TLJ was written in as a kinda sorta Yates. But that type only wins up north (Whitmer), loses the general in the mid South (Lonergan Grines), and doesn’t even make it out of the primary deeper south (Stacy Evans).

    urbanleftbehind (380f76)

  56. That’s gotta be a dangerous holiday for Flynn Sr., the true believer son might consider him a traitor ripe for…

    urbanleftbehind (380f76)

  57. Oh that may have thrown the whole franchise in a sarlaac pit, speaking of crooks the whole lonergan Grimes gang suggests they might have better off with ashley.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  58. Biology teacher: Who can tell me three things found in a cell?
    Politically aware kid: Trump’s campaign staff, Trump’s cabinet members, and Trump’s lawyers.

    nk (dbc370)

  59. Yet Hillary breaks 18 different laws she cant get caught Jay walking, McAuliffe is so crooked he needs to snap his head off each morning like a Pez dispenser

    Narciso (d1f714)

  60. Ericholder he was Q for Guzman loera, and the zetas

    Btw who in the windy city is having a maalox moment.

    narciso (d1f714)

  61. No one charged whitey bulger for 30 years that’s probably because he was innocent, or the feds were so happy to put patriarch out of business, they let him flood coke up the entire length of new england.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  62. After coming up empty with “verpy” and “foopter” , I had to know if “assonates” was a real word and sure enough, which is amusing and maybe a little funny.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  63. What a concept. Unlike the thoroughly corrupt Manafort, Flynn agreed to cooperate after copping a plea, and then he actually cooperated.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  64. Sigh. It’s to bypass the happyfeet-proofing of the moderation filter. Reverse “v” and “p” in the first word, and “f” and “p” in the second, and you get the original happyfeetisms.

    nk (dbc370)

  65. You forgot about lurch the traitor for the vietcong the sandinistas the Syrians during the Iraq war, who filled his campaign war chest with dirty money from bcci.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  66. Thank you, nk, I barely understand happyfeet except as some sort of incomprehensible social experiment, so any variations of said person’s words will just send me further into this strange unknown world.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  67. At the risk of being a Nietzschean lacking in empathy, the only one I might feel sorry for is Cohen. In many respects, he is like a big, dumb, faithful dog who got himself stuck in the rabbit hole and got blown up by Bugs Bunny and then kicked by Elmer Fudd.

    Flynn and Manafort are casualties of their own ambitions, who would never feel sorry for us if we ever stood between them and a nickel.

    nk (dbc370)

  68. Podesta basically ripped off the Ukrainian mob, took their money, and spent it on bad art, (how thick would your cement overshoes be if you tried that) Cohen forgot he want turbo Tim geithner, manafort was chasing this biggest deal, he could find his business partner got back at him through Christopher steele

    narciso (d1f714)

  69. Now take Lanny Davis, please, (rimshot) what
    do you think would have been the penalty if the extradition of firtash had gone through.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  70. I don’t see the logic, narciso. This is not a John Wick movie with a Continental which arbitrates between criminals, and divvies up the spoils equally and metes out the penalties equally.

    nk (dbc370)

  71. Joe Biden took a lot of heat this week for this quote:


    The Hill

    @thehill
    Joe Biden: “I’ve been there with 8 presidents as an elected official and none had more class and a greater sense of decency than President Bush

    That he could actually say this about someone other than Saint Barack made the moonbats go insane.

    harkin (fbc353)

  72. If you believe Dante Alighieri, Minos will take care of that second thing when they all appear before him.

    nk (dbc370)

  73. The bratva doesn’t hold grudges tell me a other one, btw David Vitter’s miss Daniel’s fmr client seems to handling Deripaska for mercury taking over from vin weber

    Narciso (d1f714)

  74. That’s because moonbats are stupid illiterates who were never taught that “not more than” can have the same meaning as “equal”.

    nk (dbc370)

  75. A foolproof method for a Republican to improve his class and sense of decency: Die.

    Munroe (62571b)

  76. Cory Booker breathes a sigh of relief.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  77. 40 – Kevin M
    Cheers. Can I buy you a fine Mexican dinner?

    mg (ebf6c2)

  78. @44. Afghans have been stretched out on our sofas and beds for a lot longer than that, Mr. Feet; they’re warm and colorful types.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  79. you are all unaware of democrat primary politics. I will inform you. clinton won nomination by bribing or threatening black democrats not to run. black democrats as well as latinos voted for clinton as they didn’t know who bernie sanders was as he got 1% of the coverage that trump and clinton got. 2020 black democrats will vote for harris or booker. hispanics will vote for o’rourke as well as millinials not voting for bernie. democratic older white women libbers vote for warren white males are bernie bros. that leaves groper joe biden with union and democrat party establishment hacks. donors already thru their money away in 2016 on clinton democrat base want somebody younger ;but alexandra ocasio-cortez is not old enough to run.

    lany (167041)

  80. The far left wing is feeling their oats but it will be Beto. Maybe Beto/Harris. He’s lefty enough for the far lefties, but “traditional” enough for the regulars. he will be good at wresting WI/PA/MI back. If they are smart they will send Hillary packing. Moderate their language on abortion. Middle of the road wins the day.

    JRH (f51cae)

  81. Scratch Beto/Harris. She’s got more gravitas than he does; it would be like Junior and Mom.

    JRH (f51cae)

  82. harris is just an overheated cougar lookin for a willie brown

    she’s nasty

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  83. I guess Kerry Washington is rehearsing her biopic.

    narciso (d1f714)

  84. Beto is way too Sunbelt for Mipaoh or Miohpa. Save him for ’24 when AZ, GA, and NC have some of those northern states EVs. An uncomfortable rift may happen between the Ds in re the Census citizenship question….the Rust Belt Opioid bloc might side with the administration, even some of the Illinois delegation. With severe noncitizen non-participation, TX, Ca, and Fl, lose 10 seats combined, while the rust belt and northeast break even.

    urbanleftbehind (380f76)

  85. Drake was already casting himself for #44 back in 2010.

    urbanleftbehind (380f76)

  86. So the dems in Wisconsin refuse to reinstate pre existing conditions, quelle surprise.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  87. So If you were looking for your salt exemptions to be restored.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  88. speaking of wisco here’s a look at shameful failure paul ryan’s farcically awful fiscal stewardship

    this part is particularly cogent

    Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) offered the best, most frank assessment of Ryan’s time as Speaker when he told Reason’s Nick Gillespie that fiscal conservatives were better off under Speaker John Boehner, who actually did reduce the deficit during his time with the gavel—and who did it while Democrats ran other parts of the government:

    I would rather have the guy swearing at me and letting me have a vote than not considering me at all…Under [Ryan’s] speakership, we’ve had the fewest open amendments of any speakership. We’ve had zero….Everything has to be pre-approved by the Speaker…. Under Boehner, you could walk up…and offer an amendment as long as it was germane to the bill, you got to vote on it. And this was true on basically all appropriations bills. Now, we don’t even do appropriations bills. They come up with some omnibus bill and spring it on us at the last second and they say, ‘This is the bill.’

    Ryan was handed a golden opportunity to change the direction of America’s fiscal trajectory — to stop driving off that cliff he talked about on the House floor back in 2011 — and he choked.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  89. oopers link

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  90. Yes and you don’t live in his district, I know someone who does, he isn’t impressed by his stooge.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  91. Paul Ryan sucks

    mg (ebf6c2)

  92. TL;DR Paul Ryan did not allow obstructionists from his own party to put poison pills in his majority’s bills. “Reason” has never been an honest debater. Not never, ever, ever. It is the Pravda of the “legalized pot and hookers” wing of the Anarcho-Illiterate Fringe.

    nk (dbc370)

  93. Here’s a real thing Reason can write about. The Burger King app tracks your location, with an accuracy of at least 600 feet of a McDonald’s. The way it is illegal for the police to. If the Burger King app does it, don’t you think other retail apps on your phone do too? Starbucks’, Chik-Fil-A’s, whichever’s? Do you really need that?

    nk (dbc370)

  94. “Harris” and “gravitas”: what are words that should never appear on the same page.

    Kamalatoe Harris has a lot of baggage.

    Colonel Haiku (5b7649)

  95. i think the idea is more that Paul Ryan built his entire brand on fiscal responsibility but when placed in a position to craft an agenda he not only failed to do so but proactively promoted an agenda that tremendously exacerbated failmerica’s parlous fiscal situation

    and this is the little rent-boi Mitt Romney likes to snuggle with on the cold cold Utah nights

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  96. Oh, gimme a break. As Speaker, Paul Ryan was kept busy herding cats — like Justin Amash — high on the catnip of having both houses of Congress (and the Presidency). Boehner’s “deficit successes” came about because Ryan, as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee was giving him not-too-horrible bills while Boehner wheeled and dealed.

    I’ll put it plainly. If you like Boehner better than Ryan, there’s something wrong with you.

    nk (dbc370)

  97. paul ryan busted the spending caps to slop the dirty corrupt pentagon piggies

    it was a fundamentally anti-american act, and this is a regrettable sadness that we will all have to learn to live with

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  98. John Boehner sucks.

    mg (ebf6c2)

  99. PS I wrote all the foregoing on the assumption that you all know that Boehner is now a shill for the legalized marijuana racket and, therefore, a turd that Reason has an interest in polishing.

    nk (dbc370)

  100. I just try to avoid the wrong lizard, but they are still lizards, no Boehner was a disappointment as well, as for Hastert,

    narciso (d1f714)

  101. The most unforgivable thing Ryan did was take away Trump’s veto power, I think. He should not have done that. He should have let Mr. Donald Trump the President veto budget-busting bills like the Constitution says he can.

    nk (dbc370)

  102. no that was the supreme court, thanks to Clinton’s poor use of it,

    narciso (d1f714)

  103. Rinos suck

    mg (ebf6c2)

  104. why should President Trump go out on a limb for Mitt Romney’s slicked-up little boy-man?

    he already has that sick little man at the Fed trying to crash the economy

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  105. The Supreme Court took away the President’s veto power, narciso? Not Paul Ryan?

    nk (dbc370)

  106. legalized marijuana is an important issue cause of right now if you use marijuana the corrupt gestapo DOJ says you’re not entitled to the right to bear arms

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  107. The most unforgivable thing Ryan did was take away Trump’s veto power, I think. He should not have done that. He should have let Mr. Donald Trump the President veto budget-busting bills like the Constitution says he can.

    I wrote that, knowing beyond a moral certainty, that 75% of Trump’s supporters in the general population would believe it literally. I can only hope that the percentage is smaller among Trump supporters on this site.

    nk (dbc370)

  108. line item, nk, it was in all the papers, he gambled it away sanctioning potato producers in Idaho,

    narciso (d1f714)

  109. We never had a federal line item veto except in Reagan’s letters to Santa.

    nk (dbc370)

  110. the congress gave it to him, so who gets the bag of coal, in the windy city,

    narciso (d1f714)

  111. We never had a federal line item veto except in Reagan’s letters to Santa.

    We did briefly. The Line Item Veto Act of 1996 granted it, but it was ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court a couple of years later.

    Chuck Bartowski (bc1c71)

  112. There was also a second swipe at the Line Item Veto that required any vetoed items to be approved by a mere majority of Congress…but this version did not make it through the Senate. Certainly most Senate business requires 60 votes for cloture so this item veto seems to attempt to eliminate that requirement via a backdoor. However, 60 votes for cloture is not in the Constitution….it’s just a rule that the majority can change like it has for judges.

    Either way, the item veto still seems to have problems with the Presentment Clause which does not contain language suggesting that the President can slice and dice legislation. I tend to also see a problem with the Legislature delegating legislative power to the President that does not involve foreign policy or his role as commander in chief.

    I sympathize with the desire for SOMEONE in government to make tough calls on spending….but this just gives the President the ability to play politics and mess with the minority’s priorities. It sounds good until you are the one with 47 votes in the Senate….

    AJ_Liberty (165d19)

  113. Avenatti was never a serious candidate, but he was going to get into teh debates and get quoted. I feel his intentions were to help somebody else.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  114. 61. Narciso (d1f714) — 12/4/2018 @ 7:25 pm

    No one charged whitey bulger for 30 years that’s probably because he was innocent, or the feds were so happy to put patriarch out of business, they let him flood coke up the entire length of new england.

    It may have helped that Whitey and the people in the FBI he bribed (or most of them?) were both Irish.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  115. another day another thousand minority kids turn 18 (voting age) in 2016 71% of voters were white in 2020 in will be 68% trump won michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin by less then 75,000 votes. mi.10,000 penn. 43,000 wi. 22,000.

    lany (582454)

  116. Lanyperry.

    Colonel Haiku (5b7649)

  117. Maureen Dowd, lost in the sauce. Anyone can see that Hillary is nothing without some kind of power. Her whole life has been motivated by a will to power. What she is hoping to gain from their tour is to keep in the media spotlight and run again. I guess she didn’t count on the empty arenas.

    margaret (94dabf)

  118. I’ve got a handful of lyrics floating around in my head for a country ballad called “Creepy Uncle Joe”. ex:

    He’ll tell you on and on ’bout all the things he knows
    just don’t leave your girls alone with Creepy Uncle Joe.

    matt d (d4aa6f)

  119. 122…

    Ballad of a Thin Man Thick-skinned Man

    You walk on to the dais with your johnson in your hand
    You see the young daughter of that Delaware man
    You ask, “you wanna play with a puppy, outside in my van?”
    “He’ll like it if ya throw him a bone”
    Because something is happening here and you know just what it is
    Don’t you, Creepy Joe?

    You raise up your head and you point, “I bought some hair plugs”
    And somebody points to you and says, “It’s a rug”
    And you say, “It’s mine” and somebody else says, “Well, what is?”
    And you say, “Oh my God, can’t you see how it’s grown?”
    And something is happening and you know just what it is
    Don’t you, Creepy Joe?

    Colonel Haiku (5b7649)

  120. Trump’s final death toll in the House tops out at an even 40…

    “We will have so much winning if I get elected that you may get bored with the winning.”
    – Donald Trump

    Dave (1bb933)

  121. Most except rohrabacher and tenney ran away from him, who did they think was going to vote for him?

    Narciso (d1f714)

  122. Trump has definitely planted his flag in Dave’s head.

    Colonel Haiku (5b7649)

  123. It’s like when quade signs the contract for the running man, in his signature way

    Narciso (d1f714)

  124. Most except rohrabacher and tenney ran away from him

    Not fast enough, clearly.

    Dave (1bb933)

  125. 124… there has been winning, but one must also not dismiss the losing… by those who went out of their way to pick fights or do the virtue-signaling schlep… the liars, hypocrites, deviants, moral degenerates… https://tinyurl.com/y774ujae

    Colonel Haiku (5b7649)

  126. You have remember the ones that bring, the dems bring an alpha strike against you.
    What’s your response, you’re not trump, as magneto puts it in the dark Phoenix film:

    ‘You always have a speech Charles and no one cares’

    Narciso (d1f714)


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