Open Thread – Monday, September 12, 2016
PRESIDENT
NATIONAL–ABC News/Wash Post–Clinton 51, Trump 43
OHIO–CBS News/YouGov–Clinton 46, Trump 39
NEVADA–NBC/WSJ/Marist–Clinton 45, Trump 44
ARIZONA–NBC/WSJ/Marist–Trump 42, Clinton 41
NEW HAMPSHIRE–NBC/WSJ/Marist–Clinton 42, Trump 41
GEORGIA–NBC/WSJ/Marist–Trump 46, Clinton 43
FLORIDA–CBS News/YouGov–Clinton 44, Trump 42
IOWA–RABA Research–Trump 43, Clinton 42
CALIFORNIA–USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times–Clinton 58, Trump 33
COLORADO–Magellan: Clinton 41, Trump 36
LOUSIANA–Anzalone Liszt Grove: Trump 46, Clinton 40
INDIANA–WTHR/HPI Indiana Poll–Trump 43, Clinton 36
The new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds President Obama’s approval rate at 58%. Why it’s still important: “As presidential approval improves, so does the vote share of the president’s party.”
A new CNN/ORC poll finds “53% of Americans say economic conditions in the US are good, up from the 45% who felt that way in June. It’s the highest number since September 2007, before the 2008 economic collapse.”
“The poll also showed that President Barack Obama continues to have majority approval ratings, at 51%. His approval rating has been at or above 50% since February, the longest stretch of his presidency since his first year in office.”
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton was actually factually correct that “half” of Trump’s supporters are racist fucks undeserving of respect or tolerance:
Good story about Hillary's "walking pneumonia" from someone who actually knows something about it. https://t.co/j7p65Wayd4
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) September 12, 2016
Jeff Greenfield says Trump is just Pat Buchanan with better timing (and more money): “There’s a dose of Ross Perot, the billionaire businessman who declared himself free from the taint of elective politics. There’s the anti-elitist scorn of George Wallace, not to mention several spoonfuls of Wallace’s racial and ethnic resentment. There’s the rallying of the forgotten captured by Louisiana’s Huey Long back in the 1930s.”
“But to a remarkable extent, just about all of the themes of Trump’s campaign can be found in Buchanan’s insurgent primary run a quarter-century ago: the grievances, legitimate and otherwise; the dark portrait of a nation whose culture and sovereignty are threatened from without and within; the sense that the elites of both parties have turned their backs on hard-working loyal, traditional Americans. The limits of that campaign—and the success of Trump’s, in seizing the nomination of a major political party—are a measure of just how much our politics have changed in the past 25 years.”
Newly released audio reveals Hillary Clinton's reaction to the 9/11 attacks https://t.co/W1xdTiHF7p pic.twitter.com/cAt63MlzL3
— CNN (@CNN) September 11, 2016
Hillary’s immediate concern was about the air quality in the city. What was Trump’s immediate concern?
Trump interview on 9/11: "[My building] was the 2nd-tallest in Manhattan… And now it’s the tallest." #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/47WUsSKLRu
— Ess (@ScottyLiterati) September 11, 2016
“Democrats seeking control of the House are pushing into new battleground districts, exposing vulnerable Republicans in diverse suburban areas that have been safe GOP seats for nearly a generation, according to a Politico analysis of Census demographic data, internal polling from both parties, and TV advertising data.”
“Longtime GOP strongholds like Orange County, Calif. and suburbs of Orlando, Minneapolis, Kansas City, look set to have competitive House races for the first time in decades. Indeed, Donald Trump has accelerated decade-long changes in both parties’ coalitions, repulsing minority voters while driving more college-educated whites out of their traditional home in the GOP. Democrats — who would need a whopping 30 seats to win the House — are already targeting at least 18 of the 60 GOP districts with the highest share of college-educated white voters, many of which also have large numbers of nonwhite voters. And Democrats are looking at that formula as they seek to expand the House map even further this fall, beyond even first-ever challenges to veteran Republicans like Florida’s John Mica and California’s Darrell Issa.”
READ —> How Donald Trump retooled his charity to spend other people’s money https://t.co/FvCYlKQh12
— Jonathan Capehart (@CapehartJ) September 11, 2016
“Other than destroying every instrument of democracy in his own country, having opposition people killed, dismembering neighbors through military force and being the benefactor of the butcher of Damascus, he’s a good guy. This calculation by Trump unnerves me to my core.” — Sen. Lindsey Graham, quoted by Politico, on Donald Trump’s embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump son shares white supremacist meme on social media https://t.co/jR1aOPZu9t pic.twitter.com/dTdQImuQ3A
— The Hill (@thehill) September 12, 2016
David Atkins at The Washington Monthly says Hillary’s Health Isn’t a “Real Issue in the Campaign”:
The Washington Post is, like many media outlets, a mixed bag. On one hand, they have some seriously great investigative journalists bringing important stories to light. Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman at The Plum Line are national treasures. The editorial page, on the other hand, is a different matter. But worst of all is Chris Cilizza of The Fix, who is the poster child for vapid, process-oriented, horse-race obsessed, campaign pseudo-journalism.
Case in point: today’s reaction to Clinton’s minor medical incident today in New York. It was a very hot day, Clinton was in neck-high shirt over the top of a bulletproof vest, and she had a spell of dizziness. As it turns out, she had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday—an inconvenience for a presidential candidate to be sure, but not really a major story in and of itself.
Conservative media had been noticing that Clinton appeared under the weather recently, most notably due to mild coughing. Whether it’s a simple scratchy throat, or allergies, or a mild cold, or even pneumonia still isn’t very important, and it’s not an issue on which voters should be judging candidates. Health only becomes an issue if there’s a serious chronic condition that might endanger the president’s life or impact their ability to do their job. So far there has been no evidence that Clinton has such a condition. That hasn’t stopped conservative media organizations from speculating that Clinton might be too ill to be president, however. But then, these are the same people who speculate the Barack Obama was born in Kenya, and the mainstream press shouldn’t be feeding the conspiracy trolls.
Hillary Clinton’s feat of strength obliterates months of health conspiracies https://t.co/9ACkgJ5qaO #HillarysHealth
— Shareblue (@ShareblueMedia) September 12, 2016
Chas Danner at New York Magazine’s Daily Intelligencer feature on Trump saying he favors regime change in Iran and will attack them over a rude gesture:
Speaking at a campaign rally in Pensacola, Florida, on Friday night, Donald Trump indicated that, as president, he would attack Iran if their sailors made improper gestures toward the U.S. Navy. After promising to build more ships for the Navy, which has a base in Pensacola, Trump tossed in an aside referencing the recent run-ins that U.S. warships have had with Iranian attack boats in the Persian Gulf. During those encounters, small Iranian speedboats controlled by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which opposes the country’s nuclear deal with the U.S., have harassed U.S. ships in ways the Navy has deemed “unsafe and unprofessional.” Said Trump, to the delight of the crowd, “When [the Iranians] circle our beautiful destroyers with their little boats, and they make gestures at our people that they shouldn’t be allowed to make, they will be shot out of the water.”
Some news reports are framing Trump’s statement about Iran as a matter of him once again going off script and ad-libbing some ill-advised bluster on top of the supposedly softened speeches his campaign has prepared for him. That’s undoubtedly what he did in this case, and maybe it was just intended as some kind of macho nationalistic towel-snap to get a quick “U.S.A.” chant out of the crowd. But while it’s indeed worrisome, if not exactly news, that the apparent body-language expert is unable to follow plans, or scripts, or basic political norms — in this case Trump, a major-party’s presidential candidate, indicated that he would be willing to start an armed conflict with another country, not to defend America’s citizens, interests, or allies — but over injured pride
I'm not sure it's right, but there's an argument to be made that this episode will improve Clinton's image.
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) September 11, 2016
Paul Krugman on Thugs and Kisses:
First of all, let’s get this straight: The Russian Federation of 2016 is not the Soviet Union of 1986. True, it covers most of the same territory and is run by some of the same thugs. But the Marxist ideology is gone, and so is the superpower status. We’re talking about a more or less ordinary corrupt petrostate here, although admittedly a big one that happens to have nukes.
I mention all of this because Donald Trump’s effusive praise for Vladimir Putin — which actually reflects a fairly common sentiment on the right — seems to have confused some people.
On one side, some express puzzlement over the spectacle of right-wingers — the kind of people who used to yell “America, love it or leave it!” — praising a Russian regime. On the other side, a few people on the left are anti-anti-Putinists, denouncing criticism of Mr. Trump’s Putin-love as “red-baiting.” But today’s Russia isn’t Communist, or even leftist; it’s just an authoritarian state, with a cult of personality around its strongman, that showers benefits on an immensely wealthy oligarchy while brutally suppressing opposition and criticism.
And that, of course, is what many on the right admire.
Most people would take a president with lungs half full of fluid over a president whose head is entirely full of crap.
— JeffreyFeldman (@JeffreyFeldman) September 12, 2016
I assume President Obama (and Bush before him and Clinton before that) has had colds in office. Do we usually hear about them?
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) September 11, 2016
Breaking: Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton bravely attends 9/11 memorial at great sacrifice while battling pneumonia.
— Gus Taco Trucks™ (@Gus_802) September 11, 2016
It’s a little upsetting to see that 1/3 of HRC supporters think those things.
If you got all your news from these open threads you’d know that Clinton is crushing this election and cruising a lopsided to victory. Sadly, only .00000000000000000362 % of voters get all their news from this feature.
Damn I hate deciding how to vote with everything in the equation to weigh for some seats. I’m in the 14th
That audio clip of Trump worrying about how he now has the tallest building needs to be turned into a commercial. It shows the pure narcissism, the concern about image before country, that characterizes Trump and everything he stands for.
Peter Beinart, writing in the Atlantic, argues that Trump continues to survive these scandals because what we are seeing is Fear of a Female President.
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/09/criticizing-hillarys-policies-is-good-journalism-but-our-misogynist-media-is-obsessed-with-garbage/
That checks out. Obama was able to overcome the fear of a black prez with his charisma. Clinton will need to overcome a fear of female prez with something else.
The meme I’d pay folding money to abolish is the one about “hard-working Americans.” It’s total bullshit. I’ve worked at one thing or another for 45 years, and the number of Americans who work harder than the minimum necessary to keep their jobs wouldn’t fill a Smart car.
lol. So true. I speak to college students every once in a while and tell them that giving “110%” is nonsense. Most people give 40-45% so if they give 60% they’ll look like superstars.
(…He says while at work.)
I’ve always striven to work among mediocre people so it’s easier for me to stand out.
If Trump supporters were the “hard-working Americans” they like to imagine themselves, their employers wouldn’t have brought in Mexicans to do their jobs.
Off the beaten path but this is an open thread:
Driving past Chris Coons’ house this AM and he has signs in his yard for Carney, Loretta Walsh and Matt Meyer.
Ben Carson wants to see inside Hillary’s brain:
And the rest of us would like to see the same test performed on Dr. Ben.
Re: Hillary’s “basket of deplorables”
She shouldn’t have been so circumspect. It’s not a basket, it’s a toilet bowl, and we call what’s in there “turds.”
Her goose is cooked..
Phew. I was a touch worried until the reverse realty barometer showed up.
LOL – Come on does she have start spewing blood for you to believe she’s ill?
Bring in Bernie …
I tried to post this to one of the DL Endorsement threads, but it wouldn’t open the Post Comment window on the pages I tried:
Having been part of this year’s PDD Endorsement committee, I really think you’ve missed the boat on some of these candidates. I really think some of the readers here, look to Cassandra, Steve and others, to get up to speed on the candidates in the races they haven’t been following, to find out where they should spend a little time to catch up before Tuesday. Having lead a number of Candidate Forums for different organizations this year and working on the Endorsement committee, I personally ended up looking at candidates that I might not have otherwise considered.
Fully aware of how important money and press are in any campaign, for DL to predict without stating in each race you choose to comment on, while not telling the readers whom would be the most likely to best serve the PUBLIC if elected, is doing a disservice to the DL readers. Might a comment of preparedness or competence or consistency with liberal ideals be perceived as overly partisan in many races? Sure, but you’re writing for Delaware Liberal. Liberal-minded Republicans died more than thirty years ago.
Ten or fifteen years ago, when DL was getting off the ground, writings before an election regarding candidates was more focused on consistencies with progressive democratic principles and accepting that all races might not turn out the way the core writers wanted, but did meet (or came closest to) liberal or progressive ideals.
(Here’s my candidate plug.) Not having gotten in the fight this season until I finished my obligation to a number of groups, as always, I went looking for a race I could believe in, where I may be able to help out a little. And, with County government having the reputation it has, trying to find a competent candidate running for County office was the first place I looked. A few candidates and their campaigns had called me about my position on issues and my interest in helping them out, nonetheless I only found one candidate I was interested in helping. Looking at character, competence and a history of commitment to volunteerism towards the people he/she wants to represent, Dave Roberts stood out head and shoulders above the rest.
While he was working as an Administrator for the County, he and I crossed paths a number of times at different County events, but we never really talked. After he announced he was running, a friend asked if I would have lunch with him and I said sure. We briefly talked about running and about our different perspectives of County government and how community activists are perceived by administrators and vice versa. Overall in our conversation, the two issues that were discussed the most were Public Safety and Land Use. He taught me some things about volunteer fire companies and NCC Public Safety and I taught him about civic groups and the UDC (Unified Development Code). Needless to say, it went well because we had been addressing different issues over the course of our lives, but we were both focused on the PEOPLE when we did it.
Back to the point, whether it’s Dave Roberts or Mickey Mouse, your posts should be more focused on; the QUALIFICATIONS THE CANDIDATE brings, DEPTH OF THEIR CHARACTER and their consistencies with PROGRESSIVE IDEALS in his or her race, and less on what public official is sweet on them and how much money they have for their race.
Besides my plug, I’m just asking that you live up a little more to the responsibilities of the name, Delaware Liberal.
And Bill, how does our endorsements of Bryan Townsend, Matt Meyer, Eugene Young, Trini Navarro, Don Peterson, Sean Matthews, and Caitlin Olsen not live up to liberal or progressive ideals? Your criticism of DL here seems to come from one of two places: 1) we endorsed the opponent of the candidate you prefer (whether that be Barney, LBR, KWS, Gordon, Dennis E.and/or P. Williams, Pete Schwartzkopf, Jack Walsh or the host of Mayoral candidates in Wilmington) or 2) we did not endorse anyone in the LG or the County Council President race. I look forward to how you are going to tell me that Matt Meyer or Eugene Young or Bryan Townsend are not progressives, while the wholly corrupt Tom Gordon is.
I categorically reject your implication that our endorsements, which, by the way, were unanimous among all 7 contributors here, were in any way influenced by anything other than our research into the records and platforms of the candidates.
There have been a mix of “who do you think will win” and “QUALIFICATIONS THE CANDIDATE” type posts. Some candidates fall through the cracks. Dave Roberts, for example.
You know what’s “progressive”? Spaces between your paragraphs when you write.
It is a mistake to correlate the races we’ve been following with the races we want to endorse in. Endorsements is a team event — following candidates is not. We also have different endorsement posts vs. prediction posts. We try to be pretty clear-eyed about both, but let’s be clear that as much as we might like the progressive cred of some candidates, they might be in races where they can’t win.
While I’m at it, let’s not pretend that the PDD endorsement questionnaire is a perfect assessment of anyone’s progressive cred. Right?
@ Delaware Dem, I’ve asked a number of times questions about a candidate, that has gone on deaf ears, because the rest of the DL crew, thought I was a troll. Because, I was asking questions about Young, that I could not find.
But, instead of educated or helping, the DL leaders refused to help. Very progressive, if you ask me.