Open Thread – Thursday, September 8, 2016

Open Thread – Thursday, September 8, 2016

Donald Trump suggested that when he seeks the military’s advice on how to defeat the Islamic State “they’d probably be different generals, to be honest with you,” Politico reports. “The comments could make for an awkward introduction between Trump and Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, the current Joint Chiefs chairman, the top adviser to the commander-in-chief. Dunford has a two-year term that ends September 2017 — a position that is normally extended for another two years.” That was just the first of his whoppers last night. He lied about his stances on the Iraq War and Libyan Intervention. He said that allowing women to serve in the military means they will get raped. He praised Putin, said Putin is a strong leader, has an 82% approval rating (which is unusually low for dictators), and says good things about Trump, which is why Trump says good things about Putin. He said our current generals are all trash. He said he has a SECRET plan to fight ISIS, but the trashy generals he wants to fire may have a better plan than his SECRET plan. Oh yes, and he also lied about intelligence briefing by suggesting that his briefers hate Obama and have recommendations about how to defeat ISIS that the President is just not listening to. LOL. First off, intelligence briefers present simple facts, not recommendations. They would not tell Trump, explicitly or otherwise, about their opinions. And if they did, it would be a crime for Trump to tell a television audience. Fortunately for him, he was lying.

Primary Campaign Literature — Tell Us the Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Everyday when I come home, I have a foyer full of campaign literature from candidates and most days I also have pieces that are left on the door. This season also seems to be the one where Delaware candidates really have embraced social media and some of them are doing really well there. All of you are seeing it all -- and plenty I don't-- so tell us what you think. Tell us about the good pieces, the bad pieces and the just plain ugly pieces. Feel free to include scans of what you are looking at.

Nobody knows who the hell is going to win these Dem primaries?

The cool thing about being a contributor here is that there are times when you don't have much to contribute,and that's...okay. Commenters take up the slack. Like now for instance. I have no bloody clue who is going to win these Dem primaries for Lt. Gov and US House a mere 7 days from now. No. Bloody. Clue. But USUALLY there are people who know stuff and they put that stuff in the comments section. Their information is, at time, tinged with wishful thinking, but often time it isn't. It is the straight dope. Not this time though. Nobody has any convincing info at all. It is all idle conjecture.

It isn’t your browser…

It is DL setting/code hacked or somehow gone wacky. Likely suspects include Tom Gordon, Mayor Williams, Puck, Anonymous, the crying Indian from those old ads, Collin Kapernick, The NRA, Putin, and PIZZA HUT's® NEW BACON STUFFED CRUST PIZZA WITH NEW APPLEWOOD SMOKED BACON

Open Thread – Wednesday, September 7, 2016

We have a massive polling dump that dramatically changes our map. Come inside to see. And we also have the New York Times getting off its fat Clinton hating Trump fellating ass and publishing this:
“In the 1980s, Mr. Trump was compelled to testify under oath before New York State officials after he directed tens of thousands of dollars to the president of the New York City Council through myriad subsidiary companies to evade contribution limits. In the 1990s, the Federal Election Commission fined Mr. Trump for exceeding the annual limit on campaign contributions by $47,050, the largest violation in a single year. And in 2000, the New York State lobbying commission imposed a $250,000 fine for Mr. Trump’s failing to disclose the full extent of his lobbying of state legislators.”
So if you want to talk an expert in pay to play politics, talk to Donald Trump. And by the way, the whole Trump Foundation-Pam Bondi thing in Florida is not pay to play. It is actual bribery. Pay to play is donating money for access. What Trump did was donate money for action. A specific action: the dropping of Florida's fraud complaint against Trump University. And the same thing happened in Texas. If Hillary had done this, the media would be calling for her assassination.
Open Thread – Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Open Thread – Tuesday, September 6, 2016

“Donald Trump has run head-first into an electoral wall,” Politico reports. “In poll after poll, Trump isn’t even close to winning a majority of the vote. While he’s narrowed the gap between his campaign and Hillary Clinton in recent weeks, in the past 21 national polls conducted using conventional phone or internet methodologies over the last five weeks, Trump’s high-water mark in a head-to-head matchup with Clinton is 45 percent.” NATIONAL--PRESIDENT--CNN/ORC--Trump 45, Clinton 43 NATIONAL--PRESIDENT--NBC News/SM--Clinton 48, Trump 42 One of these polls is wrong. It is likely the CNN poll, not because I am biased, but it is their first since switching to their likely voter screen for this year, and sometimes that produces screwy results. But it will get TONS of play this week. Trump is now winning the race. And I actually don't mind it. It will do three things: 1) wake up the Clinton campaign, 2) wake up the media to get off their three week Clinton bashing and 3) wake up Clinton supporters and liberals.

Baumbach excoriated Barney

State Representative Baumbach lays the smackdown on the empty promises of Sean Barney:
There are six Democratic candidates working to be our next Representative in Congress. (In full disclosure, I have endorsed one of them, [state] Sen. Bryan Townsend, with whom I have served in the General Assembly since 2012.) A mailer from Sean Barney, one of the three leading candidates, proposes a plan to boost annual Social Security benefits by $11,669 a year. Does that seem too good to be true? Of course it is! This promise is irresponsible. As Mary Poppins said, it is a “pie crust promise, easily made, easily broken.” A second of his mailers notes that the other two leading candidates don’t support this plan. Of course they don’t — it is absurd! Almost 40 million Americans receive Social Security retirement benefits. The increase being promised would cost $460 billion annually. A newly elected freshman congressman from Delaware, amongst 434 colleagues (over 55 percent of them Republicans), plans to add $460 billion annually to the program? I find it hard to envision an emptier campaign promise. Taking advantage of senior citizens, offering them a 100-percent false hope, just to get more votes, is the sign of a very desperate candidate, and one that should not be elected.
Delaware United Rocks!

Delaware United Rocks!

Remember how the supporters of Howard Dean applied their grassroots skills to great effect after Dean's candidacy faded?  In Delaware, many of these supporters became part of the Delaware grassroots and remain progressive stalwarts to this day. Bernie Sanders supporters have taken the same approach in Delaware, and are working very hard on at least three campaigns near and dear to Delaware Liberal:  Bryan Townsend for Congress, Eugene Young for Mayor, and Matt Meyer for NCC Executive. Those supporters have joined together to create Delaware United, and they are awesome! Here's how they describe themselves:
We are a proactive group of Delaware voters from various backgrounds, all united to change the course of Delaware local politics.
They're also real cool.  They're hard-working volunteers, but they're also lots of fun.  Reminds me of what I love the most about grassroots politics.