Open Thread – Wall of Hamburgers & How the hell did Carper, Coons and Rochester write this OpEd and not Mention Mitch McConnell?
I’m seriously asking. Mitch McConnell is keeping this shut down alive, but he (somehow) doesn’t exist as far as TC, CC, & LBR are concerned.
Today, our country is in the midst of the longest government shutdown in our history. Any government shutdown puts our economy at risk, jeopardizes our national security and ceases critical government programs on which millions rely.
But what is most unfortunate about this historically long shutdown is that hundreds of thousands of American families, including hundreds in the First State, are going without pay through no fault of their own. These federal workers are collateral damage in a fight that has nothing to do with the important, unrelated jobs that they do for our state and our nation every day.
No single picture sums up the rinky-dink, piece of shit administration better than this one.
These are Chris Coons’ friends in the Senate who are up for election in 2020. Let’s face it – Coons’ vaunted super-power, his solid friendships with his prayer buddies isn’t worth shit.
When did Coons’ friend-making, his famous bridge building EVER result in ANY positive outcome for the country? Someone, please name one.
Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee)Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia)
Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana)
Susan Collins (R-Maine)
John Cornyn (R-Texas)
Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas)
Steve Daines (R-Montana)
Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming)
Joni Ernst (R-Iowa)
Cory Gardner (R-Colorado)
Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina)
Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi)
James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma)
Jon Kyl (R-Arizona)Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky)
David Perdue (R-GA)
Jim Risch (R-Idaho)
Pat Roberts (R-Kansas)Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota)
Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska)
Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska)
Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina
BTW, both Alexander and Roberts have announced their retirements. Kyl is already gone and replaced by the LOSER of the 2018 Arizona senatorial election.
Make America great again, what ironic bullshit!
the worst part in the picture of trump is the poor schlubs who had to go out and buy all that shit
I feel bad for the workers who sold everything they had, then most likely, had to deal with ass hole customers demanding their fat-bombs immediately.
Trump says he paid for it out of pocket. To that I say bullshit. Show the receipts.
maybe me meant the Urban dictionary version of out of pocket. makes as much sense as anything else this sack of shit does.
So, I’m watching the Barr confirmation hearing. After Barr’s remarks, Lindsay Graham starts. His line of questioning…going after Lisa Page and Peter Strzok. Jee-zus.
“I think everyone needs to nut up and get on the same fucking page right now. Like, now is the time. A lot of people, I think, later in their lives figure out too late that there was a moment when they should have made a certain decision. When they should have gone hard for something. And even if that thing was going to fail it was the right thing to do. It was the politically strategic and morally correct thing to do. So I’m doing everyone a favour by telling them that this is this moment. So get your shit together.” –Amber A’Lee Frost, Chapo Trap House… on her latest….
https://thebaffler.com/all-tomorrows-parties/its-bernie-bitch-frost
Some choice nugs from the essay:
“It was true then and it’s true now: Bernie Sanders is the best candidate—the only candidate who can be considered anything even close to socialist, and the one to beat Trump. A President Sanders isn’t some idealist fantasy; he is our best bet by a mile. He has consistently polled as the most popular politician in America since the primaries, and while everyone else has been tweeting (or following up with 23andMe), Bernie pressured Amazon into raising wages, followed up by going after Walmart, condemned Saudi Arabia and sponsored the resolution to end support for the war in Yemen, introduced the No Money Bail Act, committed to a federal job guarantee, campaigned so powerfully for Medicare for All that he shifted the entire Democratic Party, and saved a woman from being hit by a car. Not only is he the best candidate politically (as in, the only social democrat), he has the best chance of giving the “pragmatists” what they say they want: a presidential win.”
……
“Barack Obama was the very last “horoscope candidate”—a politician who managed to speak so vaguely that his platform could mean anything to anyone. It’s not going to work this time around; the Democratic Party is not going to be able trick people into believing that Liz Warren is a social democrat. Ditto Kamala “Cop” Harris, a woman whose duplicitous record as a prosecutor includes the defense of the death penalty, three strikes laws, and the imprisonment of single mothers for the truancy of their children. You really think you can convince anyone that Kamala Harris is a woman of the people? Sherrod Brown has gone all in with Russiagate hysteria (also he signs his tweets). And before you even think of it, don’t bother with Beto, who is to the right of all of the aforementioned and votes to the right of the median Democrat.”
……..
Partisan isn’t a dirty word, it’s nice out here (on the right side of history), and if you keep sitting on that fence, you’re gonna get splinters in your ass. So hop aboard the Bernie train (choo-chooooo)! We got ourselves a winner. It’s Bernie, bitch, and it’s the only game in town.
Not helpful, IMHO.
The truth hurts. Makes people sad/confused. To paraphrase Ms Frost…
Get your shit together and nut up.
Sorry, not on the Bernie train this time. It’s a recipe for internecine warfare that I’d rather not repeat.
Sanders is no more a recipe for internecine stuff than anyone else.
His supporters insist it’s him or nobody, so I disagree.
Again, answer my questions from yesterday or you’re gone.
No one really cares what you’d rather. We backed down the last time.
So warfare is happening. You can either try to win it. Or we can roll over and talk about electability and pragmatism like before.
I’m with Jason. I have people I’d prefer, but no individual is going to settle this; that is, nobody cares what you’d rather, either.
The voters will decide who the candidate is, and none of those voters live in Delaware, so my response is disarmament.
Besides, I’m not enamored of the person. The policy program, yes. Bernie himself, meh. If that boils down to “electability” to you, so be it. Fact remains that he’s doesn’t excite women, blacks or black women, and that’s the constituency that will make or break the Democrats.
I wouldn’t rather anything. I’m up for the fight.
This idea that he doesn’t excite women or POC is a tired trope. It’s not even true. Resentful petty dead-enders just say it because it’s all they have.
He’s not even a Democrat!
He has the best policy positions today. He had the best yesterday. He’s had the best policy positions 40 years ago.
You fuckers are making this far harder than it needs to be. But that fine, because I’m not afraid.
“I wouldn’t rather anything.”
I really don’t think that’s true. It’s pretty obvious you’d rather Bernie.
“This idea that he doesn’t excite women or POC is a tired trope. It’s not even true.”
Bullshit. Put him up against a black candidate head to head and he’d be so far under water only the crabs would eat him.
Enough of this. I’ll back him if he’s the nominee, just as with almost any of the Democrats running. But I’m not going to pretend that it’s Bernie or bust, and I’m not going to fight about it. You sound like you want a fight.
“Sherrod Brown has gone all in with Russiagate hysteria …”
That does show poor judgement.
STFU until you explain yourself. I asked a couple of questions yesterday that you again ignored. Answer them or I’ll kick your ass off of here again.
Guess who just joined MSNBC? Claire Fucking McCaskill. I hope she’s just keep keeping the seat warm for Chris Coons…
@REV: Here’s what you don’t seem to understand — people my age have been here before. In 1976 Democrats rejected all the establishment candidates and picked Jimmy Carter, who entered office without the support of the Democratic establishment. That went so badly it handed the country to “conservatives” for the next 40 years.
That’s why I’m not especially enamored of electing a president who has the support of neither party. Democrats won’t fall in line behind Sanders the way Republicans have for Trump, if only because most of them are too heavily invested in the status quo to back rapid changes to it. Just MHO, but my opinion is based on a lack of loyalty to any white knight and skepticism about a white man’s ability to generate enthusiasm among the Democratic core constituency, which certainly isn’t you and me. It’s women and African-Americans, and the next Democratic nominee is going to do better if she’s one, the other or both.
I literally could not care less about any of that. I don’t fucking care about 1976. Ted Kennedy has been dead a while and Carter supports Bernie.
This is the exact kind of nonsense that got us in the predicament in the first instance. I’m not buying it.
Young people of all strips support Bernie and have no idea what happened at MSG at the ’76 DNC
And that’s why I dismiss what you say. And so will many, many others. You go ahead and piss up your rope. What you say about those who refuse to join you says everything about your niche’s ability to form a coalition. And in American politics, nobody wins without a coalition.
You’re eager to fight. You don’t form coalitions that way. You make enemies that way.
Who cares. You said you’ll just wait and do whatever. You’re ideas amount to I’ll just vote against Trump in November of 2020.
So since you don’t plan on taking a position, stay the fuck out of our way.
For someone who dismisses what I say, you have quite a bit of commentary on it.
“Stay the fuck out of our way.”
See, you’re looking for a fight, and with the wrong people. I see nobody here laying down this kind of hard line except you.
You’re not a looking hard enough.
Also, I suspect we have a different definition of “the wrong people”.
Nut up.
You remember the machinations of ’76, but you haven’t learned the lesson of ’16 which is odd.
Because we have no perspective on it.
Besides, the lesson isn’t “Bernie would have won,” as that’s unknown, no matter how much bluster you can muster.
The lesson was don’t pick your candidate years in advance. We haven’t, so far. My preferences at this point are demographic because we don’t have many particulars to go on.
I trust the people to make this decision without browbeating them on a near-daily basis about how there’s only one choice. Your mileage obviously differs.
Martin O’Malley would’ve won.
Also, this is the internet. It’s for brow beating.
Boomer mentality.
“this is the internet. It’s for brow beating.”
Who told you that, the internet fairy? It’s a turnoff to the unconverted.
the unconverted
Coons must have heard you – just sent out this presser : [Hardball VIDEO] Sen. Coons on the shutdown: “The majority leader is nowhere to be found in these negotiations.”
Excerpts from the interview are below:
……..“If President Trump will re-open the government, I think we could make progress on border security. But, I’ll remind you, the majority leader is nowhere to be found in these negotiations, and I think he bears some real responsibility in helping move forward a resolution to this impasse. I’m hearing from folks up and down my home state of Delaware whether they’re federal law enforcement officers who are serving without pay, who I called and asked about morale and operational effectiveness, to farmers and folks concerned about food safety, about where the Department of Agriculture or the Food and Drug Administration is in terms of protecting our public health or supporting our agriculture community. We’ve got a lot of impacts from the shutdown, and I think Mitch McConnell should step forward and take his responsible role and help negotiate a resolution and get President Trump to re-open the government,” said Senator Coons.
……..Sen. Coons on the shutdown: Well, I’ll also say, Chris, one of the places that Mitch McConnell is absent is in any conversation about how to end the shutdown. We’re in day 24 of a government shutdown. If President Trump will re-open the government, I think we could make progress on border security. But, I’ll remind you, the majority leader is nowhere to be found in these negotiations, and I think he bears some real responsibility in helping move forward a resolution to this impasse. I’m hearing from folks up and down my home state of Delaware whether they’re federal law enforcement officers who are serving without pay, who I called and asked about morale and operational effectiveness, to farmers and folks concerned about food safety, about where the Department of Agriculture or the Food and Drug Administration is in terms of protecting our public health or supporting our agriculture community. We’ve got a lot of impacts from the shutdown, and I think Mitch McConnell should step forward and take his responsible role and help negotiate a resolution and get President Trump to re-open the government.
PROGRESS!
Congrats on your national championship and welcome to the White House, here is a several hours old burger that cost $3.99
yup. nothing better than room temp fast food.
Can someone who follows the mundane details tell me if this is what it looks like or am I missing something?
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/15/gov-john-carney-pitches-60-m-weighted-funding-delaware-schools/2575044002/
Get that dude, Kevin O, on here re: above
Also, let’s get that rumour about Ramone and the pool orgy going again. That was fun.
You can check out his blog, Exceptional Delaware.
Status Report: The unconverted remain put off among other things.
It ain’t just me.
https://www.timesargus.com/opinion/perspective/don-t-run/article_290102b1-d007-5ef3-8342-8c132265f27d.html?fbclid=IwAR1nKZxtpeQf-QeLDmIX4L8hDHcMkuEoQ4Ir_yQbMSsjKZcjTp7T4n_n0kY
Consider the source.
In the Comments section, it is revealed that timesargus is Republican owned.
That they would not want the most popular politician in the country and a self-described socialist running for POTUS is understandable.
All newspapers are Republican owned.
Most Republicans think they can beat Bernie, so your so-called analysis of their thinking is, as usual, horribly flawed.
You people keep mistaking what you want for what other people want.
Yeah, I keep thinking other people want to keep the inland bays from being a runoff culvert for development and deforestation.
A four day a week local broadsheet owned by out-of-state interests. I’m duly impressed.
You’ll have a hard time finding any newspaper that isn’t owned by “out-of-state” interests, if by that you mean corporate interests.
But you go right on ahead browbeating people, and see if it gets you to 20%. I’ll wait.
That’s all you’ll do is wait. That’s clear. I’m not waiting. I’m doing.
(BTW…Four day a week, bruv. Come on.)
Again, DJT is president and you’re worried about hurting people’s feelings via internet “brow beating”.
That’s funny.
You’re passive and afraid. I participate and am not.
I’m not afraid. But I’m certainly not going to get behind a candidate in the primaries, at least not yet. My method is to rule people out, not to get behind someone and push others to do the same.
Mocking my concern as being about “hurting people’s feelings” misrepresents what I’m saying — the people whose feelings you’re hurting are the ones disinclined to vote for Trump.
I’m already a believer in the positions, and I want to see if anyone else in the field adopts them before I commit to an old white guy as the person best positioned to move them forward.
My gut feeling is that some anti-Hillary people have moved on from Bernie, or he’d be polling closer to the 40-some percent he got running against Hillary.
Or, shorter, it’s not just me who’s waiting, and your rush to close the deal makes you seem like a sweaty-palmed salesman. You’re hurting your own cause.
PS: Look up browbeat and tell me how what you’re doing isn’t it.
Here’s the thing. Bernie’s policy plans are widely popular. Approval of Medicare for All polls in the 70% area and $15 minimum wage, forgiveness of student debt & free college is in the 60% bucket. Green New Deal is equally popular.
He’s supported issues like this for 50 years. He didn’t evolve when they became popular or politically expedient.
But we’re chided to pretend certain cohorts don’t like him or he’s “unelectable” for secondary/irrelevant reasons (too old, not even a Democrat, hurt feelings from 2016).
It’s total nonsense on its face. So yeah, I don’t care how it makes certain people feel. Those people need to sit down and do some quiet fucking contemplation and sort out their head.
Donald J Trump is the president of the United States. Somehow there’s something wrong with Bernard? Nah, not playing to the professional consultant class to tell me who’s best. It’s perfectly clear who’s best.
And liberal policies are more popular than conservative ones, yet they never get enacted. You apparently don’t understand American politics.
He’s not running against Trump, and he’s not running against Hillary. He’s running against 20-odd Democrats, and he’s polling at about 15%. Behind Biden, who’s nothing like him. He no longer has the advantage of being the only alternative. Whether you approve of the other alternatives has nothing to do with reality.
Fifteen fucking percent for someone everybody knows. Says it all about your chances here.
There’s a reason I think they never get enacted. (Why they’re always considered “radical” or “too expensive”.) Because conventional wisdom says you have to show your cards first.
Doesn’t mean negotiating & concessions won’t happen. They just won’t happen as part of campaign equivocation.
Bernie will win.
The way to get them enacted is to make clear where each candidate stands on each issue. I don’t think Bernie will be the only one backing many of the issues you cite. But more important will be how each candidate prioritizes that list, because as a rule of thumb a president gets one piece of major legislation enacted per term under a divided Congress.
Then we have to see which issue and approach resonates most with voters. You also have to account for the fact that a sizable number will choose a candidate on emotional factors, which is why Beto is a thing.
Will Bernie win? Maybe, but he faces a much more daunting task this time. In 2016 he just had to be more palatable than Hillary. Now he has to navigate very crowded waters. If he’s nimble enough to do it, he’ll win.
But they do fear him, so they won’t give him a free pass. Why do you think you’re seeing all these attacks about misogynistic staff? It would be interesting to know which other campaign is seeding the media with that stuff. Based on her history, I suspect Gillibrand, who is the only top- or mid-tier candidate I would never vote for.
Bernie “You know there are a lot of white folks out there who are not necessarily racist who felt uncomfortable for the first time in their lives about whether or not they wanted to vote for an African-American.” Sanders will not win. He cares about his causes enough to know that it’s time to pass the torch and invest in leadership that will be around in 10+ years.
In 2015 there were 5 Senate cosponsor and 56 House cosponsors of Bernie’s bill to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour.
Today there are 31 Senate cosponsors and 181 in the House.
Guy just can’t get things done I guess.
…..
As Ben demonstrates, the ill-will toward Bernie is based on personal interpretations of general statements and petty spite and literally nothing to do with the fact that he as a politician and his long standing policy positions are immensely popular.
Bernie will win.
i dont understand why you want him out of the senate and in a position to let everyone down and end his career on a failed note.
If you want Bernie’s policies, the WH is the last place he should be. There is absolutely 0 guarantee the voters of NH will replace him with a progressive.
Ahhh. The classic overthink.
oh? dems are gonna get a super majority in the senate? or are we hoping for another Govern-by-executive-order fiasco?
Please, tell us how a Bernie administration will fix the world.
Bernie is the best candidate for president by miles for the reasons I said. It’s actually not even an argument. I don’t believe he’ll fix the world.
You think Senate Republicans will work better with Beto or Booker? Don’t be a dipshit. They neutralized a corporate centrist Obama. So what. You either back the best candidate or you look stupid trying to make up a story.
Unless you’re just not of the left or a progressive or believe as I believe. But that’s not the argument you are making. You’re making some cultural crystal ball prediction.
As are you.
I’m not predicting anything really. I’m in the present.
Best candidate by far. Best policies. Consistent.
Fighting basically alone for decades
No need to work out who may do what for whom.
You’re being willfully obtuse. It’s fine. I’m onto you.
The voters are in Vermont.
“the ill-will toward Bernie is based on personal interpretations of general statements and petty spite and literally nothing to do with the fact that he as a politician and his long standing policy positions are immensely popular.”
That’s correct, but it means that people aren’t going to change their minds over his positions. They object to him, not the policies. You’ll do much better advocating for every Democrat running to express support for those policies than by tub-thumping for Bernie as the only possible bearer of the message.
In 2016 he was a new face, a rarity as a progressive and the only alternative to Hillary. He’s none of those things now. He deserves all the credit, as you point out, for dragging the party leftward. That doesn’t mean he should be the point man in 2020.
His approval score has not translated into a lead going into the 2020 campaign. He’s got more name recognition than anyone except Biden, but as I pointed out, he’s in the 15% range when polled against the other Democrats. That’s not going to cut it.
“That is correct…”
So that’s your problem — you never read past the first three words.