Category: Presidential Campaign

Another Reason to Find Tim Kaine as VP Nominee Repugnant

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In addition to his support for requiring children to tell their rapist about their abortions (parental notification laws) , and his dubious record on labor (big supporter of “right to work” laws), and his ignoring his “heartfelt” opposition to the death penalty when it was politically expedient (allowed a mentally retarded black man to be executed), there is the fact that as soon as he became head of the DNC, succeeding Howard Dean, he completely dismantled the 50 state strategy that gave Democrats control of the House and Senate: (Yes, I know that this is an old article)

Barack Obama campaigned for President on the message of Change. Many changes were necessary amidst the failed policies of the Bush White House. The country was going in the wrong direction and we were in a major economic collapse. As President Barack Obama has made many changes, most for the good. One, however, was bad. He replaced Gov. Howard Dean as Chair of the DNC and appointed Tim Kaine who immediately dismissed the 183 DNC field organizers and terminated the 50 State Strategy. That concept is failing and, as a consequence, Democrats are suddenly losing elections. For four years under Howard Dean the Democratic National Committee funded a 50 state strategy which paid for DNC field organizers on the ground in every state. These organizers built local and county organizations which assisted candidates at every level. What happened and how do Democrats turn things around?

The conventional wisdom is that Hillary Clinton’s selection of Kaine as her running mate was savvy, but the more I hear about him, the more he reveals himself to be a f%$#ing horror show.

I am so glad that I don’t live in a swing state, so I can not vote for the Democratic Presidential ticket without feeling guilty.

My First Reaction was to Invoke the Wizard of Oz

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Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead

Debbie Wasserman Schultz has resigned as head of the DNC:

The Democratic National Committee chairwoman resigned under fire Sunday, on the eve of a national convention meant to project competence and unity in contrast to the turbulence of the Republicans’ gathering last week.

The disarray threatened to upend Hillary Clinton’s plan to paint the Democrats as the party best prepared to lead a divided and anxious country and herself as the leader who can offer an optimistic alternative to Republican Donald Trump.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida was forced aside by the release of thousands of embarrassing emails among party officials that appeared to show co­ordinated efforts to help Clinton at the expense of her rivals in the Democratic primaries. That contradicted claims by the party and the Clinton campaign that the process was open and fair for her leading challenger, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

The news that the DNC was in the tank for Hillary is not really news, but the fact that we now have incontrovertible proof of it was unexpected.

She’s landed on her feet though, as the Clinton campaign has announced that she, “Will serve as honorary chair of her campaign’s 50-state program to help elect Democrats around the country.”

One thing that we can be certain of now is that DWS will never be the Speaker of the House.

I rather hope that this makes it more likely that Tim Canova defeats her in the primary.

Hoo Boy!

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Wikileaks has released thousands of internal Democratic National Committee emails, revealing that the organization was aggressively in the tank for Hillary Clinton. (Big surprise, though it is a violation of its organization charter)
These included discussions of using Sanders religion against him, which kind of surprised me, because it’s “our side” that is doing it:

As Hillary Clinton prepared to announce her 2016 running mate, a trove of nearly 20,000 emails were released by WikiLeaks on Friday, providing an embarrassing inside look at Democratic Party operations on the eve of the Democrats’ national convention.

The emails from the Democratic National Committee include discussions of Clinton’s chief rival for the presidential nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.); details of perks provided to party donors attending the convention; and email exchanges between party officials, journalists and others.

The emails were released with an announcement by WikiLeaks on Twitter that linked readers to a WikiLeaks page inviting visitors to “Search the DNC email database.” A search box sits underneath a one-paragraph introduction:

………

Friday’s digital document dump follows a report last month by The Washington Post that Russian government hackers penetrated the computer network of the Democratic National Committee, gaining access to an entire database of opposition research. DNC and Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment Friday as reporters and campaign staff began to assess the situation.


One email written May 5 to DNC communications director Luis Miranda from another party official suggests looking at Bernie Sanders’ faith.

“It might may [sic] no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief,” the email from “marshall@dnc.org” says. “Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist.”

At the very least the author of the letter, DNC CFO Brad Marshall, the author of this email, should be fired, but I do not expect this to happen, since he is clearly a FoH. (Friend of Hillary)

Of further interest is that the emails contain information that Hillary Clinton’s “Fund Raising” for the state party was actually laundered back into her campaign:

………

Other emails show DNC staff in damage control over allegations from the Sanders campaign, when a report—corroborated by a Politico—revealed the DNC’s joint fundraising committee with the Clinton campaign was laundering money to the Clinton campaign instead of fundraising for down-ticket Democrats.………

Between this and the choice of the pro-TPP, pro-abstinence education, pro-parental notification laws Tim Kaine as her VP pick, I think that a lot of the folks from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party are, to quote the Dixie Chicks, “Not ready to make nice.”

Kaine? Seriously?

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Hillary’s choice of Tim Kaine as her running mate has confirmed that her opposition to the TPP was pure puffery.

Kaine is one of the staunchest supporters of the TPP in the Senate.

No big surprise actually.

In addition to everything else, it serves as some hippie punching which is so favored by the Democratic establishment.

I am so glad that I live in Maryland, where my Presidential vote does not matter.

The Oracle of Delphi Has Nothing on The Onion

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The Onion:  Nostra-Dumb-Ass

In November 2012, The Onion suggested that a Shrieking White-Hot Sphere Of Pure Rage would be the favored Republican nominee in 2016:

Sources say the screaming orb might be the only potential candidate that would tap into Republicans’ deep-seated, seething fury after this election.

Look at the video.  The Shrieking White-Hot Sphere Of Pure Rage is indistinguishable from Donald Trump.

The Onion is not staffed by comedians, it is staffed by psychics.

Mostly, I’m Posting this to Screw with My Son

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Seriously?

I just had to share the spectacle of the communications director for the Repuclican National Committee invoking Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony to excuse apparrent plagiarism by Melania Trump last night:

A Republican National Committee spokesman used a popular children’s toy franchise on Tuesday to defend Donald Trump’s speechwriters against allegations that they plagiarized portions of Melania Trump’s speech at the GOP convention.

 “When it comes to the speech, let’s actually put this in perspective,” RNC communications director Sean Spicer told CNN Tuesday afternoon. “In a 2,000-word statement, we’re talking about 70 words [and] three passages. Melania Trump said, ‘you work hard for what you get in life.’ John Legend said, ‘work hard to be anything you want in life.’ Kid Rock said, ‘work hard to be anything you want in life.'”

 Spicer continued, “Melania Trump said, ‘the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.’ Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony said, ‘this is your dream. Anything you can do in your dreams, you can do now.‘”

My son is a a proud Brony, and when I told him, he smacked his head ……… Hard.

I told him that it just shows how universal the My Little Pony franchise is.

His response was to tell me to go Cheney myself.

Trumpster Fire*

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Spotted at the #RNCinCLE. I’m told it’s being replaced for obvious reasons. pic.twitter.com/SVayl1zGCd

— Byron Tau (@ByronTau) July 16, 2016

OOPS!


And his new logo.


As re-imagined by Samantha Bee


And a new slant on the image

At the RNC, which I am not watching because I value my sanity, they had color coded elevators to help convention goers find their way around, with rather unfortunate results:

This year’s RNC may be a grand old segregated party.

 Republican National Convention organizers are scrambling to replace signs labeling a bank of elevators the “white elevators.”

 ………

 Byron Tau, a Wall Street Journal reporter who first spotted the signs, said RNC staffers were replacing them “for obvious reasons.”

 It’s unclear who vetted the signs or why they were hung in the first place. Neither RNC organizers nor Trump’s campaign immediately responded to the Daily News’ request for further comment.

And then there is his new logo, and the various permutations therein.

This really is a complete clusterf%$#..

*Not my bon mot.  It comes from BS at the Stellar Parthenon BBS.

And the Former Walmart Board Member Goes Back to F%$#ing the American Worker

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Hillary just promised to preserve the H1B Visa in all its corrupt wage depressing glory:

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton vowed on Thursday to uphold the high-skill visas prized by the tech industry as part of comprehensive immigration reform, clarifying media reports that suggested her position on immigration policy would make it harder for Silicon Valley companies to hire talented workers.

“Part of what we have to be strong in standing for is a credible path forward for reform that is truly comprehensive, addressing all aspects of the system. Including immigrants living here today, those who wish to come in the days ahead. From highly skilled workers to family members. To those seeking refuge from violence wherever that might occur,” Clinton said, speaking to a room full of Latino activists during a speech at the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) conference luncheon.

“To families this is an issue that matters more than we can measure. There’s nothing I take more seriously.”

The tech industry has been a major supporter of immigration reform in general, but particularly favors the high-skill or H-1B visa program, which allows companies to hire immigrants to fill technical positions.

The H-1B system is supposed to allow companies to employ foreigners who have unique skills not available in the us.

In truth, it allows the importation of cheap slave labor.

H/t ECop at the Stellar Parthenon BBS.

This Has Fail Written All over It

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It appears that the brain dead ammosexuals in Ohio have written laws in such a way that protesters at the Republican convention will have the right to open carry firearms:

Cleveland officials said Wednesday that they will uphold the right of protesters at the Republican National Convention to carry firearms even as they expressed opposition to the state’s open carry laws.

Speaking to reporters in advance of the Republican National Convention next week, both Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson and police Chief Calvin Williams they were bound by the state’s laws allowing people to carry guns even if they disagreed with them.

………

“It’s the law in this state. As police chief, I’m bound to uphold the law in this state,” he added.

………

Cleveland has banned a wide array of items inside a broad zone in downtown Cleveland around the convention site, including water guns, toy guns, knives, aerosol cans, rope, tennis balls and others. But because of Ohio’s open carry laws, protesters who legally own a firearm will be allowed to carry it near the convention center.

For their next trick, Ohio Republicans are going to gargle with Plutonium, or French kiss cobras, or some other damn fool bit of lunacy.

This will not end well.

H/t Talking Points Memo.

Oh Crap

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One of GM’s suppliers just went chapter 11, and it has the potential to shut down automobile assembly across General Motors:

A Massachusetts supplier that filed for bankruptcy protection last week could disrupt production at nearly every General Motors North American plant in coming days, according to documents filed in bankruptcy court.

Clark-Cutler-McDermott, based in Franklin, Mass., supplies acoustic insulation and interior trim products for automobiles, textiles and other transportation manufacturers. But GM is its largest customer and Clark-Cutler-McDermott is losing more than $30,000 a day — and more than $12 million since 2013 — partly because what GM pays for those components “usually decreases annually,” CEO James McDermott stated in a court filing.

But GM has no other supplier for the parts CCM provided and any interruption in delivery of those parts would cost the automaker “millions of dollars per day per plant,” GM said in another filing.

GM obtained a restraining order last month compelling CCM to continue supplying those items specified in its purchase orders with GM. But that order expired July 1. CCM filed for protection under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy law on July 7.

………

In a separate dispute, CCM wants to use $1.9 million of cash it held when it filed for bankruptcy to pay its workers. GM contends it provided most of that cash as part of its temporary restraining order.

GM doesn’t object to CCM paying workers for what was produced before the bankruptcy filing, but it does not want its cash used to pay workers if they aren’t making GM’s parts.

This could get very messy very quickly.

A lot of plants are retooling for the new model year right now, but if they lack the parts to reopen, we are going to see some major issues with the economy just as the presidential election ramps up, particularly in the Midwest.

Quote of the Day

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Clinton will probably get through this, but if she has any plans to shoot people on major thoroughfares or conduct human sacrifices in honor of the goddess of time and death, she’d be wise to put them on hold.

—Eirc Zorn explaining how he’s willing to cut Hillary Clinton a lot of slack because she is not Donald Trump.

Daym! They Just Made Donald Trump Look Classy

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A group called Tramps Against Trump will send you nude selfies for voting against Trump:

While lots of women have shown their opposition to the billionaire in a range of ways, one group is taking a particularly unique approach. They’re called Tramps Against Trump, and if you vote for anyone but Donald Trump, they will send you a nude photo.

I need to talk to NASA.  I have to leave this world.

The Internal Polls Must be Fascinating

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I don’t know what the Hillary Clinton campaign is seeing in their polls, but one of her PACs is dumping 10½ million dollars into Pennsylvania.

The Republicans haven’t won a Presidential election in Pennsylvania since 1988.

Obviously, it is illegal for an independent PAC to coordinate, this has no relation to what the Clinton campaign is thinking (and according to Gilbert and Sullivan, married men never flirt).

If you believe that, then I have some swamp land in Florida you might be interested in purchasing.

One can look at this as the Clinton campaign taking nothing for granted, (glass half full) but if the past is precis, and panic mode does seem to be how the Clinton campaign operates, so I am inclined to see this glass as half empty.

Yeah, This is Going to Bring the Party Together

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I understand that in US politics party platforms don’t count for much.

Still, the fact Clinton and DNC members of the platform committee have voted against a meaningful increase to the minimum wage, and for fracking and the TPP promises to make the Democratic convention a mess:

The battle over the official Democratic Party platform began in earnest this Friday at a nine-hour meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, and already the sparks of tension seem to be outweighing the calls for “unity.”

The Democratic Party’s platform is an official statement of values on a wide range of issues, and while it is officially non-binding, the platform serves as a crucial guidepost for the entire party. The 2016 platform committee comprises fifteen members, with five members chosen by Bernie Sanders, six chosen by Hillary Clinton, and four chosen by Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Bernie Sanders himself had conflicting feelings about the progress and concessions made on Friday, releasing a statement on his website that said he was “pleased” with certain aspects but was “disappointed and dismayed” at other decisions, particularly those regarding trade.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), a Sanders representative on the committee, attempted to insert language into the platform that stated Democrats would not hold a vote on the widely derided Trans-Pacific Partnership deal in order to effectively end the plan’s prospects, but the committee rejected Ellison’s proposal so as to avoid indirectly criticizing President Obama on the issue, despite both Sanders and Clinton being against the deal.

………

The Democrats also voted to include the $15 minimum wage into the platform, even calling the current rate of $7.25 a “starvation wage.” However, there arose some confusion over this particular issue among progressive critics, as two further amendments introduced by Ellison that would have indexed the minimum wage to inflation, making it a truly “livable wage,” were voted down.

………

Bill McKibben, a Sanders appointee to the committee and prominent environmentalist who co-founded 350.org, attempted to insert language on both a carbon tax and a national moratorium on fracking, but both proposals were rejected in perhaps the most disappointing move of the proceedings.

………

The committee also rejected a single-payer Medicare-for-All plan in a decisive blow to one of Sanders’ key domestic policies. Hillary Clinton has stated in this election cycle that single-payer healthcare will “never, ever come to pass” despite supporting universal healthcare for most of her career. According to a Gallup poll conducted in May, 58% of Americans support a federally funded healthcare option. Only 48% of those polled wished to continue the Affordable Care Act.

Progressives and Sanders supporters vocalized their frustrations with what they saw as continued obstinance in the face of wide support for these programs and ideas. “What was passed was a solidly neoliberal platform — 90% of what we wanted is not getting in,” said Caleb-Michael Files, the digital strategist for People for Bernie Sanders.

………

Sanders has repeatedly stressed since the end of the campaign season that his endorsement of Clinton would depend on her platform and how closely her goals aligned with his own campaign’s. Sanders remained defiant in the closing of his statement on the platform, vowing to continue to fight for the issues as the platform continues to be debated in the coming weeks:

“If our pro-worker amendments do not carry in St. Louis we will reintroduce them before the full platform committee in Orlando, Florida. If we do not win in Orlando we can carry them to the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Our job is to pass the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party.”

This is not a surprise.  Neither Clinton nor Wasserman-Schultz feel the slightest need to make nice with the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.

Their goal is to assert control, and this might very well throw the election to the short fingered vulgarian.

Report: Prominent NeoCon Robert Kagan To Headline Fundraiser For Clinton

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Robert Kagan, the Neocon who has was a major force for invading Iraq (and has supported pretty much every single misbegotten use of force by the Pentagon since Pershing was on active duty), is fundraising for Hillary Clinton:

A prominent neoconservative intellectual and early promoter of the Iraq War is headlining an official campaign fundraiser for Hillary Clinton next month, Foreign Policy has learned. The move signals a shift in the Clinton campaign’s willingness to associate with prominent Republicans and is the latest sign of how far some GOP defectors are willing to go to block a Donald Trump presidency.

Robert Kagan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a co-founder of the Project for the New American Century, will speak at a Hillary for America fundraiser in Washington’s Logan Circle neighborhood on July 21. According to an invite obtained by FP, the “event will include an off-the-record conversation on America’s continued investment in NATO, key European allies and partners, and the EU.”

………

On Wednesday, Clinton picked up the endorsement of Republican Brent Scowcroft, who served as a national security adviser to Presidents George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford, and held formal or advisory positions in the administrations of former Presidents Richard Nixon and George W. Bush.

………

But while Scowcroft hails from the GOP’s realist school of thought, a less-interventionist worldview that some liberals subscribe to, Kagan remains firmly in the neoconservative wing — an ideology centered around the use of military force, the forcible removal of dictators, and the importance of spreading democracy around the world.

The American people are in for a positively hideous next 4 years, with a choice between a life support system for a hair weave, and Attila the Hun.

Lovely.

H/t Talking Points Memo.

This Business Will Get out of Control. It Will Get out of Control and We’ll Be Lucky to Live through It

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And we have the first attempted assassination of a Presidential candidate of the season, by one Michael Steven Sandford, a British National:

A Briton who tried to grab a police officer’s gun at a Donald Trump rally in Las Vegas said he wanted to shoot the US candidate, court papers say.

 Michael Steven Sandford, 20, did not enter a plea when he appeared before a judge in Nevada and was remanded in custody until a hearing on 5 July.

 He is charged with an act of violence in a restricted area.

 He had reportedly tried to seize the gun after saying he wanted Mr Trump’s autograph at Saturday’s rally.

 He said he had been planning to try to shoot Mr Trump for about a year but had decided to act now because he finally felt confident enough to do so, court papers say.

I’m sure that the bloke from Dorking (Seriously, he is from Dorking, Surrey) won’t be the last one this campaign season.

This is nuts.