David Brooks: Ball-Gargler to the Aristocracy
Category Archives: Weasels
Thought for the Day – August 8, 2017
It’s remarkable to consider that there was a time not too long ago when the Grand Old Party was known for being serious, sober, a little boring, but above all, responsible. They were conservative in the traditional sense: wanting to conserve what they thought was good and fearful of rapid change. You might not have agreed with them, but there were limits to the damage they could do. The devolution from that Republican Party to the one we see today took a couple of decades and had many sources, but its fullest expression was reached with the lifting up of Donald J. Trump to the presidency, this contemptible buffoon who may have been literally the single worst prominent American they could have chosen to be their standard-bearer. I mean that seriously. Can you think of a single person who might have run for president who is more ignorant, more impulsive, more vindictive and more generally dangerous than Donald Trump? And yet they rallied around him with near-unanimity, a worried shake of the head to his endless stream of atrocious statements and actions the strongest dissent most of them could muster.
Quote of the Day – April 22, 2017
Foreign emollients = french moisturizers
Foreign emoluments = Chinese payments/benefits going to Trump while he conducts trade negotiations
Sen. Warren questions HUD Secretary nominee Ben Carson at his confirmation hearing
Related: A Trump Empire Built on Inside Connections and $885 Million in Tax Breaks
At the risk of stating the obvious, Trump and his cronies are going to rob this country blind. (Smart money says he gets us into a war or two also.)
Thought for the Evening – December 1, 2016
The Darwin Awards salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who accidentally remove themselves from it…
But what do you call it when someone else’s stupidity removes you from the gene pool. “Gifting a Darwin Award” perhaps?
Who do you vote for?
Richard Nixon or Hugo Chavez?
George H. W. Bush or Lyndon LaRouche?
Did you have to think hard about either of those choices? I hope not.
Running mates
In anticipation of Clinton selecting Tim Kaine as her running mate the NY Times writes “Tim Kaine Seems Likely for Hillary Clinton’s No. 2, but Liberals Balk“. Ya don’t say? Actually, they do, “Clinton Faces Pressure to Pick VP Who Is Tough on Trade, Wall Street“. So much for that. (The Mad Biologist had something to say about this.)
Clinton also comments on Trump’s selection of Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate:
Mrs. Clinton has called Mr. Pence the “most extreme pick in a generation,” highlighting his positions against same-sex marriage and abortion rights and his support for prayer in the schools.
Labor issues? Fiscal policy? Trade policy? Environmental policy? Military adventurism? I guess those don’t rate.
Note to Paul Krugman
Note to Paul Krugman, “We’re comin’ fer ya, motherfucker! [maniacal laughter]”
From The Atlantic:
Sanders had the support of 47 percent of Democratic or Democratic-leaning voters while Clinton had 46 percent—a narrow gap that fell within the poll’s 2.5 percent margin of error. The national survey was conducted in the days before the Vermont senator handily defeated the former secretary of state in the Wisconsin primary, and it tracks other polls in the last week that found Sanders erasing Clinton’s edge across the country. In a poll that PRRI conducted in January, Clinton had a 20-point lead.
Musical accompaniment for Krugman’s column:
Thought for the Day: April 2, 2016
Some people think that the money Clinton accepted from Goldman in speaking fees doesn’t mean that she’s in the tank for Goldman or the financial industry in general. That’s nothing, I can listen to the William Tell Overture and not think of The Lone Ranger.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
The way you build a truly vicious nationalist movement is to wed a relatively small core of belligerent idiots to a much larger group of opportunists and spineless fellow travelers whose primary function is to turn a blind eye to things. We may not have that many outright Nazis in America, but we have plenty of cowards and bootlickers, and once those fleshy dominoes start tumbling into the Trump camp, the game is up.
UPDATE 5/23/2016: And, sure enough, the fleshy dominoes start to fall.