Bozeman Beatdown
As I write this, today's Montana special House election results have not started coming in yet. Which means some of what I have to say is may be outdated by the time you read it. Such are the risks of this sort of timing. But I did want to point it out up front, just in case anything I write causes belly laughs later on. Consider yourselves duly warned.
Today is the second of four special elections for the House of Representatives caused by Donald Trump naming House members to administration positions. The first was in Kansas, where the Democrat lost (but by a much closer margin than anyone expected). We've been through the first round of voting in another of these special elections, down in Georgia. More on that in a moment. The final race is in South Carolina, and is considered the longest longshot of the bunch for Democrats to pick up (all four of these were Republican-held seats). Today, Montanans go to the polls to elect their one at-large House member.
Before yesterday, the race was seen as close, but leaning Republican. Two rather colorful characters were in the running, Republican Greg Gianforte and Democrat Rob Quist. Gianforte had previously run (and lost) a governor's race, but both men are outsiders to the political world, having never held public office.
Polling is pretty sparse, but it looked like Gianforte had roughly a 5-to-7 point lead heading into the homestretch. Quist, however, had been gaining ground, so perhaps polls hadn't captured a late-breaking wave in his direction. Professionals from both parties essentially considered the race too close to accurately call.
That was before yesterday. But before we get to the Bozeman beatdown, a few general points are worth making. Special House elections generate an outsized interest within Washington, mostly because they are the only game in town between the normal two-year congressional election cycles. Political reporters are hungry for indications of what the electorate out there is "really thinking," and as such are often prone to reading far too much into the results. Every special election is of "national importance," according to the political chattering class. But the reality of the situation is that it's kind of like a professional baseball reporter covering the Little League championship -- and then making a prediction of who will win the next World Series based on the result. This is not reading the tea leaves so much as looking at one soggy leaf at the bottom of the cup and immediately drawing sweeping conclusions. Such is the nature of special election coverage.
In special elections, the advantage when creating sweeping conclusions about the mood of the electorate is almost always held by the underdog party. Whichever party is attempting to flip a House seat always has the edge when it comes to the spin afterward. If the challenger loses, then: "It's no big deal, after all it's a red/blue district that we really didn't think was possible to pick up." If the challenger comes closer than expected, then: "Look at the excitement on our side -- in closer districts than this one, this will surely mean a whole lot of pickups in next year's midterms!" If the challenger actually pulls off an upset, then: "We've got the wind at our back, and a big wave election is coming in the midterms to give us back control of the House... and maybe the Senate!" It's easy to play this game for the underdogs, as you can see. The only time the party who holds the seat gets to crow is if they absolutely crush the underdog candidate in a landslide.
This time around, the Democrats are obviously the underdogs. We've had one Republican win (in Kansas) so far, in a race that was much closer than expected. The Democrats will have their best shot next month, when Georgia holds a runoff between the two top candidates in their primary (which the Democrat almost won outright -- he got within two percent of a clear majority of the vote in the primary). The South Carolina election, though, is probably out of reach for Democrats. Which left the Montana race.
Montana is a lot more purple of a state than most people realize. It's had Democratic governors and senators over the past few years, but it also went for Donald Trump by over 20 points. Indeed, Montana has voted Republican for president since it went for Bill Clinton in 1992. However, the results here will be interesting for one reason, and that is that Montana is one of those states with so few residents that it only has one House member. Meaning the election is statewide. Unlike the other three races, this district cannot be considered gerrymandered in any way, because it is the entire state.
The Republicans put up a businessman, and the Democrats put up a musician. Scant attention was paid to the race by the Democratic Party early on, because they considered their candidate too unconventional to have a decent shot. Quist was an early supporter of Bernie Sanders, though, and Sanders just made a Montana campaign trip on Quist's behalf. As the polling looked better, the national party finally did invest some money in the race, but if Quist loses there will be charges that they waited too long before jumping in to be effective. The Montana race was dwarfed (in campaign spending by the national parties) by the Georgia race, which is shaping up to be the most expensive House race in all of U.S. history. Gianforte had already narrowly lost a statewide race for governor, so it was always possible for Democrats to beat him.
What wasn't always considered possible was for Gianforte to physically beat a reporter, though.
Yesterday, a Guardian reporter tried to ask Gianforte what he thought of the new C.B.O. score of the Republican healthcare reform bill. Gianforte then reportedly grabbed the guy by the throat, bodyslammed him to the ground, and began punching him. The reporter points this out on his audio recording of the event, as well as the fact that Gianforte had broken his glasses. This version of events was corroborated by none other than (are you sitting down?) -- Fox News journalists -- not exactly the "liberal media." The Bozeman beatdown immediately became breaking national news, and Gianforte was cited for assault and battery.
Nobody, at this point, has any idea what this will mean when the votes are counted a few hours from now. Montana, like many Western states, has expanded mail-in and early voting so much that over half of the ballots are regularly cast before Election Day dawns. If over sixty percent of the votes have already been cast, then any last-minute breaking news is going to have a smaller impact. While some states do allow people to change their votes (by showing up in-person at the polls, which supersedes their previous vote), Montana is not one of those states. However, Montana does have same-day registration, meaning people who had no intention of voting before they heard about the beatdown could conceivably show up, register, and cast a vote. Even if there weren't all the early voting, though, the beatdown happened so close to the election (one day) that many voters might not have even heard about it until after casting their ballot. A good rule of thumb is that any scandalous late-breaking news in an election needs to happen roughly three days or more before the election to really sink in among the electorate. So, like I said, it's anybody's guess what it will all mean later tonight.
If Gianforte manages a win, it won't change the spin value much for Democrats. Republicans have so far been mostly reluctant to denounce Gianforte, but after he wins they may feel more free to condemn his actions. That's about the only change. Democrats will make some use out of: "In the Trump Era, this is the type of Republican we've been warning you about," but it probably won't have much impact beyond Montana.
But if Quist pulls off an upset, it will actually lessen the Democratic spin advantage. Think about it -- if the beatdown hadn't happened, Quist's victory would have been hailed as the tip of the wave that was going to sweep Paul Ryan from his speakership. But since it did happen, Republicans can now retreat to: "Well, the guy was obviously just a hothead who torpedoed his own chance, so it doesn't say anything about the state of the electorate at all." They now have a built-in excuse, in other words.
It may seem overly wonky to examine the spin special House elections give birth to, but I would disagree. When such a political narrative gains momentum, it does indeed have a real-world impact. This will now take a victory for Democrats in Georgia to accomplish, though (this is entirely possible, as the latest polling put the Democrat up by seven points). If Democrats manage to take both the Montana and Georgia races, their "a wave election is coming" narrative will triumphantly emerge from the fray. The real-world consequences of this political framing might immediately be seen in the Republican House caucus, because it will send a real wave of fear rippling through Republicans who represent swing districts. They will see the immediate impacts of supporting Trump and of voting for Paul Ryan's healthcare bill, and they will start worrying about their own re-election prospects. This is the biggest possible motivating factor on Capitol Hill -- the fear of losing your job -- and it might give a lot more power to the Republicans' "Tuesday Group" moderates (over the "Freedom Caucus" Tea Partiers). This could have all sorts of consequences for the upcoming fights over raising the debt ceiling, next year's budget, and tax reform. Two high-profile losses might shift the entire Republican House back towards the center, in other words. Which is why watching the spin is worthwhile.
The Montana special election already had an air of the bizarre about it, complete with attacks against the Democrat because the band he played in did gigs at a nudist resort. The Bozeman beatdown has certainly kicked the bizarreness up a notch, to put it mildly. Anything could happen, at this point. So many early votes have been cast that Gianforte might actually manage a win. Even if Quist pulls off an upset, though, the Democrats are likely going to have to wait and see what happens in Georgia before their "a wave is coming" storyline will gain much traction.
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
it looks like a dead heat with about a sixth of the returns in, and libertarian mark wicks is doing better than 5%
Nate Silver just posted a fun little link for anyone wanting to see what the betting markets are thinking about this special election.
So, at the first turn, Gianforte seems to be in favor with the behavioral addiction contingent.
Anybody got a good election results site?
CNN's isn't that great, and the MT sec of state one seems to be lagging...
don't think WashPost is doing one, and HuffPost one was having problems on my browser...
Anyone?
-CW
Quist was up by almost 2%, but (CNN) with 44% of vote in, he's up only 0.2%.
Could be a late night, folks...
-CW
@cw,
decision desk hq is pretty up to the minute
Might as well also add a link to Nate Silver's live blog of the Montana Special Election, which I'm following tonight.
Latest report: Quist is running behind Gov. Bullock's 2016 numbers (he won by 4 points) and ahead of the Democratic Congressional candidate from 2016 (who lost by 15)..
But it's still mostly early votes, even with 33% in.
While we're waiting...
Previous comment's URL:
http://www.chrisweigant.com/2017/05/25/bozeman-beatdown/#comment-101050
note that last bit -- we are officially over 100,000 comments for the site. Was going to make a note of it when it happened, but it kind of snuck by me.
Anyway, on to the next 100K!
:-)
-CW
nypoet22 -
Got a link?
-CW
Gianforte pulls into lead by 0.4%, with 45% in...
-CW
as requested:
https://decisiondeskhq.com/results/montana-at-large-congressional-election/
Nate Silver is saying that his numbers are showing Gianforte's lead in the high single digits (5-9 points). If that holds, he says, it would be a 'moral victory' for Democrats. Of Republicans, on the other hand, he writes:
"We’re barely more than four months out from Trump taking office and they’re “only” winning places where he won by 20+ points by mid-single digits. They have every right to spin the results as they see fit. But if they aren’t a bit worried behind the scenes, I don’t think they’re doing themselves any favors."
Thanks for the DDHQ link -- only one with workable map I've seen tonight.
thanks!
-CW
if 70% of the votes were cast before GG choke-slammed a reporter, how big a difference, if any, did it make? maybe voters secretly thought assaulting a reporter was a good thing...
no prob, CW. happy to help.
Another interesting nugget from Silver:
Nate Silver 11:47 PM
Even relative to 2016 results — which already featured a big urban/rural divide — we’re seeing one tonight. In Montana’s most populous counties, Quist is running only about 3 or 4 points behind the benchmarks he’d need to win (although, Yellowstone is a big exception to that so far). But in the smaller, more rural ones, he’s running maybe 12 points behind his benchmarks.
Decision Desk HQ
?
@DecisionDeskHQ
We project that Greg Gianforte has won the #MTAL special election. #MTAL https://decisiondeskhq.com/results/montana-at-large-congressional-election/ …
11:57 PM - 25 May 2017
Twitter poster at DDHQ:
The second time he beat somebody this week.
heh.
After steadily losing ground for a while, Quist seems to be (slightly) catching up. Got a long way to go, though, still down by 15K votes.
-CW
Well, that was fun. I'll leave you with this on-point tweet, highlighted at fivethirtyeight:
Paul Kane
@pkcapitol
If results stay on this arc, wake-up call for Dems & activists to recruit serious, sober, quality candidates. Not quirky personalities.
11:46 PM - 25 May 2017
OK, 538 called it too. None of the major networks yet, but they're probably just being overly cautious...
Onward to GA...
-CW
Balthasar -
Amen to that. And then have the DNC actually support them, of course. That bit's important too...
-CW
I feel for ya'all.. :D Ya'all just CAN'T catch a break!! :D
My guess is the reporter beat down actually HELPED.. :D
heh
So, let's talk about this MASSIVE Dem Wave and this HUGE voter dissatisfaction ya'all keep going on and on about..
Because, from where I sit, where the rubber meets the road....
It ain't happenin'... :D
note that last bit -- we are officially over 100,000 comments for the site. Was going to make a note of it when it happened, but it kind of snuck by me.
What can I say.. I am a sneaky guy...
"Sneeky sneeky.."
-John Turturro, MR DEEDS
:D
JL,
if 70% of the votes were cast before GG choke-slammed a reporter, how big a difference, if any, did it make? maybe voters secretly thought assaulting a reporter was a good thing...
No doubt. :D
But let's be realistic here..
An aggressive Left Wing scumbag reporter trespassed into the candidates inner office, stuck a recorder in the candidate's face and started yelling questions... I probably would have body slammed the reporter too, just for the trespassing...
But it was an understandable heat of the moment thing and I can all but guarantee you that the assault charge is going to be dropped..
I mean, it's not as if the candidate snuck up behind the reporter and beat him with a chain until the reporter was seriously bleeding.
No.. THAT happened when some liberal scumbag professor did that to a Trump supporter...
Video of the April 15 assault exploded on right-wing websites in the days following the clash as scores of cybersleuths began identifying Eric Clanton as the masked man seen bashing a Trump backer in the head, causing serious bleeding.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Former-professor-arrested-in-beating-at-Berkeley-11174575.php
But, of course NO ONE here condemns THAT sort of attack, eh???
"Gee! I wonder why that is!!"
-Kevin Spacey, THE NEGOTIATOR
:^/
I keep trying to tell ya'all but ya'all refuse to accept reality...
America is Trump country now..
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-faces-the-fury-of-a-scorned-ruling-class-1495753759
And, until such time as the Democrat Party can put the needs of every day Amerians *BEFORE* their own nefarious Party agenda and until the Democrat Party can put the safety and security of this country BEFORE their own Party agenda....
This will continue to be Trump country and Democrats will continue to lose elections....
I really can't make it any simpler than that..
But ya'all know I'll spend a lot of time trying. :D
Balthasar,
If results stay on this arc, wake-up call for Dems & activists to recruit serious, sober, quality candidates. Not quirky personalities.
11:46 PM - 25 May 2017
The problem is that the Democrat Party has had a "wake up call" every day since 9 November 2016...
The REAL problem is that the Dems and activists keep hitting the SNOOZE button and going back to the same old tired shit that has failed time and time and time and time again....
YOU CAN'T FIX STOOPID
-Ron White
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/may/25/evergreen-state-students-demand-professor-resign-f/
Democrats :eyeroll:
If the Democrat Party would be a TENTH of the effort they have put into trying to overturn a fair, legal and legitimate election into putting forth quality candidates then maybe the Democrat Party would not continue to get their asses handed to them..
I'm just sayin'.....
[29] I'll agree, then go back to bed.
Argue it later.
[29] I'll agree, then go back to bed.
Argue it later.
Nothing to argue if we agree... :D
Pew: Refugee arrivals in U.S. decline sharply as world crisis grows
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/immigration/2017/05/25/pew-refugee-arrivals-usdecline-sharply-world-crisis-grows
America First....
And, in the YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP department..
Seems Nancy Pelosi is complaining that President Trump isn't visiting countries in alphabetical order..
“I thought it was unusual for the President of the United States to go to Saudi Arabia first. Saudi Arabia!
It wasn’t even alphabetical. I mean, Saudi Arabia!”
-Nancy Pelosi
Ya'all see what I mean!?
The Left is so hysterically anti-Trump that it's going after the MOST minutest and MOST stoopidist things!!!
I mean, com'on!!!
Tell me that THAT accusation is rational and logical..
Go ahead... I dare ya!! I double-dog dare ya!!!
This is a PERFECT example of how far off the reservation ya'all have gone..
And THIS is your TOP Democrat leader!!!!
It boggles the mind...
Can't say I'm surprised, can say I'm disappointed.
Can't say I'm surprised, can say I'm disappointed.
For you, TS...
http://dl.glitter-graphics.com/pub/956/956831ojqbzqjnh4.gif
I know why you are not surprised..
Because you acknowledge the fact that the American people are no longer buying what the Demcorat Party is selling...
TS,
The facts clearly show that the Democrat Party doesn't know how to win elections anymore..
They get another shot in GA... Maybe they'll have better luck there..
Doubtful.. Their strategy is to keep doing the same old thing over and over and pray for a different result.. :D
The thug won, as expected. But the race was way closer than is comfortable for the GOP thugocracy, and the Assaulter apparently did a weepy apology today for "mistakes".
Typical pubbie. He lied in the pinch, then tries to pretend he didn't. His supporters, of course, eat it up because shit-eaters enjoy shit. They've learned to appreciate the subtle variations in shit, from the big lumpy chunks to the runny, liquid sorts. If you watch a mob of republicans carefully, (through binoculars, from a distance since you don't know when they might smell liberalism and start punching or shooting or drooling) you can see them picking the bright yellow corn kernals out of their teeth.
The thug won, as expected. But the race was way closer than is comfortable for the GOP thugocracy, and the Assaulter apparently did a weepy apology today for "mistakes".
That's our Democrat Party..
"Ooooohhh we were SOOO close"
If the Democrats are happy with ALWAYS being ==><== just that close, fine.. They just need to keep on doing EXACTLY what they are doing..
If Democrats actually want to WIN an election or two...
They have to pull their heads out of their asses...
Typical pubbie. He lied in the pinch, then tries to pretend he didn't. His supporters, of course, eat it up because shit-eaters enjoy shit. They've learned to appreciate the subtle variations in shit, from the big lumpy chunks to the runny, liquid sorts. If you watch a mob of republicans carefully, (through binoculars, from a distance since you don't know when they might smell liberalism and start punching or shooting or drooling) you can see them picking the bright yellow corn kernals out of their teeth.
Sour grapes with a side of crow..
It's becoming a Left Wingery staple... :D
The thug won, as expected. But the race was way closer than is comfortable for the GOP thugocracy, and the Assaulter apparently did a weepy apology today for "mistakes".
Former Democratic congressional candidate Mark Wicklund on April 18 reportedly crashed his car while driving under the influence and hit a police officer at the hospital afterward.
Yea.. Democrats would NEVER get violent... :^/
[38]That's our Democrat Party.."Ooooohhh we were SOOO close" If the Democrats are happy with ALWAYS being ==><== just that close, fine..
I will let Harry Enten of FiveThirtyEight respond, this taken from last night's live blog:
"It’s a fair question. At the end of the day, Democrats need to win Republican-held seats to take back the House. But Montana’s seat wouldn’t be a top pickup opportunity. There are 120 Republican-held seats that lean more Democratic on the presidential level than Montana’s. So looking at the Montana race by itself isn’t helpful if you’re interested in the national picture.
Instead, we look at how much better Quist is doing than we’d expect given the presidential lean in Montana. If he loses by, say, 8 points, it means he outperformed Montana’s default political lean — how it would vote in a presidential election that was tied nationally — by 13 points. There are 64 GOP-held seats that are 13 points redder than the nation as a whole or less. Now, Democrats likely won’t win all 64, but that’s why a mid-single-digit loss for a Democrat in Montana suggests that a lot of seats are in play for them in 2018."
In the end, Gianforte won by only seven points in a state that favored Trump in the Presidential by twenty. That's a swing of thirteen points. Onward, to Georgia!
Time to shutter Kentucky - can our CEO-in-Chief eliminate failing divisions like Kentucky - maybe we can sell it to Mexico?
No time for political correctness or compassion - these losers are a drag on all of us. Let's get rid of the worst states first.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/05/25/donald-trump-should-close-sell-states-like-kentucky-column/101989780/
;)
I will let Harry Enten of FiveThirtyEight respond, this taken from last night's live blog:
Yea... It's called "spin"... Maybe you have heard of it... :D
THat's what ya'all say after EVERY loss..
Onward.. To the NEXT loss
How many times are ya gonna lose before ya'all realize that it's NOT working???
But hay...
If ya'all are satisfied to LOSE every time and get a Participation Trophy, then I am happy for ya'all.. :D
Look at the bright side..
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/hillary-clinton-uses-wellesley-commencement-speech-to-plug-her-new-dark-money-group/article/2624259
NOT-45 is still collecting dark money...
Maybe she will run again in 2020!!! :D
neilm [41] Spot-on opinion piece.
It always boggles my mind to hear that the GOP is 'more trusted' to create economic prosperity than Dems, given that the actual numbers have remained so lop-sided in the other direction for some time now.
One would think, for instance, that the disastrous economics of the Bush Administration, which started with a surplus and ended with the biggest economic hole since the depression, and the remarkable success of the Obama Administration, which, even in the face of unprecedented obstruction, mostly reversed that, would have ended the debate for good.
But here they are again, pushing their snake-oil economics to what they must believe is the most gullible electorate in history. Even when Dems point out a two trillion dollar error in their math, they remain nonplussed.
To their Wall Street donors, this must be viewed as a feature, rather than a bug: since nearly all of them were near the top of their classes in math, they surely see the bad math coming out of the OMB and think, "these are just the sort of Useful Idiots that can be persuaded that we're strapped for cash. Let's go with them."
A Quist volunteer who communicated via FB says government offices throughout Montana were inundated with calls from people wanting to change their votes. She said the physical polling places are few because of the size of the state vs. small population, so voting-by-mail is used. Most of the votes were cast before Gianforte's assault.
FWIW.
Also, remember, as you approach your Memorial Day weekend, CAUTION IS ADVISED. You may encounter Republicans. They are often armed. They are unpredictable and prone to violence.
My advice: stay in groups -- never approach one by yourself if you can avoid it. Keep your phone ready to capture any violent episodes. Steer clear of neighborhoods where they cluster. If you see a gated community, move away as quickly as possible.
If an encounter us unavoidable, be vigilant and use common sense.
Hope everyone survives the holiday weekend! Be careful out there!
Liberals Wanted a Fight in Montana. Democratic Leaders Saw a Lost Cause.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/26/us/montana-special-election.html
DEMOCRAT CIVIL WAR!!!!!!! :D
heh
Also, remember, as you approach your Memorial Day weekend, CAUTION IS ADVISED. You may encounter Republicans. They are often armed. They are unpredictable and prone to violence.
And Democrats aren't???
A former community college professor has been arrested in connection with using a U-shaped bicycle lock to violently attack several people during an April pro-Trump rally in Berkeley, California.
Eric Clanton, a former adjunct professor of philosophy at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, was arrested in Oakland on three counts of suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon that isn’t a firearm and assault causing great bodily injury, East Bay Times reported.
Video of one of the attacks during an April 15 demonstration at Civic Center Park in Berkeley, showing a man gushing blood from a strike to the head, went viral in the days following clashes between Trump supporters and so-called anti-fascists. Police said Thursday that the video ultimately helped them in identifying Mr. Clanton, the Times reported.
Berkeley police said Mr. Clanton is suspected of “violent assaults” on three people, who received “significant injuries” in the attacks.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/may/26/eric-clanton-former-calif-professor-arrested-in-vi/
There's a LOT more facts supporting LEFT WING violence against the Right then the other way around..
Of course, FACTS mean little to hypocrites....
Also, remember, as you approach your Memorial Day weekend, CAUTION IS ADVISED. You may encounter Republicans. They are often armed. They are unpredictable and prone to violence.
And Democrats aren't???
A former community college professor has been arrested in connection with using a U-shaped bicycle lock to violently attack several people during an April pro-Trump rally in Berkeley, California.
Eric Clanton, a former adjunct professor of philosophy at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, was arrested in Oakland on three counts of suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon that isn’t a firearm and assault causing great bodily injury, East Bay Times reported.
Video of one of the attacks during an April 15 demonstration at Civic Center Park in Berkeley, showing a man gushing blood from a strike to the head, went viral in the days following clashes between Trump supporters and so-called anti-fascists. Police said Thursday that the video ultimately helped them in identifying Mr. Clanton, the Times reported.
Berkeley police said Mr. Clanton is suspected of “violent assaults” on three people, who received “significant injuries” in the attacks.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/may/26/eric-clanton-former-calif-professor-arrested-in-vi/
There's a LOT more facts supporting LEFT WING violence against the Right then the other way around..
Of course, FACTS mean little to hypocrites....
To their Wall Street donors, this must be viewed as a feature, rather than a bug: since nearly all of them were near the top of their classes in math, they surely see the bad math coming out of the OMB and think, "these are just the sort of Useful Idiots that can be persuaded that we're strapped for cash. Let's go with them."
Of course, you ignore all the tens of millions that Wall Street gives to Democrats..
Once again, FACTS are ignored by the hypocrites...
Useful Idiots
Both Wall St and the Kremlin love their useful idiots.
And to be fair, while 45 and his family of dolts can easily be described as "Useful Idiots", some of the smarter Republicans like McConnell (I'm still on the wall regarding Ryan, they paint him as the vunder-kid, but he isn't looking too smart at the moment) are more "Useful Venals".
What a sad state the Republicans are in at the moment. Bereft of decency, they are discovering that the power that they so cherish is only making them hated even more, even by their own voters.
What a sad state the Republicans are in at the moment.
No, what is sad is that you ACTUALLY believe that..
The Democrat Party has been utterly DEVASTATED and completely demoralized..
But yea.. The GOP is in a sad state... :D
De Nile is NOT just a river in Jordan.... :D
My advice: stay in groups -- never approach one by yourself if you can avoid it. Keep your phone ready to capture any violent episodes. Steer clear of neighborhoods where they cluster. If you see a gated community, move away as quickly as possible.
This is, sadly, too close to the truth. Where I live the decent people fear right wing crazy gun nut far more than terrorists or run-on-the-mill criminals.
Basically the gun nuts kill 30,000 Americans every year - and the right wing is encouraging more gun nuts every day and making it easier for them to threaten and kill people on the street, malls, schools, etc.
Given that the number of households with a firearm is dropping continuously, yet the total number of guns is going up, the gun nuts are arming them even more that before. Some of my (decent Republican) friends in Texas are concerned about the rhetoric they are hearing - we need the right wing community to step up and help law enforcement identify the terrorists in their groups. Otherwise we need to do something to restrict any more coming in from outside - we need to make sure they are not bringing in more extremists using our immigration laws - we need extreme vetting to weed out those who have extreme and dangerous gun viewpoints. We also need to infiltrate the gun community with law enforcement to monitor their activities and plans to ensure they aren't going to do decent Americans any harm.
These people have no respect for our culture, our people, our constitution and are a blight on decent America.
(You know I'm just winding you up Michale)
;)
Have a great weekend.
I'm still on the wall regarding Ryan
Ryan's sketchiness begins with his love affair with libertarianism and Jack Kemp, former football star turned GOP economic guru.
Both believed the world according to Ayn Rand, who basically founded a movement by writing communism's tenets out backward, and making it sound like reasoned thought by putting it into the mouths of extreme and conveniently wealthy individualists in her novels.
Ryan's plan will compete with that of Mulvaney, whose DOA budget seems to have been based on the predicate that the rich and their bodyguards, the military, have been neglected of late and that the poor have been hoarding America's wealth through transparent scams, such as Social Security Disability and 'meals on wheels'. So Trump's budget manages to be even meaner than Ryan's.
And since they control congress, those are the only choices we get.
De Nile is NOT just a river in Jordan.... :D
Wrong continent, dude. Even da Jordan isn't a river in Jordan.
Paul Ryan & Ayn Rand
At high school, way back when, there were a small group of Tolkien freaks - they had multiple copies of LOTR - one had a leather bound set he was particularly proud of. There were a couple of things about these guys - they were mostly very friendly - I was close friends with a couple - and they wouldn't talk to non-freaks about LOTR unless it was brought up.
They were smart, and from what I know, they all are doing well.
I was one of the few people who read any Ayn Rand. I read all of "The Fountainhead" and started "Atlas Shrugged" but couldn't take more than 1/4 of it.
I understand the fascination to submerge into an alternate world (LOTR), but I don't get the Ryan types who believe this alternative world really applies to the real world.
If any of the LOTR guys tried to run as politicians to try to make LOTRs a reality, I'd have phoned up the guys in the white coats. Why do we take the Ayn Rand obsessed seriously?
http://www.wweek.com/uncategorized/2017/05/26/witnesses-man-on-northeast-portland-max-train-cut-the-throats-of-two-men-who-tried-to-stop-anti-muslim-bullying-of-women-passengers/
I was kind of kidding with comment [47]. But only kinda.
Trumpers are on the loose with knives.
(You know I'm just winding you up Michale)
;)
Have a great weekend.
Whew!! For a moment I actually thought you believed such bigoted drivel..
I mean, I know Hot Lips does, but I thought ya had more self-respect..
Glad ta see I was right.. :D
De Nile is NOT just a river in Jordan.... :D
Wrong continent, dude. Even da Jordan isn't a river in Jordan.
:D
Even da Jordan isn't a river in Jordan.
It's not delivery... It's da Jordan
:D