Reaching For The Wet Blanket

The Times explains that the ascendance of The Donald has made it difficult for the many unknowns in the Republican Presidential field to break through Trumps deafening noise. However, they also quote a "Republican strategist" (favorite food - jumbo shrimp) who may not be getting a bonus for his choice of metaphor:

Jeb Bush’s Camp Sees an Upside to Donald Trump’s Surge in the G.O.P.

WASHINGTON — It may be the Summer of Trump, but the publicity-hungry real estate magnate is not the only Republican presidential candidate relishing all his attention.

Donald J. Trump’s surge in the polls has been met with barely concealed delight by Jeb Bush and his supporters. Mr. Trump’s bombastic ways have simultaneously made it all but impossible for those vying to be the alternative to Mr. Bush to emerge, and easier for Mr. Bush, the former Florida governor, to position himself as the serious and thoughtful alternative to a candidate who has upended the early nominating process.

With little indication that his support is slipping and the promise of the center stage at Thursday’s debate, Mr. Trump has essentially frozen the rest of the field.

OK, but...

“The longer it goes, the greater the panic is going to build,” said Alex Castellanos, a longtime Republican strategist. “And that means you may not have the luxury to flirt with an undeveloped, budding candidate. Trump has set the Republican Party on fire, and if you’re going to put that fire out you don’t have time to waste. You’re going to have to grab the biggest blanket you got and throw it, and right now that’s Jeb.”

I think there is widespread agreement within the JOM community that if Republican leaders are hoping to rally the base then Jeb Bush is about the biggest wet blanket the Republicans could find.

 

 

Comments

[Cecil Turner]

Gosh, that one was hard to figure . . . at least at first.

[henry]

So the GOPe is afraid of the base and has to smother it with a wet blanket. Meanwhile Boehner has to go to Orange Alert 11!!!!! because he will be dumped as speaker ASAP. You would think the Cantor reelection wipeout would give them a clue.

[Old Lurker]

I will believe it when I see it Henry.

[peter-》]

The Canadians are right to make today a holiday. We should as well. Happy Civic Day.

[henry]

Did Honda acquire Canada over the weekend?

[Captain Hate]

henry, they're even dumber than we thought possible. We cut those jackoffs some slack because they're somewhat preferable to commiecrats but they still deserve to be slashed piehole to asshole.

[DebinNC]

Another reason to dump Mitch McConnell

[Miss Marple]

Deb,

This is how the GOPe works. McConnell thinks he is helping Jeb by doing this.

Since it is a series of appearances, one at a time, with the same questions, it shouldn't hurt them too much. They will get bonus points if they manage to insert "here in Washington for the vote against PP because certain people were not willing to accommodate this forum".

I want to get all of my work done so that I can enjoy this. I will see if I can get my lib daughter to watch when Fiorina comes on.

[jim]

jeb vs hillary? What a great excuse to stay home. Both have the same agenda. So, why vote republican and have the gop get blamed for jeb's policies. Let hillary and the dems get blamed.

[DebinNC]

NR on tonight's Voters First Forum in NH, live on C-SPAN at 6:30 p.m. ET. Video is usually available later.

"It won’t be a debate, but a series of short, seven-minute addresses from each candidate."

Trump and Huckabee won't be there. and Cruz, Rand, and Rubio will be remote from Washington.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Iran may well back out of the historic-est deal ever - even before Congress gets a chance to vote on it.

Or they'll just threaten to do so while upping their demands, and sit back and watch Kerry come groveling before them in the name of preserving his future peace prize...

[peter-》]

I always drove American cars but I can see why Canada is honoring the Civic. Actually I suspect that it is just a good idea to make the first Monday of August A holiday.

[narciso]

Yes that is very 'duck amuck' of lurch and company.

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

Barry is set to announce his "clean" energy regs today (thank you Richard Nixon for the EPA; the gift that keeps on taking).
The Captain noted gas prices of $2.29 in midAmerica.
Try $3.29 in climate changey California; a bonanza Barry is intent on shoving down everyone's throat along with the vastly higher electricity prices we pay. But of course he really cares for poor people all of whom will soon have their own personal windmill and solar panels atop their tenements.

Thanks also of course to SCOTUS for deciding EPA has the right to declare the air that we breathe a pollutant.

[narciso]

Some promises he does keep, crickets yesterday about that.

[Miss Marple]

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/dowd-schultz-challenge-clinton/2015/08/01/id/664991/

Some rumbling that Starbucks CEO being urged to challenge Hillary.

[Miss Marple]

http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/211746/

Instapundit running a poll on GOP candidates.

I voted for Carly Fiorina.

[Captain Hate]

Jim Webb's massive cranium is increasingly looking like the "sane" alternative although the commiecrat base would go full Costanza. Although I doubt they'd stab their base in the back the way the party of Lincoln Chafee does.

[DebinNC]

Dowd wouldn't have gotten that death-bed story of Beau Biden urging Joe to run for POTUS if he didn't hope to run.

Webb wouldn't have skipped the recent Urban League confab, where HC, O'M, and Bernie spoke + Jeb and Carson, if he intended to run as a Dem.

[Threadkiller]

Mitt Romney is a man of the 100%.

http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/late-show-with-stephen-colbert-promo-mitt-romney-watch-1201555190/

The GOPe giving the bastard Colbert any time at all doesn't amaze me.

[DebinNC]

Many Republican polls are measuring a "unicorn electorate"

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

Dems against importing a handful of dead trophies from foreign lands but entirely in favor of importing millions of illegal aliens.

Hunters will just have to lobby for the right of dead animals to vote for Dems.

[Threadkiller]

Mitt Romney is a man of the 100%.

http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/late-show-with-stephen-colbert-promo-mitt-romney-watch-1201555190/

The GOPe giving the bastard Colbert any time at all doesn't amaze me.

[Captain Hate on the iPad]

The dumbest clown to crawl out of Scranton isn't above making shit up about family tragedies such as when he accused the truck driver involved in the auto accident that killed his first wife (which she caused) of having been drinking despite there being no mention in the accident report. It's a donk tradition which ManBearPig took to new levels of bad taste.

[Threadkiller]

May want to bookmark.

2016 Republican Candidates "Voters First Forum"

http://www.c-span.org/video/?327157-1/2016-republican-candidates-voters-first-forum

The debate starts at 6:30 Eastern.

[narciso]

the Medici thinks he can pull the same 'rabbit of the hat' as Mittens did, but the raging oligarch,
might very well pop out a lion, mixed rocky and bulwinkle metaphor,

so Zuckerberg's minions are focused on race, yes that can't be misunderstood, with crime and foreign policy, entirely out of their concerns,

[Keep calm, and don't look behind the curtain whence all that smoke is issuing.]

The populace has sparked into flames and that Republican consultant wants to put out the fire. Hey, fella, the Democrats will gladly pass fire extinguishers.

[clarice]

I suppose if you polled the leftwing press..on the other hand I agree with Nat silver--19% in a very crowded field, leaves 80% saying nada.,nyet, slit my throat first

[narciso]

mike barnicle slobbering over the solon, recalls the difference of opinion between Twain and Darwin about said animal, and the consequent absurdity,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R2zvE615dM

[clarice]

Isn't that something, Jeff? After we give them the money and lift sanctions, they can--under the deal--back out whenever they want without consequence. I ask you,have you ever seen shrewder negotiators than Kerry and Obama?

[narciso]

cunning cunning plan, then again you have the likes of nick burns still looking for the pony.

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

Want to live?
Steer toward the deer.

[Old Lurker]

Now Clarice, that is harsh. After the sanctions are lifted and their $150 Billion has been returned, Iran MUST provide 35 days notice before unilaterally withdrawing from the deal. I think 35 days was a reasonable compromise between 0 and 70.

You got a problem with that?

[Old Lurker]

Iggy, I liked the story a few years ago about the homeowner who complained to her county that deer being struck by cars in front of her house were a nuisance and could the DoT people please move the "Deer Crossing" sign further up the road.

[clarice]

OL. when you look at it that way..

[Left 'em slobbering at the curb.]

Deer whistles don't work? The sillies; you've got to train the deer and then they work just fine.

[narciso]

the new yorker as is there wont, is stirring the ashes in ferguson, with a little kerosene, and remnick is slobbering up to stewart, even more fulsomely than stuever,

[Centralcal on iPad]

I love that story O.L. When I listened to the tape recording she sounded so articulate and intelligent, yet her reasoning screamed "bonkers!"

[James D]

The GOPe giving the bastard Colbert any time at all doesn't amaze me.

I'm sure they consider it "outreach."

The problem is, I don't think they realize a couple of things. First, if you don't know who the sucker at the table is, it's you. Mitt, and any other R that goes on Colbert or John Stwewart or any of these other crappy, dishonest shows, is always going to be the butt of the joke, whether or not he sees it.

Second, whatever potential outreach they actually might gain is almost certainly offest by the loss of votes and enthusiasm (which equals both volunteers and money) from the base, when they pander to enemies and allow themselves to be mocked and made fools of by Colbert et al.

[narciso]

friends don't let friends, take NBC news polls seriously:

The Republican presidential candidate has claimed that Latino voters “love” and support him, citing some state-based polls. But the new national oversample of Latino adults found that more than half believe his rhetoric about immigration is offensive.

[Captain Hate]

Levin has given the Latino vote breakdowns in past Presidential elections. The GOPe is even dumber than usual on this fishing expedition in Love Canal.

[jimmyk]

Steer toward the deer.

It's a bit contradictory, because it says if you hit a larger animal it will come through the windshield and kill you. That happened to an acquaintance some years ago (close friend of a girlfriend at the time) outside Rochester. It was always described as a deer, maybe it was an elk. Real tragedy. Anyway, seems like slamming on the brakes is the best bet unless you're sure it's small enough.

[Captain Hate]

Is there a more hapless example of GOPe cluelessness than Romney?

[jimmyk]

So the GOPe is afraid of the base and has to smother it with a wet blanket.

Not sure it's the base that's going for the Donald, so I would say it's more like the GOPe is afraid to appeal to the base (with a Walker or Fiorina) to beat Trump.

[clarice]

exactly, jimmyk. Who else would be as dumb as Jeb to waste money on such stupid consultants?

[squaredance]

Is there a more hapless example of GOPe cluelessness than Romney?

Jeb?

[jimmyk]

It seems that the defining flaw of the GOPe is an incurable instinct to try to ingratiate themselves with the left--which of course the left takes full advantage of. It's some kind of mental defect. There seems to be no counterpart on the Democrat side. Is there a single Democrat who does this? Not that Republicans would know how to take advantage of it.

[narciso]

why is Politico moderating this:

http://time.com/3981324/scott-walker-barack-obama-christian/

[I want Romney managing him. There's a fire sale, who's gonna get there first?]

Oh, please; all Jeb has to do is serenely sweep into office with most of his early competitors as cabinet members.

[Fired up press conferences. Let's do it.]

Can't you see Donald Trump handling the reporters as Presidential Spoke's Trump of Doom? Cruz @ Justice. Huntsman not @ State.

[Captain Hate]

Jeb?

Maybe. What sets RMoney apart is that he hasn't learned a GD thing from his idiotic prior run yet has assumed the status of "wise counselor" by the GOPe mensas.

If he would go on Colbert as a suicide bomber, my attitude toward him would receive a large upward correction.

[Culture war, heh, over religion. Whirled Peas, blessed by thy goobers.]

n, I would love to see it, connecting liberation theology with this sad sick stiff's spirituality, but 'Our Free Press' is likely only to ridicule Walker's.

[narciso]

she doesn't know why Rush calls him F Chuck,

http://thefederalist.com/2015/08/03/issues-guy-chuck-todd-has-no-policy-questions-for-donald-trump-on-meet-the-press/#disqus_thread

[Boom, boom, boom.]

Heh, CH; I've always loved 'Hoist by his own retard'.

[Captain Hate]

If you sum F Chuck and Colbert's IQs, do you hit double digits?

[Hey, they might just do alright.]

Most unlikely slate: Palin/Huntsman.

[Miss Marple]

Either the GOPe has a mental condition akin to abused spouses who grovel whenever looked at sideways, or they are being blackmailed or bought.

I frankly don't care which of the 3 reasons it is. They don't even come close to doing anything I agree with, and I don't want these guys all that is standing between me and the mob.

[Sufficient to the day is the joy within it.]

I'm trying something new with this comment. Make up my name first.

[Captain Hate]

That ticket would certainly be a melding of opposites, Kim.

[Seven at one swat. Make her queen.]

MM, there is a whiff of Stockholm Syndrome about it, but I think you hit all three nails on the head with one blow. Excellent trick.

[jimmyk]

I'd love to see Fiorina get on Colbert and rip him. She's probably the only one who would have no inhibitions. Maybe Cruz, but even Cruz might be a bit more cautious.

[Captain Hate]

It would be nice if they didn't keep teeing it up for DrewM:

http://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=358235

[That humming is the machine before the recent wooden clog.]

Cap'n, in a peculiar way I find both those, Sara and Jon, to be connected to the real world in a way most of these candidates are not.

It would be an interesting team.

Huntsman was Obama's ambassador to China. Things that make you go 'hmmmm'.

[jojo]

4. they are true believers and enablers

[Cecil Turner]

I'd love to see Fiorina get on Colbert and rip him.

Bad strategy. She rips him, nets maybe two votes. She stumbles, video is everywhere.

The more tenable the candidate, the steeper the gradient is.

[narciso]

F Chuck's peanut gallery was warbling about the Solon, and then the raging oligarch jumped in,

[Natural born Republicans; get it?]

Remember, these newcomers didn't come here to be on the plantation. They've left one, one and all.

[Threadkiller]

CH has stated the only path the GOP should take when visiting Colbert.

[Miss Marple]

http://www.gq.com/story/joe-biden-presidential-campaign-2016-2013?printable=true

GQ does a very flattering article on Joe Biden. If I didn't know how he really is a petty and vindicitve man, I might have thought he was just what the country needed.

By the way, given as how we are told repeatedly how evil and dark Cheney was, and how brilliant Obama is, I am sure that Val Jar got GQ this interview.

[Cecil Turner]

Crash Davis: It's time to work on your interviews.
Ebby Calvin LaLoosh: My interviews? What do I gotta do?
Crash Davis: You're gonna have to learn your clichés. You're gonna have to study them, you're gonna have to know them. They're your friends. Write this down: "We gotta play it one day at a time."
Ebby Calvin LaLoosh: Got to play... it's pretty boring.
Crash Davis: 'Course it's boring, that's the point. Write it down.

[Frau Jan Hagel]

I'm ready to overlook any and all problems with the election of Willem-Alexander. Tough luck for the natural born crowd, but the saving of our country is paramount.

King Willem-Alexander delivered a message to the Dutch people from the government in a nationally televised address: the welfare state of the 20th century is gone.

In its place a "participation society" is emerging, in which people must take responsibility for their own future and create their own social and financial safety nets, with less help from the national government.

Maxima is a good fit for the WH, too. Although born in Argentina, "She also worked as a teacher of English language to children and adults, and of Mathematics for high school students and freshmen."

[Miss Marple]

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/jeb-bush-to-foes-tough-luck-120922.html

[Miss Marple]

http://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2015/08/03/time-for-conservatives-to-get-medieval-on-the-liberal-establishment-n2033516?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=

[Frau Oliebollen]

I think the wiki quote about Queen Maxima was run through Babel Fish upside down and backwards.

Iggy, doesn't it make a difference whether you plow into the deer in a Fiat or a Ford250

[jimmyk]

She rips him, nets maybe two votes. She stumbles, video is everywhere.

I've yet to see Carly stumble in any appearance. And at this point she has nothing to lose. And by "ripping him" I just mean outdoing him, making his schtick look stupid while she scores on substance.

[Miss Marple]

Does anyone know if the candidates are all going to be asked the same questions this evening?

[narciso]

bgates used to joke about the press too slavish for Kim Jong Il

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/terry-trippany/2009/11/19/gq-magazine-barack-obama-leader-year-sarah-palin-dangerous-poisonous

[James D]

CT @ 11:52

"Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains."

[Janet]

Here's a bit of a post I put up on FB -

The WaPo's Editorial Board has weighed in - https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/stop-the-vendetta-against-planned-parenthood/2015/07/31/d9e605fc-3701-11e5-9d0f-7865a67390ee_story.html

...This line was especially appalling - "Planned Parenthood is under virulent attack for the role a small portion of its affiliates play in helping women who want to donate fetal tissue for medical research."

As though PP is just doing charity work helping altruistic women support medical research!
Do you really think the women that signed generic release forms had any idea PP was selling the baby body parts for "$30 to $100" per specimen? Did the women realize that PP would use the more dangerous breech delivery method so they could maximize profits on baby hearts, lungs & livers?
Here's an idea....maybe the WaPo could actually do some investigating!

[Frau Oliebollen]

Woot!

The network of Koch-backed groups represented at the three-day summit in Dana Point, California, has promised to spend $889 million in the run-up to the 2016 election, most of it after the GOP has settled on its nominee.

What's in your wallet, Hillary!?

[clarice]

NEW THREAD, KIDDOS.

[jimmyk]

Some rumbling that Starbucks CEO being urged to challenge Hillary.

A cautionary tale from another "well-meaning" Seattle businessman:

http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/equality_equals_envy/

[Janet]

The left would have had some women lined up ready to sue PP.

a comment at the WaPo -
Quek1
2:39 AM EST
"Some of these posts are amazing. At what point did it become perfectly acceptable to sell human body parts? Maybe we could give the profit to the mother since she is so poor she is having this procedure. We could counsel here on the prime date to abort so she could make the most money. Wouldn't that be just grand. A poor woman could pay her way through college by being a serially pregnant woman getting top dollar for her fetus. If this doesn't sound absolutely debased for you, you have lost all humanity."

Why not do this? Was PP just taking a valuable commodity from these women?

com·mod·i·ty
kəˈmädədē/
noun
a raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought and sold, such as copper or coffee. ... or baby body parts.

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

--Iggy, doesn't it make a difference whether you plow into the deer in a Fiat or a Ford250--

The basic point was most people who get killed or injured in an encounter with a deer do so not by hitting it but by ending up hitting a tree or going over a bank trying to avoid it and I imagine that holds true pretty much whatever you're driving.

[lyle]

I hope I'm driving an M1 Abrams should I encounter a moose.

[glasater]

We almost hit a moose driving up to Priest Lake a few years ago. It came out of pretty heavy woods, saw us driving along and for as large a creature it is - whirled around on a dime practically and headed back into that dense growth. Amazing creatures.