The Dem Vivisection

What conclusions might the Dems draw from a strategic re-assessment of their "Emerging Majority" theory that has left them without the White House, Congress, Supreme Court, and many governorships and statehouses? Who knows?

But they do have two conceptual problems. First, they claim to have as an endgame a post-racial society, yet they will need roughly 90% of an energized black turnout to remain competitive. Will post-racial blacks really be so monolithic? Time May Tell!

Secondly, if the Dems hope to reclaim their mantle as champions of the working class, they will have to (regrettably) appeal to the deplorable working class whites. However, the current intellectual framework embraced by the Dem intelligentsia is all about "white privilege". A proper progressive could surely explain it more cogently, but as I understand it a middle aged white guy who lost his $30/hour union job when the factory was moved to Mexico and is now stacking boxes at WalMart for $10/hour is "privileged", so screw him.

Can Dems move (back) towards a class-based framework and away from that race-based intellectual framework while retaining the enthusiasm of the college-educated wing of their coalition? Particularly when these troglodytic working class whites are often regular church-goers who have not fully embraced other aspects of the current progressive catechism? Again, Time May Tell!

Comments

[anonamom; formerly adorable, now deplorable.]

Nope.
No way, no how will people forget being called deplorable.

[anonamom; formerly adorable, now deplorable.]

I know these people--like Michael Moore, who would have been my classmate had we both stayed in Flint.

Theses are my people!

Well, not exactly--all of my people were out of Flint by 1972. We are now mainly five percenters, with a number of one per centers. We still celebrate our Thanksgivings in the American Legion Hall three miles from the Flint city limit, using planes, trains and automobiles to do so.

But we have had post college children in the basement, fifty-something males losing jobs and not being able to find employment, health care costs being ten thousand dollars more out of pocket than four years ago. Financial hits we were all able to absorb---but significant hits none the less.

And easy to see the toll of those hits when there is no cushion, and not hard to imagine how tired you'd be of the lies told to get your vote. And then to be called deplorable by a lying, grifting, crony capitalism embracing unindicted felon---

Never Forget.

[RattlerGator]

RG-when you are feeling like chopping a few items and can get a chicken drumstick or thigh I can tell you how to take a container of store-bought chicken broth and turn it into broth full of things that help purge what ails you.

Posted by: rse | November 17, 2016 at 06:18 AM

rse, please send it to me pronto.

[Dave (in MA)]

Chicken infused vodka?

[henry]

starve a cold, feed a fever?

nah, drown em both.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://www.investors.com/politics/columnists/stephen-moore-yes-trump-will-double-growth-and-jobs/

[Truthbetold5]

Hillary Clinton's friend

American Baptists with 'Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission' detained in Haiti for child trafficking

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/american-baptists-haitian-orphan-rescue-mission-detained-haiti-child-trafficking-article-1.193724

[Matt - deplore me if you must]

The dialectical conflicts may make their heads explode, TM!

I just don't see the party of the elite making much headway with the deplorable rest of us, ever again.

There is no icon on the horizon. The Lightbringer's legacy is, despite the affirmations of the Jack Handy's of the left, very poor indeed. And so I don't think people will buy the Hope & Change BS again.

I think most of us are realizing that we are going to have to hunker down and work hard and not expect the moon and the stars from a bloated deficit ridden federal government that is the problem, not the solution.

And so what does that leave the party of Pelosi and Warren and Schumer with? Unrestricted abortion, legal pot, gay marriage, a poor economy, massive debt, and a kiboshed medical care system. Thanks for nothin' Dems. Fat, dumb and stupid is no way to go through life.

I still don't think they have figured out how harshly they got schooled in the election. Lena Dunham is in Sedona communing with rocks. They have about the same IQ. Cher has gone in for a complete frame off rebuild. Michael Moore is channeling Fidel Castro. It's ludicrous.

Naw.... I still don't think they get it.....

[Frau Dreimal darfst du raten]

Guess who said it?

"No one has the right to make decisions that affect billions of people based solely on ideology or without proper input."

[Beasts of England]

Keith Ellison will lead them down the correct path, I'm sure. They're already learning!!

[Beasts of England]

A graphically powerful rendering of where Trump picked up votes over Mittens:

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/11/trump-won-trump-belt-swept-across-northern-states-maine-north-dakata/

[Comanche Voter]

Well the Warren-Ellison-Schumer wing of the Democrat party is still full of buffalo chips. Throw in Jerry Brown out in California where I live(Jerry still loves his choo choo train to nowhere}, and it's going to be hard cheese for the Dems for a while as far as the rest of the country is concerned. That said, where the blue true believers live (on the coasts and in the New York centric East Coast) the Democrats still have some kick and some punch.

[Frau Dreimal darfst du raten]

Beasts @ 12:04 - Very interesting look at the northern lights.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Beasts,

That's a really good graphic.

[Jim Eagle]

Bozo is channeling Joseph Goebbels in Germany.

Oh the irony.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://victorialsanders.wordpress.com/2016/11/12/hate-didnt-elect-donald-trump-people-did/

Highly recommend reading this article from a young Millennial.

[buccr morgan]

That idiot who dudnt think the nuclear freeze went far enough, is low lecturing us on the cold war?

[Captain Hate]

But all the smarty pants said Trump has no ground game!

[Stephanie]

Bozo on now with a presser with Merkel... BSing his way with platitudes and lecturing and unbelievable condescension..

One reporter asked if he would ask the protesters for the violence to stop and he said basically:

NO, protest is a good thing and I'm proud of then for staying involved...

Now he's condescending to Germany about how the US has always protected them and how that fits into democracy.

He's been going on on this question for over 5 minutes and Merkel looks about ready to strangle him.

[Sue]

I am reading stories on why Hillary lost. And they are delicious. Each and every one.

[Old Lurker]

RG...how do you feel today?

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

SO glad I don't have cable! No Bozo!

In my fantasies I see the leaders deciding they would rather have Slow Jo for the last couple of months and Merkel just locks him up in a "medical ward" in Spandau.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Everybody always looks like they're about ready to strangle some public nuisance like Barry.

If Trump can create a culture in which it is acceptable to actually act on that impulse we'll be half way home to our founding principles. :)

[Theo]

Beasts --

But the big story of this election is NOT how Trump outperformed Willard. The big story is how terribly Rodham underperformed in relation to Obama 2012.

The votes are still trickling in (particularly in California) but at this moment, Trump got about half a million more votes than Romney. But Rodham so far has tallied about THREE MILLION fewer votes than Obama got last time.

Also, if you look at several key states it is obvious that it was not support for Trump but aversion to Rodham that drove this election. Trump did not quite get as many votes in Wisconsin as Romney did, but he won because Rodham got only 85% of the votes that Obama got in 2012 in that state. In Minnesota, Trump barely outdrew Willard; it was close because Rodham got more than 10% fewer votes than Obama did last time.

As I have posted before, the bottom line is that if Rodham had gotten just as many votes as Obama did in 2012 in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, she would have won those states and the election.

Trump did not win this election so much as Rodham lost it. Democrats simply failed to turn out for her as they did for Barack.

[henry]

::cough:: voter ID ::cough::

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Theo,

Trump won this. He won it with grit and nerve.

Deal with it.

[Another Bob]

Matt - deplore me if you must | November 17, 2016 at 11:22 AM:

I don't disagree. I don't think anyone here would. The problem is all the people you name are in a hermetically-sealed bubble, and nobody inside it is telling them that they're out of their minds and they should STFD and STFU until they're ready to be actual functioning adults.

[jimmyk on iPhone]

"they will need roughly 90% of an energized black turnout to remain competitive."

No, all they need is to have a candidate that will energize their base, whites, blacks, whoever. (Hillary plainly did not.) And a helping hand by the Rs to put forward another tomato can.

If there's anything this election teaches, though it should have already been clear, it's not demographics, it's energy and excitement.

[James D]

Theo, do you consider it possible that Trump's campaign, and his willingness to attack Hillary on issues normally considered "off limits", and to do so aggressively and without mercy, contributed to Hillary's failure to get her voters out?

[Beasts of England]

henry beat me to it, Theo.

[Buckeye]

Trump did not win this election so much as Rodham lost it. Democrats simply failed to turn out for her as they did for Barack.

So the voters couldn't stomach the ugly hag.

Works for me:)

[Theo]

Miss Marple --

Donald Trump was fairly and squarely elected President, on that we do not disagree.

However, the data shows that the reason that he won was not because everyone embraced him or his policies (he got fewer votes nationally than Rodham after all) but because in key battleground states the voters she was counting on failed to show up.

Also, according to the exit polls (this will get a response from TK for sure), about 14% of the voters thought NEITHER candidate was qualified to be president; those voters went overwhelmingly for Trump. (Barone has a piece on this if you want to look for it.)

So Trump won not because he was so beloved and adored, but because the voters in general thought the other candidate was worse.

He still gets to sit in the Oval Office and he still gets to be commander in chief. His performance in office will determine whether he can win over the skeptics or not.

[Sue]

I don't care how or why she lost, I'm just giddy she lost. s

[Beasts of England]

Can't have that, James D!! The meme is set: Trump didn't win, Hillary lost. lol

The establishment and their minions, along with the left, can't ever let it be thought that Trump won the election. If they don't plant the seed now, then they can't condescend to us four, eight, twelve years from now about how we need to run another tomato can. History isn't going to re-write itself, ya know. :)

[Sue]

And every story I read about her losing makes me giddier.

So Sue me. ::grin::

[Captain Hate]

Rodham was the ultimate insider candidate in an election about change. Cecil opened my eyes to a benefit of Trump campaigning in enemy territory to depress the vote for an unexciting opponent. "Let's see, my life has sucked for the last eight years and this sloppy drunk witch is promising more of the same versus this orange guy with weird hair saying try something new; maybe I'll just stay home." Plus Trump as an outsider appealed to the GOP base that had been neglected by the party insiders.

[sbw]

Hillary did not “lose” this election. Trump won it.

Trump won because he dared to take on the Fourth Estate that had:
1) entangled itself with government and crony capitalists,
2) forsaken its obligation to the public, and
3) presumed to know better than its audience.

No one else -- Republican or Democrat, progressive or libertarian, pundit or professor -- could have done what Trump did.

. . . and thank goodness Trump did.

[Beasts of England]

I'm so glad you showed up, Theo!! I was afraid I might have to search out the establishment talking points, but instead, you've delivered them to my virtual doorstep.

And I look forward to arguing this in detail with you - but not today. There are only two boating days left this season, and it's time for me to work on my savage tan. 😎

[Buckeye]

So Theo. Curious minds want to know. Who did you vote for?

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://victorialsanders.wordpress.com/2016/11/12/hate-didnt-elect-donald-trump-people-did/

Theo, read this article which I linked above.

Second, go to this site:

https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/

You will find 250,000+ members who hosetly DO love him.

Third: watch some of his rallies. They are full of people who honestly do think he was a great candidate. (Which he was, because he expanded the map and won.)

No other candidate in the Republican field could have pulled this off. No other candidate would have had private citizens spending their own time making ads for him on YouTube. No other candiate had people willing to stand in line for hours for a rally.

He was a great candidate, and his campaign will be studied for years. Your effort to diminish it is transparent, and I will call you on it every time.

I get you didn't like him and wanted someone like jeb. Jeb would have been crushed by the Clinton Machine and would NOT have gotten the turnout Trump did.

[-peter]

Add that for the last 5 weeks of the campaign, Trump gained a large measure of self control and ran a very conservative ideology messaging campaign.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

peter,

True, although he said that he would do that early on.

There's a good case to be made that his early lack of discipline was calculated to get attention and draw in those who are bored by conventional politics.

A reading of the Reddit site over several weeks let me think about that. Some of those people are Bernie supporters or never paid attention to politics. Trump made it interesting and fun.

You can give all your 47-point policy papers that you want, but those only excite people like Bill Kristol and Theo.

If you want the vote of a 23-year old drywall guy, maybe you have to come out with a little more pizazz.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Not even president yet, part 17:

http://www.northcrane.com/2016/11/17/it-is-happening-apple-in-talks-of-moving-manufacturing-to-the-usa/

[rse]

OL-my recipe has been dispatched southward and just the list of ingredients helped rally RG's immune system!

[windansea]

Theo is just like the MSM experts, he kept telling us how Trump was going to lose and now he's gonna tell us why he won.

[Captain Hate]

Tammy Bruce on James Clapper: Good effing riddance to the brainless jackass who blamed climate change for islamic terrorism.

[libarbarian]

Secondly, if the Dems hope to reclaim their mantle as champions of the working class, they will have to (regrettably) appeal to the deplorable working class whites.

Or we should do everything we can to make sure their communities remain destitute of jobs and awash in guns and opioids.

[lyle]

Theo is just like the MSM experts, he kept telling us how Trump was going to lose and now he's gonna tell us why he won Curb Dive lost.

FIFY

[RattlerGator]

OL-my recipe has been dispatched southward and just the list of ingredients helped rally RG's immune system!

Posted by: rse | November 17, 2016 at 01:13 PM

Exactamundo!

[Cecil Turner]

but because in key battleground states the voters she was counting on failed to show up.

A lot of them showed up and voted for Trump. (Which is one reason the polls were so skewed.) And the total turnout is looking like it will be close to 2012, so that theory is taking on water as well.

[Theo]

James D.

"Theo, do you consider it possible that Trump's campaign, and his willingness to attack Hillary on issues normally considered "off limits", and to do so aggressively and without mercy, contributed to Hillary's failure to get her voters out?"

Yes, absolutely.

I think that Rodham was a terrible candidate on every level and was further hobbled by being the "more of the same" candidate in a year in which the voters desperately wanted change. She also had the problem of trying to get blacks who had been so enthusiastic about Obama to go out and vote for her pallid backside and the fact that yutes were unenthusiastic about her compared to the charismatic Senator from Vermont that they favored.

I think that it is fair to say that Trump benefited from these things as any Republican would have done.

But it is certainly possible -- more than possible in my opinion -- that Trump was more than a passive beneficiary of her weaknesses and in fact actively exploited them. He was, as many noted, particularly effective when he focused the campaign on her and not on him.

[lyle]

In which on this day I praise Paul Ryan:

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/306443-ryan-stops-vote-on-bringing-back-earmarks

May there be many more such days.

[Buckeye]

Trump was more than a passive beneficiary

No shit.

[Jim Eagle]

Theo's logic expanded:

In the 2015 Super Bowl, the Patriots didn't win it but rather the Seahawks lost it.

In the 2016 World Series, the Cubs didn't win it but rather the Indians lost it.

In the 2016 NBA Championship, the Cavs didn't win it but the Warriors lost it.

Do you see where that logic goes. No one wins but only the other guy or gal loses. Works for me. Joe Blow didn't win the $500 million dollar Lotto but I lost it.

[Captain Hate]

Tammy: if we have more winning I may be less of a bitch over the airwaves.

[anonamom; formerly adorable, now deplorable.]

rse, publish it here for the rest of us!

[Theo]

"Theo is just like the MSM experts, he kept telling us how Trump was going to lose and now he's gonna tell us why he won."

You make a good point windansea. I did not believe that Trump was going to win at any point of the campaign. (I thought that the Republican candidate would win before we knew who the Republican nominee was going to be, but that is different.) I was wrong in just about all of my Trump based predictions.

But as Yogi said, predictions are hard, particularly about the future. It is much much harder to predict what is going to happen than go back after something has happened and analyze WHY it happened.

I clearly do not have the ability to predict the future. I do not think that this means that I cannot provide meaningful analysis about the past.

The data is very clear. There was no massive increase in the vote for Trump in relation to the vote for Romney. There was a very significant decrease in the number of votes cast for the Democratic candidate this year when compared to the Democratic candidate in 2012. It is this fall off that dictated the outcome.

It remains unassailable that if Rodham had gotten the same number of votes as Obama got in 2012 in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa she would have won the election with plenty of electoral college votes to spare.

[anonamom; formerly adorable, now deplorable.]

ADL retracts the vicious slander directed at Steve Bannon--after four days.

I have Tweeted my fingers off calling NPR, DRShow and Here and Now on this. The fight continutes!

http://getliberty.org/2016/11/adl-backs-off-bannon-smear-not-aware-of-any-anti-semitic-statements-made-by-bannon/

[lyle]

Insty has this fake tweet from Mike Pence:

Trump "unfit?" Obama entered office without any successful executive experience. Eight years later, he'll leave it the same way.

Heh™

[Jim Eagle]

If, if's and but's were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas.

h/t Dandy Don Meredith

[anonamom; formerly adorable, now deplorable.]

What MM said at 1:00, 1000%.
(yes, one thousand per cent)

No Republican running could have beaten that witch and her evil ones, because they would not have gotten down in the mud.

I'm with the Evangelicals on this--Trump was our Cyrus. God sent him.

[Beasts of England]

The data are (according to Theo) very clear.

Back to my tan... 😎

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

anonamom,

I agree about the Cyrus thing.

A lot of people missed that there were honest to God PROPHECIES on YouTube about Trump, referencing Isaiah 45 (which talks about Cyrus) and linking it to Trump being the 45th president.

There were several of these as I recall: from an Indian guy, a missionary in Indonesia, a fireman who had a vision somewhere in the Midwest, etc.

I also note that Pastor darrell Scott's church annointed him and warned he would be attacked by demonic forces.

Now I know not a lot of people believe in modern prophecy here, and I am not sure I do totally, but it was very striking.

[lyle]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/republicans-may-be-mulling-pre-inaugural-repeal-of-obamacare/article/2607581/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Examiner%20Today&utm_source=StructureCMS

Uh huh. I'll believe it when I see it. I'd love to see Zippy's head explode along with Pelosi's.

[Truthbetold5]

MM

You mean the "demonic forces" that people like James Alefantis of Comet Ping Pong and the Podestas conjure up?

Do you think God is happy with those who turn a blind eye?

[Stephanie]

I think the graphic at Gateway Pundit encapsulates the spanking Trump put on Romney by both republicans who "came home to momma" and by democrats "ran from momma."

Evangelicals were up something like 81%- many of who hadn't voted in several cycles - and it turns out much of Hillary's GOTV was providing reminders and car rides to the polls of former Obama voters.

That last is what warms the cockles of my deplorable beeotchy heart.

[Stephanie]

Dammit retry.

That graphic at GPundit seems a pretty stark refutation of Theo's comments.

Trump captured something like 81% of the evangelical vote - many of which had not voted in the last few cycles and it turns out Hillary's GOTV efforts were nothing more than reminders to vote and car rides FOR TRUMP VOTERS.

That last warms the cockles of my despicable beeotchy heart.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

TBT,

I am not going to discuss that here. I believe I have told you that before.

There are other sites on which to discuss it, as I am sure you know.

[Stephanie despicable me]

Dammit retry.

That graphic at GPundit seems a pretty stark refutation of Theo's comments.

Trump captured something like 81% of the evangelical vote - many of which had not voted in the last few cycles and it turns out Hillary's GOTV efforts were nothing more than reminders to vote and car rides FOR TRUMP VOTERS.

That last warms the cockles of my despicable beeotchy heart.

[Stephanie despicable me]

Well, f me. Sorry guys.

[Rocco]

TM's 2nd link by Schlichter nails why Hillary lost. I might have to use this at Thankgiving Dinner if the topic and whining starts.

"Sure, Hillary did get a lot of votes. Maybe even a majority of votes. And, considering we are not a democracy but a constitutional republic, of equal relevance is the fact that I own a hat.

You lost. And it’s because you suck."

[Matt - deplore me if you must]

Theo is correct. Both candidates had very high negative opinions of them. Trump, however, campaigned hard and smart.

I think Clinton's campaign ignored the Big Analytics that drove Obama, who had high negatives in 2012, to his win. Bad for her.

The media were in the bag and just 2 weeks prior to the election some of them had Clinton up by double digits.

Trump is a highly imperfect candidate and many of chose the lesser of two weevils. I hope that he can grow bigly into the job.

[Truthbetold5]

Why MM, because Clarice scolded you?

[Buckeye]

ADL retracts the vicious slander directed at Steve Bannon--after four days.

The fact that the MFM and many others are simply howling over Bannon is all the more reason why there isn't any chance Trump will dismiss him.

[Buckeye]

Trump team changing the spark plugs and timing belt in the steamroller.

Getting it tuned up for DC.

Not going to know what hit 'em:)

[James D]

I found this heartwarming, which I imagine was not what the author was shooting for:

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/government-employees-on-trump-everything-is-fucked-1789095563

[Tom R]

Theo,

A few million people who voted for Obama did not vote for Hillary. A few million people who voted for Romney did not vote for Trump. Several million people (my guess is well more than the number of people in the first two groups) who did not even vote in 2012 decided to show up en masse and vote for Trump.

[Old Lurker]

James, every single one of those emails confirmed my belief that most government employees should be fired and we would be better off.

femall.

[lyle]

http://www.steynonline.com/7598/advice-for-the-loyal-opposition

Too good for mere quotes here and there. RTWT. Oh, okay, just this one:

But maybe, as the schoolhouse trauma-counseling suggests, they're moving beyond all that. Reader D C Alan writes from Washington:

The Play-Doh generation might not have the mettle to slog it out on the Western Front, but that doesn't mean that they are not ready and willing to fight. These are exactly the types who get motivated to savage mob violence very quickly and easily, which is the ultimate goal of the Left's infantilization of the culture. (Steyn: "The scale of solipsistic compliant ignorance is totalitarian -- and terrifying, in that it will inevitably be exploited for catastrophic and evil ends." July 31, 2015)

If Trump is a hater, then voting for him is a hate crime. So, if you de-normalize Trump, you de-normalize the millions of your fellow citizens who voted for him. And, if you de-normalize his voters, you de-legitimize their votes. And, if you de-legitimize their votes, you de-legitimize the very idea of representative government.

And, if you lead a generation of young Americans down that dark road, you more or less guarantee that argument and Parliament and politics will be succeeded by fisticuffs and terror and horrible consuming violence.

Do read it.

[Rocco]

Judge Napolitano explains why we need to investigate the investigators. Well, he didn't exactly say it that way!

http://elkodaily.com/news/opinion/commentary/commentary-the-federal-bureau-of-political-investigation/article_b1a3455d-74d3-50b7-aeed-3fe7a4964e48.html

[lyle]

James D @ 2:40:

Those are delicious. And thoroughly--depressingly--emblematic of the problem facing Trump and his team attempting to Drain The Swamp. As I wrote days ago: the Rs may now control the goverment but the Ds have always run it. Big difference.

[Buckeye]

Second what Rocco said. Schlichter has it exactly right. Well worth the read.

http://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2016/11/17/the-democrats-wont-autopsy-their-own-corpse-n2246680

[lyle]

Same here, Buckeye:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/11/16/democrats-know-why-they-lost-but-won-fix-their-problems/nITzuJIET6YBmxS2GV0J0O/story.html

Anyone looking at the 2016 electoral map and exit polls knows there were two main forces that tipped the election to Trump: white working class inhabitants of the Rust Belt upset about a hollowed-out economy, and religious voters, both Catholic and Protestant, who reacted to attacks on their values by voting against the candidate of the cultural elite. There may be other reasons, but these two are highest on the list.

Trump’s victory did not happen overnight, either. The last eight years of the Obama presidency have been disastrous for Democrats. On their way to minority status, Democrats since 2009 have lost a net of 13 US Senate seats, 69 House seats, 12 governorships, and 30 state legislatures. The entire party is a smoldering ruin.

This is what happens when you invite unfair foreign competition for American jobs via bad trade practices and massive illegal immigration, and when you go to war with nuns over birth control.

Still, some Democrats believe the presidential election was unfairly denied them

Do I just rip off what Insty and his crew post and repost it here? Maybe. ;)

[PD]

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/17/german-chancellor-merkel-will-do-everything-to-work-well-with-trump.html

Obama also spoke on the demands of the U.S. presidency.

"If you're not serious about the job, then you probably won't be here very long because it will expose problems the president-elect is going to see fairly quickly ... that the demands and responsibility of a U.S. president are not ones you can treat casually," Obama said.

Am I wrong or is it somewhat unusual for the sitting president to be taking shots like this at the soon-to-be president?

[lyle]

One last tidbit from Steyn:

As I said to Howie Carr last week, these delicate blooms are professing to be traumatized because, after years of civics class, they had no idea America wasn't a one-party state and that once every few years a fellow with a different opinion gets to win. If we indulge this, what silver-pin decorative brooches are left for the 60 per cent of the planet without free elections?

My only quibble is his substitution of "civics class" for "anti-American indoctrination class."

[Agent J]

James D @ 2:40

I spent 40+ years as a Federal Employee. I needed to eat and to feed my family of 9.It is not what I wanted to do, but that was life. I learn to play the cards your dealt. I am proud to say that I ran a tight ship both at home and at work..

One of the best comments I ever heard during that tenor, was: A visitor at the 18 story FOB in Kansas City ask the Assistant building manager, "how many people work in this. He replied, about 50%". When I walked into the Washington HQ of the FAA, my comment changed that to maybe 35%..

[lyle]

that the demands and responsibility of a U.S. president are not ones you can treat casually," Obama said.

WTF does this jackass know about "the demands and responsibility of a U.S. president"? I mean, other than pissing on our allies while fellating the mullahs. How demanding is it to party with profanity-spewing hip hop trash and watch SportsCenter all day?

[cheerleader]

the big attraction today is the live stream of the TT elevators on cspan

The PE is going to be doing a thank you tour, they caught the tour organizer coming off the elevator and he said so, so it's not just a rumor

[cheerleader]

at first they were calling it a "victory tour" but have changed it to "thank you tour"

[Another Bob]

MM: "There's a good case to be made that his early lack of discipline was calculated to get attention and draw in those who are bored by conventional politics."

This is the Scott Adams claim. Trump was practicing a well-known sales technique "pacing and leading". Get out ahead of your target (in this case, a particular demographic) to establish rapport, then lead them to the position you want them to have.

[lyle]

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/11/17/orrin-hatch-heck-no-were-not-getting-rid-of-the-filibuster/

Well, of course. Does anyone know if Hatch up for re-elect in '18?

[lyle]

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/11/17/whoa-mitt-romney-to-meet-with-trump-about-possible-cabinet-position/

Whoa: Mitt Romney to meet with Trump about possible cabinet position; Update: Secretary of State?

Judges?

[JM Hanes]

Theo:

"I think that it is fair to say that Trump benefited from these things as any Republican would have done."

I think it would be even fairer to say that Trump capitalized on those things, in a way that no other Republican contender would have done.

[Buckeye]

Yep lyle, this is spot on:

Trump’s victory did not happen overnight, either. The last eight years of the Obama presidency have been disastrous for Democrats. On their way to minority status, Democrats since 2009 have lost a net of 13 US Senate seats, 69 House seats, 12 governorships, and 30 state legislatures. The entire party is a smoldering ruin.

A little over 8 years ago I told ManTran that "the bad news for Republicans was tha McCann was going to lose, and the bad news for Democrats was that Obama was going to win".

Took 8 years, but he has dug a hole that is going to be very hard to climb out of. If Trump is even moderately successful, that hole may turn into a canyon.

[Buckeye]

that McCain

[Buckeye]

Whoa: Mitt Romney to meet with Trump about possible cabinet position; Update: Secretary of State?

Judges?

Only if Mitt is fitted with a shock collar:)

[James D]

The thing about the rank and file federal employees is, they're just people. There's nothing special about them for good or ill, mostly. They're not saints and heroes, but they're also not demons and villains, either.

Except that, because they ARE people, they are subject to the same CYA thinking, and groupthink, and mission creep, and echo chambers, and all the other foibles of human nature, especially when humans sort themselves into small groups.

In that, they are no different than any other people who work anywhere else - at a supermarket or a department store or a factory or a Silicon Valley startup.

Where they are different is that they have extraordinary job protection, and no pressures from competitors or consumers to check those standard human foibles.

In the private sector, if those foibles interfere too much with a company's ability to deliver its products or services to its customers, it will sooner or later go out of business. In the government...there is no going out of business. Things go on whether the "customers' are satisfied with the services they receive or the price they pay for them, or not.

So the worst kind of behaviors are not checked, and, even worse, over time, they are encouraged, or even become necessary to make it through the day in organizations that are totally contaminated by them.

And eventually, you get emails like the ones I posted, from people who truly believe what they wrote with all their hearts.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

lyle,

I believe the original source of that was CNN.

I don't believe it.

[DebinNC]

The Guardian: "On Friday, they [BOzo and Merkel] will be joined by the British prime minister, Theresa May, the French president, François Hollande, the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, and Spain’s Mariano Rajoy."

Today's WH blog: "In the evening, the President will attend a dinner with Chancellor Merkel. This dinner at the German Chancellery is closed press. ... The President will remain overnight in Berlin."

In BOzo the uber-narcissist's world, any situation in which he's not the center of attention doesn't even deserve a mention.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

lyle,

Should clarify.

I think he probably will have Romney come for a meeting.

I don't think he would offer the position to someone who labeled him a fraud. That was too public an insult and would undermine any trust necessary for giving someone that level of responsibility.