I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by taxwonk

Talk about price going down when a drug goes generic doesn't impress me when I won't be alive in 20 years. Besides, your argument flies in the face of the fact that I pay $117 for insulin that I've been taking over 20 years myself.

My argument was that we need wonks because it's complicated. You don't like wonks?

The problem with insulin pricing is very different from other problems - there is a market preference for the new stuff and generic competitors, even though competitive, have lost out and exited the market, taking their lower prices drugs off of it because they weren't making money. I can't think of another market with quite that dynamic, certainly not anything that big (maybe RT can think of a couple). I have my own thoughts on how I'd fix it - but what do you think would work?

[SEC_Chick]

So GGG, what are your thoughts on the investigation into Anthony Weiner's sexting a 15 year old that led to the further investigation of Hillary's emails? The sad part is that if Trump can keep his head down, she'll go down in the polls.

I know that you love Hillary and all, but can you understand how others might be turned off by Hillary personally raising money for a PAC supporting Jill McCabe when her husband was leading the investigation into Hillary's email? Can you not acknowledge that people might be a little turned off by the corruption, and not her extreme wonkishness?

And there is approximately a 1 in 50 shot that Donald Trump can get enough electoral votes, with Evan McMullin winning Utah, to send this thing to the House. I know that this would likely mean President Trump, given the jackasses in Congress, but I can at least dream of a scenario for a President McMullin, however unlikely.

[SEC_Chick]

Originally Posted by taxwonk

Talk about price going down when a drug goes generic doesn't impress me when I won't be alive in 20 years. Besides, your argument flies in the face of the fact that I pay $117 for insulin that I've been taking over 20 years myself.

I feel your pain while I have been dropping a couple of grand per year on Epi-pens that were developed by the government decades ago so my 5 year old won't die if he accidentally eats a peanut.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by SEC_Chick

I know that you love Hillary and all, but can you understand how others might be turned off by Hillary personally raising money for a PAC supporting Jill McCabe when her husband was leading the investigation into Hillary's email? Can you not acknowledge that people might be a little turned off by the corruption, and not her extreme wonkishness?

By "personally raising money", you mean showing up to an event, right? Do you know how much was raised there? Do you know whether she picked up the phone and asked anyone for money, or was this just one appearance among many on the campaign trail? Can you tell me whether there even was an FBI probe at the time of the event? Can you tell me the roll that McCabe's husband had in the investigation, or the timing of the contribution to McCabe - was Hillary involved in any way in the decision?

I saw the slate article on it, but most of the press on this one is from the right wing rumor mill rags and doesn't answer any of the obvious questions a real journalist would look into before running a story.

It is my strong suspicion, and hope, given that she's been campaigning non-stop for two years, that every Democrat everywhere in the country has gotten a contribution from a PAC, state party, or other organization that she (and Bernie) have helped raise money. It is what candidates do on the campaign trail. I suspect if you can find a way to tie anyone actually involved in the investigation to the Democratic party you can find a link to Hillary, and you can make it sound sordid.

But, why should you trust me, after all, I was a judge on a panel for an award run by the Clinton Foundation, and advocated for a group of students for Montreal with an idea to cultivate bugs as a food source in the Sahel, and they won the competition, and have undertaken activities to develop a piece of their business in Kenya, whose current President was in my class at college, and that's the same country Obama was born in, so I'm clearly part of the Kenyan-Canadian conspiracy that installed Obama and is now pushing Clinton. And you will all be eating bugs when we are done!!!! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!!!

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by SEC_Chick

So GGG, what are your thoughts on the investigation into Anthony Weiner's sexting a 15 year old that led to the further investigation of Hillary's emails? The sad part is that if Trump can keep his head down, she'll go down in the polls.

As to this half-cocked Weiner investigation, I don't know whether I'm more looking forward to SNL or the NY tabloids' headlines tomorrow.

Andd..... the NY Post has their first cover out. Dickileaks!

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Not Bob

You forgot to include "tax cuts for the rich" as one of the GOP's priorities.

I just read the new Sebastian Mallaby biography of Alan Greenspan. It's quite good, and gives one some more sympathy for Greenspan -- the caricature of him as a Randian is clearly not right -- even if it's clear in the end that his relative indifference to making regulation work well was a bad trait for the nation's head banking regulator.

But to Not Bob's point, we all forget so easily that the nation was running budget surpluses not that many years ago, until Bush and the Republicans blew them on massive tax cuts for the rich.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by SEC_Chick

So GGG, what are your thoughts on the investigation into Anthony Weiner's sexting a 15 year old that led to the further investigation of Hillary's emails? The sad part is that if Trump can keep his head down, she'll go down in the polls.

You didn't ask me, but I think James Comey has done himself and the FBI an awful disservice. If what I'm reading is correct, and I infer that many people at the FBI are talking off the record to many reporters, none of the newly discovered emails were to or from Hillary, and Comey didn't even know what was in them. If it's true that Chaffetz heard about the emails from someone else at the FBI and pressured Comey to send the letter, so much the worse.

eta: Hadn't seen this, but agree with it.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

I just read the new Sebastian Mallaby biography of Alan Greenspan. It's quite good, and gives one some more sympathy for Greenspan -- the caricature of him as a Randian is clearly not right -- even if it's clear in the end that his relative indifference to making regulation work well was a bad trait for the nation's head banking regulator.

But to Not Bob's point, we all forget so easily that the nation was running budget surpluses not that many years ago, until Bush and the Republicans blew them on massive tax cuts for the rich.

W/o massive tax cuts for the rich i wouldn't be able to fly around the country like a gypsy, a first class pampered gypsy, but one none the less. Then we would never have met

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

You didn't ask me, but I think James Comey has done himself and the FBI an awful disservice. If what I'm reading is correct, and I infer that many people at the FBI are talking off the record to many reporters, none of the newly discovered emails were to or from Hillary, and Comey didn't even know what was in them. If it's true that Chaffetz heard about the emails from someone else at the FBI and pressured Comey to send the letter, so much the worse.

eta: Hadn't seen this, but agree with it.

If I saw one Dem blog that ever said anything negative about her, frankly, on any topic, I might read some of this.

Here's what I don't get. Comey decided no grounds to indict, correct? If so how can he be painted as a hatchet man? Before yesterday wasn't he your hero? Serious question. Because the story that he didn't want to keep quiet about this until after the election to avoid the apparent stink- I mean already we have the story of Bill meeting with someone to talk them out of indicting her etc- that story seems plausible.

I'm voting for Hillary. She could grab a live rat at an event and bite its head off on TV and I would still vote for her. I'm not trolling. I just want to understand how the FBI could be right one day then evil anti-Hil the next?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

If I saw one Dem blog that ever said anything negative about her, frankly, on any topic, I might read some of this.

I don't think of Josh Marshall as a Hillary fan, but ymmv. (He'll vote for her, but so will you. And his post from yesterday explains why he thinks Comey wasn't acting as a partisan hack.)

Here's what I don't get. Comey decided no grounds to indict, correct? If so how can he be painted as a hatchet man?

Not sure who is doing that, but not what I posted and not what I linked. I think Comey is trying to protect himself and the FBI, and he exercised poor judgment, but I don't think he's a hatchet man.

Before yesterday wasn't he your hero? Serious question.

No, he was my hero a dozen years ago. I don't give him a lot of credit for deciding not to recommend prosecution of Clinton on the email thing, because I think a decision to charge her would have been completely absurd. Just as no one was ever prosecuted for the far-more-pervasive use by the Bush White House of private email servers. I have never seen a credible suggestion that there was anything criminal about what Hillary did.

Because the story that he didn't want to keep quiet about this until after the election to avoid the apparent stink- I mean already we have the story of Bill meeting with someone to talk them out of indicting her etc- that story seems plausible.

I agree that he didn't want to keep quiet because it would expose him to attack. But he was going to be attacked for whatever he did -- that comes with the job. If he had followed DOJ policies in what he said, it would have been much easier for him to defend himself, but by free-lancing he opens himself to attacks on his judgment -- especially when he said more to the FBI in an internal memo than he said in his letter to Chaffetz.

I'm voting for Hillary. She could grab a live rat at an event and bite its head off on TV and I would still vote for her. I'm not trolling. I just want to understand how the FBI could be right one day then evil anti-Hil the next?

You'll have to ask someone else, because I don't think Comey personally or the FBI institutionally is evil or anti-Hillary.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Just as no one was ever prosecuted for the far-more-pervasive use by the Bush White House of private email servers.

you honestly need professional help. for 8 years you posted about how W and Rove should go to jail, or at least be impeached. You are still falling back on that? Sad.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

you honestly need professional help. for 8 years you posted about how W and Rove should go to jail, or at least be impeached. You are still falling back on that? Sad.

No, my point was that just as no one thinks what the W folks did with their email was criminal, no one should think that what HRC did was either.

[Icky Thump]

Spend your vote on likely winners like Deez Nutz and Harambe over Jill Stein or Gary Johnson

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/...-nutz-in-texas

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

If I saw one Dem blog that ever said anything negative about her, frankly, on any topic, I might read some of this.

Huh? Really? Dem blogs have been saying negative things about Hillary since before they were called blogs. Before there was an internet.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

I don't think of Josh Marshall as a Hillary fan, but ymmv. (He'll vote for her, but so will you. And his post from yesterday explains why he thinks Comey wasn't acting as a partisan hack.)



Not sure who is doing that, but not what I posted and not what I linked. I think Comey is trying to protect himself and the FBI, and he exercised poor judgment, but I don't think he's a hatchet man.



No, he was my hero a dozen years ago. I don't give him a lot of credit for deciding not to recommend prosecution of Clinton on the email thing, because I think a decision to charge her would have been completely absurd. Just as no one was ever prosecuted for the far-more-pervasive use by the Bush White House of private email servers. I have never seen a credible suggestion that there was anything criminal about what Hillary did.



I agree that he didn't want to keep quiet because it would expose him to attack. But he was going to be attacked for whatever he did -- that comes with the job. If he had followed DOJ policies in what he said, it would have been much easier for him to defend himself, but by free-lancing he opens himself to attacks on his judgment -- especially when he said more to the FBI in an internal memo than he said in his letter to Chaffetz.



You'll have to ask someone else, because I don't think Comey personally or the FBI institutionally is evil or anti-Hillary.

Well, the Comey scandal is ratcheting up now. The debate over Comey's actions is going to be whether he was stupid, reckless or intentionally partisan, and if intentionally partisan, whether it rose to the level of a violation of the Hatch Act (or maybe even higher to a level with criminal penalties).

I suspect the opening scandal in the Clinton administration is going to revolve around whether or not there was communication between the FBI and top republicans, especially in the House, in Ryan's and Chaffetz' office. And since those people were publicly lobbying/goading Comey to make further statements, the odds are that there will be those communications and so the question will be what they were. This is the equivalent of SEC Chick's allegation that Clinton was (horrors!) involved in Democratic Party fundraising - surprise! the Republican leadership was involved in politics. But the FBI head can't be, so every time he took their calls prior to making this release is a problem for him.

I don't think the Dems are really going to care much about Comey in this; the scandal has real legs if the Republican leadership gets caught up in it.

In the meantime, I just hope this doesn't affect the election, especially down-ballot races. But I think the joy you see in Republican circles with this is the possibility that they'll save a senate seat or two and a half dozen house seats from this very ill-timed nothing burger.