Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

One last point on Franken... Ty suggested that I was arguing that Gillibrand cannot be elected President because of what she did to Franken. This is incorrect. Gillibrand cannot be elected President because Gillibrand is a lousy candidate with nothing original to say. She wouldn't last five minutes in a debate with Warren or Harris. She's an entirely political confection, saccharine, hollow... the utterly vacant creation of focus groups, consultants, and donors.

Perhaps you are confusing me with someone else.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Not Bob

“What about Sherrod Brown!?!” asks the product of a union-proud, JFK/RFK worshipping family in the Ancestral Homeland.

The Senators are all over-rated. Biden too. Someone is going to emerge as a good candidate because they perform in this race, not just because they won a Senate seat. So I guess that leaves Beto. Where are Democratic Governors?

[Not Bob]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

The Senators are all over-rated. Biden too. Someone is going to emerge as a good candidate because they perform in this race, not just because they won a Senate seat. So I guess that leaves Beto. Where are Democratic Governors?

Yahoo News reports that when staffers left her office, Sen. Klobuchar would call their new bosses to get offers rescinded.

Ooof. I’m perplexed about how to feel about this whole mashugana. Would a dude senator be facing this level of interest? And yet, if true, calling a new employer to fuck over a person who has the temerity to want to work elsewhere takes it to a different level.

At any rate, this is some @dick_nixon level oppo dump.

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Who said Gillibrand was shrill? I said she's soulless. She's a stuffed suit. And an ambitious opportunist.

I think she's a zero. Like Mitt Romney was a zero. I think she's guided by nothing but focus groups and polls, and has no independent thought.

So without knowing who exactly you were writing to, or what your point was, here's my view on the candidates:

Beto: Vacant media darling, McCandidate
Harris: Smart and thoughtful, but has to up the charisma a bit
Warren: Super-smart and formidable (if people will pay attention to her sometimes complex policy arguments)
Bernie: Past sell by date
Klobuchar: Don't know anything about her
Booker: Smart, but overthinking and too perfect, occasionally precious
Biden: He can walk away with it, as he could have in 2016
Gillibrand: 0.00, total phony

Kasich: DOA, egomaniac
Christie: Trump v. Trump
Romney: Oh, fuck... Not again

Schultz: Not dynamic enough to be a spoiler... 15 min almost up

Wait. One. Minute. Hahahahaha! I see what you did there, you rascal. I posted an article that talked about how 1) Hillary was branded as shrill, and 2) current female politicians are also branded as shrill. I did so to gently poke fun at the fact that you previously had stated emphatically that neither is true. Then you used a little sleight of hand (you sneaky devil!) to make it seem like what we were REALLY talking about was whether YOU had specifically called Gillibrand shrill, which allowed you to INDIGNANTLY DENY THAT YOU HAD MADE ANY SUCH CLAIM!!!!!!! Even though I never suggested that you had. Oh you, you almost tricked me. I was sitting here thinking, "He's right! He never actually said Gillibrand was shrill. Why was I repeatedly and earnestly insisting that he had?" Your sematic trickery, it never ceases to amuse. As for my point, it was to post that Mononeon/Cardi B video. I love how the bass player, Mononeon, picks up so well on the melodic AND percussive qualities of Cardi B's speech. Also, notice how his bass is backwards. He is lefted handed and plays it upside down.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

I'm saying that there should have been an ethics hearing/investigation in which he could have defended himself.

I do not know know what "should have been" means in this context.

I take you to be saying that your sense of fairness tells you that some process is due before he is punished. I don't disagree.

But he wasn't punished and the question was a political one, not a legal one. Politically, he was in an untenable position. Fairness and due process don't come into it.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

In any other normal time, rather than at the peak of #metoo, people would have reacted to Franken in a circumspect manner.

Yes, it used to be "normal" to excuse the bad behavior of men toward women. That it's not is progress, particularly the type of progress Democrats try to demonstrate that they favor.

She's an entirely political confection, saccharine, hollow... the utterly vacant creation of focus groups, consultants, and donors.

I've heard two lengthy interviews with her recently and don't agree at all.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Who said Gillibrand was shrill? I said she's soulless. She's a stuffed suit. And an ambitious opportunist.

I think she's a zero. Like Mitt Romney was a zero. I think she's guided by nothing but focus groups and polls, and has no independent thought.

So without knowing who exactly you were writing to, or what your point was, here's my view on the candidates:

Beto: Vacant media darling, McCandidate
Harris: Smart and thoughtful, but has to up the charisma a bit
Warren: Super-smart and formidable (if people will pay attention to her sometimes complex policy arguments)
Bernie: Past sell by date
Klobuchar: Don't know anything about her
Booker: Smart, but overthinking and too perfect, occasionally precious
Biden: He can walk away with it, as he could have in 2016
Gillibrand: 0.00, total phony

Kasich: DOA, egomaniac
Christie: Trump v. Trump
Romney: Oh, fuck... Not again

Schultz: Not dynamic enough to be a spoiler... 15 min almost up

Don't underestimate Gilli's ability to connect. Her first political victory was the congressional district I grew up in, and with a couple of minor and brief exceptions it had been Republican since the 19th century (and, indeed, my Congressman's family had held the seat as Federalists, Whigs, and Republicans). She has an extraordinary amount of energy and if you are ever in the room with her, you leave feeling like you're her best friend and she listened to every word you said. It's the kind of charm Bill Clinton had. Could play very well in Iowa caucuses.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Biden: He can walk away with it, as he could have in 2016

I love this. Dude has never broken single digits in a Dem primary field. The only basis to believe he's more viable than any of the rest is name recognition.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Not Bob

“What about Sherrod Brown!?!” asks the product of a union-proud, JFK/RFK worshipping family in the Ancestral Homeland.

Don't forget Mayor Pete, Julian Castro or someone named Jim Delaney who is not the Commissioner of the B1G.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Don't underestimate Gilli's ability to connect. Her first political victory was the congressional district I grew up in, and with a couple of minor and brief exceptions it had been Republican since the 19th century (and, indeed, my Congressman's family had held the seat as Federalists, Whigs, and Republicans). She has an extraordinary amount of energy and if you are ever in the room with her, you leave feeling like you're her best friend and she listened to every word you said. It's the kind of charm Bill Clinton had. Could play very well in Iowa caucuses.

Why trouble Seb with all that? Any word if Johnson and Stein are running again? This time they’ll def get that 5%!

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by ferrets_bueller

Very few are smart enough to walk away when they “ring the bell.”

After much deliberation, I have determined that I am in a position that my financial future, and that of my family unto my grandchildren's generation, is secure. Having worked at the same outfit for 44 years, I have decided not to make a career of it. The signature cases I have on my docket are in the "pig has moved through most of the python" stage. My successor is more than ready, she has been ready for a decade. Time to step down before the Board taps me on the shoulder, pins a note to my sweater, and leaves me at a dog track. It is time. I'm going out on a very good note.



At age 72 and a low fraction, I will ring the bell on March 29, thus making April Fools Day my first day of retirement. Bueller LLC will open for business the next day.



Mostly, I'll be found at beaches between North Carolina, Bermuda, Aruba, Costa Rica, and, when the narco problem clears up again, Barra Beach in Rio. Buy futures in SPF 90 sunscreen. I'll be using it by the quart as I fish for breakfast at sunrise, reapplying until the cocktail hour at sunset.



I also expect to be busy enough, but not too busy. I will be working for the World Bank and the Financial Services Volunteer Corps once or twice a year to see a few of the more remote emerging economies I have yet to visit. Get ticket, review facts on the ground, write report, repeat.



I wish all of you the same level of happiness in your careers that I've been fortunate enough to have. Peace.

Mr. Bueller, enjoy your life off. Might I recommend Greek beaches?

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

Why trouble Seb with all that? Any word if Johnson and Stein are running again? This time they’ll def get that 5%!

I'm betting Seb ends up deciding all the candidates are imperfect so why not just screw it and vote for Trump. After all, he lowered someone's taxes.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Not Bob

At any rate, this is some @dick_nixon level oppo dump.

It's not really an oppo dump. Those calls are coming from inside the house.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

Why trouble Seb with all that? Any word if Johnson and Stein are running again? This time they’ll def get that 5%!

Oddly, though I disagree with her on much, I could vote for Warren just because it’s so rare to have an expert on bankruptcy and consumer debt running for office. And I think she’d pass bills making it easier for millennials to shed debt.

I also secretly want to see the corporate state implode. She’s a step in that direction.

We need the market to fall to 15k and masssive forced debt forgiveness to have honest economy and give the kids a chance.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

I'm betting Seb ends up deciding all the candidates are imperfect so why not just screw it and vote for Trump. After all, he lowered someone's taxes.

Nope. He had a chance. Had he risen to the situation, even to the lowest bar of acting like an arguable adult, I could be swayed. Sadly, he’s been a bigger train wreck than my worst case predictions.

It’s not like he’s a fool. There’s an argument for putting a torpedo in China and stalling globalization. But I don’t think he does anything for any thoughtful reason. He’s just blundering through, incoherent, and without a plan, lashing out at media enemies like Oliver Stone’s paranoid version of Nixon. Only instead of paintings to assail, Trump has Twitter — a giant toilet bowl of his ADD effluent.

I think I save money with his tax plan. But not enough for me to vote for him.