Political Theatre category archive

Via Job’s Anger.

Reince Priebus tries to clear Trumps.

Via Kos.

Sauce for the goose, but not for the gander. Joe Conason explains:

Whenever a transgression against transparency is charged against the Clintons, whether real, alleged or invented, America’s political media rise up in sustained outrage. From the offices of The New York Times’ Washington bureau to the Manhattan studio of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” journalists bitterly protest Hillary Clinton’s erased emails and her family foundation’s fundraising methods. And they will surely snap and snark about her “scandals” from now until Election Day.

Which, under present circumstances, might be justified—she happens to be running for president—except for one glaring problem. Very few in the press corps apply the same standards to any Republican politician.

Nobody will ever get to see the thousands of messages erased from the private email account used by former Secretary of State Colin Powell when he held that high office. He got rid of them and got away with it (as most likely did former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who implausibly claimed not to have used email, when the State Department asked for hers).

It goes on. Read it.

I don’t have to be a Clinton fan to say that Conason is quite correct on this one. When she is the topic, the press turns into some weird political Humbert Humbert gripped by a forbidden compulsion.

Via Progressive Populist.

Juanita Jean has the scoop.

Chris Christie puts on the squeeze.

Daniel Ruth is optimistic about his chances in Iowa:

Since I announced my candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination a few months ago, the groundswell of support has been overwhelming.

To date, I’ve received at least three or four emails encouraging my campaign. And Thomas and Carol Epstein of St. Pete Beach sent in a $1,000 donation. Unfortunately, it was in the form of fake Confederate currency. But it’s the thought that counts.

But what has really inspired me to find the inner strength to carry on has been the fact that both my political machine and the campaign juggernaut of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham are virtually polling neck and neck in Iowa at zero percent.

Jack Ohman takes issue with Anthony (I almost typed “Antonin”) Scalia’s claim that California, the compass and the redwood forests to the contrary notwithstanding, is not a western state. Here’s bit:

Scalia argues that hippie-laden California can’t possibly reflect the real world: you know, like, say, his native New Jersey, governed by a man who thinks the West is Passaic County.

Alfred Doblin, who at one time thought favorably of Chris Christie, is now less than enamored.

The governor spoke Tuesday of restoring the American Dream. If he has not done that in New Jersey, how can he convince voters he can do it on a large scale? Running New Jersey is not an easy job, but there is nothing in Christie’s résumé to suggest he will be adept at negotiating with Russia, Iran or even mildly annoying critics. “Sit down and shut up” is not a foreign policy.

Nor is being blunt a sign of leadership; it’s just rudeness. Being a leader means staying until the job is finished, not until you find something better. Most important, public service is not a means to an end; it is the destination.

Via Juanita Jean.

Dick Polman has a wonder:

I have to wonder (albeit in jest): Is Donald Trump a double agent, hired by the Hillary camp to wreak havoc inside the opposition party?

Follow the link for more wonders.

Republicans: pay attention to what they do, not to what they say.

Dick Polman tries to understand why there are so many clowns in the Republican Clown Bus.* It’s worth a read.

You can see a catalog of clowns here. (H/T to Bad Tux.)

_______________

*Polman left out the part about the Republican base’s having gone insane with racism and bigotry from the triumph of Nixon’s odious southern strategy.

Very large twits.

They call themselves “Republicans,” but they are, in truth, nihilists.

Reg Henry finds literary precedent for the current American political scene.

Just look at our politics. When it comes to peculiar characters, the Republican candidates for president make the inhabitants of Wonderland look quite normal. The only interesting thing about this lot is which of them most resembles the characters Carroll dreamed up.

For example, I can’t decide whether Rick Santorum is the (mad) Hatter or the March Hare. As for Donald Trump, he may be the only one without a parallel identity, but even Lewis Carroll couldn’t imagine someone like him. He is just too improbable for fanciful literature.

But it is not just the Republicans who inhabit the American wonderland. To my mind, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton is the Cheshire Cat, . . .

More madness at the link.

Mark Davis thinks he knows how to select debate participants from the Republican clown bus.

Some good New Hampshire Republicans have a noble idea of splitting the “top tier” between two debates, filling the remaining lecterns with lower names in the polls.

Not good enough. While it avoids the stigma of the laggards’ lineup, who picks the matchups? I’d pay money to put Lindsey Graham right next to Rand Paul. Do we combine Texans Ted Cruz and Rick Perry, or separate them? Same question for Bush and Marco Rubio. And which lucky group gets Trump?

There is only one solution: two debates, names chosen randomly.