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August 01, 2015 08:33 AM UTC

Weekend Open Thread

  • 27 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“Whilst we deliberate how to begin a thing, it grows too late to begin it.”

–Quintilian

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27 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread”

  1. Weird thing. When I first get on site (before logging in) the most recent diary I see is yesterday's on Chaps and no new comments in the recent comments column since yesterday. Once I log in I get this Weekend Open Thread with 0 comments and one new comment from mama, dated today, appears in the recent comments column for yesterday's Chaps thread (worse and worse for Chaps).  Is it possible there is only the Weekend Open Thread and a single new comment since yesterday?

    1. The site was down for a couple of hours early this morning, so very few were on. It still has cache issues, too, at least on my computer with my browers – I often have to refresh a couple of times per thread to see latest posts. For example, if I hit "home" and refresh, I'll see the a list of all comments on all new posts. But if I select one thread and refresh, I'll only see the comments for that one thread.

      I don't know if this is a server issue or what. I've just gotten used to F5ing a lot.

      1. Thanks. Haven't had that problem. I'm seeing a little new stuff and traffic is usually slow weekend days but I'll try refresh in case I'm missing anything.

      2. We were down for a number of hours late last night and this morning due to new server issues that are hopefully resolved now. Thanks for the information about the cache plugin, that could be catching up from the downtime as our offline view tests appear to be current, but it's finicky and we probably do have more to configure there.

      3. We made some changes to the cache system. Please keep us posted on its performance–if you see out of date content, let us know because that's not supposed to happen now even for logged-out users.

    1. I got that too yesterday,  but only on one comment I clicked n in the recent comments column in one thread. Of course I didn't try them all. Guess that was part of the missing 30%. Not getting that today.

  3. I normally find Maureen Dowd a huge pain in the ass but this piece is very interesting. I, like others Dowd alludes to, am growing increasingly concerned about HRC's lack of likeability, serious inability to convey trustworthiness, tendency to meet charges of being deceptive with an over supply of entitlement and arrogance. This is an interesting take on the big "what if" as in what if Dems really do need a plan B.

    I'm also no longer so convinced that Biden's past gaffes are necessarily absolute deal breakers in the present political landscape. Neither Biden nor HRC would be particularly inspiring to young and minority voters but that can be fixed by either of them with the right VP. Think Castro.

    No hint of any kind of scandal, personal, political or financial, adheres to Biden. Even those who mock his foot in mouth moments consider him to be of unimpeachable character, a great husband and father, good person, stand up guy and someone who knows WTF he's doing in both the legislative and international arena. His likeability scores leave HRC in the dust. Who doesn't think Biden is more likely to be able to relate to "people like me" than HRC? I also agree with Dowd that Bernie has a ceiling he is quickly approaching. Is it time for Dems to start seriously considering the notion that HRC shouldn't be considered inevitable? Time to give Joe a serious look?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/opinion/sunday/maureen-dowd-joe-biden-in-2016-what-would-beau-do.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-right-region&region=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region&_r=1

    1. I've always liked him. I was just a little girl when his wife and daughter were killed in that terrible accident, but young as I was, I thought he was so brave to go ahead and take the seat in the Senate that he'd just won. Sure, he puts his paw in his mouth occasionally, but that just points to what a basically honest guy he is. He says what he thinks and sometimes it gets him into trouble. I'll take that any day over someone who measures his words so carefully that you never know which side he's really on..

    2. I love Senator Biden. Always have.  Gaffes don't really matter- except they affect "electability."

       

      I do not believe he can win the nomination.  He was not a real contender in 2008 and he's 8 years older.  

       

      Governors Dayton or  Nixon would be great – both show less than zero inclination to run. Dayton is the same age as HRC. The best chance for a D president is a wacky R nominee. But if it's John Ellis or Kasich, D's are going to have to line up with HRC.

      1. True but in 2008 there was the first African American and first Woman serious candidates taking up all the oxygen. HRC is still the first woman but she's also the second Clinton and let's face it… The Clintons carry a lot of sketchy baggage and, as far as age,  HRC is old, too. I cringe every time she addresses the whole e-mail thing in that arrogant, annoyed, entitled way of hers. Could the coronation wind up being a huge mistake?

        Reagan was old too, but very likeable. At least if you were a typical low info presidential voter. HRC reminds me of Romney in the way they both seem so stiff and uncomfortable in their efforts to appeal to just plain folks.True HRC comes from a garden variety modestly upper middle class background but that was a long time ago. She doesn't behave as though she remembers. Or maybe she does and that's what makes her avaricious as hell. No intention of ever not living large again. In any case, how may of her supporters really like her?

    3. I'm a big fan of Sanders, but I also know it's not realistic to think he could be voted in as President. I'm gonna vote Dem regardless of who's the candidate but I'm not impressed with Clinton. Biden could be a good candidate but I honestly don't know much about him except for "Big fucking deal".

      1. As notaskinny says, you'd know a lot more if you were older. He has had a very distinguished Senatorial career, including international negotiations on various matters, and after his wife and daughter were killed and his son badly hurt in a tragic accident he took the seat he'd won but took the train home to be with his kids every night and coached baseball too. What scares me is the that if his age and a rep for the kind of gaffes that make the late night shows make him unelectable, exactly how electable is equally old, much less liked, much less trusted HRC?  At least his gaffes are humanizing where few see HRC as someone they can relate to. The coronation of HRC is making me more and more nervous.

  4. When is the time to wake up the Dems?  Those who do not care about politics until after the election.  The Obama campaign had waves of people hitting the streets.  Most of us remember the campaign and how they were on their own without regard to other campaigns.

    My own campaign tried to recruit them, but for the most part they were for Obama and not anything political.  Right now I do not see anything like that forming for any of the Dems and Indie candidates.  I see the HRC campaign to be like 2007.  Something showing up late and from the East. 

    There is a lot of time to go.  The Clown Bus explosion should be a lot of fun to watch.  It will be one of the very rare Republican anything I watch.  Storing up popcorn.

  5. Americans handed Republicans the keys to the car this last fall, which R's promptly drove back into the metaphorical ditch:

    [I}n the latest episode of Republican vs. Republican savagery in less than a week, a conservative lawmaker, Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, filed a resolution Tuesday evening aimed at unseating GOP House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio.

    Meadows' move, which infuriated House party leaders, is highly unlikely to oust Boehner. The speaker dismissed it as of little consequence and made clear he would not allow it to come to a vote.

    Oh man, and we haven't even gotten to the good stuff, which is coming to a TV near you this fall. Fiscal cliffs, funding deadlines, government shutdowns, it's all happening. And here's a decent accounting from Erica Werner and Andrew Taylor of how many hurdles McConnell and Boehner will have to contend with moving forward.

    Bank-bench members are celebrated on social media and rewarded by outside conservative groups and voters for challenging party leaders. Leaders themselves can no longer rely on bestowing or eliminating funding for special projects — or earmarks — to reward or punish lawmakers, since that practice has been largely eliminated. Republican animosity toward Obama has created an atmosphere on Capitol Hill where anything that smacks of compromise or retreat provokes howls from conservative voters. And the goals of individual House members representing safe districts — not to mention senators running for president — can run counter to those of their party leaders.

    Republicans can't govern, won't govern, actually hate running that government thingy. If Dems could figure out how to capitalize on Republican incompetence and can make it clear that Repub hatred of government and their operational incompetence are two sides of the same coin then Dems would have local and national legislative majorities as far as the eye can see.

  7. The American Dream is dead people.

    I'm 35 years old. In 2 years, barring no disasters, I will have my credit card debt paid off. I will also finish my degree which means by then I will have to pay my student loan debt. At the same time my daughter will start high school and want to do extra curricular activities which will cost more. Then I'll have to pay for her college and by then some medical issue with someone in my family will cost us a fortune.

    With any luck in 7 years I'll be bankrupt living in a crappy apartment while my daughter goes to college with hope of maybe making it in her adult life.

    1. At 35, I was pregnant with my second child, I was eyeballs deep in school debt, had a huge house payment, and a husband who wanted to stay home with the kids while they were little.  We had some interesting times (turns out probably not an old Chinese curse), but two of my kids are out of school, my son will have his huge debt pardoned or forgiven or whatever because he's going to serve his country.  My daughter will graduate with no college debt.  Of course, she's planning on a PhD, so we're not out of the woods there just yet.  Our house will be paid off 7 years early in about 18 months.  No car payments, no credit card debt, student loans long gone, saving for retirement.  And now my husband wants to retire early.  But we'll be fine.

      Secret to accomplishing all of that?  I am a well-known cheapskate.  Hang in there, Chicken, it can be done.

      1. howzabout taxing the richest among us at a higher rate? It won't kill 'em:

        Tax records released this week show that since leaving the White House the Clintons have done pretty well for themselves. Jonathan Allen explains at Vox, comparing Hillary's finances to Jeb!'s:

        Friday's disclosures make clear that Clinton has made a lot more money than Bush. She's paid $57.5 million in taxes since 2007, well more than the $38 million Bush made between 1981 and 2013. In 2013, the most lucrative year for which he has provided information, Bush made $7.36 million. That year, the Clintons pulled in $27.47 million.

        They also earned $28.3 million in 2014, paying an effective tax rate that year of 45.8 percent in federal, state and local taxes — partly due to the tax joys of living in New York. Their biggest source of income in recent years has been paid speeches, a fact reinforced by Friday's first-time disclosure of $22.3 million in earnings from lecture-circuit stops in 2013.

        For his part, Jeb! has been paying "roughly 36 percent" in a state with no income tax, and to my recollection has not been gauche enough to whine about it, or else he just learned from his father's "read my lips" #fail. Jeb! has in fact refused to sign Grover Norquist's no-tax pledge.

        Republicans will no doubt mine Hillary Clinton's tax records for anything they can make seem suspicious, or fuss over what they claim is missing in her email releases. But what's really missing is the whining over what she pays. Clinton wants people in her tier to pay more. She wants to close the carried interest loophole and push for implementing "the Buffett Rule, which makes sure millionaires don’t pay lower rates than their secretaries."

        Those making over $1 million per year would pay at least 30 percent of their incomes in tax. Plus, in her attack on "quarterly capitalism," Clinton wants to change how capital gains are taxed. Vox continues:

        "We hear very different principles from the Republican candidates running for president. They want to give me another tax cut I don’t need instead of putting middle class families first," Clinton said in a statement accompanying her release. "Families like mine that reap rewards from our economy have a responsibility to pay our fair share."

        None of what Clinton wants to do with the tax code is particularly radical. But Republicans, most of whom have signed a pledge to never raise new taxes, have given her a lot of room to contrast with them.

        Taxing them would be better than having us peasants comeafter them with tar and feathers, wouldn't it? 

        1. And it's not like anyone is proposing confiscatory rates. A return to what used to be considered reasonable back when we had the most prosperous upwardly mobile population on the planet would do nicely.

    1. I have a new conspiracy theory.  The Repubs being polled are just keeping Trump at the top of the list for the sheer entertainment value of the debates alone.  I've got my popcorn ready.

      1. Considering how crazy the Republican base has become it's no surprise that he gets about a fifth of them. That still leaves the overwhelming majority of Americans seeing him for the carnival barker he is.

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