May 21, 2015

"Suspects in the recent biker brawl in Waco, Texas, only slightly outnumber the 2016 Republican Presidential candidates, leading some voters to have difficulty distinguishing between the two groups, a new poll shows."

Ha ha, very funny, but... just let me say 5 things:

1. Seven... eight... who remembers?... human beings got murdered killed in that Twin Peaks shoot out and no one cares. Should we be a little ashamed of taking murder death so lightly?

2. These people all stand accused of mass murder organized crime, and it's just some kind of meaningless joke:



3. It would be funny if that were animated and they all started looking around at each other "Brady Bunch" style.

4. We're being prodded to think of the numerosity of the GOP field of candidates as absurd. (How will they debate?) I keep seeing GOP-disparagers calling the group a "clown car." What's really going on? I say it's displacement of anxiety over the extreme opposite happening on the other side: only Hillary.

5. What will we get tired of first, the only-ness of Hillary or the overly-ness of the GOP? I've been giving this a lot of thought. It's complicated. Hillary has been trying to avoid too much attention, and if there's no action, maybe attention will be lavished on the GOP and we'll get tired of them as a group. But won't they be attacking her? She can't sit back and hope we don't think about her for the next year. And I don't see the GOP candidates attacking each other. Hillary and her allies can't do very well attacking the GOP candidates. Which ones would she pick on, and why help the GOP thin the crowd? To do so would not only strengthen the remaining group, it would require her to take positions and get specific, making her an easier target.

92 comments:

Known Unknown said...

Your 'non-partisan' media at work.

Known Unknown said...

Too add, one is comedy, the other (my link) isn't.
But I can't tell which one is funnier.

trumpintroublenow said...

Most if not all the the bikers were killed by cops so I don't think murder is the right word.

tim in vermont said...

Nobody needs to know either what Hillary thinks, or what she was thinking when she made momentous decisions in the past, the consequences of which are just becoming apparent.

Give it up losers! The donors have spoken and it shall be she who is not to be questioned!

garage mahal said...

Where were these thugs parents? Why did these thugs shoot up their own neighborhood? (I'm speaking of the Waco gang bangers)

Laslo Spatula said...

The crowded field of Republicans has to be careful as to not seem to be ganging up on poor little Hillary.

All of these men ejaculating in her hair as a group could be seen as dangerously close to bukkake.

Then there would be the rallying cry for Democrats: Don't Bukkake Hillary!

So we shouldn't go there.

I am Laslo.

chickelit said...

garage mahal said...
Where were these thugs parents? Why did these thugs shoot up their own neighborhood? (I'm speaking of the Waco gang bangers)

Jobs and reparations for bikers!

tim in vermont said...

Meanwhile, the Democrats' strategy of attacking Fiorina as "Horse Face" will succeed in keeping the uppity girl in her place.

chickelit said...

The guy at 9 across, 8 down is an outlier.

Scott M said...

Should we be a little ashamed of taking murder so lightly?

BIKER LIVES MATTER

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Will someone pls post a link to the companion "New Yorker" piece mocking Hillary?

Brando said...

The real issue to do with the numerosity of the GOP field is that it makes debates unwieldy if they are all invited--but so what? Televised debates are a relatively recent thing, and to the extent that the party and networks want to have them they can establish any rules they want--only the highest recent polling candidates (as Fox News is trying to do) or maybe one forum might decide to pick and choose who they think is most likely to represent a given constituency. Or, since they're doing several debates, have them go five at a time and keep mixing and matching them. It's not as though there's only one opportunity to debate.

And once the voting starts, or even well before that, some of the weaker ones will drop out and we'll be down to just a few by mid-primary season. Nothing wrong with that.

Meanwhile, I hope they keep aiming their fire at Hillary--and maybe trying to win over new voters with some of their arguments. The GOP can't afford to do what they did last time.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I say it's displacement of anxiety over the extreme opposite happening on the other side: only Hillary.

I'm going to go out on a limb, here, and posit that not too many Christians spend a whole lot of time wondering whether Jesus is merely one contestant among thousands.

Birches said...

Seven... eight... who remembers?... human beings got murdered in that Twin Peaks shoot out and no one cares. Should we be a little ashamed of taking murder so lightly?

Yes, why not the rabid calls for gun control now?

And I don't see the GOP candidates attacking each other.

I think that's why Rand Paul's in the race. To take it to Hillary! the way no one else will. I can't see him attacking other republican like that, save for Lindsay Graham.

Brando said...

"Where were these thugs parents? Why did these thugs shoot up their own neighborhood? (I'm speaking of the Waco gang bangers)"

Wake me when you start hearing people plea for "understanding" the "justifiable rage" of these bikers. After all, they're all underprivileged and we should not be so quick to judge them.

When the media and politicians start in on that crap, then we'll start talking double standards.

Birches said...

The guy at 9 across, 8 down is an outlier.

Better not show my kids that Santa's been arrested.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

1. Nine.
2. If the police shoot and kill your criminal confederates, you're guilty of murder.

MarkW said...

Imagine how vastly different the reporting would be if the Democratic field looked like the Republican one (young & old, male & female, White, Hispanic, African-American, & Asian-American) with a lot of geographical and ideological diversity and the Republican field looked like the Democratic (small, old, white, and exclusively Eastern establishment).

Troubled Voter said...

"I've been giving this a lot of thought [to find the best angle for Republicans and the worst angle for Hillary and Democrats.]"

Sebastian said...

"It's complicated"

Only for the "moderate," "cruelly neutral" voter.

"and we'll get tired of them as a group"

What do you mean, "we"?

"We" discount Prog propaganda. "We" will let the primaries sort things out.

"They" will do what they can to ridicule the GOP and anoint Hillary! as heir apparent.

May work with LIVs and "moderates."

damikesc said...

Note: You don't see white celebrities bailing out the bikers.

Jay-Z, though, is bailing out the "protestors".

Where were these thugs parents? Why did these thugs shoot up their own neighborhood? (I'm speaking of the Waco gang bangers)

I'm sorry, you seem to be thinking that we're saying these bikers didn't deserve to be harshly punished.

We aren't making them martyrs.

Yes, why not the rabid calls for gun control now?

Hell, where's the #blacklivesmatter crowd now that blacks are slaughtering other blacks in Baltimore at impressive levels?

Fabi said...

More diversity in the group of arrested bikers than in the group of geriatric Democrat presidential hopefuls.

traditionalguy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

Biker gangs advertise in every way that they are willing violent killers of anyone who insults them. The Waco, Texas police went out of their way to prove they have the upper hand over biker gangs.

That is why we call them our Peace Officers. They restore peace with firepower.

And then there was Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow and firepower.

traditionalguy said...

The Clinton Foundation will need lots of cash to pay for many diggers up of dirt on that many Republicans. The news media will be stretched thin and need private hired help.

Bob Ellison said...

Lying low...lying low...powder dry?

James Pawlak said...

Again I note that those KILLINGS improved both the level of public safety in Texas (And the USA) AND the human genome.

garage mahal said...

"I've been giving this a lot of thought [to find the best angle for Republicans and the worst angle for Hillary and Democrats.]"

The theme of this blog.

MayBee said...

Ha! Imagine taking a picture of the people arrested in the Baltimore Riots and comparing them to Democrats in any way!

MadisonMan said...

Allegedly*, 120 members of a Crime Family right there. Let's joke about it?

*Inserted because they may not all be guilty.

Humperdink said...

Maybe Mark Halperin could interview these candidates ... er .... suspects. He could asked them to respond with a little Spanish lingo.

steve uhr said...

2 down 4 across appears to be a poster child for racial harmony.

rhhardin said...

News is entertainment, owing to the business depending on ratings.

On the GOP, it's a little dysfunctional because you get lots of candidates representing the most popular views, and that splits the most popular vote and some less popular view guy wins.

Brando said...

"Ha! Imagine taking a picture of the people arrested in the Baltimore Riots and comparing them to Democrats in any way!"

Hmmm...two old, white retreads (Sanders and Clinton) compared to the Baltimore rioters?

Of course, I don't see how a group including two hispanics, a black surgeon, a female former CEO, and the son of a former president could really be compared with a biker gang but that's the Left for you these days.

madAsHell said...

#BikerLivesMatter

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

I think the mass arrest was intended to save lives. Just putting the usual suspects behind bars for a while prevents a gang war. I doubt most of the arrests will stick.

lemondog said...

Too much diversity for Repubs.

Also at least one woman in the group.

Row 2, 4th in, is a retired vice cop

bbkingfish said...

16 GOP candidates for POTUS, and all they can talk about is Hillary Clinton.

They couldn't be doing a better job of making Hillary look like the President-in-waiting.



Gabriel said...

In January 2004 the Dems were still running 9. We're now 6 months further out from the election than that.

While Republicans did make fun of the "nine dwarfs", the media didn't treat it as anything ridiculous or unusual.

Gabriel said...

@Mark W:Imagine how vastly different the reporting would be if the Democratic field looked like the Republican one (young & old, male & female, White, Hispanic, African-American, & Asian-American)

We don't have to imagine, because that happened in 2004.

Which was apparently some kind of Dark Age from which no records have survived.

Gabriel said...

In January 2004 the Democrats were running:

John Kerry
Dennis Kucinich
John Edwards
Al Sharpton
Carol Moseley Braun
General Wesley Clark
Howard Dean
Joseph Lieberman
Dick Gephardt

retired said...

That's the Left, biting and scratching all the way down.

Fernandinande said...

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...
Will someone pls post a link to the companion "New Yorker" piece mocking Hillary?


Angel of Death is Strong, Independent Woman like Hillary.

(but Newspeek forget to mention Hillary...)

Bay Area Guy said...

I fully agree with the esteemed Professor on this one.

9 people are dead, dozens injured.

Tell me again how the no. of GOP candidates relates to this tragedy?

For many people, including the media, every news article is read thru the lens of "how does this help our side, hurt their side?"

Skeptical Voter said...

Ah the New Yorker--full of snark and self referential--intended only for an audience that believes the world ends a few miles west of the Hudson.

It would be better suited for its proper use if it were printed on non slick paper--something like Charmin.

Quaestor said...

In January 2004 the Democrats were running...

To be fair the Democrats didn't actually run Al Sharpton, who was in it strictly for the tax-free filthy lucre. (Sharpton's long-defunct campaign organization still has outstanding hospitality bills, btw.)

The Nooyawkah doesn't link to that poll, which makes me suspicious. The fact that it would publish someone as insipid as Andy Borowitz only illustrates just how long gone the days of James Thurber are. It's like evolution in reverse. The New Yorker, once gloriously bipedal has lately resorbed its legs and grown gills and fins. Next stop: slime mold.

damikesc said...

16 GOP candidates for POTUS, and all they can talk about is Hillary Clinton.

The other Dem candidate is...?

You discuss your opponent, not your temporary rival.

Unknown said...

Birches, for what it's worth the Chief of Police in Austin called this event a demonstration of why open carry (currently tracking through the legislature) would be bad for Texas. Didn't get much reporting since it was a pretty inane comment even for a liberal.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

THATS NOT FUNNY!!!!

Anonymous said...

If it were the Bloods and Crips what would the Left be saying?

Quaestor said...

There are more hispanics in that biker lineup and in the GOP field than on any Democratic horizon.

Michael said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michael said...

Garage

Look up "riot."

Look up "gun fight"

Otherwise you are tying hard to keep up with the talking points, even, especially, the stupid ones.

Michael said...

I am thinking that Hillary might think she is being assailed by a gang of bikers when she gets in the ring with the young GOP opponent who will have been through hell debating his team mates all these months in a clown car.

We will see who the clown is after those debates.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

They've already given up on the "media/cops are nicer to white bikers than black rioters" theme?

pdug said...

2 down 4 across ([one of the] the black one[s])

is a former san Anotnio vice detective.

Is he undercover?

"Just over a decade ago, Lewis could have been the one putting folks in cuffs.

He was a detective and worked in the vice unit at the San Antonio Police Department for 32 years, retiring in February 2004, according to a police statement.

"As far as my office is aware, he was a vice detective. Our vice unit primarily investigates prostitution, gambling, and liquor violations. At this point, we don't have info that he was ever assigned to infiltrate a gang," San Antonio police spokesman Sgt. Javier Salazar told CNN.

Word that a former man in blue was among those arrested didn't sit well with Waco Police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton.

"When I heard that this morning, it made me sick to my stomach," Swanton said."

Brando said...

"I am thinking that Hillary might think she is being assailed by a gang of bikers when she gets in the ring with the young GOP opponent who will have been through hell debating his team mates all these months in a clown car."

It's a double edged sword--regular debating and rapid response through a primary is great practice for the general (look how sheepish Obama was in his first debate compared with Romney) but particularly GOP primaries tend to be nasty leaving the winner with plenty of mud on them. Ideally the primary can be a good proving ground leaving a genuinely strong candidate ready to take on the Democrat.

dreams said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michael said...

Brando

I agree. The progressives are obviously worried that their old rich white woman might have a problem against one or more of the younger, perhaps Spanish-speaking, GOP contenders. Hillary like most progs prefers to lecture than debate and further is endowed with a very thin skin. I believe we might see her lose her temper. Worth the wait.

Drew Cloutier said...

In 1992, Bill Clinton was one of "the seven dwarves" running in the D primaries for the privilege of losing to George H.W. Bush.

Gahrie said...

Where were these thugs parents?

Given the apparent age of those involved, mostly dead.

Why did these thugs shoot up their own neighborhood? (I'm speaking of the Waco gang bangers)

They didn't. They started a gangfight in a restaurant parking lot, and the cops shot the place up.

By the way I don't hear anyone protesting how gentle and innocent the bikers were, or attacking the cops for doing their job.

furious_a said...

Charming, CA ain't got nothin' on Waco, TX.

Considering the gunfight occurred at noon on a Sunday in a churchgoing town with family restaurants nearby and alongside a busy interstate, it's a miracle there weren't any stray-bullet/ricochet bystander casualties.

Well played, Waco PD, McLennan Co. Sheriff's Dept, and TABC.

garage mahal said...

he progressives are obviously worried that their old rich white woman might have a problem against one or more of the younger, perhaps Spanish-speaking, GOP contenders.

Obviously. Worried.

averagejoe said...

1. Seven... eight... who remembers?... human beings got murdered killed in that Twin Peaks shoot out and no one cares. Should we be a little ashamed of taking murder death so lightly?

2. These people all stand accused of mass murder organized crime, and it's just some kind of meaningless joke:

3. It would be funny if that were animated and they all started looking around at each other "Brady Bunch" style.

Hmmm...Cognitive dissonance, unintended irony, hypocrisy, or simply trolling for smart alecky responses? I think #3 is funny and would be hilarious, but then again, I'm not on the fainting couch having the vapors over a bunch of lawless gang members shooting each other.

garage mahal said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
furious_a said...

Me, I can't wait to see Hillary's debate performance where she doesn't take any questions from the moderator(s).

gerry said...

Hillary like most progs prefers to lecture than debate and further is endowed with a very thin skin.

Seven chinlifts may have stretched it a mite thin.

Michael said...

Garage

If you would trouble to read newspapers you would know that there is worry among Democrats about the viability of their candidate. And concern that their shallow bench is especially evident when compared with a deep one.

You can yuk it up about clown cars but in a few short months your candidate (because there is no other for you) will be older and none the wiser and will be asked some very hard questions. Repeatedly.

Brando said...

If I were a Democrat, I wouldn't be confident of a Hillary win because she has serious weaknesses as a candidate--she depresses her own base, is pulling a reverse Romney (trying unconvincingly to appeal to that base which may turn off the middle, ripe for a GOP candidate who can take advantage of that) and she's seriously ethically challenged. Plus, the press likes her a lot less than the typical Democratic candidate, in part due to her aloofness (whatever their political leanings, they want a good story, and they want quotes--a candidate who gives them no access and is dull is death for a professional journalist). Plus, she is a lousy politician--a terrible speaker, slow on her feet, and thin skinned (and certainly comes across that way). She also has a knack of picking a weak set of advisers--look at how they screwed up 2008, and how long it takes her to address issues in the media. A crack team would have been all over that.

But there is one saving grace--the GOP often digs its own grave, nominates a weak candidate, and turns off enough of the middle that the Democrats only have to be slightly less bad. At this point, the Dems have to count on that--but there's always a chance the GOP actually picks a competent candidate who can put Hillary on her heels. And we know she isn't very good under pressure.

If I were a Democrat, I'd be pretty worried going into next year and praying the GOP somehow screws this up again.

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...


How are the Clintons not in jail?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Seven... eight... who remembers?... human beings got murdered killed in that Twin Peaks shoot out and no one cares.

You mean there wasn't a Freddy Gray amongst the dead.

Saint Croix said...

I was like, "that's a lot of scary white people."

And then I was like, "oh shit, racial integration! We've racially integrated the biker gangs! Awesome."

Saint Croix said...

It turns out that guy is a retired police detective. Whoa. He's got some kind of Two-Face thing going on with that beard.

Dr Weevil said...

So the only one who's actually black is or was an undercover agent? (Yes, one or two others - e.g. 3 down, 2 over - look to have some African ancestry, but are so pale that they qualify as 'mixed-race' at best.) How did the others not notice that he didn't exactly fit in? Did he threaten to call them racists if they didn't let him join? Or did they notice, and 'turn' him, and that's why he's a "former" undercover agent?

Birches said...

So the only one who's actually black is or was an undercover agent?

I remember seeing a picture that showed a lot of mixed race people (and some women) among the arrested. So I dug around and found this picture from Time. The New Yorker wouldn't purposefully remove some of the color from their photo would they? Nah.....

Saint Croix said...

So the only one who's actually black is or was an undercover agent?

Maybe he's on double secret probation.

Saint Croix said...

that Two-Face beard kills me

"I'm a cop! No, wait...

Rusty said...

garage mahal said...
he progressives are obviously worried that their old rich white woman might have a problem against one or more of the younger, perhaps Spanish-speaking, GOP contenders.

Obviously. Worried.


You actually think she's going to win.
That's precious.

richard mcenroe said...

Hey, #27 was turning his life around and thinking of going to college. I blame his participation in the gunfight on the spiritual journey the shrooms sent him on.

RecChief said...

4. We're being prodded to think of the numerosity of the GOP field of candidates as absurd. (How will they debate?) I keep seeing GOP-disparagers calling the group a "clown car." What's really going on? I say it's displacement of anxiety over the extreme opposite happening on the other side: only Hillary.

That's what you see? I see the writer comparing GOP candidates to thug bikers.

kzookitty said...

I would find it amusing if all those heads were in glass jars full of formaldehyde. They could sell tickets!

kzookitty

Drago said...

Lol

Every time garage posts you can just hear Fredo saying that he's not dumb, like everybody says, but smart!

David said...

To the editors and some readers of the New Yorker, the Waco brawl was just a conflict between some subhuman trines, whose life and death are of little import to the People Who Matter.

hombre said...

Here's the rub: Borowitz thinks we think he's kidding.

Given the lefties', particularly lefty journalists, critical thinking deficiencies, people are more likely to place him in the company of the moron at Slate who compared the Repub candidates with the leader of ISIS.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2015/05/abu_bakr_al_baghdadi_sounds_a_lot_like_a_republican_presidential_candidate.html

Francisco D said...

Why are we even discussing this subject, aside from the obvious benefit of keeping Garage from jerking off too much?

clint said...

Is the New Yorker worth reading anymore? I lost interest when the covers got boring and the cartoons stopped being funny.


Re: Republican debate...

It doesn't have to get unwieldy, it just needs to use a different format than a one-on-one debate. The key is no crosstalk. Raise an issue, then give each of the 16 candidates five minutes to state their position and argue for it. An hour and a half later, the media figure can raise a new topic.

They're scheduling like a dozen debates. There won't be sixteen candidates by the time the last one rolls around.

Michael Ryan said...

Do bikers dye their hair to look tough? There's not a single blond guy?

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Approximately one quarter of those "white" bikers seem, by appearance and by name, to be Latino. It's amazing how so many progressives and blacks use this to show how bad white criminals can be, and some on soc. media have even called them skinheads and racist gangs, but biker gangs, rare among crime gangs, it seems, seem to be racially integrated. Not fully integrated, as many are mostly white, or mostly white and Latino, with a few blacks. True, there are black biker gangs, and Hell's Angels are apparently (mostly) all white, but think of Latino street gangs, black street gangs, prison gangs, Sicilian and Russian mobsters, and old-time Irish and Jewish gangs -- all separated by the primal reality of race, and yet biker gangs seem to have embraced at least some degree of diversity.

Smilin' Jack said...

""Suspects in the recent biker brawl in Waco, Texas, only slightly outnumber the 2016 Republican Presidential candidates....

Preposterous. I haven't been following the GOP race too closely, but I'm sure there can't be more than 2000 candidates.

tim in vermont said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Willys said...

Looking once again at the photos of those well dressed men, I'll ask...

Can you tell the difference between a Mexican and an Arab?
On the border?
At midnight?
In the dark?
With night vision goggles?
If he's running?

Anonymous said...

"Should we be a little ashamed of taking murder death so lightly?"

Depends on whose death, and what caused it. In this case, the more dead, the merrier.

Clown Car vs Her Clowniness.