May 9, 2018

"Republicans can exhale now. Convicted coal magnate Don Blankenship’s surprise third-place finish in Tuesday’s West Virginia GOP Senate primary sidestepped yet another debacle..."

Sidestepped? Blankenship got less than 20% of the vote, and even the guy who came in second beat Blankenship by almost 10 percentage points.

I'm reading Politico's analysis of yesterday's primaries.

To sidestep is to avoid something by stepping to the side. The oldest usage of the word, according to the OED, is in football (so, I guess: soccer), when a player just steps to the side to avoid a tackle (is there tackling in soccer??). Figuratively, it means "To avoid or evade (an undesirable person, situation, or challenge); to avoid discussing or dealing with (a difficult or disagreeable issue)." So, something or someone is coming at you, and instead of engaging and fighting, you just step to the side, and it/they miss you. Seems like something that happens in cartoons... and — to be fair to Politico — that Blankenship thing did feel like a cartoon....
Blankenship was living in a Phoenix halfway house this time last year, after his conviction for conspiracy to skirt mine safety rules after an incident claimed the life of 29 miners at one of his facilities. He called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “Cocaine Mitch” and made racially charged comments about McConnell’s family.
I've got to admit, I averted my eyes. Glad it's over. I still don't know what "Cocaine Mitch" was all about, but I've glanced at "The kooky tale of ‘Cocaine Mitch’" at WaPo's fact checker long enough to see that it got 4 Pinocchios... speaking of cartoons.

106 comments:

Michael K said...

Politico's analysis is always reliably left wing.

langford peel said...

That is correct. Politico is the center of liberal conventional wisdom. They are the school paper of the Deep State and the establishment.

Just as the National Review is the school paper of the cuckish Neocons.

Websites are even more worthless than liberal rags like the New York Times. At least you can wrap your fish in newspaper.

Anonymous said...

It's from real football, not metric football.

So it's real tackling that you're dodging

Given Blakenship's poor showing, it's more like a "straight-arm" than a "sidestep"

Achilles said...

langford peel said...
That is correct. Politico is the center of liberal conventional wisdom. They are the school paper of the Deep State and the establishment.

Just as the National Review is the school paper of the cuckish Neocons.



The Politico and National Review are paid for by the same people.

They just have different people to lie to.

Kathryn51 said...

"surprise" third place finish?? Hah - only in the fevered brains of the MSM.

If Joe Manchin wins in November, the headline will be something like "Manchin squashes Morrisey, not "Dems sidestep another loss".

Achilles said...

Blankenship was a moby supported by the same people who support/own CNN and the Politico.

The globalists are spending an immense amount of money in the primaries. Republican primaries.

langford peel said...

Blankenship was just another rich guy who thinks if Trump can do it I can do it too.

What he doesn't realize is that there is only one God Emperor. Often imitated but never duplicated.

Michael K said...

The globalists are spending an immense amount of money in the primaries. Republican primaries.

I understand that Soros is spending millions in Florida.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Convicted coal magnate Don Blankenship’s surprise third-place finish in Tuesday’s West Virginia GOP Senate primary sidestepped yet another debacle for the party after consecutive meltdowns in special elections in Alabama and Pennsylvania.

Diagram that sentence. Note that it is the third-place finish that is doing the side-stepping. How does that metaphor work? Isn't the one doing the side-stepping the one that is trying to avoid the encounter? In this case, it's the GOP that should be side-stepping.

Achilles said...

Kathryn51 said...

If Joe Manchin wins in November, the headline will be something like "Manchin squashes Morrisey, not "Dems sidestep another loss".

Manchin is finished. Trump shows up two or three times in a state he won 68% of the vote in.

Trump is more popular now than when he won in November.

The blue wave is a fever dream of a bunch of wacked out losers. They will get huge turnout in coastal enclaves and get absolutely destroyed everywhere else. All we will hear is whining about how LA County had 8 billion people vote with 144% of the legal voting age population voting and it only got 5 reps elected.

Anonymous said...

Blankenship got less than 20% of the vote, and even the guy who came in second beat Blankenship by almost 10 percentage points.

Was he ever polling any better than that? "Republicans can exhale"? I think that must mean "impotent concern trolling and dashed leftist hopes".

tcrosse said...

Missed it by that much.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

The lesson to be taken from this is that you shouldn't believe any of the polls. (Which is the same lesson from 2016). The left/media were pushing Blankenship but were light years away from the actual result.

We may not even have a blue ripple in 2018.

rehajm said...

Wait- I was told he was leading a few days ago. So another data point for polling sucks and/or media are propagandists.

langford peel said...

I knew he never could get elected when he killed all those miners in Hope Valley.

I just wish that Mountie Jack had lived to see it.

Big Mike said...

I'm reading Politico's analysis of yesterday's primaries.

@Althouse, if you want to waste time why not just go and iron some bed sheets? Hardly anyone in the media "gets" the Republicans, and any "analysis" those folks do is at best tainted, at worst so wildly, willfully, wrong that you could do better with a Ouija board.

Yes, someone (from Blankenship's staff?) leaked (?) poll results that suggested he had a lead in the three-way race (yes, technically a six-way race). But Republican voters have seen what happens when you nominate a weak GOP candidate in an allegedly red state like Alabama or to run against a moderate, telegenic candidate in Ohio. All of yesterday's nominated candidates seem to be good candidates to take important seats in November.

TRISTRAM said...

There is tackling in both football and football. Looks different though. Most of the time in American football, a large man knocks the other guy down (or holds on long enough to stop play). In the other football, a much smaller guy almost touches the ball handler, who then goes down like he has a compound fracture of the spirit.

CJinPA said...

Also at Politico: "Women trounce men on first major primary night of the year."

From a section titled "Women Rule."

This is political reporting from the Nickelodeon Network.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

WE were assured, breathlessly, by the poll-prop press, that Blankenship was within striking distance.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Angle-Dyne, Angelic Buzzard said...

Was he ever polling any better than that?

He was solidly last, but there were not a lot of polls, and there were a large number of undecideds. In a 3-way race there were enough undecideds that if they had broken strongly for him, he could win. Never likely, though.

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

Yes, there is tackling in soccer.

CJinPA said...

Politico has yet to report on Nancy Pelosi saying yesterday that Democrats will work to repeal the Trump tax cuts (as far as I can find.)

Pelosi announced this at an event hosted by...Politico.

Yancey Ward said...

In my opinion, Blankenship was never in the running. The coverage he got was provided precisely for that reason-he wasn't in the running- it was provided to try to give him boost towards victory. Had he gotten no coverage, he would have finished with less than 5% instead of 19%.

Ralph L said...

Your tag is a time traveler.

Bay Area Guy said...

Probably, the Left was funding and promoting Blankenship in the primaries.

That's how those knuckleheads roll..........

Curious George said...

Cocaine Mitch? No way. Cocaine Mitch wouldn't bend over for Chuck Schumer like the eunuch he is.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

OT & LOL.
The geriatric wing of the Democrat party want Hillary in New York's AG slot.

Nonapod said...

I have no idea if the guy was some sort of Moby candidate, but it certainly seems weird that so much attention was given to him. That said, from now till November I would advise all Republican primary voters to beware when some outlandish candidate starts getting a whole lot more media attention, not to mention suddenly having money. It seems as if the the Dems are getting increasingly desperate.

TestTube said...

Beto O'Rourke doesn't stand a chance against Ted Cruz either. Other than in Austin and in the feverish dreams of Democrats.

Bay Area Guy said...

@DBH,

"OT & LOL.
The geriatric wing of the Democrat party want Hillary in New York's AG slot."

She'd have the perfect campaign slogan -- "LOCK ME UP!"

Charlie Eklund said...

TestTube is spot on. Beto O’Rourke is another sure loser being held up as a real threat to Cruz. Not. Gonna. Happen.

Ficta said...

"In the other football, a much smaller guy almost touches the ball handler, who then goes down like he has a compound fracture of the spirit."

Particularly if he's Italian. In Premier League play, anyway, you can get yellow carded for "simulation"; which is an awesome rule.

Beach Brutus said...

We need to return to having primary run offs. First past the post invites yahoos and the more crowded the field the more likely one can win.

Achilles said...

Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...
OT & LOL.
The geriatric wing of the Democrat party want Hillary in New York's AG slot.



Democrats don't care if their abusers are male or female. They just want damaged unbalanced people in charged.

Beldar said...

Off-topic, but how can there not be a post at Althouse about this from today's WSJ: 11 Burning Questions About Men's Shorts, Answered. Prof. Althouse will not agree with most of these answers, if she adheres to her past views.

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

In soccer you tackle the ball, not the opponent. The ball is lose around his feet, so you get to it with your foot before his next foot does. That looks like a leg tackle, but it is more like a steal from a dribbler in basketball with no fouls called for reaching in.

Beldar said...

If Trump actually wanted to put Manchin and other Senate Dems up for reelection this year on the spot, he'd have not pulled out of Obama's Iran deal, but rather would have submitted it for an up-of-down vote in the U.S. Senate, remedying the constitutional cowardice of the Obama Administration.

Manchin voted along with Republicans in 2015 to kill the deal, but Dems had a sufficient majority supporting it that they didn't need Manchin's vote, and thus his vote with the Republican minority was one that cost Manchin absolutely nothing among his fellow partisans, but that will let him claim in this year's general election to have been against the deal (when his vote wasn't meaningful, just a show-vote). By submitted the deal to the Senate for its certain death there — it wouldn't even get a simple majority, much less the two-thirds needed for ratification of treaties — Trump would at a stroke change the conversation from being one about him vs. Obama to a conversation about the merits, or lack thereof, of the deal and how only the Senate can ratify treaties (which this was in substance, but, dishonestly, not in form).

Of course, Trump knows nothing of political tactics or the Constitution, and prefer that every conversation be about him.

Beldar said...

*"by submitting the deal to the Senate for its certain death there," I meant to write. Sorry for the confusion.

Real American said...

what Politico didn't say was that they'll soon enough find some other loser to hang around the neck of the GOP and pretend he represents the whole of the party.

Anonymous said...

One thing I noticed last night in looking at the Ohio primary results was that in the House primaries Republican turnout in contested races was quite large compared to Democratic turnout. A few examples (rounded): District 6 R vote 59,200, D vote 29,200; District 7 R 53,800, D 29,600; District 10 R 53,400, D 34,030; District 12 R 67,000, D 43,800. In the governor's primary - which was heated -the totals were much the same R 827,039, D 679,738. So much for more enthusiasm among the Democrats. If I were running Dems in Ohio I would be concerned - but I am not and i don't care.

Gospace said...

Don Surber, who blogs on all things WV and most things nationally, called it several days ago. The undecideds and won't says in the polling were so large that the polls were meaningless. Undecided isn't a choice in the voting booth.

30% of the Democrat votes went to Paula Jean Swearengin, who had no budget and was someone no one had ever heard of. That doesn't bode well for Manchin's reelection chances.

wildswan said...

Hillary could run for NY AG using her old slogan "I'm with her" meaning "I", the Attorney General investigating the Clinton Foundation "am with her", meaning Hillary Clinton. And it would be true -if that matters anywhere in New York.

Hagar said...

Yes, there is tackling in soccer.
Not in the American sense, at least not by amateur rules. You may run up and press on the other player's body with yours in order to reach the ball with your feet, but you may not hit him, must not use your elbows, and - horrors! - definitely not use your hands.

Anonymous said...

@Beldar I understand your point about submitting the Iran deal to the Senate; but why would he do that when he clearly thinks its a bad deal? The President gets paid the big bucks to make the kind of decisions Trump is making. He doesn't play political games such as you suggest. If you think its all about him, it's clear you don't understand what's going on and need to look a bit harder at what's going on. Today's example is the return of the three NORK detainees as a gesture of good faith toward the upcoming summit.

Michael K said...

Of course, Trump knows nothing of political tactics or the Constitution, and prefer that every conversation be about him.

I was agreeing with you until that line. It is not smart to go full Patterico.

That is, if you want to convince anybody.

Michael K said...


Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...
OT & LOL.
The geriatric wing of the Democrat party want Hillary in New York's AG slot.


There's another wing ?

wildswan said...

This election discussion interests me because in Wisconsin in the Republican primary we have an unknown, Kevin Nicholson, running against a well known conservative, Leah Vukmir. Kevin Nicholson was converted from his previous position as a member of the DNC and supporter of Planned Parenthood by his life experiences as a combat Marine officer in Iraq. He is now a Republican and prolife. And if he were a Democrat his courageous service as a Marine would mark him as a conservative. But as a Republican I wonder if we don't need more than military service to prove an intention to be a conservative? To my understanding, after he left the Marines, Nicholson lived in Wisconsin during the whole entire struggle over Act 10 and the attempted Walker recall and the battles over Planned Parenthood and over wages and over Foxconn without ever speaking up anywhere about any of these issues. His out-of-state money gives him TV and radio ads, gives him a voice but it can't give him a record of fighting for conservative issues.

Whereas Leah Vukmir was battling away on the front lines like a Marine for the conservative position all the time. So we know what she would do in the Senate.

It's hard to know who to support.

Quaestor said...

Beldar wrote: Of course, Trump knows nothing of political tactics or the Constitution, and prefer that every conversation be about him.

On the contrary, it's you who knows nothing about political tactics. Submitting an agreement that has already been abrogated by Iran to the Senate for ratification would make Trump look indifferent to the violations implicit in the Iranian nuclear weapons research archive.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Michael K said...

There's another wing ?

The Antifa wing tends to be fairly young.

Achilles said...

Michael K said...

Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...
OT & LOL.
The geriatric wing of the Democrat party want Hillary in New York's AG slot.

There's another wing ?

Beldar just appeared.

Beldar said...

@ Khesanh 0802 (5/9/18, 2:48 PM), who asked, "[B]ut why would he do that when he clearly thinks its a bad deal?"

He would do it to show respect for the constitutional treaty-making process and the Senate's role in it, and to expose the hypocrisy of Obama, who carefully maneuvered to avoid a Senate confirmation vote, and most of all, he would do it to put every senator definitively on record as to whether they do or don't support Obama's Iran deal. This is not about "political games," but rather, about creating political accountability.

Submitting the deal to the Senate as a treaty is not at all the same as recommending that the Senate actually ratify it. A negative vote is as significant. Just about 100 years ago, the members of the Senate were obliged to go on record three times on votes for or against the Treaty of Versailles that, among other things, would have resulted in the U.S. joining the League of Nations. The treaty as negotiated by Wilson was voted down; the treaty with modifications proposed by GOP Sen. Majority Leader Henry Cabot Lodge was likewise voted down; and then, months later, a last and final chance to ratify was given the Senate, and once again it refused. No one could later argue that there was doubt about whether the U.S. had or hadn't ratified the deal; no one could doubt who supported it and who opposed it; no one could run for re-election, as Joe Manchin will this fall, under the false pretense that he opposed the Obama deal based on his joinder with the GOP in a meaningless "show vote" when his partisans already had the majority they needed to continue with the "this treaty is not a treaty" charade.

Lyndon Johnson would have understood all this instantly. Read Caro's "Master of the Senate," in which you'll see how Johnson used the threat of a record vote -- and its accountability -- as a potent political tool to either pass or block legislation.

There's no risk that the Obama deal will be accidentally ratified. So make the Dems own the Obama deal, and move the debate from a Trump vs. Obama narrative (unproductive, since neither of them could make a binding treaty without Senate ratification) to the place where the debate is actually supposed to take place, with the correct voting standard created by the Constitution for treaty ratifications.

Beldar said...

Gosh, the instant ad hominem here is revealing. Lots of low-wattage high-wrath commenters.

Bay Area Guy said...

I am glad that Beldar is commenting here again. He always has an interesting, informative perspective.

However, I, like the others above, think your political advice on this one discrete issue is all wet. Trump gets a bigger political bang for the buck by breaking the "agreement" as he did, not by bogging it down through Senate hearings/votes when the darn thing wasn't even ratified by the Senate as a real treaty.

Question: I believe you were not a big fan of Trump during the primaries. Any change of thought on this, 1.5 years into his presidency?

Most of the folks here (myself included) are drunk off the Trump Kool-Aid, and plan to stay plastered for as long as possible.

Achilles said...

Beldar said...
If Trump actually wanted to put Manchin and other Senate Dems up for reelection this year on the spot, he'd have not pulled out of Obama's Iran deal, but rather would have submitted it for an up-of-down vote in the U.S. Senate, remedying the constitutional cowardice of the Obama Administration.

Then Beldar's favorite "republicans" McCain and Flake and probably half a dozen others could take the opportunity to betray republican voters again and humiliate the president and the entire party.

Flake was just out there today again trashing the president. It is going to take a few more elections to remove the democrat wing of the republican party.

Achilles said...

Beldar said...
Gosh, the instant ad hominem here is revealing. Lots of low-wattage high-wrath commenters.

Crying already?

You failed to get Hillary elected.

Now you are angry we have had the most successful year of conservative governance in nearly a century.

And the only thing that held it back was traitors in the republican party who control the house and senate.

Republican voters are very angry. You earned it.

Unknown said...

I wouldn't want to be a RINO. Those who would do what's best for their party and not for our people. Yes, I wrote "People" not "Country". Interesting to watch the DINO Saurs emerge. . AJ at his best.I blame Melania and the kitchen table cabinet.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Michael K said...

“The geriatric wing...”

“There's another wing ?”

This, coming from you? LOL.

tim maguire said...

If Trump submitted the Iran deal to the senate for ratification, it probably wouldn't get 10 votes. Democrats would be able to take co-credit for killing it. Why give them that?

Drago said...

Once again with Schneiderman, we find out that what that scum was up to was well known amongst democrats.

For years.

And they did nothing.

Unexpectedly.

Drago said...

tim maguire: "If Trump submitted the Iran deal to the senate for ratification, it probably wouldn't get 10 votes. Democrats would be able to take co-credit for killing it. Why give them that?"

shhhhh.

Beldar the Magnificent Political Strategist is opining....

Rabel said...

"This is not about "political games," but rather, about creating political accountability."

Actually, Beldar, it's about preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Trump took the direct route rather than using the issue to score political points.

traditionalguy said...

Silly Rabbit. The McConnell family doesn't use cocaine. They just supply it.

MadisonMan said...

I know you're all talking about Trump and Iran now, but I'll still ask:

Exactly who was surprised by the 3rd-place win? The person in 4th place?

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Cohen/AT&T/Novartis/Victor Vekselberg-Columbus Nova/Korea Aerospace Industries, and probably more coming to light. No wonder Trump was so freaked out when Cohen’s office, home and apartment were raided. Cohen’s shell company Essential Consultants, the very same company that paid off ( funneled) $130,000 to Stormy, taking these payments from these companies...for what? Selling access to the President? Bribery? Pay to Play?

Oh my.

Drago, yes you should shush, Beldar is a far more reliable political strategist than you, a Trumpist, could ever hope to be. You’re a pretty good propagandist though, so don’t be sad.

Jim at said...

If Trump submitted the Iran deal to the senate for ratification, it probably wouldn't get 10 votes. Democrats would be able to take co-credit for killing it. Why give them that?

Exactly. Beldar is being too cute by one half.

It was a crappy deal. It wasn't binding in any way.
Kill it and move on to something better.

Oh, and give the left plenty of airtime to reveal all their love for the mullahs of Iran.

Drago said...

LOL

Keep trying Inga.

Columbus Nova is an American entity and any payments to Cohen are legal.

Further, there is no evidence that any money came from any oligarch. Viktor Vekselberg is a cousin of the owner of Columbus Nova.

You know who DID receive direct and indirect payments from Putin-linked russian oligarchs?

Bill and Hillary Clinton, while Hillary was Secretary of State.

Keep hope alive!!

Drago said...

My favorite part of the Avenetti accusations is that 2 of the payments supposedly made to Michael Cohen (Trump lawyer) are actually,....wait for it,...wait for it....2 completely different Michael Cohen's!

LOL

It's literally the Michael Cohen travels to Prague lie all over again! But this time with dollars!

BTW, this is interesting:

"It is unclear how Avenatti obtained the financial records cited in his report. But various news outlets, including The New York Times, also appear to have viewed the documents. The Treasury Department’s office of the inspector general opened an investigation into whether someone leaked Cohen’s financial documents to Avenatti and the press, it was reported on Wednesday.

It remains a mystery how the financial records of a completely separate Michael Cohen would have ended up in the tranche of documents provided to Avenatti."

http://dailycaller.com/2018/05/09/avenatti-michael-cohen-israel/

JAORE said...

As day follows night:

If there is a Republican candidate anywhere that is, or can be portrayed as, loony THAT candidate will be elevated in importance. He, or she will also be portrayed as representative of the entire Republican Party.

It matters not the actual poll numbers.

Drago said...

Meanwhile, not to be outdone, the New York Times literally accuses Pompeo of being AWOL during an important decision announcement (Trump dumping the pro-Mullah Iran arrangement by obama (it's not a treaty and was never even a signed agreement)).

Of course, he was actually doing "stuff" with North Korea at the time.

But the NYT story was retweeted many times so Mission Accomplished on that one.

tim maguire said...

Lawyer handles money. Film at 11:00.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Columbus Nova is an American entity and any payments to Cohen are legal.”

“The New York Times reported that Columbus Nova's biggest client is a company controlled by Vekselberg. According to the Times, a lawyer for Columbus Nova said in a statement that the $500,000 payment to Cohen — which was made via a shell company — was a consulting fee that was unrelated to Vekselberg. Nonetheless, both Vekselberg and Cohen's ties to Columbus Nova are now sparking numerous questions, primarily about Vekselberg's potential connection to Trump.

According to The Washington Post, Columbus Nova is the American affiliate of the Renova Group, a company founded by Vekselberg. Columbus Nova reportedly hired Cohen last year, but told The Washington Post that Vekselberg had nothing to do with this hiring decision, nor is he involved in paying Cohen.”

Pay to Play and selling access to the President are not legal, no matter where the company originates from or who owns the company. Weak, Drago.

Drago said...

The bast part of last week was Nancy Pelosi promising to push everyone back onto obamacare AND to take away everyone's tax cuts if the dems regain the majority.

Not to mention the dems intention to force every 5 year old girl in public restrooms to potentially have to view adult male genitalia.

'cuz that's what's really important.

Well, that and allowing democrat superheroes to beat the snot out of women and call them "slaves". Lot's of Schneidermans victims were actually told by democrat women to keep their mouths shut.

Because, of course they did.

Quaestor said...

Beldar: Submitting the deal to the Senate as a treaty is not at all the same as recommending that the Senate actually ratify it.

Actually, it is. It is the Administration's role to negotiate treaties. Presumably and legally treaties are finalized before submission to the Senate since that body can only ratify or decline to ratify a treaty, they cannot make amendments. It is the height of political absurdity to submit a treaty for ratification that has already been abrogated.

You should back off this trainwreck you've initiated. It makes you look incompetent as a lawyer.

tim maguire said...

Inga, is Columbus Nova a legal company? Yes or no?

Drago said...

Inga: "The New York Times reported that Columbus Nova's biggest client...."

Thanks for making my point.

You know who else has lots of russian clients? The good old Podesta Group!

You know who else has lots of russian clients? Every single consulting firm in Washington DC and New York.

So now the crime is going to be if an American firm has russian clients.

Yep, that sounds like exactly where the left would have to go.

tcrosse said...

If I were one of the many Michael Cohens in this world, I would be feeling quite uneasy about the privacy of my personal banking records.

Drago said...

Inga: "Pay to Play and selling access to the President are not legal..."

LOL

Tell it to the Chicago/Obama/Hillary gang!

They actually did it! It's called Uranium One, and quite a bit other examples as well.

There is literally zero evidence it ever happened with Trump.

But hey, an American firm had a Russian Client!!!11!eleventy!11!

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Inga, is Columbus Nova a legal company? Yes or no?”

Paying to get access to the President, bribery, pay to play is illegal, no matter if the company is legal or not.

Drago said...

tcrosse: "If I were one of the many Michael Cohens in this world, I would be feeling quite uneasy about the privacy of my personal banking records"

Inga and the lefties appear to quite blase about the banking records of multiple people named "Michael Cohen" being leaked to the press.

But then, why should the left be concerned? They are in full on destruction of Bill of Rights Mode and aren't about to change anytime soon.

FIDO said...

What they really mean is 'Democrats can sigh in disappointment that they can't Moore another Republican candidate'.

Drago said...

Inga: "Paying to get access to the President, bribery, pay to play is illegal, no matter if the company is legal or not."

Hillary and company proved quite conclusively that no it is not....anymore.

Regardless, there is literally zero evidence of Trump engaging in that.

Naturally, there is significant evidence of the Clinton's/dems engaging in that.

Original Mike said...

”Pay to Play and selling access to the President are not legal, no matter where the company originates from or who owns the company.”

Boy, Hillary sure dodged a bullet when she lost, didn’t she?

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Is Blago still in jail?

FIDO said...

Nah. Hillarys' AG campaign slogan is 'I only hit men.'

Or perhaps "I'm the Dom!"

Drago said...

You know what is illegal?

Leaking the private banking records of American citizens.

By the way, just where is Avenetti getting his money from? It ain't coming from Stormy Daniels and Avenetti does not seem to have any other clients.......

Someone is paying his bills.....

Chuck said...

Khesanh 0802 said...
One thing I noticed last night in looking at the Ohio primary results was that in the House primaries Republican turnout in contested races was quite large compared to Democratic turnout. A few examples (rounded): District 6 R vote 59,200, D vote 29,200; District 7 R 53,800, D 29,600; District 10 R 53,400, D 34,030; District 12 R 67,000, D 43,800. In the governor's primary - which was heated -the totals were much the same R 827,039, D 679,738. So much for more enthusiasm among the Democrats. If I were running Dems in Ohio I would be concerned - but I am not and i don't care.


Well there's a pretty clear, albeit lengthy, answer to your comment.

The reason that OH-6, 7, 10 and 12 all had more Republican votes is because those districts are R+16, R+12, R+4 and R+7, respectively. And of course as you note, even though those districts might not have been competitive primaries (only the 12th is an open seat), there were the hugely hot and competitive gubernatorial primaries to draw out voters of both parties. We R's always have the numerical advantage in primaries and off-year elections; we turn out better.

Drago said...

#StrongDemDefender Chuck: "We R's...."

LOL

Drago said...

I wonder if Mueller is going to adopt the preferred Eric Schneiderman (Democrat-Superhero) method of extracting compliance which basically boils down to beating the s*** out of women and then threatening them all the while ALL the dems know perfectly well what he is up to.

On the plus side for Schneiderman, at least he didn't do what so very very many other powerful dem abusers did: literally hire the biggest democrat law firm in the country to hire agents to harass and intimidate victims of Big Dem Abuse.

So, he has that going for him, which is nice.

Michael K said...

By the way, just where is Avenetti getting his money from? It ain't coming from Stormy Daniels and Avenetti does not seem to have any other clients.......

Someone is paying his bills.....


Her bills, too.

Michael K said...

It remains a mystery how the financial records of a completely separate Michael Cohen would have ended up in the tranche of documents provided to Avenatti."

Joe the Plumber could not be reached for information about financial records being leaked to the media.

Such a mystery !

Drago said...

It's really odd how all these leaks and disclosures go only one way........

If only there were some reasonable explanation that could illuminate why that is....

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“It's really odd how all these leaks and disclosures go only one way........”


“Wikileaks, I love Wikileaks!”

Donald Trump

Achilles said...

Inga said...
“It's really odd how all these leaks and disclosures go only one way........”


“Wikileaks, I love Wikileaks!”

Donald Trump



Inga does not understand the differences in context between these situations.

You have to be truly stupid not to know how a disgruntled Bernie supporter leaking DNC perfidy to wikileaks is different than government agencies/bureaucrats leaking information of private citizens not in the government.

But if she wasn't stupid...

Drago said...

Inga: "Blogger Inga said...
“It's really odd how all these leaks and disclosures go only one way........”


“Wikileaks, I love Wikileaks!”"

Apparently, Inga believes Wikileaks is a US Govt Agency.

Well, that certainly explains quite alot, doesn't it?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

It's always a good day for Republicans when one of their Nazi candidates gets beaten out before making it to the general election.

FIDO said...

We R's always have the numerical advantage in primaries and off-year elections; we turn out better.

Who is this 'we'?

wwww said...


-twitter. Jeff B@EsotericCD:

"Does anyone want to talk about all those internal polls that supposedly showed Blankenship surging into a lead in the WV-SEN GOP primary? He ended up with 20% of the vote, in 3rd place behind Morrissey and Jenkins.

INTERNAL. POLLS. ARE. LEAKED. TO DRIVE. MEDIA COVERAGE."


wwww said...

"By the way, just where is Avenetti getting his money from? It ain't coming from Stormy Daniels and Avenetti does not seem to have any other clients.......

Someone is paying his bills....."

In his last case he won about 540 Million. He's not worried about paying rent on his office. He also owned a chain of coffee shops and is a professional race car driver. So there's that.

YoungHegelian said...

And, speaking of the glory days of Journolist, when we sat down to dinner tonight, my wife regaled me with how slanted she thought NPR's reporting was on --- guess what issue? --- Blankenship's loss in WV. It was framed exactly like Politico, i.e. "Republican Disaster Narrowly Averted", which, as the Good Professor pointed out wasn't true at all.

Matter of fact, it was a victory for Team Trump. He told West Virginians not to vote for whack job Blankenship, &, by gumbers, they didn't.

sane_voter said...

2012 WVa primaries. Dems 202,000 votes GOP 104,000 votes
2018 WVa primaries Dems 160,000 votes GOP 136,000 votes

Many voters in WVa are registered Dems but vote GOP in the general. Even so, the ground has shifted a great deal in the last 6 years away from the Dems, so Manchin has his hands full this fall.

Michael K said...

"In his last case he won about 540 Million. "

Sounds lie Edwards. What ambulance did he catch ?

Rigelsen said...

Beldar: “Of course, Trump knows nothing of political tactics or the Constitution, and prefer that every conversation be about him.”

Also Beldar: “Gosh, the instant ad hominem here is revealing. Lots of low-wattage high-wrath commenters.”

Look Beldar, I generally appreciate your comments, but that earlier post sounds like ad hominem to me. Yes, I understand a lot of people seem to have a “But Trump” rule, where Trump means niceties of law, ethics, and norms don’t apply to them as much as they claim they don’t apply to Trump himself. However, not being a Trump voter myself, I still have trouble taking people seriously who castigate Trump for his incivilities on the one hand all the while behaving as bad on the other.

And as far as Trump knowing “nothing of political tactics or the Constituion”, perhaps you can explain how something that was never designed as a treaty, and was intentionally not structured as such, could be submitted as a treaty for the Senate to ratify.

wwww said...

"What ambulance did he catch ?"

Surgical gowns.

"Kimberly-Clark and Haylard Health, who he claimed had knowingly sold defective surgical gowns. The case ended in a $454 million jury verdict that the Post reports could net his firm $100 million in legal fees."

tim maguire said...

Blogger Inga said...
“Inga, is Columbus Nova a legal company? Yes or no?”

Paying to get access to the President, bribery, pay to play is illegal, no matter if the company is legal or not.


True, but we're talking about Trump, not Clinton. Even you can't pretend there is evidence that Trump did any of those things.