For the First Mention of Hillary is Going to Raise Taxes on the Middle Class

Charles Pierce mentioned this video, so I went over to politifact for this. Just to have it handy.

Hillary Clinton just admitted to a big tax hike, at least according to Donald Trump.

The Trump campaign sent an email blast to supporters embedded with a video of a Clinton event in Omaha, Neb., entitled, "Hillary Clinton says she wants to ‘raise taxes on the middle class.’" 

I'm sure it makes perfect sense to a Trumpkin that HRC would holler out proudly that she's going to raise taxes on the middle class.

Republicans Who Love Hillary

Just linking to this Joe Conason piece on Hillary love among the Right.

A presidential election isn’t exactly a popularity contest, although journalists and pollsters often treat it as such. But perhaps voters should understand that what they think they know about the personality of one very familiar candidate is nothing more than media mythology.

The bottom line.

For the Next Mention of Chicago

The article is about gun buybacks, but I wanted this bit.

Shooting incidents are down 19.3% citywide compared to the same time period last year, with 531 shootings through July 31, compared to 662 in 2015. 

For the next time someone tells me about the gun violence in Chicago, where they have strong gun laws dontcha know. They have them in NYC, too. 

They Need to Hit Bottom

Rick Wilson, Republican strategist, has an article in the Daily News on Sunday. He's hurt, really hurt by the Trump candidacy. Hurt the way Erick Erickson is.

To begin to repair the damage done, they need to see not that their way almost succeeded, if only one or two states had broken differently. They must absorb the painful reality that their way cannot, will not, ever work again.

So when it's over, Trumpkins, remember: You're not purging us. We're purging you.

No more hate and reckless group blame. No more fact-free fearmongering. No more feeding the obese ego of a man who's transparently unfit for the job.

And after the party gets this philosophical poison out of its system, it needs to re-professionalize the way it wins elections. You'll see at the end of this race dozens of articles on how Hillary Clinton's team took the amazing data science and voter contact architecture created by Obama and enhanced it.

This wasn't rocket science; it's basic, professional campaigning. While Donald Trump was retweeting "White Genocide 1488 Ovenmaster," Clinton's campaign was building data files and contacting swing voters. While Trump was tweeting about "Crooked Hillary," she was having precisely targeted television ads aimed at swing voters in the suburbs of key cities in battleground states appearing at just the right moments. While Trump was depending on red hats and WWE rallies, her people have been going door-to-door by the thousands, knocking, talking, winning hearts and winning votes.

I know Trump fans think of professionalized campaigning like this: "We don't need you fancy smart people with experience and your campaign discipline and your writers and polls and your computers and your TV ads. All we need are hats and Trump's Twitter account. Hold muh beer while I build a wall and make Mexico pay for it."

I feel his pain and truly hope the GOP becomes a real party again some day. I know the Democrats need a yang to their yin. 

God, I'm Sick of Trump

But, what the hell, I'm bored.

Iowa’s Republican Gov. Terry Branstad appeared with the celebrity businessman at an afternoon rally, his third appearance in the swing state over the past two weeks. But in neighboring Wisconsin, a state Trump insists he can win, the state’s best-known Republicans said they were too busy to attend an evening event.

I did check. Branstad is not up for re-election for another two years. Those facing election this year are busy avoiding Trump. Still disappointed he didn't come to P'burgh. I'm sure Elise is too.

House Speaker Paul Ryan cited a scheduling conflict, while Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said he’d attend an all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner instead of appearing with his party’s standard bearer.

Well, it was all you can eat and Walker loves him some s'getti. 

Trump called his Democratic opponent “a dangerous liar,” ‘’an unbalanced person,” ‘’pretty close to unhinged,” ‘’totally unfit to lead,” and lacking “the judgment, temperament and moral character to lead the country.”

That's the clearest case of projection ever. 

Trump’s approach to national security came under fire Friday as well, with former CIA Director Michael Morell contending the Republican nominee would make “a poor, even dangerous commander in chief.”

Morell, outlining his views in The New York Times, also questioned Trump’s unusual praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin

“In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation,” wrote Morell, who was CIA director in the Obama administration and now works for a firm run by one of Clinton’s closest advisers.

Avoiding the term useful idiot, or just idiot if you're into that whole brevity thing.

Quote of the Day:Donald Trump

Surprisingly, Trump is making his first appearance in this somewhat regular feature. I didn't remember this beauty.

“Sure, I got deferments. But — excuse me, Chuck, let me finish. Would you really want a president who was dumb enough to let himself get drafted? I mean, it wasn’t hard to get out of it, believe me. My doctor said I had a bump on my heel or something, I don’t know. I don’t even think he was a doctor, frankly. The government is just very, very stupid, OK? Which is why only I can fix it.”

Well, enjoy that Purple Heart.

UPDATE: Apparently, this was not a true quote, but a hoax. My apologies for besmirching the reputation of Donald Trump. 

Bookmarking Charles Pierce

First is this post explaining the "ransom" paid to Iran. The synopsis:

In January, possibly because everybody involved got tired of windmills and tulips and really good beer, the two countries finally settled matters. As Agence France-Presse reported at the time, the U.S. agreed to pay $400 million in cash and $1.3 billion in interest to settle the claim first filed on behalf of a government that had been overthrown for nearly four decades. 

Second is a link to an NYT video showing how "refined" the average Trump supporter is.

Presented without comment, except to say that, if Mother Times is willing to break the F-Bomb barrier, even by proxy, things must be in worse shape than we thought.

Third is "good" news out of Kansas. 

Back in 2014, Congressman Tim Huelskamp was one of our contestants to succeed Michele Bachmann as Royal Regent Of The Crazy People. (Louie Gohmert, of course, is Padishah Emperor For Life.) Huelskamp had compiled an impressive resume even then for being pretty much a career dick.

Actually, if you go read the rest, it turns out to be good news for everyone except Huelskamp.