Saturday, October 08, 2016

Tree House


14 comments:

  1. Hallo! On my way home from W. MA. Have not fallen into a big hole. ;-)

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  2. Good! That you haven't fallen into a big hole!

    Me, I seem nearly over my "bug;" it must have been norovirus. Fingers crossed that I haven't given it to my sweetie.

    --Alan

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  3. Please pardon all the quotations following, but this is absolutely extraordinary--unprecedented, actually!--Alan
    P.S.: I may have to divide this post.
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    GOP Scrambles to Save Election
    October 8, 2016By Taegan Goddard14 Comments
    “A divided Republican Party descended into turmoil, as a startling chorus of GOP candidates and officials repudiated their own presidential candidate and scrambled to find personal paths to political survival just a month before Election Day,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

    “Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Saturday told party officials to redirect funds away from nominee Donald Trump to down-ballot candidates… In practical terms, the party will be working to mobilize voters who support GOP House and Senate candidates regardless of their position on the presidential race.”

    Washington Post: “Grim GOP strategists now worry that Trump could suffer a bigger loss on Nov. 8 than they previously feared, causing spillover into down-ballot races once thought secure for Republican candidates. That means their control of the Senate is in even greater jeopardy; some doomsayers have begun to speculate that even their House majority may be in danger.”
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    Clinton Braces for All-Out Assault

    October 8, 2016By Taegan Goddard0 Comments
    Politico: “The bombshell Donald Trump video that surfaced Friday has so dramatically altered expectations for Sunday’s town hall debate that one Democrat close to Bill and Hillary Clinton had a new view of what may unfold in St. Louis: ‘Expect Armageddon.'”

    Hillary Clinton will arrive at the Washington University debate stage Sunday prepped for battle against an opponent many of her allies believe has already lost the election. Trump, in contrast, will walk onto the debate stage with nothing to lose.”
    ========
    More Trump Tapes Expected

    October 8, 2016By Taegan Goddard0 Comments
    Bill Pruitt, a producer on the first two seasons of “The Apprentice,” tweets: “I assure you: when it comes to the Trump tapes there are far worse.”
    ============
    Trump Supporters Clash with GOP Leaders In Wisconsin

    October 8, 2016By Taegan Goddard4 Comments
    “In a jarring illustration of the chaos now engulfing the Republican Party, supporters of Donald Trump clashed bitterly with GOP leaders at a rally here Saturday — booing elected officials, heckling Paul Ryan, and angrily demanding greater establishment support for their beleaguered presidential nominee,” BuzzFeed reports.
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    GOP Exodus Could Cause a Wave

    October 8, 2016By Taegan Goddard428 Comments
    Sam Wang: “The insta-consensus among commentators is that somehow this event is a cause of Trump’s electoral doom. I think the logic is backwards – to me, the growing obviousness of his doom created an environment for this story to blow up. The genuinely new development is the impact for downticket – in both the Senate and the House.”

    “Until now I thought the House was likely to remain Republican. But the fact that swing district Congresswoman Barbara Comstock has fled for the exit is an early indicator. If Trump is enough of an anchor, Democrats have an outside chance. However, at a minimum they need to win the national popular vote by 6-8%.”
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    1. Thanks for the worthwhile clips, Alan!! I sooooooo needed to catch up with the news and you've helped immensely!!!

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  4. Clinton Braces for All-Out Assault

    October 8, 2016By Taegan Goddard1 Comment
    Politico: “The bombshell Donald Trump video that surfaced Friday has so dramatically altered expectations for Sunday’s town hall debate that one Democrat close to Bill and Hillary Clinton had a new view of what may unfold in St. Louis: ‘Expect Armageddon.'”

    Hillary Clinton will arrive at the Washington University debate stage Sunday prepped for battle against an opponent many of her allies believe has already lost the election. Trump, in contrast, will walk onto the debate stage with nothing to lose.”

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    More Trump Tapes Expected

    October 8, 2016By Taegan Goddard0 Comments
    Bill Pruitt, a producer on the first two seasons of “The Apprentice,” tweets: “I assure you: when it comes to the Trump tapes there are far worse.”

    ================
    Trump Supporters Clash with GOP Leaders In Wisconsin

    October 8, 2016By Taegan Goddard4 Comments
    “In a jarring illustration of the chaos now engulfing the Republican Party, supporters of Donald Trump clashed bitterly with GOP leaders at a rally here Saturday — booing elected officials, heckling Paul Ryan, and angrily demanding greater establishment support for their beleaguered presidential nominee,” BuzzFeed reports.

    ==================
    GOP Exodus Could Cause a Wave

    October 8, 2016By Taegan Goddard428 Comments
    Sam Wang: “The insta-consensus among commentators is that somehow this event is a cause of Trump’s electoral doom. I think the logic is backwards – to me, the growing obviousness of his doom created an environment for this story to blow up. The genuinely new development is the impact for downticket – in both the Senate and the House.”

    “Until now I thought the House was likely to remain Republican. But the fact that swing district Congresswoman Barbara Comstock has fled for the exit is an early indicator. If Trump is enough of an anchor, Democrats have an outside chance. However, at a minimum they need to win the national popular vote by 6-8%.”

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    The Bottom Could Drop Out for Trump

    October 8, 2016By Taegan Goddard110 Comments
    Nate Silver: “If Trump gets stuck at 40 percent of the vote, you could wind up with an outcome like Clinton 51 percent, Trump 40 percent, Gary Johnson 7 percent, Jill Stein and others 2 percent, or something of that nature. That is, a double-digit win for Clinton, which could potentially yield somewhere around 400 votes for her in the Electoral College, and make states as exotic as Texas and Alaska competitive.”

    “That outcome might seem far-fetched. But in an election with high uncertainty, it shouldn’t be. Even before the “hot mic” tape, our model gave Clinton a 5 to 6 percentage point lead, and the error in the forecast is roughly symmetric. The polls could move by 5 or 6 points toward Trump, giving him a narrow win, or — equally likely, per our model — they could move by 5 or 6 points toward Clinton, giving her a double-digit margin. To put it another way, a Clinton landslide is no more far-fetched than a Trump victory — and given the events of the past 24 hours, probably less so.”
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    'McCain Pulls His Support from Trump

    October 8, 2016By Taegan Goddard174 Comments
    Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) withdrew his support from Donald Trump in the wake of leaked tapes of Trump making lewd comments about groping women in 2005, Politico reports.

    Said McCain: “Donald Trump’s behavior this week, concluding with the disclosure of his demeaning comments about women and his boasts about sexual assaults, make it impossible to continue to offer even conditional support for his candidacy.”

    There are now 19 Republican U.S. Senators who either called for Trump to step down or said they won’t vote for him.
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  5. Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

    October 8, 2016By Taegan Goddard200 Comments
    “I’ve never seen a candidate walk into a debate with this much at stake. He’s overweight, he’s old, he’s tired and he’s crabby. And he’s going to have a very long hour and a half.”

    — James Carville, quoted by the Washington Post.
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    RNC Suddenly Halts Victory Project Work

    October 8, 2016By Taegan Goddard189 Comments
    The RNC “appeared to at least temporarily halt the operations of some of the ‘Victory’ program that is devoted to electing Donald Trump,” Politico reports.

    “The move comes as the GOP nominee is under mounting pressure from elected Republicans to step aside after he was caught on tape bragging about sexually assaulting women.”

    Business Insider: “Some staffers inside the Republican National Committee are rebelling and ‘defying orders’ to continue working for Donald Trump.”
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    Utah Newspaper Calls on Trump to Quit

    October 8, 2016By Taegan Goddard16 Comments
    The Deseret News weighs in:

    For 80 years, the Deseret News has not entered into the troubled waters of presidential endorsement. We are neutral on matters of partisan politics. We do, however, feel a duty to speak clearly on issues that affect the well-being and morals of the nation.

    Accordingly, today we call on Donald Trump to step down from his pursuit of the American presidency.

    THE DESERET NEWS?!!
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    Trump Says There’s ‘Zero Chance I’ll Quit’

    October 8, 2016By Taegan Goddard361 Comments
    Donald Trump, under pressure to step aside as the Republican presidential candidate after the disclosure of his having made lewd comments about his advances on women, told the Wall Street Journal that there is “zero chance I’ll quit.”

    Said Trump: “I never, ever give up.”

    He also insisted his campaign isn’t in crisis: “The support I’m getting is unbelievable, because Hillary Clinton is a horribly flawed candidate.”

    Trump also called the Washington Post: “I’d never withdraw. I’ve never withdrawn in my life. No, I’m not quitting this race. I have tremendous support.”
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  6. Trump Is Done

    October 8, 2016By Taegan Goddard282 Comments
    John Avlon: “I’m usually reluctant to play the pundit-prediction game but Independent and Republican women aren’t going to bounce back from this one. Not when the GOP nominee is caught on tape talking about hitting on a married woman ‘with big phony tits’ ‘like a bitch’ and how part of his M.O. is ‘grabbing pussy’ because ‘when you’re a star’ ‘you can do anything.'”

    “This entire campaign has been an exercise of the electorate being slowly simmered in a pot of boiling water, losing our sense of outrage amid a steady of onslaught insults and lies. But sex and cruelty resonates in a way that financial scandals or demagoguery just don’t.”

    “Character is what you do when nobody’s looking. And this video captures Trump in the middle of day, sober, a few months after being married, talking with a man he barely knows, bragging about sexual assault, while wearing a microphone.”
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    The GOP’s Nightmare Scenario Is Here

    October 8, 2016By Taegan Goddard95 Comments
    John Harwood: “Trump, trailing Clinton by several percentage points nationally and in most battleground states, was on track to lose the election before disclosure of the tape. Republican confidence that he can close that gap and win has vanished as Trump approaches Sunday night’s second debate with Clinton in a severely-weakened position.”

    “The principal question now is how many other Republicans go down with him. Democrats need to gain at least four seats to win back a Senate majority; their odds are good.”
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    What’s Next?

    October 8, 2016By Taegan Goddard117 Comments
    Jonah Goldberg: “The grab them by the pussy video is the perfect October surprise two days before the debate, when early voting is really coming online, and when Trump’s Achille’s heel is his poor standing with moderate suburban college educated women. That is not a coincidence.”

    “I can’t imagine what the Clinton campaign would be unloading if Trump were five points ahead.”

    “Donald Trump is a fundamentally dishonorable and dishonest person – and has been his whole adult life. The evidence has been in front of those willing to see it all along. And there’s more to find. And there’s more in the Clinton stockpile.”
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    Trump's Unstoppable Drift to Election Day [Click] "What you have shaping up looks like it may be an unprecedented situation in modern American politics, perhaps in all of American history..."

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  7. !!!!!

    Got home and googled it. Ewww! Ew! Ew! Ew!

    What that arss said!!! :-o (And no doubt has done!!!)

    :::shudderrrrr:::

    And then...as I read about the pseudo apology, and the repercussions......LAUGHTER!!!

    Arrogant, aggressive, cruel, greedy, egotistical people *always* sow the seeds of their own destruction.
    Just so happy that he did this BEFORE the election!! October Surprise? ;-)

    Can't wait to watch Saturday Night Live in 15 minutes. :-D

    Grrrrrrrr.

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  8. So yes, two people before me have said, "October surprise." Srurpise!

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  9. My pleasure to be of service, listener--AND ALL THIS POPPED UP IN LESS THAN A SINGLE DAY!! IT WASN'T THERE IN THE MORNING. I agree with the writer who argued that the recording of and by itself wasn't as dreadful as the effect would indicate--but it was the straw that broke the camel's back. Real men don't talk like that. Ever.

    I like DT's protestation that he never gives up; what do you call bankruptcy? HRC ought to have that arrow in her quiver, methinks. Maybe I should check out SNL too...thanks for the jog.

    --Alan

    P.S.: It looks like Hurricane Matthew spared the heavily Democratic-voting counties of Florida.

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    1. I did check out SNL--very good on such short notice! But someone PLEASE tell me that "Pussygate" is SNL humor, not a term in common circulation. PLEASE.

      --Alan

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    2. It's OK--Don't tell me. The term has evidently entered the vernacular. In a single day. Heaven save us all.

      Alan

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  10. It's a reference to Watergate, dubbing this as something equally career-changing for its perpetrator.

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