Republican National Convention

[Scooter]

So harassment or punishment or any other ill-treatment is fine with the Donald, as long as it comes from home-grown bigots.

You noticed that too, did you? He tried to make himself sound pro-gay while intending very much the opposite.

[Lord Jim]

the fact is that with even average effort on the Democratic side it is a walkover.

Democrats must take absolutely nothing for granted.

BSG is absolutely correct and rube, (whose knowledge and understanding of politics is roughly equivalent to my knowledge and understanding of Swahili) is absolutely wrong...

All of the polling data consistently shows that it is not inconceivable that Donald Trump could win this race, and it will take a maximum turnout effort to make sure it doesn't happen....

This is particularly true when you look at the polling data from the swing states...

In the most recent polls in these states Hillary is generally ahead, but by my margins like 42-39 or 39-37....

Not only are those margins close, but they also show an enormous number of undecided...particularly when you consider how well known the two candidates are...

The reason for why this could be a close election, and Trump could even win, is pretty easy to understand...

It's because of how deeply disliked and distrusted Clinton is...(at the moment, thanks to her reckless actions handling classified material, her "honest and trustworthy" numbers are even worse than Trump's...)

She still has a relatively modest lead over Trump, but against just about anyone else she'd be losing handily...

I agree with the political writer and analyst Mark Halperin, who said, "Clinton is probably the only candidate Trump could beat, and Trump is probably the only candidate Clinton could beat."

Of course Hillary's number one weapon for defeating Trump remains Trump himself...

We just had another classic example:

Though his acceptance speech was criticized by some for being overly "dark", my understanding is that by Trump standards it was a fairly decent speech. Of course I didn't watch it... (An hour and twenty minutes of non-stop Trump? I'll take the water-boarding please...)

But then the very next morning, at what was supposed to be just a post convention thank you event for the volunteer convention workers, Trump climbs right back on to The Crazytown Express, going into a lengthy and bizarre digression obsessing over Ted Cruz...

Completely crapping all over any possible good benefit he could have gotten from his convention speech...

This is a self destructive pattern we're going to see over and over again from now to election day...

Occasionally Trump is going to be able to contain himself and sound marginally sane and focused...

But this will swiftly be followed by another vicious, petty, toxic, stream-of-consciousness self-absorbed riff, reminding the electorate once again of his fundamental unfitness for the Presidency...

He can't help himself; it's who he genuinely is, and he hasn't got the discipline to hide it, except for short periods of time...he really hates acting sane, bristles and chafes against it, and is always happiest when he's being his crazy-assed self...

A perfect illustration of this was the speech he gave after Comey reported his findings...

He began by reading a carefully constructed and devastating analysis detailing all the lies Hillary had told....

And then, he literally threw the pages it was written on away, declared that he was "bored" talking about it and proceeded to launch into lengthy attacks against Chuck Todd and CNN while also bringing up the nice things he had said about Saddam Hussein and the Star-of-David controversy...

The change in his demeanor and his body language when he made this "pivot" was very noticeable. He came to life, his energy level went way up, it was like, "Well thank God I got that boring on message stuff out of the way, so I can go back to my self-obsessed self-destructive stuff"...

This irresistible compulsion of his is really Hillary's ace in the hole...

[BoSoxGal]

BSG is absolutely correct

I'm just parking this here for future use.

[Lord Jim]

I hope it's Long Term Parking, because you're not likely to need it again anytime soon...

[BoSoxGal]

Oh, I'll be using it. A lot.

[Burning Petard]

The reaction of the convention to Cruz, and Trump's reaction to Cruz show that the GOP party is united in the belief that the worst thing that can happen for them is for people to vote their conscience.

They have already shot themselves in the head and have crossed their fingers in hope that nobody notices.

snailgate.

[rubato]

The Republican Faithful have slithered out of town. Their work is done.


yrs,
rubato

[Lord Jim]

Before we move on to the Demo convention, I'd like to give a shout out to the Cleveland PD...

They've taken some lumps recently, but from all reports they did an excellent job of handling the convention and the attendant protests...

Despite many predictions, (including mine ) there was no violence, and I've seen no complaints from protest organizers about the behavior of the police...

Looks like they did a really good job of balancing their obligations to protect both free speech rights and public safety

[Jarlaxle]

I hope it's Long Term Parking, because you're not likely to need it again anytime soon...

Isn't long-term parking usually $15/day?

[Jarlaxle]

Liz is still doing her part...she just came home (was gone when I work up around 6) after being out with the Trump campaign all morning. She and another volunteer passed out a bunch of stickers, T-shirts, signs, etc, and put up about two dozen yard signs.

She did ask if she could use my Crown Victoria (with its gigantic trunk) next time...it seems the other volunteer managed to whack his knee on the rollcage in her Grand National at least six times, his elbow once, and his head twice. He also didn't seem thrilled with the car's Flofit seats.

Like these, but medium gray, with 5-point belts:

[Lord Jim]

GOP convention trivia question...

There was a connection between Trump's nomination and Richard Nixon...

What was it?

(And no, it's not a "they were both racists nominated by a racist party" rubato BS type connection...a real one...)

ETA:

Here's a clue:

[Guinevere]

No candidate takes an election for granted, and if they do they deserve to lose. I can tell you from my emails, phone calls, etc, that HRC and the DNC are not taking this election for granted. Selection of Kaine is just one example of how they have come to play.

And there is no one who works harder than HRC.

[MajGenl.Meade]

LJ, the Toitles played a concert at the WH for Tricia's birthday May 6, 1970. And Howard Kaylan is pissed off that "Happy Together" was played without authorization at the RNC 2016.

He should be happy for the publicity.

[Lord Jim]

LJ, the Toitles played a concert at the WH for Tricia's birthday May 6, 1970. And Howard Kaylan is pissed off that "Happy Together" was played without authorization at the RNC 2016.

You're on the right track with the Tricia Nixon connection...

ETA:

[MajGenl.Meade]

Tricia Nixon Cox has a son, Chris N Cox - a wannabe Republican congressman. Her husband is Edward F Cox, NY State GOP Chairman who delivered the deciding Trumpelstilskin vote

Also too for good measure furthermore, Chris W Cox - NRA guy, spoke at the RNC 2016

ETA hey I got this before you added that video to your post above

[RayThom]

This is becoming very much like "Six-Degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon." In another post or two it's going to be "who gives a fuck?"

[Lord Jim]

Her husband is Edward F Cox, NY State GOP Chairman who delivered the deciding Trumpelstilskin vote

ETA:

ETA hey I got this before you added that video to your post above

Yeah, that's your story bub....

[Gob]

Well, folks, this isn’t an accident. It is happening. And if you believe Hillary Clinton is going to beat Trump with facts and smarts and logic, then you obviously missed the past year of 56 primaries and caucuses where 16 Republican candidates tried that and every kitchen sink they could throw at Trump and nothing could stop his juggernaut. As of today, as things stand now, I believe this is going to happen – and in order to deal with it, I need you first to acknowledge it, and then maybe, just maybe, we can find a way out of the mess we’re in.


http://michaelmoore.com/trumpwillwin/

[BoSoxGal]

No candidate takes an election for granted, and if they do they deserve to lose. I can tell you from my emails, phone calls, etc, that HRC and the DNC are not taking this election for granted. Selection of Kaine is just one example of how they have come to play.

And there is no one who works harder than HRC.

I have no doubt that Hillary works hard and that the party apparatus is working hard on her behalf; I meant to refer to the D voters. They were dismally absent from the polls in 2014 - that can't happen again.

[Scooter]