I missed it. Twitter reads like he tricked the media into covering his hotel opening like a political rally. Is that basically what happened?

9/16/2016 11:53:12 AM

and used Medal of Honor recipients as human shields

9/16/2016 11:53:52 AM

He said two sentences about birtherism. One a lie about who started it.

I'm well aware Clinton supporters did raise questions. They were wrong and the campaign she ran in 2008 never did. This has been fact checked again and again. It's akin to saying that Trump assaulted someone when a man punched that protestor in Fayettevillle.

He's a disgrace. But once again he seizes the narrative on his terms.

9/16/2016 12:03:54 PM

Yup. He's good at that. The one giant take away from this election, regardless of who wins, is how easy it is to render the media and pundits irrelevant. He's the first candidate to use the 24 hour news cycle to his advantage and make the ratings whores at the cable networks work for him for free.

If other candidates delve into how he did this and it becomes the way campaigns are run from now on we're royally screwed.

9/16/2016 12:08:20 PM

He said the Clinton campaign of 2008 started the issue, "then I finished (or closed) the issue...I think you know what I mean"

9/16/2016 12:08:50 PM

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/trump-birther/500327/

He starts to back track, but still can't help lying about what he believed and when he believed it. I don't think anyone expected him to go and stage saying "i was lying the whole time, i was just race-baiting for publicity" but he's opened the door to more scrutiny on the issue at least.

9/16/2016 12:10:27 PM

Does anyone know how much money the Trump campaign spending? I know before it was basically nothing but then he raised a decent amount of money but I still never hear about him spending on advertising due to all the free publicity he gets.

9/16/2016 12:54:41 PM

Trump got a little confused. Hillary participated in the secret Muslim nonsense in 08, not the birther nonsense.

9/16/2016 1:53:55 PM

clinton supporters did start the birther thing

9/16/2016 3:03:59 PM

http://www.npr.org/2016/09/16/494231757/without-apology-trump-now-says-obama-was-born-in-the-u-s

9/16/2016 3:04:22 PM

^^So both Trump supporters and Clinton supporters are all tacit racists

[Edited on September 16, 2016 at 3:13 PM. Reason : #Shrike]

9/16/2016 3:13:43 PM

I mean there is polling on this. Yes, many Clinton supporters and Democrats are racist (or better put, hold racist views). Not as high a percentage as the other side and it certainly isn't driving her support like it is Trump.

9/16/2016 3:16:54 PM

No, Hillary Clinton's campaign did not support the birther movement . . . directly. That's all that the fact checker sites verify. But to say this was a crazy Tea Party alt-right invention is completely BS. The birther "concerns" started in 2007-2008 when it was Obama v. Clinton (v. Edwards). Sidney Blumenthal was the Clinton shade-aide (is this a term . . . it should be a term), and he was the one to spread character assassination tactics against opponents. When Obama emerged victorious and Clinton was offered Secretary of State, Blumenthal was barred from any State positions due to all of this.

If you have seen House of Cards, notably the first season, Doug Stamper essentially plays the role of Blumenthal.

9/16/2016 3:46:46 PM

Quote :

""Sid Vicious" Sidney Blumenthal"

9/16/2016 4:38:20 PM

pretty fun to type "Sidney Blumenthal Birther" into google and see all the legit websites that come up

[Edited on September 16, 2016 at 4:44 PM. Reason : .]

9/16/2016 4:44:21 PM

In regards to Donald Trump's using it as a platform to launch his political persona, who the fuck cares where it came from? No one else spent the last 5-6 years insinuating Obama isn't a legitimate President due to questions surrounding his place of birth. Only he did that, and he did it all on his own.

9/16/2016 4:53:53 PM

2008 Clinton staffer admitted to Wolf Blitzer that her campaign started it.

9/16/2016 10:51:26 PM

Did your sons tell you about that? Did they give you a link while they were at it?

9/16/2016 11:03:02 PM

It looks like this birtherism thing was the straw that broke the media's back.. They are acting like battered wives who finally worked up the courage to call the police. I haven't seen a single broadcast today that didn't outright call Trump a liar over this. No equivocating, no downplaying it as being sensationalist, just straight up fire and brimstone.

9/16/2016 11:04:16 PM

Are we really sitting here arguing this? Really?

Even IF Blumenthal did this that is not the candidate endorsing birtherism. And even IF it was the candidate (it wasn't) Trump did it for FIVE YEARS. For fucks sake his entire statement was basically saying he did a favor to Obama by "finishing it." People will twist in circles to defend the diarrhea cascading from his mouth daily -- and for no other reason but Clinton. It's not hard for me to say it. Clinton has problems. She has done dishonest and bad things. Made lots of mistakes. And she will be orders of magnitude more fit to be a leader than Trump.

If you want to attribute those tangentially associated with a campaign to the candidate than Trump sexually harassed Fox News hosts, was the head of Breitbart and worked closely with Putin in Ukraine. Fun stuff.

But please, this entire election cycle from the beginning of the GOP primary has been about false equivalences and enabling so do continue.

[Edited on September 17, 2016 at 7:45 AM. Reason : X]

9/17/2016 7:42:05 AM

One of the reports that Sidney Blumenthal (longtime aide/confidant of Hillary Clinton) was one of the first to float the birther conspiracy:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article102354777.html

9/17/2016 8:27:28 PM

Quote :

"In regards to Donald Trump's using it as a platform to launch his political persona, who the fuck cares where it came from? No one else spent the last 5-6 years insinuating Obama isn't a legitimate President due to questions surrounding his place of birth. Only he did that, and he did it all on his own. "

It wasn't an insinuation, it was a direct statements, with multiple claims of direct secret evidence gathered by secret teams, and red-faced yelling into TV cameras asserting it was truth.

Trump has no credibility here, regardless of the clinton camp floating a muslim-looking image, then backing away from it instantly. They knew it was scummy and regretted it. Trump knew it was scummy, and manufactured lies and tweets for years, after the short form, after the long form, making comments as recently as 2016, to try and race bait on this issue.

It was actually Clinton's campaign subtly hinting obama was a secret muslim that got me to vote in that primary for Obama, and it was my first primary vote ever. This is, for me, probably the main reason i don't really like hillary.

But Trump has been a racist his entire life, and he kept blowing this dogwhistle until just a few months ago.

9/17/2016 8:39:07 PM

Quote :

"If you want to attribute those tangentially associated with a campaign"

lf you want to try to call the source of the Blumenthal rumors inaccurate, that's one thing. To call Blumenthal "tangential" is very disingenuous. He has been a Clinton (Bill and Hillary) confidant through both of their campaigns; Hillary even made multiple attempts to get him working directly for the State department after the first denial; when that failed, he was given a role at the Clinton Foundation. During this time, Hillary forwarded him "Classified" State emails and regularly consulted with him on State matters.

Perhaps you had some weird auto-correct where "integrally" became "tangentially"? Maybe!

--

^Yeah, I was the same way. I never voted in a Primary, I originally supported Hillary for 2008, then ended up going full Obama based on the Clinton campaign. I think my tipping point was the Hillary "Its 2AM, and Terrorists are attacking" ad. I cannot remember the exact wording of the ad, but I seem to remember the fear-mongering hit me even before the race-card.

[Edited on September 19, 2016 at 2:19 PM. Reason : ]

9/19/2016 2:15:17 PM

Quote :

"lf you want to try to call the source of the Blumenthal rumors inaccurate"

I'll call the source quote above biased as fuck, and I definitely agree on Blumenthal being pretty damn far from "tangential," but as NyM illustrated above, this attempt to bring this up to try and take the heat off Trump's 5 years of Birtherism is weak as fuck [see:kdogg].

9/19/2016 4:01:17 PM

Tangential is the wrong word I guess (but I also mentioned Bannon and Manafort in the same manner).

Just not honest to say Clinton started this and he finished it like he's the good guy.

9/19/2016 4:03:38 PM

As a side note, this is a pretty good time to start putting down money on Clinton winning the race or certain states, if you were so inclined...... Well, last week was better, but places like Ohio where the polling hasn't begun to swing back towards H are looking mighty enticing for a prospective bettor.

[Edited on September 20, 2016 at 3:38 PM. Reason : .]

9/20/2016 3:36:02 PM

538 has trump at 41% now. Highest its been since the conventions. We all know it will be a landslide though once the sheeple realize its an election year.

9/20/2016 3:41:53 PM

I liked Wilmore, but Samantha Bee should have gotten that time slot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnNFdfzXsns

9/20/2016 4:20:02 PM

Haha Samantha bee doesn't want her kids going to school with minorities so I'll skip what she has to say on the matter of fearing them.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/schooled/2016/06/17/the_upper_west_side_is_new_york_s_latest_school_integration_battleground.html

9/20/2016 4:30:35 PM

55-44 on 538s Polls Plus now. Pretty much an electorate toss up.

9/21/2016 7:38:52 AM

Trump wants stop and frisk around the country.

9/21/2016 4:37:31 PM

check on the syntax on that one

my god

9/21/2016 4:46:36 PM

Just pre-emptively posting this here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/08/21/12-years-of-data-from-new-york-city-suggest-stop-and-frisk-wasnt-that-effective/

9/21/2016 4:56:21 PM

On an unrelated note:


[Edited on September 21, 2016 at 4:59 PM. Reason : ]

9/21/2016 4:59:02 PM

Clinton on between two ferns
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/b2fc974d1d/between-two-ferns-with-zach-galifianakis-hillary-clinton?_cc=__d___&_ccid=5075c87f-5316-4289-b895-ae461809b9c3

9/22/2016 12:45:11 PM

I watched that earlier I have no idea why she would even attempt to go on that show? Trying to appeal to younger voters? It was just super awkward and not funny whatsoever from either side really.

9/22/2016 12:51:22 PM

because:

9/22/2016 12:59:01 PM

"Ok millennials you win. I went on your dumb show. Now vote for me you ungrateful brats."

9/22/2016 1:23:32 PM

http://billmoyers.com/story/plutocrats-vs-people/

Really good essay there, a little long and dense, but good primer on the state of things now and why.

9/22/2016 1:30:24 PM

^^^^

I thought it was funny. It would help make some of the criticism of Hillary seem as trivial as it is.

It's also the first thing with Hillary's face i've seen on social media in literally months now, vs some trump thing on a daily basis.

9/22/2016 1:35:53 PM

it's also something that Trump would never do

9/22/2016 1:58:20 PM

Didn't Trump do a Comedy Central roast?

9/22/2016 2:03:54 PM

NBC/WSJ poll, candidate favorability among undecided in two-way race: Clinton 13% positive, 64% negative; Trump 5% positive, 81% negative

^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf5BKAS5o6A

Quote :

"Jeselnik still chuckles when he remembers the moment. "I called him a douchebag to his face and that wasn't as harsh as saying 'you don't know how to run a casino.'" "

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/comedy-central-donald-trump-roast-901129

Probably good info for Hillary to have during the debates

[Edited on September 22, 2016 at 2:24 PM. Reason : ]

9/22/2016 2:21:52 PM

9/23/2016 10:01:37 AM

Quote :

"I watched that earlier I have no idea why she would even attempt to go on that show? Trying to appeal to younger voters? It was just super awkward and not funny whatsoever from either side really."

Well, OK. You not finding it funny is your own problem. Humor is in the eye of the beholder, and apparently there's enough beholders who find that show humorous to have kept it going for some time now.

As to why she would attempt to go on it...why wouldn't she? Doing comedy shows hasn't been considered overly debasing for politicians since Nixon did Laugh In. Everybody does Daily Show, they do the late night shows, etc. Comedy programs are a great way to get maximum publicity with minimum chance of controversy or disaster.

And I think this particular show was a great choice for Hillary, who needs to humanize herself but has a hard time with humor. When she tries to be funny, she isn't, at all (as opposed to Obama, who can land a joke like he's been doing stand up his whole life). But on Between Two Ferns, she doesn't have to try to be funny -- all of the humor is in the awkward seriousness of it all, and Galifinakis does the heavy lifting.

9/23/2016 10:15:03 AM

I was actually posting about this in the Hillary thread, wondering if it was 100% scripted.

This interview is actually +1 for me. While not gut-busting funny, I feel like she got the references and was playing dumb - she's good at playing dumb.

9/23/2016 10:24:34 AM

how was she playing dumb?

she was playing the role of straight man

9/23/2016 11:28:13 AM

Don't read too much into that goodlife, I know you like to jump on my shit.

She acted like she didn't get the reference of TPP to OPP, when I'm sure she did.

9/23/2016 11:34:18 AM

smdh you didn't like the clip we get it. isn't there something else you can post about?

9/23/2016 12:04:51 PM

What?? I even gave Clinton props for the interview. I honestly can't win here.

9/23/2016 12:35:11 PM