Trump's counteroffensive was ugly but IMO it was effective. The level of stress that he inflicted on the Ft. Brooklyn apparat was reflected in Little Donny Deutsch's hysterical performance at MJ today. After letting the man rave against Trump for a while Joe S. told him to "stop screaming." "Listen to me!" Listen to me!" Deutsch had yelled across the table. That must have been a deeply satisfying moment for the Trumpistas.
IMO the ruthless device of bringing forward three of Bill Clinton's women accusers to renew their calls for vengeance on the man from Hope worked very well. Juanita Brodderick's straightforward statement "Bill Clinton raped me and then Hillary threatened me ..." must have had SOME effect. With regard to Kathy Shelton who had been brutally raped by a man named Taylor when she was twelve, I don't see anything wrong with HC's conduct. She was Taylor's court appointed attorney and successfully got the scumbag's sentence reduced. It was her duty to do that. Enough said.
The GOPers who deserted Trump over Pussygate now face a moment of truth. Will most of them re-defect to his camp? I think they will and that will be a mistake because IMO he is still going to lose unless Assange has some really good stuff in reserve. You remember him - "Can't we just drone him!"
For me the most ominous thing about the present electoral disaster is the level of perfection achieved by Ft. Brooklyn in the process of the industrialization of the political process in the US. Their willingness to twist, distort and flat out lie in pursuit of the end that for them justifies all means is frightening. The technique employed by their allies in "fact checking" Trump's opinions as opposed to HC's declamations ( "I support the Second Amendment") is amusing by any standard but it works with the semi-sentient masses. The puny Trump wurlitzer playing on and on from the golden chambers in the Trump tower is not well enough organized to compare its steam calliope hooting to the Robby Mook symphony. Mook's people actively and largely successfully seek to create public opinion using implanted memes and constant repetition from their media allies. IMO the success of such PR techniques will mean the end of actual democracy in the US if it continues.
I await the condescension of those who will now write to counsel me as to the non-existence of democracy in the US and/or the holiness of HC's Methodist utopian revolution to come. pl
Trump threw plenty of red meat to his core supporters, but he didn’t exactly reach out to anyone else, to put it mildly.
I do not think publicly rubbing a woman’s nose in her husband’s old infidelities will prove a winning strategy among the larger voting public.
It was weird the way he kept pointing at Clinton and circling her as she was speaking, between sniffles and interruptions. As if he knew Laurence Harvey was up in the flies with a rifle and he wanted to make sure Harvey was clear on which candidate to hit.
Posted by: Stephanie | 10 October 2016 at 02:48 PM
I think Hillary will win as a result of the women's vote. After watching Trumps performance last night any undecided woman, decided. I also feel she won the debate as she was able to show calm under fire, with Trumps stalking, lurking behavior, threatening to have her investigated if he wins, and mud slinging.
His best show was when he discussed his position on Russia and Assad and his graciousness at the end.
Posted by: Nancy K | 10 October 2016 at 02:56 PM
If Trump wins, his win will be a result of the wreckage of the whole party system.
So many Republicans and "conservative" organizations have abandoned him, he will be able simply to reject the Republican Party and he will. The Republican establishment will never be able to constrain his immediate whim or early morning uncontrolled "tweakt" to the system.
A win for Trump will mark a voter repudiation of the progressive and borgist ideologies that have dominated and provided continuity and increasing betterment of our national life experience for the last few decades. We will have lost our ideological consensus that has protected our national continuity of experience and governance.
We may never recover the loss of the quiet consensus as to how we govern ourselves. The Republicans will be devastated and fully divided. The Democrats hate him and will put every roadblock possible in his tracks.
Trump's mandate will be change, yet he will step forward with no organizational machine or genuine ideas to implement it. Abroad, he will not be respected and universally considered to be some kind maniac clown with a sex fetish. At home, his promises to apply authoritarian tactics to get law and order will accomplish the opposite and will trend towards substantial losses of our freedoms.
His administration will be a festival of all sorts of opportunists out only for their own gain. My estimate is he will not be able to govern alone and there is no way accurately to predict what sort of coalition he will be able to cobble together.
With Hillary, at least there would be some sort of bureaucratic continuity. With Trump, how and whether he can govern is a total unknown. We all now have a pretty clear idea of who and what he is. In a functioning job market, only lovers of disruption would ever hire him to be President.
Here in the USA, we take the continuity of good governance much too much for granted. Unfortunately, good governance is a very fragile thing that can suffer a system breakdown much easier than most can imagine. The continuity is presently under great strain and has been for too long. If Trump wins, that continuity will be severely challenged as his election will the a reflection of a communal decision to throw the present system away. Times will become very interesting. We cannot know what genies will come out of the bottle if it is unplugged.
Perhaps, the political correctness of the current progressive borgist state is correct as a matter of practice and being "politically incorrect" is actually not correct, but folly.
Trump is a man of bad character, much worse than Hillary's. He should not be elected. We have all experienced his type and most of us avoid that type like the plague. If he is elected, little good or betterment will come from it.
It is factually conservative to vote for Hillary because that vote will tend to preserve and conserve the political continuity that has made this nation prosper for so long. Despite Trump's denials of it the USA is a great, brave, constantly improving nation. It has prospered for so long because it has been able to long maintain the structures of the two-party system Trump has so effectively disrupted.
Voting for Trump is just a leap into the unknown with a high likelihood of damage to the continuity. Trump's freedom from party will result in chaos, and, perhaps, even more of it than the system can endure without breaking apart.
Abstention is probably a silent vote for Hillary for those who cannot actually check her box on the ballot.
I will vote conservative, not radical. While not perfect, things are really pretty good here in the USA and I do not want to let the future be chancy by voting for the radical reality TV huckster disrupter who so often leaps and tweets without first thinking and who "loves war" without having any idea what suffering it entails.
Posted by: Origin | 10 October 2016 at 02:58 PM
Interestingly looking at the LA Times tracker Trump has been consistently several points ahead since Hillary had her collapse, which supports my belief the race ended then.
I feel the media are trying to do what the famous neocon quote said about creating their own reality. Reality is the Clinton team has given up on Iowa, Ohio, Maine CD2 and the early ballots in Florida, according to Floridian pollster Richard Baris, look great for Trump (Rs up and Ds ballot request are from the panhandle).
Nice that the media could get all excited about a recording no one cares about, but Trump put that to bed real quick, a brutal demolition of Hillary. Good that Trump was reminded not to trust the Romney and Bush cliques as well, don't make the same mistake Reagan did when he acquiesced to having the elder Bush as his VP.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/10/06/gen-mike-flynn-why-hillarys-record-on-libya-is-even-worse-than-think.html
Good piece by Flynn, seems to be still singing from the right hymn sheet.
Posted by: LondonBob | 10 October 2016 at 03:12 PM
Sir,
The fly in the ointment, as I understand it, is her tsctics (badgering the witness and attacking her credibility) and then laughing about how she did it afterwards.
Posted by: Tyler | 10 October 2016 at 03:19 PM
Matthew,
Because then the narrative becomes "TRUMP HOLDING THE PARTY HOSTAGE!" versus focusing on Hillary. The Wisconsin delegation got booed off the stage. Same with the Nevada Senate candidate.
The strategy is always this: first the infidels, THEN the apostates.
Posted by: Tyler | 10 October 2016 at 03:22 PM
Matthew,
What a "deplorable" idea to have voters hold politicians accountable for their actions.
Posted by: Fred | 10 October 2016 at 03:23 PM
For some mysterious reasons there is no discussion on the importance of Israel's proximity to Syria in case the US decides to go nuclear against Russia. What would a modest preventive shot towards Israel (by cornered Russians) could produce in the minds of the Lobby' big wigs? Similar to how the US went circular from fighting the bad Al Qaeda to joining the "moderate" Al Qaeda, the grand design of Eretz Israel, which inspired and brought to power so many Israel-firsters in the US, could lead to the final undoing of the state of Israel.
Posted by: Anna | 10 October 2016 at 03:27 PM
"...cold-hearted laughing response..." - a standard reaction of a psychopath to other peoples' sufferings.
Posted by: Anna | 10 October 2016 at 03:32 PM
I'll opine that barring some kind of miracle the only thing he saved last night was his post-charade radio talk show career and he probably knows it. The cost of retaining his base was extremely high. Either he thinks his base is large enough to win the Presidency or he has privately thrown in the towel. I'll put my nickel on the later.
Posted by: Mark Logan | 10 October 2016 at 03:35 PM
OM,
Why does everyone think the Russian Federation would respond by attacking a US carrier or shooting down a couple of planes? I suggest there are many other potential attacks that send a bigger message with little probability of direct US casualties. One scenario: what is the cruise missile capacity of a current Russian nuclear submarine? How many missiles would be necessary to capacitance the switch yards of the electric grid feeding Ft. Brooklyn? What are the anti-missile defenses? If done at 3am NYC time in response to a US attack the strikes would in all probability have zero direct casualties. Would the message be heard loud and clear that the unprovoked attack by the US (or allies) on behalf of al-Nursa (mujahadeen 2.0) in Syria is going to be responded to on US soil and that we have no defense?; Would the people of the shining city on the Hudson demand an all out war on behalf of al-Nursa/rebels/”free” Syria? I think we already know what the Borg think. I don’t think the people in NYC are willing to be targets of actual military strikes so the R2P crowd and polisci flaks can impose their vision on the world.
Posted by: Fred | 10 October 2016 at 03:38 PM
A bit OT:
Flamby is at it again.
Yep he was ready to bomb Syria back in Summer 2013 - after the Red Line issue- on false pretense and then chicken out since he knew who used the chemical weapons in Ghouta.
France gave arms to the "moderate rebels" aka head choppers
Now, he is after Russia at the ICC.
Quel c-----d!
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37611151
Guess May is too busy with the hard Brexit, otherwise the UK would chime in.
Posted by: The Beaver | 10 October 2016 at 03:40 PM
Not sure about HRC lying in court, Colonel, since I can't recall all the facts at the moment. But I do know that a lawyer can't represent a client whom the lawyer knows is lying, and the lawyer, being an officer of the court, can't lie to the court. Generally, when a lawyer knows a client is lying, the lawyer is expected to counsel the client to tell the truth and then withdraw if the client continues to lie. Withdrawal is usually done in an anodyne way.
As to her lying, if she knowingly concocted the "Lolita" story about the girl, then she lied in court and should have been punished.
Posted by: David Lentini | 10 October 2016 at 03:46 PM
Frank Luntz thought the DONALD had crashed and burned after the first debate, but check out the focus group after last night's dust up (10-9-16):
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/10/09/luntz_tonight_was_so_significant_that_he_is_back_in_the_race.html
Posted by: Jus'Thinkin | 10 October 2016 at 03:46 PM
Signs of perfect possession.
Posted by: David Lentini | 10 October 2016 at 03:47 PM
snopes.com on "Can't we just drone him?"
http://www.snopes.com/julian-assange-drone-strike/
Posted by: Macgupta123 | 10 October 2016 at 03:47 PM
McCain actually wields a great deal of power on his own. He manages the Reagan creation of NED and its non-reviewed by Congress funding and galavants around the globe as an alternate Secretary of State often saying and doing things in opposition to the administration, at least as it appears. His steadfast compatriot is Victoria Nuland who also frequently says or does the opposite of what her ostensible boss Kerry says. I know living here in Hungary whenever McCain comes for a visit (4 times last year) trouble follows soon thereafter. The same thing happened in Ukraine before the US backed coup. I was in Vukovar Croatia taking my ICC certification examination (I passed thanks), and in our hotel was a group of Americans who looked a lot like spooky DoS people. I suppose they could have been CIA but they had the look of some kind of government project about them. Having spent over 15 years working on joint projects you kind of get a nose for them. The US is trying to promulgate another Kosova in Bosnia using the territory of Srpska as another thorn in the side of the Balkans. That is on top of the reports of US funded ISIS training camps in Bosnia. Sounds far fetched I know but the lions share of ISIS are persons from the former Soviet Union who will be unemployed soon in Syria so will be redeployed into Central Asia to attack Russia (and possibly the EU) on its flanks.
It is my prayer that someone with a tiny bit of sanity (perhaps Trump is not as bad as he seems) puts an end to all of these escapades towards American hegemony. McCain is IMHO one of the most evil men in America.
Posted by: Old Microbiologist | 10 October 2016 at 03:50 PM
NSA also feeds its data uncombed to Israel.
True. Since late 90s.
true police-state-level suppression
They already have many local police forces covered. Every single police force in the cities that experienced race riots over the past few years was trained by the Israeli military and security forces either here or there.
Jeff Helper, American-Israeli activist, retired anthropologist, and co-founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, describes it in an interview in Seattle, February 2010.
Halper describes how Israel and the occupation has infected US Federal, state, and local governments with security politics, with no US oversight or permission from US citizens. He warns that what Israel is doing is an unexamined danger to America, and that it needs to be addressed. Starting about 10 minutes in (from memory) and continuing to about 26 minutes and beyond. Gets into it at the 17-minute mark. Quite chilling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVa0QbH8YcA
Posted by: MRW | 10 October 2016 at 03:56 PM
Clinton never feared a Trump candidacy. They favored Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and Ben Carson. These are the only candidates who even had a chance to lose Hillary Clinton.
From the wikileaks DNC Leaks, April 7 2015.
Pied Piper Candidates
There are two ways to approach the strategies mentioned above. The first is to use the field as a whole to inflict damage on itself similar to what happened to Mitt Romney in 2012. The variety of candidates is a positive here, and many of the lesser known can serve as a cudgel to move the more established candidates further to the right. In this scenario, we don’t want to marginalize the more extreme candidates, but make them more “Pied Piper” candidates who actually represent the mainstream of the Republican Party.
Pied Piper candidates include, but aren’t limited to:
• Ted Cruz
• Donald Trump
• Ben Carson
We need to be elevating the Pied Piper candidates so that they are leaders of the pack and tell the press to them seriously.
If and when Trump loses to Hillary Republicans need to reflect upon why out of a field of 17 potential candidates they did not choose one of the 14 who would have crushed Hillary in a general election.
Posted by: HawkOfMay | 10 October 2016 at 04:03 PM
"a la Julian Assange" - this is Hasbara stuff.
Posted by: walrus | 10 October 2016 at 04:11 PM
mike allen
I don't think you understand my major point in today's post from me. My worry is not about the content of her campaign but rather about the method involved. IMO this is a perfection of the concept of transforming electoral politicking into Marketing complete with incessant harping on brands and market shares. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 10 October 2016 at 04:15 PM
Jus-Thinkin: There are two secret electorates in this race: People who won't admit they are going to vote for Trump and Republican women (and men) who will silently defect to Hillary.
I have no idea which group is larger.
Posted by: Matthew | 10 October 2016 at 04:21 PM
Trump is a man of bad character, much worse than Hillary's. He should not be elected.
Yeah, but Hillary is batshit crazy and might trigger a nuclear war. How is dealing with Trump worse than dealing with radiation poisoning?
Posted by: Kert | 10 October 2016 at 04:26 PM
The only problem with that is that there probably were very few undecided women before this debate. This debate was won by Trump in that it will get people to come out to vote.
I've said it before going back to the first primary and I'll say it yet again....anybody voting for Trump isn't voting for Trump, they're simply voting against everybody else.
Posted by: eakens | 10 October 2016 at 04:32 PM
Well, here is my condescension whether it is wanted or not: Things are looking up already! Trump's campaign did a marvelous job in exposing the true "ruling party". George Soros congratulated Putin on his 64th birthday - "they" are scared and unsure as to what happens next. There is "mutiny" in old Europe and elsewhere. Old cliches are dying fast - Russians aren't the enemy. The opposite can well be true - Russians might need Americans as the only western country that has some guts left: China is by far the biggest economic powerhouse on the planet if bullcrap reporting is dropped. It will get bigger and more versatile in every way - financially, militarily, etc. One might think of Chinese as a kind of Martians - unbridgeable cultural and linguistic differences signify an alien civilization. Also, the old international payments and trading system is about to go down.
So... the time is short and an old patrician might still feel responsibility for his pilgrims.
Posted by: Tol Tapen | 10 October 2016 at 04:33 PM