2016 General Election Thread

[Vince]

In a twist of irony, turns out Billy Bush was the significant Bush this election season.

[Vince]

Here's a perfect metaphor for this election..

Except no ones coming to rescue the eagle.

[Malcolm]

Mrs. Bill ahead in every swing state.

[TheCatt]

Wikileaks dumps fake Clinton emails

The documents that WikiLeaks has unloaded recently have been emails out of the account of John Podesta, the chairman of Clinton’s election campaign. Almost as soon as the pilfered documents emerged, Sputnik was all over them and rapidly found (or probably already knew about before the WikiLeaks dump) a purportedly incriminating email from Blumenthal.

The email was amazing—it linked Boogie Man Blumenthal, Podesta and the topic of conservative political fever dreams, Benghazi. This, it seemed, was the smoking gun finally proving Clinton bore total responsibility for the attack on the American outpost in Libya in 2012. Sputnik even declared that the email might be the “October surprise” that could undermine Clinton’s campaign.
...
Of course, this might be seen as just an opportunity to laugh at the incompetence of the Russian hackers and government press—once they realized their error, Sputnik took the article down. But then things got even more bizarre.

This false story was reported only by the Russian-controlled agency (a reference appeared in a Turkish publication, but it was nothing but a link to the Sputnik article). So how did Donald Trump end up advancing the same falsehood put out by Putin’s mouthpiece?
...
At a rally in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, Trump spoke while holding a document in his hand. He told the assembled crowd that it was an email from Blumenthal, whom he called “sleazy Sidney.”

“This just came out a little while ago,’’ Trump said. “I have to tell you this.” And then he read the words from my article.

“He’s now admitting they could have done something about Benghazi,’’ Trump said, dropping the document to the floor. “This just came out a little while ago.”

The crowd booed and chanted, “Lock her up!”

This is not funny. It is terrifying. The Russians engage in a sloppy disinformation effort and, before the day is out, the Republican nominee for president is standing on a stage reciting the manufactured story as truth. How did this happen? Who in the Trump campaign was feeding him falsehoods straight from the Kremlin? (The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.)

[Malcolm]

At a rally in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, Trump spoke while holding a document in his hand. He told the assembled crowd that it was an email from Blumenthal, whom he called “sleazy Sidney.”

Said Donnie Dipshit the Dimwitted Dupe.

[Troy]

So now the GOP is in bed with Russia, like for real?

[Malcolm]

So now the GOP is in bed with Russia, like for real?

Come on, though. It's an outsider's plan that's never been tried before.

[TPRJones]

Totalitarians of a feather...

[Malcolm]

[Leisher]

Because you're wrong for telling me to vote, but I'm awesome for telling you you're stupid for voting.

[Malcolm]

I'm inching towards the notion of a basic standardized IQ test before voter reg cards are issued. Until then, I hold out no hope for the few drops of sanity in an ocean of stupid, gullible, weak-willed, mindless Borg drones that march into a booth once every four years and give the thumbs-up to another term of double penetration at every level of government.

The election system in this country is like an STD-ridden whore. I'm keeping my dick away until she at least visits the free clinic for a few weeks.

[TheCatt]

538 predicts 337 to 201. I'm guessing Trump loses AZ, SC, and GA.

353 to 185 is latest update. AZ flipped to Clinton. GA is tight

It got closed for a while, back to Clinton with 85% chance of winning.

341 - 197 current electoral votes. AZ barely in Clinton's count, GA/SC more solidly still in Trump's.

[TheCatt]

If only men voted:


If only women voted:

[Malcolm]

Women still net him 80 electoral votes?

[Troy]

Had no idea Crack had articles this good until it was sent to me.

I have to agree with some of the commentators on a certain point. If Trump had changed his initial message from targeting minorities and later women and instead had heavy-handedly been hitting on a plan to fix rural parts of the country using his developer know-how, this is a different election.

[Malcolm]

Had no idea Crack had articles this good until it was sent to me.

The foundation upon which America was undeniably built -- family, faith, and hard work -- had been deemed unfashionable and small-minded. Those snooty elites up in their ivory tower laughed as they kicked away that foundation, and then wrote 10,000-word thinkpieces blaming the builders for the ensuing collapse.

... unless you were a slave, then you only counted as 60% of a person. Fucking please. Furthermore, shit changes. Cultures changes. Traditions fall by the wayside.

In a city, you can plausibly aspire to start a band, or become an actor, or get a medical degree. You can actually have dreams. In a small town, there may be no venues for performing arts aside from country music bars and churches. There may only be two doctors in town -- aspiring to that job means waiting for one of them to retire or die. You open the classifieds and all of the job listings will be for fast food or convenience stores. The "downtown" is just the corpses of mom and pop stores left shattered in Walmart's blast crater, the "suburbs" are trailer parks.

It's almost as if people figured out that congregating together in larger numbers would increase their employment and living opportunities.

There are parts of these towns that look post-apocalyptic.

Welcome to East St. Louis.

These are people who come from a long line of folks who took pride in looking after themselves. Where I'm from, you weren't a real man unless you could repair a car, patch a roof, hunt your own meat, and defend your home from an intruder. It was a source of shame to be dependent on anyone -- especially the government. You mowed your own lawn and fixed your own pipes when they leaked, you hauled your own firewood in your own pickup truck. (Mine was a 1994 Ford Ranger! The current owner says it still runs!)

Not like those hipsters in their tiny apartments, or "those people" in their public housing projects, waiting for the landlord any time something breaks, knowing if things get too bad they can just pick up and move. When you don't own anything, it's all somebody else's problem. "They probably don't pay taxes, either! Just treating America itself as a subsidized apartment they can trash!"

Again, my most sincere apologies we haven't been able to freeze time so everyone can live forever in the era they most love.

You've never rooted for somebody like that? Someone powerful who gives your enemies the insults they deserve? Somebody with big fun appetites who screws up just enough to make them relatable? Like Dr. House or Walter White? Or any of the several million renegade cop characters who can break all the rules because they get shit done? Who only get shit done because they don't care about the rules?

"But those are fictional characters!" Okay, what about all those millionaire left-leaning talk show hosts? You think they keep their insults classy?

What fucking nonsequitar bullshit is this? We move from action heroes portrayed by actors to talk show hosts? The basic job of both those professions is to entertain.

[TheCatt]

It's almost as if people figured out that congregating together in larger numbers would increase their employment and living opportunities.

It's those fuckers who all live together who keep wanting to regulate what the rest of us does, which is what pisses me off. Buy some land, dipshit. The more people you are in proximity to, the more you want to control other people.

[GORDON]

There was a study at some point in the past that suggested city living and mental illness went hand in hand.

[Alhazad]

It's almost as if people figured out that congregating together in larger numbers would increase their employment and living opportunities.

It's those fuckers who all live together who keep wanting to regulate what the rest of us does, which is what pisses me off. Buy some land, dipshit. The more people you are in proximity to, the more you want to control other people.

As if the more you're exposed to other humans day after day with no realistic chance to get away, the more you notice how prevalent are the aspects of humans that could stand correcting.

[Malcolm]

There was a study at some point in the past that suggested city living and mental illness went hand in hand.

I think I can also find some study at some point in the past which suggests that living out in the middle of nowhere in isolation with no one else around also contributes to mental illness.