I believe that the largest, sanctioned and active minefield in the world is the DMZ. That slows the emigration south one would think. Unlike horror shows like Angola, where mines are everywhere maiming the populace daily and largely forgotten, the DMZ is active and maintained. I have not spent time in Korea, and am rather glad as it sound pretty horrible.

Wait, are we expecting this top kill thing to actually work?

If it doesn't, the spew gets worse.

I love that Blumenthal is beating McMahon by 25 points. Nominating conventions in theory are supposed to avoid bloody primary battles, but it seems like delegates to these things (see: Bennett, Bob) pick stupid candidates with as great a frequency as regular old primaries.

jerseyhoya wrote:I love that Blumenthal is beating McMahon by 25 points. Nominating conventions in theory are supposed to avoid bloody primary battles, but it seems like delegates to these things (see: Bennett, Bob) pick stupid candidates with as great a frequency as regular old primaries.

it's an obvious point, but it seems like the way to beat a bloodless/inoffensive career pol who lied about his military service would have been to run a similar guy who happens to be a decorated vet from the same war, rather than an unlikable harpy who happens to be really rich.

That said, my understanding is that Simmons could have stayed in for a primary in August. Did the party bosses push him out?

He could have stayed in but he would have lost. He didn't have the money to compete with her, the state party, and everything else.

pacino wrote:Wait, are we expecting this top kill thing to actually work?

BP official takes the 5th, so no.

dajafi wrote:
That said, my understanding is that Simmons could have stayed in for a primary in August. Did the party bosses push him out?

I believe your understanding is correct. Simmons ain't dead yet - but the lateness of the hour (august) probably won't help him...(?) hoya, help us out here.

EDIT: note to self - refresh page before chiming in. UPI summary of Simmons folding his tent

and I don't usually read Gail Collins, but her particular tone is right for summing up the sitch with CT's Sexy Bitch



oh, and dajafi, how is it you're still alive & posting after your grand tour of Chicago O'Hare's hospitality offerings a few hours ago?

dajafi wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:I love that Blumenthal is beating McMahon by 25 points. Nominating conventions in theory are supposed to avoid bloody primary battles, but it seems like delegates to these things (see: Bennett, Bob) pick stupid candidates with as great a frequency as regular old primaries.

it's an obvious point, but it seems like the way to beat a bloodless/inoffensive career pol who lied about his military service would have been to run a similar guy who happens to be a decorated vet from the same war, rather than an unlikable harpy who happens to be really rich.

That said, my understanding is that Simmons could have stayed in for a primary in August. Did the party bosses push him out?

The White House offered him a cabinet position

cshort wrote:

dajafi wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:I love that Blumenthal is beating McMahon by 25 points. Nominating conventions in theory are supposed to avoid bloody primary battles, but it seems like delegates to these things (see: Bennett, Bob) pick stupid candidates with as great a frequency as regular old primaries.

it's an obvious point, but it seems like the way to beat a bloodless/inoffensive career pol who lied about his military service would have been to run a similar guy who happens to be a decorated vet from the same war, rather than an unlikable harpy who happens to be really rich.

That said, my understanding is that Simmons could have stayed in for a primary in August. Did the party bosses push him out?

The White House offered him a cabinet position

that black bastard's got his hooks into all the action

blumenthal will beat mcmahon probably with around 54-55%, maybe a tad lower if things get worse for democrats nationwide. he and simmons would be an absolute down to the wire matchup.

he should get back in, but he cant compete with her unlimited funds, its a shame. mcmahon is a travesty and the people that gave her the endorsement cost themselves a great shot at the seat and gave democrats the chance to spend money elsewhere

Rococo4 wrote:blumenthal will beat mcmahon probably with around 54-55%, maybe a tad lower if things get worse for democrats nationwide. he and simmons would be an absolute down to the wire matchup.

he should get back in, but he cant compete with her unlimited funds, its a shame. mcmahon is a travesty and the people that gave her the endorsement cost themselves a great shot at the seat and gave democrats the chance to spend money elsewhere

"the people" = republican party maker/breakers, therefore...?

I never look at Real Clear Politics, so have no idea where they're coming from, but wherever that is, there's precious little understanding of US health care there:

RealClearPolitics' take on Don Berwick

This is probably the dumbest of the many, many, many, many dumb takes on US health care & its possible futures that I can remember scanning, and I've scanned a bunch.

RealClearPolitics is a news aggregation site. It's like Drudge for op-eds from around the country. I think three people actually work for them (Bevan, Trende and Cost). They have mostly conservative leaning links, but they have every Krugman column, Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd, Dionne, etc.

Edit: Actually they have a few new blogs, so maybe 5-6 people write for them. In any case the article you linked to is just on their site, it wasn't produced in house though.

jerseyhoya wrote:RealClearPolitics is a news aggregation site. It's like Drudge for op-eds from around the country. I think three people actually work for them (Bevan, Trende and Cost). They have mostly conservative leaning links, but they have every Krugman column, Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd, Dionne, etc.

Edit: Actually they have a few new blogs, so maybe 5-6 people write for them. In any case the article you linked to is just on their site, it wasn't produced in house though.

got it, thank you. All the views in a print fit, or the like.

drsmooth wrote:

dajafi wrote:
That said, my understanding is that Simmons could have stayed in for a primary in August. Did the party bosses push him out?

I believe your understanding is correct. Simmons ain't dead yet - but the lateness of the hour (august) probably won't help him...(?) hoya, help us out here.

EDIT: note to self - refresh page before chiming in. UPI summary of Simmons folding his tent

and I don't usually read Gail Collins, but her particular tone is right for summing up the sitch with CT's Sexy Bitch



oh, and dajafi, how is it you're still alive & posting after your grand tour of Chicago O'Hare's hospitality offerings a few hours ago?

Yeah, the Collins piece was spot on. I don't always enjoy her tone of above-it-all bemusement--it's like she's Dowd's older sister--but it works for this one.

dajafi is brought to you this afternoon by a very large iced coffee and various sugar products. I've been at work for about four hours now, periodically hallucinating but fairly productive other than the pure awfulness of breaking the news to one of the team members that she's being laid off. Give me ten O'Hares before I have to do that again.

The Phillies better fucking win the game tonight.

dajafi wrote:The Phillies better $#@! win the game tonight.

Probably the most important sentence in politics thread history

jerseyhoya wrote:

dajafi wrote:The Phillies better $#@! win the game tonight.

Probably the most important sentence in politics thread history

freakin' national security issue

drsmooth wrote:

Rococo4 wrote:blumenthal will beat mcmahon probably with around 54-55%, maybe a tad lower if things get worse for democrats nationwide. he and simmons would be an absolute down to the wire matchup.

he should get back in, but he cant compete with her unlimited funds, its a shame. mcmahon is a travesty and the people that gave her the endorsement cost themselves a great shot at the seat and gave democrats the chance to spend money elsewhere

"the people" = republican party maker/breakers, therefore...?

therefore they made a stupid, nearsighted decision based on $

TV, this one's for you:

Blanche Lincoln gets a shout-out from Michael Lewis in this humorous weekend op-shot at fatty wall street weasels