Back in January, when Donald Trump rolled out a seemingly drunk Sarah Palin to endorse his candidacy, it seemed like a suspect move, especially after the fact. She rambled on incoherently, delivering nonsense paragraphs like the following:
“The self-made success of his, you know, that he doesn’t get his power, his high, off of opium [we think she means “OPM”]: other people’s money, like a lot of dopes in Washington do. They’re addicted to opium, where they take other people’s money, and then their high is getting to redistribute it, right?”
She blasted Republicans who refused to have anything to do with Trump or said that he wasn’t a true conservative.
“Oh, tell somebody like, Phyllis Schlafly? She is the Republican, conservative movement icon and hero and a Trump supporter. Tell her she’s not conservative. How ‘bout the rest of us? Right wingin’, bitter clingin’, proud clingers of our guns, our god, and our religions, and our Constitution. Tell us that we’re not red enough? Yeah, coming from the establishment. Right.”
Even Trump realized that he’d delivered the nation a train wreck, which is undoubtedly why Sarah Palin is not on the schedule to speak at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next week.
But that doesn’t mean that we won’t get to do some rubbernecking. Ben Carson has a slot. Jerry Falwell Jr. has a slot. For some reason, Antonio Sabato Jr., “a former Calvin Klein underwear model, soap-opera actor and reality-television star,” has a slot.
It’s also doubtful that race-hustlers like Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Rudy Giuliani and Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke will do much for minority or moderate outreach.
Notably absent from the speaking list is anyone who has been president or vice-president or been nominated for those positions in the past. The only exception is Paul Ryan who will make a brief appearance to talk about his agenda for the House of Representatives, but that agenda has exactly zero to do with Donald Trump. Mitt Romney and John McCain will not speak. Neither will Poppy Bush or any of his sons. Dick Cheney is not scheduled. Bob Dole is not scheduled.
What we will see is some guy who runs a Trump winery in Virginia, pro golfer Natalie Gulbis, and the man who runs the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
I don’t see any slots reserved for former Secretaries of State, of which many are still living, like Condi Rice and Colin Powell and James Baker and George P. Schultz. There won’t be any Donald Rumsfeld or Paul Wolfowitz or Robert Gates. We won’t see Henry Paulson or John Snow or Paul O’Neill or Nicholas Brady.
No one who has ever held a cabinet position of authority on diplomacy or our armed forces or the economy is scheduled to speak.
But we will have a chance to hear what Mike Huckabee has to say. And Ted Cruz. And Newt Gingrich.
I can’t wait.
What about McConnell? Thought I read somewhere that he’d been roped into it. He and Ryan are in a pickle since they can’t decline to speak without abdicating their responsibilities as party leaders to support the nominee. If McConnell isn’t going to be there, that in itself is a huge statement.
McConnell is there. There are a fair number of significant politicians there, although it is a pretty weak list for a national convention. Mostly backbenchers or newbies; nobody in a tough race (a real loss for Republicans there), and none of the movers and shakers in Congress apart from the two leaders and McCarthy.
In short they will be now representative of the disaster in Iraq or connected to Bush’s handling of the financial crisis.
Hmmmm.
Sounds reasonably smart to me to keep these people out.
He needs to close the deal with the right. He needs to solve the personal perception of his temperament.
If he does both he will be up 5 this time next week.
The joys of typing on iphones…
In a related question, I wonder if some of Clinton’s neo-con support will be in Philadelphia.
I think 5 is a bit pessimistic. This is going to be an ugly event.
I remember watching Trump’s face during that speech, as he went from proud onlooker to “what have I done?”
The only time he looked embarrassed in his campaign so far. Expect convention photo-ops with Trump and Palin. (Ivana can pass down a few more pieces from her wardrobe closet to Palin to keep her happy.)
Maybe they thought they were getting Larry Sabato?
How can Boo not mention Tim Tebow?!?!?!?
Juicebox Jesus is now saying he was never invited and won’t be attending.
GOP most extreme platform in history
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/kris-kobach-party-convention-platform
Health advisory: No. Drinking. Games. Next. Week.
You will not be able to construct a list that will not put you under the table.
How about “diversity” or “black lives matter” or “expanding Medicare”? That should hold you down to the occasional sip.
Those who do not oppose Trump should be vilified the same as those who ‘actively’ support him. For Ryan to claim that Trump is better than HRC is outrageous, and his refusal to plainly say he opposes Trump and plans to vote for HRC marks him as an ally of Trump and his brand of…whatever the hell he is selling.
If we just keep vilifying Trump we risk it all. We have to make failure to oppose him just as socially unacceptable as saying those Mexicans are all rapists, etc. No more double standard. No more hiding.
Digby, of course, nailed this yesterday.
“I don’t see any slots reserved for former Secretaries of State, of which many are still living, like Condi Rice and Colin Powell and James Baker and George P. Schultz. There won’t be any Donald Rumsfeld or Paul Wolfowitz or Robert Gates. We won’t see Henry Paulson or John Snow or Paul O’Neill or Nicholas Brady. “
Maybe that’s because the Repubs realize that these are major war criminals and they repudiate them and no longer wish to be associated with them. All of these people you mention should be in prison. The fact that they are not now welcome at the convention is very, very good, and makes the Repubs much more attractive to independents and others. The Dem convention will see a series of warmongers and imperialist corporate lackeys speak, telling the nation that the military-industrial complex is still in charge, and that we need to accept that our future is endless war, and endless bombings of people of color.
You beat me to it.
Thank you.
AG
P.S.
Well…no. Not really.
These people are not there largely because as heinous as their crimes may have been, they do not want to be tarred and feathered for Trump’s crimes as well.
You can only get away with so much, y’know.
They know, anyway, and as a result they are keeping their distance.
AG
P.P.S. This could all backfire on them, though. What if Trump actually wins? The whole DC revolving door thing will change. Poor, poor little war criminals. They’d have to live on their winnings!!!
Trump is running on huuuugely jacking up the Defense Department budget. Trump has made eliminationist statements about Muslims and Arabs, including plans to torture and kill the families of those he decides are terrorists. Trump has said repeatedly that followers of Islam are collectively guilty of attacks on Americans. Trump would tear up the Iran nuclear deal immediately. Trump has declared himself securely in the pocket of Netanyahu and other reactionaries in Israel. Trump refuses to rule out use of nuclear weapons anywhere. Trump has said proliferation of nuclear weapons around the world would be a good idea. Trump’s impulse control over his anger in response to the pettiest of slights is preposterously low.
This is far from a comprehensive list of evidences to show that anyone who thinks Trump would conduct more responsible foreign and military policies than Clinton is a person who has allowed their Hillary hatred to dull their senses. Trump would be the worst sort of warmonger.
That’s hilarious on so many levels
The Republicans are nominating somebody who wants to invade Middle Eastern countries to steal their oil, murder children because of their relatives, and surpass the Viet Cong in torture. And didn’t Ted Cruz, who is speaking, call for nuclear carpet bombing?
They’re not skipping out because they’re war criminals.
Not there because they’re old, gray, and dull. The Trumpsters want visual pizzazz and disconnected, hot one-liners. They made it clear during the primary that they didn’t want to see or hear from the GOP DC Beltway elites this time around. (And no Clint Eastwood talking to a chair either.)
“warmongers and imperialist corporate lackeys”
You forgot to mention the running dogs of Western capitalist imperialism.
That’s your snark line. Nobody here wants to step on your toes and deprive you of repeating yourself.
I’m wounded to the core, Marie3.
Mortally wounded by projection.
We all hope you can recover.
.
Thank you.
It’s unfortunate that Marie3 and I bug each other. She strikes me as knowledgeable and earnest but humorless.
I find it almost impossible to take seriously the sort of political invective to which I was responding with my remark about running dogs. The master of political invective was arguably Christopher Hitchens, and look at the journey he made: from leftist to cheerleader for the architects of the Iraq invasion.
No respect for the oldies….
It’s quite the alt universe you inhabit that has that GOP in it!
Here in the universe I inhabit, there are, of course, other explanations. (Think: who’s doin’ the invitin’? Who’s willing to show up and make themselves part of that freakshow?)
Send these foul beasts into the abyss!
The lengths Trump’s party will go to to forego talking about policy are mind boggling. Palin was a forerunner with her word salad technique even before she began drinking; now she just sounds redundant.
Word leaking that Trump’s opting for a ‘sanity’ ticket by choosing Pence. My bet is that it’s a Trump headfake, how can he not choose crazed Gingrich?
Policy? His policies all boil down to “you, the American working man and woman, are being screwed by people whom it is now OK to hate, publicly.”
I hear that there’s going to be a movie made of the convention. It’ll be modeled on this.
Except not as classy.
is almost enough to make me regret or rethink having abstained from broadcast/cable teevee* for many years, perhaps even into decades now. Almost. Though yes, obviously, what it says about the state of the union that the quadrennial convention of one of the two major parties is virtually guaranteed to be an insane freakshow does make for a leak from the balloon of entertainment value. Downright frightening and appalling, in fact, if you let yourself think about those implications.
Speaking of freakshows, where’s the Nuge on that program. Looks like somebody fucked up!
*maybe it’ll stream online? Unsure if I could stomach watching more than short bits anyway, though.
I assume I’m not the only one to claim this, but here’s what I think of when Mooselini starts up:
Oh well, there will still be plenty of subnormal bleating coming from the stage in Cleveland.