Just go ahead and frogmarch them all.
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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. . . what assholes these criminally power-abusing assholes are.
Yes indeed!!!
All of them!!!
AG
You guys all do know that — by default — Clarke is Wisconsin’s best known Democrat, right?
Unsurprisingly, the local Democratic Party endorsed Clarke’s opponent in his last campaign in 2014.
He really comes off as a superb fellow in this reporting:
“When I talk about thinking that I’m going to get a fair shake or an objective coverage by the Shepherd Express, let’s not kid each other… if I was a black liberal and I was talked about in a way that the Shepherd Express has by a conservative outlet, it would have the Shepherd Express referring to the conservative outlet if you will with the dreaded `r’ word–racist–and you know it,” Clarke said.
When asked why his campaign manager agreed to the interview if Clarke didn’t want to talk about his re-election bid, the sheriff said, “Because I have an alternative view and I’m not afraid to express and debate that view with anybody. I am the type of person that encourages a clash of ideas. Like I said, I have an alternative view in this very monolithic environment that I’m in here. My views seem not to matter.”
Tell the families and friends of the prisoners assaulted, raped and killed in the County Jail overseen by Clark that his views didn’t matter.
The ex-Sheriff also spoke out in overt support of the Bundy family’s armed civil disobedience. Given that Arthur Gilroy stated his support for Bundy here at the Frog Pond when the issue was hot, it’s unsurprising Arthur engaged in pure troll behavior at the top of this post. It appears he lacks the fortitude to make an honest case for his support of these people.
I missed the “support Bundy” bit. Yikes.
He’s a real piece of work, that’s for sure.
Such an asshole. It hurts, really, it hurts. Can no one do anything about this guy?
There was an effective effort mounted to isolate him politically, while he was in office here. The fact that he’s such an abrasive and arrogant asshole did a fair amount to help. The last I heard — and I can’t confirm it — he was working for some pro-Trump PAC. I also saw a news story where he was speaking on behalf of Roy Moore in the runup to the election down there. He’s pretty much out of reach of anything less than an act of God.
He and his cohort are making a mockery out of the law. That’s just one more reason to dump the Orange Turd.
Frogmarch back to Cheney and Rove? Finally?
Even back to Kissinger.
But…it will never happen. Not while the empire remains. Too expensive to rewrite history. Once it falls? The next empire will do the rewriting. And…in the spirit of PostTruth? It will remain fiction. Just a different kind. Different PostFacts.
Always remember Karl Rove’s little moment of truth with Ron Suskind in 2002:
Yup.
The earliest public expression of the existence of the PostTruth era by someone in a position of power in the U.S. government.
Trump has just sped up the creation and distribution of those new realities. The danger in that? For Trump and the empire? Those “realities” barely last long enough to undergo any kind of study…judicious or not…and the intended targets eventually say “Ahhhhh…fuck it!!!” and believe nothing and no one.
That’s when revolutions happen.
Watch.
AG
of The Reality-Denying Community cite Suskind’s Reality-Based Community anecdote while betraying no awareness of the rich irony of that citation coming from you.
And yes, your determined ignoring of factual refutations of your frequent falsehoods clearly amounts to tacit admission of guilt. “[The shitmonger] doth doth protest too [little], methinks.”–Bill Shakespeare (modest liberties taken in adapting quotation)
Honey, you know, don’t you,that many folks just skip past anything you write — anything — yes? I wouldn’t care if AG were writing out the recipe for curing cancer, I’d still not know, b/c I’d have skipped past it.
Sweet cheeks.
s/Honey/AG Honey/
I’m pretty sure his action was illegal and probably violated some aviation regulations since he had no standing to detain Mr. Black when the latter committed no offense.
Clarke is widely hated in Milwaukee so it’s good he is no longer sheriff and I hope he is kept out of DHS as he has so far.
The Twitter account for Clarke is incredibly vile throughout, but he’s particularly rhetorically violent today. No link; fuck that guy.
I did discover in my explorations that Frank Luntz’s Twitter account is now doing lots of Trump bullshit debunking in between his usual Both Siderisms. Perhaps he’s anticipating where the paychecks will be coming from after the midterm elections.
Somewhat OT but fun nonetheless: Turns out the Steele Dossier was not so much a catalyst for the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 US election, after all. Rather, during the 2016 campaign, a Dolt 45 foreign policy advisor, George Papadopolous just couldn’t help but brag about his role in that interference – just add booze and he’ll sing like a bird.
An informative thread:
As usual, Seth’s a little over his skis here; he’s drawing somedefinitive conclusions that aren’t substantiated by the info. Nevertheless, he’s providing a compendium of important information. Papadopolous’ bragging to Greek reporters in December 2016 is information I hadn’t heard before. This latest Times report would have benefited by sharing it and placing it in context.
Doug at Balloon Juice provides some for proportional understanding:
Leaving no mystery why they persist in attempts to buy elections, politicians, indeed our entire political/electoral system.
It pays off for them!
Sheriff Clarke is a typical republican. They all assume they are above the law, and why wouldn’t they when they have gotten away with so much of the stuff that they condemn in others always in the harshest terms? They hold themselves unaccountable for anything that they would demand others to be held accountable for the same offenses. Sometimes they are held accountable, but many times they’re not, enough so that there is no deterrent for them behaving badly and outright lawlessness.
Remember the congressman from MT (I believe) who body slammed that reporter? He still became a congressman and got what amounted to a slap on the wrist.
Mitch McConnell stole in broad daylight a supreme court pick from a sitting president, violating the Constitution in the process.
They say Clinton was illegally “colluding” with the Russians, falsely claiming it was her campaign who solely ordered and paid for a dossier of “dirt” on Trump, even as they justify their meetings with the Russians offering “dirt” on Clinton, saying its just a part of political campaigning.
Trump lands in office in clear violation of the emoluments clause nine ways to Sunday, acknowledged as much and then refused to divest himself.
These are but three examples, and there are many more in which the GOP suffered zero consequences because they were not held accountable. And there is a reluctance to use what power the Constitution gives because we simply don’t have the courage to call a spade a spade when that spade requires good people taking hard but necessary steps as provided by the Constitution to make things right.
The GOP is coasting on a false reputation of “family values” goodness that causes the media and the public to always extend to them an undeserved benefit of the doubt. Even as they are exposed in extramarital affairs, force abortions on their mistresses, steal, lie and cheat. Whenever a republican is caught diddling underage girls, serving mammon at the expense of the voters; stealing from the public or cheating on their wives we’re admonished to “wait for all the facts” and then when those facts come in they’re treated as individuals in order to cast their behavior as aberrations and not as a feature of the entire party, as they tend to do with democrats, blacks, women and anyone who may not be a republican and or white man. This is the same party that spent hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars “investigating” Hillary Clinton over crimes she supposedly committed as Secretary of State regarding Benghazi, based on “facts” submitted by them that had long since been discredited, and long after it was clear to everyone there was no crime. Never mind that one of their leaders admitted publicly that the purpose was to dirty up Clinton for their own political gain. Just as passing the tax bill was essentially so they could continue to receive the “donations” (bribes) from their benefactors.
Given all this, why wouldn’t a Sheriff Clarke or any republican have much cause to think twice before doing something like this? Until we have (a) a real opposition party that has the backbone, integrity (e.g. aren’t beholden in the same way those they would hold accountable are) and political will based on serving the voters to hold them accountable, and (b) until we have voters who pay as much attention to what’s going on in government as they do to the latest Kardashian selfie, we will ALWAYS have republicans who will consider being above the law the norm.
Um, this is not quite correct. Sheriff Clarke is very a-typical as a Republican because he held office since 2002 as a Democrat. Most of them don’t do that, but that’s what he was. If you want the link, I put it in one of my comments further up in this thread, go read it if you don’t believe me.
In a previous decade, Clarke would have been called a DINO. He may be registered Democratic, he may have run for office with a D by his name, but he behaved essentially like a Republican in office and in his public life in general. Still does. Registering and running Democratic was probably more a tactical matter for him in order to have a shot at winning an election in his county. Also, as someone else pointed out elsewhere in this story, Clarke is not exactly well-regarded by his fellow Democratic peers in Milwaukee County, nor particularly well-regarded by his constituents.
I live in his county. I’m more than well aware of what he was up to. He’s not the first one to try it nor will he be the last, he’s just the most famous. Your point is trivially obvious; the question I’m trying to get you all to consider is, why did it work for him for so long?
This much is true. As was pointed out above, in the 2014 primary the DPMC endorsed Clarke’s opponent in the primary which is rarely done. Yet his opponent lost. Doesn’t this make you wonder what led to that? Here is a clue: the ill regard of all those “Democratic peers” amounted to bupkis; in fact it was the tactical ham-handedness of two of those “Democratic peers” that helped him to win the election by snatching defeat out of the goddamned jaws of victory.
Yet his constituents voted him in, in that primary, which ensured that he would win the general election since no Republican ran against him. So you’ve got a contradiction here.
Go ahead and share us your insights then, since after all you do have the expertise to do so. More than happy to listen.
OK.
In 2010 a guy by the name of Chris Moews ran against Clarke for Sheriff. He only lost by about 6% and we all thought that was a really good result, considering that he had announced late.
So people were really energized in 2014 when Moews decided to run again, and this time he announced way early and campaigned his ass off. As you’re aware, Clarke is a polarizing figure with a loose mouth and a bad attitude so Moews did not have trouble getting endorsements from municipal law enforcement officials across the County and the political establishment as well. Clarke has alienated all of them at one time or another.
But Moews has two problems. First of all, he’s white. Lots of other elected officials in the County are as well, it’s not a barrier to entry, but if you’re running against a black incumbent you’d best be careful. Which Moews was. His second problem is that he’s an MPD detective and at the time of the campaign was the Exec. Officer for the MPD 5th District. Which is the eastern half of the inner city. So we’d go out to knock on doors and people would ask, “So what’s Moews do?” “#2 cop in the 5th District.” “Right, see you later.” But Clarke himself came in from law enforcement, you’re not going to get a Sheriff who doesn’t have that background. So a problem, but again not a barrier to entry.
A side note here: in Wisconsin, the Sheriff’s Dept. handles traffic enforcement
on the freeways
and
in the County Jail
. MPD handles law enforcement in the community, and on city streets. People experience the two very differently.
Anyhow. With about 10 days to go until the election, the race is close. Then County Executive (and Democrat, and millionaire political rainmaker) Chris Abele decides he has to send everyone in the County a series (I recall three but that might be off) of glossy fliers that
insult Clarke and claim that he’s incompetent
. Which of course he is but if you’re sending out lit on behalf of a white guy to a County that has as many African American residents as this one does
you don’t insult the black guy
. Deal with his miserable record and discuss the facts but don’t come off as insulting him. But now Clark’s supporters, seeing an opening, start to mobilize in the African American community. And they get traction.
As if that weren’t bad enough, it turns out that Clarke was endorsed by the NRA. No surprise there, but then Michael Bloomberg (yeah, the New York Michael Bloomberg) decides he needs to put his oar in the water and come out against Clarke because he’s supported by the NRA and is opposed to gun control. Thanks, Mike! — now the right-wing talk radio guys grab hold of this and start mobilizing the conservative white gun nuts.
And Moews lost again, this time by only about 4%.
Now, I know well that you won’t believe a word of all of this unless I document it, and likely not even then, so you can start here.
Moral of the story? We’ve got a boatload of problems here with the Republicans, it’s true. But we’ve long ago despaired of seeing the Democratic Party as being a force to help us — I know some good people in the DP but as an organization it’s just useless. Too much water over the dam (since the recall and before) to change that, and all of the snide remarks about “progressive betters” that one can find here and elsewhere isn’t going to stop anyone from thinking that you’re just pissing on our legs and telling us it’s raining. Again.
What finally did Clarke in was his unique skill at making enemies of all of the local elected officials and law enforcement, his documented incompetence, and massive public pressure and street demonstrations led by the Latino community. No way he could have won in 2018.
The snide remark regarding “progressive betters” comments notwithstanding (it’s irrelevant to the rest of the discussion), this was the sort of analysis I was hoping to see. It definitely looks like 2014 was a badly missed opportunity to ditch Clarke. Seriously. That really is helpful.
I get that there are people who live in places like California and other states as well, to whom the level of bitterness we hold toward the DP makes no sense. But here in the Rust Belt it’s a different world. Although “progressive betters” was a cheap shot I took it with the intent of being deliberately provocative, in order to make that exact point.
It <bold>is</bold> relevant to the rest of the discussion in that you can’t just look at 2014 as “a badly missed opportunity to ditch Clarke” without realizing that 2010 was a badly missed opportunity to not elect Walker, and so was 2012, and so was 2014, and then the roof caved in in 2016. And it’s not just Walker, it’s both houses of the Legislature, the Supreme Court, and most of local government as well. Those aren’t just “badly missed opportunities” they are fucking train wrecks with really serious consequences for real people. Context matters.
Local and state parties vary in quality. We have problems of our own in the South, including my little corner of the South. It really has required something of a regime change in my county and to a degree my state to make me have any hope that our leadership actually “gets it.” Won’t turn my state blue any time too soon, but if nothing else we’ll make enough inroads to no longer be a superminority party. I fear our party moved too late to get a slate of candidates for statewide offices this upcoming year, and that will hurt us. But yeah, possibly for different reasons, I may empathize with your frustrations more than you can imagine.
I will say that your “progressive betters” remark, however you intended it, did certainly take me aback. For a moment there I really questioned if I had been misreading you all this time. If so, that was a mistake I did not want to make again. Thankfully that does not appear to be the case.
Reason I say that is because we do have a bloc of serial discord sowers (i.e., “progressive betters”), which is stating the very obvious, and to the extent that they have dampened enthusiasm for Democratic candidates and causes, we end up with – well the clusterfuck we have right now. Look, I’ve got personal friends and family friends who are in the line of fire right now – some are affected by Dolt 45’s DACA decision, some affected by any threat to Medicare or Medicaid (most directly if our governor’s effort to get an expansion waiver that essentially does away with expansion), and so on. And the older I get, and the more people I dearly love I see getting hurt, the more torn apart I am becoming. So I see the serial trolling that goes on in places like this and I react a lot more harshly now. I doubt I am going to get any nicer going forward. As you put it, real people are getting hurt, and there’s no way to sugarcoat it.
We do have a clusterfuck on our hands here but the reason for it is not some commenters on a blog. All the commenters on all the blogs, plus the devil and even Jill Stein herself, could not “dampen enthusiasm for Democratic candidates and causes” the way Chris Abele can and does when he pulls shenanigans like the one I mentioned in the example above. This stuff seriously demobilizes and demoralizes the people we need to get out to support candidates and vote for them. It’s not a matter of some trolls, these are people with the power and the means to do real damage.
Sounds like you have a real fight on your hands where you’re at. All I can do is wish you and those who were working with you well. Stating the obvious – removing entrenched power is a pain in the ass. Clearly something happened locally where I am at in the last year to get increase mobilization – at least locally. It really did take getting enough voting members to take their chances on a new slate of party leaders. The patience of enough people had to wear out. Don’t get me wrong. The amount of effort and years needed to undo the damage (we lost everything before regime change happened) is not something any of us here will look forward to. But at least there is a way forward. As I said, I wish you well.
As for beyond locally, I’ll stick to what I said about our own disruptors. What I know on that front is what is right in front of me any time I’ve logged on over the past couple years. My patience has worn thin – actually my patience ran out is more accurate. Just where I’m at. We may have to agree to disagree on that. If so, something tells me we’ll live.
To say “Sheriff Clarke is a typical republican” IS correct, since I am describing what he is today, and how the way he acts is typical of how republicans act. What he was at some point doesn’t make the statement any less true, or the observation somehow incorrect. I would wager that, if pressed, even Clarke himself would say that his democratic past is now not relevant.
However, if your real point is, that Sheriff Clarke was always like this, even as a democrat, then point taken.
My real point is, look at the big picture. What your original comment that I was responding to misses is that you don’t have guys like Clarke or guys like Chris Abele who I mentioned in my other comment surviving in office as Democrats if your Democratic Party is worth shit.
This is class warfare. If the Democratic Party is anything more than a gentle debating society for old people then what Clarke and Abele are about is treason. But the Party here is too powerless to address their Clarke problem by doing anything more than endorsing his opponent (then watching other Democrats sandbag their “resistance”). And they’re too divided to address their Abele problem because Abele is their biggest funder.
The GOP is coasting on a false reputation of “family values”…
Serious question: Coasting implies that at some point they indeed were associated with family values. When was this? Eisenhower?
Because I can’t remember it ever being true.
The only family values the GOP seems to represent? Manson Family.
Greg Gianforte (R-Asshole).
He body-slammed Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs the day before Election Day.
Early/absentee voting is popular here, so a substantial amount of voting was completed by then (can’t find percentage, but it was high, probably on order of half). There were people who asked to change their submitted votes as a result of the assault, but MT election laws make no provision for that. No way to say for sure if the assault would have changed the outcome otherwise. Clearly, some people voted for him on Election Day despite him having just demonstrated what an asshole he is.
Gov. Bullock had proposed the special election be mail-only, saving counties ~$3/4 Million. The GOP, controlling both houses of the leg., killed the proposal. State GOPer Chair Jeff Essman committed the “gaffe” of saying truthfully why . . . right out loud (well, actually in writing):
[Translation (if any’s needed!): the more people able to vote, the worse for the GOP. (Which, of course, is the motivation for the massive voter-suppression campaign they’ve been at nationally for what . . . gotta be measured in decades, now, right?) Why do GOPers hate democracy? Actually, that’s too easy: in a functioning democracy, they lose. So they cheat.]
This infuriated me (though who knows if it would have mattered, either?):
Not, of course, that they rescinded, but that they endorsed him in the first place! Those 3 cities plus Butte are what pass for Dem/liberal bastions here! None of those pubs have seen a penny from me since, nor will they.
Gianforte has further cemented the conclusion that he’s an asshole by reneging on this deal with his assault victim, Jacobs:
Rescinding endorsements right around election time is a case of way too little, way too late. I don’t subscribe to our local newspaper in large part because I can count on its staff to endorse the worst possible candidates the GOP has to offer. Got better ways to spend the few pennies I’ve got. Comes down to choosing between paying my party dues and a lousy paper subscription, the former wins out every time. As far as Gianforte goes, I figured that chickenshit would weasel his way out of what he promised. No surprise there.