Speaking of carnival barkers & crocks-of shit***

[kpete]

5) Speaking of carnival barkers: Every member of the political press knows that the chance of
On the Birth Certificate Idiocracy
APR 27 2011, 12:56 PM ET
James Fallows

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2) Language alert. This alone disproves Donald Trump's crock-of-shit*** insulting and preposterous assertions that Obama was an affirmative action or charity admittee to the Ivy Leagues who couldn't really cut it on his own IQ or test scores, as if there weren't already evidence enough: It is his use at time 0:50 of the word "bemusement" in its proper sense (puzzlement, confusion) rather than what most people think it means (mild amusement). I would like to have someone ask Trump what he thinks the word means. Maybe some variant on "easement"? (*** Update: OK, it's a sign of defeat to resort to profanity. That's a sign of how I felt about this line of slurs. First, whatever is wrong with Obama, no sane person thinks he's stupid. Second, I wonder how many people think Donald Trump is in a position to judge Obama's smarts. Third, there is no avoiding the racist connotation of saying that a successful black person got there -- wink wink -- through special treatment. "Of course the black guy ended up as editor of the Law Review. That's how it is these days." So I should just have said that rather than "crock of shit.")


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Donald Trump becoming the 45th President of the United States is zero. I say that the chance of Sarah Palin becoming president is extremely low but greater than zero. I will take any bet at any odds against Trump becoming president, for reasons I'll boil down to this: the same circumstances that would make Obama so vulnerable that a Trump could beat him (economic, political, military, or social chaos of any kind you want to imagine), would simultaneously motivate the Republican party to choose a "real" candidate with the best chance of winning the election and running the government. That is, if the Republicans think they have a serious chance to win, they're not going to blow that chance with Trump.

My real point is: knowing for sure that Trump's "lead" in the GOP polls now is a quaint artifact of name recognition, and knowing that there is no chance that his "colorful" background and prima donna manner could stand the long grueling, humiliating ordeal of the primaries and the caucuses and the endless interviews, how long will the press keep acting as the megaphone for this carnival barker? Why aren't they jumping all over him now, for the patent idiocy of his "birther" claim, rather than acting as if somehow he has scored a point by making Obama react? In reality, he'll be on the stage with the press' megaphone until people get bored with him -- which gradually but undeniably has happened to Palin.

the rest:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/04/on-the-birth-certificate-idiocracy/237941/

[tularetom]

1. The republican establishment don't know whether to shit or go blind

They realize the more trump blurts out his line of crap the more popular he becomes with the lunatic fringe (aka republican primary voters).

They would love for him to STFU but they don't want to say so and piss off the crazies, because they think trump is fully capable of a third party run and he'd take half their voters with him.

[DCKit]

2. In that case, I say we back off completely and let him have at it.

Regardless, there are several HUGE egos hoping for the Republic nomination. I would expect at least two of them to run (I) campaigns when they aren't selected to lead their party.

Hilarity will ensue.