Hillary Clinton to keep, and apologized for, calling half of Donald Trump supporters “a basket of deplorables.” Setting aside the lousy optics of criticizing a quarter of the voters, what’s up with that weird phrase? What American would ever use it?
Basket of Deplorables
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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Mooks. I prefer “Mooks”.
It’s beyond weird, it’s grammatically incorrect. Deplorable is an adjective. There is no plural. Would she say “basket of brights?” Of course, even if she had used correct English, and said “basket of deplorable people” it would be weird.
Actually, Brights (as a noun) do exist, and I happen to be one:
http://www.the-brights.net/
😀
So, did she apologize to the half that aren’t deplorable? Or did she apologize for underestimating the ratio of thereof?
Mortimer: “Look at that ugly lady in the front row”
Edgar: “That’s not nice. You should say you’re sorry”
Mortimer: “Hey Lady! I’m sorry you’re ugly”
That reminds me of one I heard when I lived in Germany:
A drunk on the subway told the woman sitting across from him: “My god, you’re ugly.”
Incensed, she retorted: “And YOU are drunk!”
His response was: “Yeah, but tomorrow I’ll be sober, and YOU will still be ugly!”
😀
We accept the title with pride.
I can understand the phrase because I realize that even the most polished speaker stumbles once in a while.
What’s got me truly staggered though is how ANYONE could still think HRC is going to have a presidency, even if she wins the election. We’re about seven weeks from the end of this nightmare and no one could possibly think that the fringe element of the Republican Party is going to suddenly sober up. If HRC wins, her presidency will be impossible unless she wins majorities in the House and Senate and that simply isn’t going to happen.
If she catches a cold or has a relapse of pneumonia, I fully expect Fox News to start showing clips from those Bionic Woman episodes with the Fembots. “See? Hillary is a fembot! We have proof.” Cut to Ann Coulter asking if the fembot has a long-form birth certificate.
I mean, what am I missing? How can even the most fanatical supporter of HRC think she will be allowed to do ANYTHING?
You are missing that when your unreasonable expectations are not met, that’s your own fault and solely your own fault.
Despite the circumstances, Obama and the Democrats managed to deliver between 85%-90% of what was reasonable to expect of them.
I’ve no doubt Hillary will be the same.
Ye-e-ssss It’s totally Alex’s fault that Obama failed to close Guantanamo, reneged on his promise for an open administration, and committed the exact, same war crimes that he lambasted his predecessor for. It’s Alex’s fault that the ‘recovery’ has done far more for the 1% than the 99% who were most harmed by the meltdown. Let us not forget to lay the blame for the TPP at Alex’s feet as well.
“Obama and the Democrats managed to deliver between 85%-90% of what was reasonable to expect of them.”
That may actually be a true statement – the operative word being “them.” So how about we get some NEW people in office of whom it is reasonable to expect something better?
“I’ve no doubt Hillary will be the same”
Me, too. That’s why I’m voting for Jill Stein.
@ CrazyH – I may have to change my moniker to “CrazyD”! (But you left out the labeling of GMOs the BHO also promised.)
😀
I wonder if Whimsical is Prof Krugman’s nom de guerre?
Prof Krugman writes that Obama saw to it that almost all Americans now have a great health insurance policy, incomes are way up for the 99% and way down for the 1%, and the real unemployment rate is now zero.
We could add that Americans are no longer dying in a stupid war, Obama is killing more terrorists than Bush, jr with no danger to the American military forces. You have to really admire that Obama has tracked down lots of terrorists who were younger than 2 years old, and who would have had a long life killing innocents if he hadn’t taken them out. Not to mention the old lady who appeared to be gardening when she was really planting poisonous potato bombs when Obama’s drones took her out.
President Redbeard will almost certainly (thanks to Donald) have a Democratic Senate for 2 years. And she won’t tolerate the horrible crimes of the evil dictators of Syria and Russia, she’ll liberate their countries with absolutely no risk to any Americans. What more could anyone ask? Whimsical is right, we all should vote for St Redbeard.
Okay, I’ll bite. What, exactly, do you predict HRC will accomplish? I suspect a list of what she won’t get done would be more likely:
1. She will not be allowed to nominate a liberal/progressive Supreme Court justice.
2. She will not close Gitmo.
3. She will not release her Goldman Sachs transcripts.
4. She will not decrease the U-6 unemployment statistic.
@ alex_the_tired –
That’s with the assumption that she wins the election, which (at this point) is highly questionable.
She can’t do anything if any other candidate wins. (I’m hoping for Dr. Jill Stein.)
🙂
Alex:
If I misunderstand Whimsy’s illogical reasoning improperly, you can can have everything you hope for. All you have to do is convince 0.4% of the electorate to:
1. Hope that she will not be allowed to nominate a liberal/progressive Supreme Court justice.
2. Whine about her not closing Gitmo.
3. Expectshe will not release her Goldman Sachs transcripts.
4. Punish her if she will not decrease the U-6 unemployment statistic.
Damn. I neglected to not antidisnegate all of those.
Anyway – all you have to do is hope/expect/whine about/punish the exact opposite of what you hope to achieve & your wishes shall be granted.
«You are missing that when your unreasonable expectations are not met, that’s your own fault and solely your own fault.
Despite the circumstances, Obama and the Democrats managed to deliver between 85%-90% of what was reasonable to expect of them.
…»
No, what alex_the_tired – and many others here, including your humble interlocutor, have failed to understand, «Whimsical», is that in the hands of weasels like yourself, adjectives like «reasonable» and «unreasonable» become weasel words, devoid of any meaning other than that which the weasels choose to give them – cf Humpty Dumpty’s notorious conversation with Alice….
«I’ve no doubt Hillary will be the same.» I’ve no doubt that Ms Clinton – not being as personally familiar with her as you seem to be, I refrain from referring to her by her given name – will, in the event she makes to the Oval Office in any other capacity than as voyeuse, do those things any reasonable person with an adequate knowledge of her attitudes and her career would expect her to do, e g, continue with, e g, her neocon war-mongering interventionist policies abroad, which risk bringing the short happy life of H sapiens sapiens on this blue planet to a close. Vestigia terrent !…
Henri