DRW50

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD9ZQME7mFfaEid7Qowlq9Q I don't think I could watch 1996 again. I'm sure if I did I'd say some parts weren't so bad, as I enjoyed a good portion of the show up to about late spring or early summer, but I still have too many bad memories of the very misguided attempts to push Wendy Moniz as a noble ingenue.

Meet your new foreign policy adviser if Trump wins: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/omarosa-maginault-gop-clinton-foreign-policy I always had a soft spot for her, but this is...disorienting.

Didn't Alma leave for a cruise? I know they recast her briefly after Ethel Remey left.

I was going to leave a negative comment but when I saw her name I decided not to bother.

The main difference between Romney and Trump is that Trump somehow manages to fool a lot of people that he's like them. Romney never could. I don't know how the election will go, but Nate Silver now saying Trump will win makes me wary, because he gets a lot of media attention and spins a lot of CW, and it will start to move closer to becoming a reality and a fact for more and more people.

They got the Jill/Frank/Faith story and the way the show talked about Faith's character totally wrong (and they certainly stopped pushing her as the less attractive sister after Faith Catlin left the role). Why am I not surprised with that trash site.

It's because of the increasing belief in our society, spurred on when the media worked so hard to get W elected, that if you don't say things in a blunt, stupid way, then you're a fake and a phony and you don't understand "real Americans." Then there's the "they're all the same" that Naderites love and that the media also pushes. This encourages people to feel nothing will make a difference. And to be fair, to a lot of people who are struggling, the election may not make a difference. But there is still a clear difference, and most just don't bother to see it because they've been told so many times that everyone is the same. This type of stuff and the purity contests leads to a puffed-out arrogance that you see with morons like the people at the convention, where (correct me if I'm wrong) white people were screaming BLACK LIVES MATTER! to Cory Booker, a black man. No one with a brain in their head would have done that. Hillary has a lot of problems of her own making, decades of lies, and there's also the charisma deficit, but if this were a country that had not spent decades rewarding stupidity and destruction because "he's a guy you could have a beer with," then more people would know that Trump is not an option.

The thing with Trump is that what he says sounds simple. It doesn't matter if it's insane, or nonsensical - it sounds simple and easy. And that's what a lot of people want. Worried about the economy? Hey, this guy will fire everybody on the take, and kick ass. Worried about wars? Hey, this guy will say, "You don't push us around," and kick ass. Look at the NATO mess (I would guess most Americans think NATO is what we use to send things into outer space) - a lot of people who actually know how the world works are horrified at his posturing, but all Joe Sixpack hears is that he's going to kick ass. When someone is this committed to being vague, it means they can be anything anyone wants them to be. I keep thinking about that quote from that Bernie sycophant earlier today - she said "a madman is doing more than Hillary Clinton to get progressive votes." And that makes no sense, given that he's said he will ignore long-standing international treaties, will build a wall to keep Mexicans out of the US, will only support SCOTUS justices who are just like Scalia, he will ban any Muslims from this country, he will kill the families of terrorists, he is anti-gay marriage, on and on and on. None of this is progressive. Yet he is so vacuous that people can pretend he is. This is why he's so dangerous and why the election will either be a solid win for him or a narrow victory for her.

The minions turn on their leader. http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/bernie-sanders-booed-convention-226136?lo=ap_c2 Bernie probably didn't realize how many of his followers just love being outsiders and love the nihilism of Nader-think, and once he stops saying what they want to hear, they're done with him. These people want Trump to be President. They barely bother to hide it.

I can't help laughing at EW, as always desperately trying for hipness and never quite reaching it, trying to show us how edgy this show is because it makes Mad Men references. I can't think of a faster way to date a show, especially since Mad Men last had pop culture relevance 4-5 years ago, long before it left the air. And Mad Men itself was a show that was extremely limited in scope and was full of stereotypes - why should I care if someone mentions Betty Draper? Betty Rubble has about as much pop culture relevance, if not more. If they mention Betty Rubble, will EW bust a nut? "This isn't your grandpa's Archie" No, because that didn't get passed off as something brazen and daring while the people making it went around bragging about how they were ripping off other shows. It's just like Twin Peaks. It's just like Pretty Little Liars. Apparently what it isn't like is Archie.

They don't have the freedom they have at HBO, and I think he works better without correspondents. Oh look, more of Democrats doing what they do best - helping Democrats lose. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/california-delegates-boo-over-uniting-clinton

That clip is the first I've seen of any of the convention - I know football players and athletes go on the public speaking set for decades, but how sad that Fran Tarkenton (I wasn't even sure he was still alive - I remember seeing his SNL episode on DVD and enjoying it - another memory ruined) was the only one who could actually speak in that entire "highlight" reel. I know not to take polls too seriously but a poll came out today showing that Trump got a bounce from the convention. That anyone watched that convention and said "yes please" bewilders me, unless they are a sadist. It looks like the usual suspects are already working to make this convention as messy as the GOP's was. http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/chaos-erupts-as-wasserman-schultz-speaks-to-florida-delegates-226113?lo=ut_a1 Speaking of John Oliver, he really sounds very different when he's not "on."

More on the lengthy efforts to let DWS go. http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/debbie-wasserman-schultz-dnc-226100

Hot Topic Wanda doesn't really seem to serve much purpose and Black Widow seems to have been dampened by the movies' confusion over where to take her and all the focus on her love life, but I do realize how important and positive the Black Panther can be, and that Danai is a big part of that. I shouldn't be dismissive.

She's a Clinton loyalist and that's what always matters most to them.

She's very strident, which isn't popular in female politicians, and very tin-eared. She also burned a lot of bridges before she became the scapegoat of the Sandernistas. Here's one example - her big campaign against a marijuana initiative in Florida and the personal feud with a former backer that followed: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/behind-wasserman-schultzs-marijuana-feud-115442

Thank you so much as always.

I hope that the Donna backtrack was SOC. It certainly did not feel like DTC, especially her honest, sad detailing of just why she can't raise a child - because she is sometimes in so much pain she can barely move. I agree with you about Martina Laird, who was wonderful, and about Thursday, but most of the rest of the week didn't work for me. Either it was too much about Ian and Phil and their "greatest hits," which made Paul's death an afterthought, or on Friday, it was oddly clinical and felt like people reading off of pamphlets, like Chris Schemering once said about Y&R's social issue stories. Thursday was very good, helped massively by the Mitchell family having minimal involvement and focusing more of the Cokers and the reactions of the community. Sometimes Ted Reilly is fine and then he's wooden. I would like the show to have another main gay character beyond Ben, so I hope he can keep improving. (and please don't pair him with Ben) I also thought the Lee and Whitney pregnancy stuff was pretty good, minus annoying pointless Lauren.

It makes people feel better to say everyone is the same so why bother. Or everyone is the same so show how edgy you are and vote for Stein or Johnson. A lot of people feel nothing will change with Clinton, and they want change. What they don't seem to get is that even if their lives aren't good now, they will probably get a whole lot worse with this man in power. I get why people are unhappy that a white man is her pick, and I also get why some find the whole "he speaks Spanish!" patronizing (it is patronizing), but this article, some of which I agree with, mentions that the identity politics are more like the GOP stereotypes of the party than what the party should actually be. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/07/case-for-tim-kaine.html

If Hillary wins they'll just become known as opposing her and hating her and wanting to put her in prison. If Trump wins, they're probably screwed.

Women tend to not have much use in the Marvel movies but I wish her well. Thanks for the photos. I wonder where Michael Cudlitz and Alanna Masterson were.

I'm already seeing stupid people say things like, "Kaine is more Republican than Trump." Well, Trump isn't a Republican - he's a needy narcissistic stunted attention whore who will do or say anything that soothes his tiny ego. The GOP are hitched to him. I hope people who like to do the "both are the same" or "he's MORE liberal than she is" types will eventually realize this. It doesn't matter if some fantasy position has him more on the left than her or Kaine - he's still a nightmare.

It's a fear-based pick. She knows that Trump is cutting into her white vote, and is hoping minority and female voters fear Trump enough to still turn out. The only thing that concerns me is that I do wonder if this type of pick will underscore the claims that she is more of the same, and will encourage voters to stay home. At some point "Trump Trump Trump" may not be enough to get them motivated.

I'm not sure it matters much. Obama lost the Ohio primary in 2008 but won the state in November.