p.a. says:
November 12, 2016 at 10:36 pm (Edit)
We have to be hard. They are now beyond ‘usual evil’ (h/t Dumbledore). We can’t do anything to soften their incompetence. Total noncooperation. The Constitution and the progress of the last several generations is at stake. If their supporters can’t learn (and they can’t) they have to be kicked back into apathy. And yes it sucks; lots of people will be hurt.It would be lovely to ask for legislative quid pro quos, but without the SC it’s all smoke and mirrors.
mai naem mobile says:
November 12, 2016 at 10:36 pm (Edit)
The way to fight the GOP in Congress is to ask for something that you know they aren’t going to give you. Something that is popular and polls well. $15 minimum wage, mandatory paid leave, universal pre-K, therapy animals for vets… whatever It has to be something the GOP isn’t offering on that legislation. It has to be your idea and it has to be ridiculously expensive for their business supporters that you won’t get it. No compromise. It gives you an excuse to vote against the legislation and you can sit there and say that the GOP is indeed against puppies and kittens.
So this. This is what I mean by obstruction.
Don’t work with the Republicans to make crappy laws they and the media will spend the next four years and three elections blaming on our side because we voted for them.
We have a really good Democratic Party platform we worked out a couple of months ago for… some unknown reason. Over half the voters at the last election voted for that platform, so our representatives in Congress should demand that our policies – guaranteed college for all, climate controls, minimum wage, abortion rights, as well as mai naem’s list, be considered and debated in Congress. Every single Democratic elected representative should plot and scheme and finagle and barge their way onto the media and into the offices of Republicans everywhere, and demand our policies be debated here and now.
Yes, most, if not all, of our demands will get knocked on the head, but our reps would have stood up and argued for what is right, and been seen repeatedly and publicly doing so.
This government is going to be brutal. Millions of people are going to get hurt, whether the Democrats fight, or cravenly participate in the evisceration of Obamacare, of gay marriage, of women’s right to make choices about their own bodies.
And while I’m at it – call those things by the names the wing nuts have taken from us and take them back – we want Obamacare to survive because it is one of the proudest accomplishments of our President, President Obama. We want gay marriage to survive because it is right. We want women to keep the right to, yes, have an abortion.
Let us own what our side has done to better this nation.
Let them own what they do to destroy it.
Lalophobia
This has given me a nice distraction today.
Mayur
And yet, it comes down to:
Who is going to report this?
When we *succeed* at passing a policy agenda, we get shit like this:
Yes, a lot of this is bad Democratic party messaging. But I’m still calling it 90-10 media malfeasance and Fox/Breitbart/talk radio distortion painting Dems as “ineffectual” or “out of touch” instead of “fighting the good fight and losing.”
Major Major Major Major
Obstruct!
Have we talked about how Il Douche “said in an interview airing Sunday that he plans to immediately deport approximately two to three million undocumented immigrants.”?
Major Major Major Major
@Mayur: like John Stewart said, if obama gave everybody cookies the front page of the New York Times would say “democrats leave millions milkless.”
MomSense
@Mayur:
I think it’s nearly impossible to get through the media blockade. And why do all of theses supposed Dem pundits go on the tv and talk about Dems not doing enough for the working white class? We are the only ones doing anything for the white working class.
MomSense
@Major Major Major Major:
He said we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate.
Explains the soaring private prison stock prices on Wednesday. That mean Obama who hates working class whites released all those non violent drug offenders and quotas must be met.
GrandJury
@Major Major Major Major:
That’s funny because doing all that is basically impossible. Read that last quote at the very bottom.
“I’m very good at this, it’s called construction”. Lol. Such a job creator.
He really is gonna making America great again, for comedy.
FMBJO
I’ve always thought that one reason the Dems haven’t been heard in the present congress is that the Committee chairs won’t let democrats bring any legislation up, won’t allow discussion of any of their ideas and even occasionally “forget” to tell them of meetings. Is this true?
Mnemosyne
@MomSense:
We need our own propaganda channel to counter things like fucking Breitbart. I know people shrink away at the idea of “propaganda,” but it doesn’t have to be full of lies.
I’m thinking something like Upworthy, with a shiny-happy liberal story several times a day, but written by professional writers who can stay on message, not volunteers like DailyKos who freak out easily.
Our voters like us to be positive, so let’s be positive. As Sarah says, we have a whole outline to work from — it’s called the Democratic Party platform and the Hillary Clinton campaign platform.
Mnemosyne
@GrandJury:
Go back to your corner, suck your thumb, and let the adults talk.
NotMax
Don’t lose your anger, use your anger.
Major Major Major Major
@GrandJury: I have a link sitting around somewhere from a conservative Econ tank that does a pretty good job outlining what you’d actually need for that scale of deportations and it’s soooo fucking impossible short of a Nazi-style bureaucratic cattle car situation. Which is of course possible.
JPL
Reince Priebus is going to be Chief of Staff..
It might be announced withing the half hour.. according to twitter
NotMax
@Mnemosyne
You might well find this of interest.
lollipopguild
Brothers and Sisters do not grow weary of doing what is right.@NotMax:
SenyorDave
@Mnemosyne: Our voters like us to be positive, so let’s be positive. As Sarah says, we have a whole outline to work from — it’s called the Democratic Party platform and the Hillary Clinton campaign platform.
They can try, but remember Air America? Just wonder whether it works for Democrats. Conservative talk radio is almost 100% negative even when they are in charge. It is the Democrats fault all the time, and their followers love hearing it. A large part of the country wants to say screw you to the liberals (especially the black and brown skinned ones).
Hal
I keep seeing these let’s give him a chance and see what happens memes on social media. Two things occur to me:
1. There are people who want Trump to accomplish all the things he said he would and are afraid that if there is too much opposition early on her won’t succeed. Thus the stfu and wait and see narrative.
2. Folks who inexplicably believe Trump lied about or wasn’t committed to that agenda and really do believe he will surprise people with how good a president he really is going to be.
I just can’t decide which group is more ludicrous and idiotic. Maybe a draw?
Lalophobia
@Mnemosyne:
First we get everybody (who we can) away from the news as it is. That I think would be easier than building our own system. Plus, even if we could get a liberal version of Fox News going, we’d still have jackasses looking back and forth between the two and declaring the truth must be some where in the middle.
Mnemosyne
@JPL:
For today, anyway. I guess someone finally bothered to look at the Breitbart asshole’s connections and went, “Oh, shit!”
We can form a betting pool to see how many different people are announced as chief of staff between now and inauguration day. I say 6. Higher or lower?
MikeBoyScout
Good post. Sage advice. Hope others will strongly consider.
Feel sad for that WWC in the part of our nation where I grew up and my family still lives, but in a self governing democratic republic you gotta own your decisions. They don’t get a pass on this one. It wasn’t the media. It wasn’t Hilz ‘s ground game. Too easy of a decision.
Monumental FU.
The chips will fall. Sad!
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
I agree. We need our own news outlets. My teenager is obsessed with certain YouTube channels that have huge followings. Find people who already have some skills with broadcasting and film production and perhaps a following and make broadcasts. I was thinking about the 7th Harry Potter and how people were tuning into the radio programs in the evening to listen for names and to get any news from the resistance. We are the resistance now. We need channels we can tune into to know wat is happening and to get our stories out.
The SNCC histories would be important reading now, too. The most important thing I think is to follow the WOC leaders. They are our best, brightest, and toughest. They know more about resistance and organizing than anyone else.
lollipopguild
@Mnemosyne: Start another pool for how long each one lasts. Trump may set a new record for staff turnover.
Ken
I’m totally on board. Complete obstruction. Make the last eight years look like ping-pong. Every judicial appointment needs to receive personal hold from every Democrat in congress. Not just a few, 100%. Use every legislative trick to gum-up the works.
I am also not above some personal ratfvucking. Every vertical surface should be covered with posters of naked Melania that say “Hail to the Flotus”. Dirty tricks should abound.
SenyorDave
@MikeBoyScout: The WWCW, white working class whiners. They’re pissed because they don’t automatically go to the head of the line, they have to compete with POC.
Mnemosyne
@SenyorDave:
That’s why I’m saying it should be a website/content provider like Upworthy — something that people can subscribe to in their Facebook feeds. Much, much lower overhead than an entire radio network, especially now that so many people listen to satellite radio rather than over-the-air. My asshole cousin-in-law was “liking” so many Breitbart stories on Facebook that I had to specifically block them. They provide a firehose of propaganda every. single. day. We need that.
@Lalophobia:
I’m not proposing a news site, or at least not one meant to replace the MSM. I’m proposing a smallish propaganda site, again analogous to Breitbart. You have to fight propaganda with propaganda — facts vs propaganda not only don’t work, they can be counterproductive and cause people to cling even more tightly to the propaganda.
Schlemazel
@FMBJO:
This is exactly what they did in 2000. Further they would not include and Dems on conference committees where differences are worked out between House & Senate bills. Naturally the media was kind enough to ignore these things and demand that the Dems compromise with the GOP. I expect worse this go around
Major Major Major Major
@Schlemazel: somebody the other day suggested democratic congressmen just wandering around during meetings, shuffling papers, loudly having malfunctioning briefcases, developing bronchitis.
BudP
Do we abstain, or vote against raising the debt ceiling? Can the GOP muster enough votes without Dems?
MomSense
@NotMax:
Thank you for posting that. There is definitely an agenda afoot to pretend that racism is economic anxiety born of neglect by Democrats and it is being promoted by too many media elites, Republicans, and the class struggle progressives who all share common goals. I don’t like it one bit.
Schlemazel
@Major Major Major Major:
This is why we should demand Trump deport all 11 million. We should also insist he build the wall. Neither thing is possible and each could easily derail the whole administration in stupid Keystone Kop pratfalls. Add to that the failure will piss off his supporters.
GregB
So, has anyone realized that the South has finally risen again?
Mnemosyne
@MomSense:
Yes, and we need paid professionals to do them. Part of our problem right now is that a lot of our media is amateur and crowd-driven, so you end up with unholy messes like DailyKos that can’t stay on message even if you staple it to their foreheads. Those are great for making people part of a community (until you have a divisive primary …) but they suck at broadcasting a propaganda message.
SenyorDave
Nothing will piss off his followers in the short run, and in the long run they will still probably blame the Democrats. Trump went all in on the racism, and that’s ultimately how he get elected POTUS.
Mary G
I just got a fundraising email for Chris Murphy’s 2018 campaign. First reaction was no, dude, way too soon, I want to vomit because I gave so much money to Hillary and Applegate and the BJ ActBlue and Jason Kander and etc, etc, etc. Money I took out of savings.
But there is a reason I didn’t unsubscribe from him. He and Liz Warren are the only two I kept from 2012, because they send actual messages and information about what they are doing to make America better. His first one was about his trip to Ukraine with the wise and wonderful John McCain, and I almost cut him off there, but I’m glad I didn’t since he’s since become the NRA’s enemy #1 and even though it didn’t accomplish anything, his filibuster was inspiring.
So I sent him $10 and made it a recurring contribution, since the ask was in his own handwriting. We need to keep the good ones, even though the constant begging for more money may make me unsubscribe.
Might be a good candidate for president in 2020, even.
WereBear
Now that Monday morning beckons, I think most of us are girding the ol’ loins and forging on. I think it has been instructive and cathartic for all the wailing and garment rending we have been doing, and I for one feel much better knowing Mr WereBear and I are not alone.
I have decided that Secretary Clinton was a wonk well worth voting for, and President Obama is a Constitutional expert. We aren’t crouched in a cellar wondering who is with us and who is against us, either. If the long American traditions of eventually getting it right mean anything, it will be tested now.
We have brains and heart on our side, and I am certain that we do have people with expertise who are going to do their best for us in their areas of expertise, as we are going to do in ours.
In the meantime, stay tuned for our new PR coalition, the CouldHappentoYou project, which is going to act as an “online AIDS quilt” to highlight the plight of our most medically vulnerable who are now threatened with loss of care.
Stories will be asked for, both personal and news related, as we get our admin details up and running. Anyone who wishes to volunteer for writing or social media duties duties and the like can reach me at my contact form.
Going to unplug now — I need my rest and I haven’t really had any since Tuesday night :)
Lizzy L
https://theintercept.com/2016/11/09/donald-trump-will-be-president-this-is-what-we-do-next/
Imma just drop this here.
SenyorDave
Preibus is chief of staff
MikeBoyScout
@Mayur: Or maybe the folks whose livelihood was saved from ruin don’t really care to understand?
Maybe it feels more comfortable to accept simple solutions (Tax cuts!, Empowerment zones!, the Wall!) than to take the time (we still have public libraries!) to learn!
These folks have been set up for the self destructive politics of resentment, but this election was too damn easy to get correct.
Shalimar
@JPL: That Trump would pick Preibus to work closer with him than anyone else means all the stories about fighting between the campaign and RNC were planted bullshit to allow anyone who needed to to distance themselves from Trump. Every detail of the seeming train wreck was planned.
Lizzy L
WaPo: Reince Priebus has been named Chief of Staff.
Waspuppet
Write and call yr Democratic reps and senators. Remind them that THE NIGHT of President Obama’s first inauguration, the Republicans were meeting and deciding to block everything he proposed.
Ask when the Dems’ meeting is scheduled for.
And yeah – remind them that more people voted for congressional Dems, and Hillary, than for the GOP and Trump. Seriously, not one of us should ever let a full day go by without saying this.
SenyorDave
Now I’m convinced that Trump will simply rent a truck, have one of his Nazi youth sons, Adolph or Heinrich, drive it to the Treasury and start filling it with pallets of cash.
Waspuppet
@Shalimar: Oh I dunno. Reince was the closest thing to a contact the Trump campaign had. Even they aren’t stupid enough to think Steve Bannon could do the job.
CarolDuhart2
Already up and running for 14 years
Stephanie Miller
Been in radio for about 30, her show has been runningsince 2004
WCPT Radio Progressive Talk (Listen Live)
Many progressive talkers and general talk.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: Al Giordano has the School of Authentic Journalism. Surely some of those graduates would have the skills.
Mnemosyne
@Lizzy L:
Since the dudebros are all pissed at me anyway, can I just mention how interesting it is that Greenwald’s BFF Ed Snowden just happened to be living in Moscow as a “refugee” while Russian hackers were accessing Democratic institutions? I’m sure that’s just a coincidence, too.
Trentrunner
@Lizzy L: That’s the equivalent of shitting in the punchbowl. God, those people are despicable.
gene108
@Major Major Major Major:
Obama ramped up deportations to the highest levels ever and he only we managed to process a few hundred thousand a year.
Even if the government says you are here illegally, you still get to go through the legal process.
A lot of the right-wing wants to go from being accused to guilty, without a day in court.
WarMunchkin
CNN Crosstabs on Obamacare:
Did not go far enough
30%
Was about right
18%
Went too far
47%
Well, at least traditional liberalism isn’t as dead as I thought. Still outnumbered by conservatives and moderates, so for the subset of us who id as NewDealers have a lot of work to do persuading people that our vision can help them and their communities.
@Trentrunner:
Yeah, “those people”, so horrible.
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
That’s what I’m thinking too.
CarolDuhart2
John Fugelsang (Sirius Radio)
And don’t forget the many black and latino radio stations. Not all are liberal, but all are anti-trump in some way.
Black Talk Radio is a thing-check it out.
Mnemosyne
@GregB:
I have. Sukabi in the thread below has, with an article from Greg Palast detailing the voter suppression tactics that were specifically directed at voters of color. I think pretty much every non-white commenter on Balloon-Juice figured that out on Tuesday night.
But the white dudebros who are still pissed that a mere woman tried to be their boss will never, ever get it.
Iowa Old Lady
@Major Major Major Major: Did he say how he planned to pay for this?
Each of the past few years, congress has appropriated enough money to deport about 400K people, and each year the Obama administration deported about that number. Will congress give Trump 5 to 6 times as much money? Of course not. But no one cares
Tenar Darell
@MomSense: Is anyone aware of any letter/pressure campaigns to advertisers on CNN & MSNBC like what happened with Limbaugh? Because the only thing these big media monopolies understand is $$$.
Shalimar
@Mnemosyne: This. Also, I don’t want Greenwald as an ally. My general impression of his work that I have seen linked in the last few years is that he will be a lot happier with a repressive U.S. regime because it increases his own prominence. He seems almost as narcissistic as Trump.
That said, none of Schwarz’s advice in Libby’s link is bad.
Mnemosyne
@WarMunchkin:
I’m happy to have people point me and my money in the direction it needs to go. Sadly, I don’t think a lot of other white liberals will feel the same. A lot of them still can’t get over the fact that Obama didn’t listen to them and their great wisdom in all things.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Already heard the “team of rivals” thing this morning, can’t remember who said it.
also
Chuck, Andrea, Jake? are you listening?
wtfPA?
@GregB: I’m preparing for the Klan to make a comeback in my little corner of Western Pennsylvania. Ripe for the picking. Fairly certain out-of-staters are around organizing it. Klan has always had some presence around here. You heard rumors growing up. But they weren’t really active. I expect that to change. And I’m fairly certain there were a lot of out-of-staters here organizing for the election. They’ve been coming in taking the natural gas jobs from Pennsylvanians. Payback for Gettysburg, I guess.
GregB
@Mnemosyne:
Listening th NH NPR about alt-right and also the old school racists and this election.
Will send link.
Iowa Old Lady
Priebus is actually a sort of normal choice. I’d heard rumors of Lewandowski. That would be Trumpy.
Calming Influence
We had a strong middle class when the working class had strong unions. The conservatives managed to tarnish the image of unions to the point where the people that benefit most from them now shun them as evil. We got a lot of “stronger together!” this cycle, but almost zero discussion of how unions are an important part of the balance in a democratic society that embraces capitalism. “Standing up to big business!” simply will not work if workers can only do it every 2 years at the ballot box.
Democrats should amend union “card check” to every bill they can.
gene108
@Lalophobia:
Most folks consider MSNBC to be the propaganda organ of the Democratic Party.
It does not matter, what the actual content is. They have a couple of liberals on at prime time and that sets the idea of what they are about for the rest of the day.
debbie
@Lizzy L:
Steven Colbert has named Reince as Trump Pocket Elf.
Shalimar
@Waspuppet: I’m not sure Bannon wants a job in the administration. I think he sees this as his big opportunity to get obscenely rich in Republican grifting using Breitbart and other enterprises and he isn’t going to pass that up for a government job.
SenyorDave
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Chuck, Andrea, Jake? are you listening?
But Jeremiah Wright was completely unacceptable
gene108
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Chuck, Andrea, and Jake are white. They would benefit, with no longer having to compete with the likes of Don Lemon and Joy Reid and other minorities in the news biz.
What’s the down side of white nationalism to them?
WaterGirl
@MomSense: Do you want to write Al about that? I had been thinking I would, but I think you might be a better choice. I know you might think it should wait because of his health news, but I’m thinking he might welcome still being treated like Al, if you know what I mean. He’s not out of the game yet.
WaterGirl
@Iowa Old Lady: Why wouldn’t a republican congress give Trump that much? When they are in power they spend spend spend. They don’t care.
Ryan
“of women’s right to make choices about their own bodies”
I salute your optimism, I wonder if 2 or 4 years of power puts the19th amendment at risk given women’s support for the other side. I jest, but not by a lot.
Iowa Old Lady
@WaterGirl: There is that.
Schlemazel
@GregB:
They did that many many years ago. I noticed in the 60s that in order to get anything through the Democratic House & Senate required a bunch of compromises to the dixiecrats. It was only 1964 and the force of LBJ that managed to get the really important legislation through relatively unharmed. Their flipping to GOP just put them more in line with their actual beliefs and removed them from the compromise that had been possible. This country has really been controlled by the CSA since Ike was President.
SenyorDave
Amazing what is being normalized with this election. First, a sexual predator in White House, now a promoter of racism/anti-semitism as senior adviser. Where the fuck is the media on this, and where is some push back by the Democrats? If a few opened their mouths maybe a narrative could get started. The Republicans pushed back on everyone/everything for Obama.
gogol's wife
@Waspuppet:
I have cut and pasted your message in an e-mail to myself and will get on it first thing in the morning.
gogol's wife
@Iowa Old Lady:
Yeah, hate to say that Priebus makes me breathe a sigh of relief.
Schlemazel
@Lizzy L:
Been doing #2 for some time now. Not sure how much good all those other things are. I do like the idea that a 3rd party won’t save us, it is the curse we hoped would befall the GOP let’s not take it for our own.
Corner Stone
@SenyorDave:
Jake Tapper is blandly normalizing the Trump administration on his twitter feed. Just posting what is happening. No commentary or opinion. This is all so very normal.
gogol's wife
@SenyorDave:
They’re scared s–tless.
Corner Stone
@gogol’s wife: Not sure how that’s a good thing when he is co-equal with his tandem parachute buddy Bannon.
gogol's wife
@Corner Stone:
Nothing’s a good thing right now. I’m grasping for whatever I can get.
Kryptik
Are they really characterizing the Trump cabinet as a ‘Team Of Rivals’? Like, without fucking irony?
Corner Stone
@SenyorDave:
Harry Reid said something. He got disrespected by his “fellow” D Senator Manchin. And then threatened with the gulag by the oh so very smart and professional KellyAnne Conway.
gogol's wife
@Kryptik:
Maybe they mean it in a “Sopranos” sense rather than a “Lincoln” sense.
Schlemazel
@gogol’s wife:
Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations!
gogol's wife
@Corner Stone:
She’s a good person! /C. Todd
Corner Stone
@Kryptik: Yep. Even the very liberal MSNBC has said it several times in the last two hours.
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
Thinking about the best way to do it. There is someone here in Maine who Incan reach out to.
gogol's wife
@Corner Stone:
Chris Murphy has asked me for money two days in a row. I’m calling tomorrow to ask when he’s going to open his mouth publicly. A contribution will be forthcoming as soon as I hear something.
Schlemazel
@Kryptik:
Well some want the ovens for the gays first, their rivals insist it is the Muslims then the Jews. Toe-may-toe, tah-ma-toe but rivals none the less
SenyorDave
@Corner Stone: Fuck Manchin. What can he do to Reid? Let him leave the party. And I can’t imagine Reid is threatened by Conway. If the Democrats don’t start some organized push back I’ll assume they will get rolled for the next 4 years.
MomSense
@Tenar Darell:
I remember making calls to advertisers on Limbaugh and Buchanan. It may have been Color of Change that organized it.
SiubhanDuinne
So, the Obvious Anagram will be sitting in Leo McGarry’s office ?
gogol's wife
I can’t believe we lost to these guys.
Ohio Mom
I wish reporters would take careful notes of who they interviewed, or who posted on facebook or twitter, of those people who voted for Trump because they claimed he would make their lives better, or that he wasn’t serious about taking away the entitlements they depend on.
People like those Carrier workers in today’s Times, and people with family members who are only alive today because of the ACA.
When those Carrier workers are living on someone else’s couches, when those family members are having health issues because they aren’t covered by anything anymore —
I want them re-interviewed, back in the Sunday Times, this time eating crow.
That’s because I am still furious and I want them that least be shamed and embarrassed. I never claimed to be a nice person.
Mnemosyne
Just because I’ve been worried about what some people have been posting, which means there are probably even more lurkers feeling the same way:
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
They say that they are experiencing a large uptick in calls, so you are definitely not alone. Call them. That’s what they’re there for.
Also, I found out that there’s one specifically for transgender people: Trans Lifeline.
Lalophobia
@Mnemosyne:
Shit like Brietbart get’s clicks because it’s outrageous, though. A Breitbart of the left would just be a site with a bunch of Bernie and Medicare For All dead-enders wanking about the vast conspiracies the Dems have in place to keep outsiders out. And we already have websites and Youtube channels that point out all the horrible things republicans do. The difference between them and shit like Brietbart is acknowledgement by the mainstream or them looking the other way. They won’t ever do that for us.
We could build on what we already have, I suppose. But I think we’d be unlikely to gain traction using that tact. We’re betting against the house, here; another tactic might be called for. There are a lot of things that are a down hill slope for the right which are uphill slopes for the left. What we need to do is stay the fuck away from battles we have no chance of winning and save our resources for what’s in our wheel house. Not saying we don’t get out of our comfort zone, but we shouldn’t be expectto be treated like the right is when we use their tactics because we won’t. We will get called out on that shit.
Corner Stone
KellyAnne Conway was fucking fluffed over and over and over again as being professional, and brilliant, and competent and would get the Trump campaign on track. And he went nuts the whole fucking time, did whatever he wanted, lied, bullied, threatened and did 50 things that would have killed any other non-Russian sponsored candidate. And KAC lied and lied and lied and denied reality and denied the existence of things that actually happened.
And now they won. So she is the gold standard for how to run a campaign.
Renie
I bookmarked the page for all my US reps and plan on emailing them every week. My daughter interned in Gillibrand’s office and said letters, emails, phone calls are get handled in the same way. They just tally them up depending on the subjects, pro or con. So please try to do one of these each week. We need our democratic reps to protect us.
D58826
@Mayur: I think you can swap out auto industry and swap in Obamacare and Dingell’s comment would have made just as much sense. Majority of the people hate Obamacare but they love all of the little details in Obamacare. Just don’t call it Obamacare. (sigh)
Corner Stone
Jake Tapper just keeps his twitter feed reporting things. No opinion on any of it. He just posted about a special session on 1/20/17 to repeal Obamacare. Nothing else added or said.
Mnemosyne
@gogol’s wife:
Does it make it better or worse to know that it was thanks to a voter suppression scheme that Republicans have had in place since at least 2012?
That’s why Hillary won the popular vote and lost the Electoral College: Republicans designed it that way.
p.a.
Sarah quoting me will really undermine your credibility.
gogol's wife
@Mnemosyne:
In a decent country, Trump would have lost in a landslide and no voter suppression could have helped him.
Kryptik
@gogol’s wife:
@Corner Stone:
@Schlemazel:
Welp, fuck it. I give up. The institutional Stockholm’s Syndrome is entrenched and unshakable. This is GOP’s country for-fucking-ever and anon.
D58826
@Renie: There was a twitter stream from a congress critter staffer who said phone calls were best of that list. Even Better is stopping in the district office and talking facew to face with the staff. Build a personal relationship
. .
gogol's wife
@Mnemosyne:
We are no longer a decent country. I have to face that fact and continue to live with it. I’m somewhat helped by having Russian friends who have spent their entire lives with corrupt and evil governments. But they also have a tragic history that we don’t share. We don’t have their excuses for it. We were sitting on 4.9% employment, low crime, plenty of food for (almost) everybody. We suck.
Mnemosyne
@Lalophobia:
I don’t want a website or news feed about all of the horrible things Republicans are doing. We already have studies showing that negativity and negative campaigning suppresses the Democratic vote, because our voters don’t show up even when the Democrat is the victim.
So, let’s give them positivity. Let’s give them love and light. Let’s give them kittens being rescued from trees by Democratic firefighters and Democrats helping kids learn to read at local libraries and Democrats handing out Toys for Tots at Christmas. Let’s show them the happy faces of new immigrants taking their oath to their new country. They are the party of hate and division; we are the party of love and light. We are #StrongerTogether. Let’s go.
Mary G
@Iowa Old Lady: Heard back from Amazon. No luck with trying to get them to figure out why they say it’s out of stock. They said other sellers on Amazon had it and gave the links with an offer to refund me the shipping and handling if I bought it from them.
I couldn’t decide to say, no, I’ll get it from B&N, but I went ahead and bought it from a place called Wordery on Amazon and emailed Amazon back saying, OK, refund me the $3.99 s&h. So they lost that money for being dicks and also Wordery’s price was only $10.09, so Amazon is out the $12.94 they would’ve made if they’d had it in stock.
Mnemosyne
@gogol’s wife:
We said all along that this election was the last stand of white supremacy and misogyny, and we were right, but not in the way we expected.
I honestly don’t think it’s too late to turn the tide. We have two years to work on it. Do what you need to do in order to get the rawest edge of your feelings down, and then start again.
gene108
@Lizzy L:
He makes some good points but he is wrong here:
I’m 42 and most white people I’ve met, my age and older, were raised on the belief that America was founded by God-like Founding Fathers, who imbued us with the most perfect government ever designed and it was just getting more and more perfecter, until the 1960’s, when the hippies and uppity Negroes and feminazi women ruined civilization, which was some what restored by Reagan.
If America bombs somebody we did it for the right reasons, because America, fuck yeah!!!
This is why multiculturalism is hated by conservatives, as well as all other forms of talking about diversity and inclusion, because it destroys the myth that America was born a perfect union and the mystique of white superiority.
You will never win back white working class voters by trying to tell them the U.S. was wrong to bomb brown people.
Part of being white used to mean being able to do what you wanted to those people, and that level of assumed privilege is hard to push out of our society.
bemused
@CarolDuhart2:
If no one else has mentioned randirhodes.com, I’ve been following her since she was on Air America except for a two year break. I really missed her homework section but she got back on the air in May. Also you can sample show segments on her youtube channel and she’s on FB, twitter.
Kryptik
@Mnemosyne:
I was told it was the last gasp of a dying ideology.
It turned into the victorious cry of the same fucking ideology that has choked us forever with no signs of dying ever.
5x5
@Lizzy L:
I read it and thought, “Okay, I can work with these people.” And then, I read the comments. The far left and the far right really do close the circle.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: Maybe I’m being dense, but you wouldn’t send Al an email?
WaterGirl
@gogol’s wife: LOVE THAT.
WaterGirl
@gogol’s wife: THIS.
Mary G
@gogol’s wife: Yep.
5x5
@CarolDuhart2:
The Majority Report with Sam Seder. Long form interview and a very funny “fun half.”
He came out of Air America with Al Franken, Rachel Maddow, Mark Maron, TYT, and Randi Rhoades.
Iowa Old Lady
@Mary G: Wow. You are wonderful!
I sent them another sternly worded email this morning. I’m sure they’re cowering in a corner.
jacy
@Mnemosyne:
Of course it’s not too late to turn the tide.
For fuck’s sake, people. I never thought I’d see a black president in my lifetime. I thought marriage equality was 20 years off. The ACA was the first healthcare reform we’d had in forever. DID YOU THINK IT WAS GOING TO BE EASY? HAVE YOU EVER MET PEOPLE?
It’s a catastrophe, yes. It’s heartbreaking and stupid and senseless, and people will go through immeasurable hardships. But, good grief, none of us saw this particular thing coming. And there are tons of events coming that none of us will have seen. Those can be terrible events, but they can also be surprisingly helpful events. Serendipity still exists. Who the fuck knows exactly what will happen? So what you do is organize and prepare and to take whatever break comes your way. I’ve had it with doom and gloom and naysaying. You can grieve, but take it from someone who’s gone through this world destruction on a personal level — if all you do is concentrate on how bad you feel and how hopeless everything looks, it’s going to destroy you and you won’t have a chance to fight back.
Every single person needs to find what they need to make them okay. Reach out to someone else if you can’t find it yourself. Then pick yourself up. The world hasn’t ended yet.
gene108
@Shalimar:
Why can’t Bannon have a job in the Administration and grift?
Do you really think conflicts of interest are going to slow this crew down.
The media will report whatever Trump says, for fear Thiel and his buddies will sue their employer out of business.
And the show-trials of Democrats will be good for ratings, so what is the downside for the media…
jayackroyd
Ryan won’t let any legislation like a $15 minimum wage go to the floor.
gene108
@WaterGirl:
Because there are a bunch of Republicans, in their 30’s and 40’s, who have known no other acceptable philosophy than supply side economics and get government small enough to drown in a bath tub.
They are True Believers and they make up a large enough chunk in Congress to hold things up, with regards to government spending.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Mayur:
You can’t talk to people who won’t listen. I mean seriously, these people are there voted thinking Trump is going to open the coal mines and Steel Mills again, logic isn’t involved here.
rikyrah
@Major Major Major Major:
We can not compromise with that kind of evil
Lizzy L
@gene108: Hey, it’s already been announced, Bannon is going to be Chief Strategist and chief counselor. And according to Rudy Giuliani, possibly our next Attorney General (or maybe SecDef) conflict of interest law “does not apply to the president.”
Nixon Redux X 10.
Lizzy L
@5×5: Never read comments, except on BJ.
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
Not sure. I’ll check and see.
ETA he named people to contact.
Lalophobia
@Mnemosyne: Intriguing, even if I can’t imagine there’ll be a lot of good news the next couple of years. But there’s nothing that guarantees folks will believe what that would show as opposed to what all the mainstream news feeds are showing. That’s what worries me. What can we do that keeps OMG EMAILS!?!?!?!11!1!1!2 from drowning everything else out?
@jacy: This. I’m not giving up until I’m dead, and depending on what comes after, maybe not even then.
jenn
@Renie: That probably depends on which office you’re dealing with. I’ve read of others where the best thing you can do in that line is to call the state office of your Senator/Rep and talk with someone, followed by a letter to the state office, somewhat distantly followed by an email. Online comments are basically useless. However, the _really_ best thing to do is to keep track of when your Senator/Rep is having a town hall or other meet-and-greet kind of thing, find a stack of like-minded folks to pack the room, and keep asking questions.
JordanRules
@rikyrah: We gotta keep saying this!
Mary G
@jacy: Thanks, I needed that.
jenn
@jacy: Absolutely.
D58826
A sponge has more backbone than these quislings. My bolding
For them, like my sister, they get the full GOP agenda while still keeping oh so very pure hands clean when they didn’t endorse/vote for him. Pontius Pilate must be green with envy
D58826
@jenn:
but that would be disrespectful. Only tea partiers are allowed to do that
Betty Cracker
Bannon will work full-time in the White House as chief strategist and political adviser. The man whose ex-wife testified under oath that he didn’t want his kids going to school with Jews. The man who called the site he ran, Breitbart, “a platform for the alt-right,” complete with a “black crime” tag so the site’s neo-Nazi / white supremacist readers could conveniently locate hate objects. The man who conducted outreach on Trump’s behalf to white nationalists in Europe after Tuesday.
Maybe the media could focus on that rather than breathing a sigh of relief about Priebus, who is a mere toady who will coordinate legislation. Bannon has and will continue to drive the white nationalist agenda.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@gene108:
Not a conflict of interests, conflicting ideologies. Libertarians verses the Corporate Cons verses the Evangelicals and now the Rust Belt Workers.
Ruckus
SPT
Exactly. This is not the time for compromise. Fuck that. We gave them that and what did we get? A narcissistic asshole with the mental facilities of a 6 yr old who is in so far over his head he couldn’t get above it in AF1, and advisors who think like a group of Germans from 80 yrs ago. They may have had at least some excuse, (A rather high level of unemployment if I recall correctly. Of course that may have been caused by their adventures a couple of decades prior and didn’t justify the means they used.) these guys don’t have any such excuse. Of course they didn’t use that excuse, they used hate, which isn’t an excuse as much as the truth. Fucking wankers.
seaboogie
@Lalophobia: Thanks, that is fun!
Just returned from gettting cat food and treats and pee pads for my elderly bi-racial cat (she’s black and white) so that she doesn’t eat me in my sleep. Stopped at the greatest new coffee space in my wee delightful burg and decided to avoid the patio which was replete with folks discussing politics, and instead chose one of the leather armchairs, adjacent to the chess board.
A little five year old girl came up and said she wanted to play, and asked me if I wanted to play too, so I said “sure”. If you’ve ever played games with a kid, you know that they play by their own rules, and you have to adjust, unless you want to be a big meanie. Clearly she had played chess before, because she told me her knight was in “check”, and that meant it was safe and there was nothing I could do to it, because that meant it was “safe” forever.
Her dad came inside to see what his daughter was up to, and stood by while we played out our game, which was the Calvinball version of chess, per little Haven’s (her name) rules. It was pretty fun to observe and negotiate the rules with her.
So….I suggest that Dems go full-on Calvinball in this new congress. If the GOP doesn’t buy that Obamacare is in “check” and (according to little Haven’s rules) permanently safe, we do whatever it takes to keep our players on the board, and make it up as we go along, as necessary. Screw playing by the rules – we’ve already seen where that got us. Also interesting to note that a kid named Haven had a highly developed sense of the notion of “safe”. So glad that I ventured out today when I did – and that was only one wonderfully serendipitous thing that happened in my foray today.
JoeSo
I was thinking we may have to attack Predator Trump from the right as well as the left. It will sow chaos and distrust among the GOP, and the GOP is very quick to consume its own. Publish op-eds under pseudonyms in conservative outlets to attack Trump’s policies as an affront to the conservative movement and to damage the image of party leaders. There’s a narrative going around that Trump won’t roll back parts of Obamacare. We have to push the narrative that Trump is setting the stage for socialized healthcare by not completing abolishing the ACA. We should argue any GOP politician willing to go along with this is unworthy of this new conservative movement and should be primaried.
Tenar Darell
@gogol’s wife: @Iowa Old Lady: Bannon is Chief Strategist & listed first before Chief of Staff. Similar to when he was Campaign CEO & Kelly Ann went on the Sunday shows as Campaign Manager. Priebus is the acceptable face.
Kathleen
@Mnemosyne: Word.
geg6
@wtfPA?:
Totally agree. Beaver County, representing!
mai naem mobile
I go off to do some actual work for a few hours and I get mentioned by a front pager on a post. Ha ha. Thanks Sara. BTW,what I am suggesting is pretty much what the GOP did to Obama. He would come in with a reasonable offer and they would counter with an extreme GOP offer,not budge an inch and then whine about how Obama wasn’t meeting them in the middle. Two can play that game if the Dems are willing to stick together.
rachel
@gogol’s wife: Our country was largely founded on stealing land that belonged to other people and stealing people who belonged in other lands. That so many of us aspire to decency is surprising (and even hopeful) in this context.
WaterGirl
@gene108: I hope you are right!
rachel
@gene108: True, but as a first draft it’s not bad, though. How about changing
“to
JoeSo
@JoeSo: After some reflection, I think the idea I proposed in my previous post is terrible idea. It’s born more out of meanness and frustration than any effective way of opposing Trump. I think whatever we do, we should never lose sight of who we are and what values we live by. If we start to act like Trump, then we affirm all the hate he fostered, and we let him win.
rachel
@Trentrunner: How is encouraging Liberals to take a breath and work together to stop the Republican killer robot “shitting in the punchbowl”? Or you referring to the comments? Don’t read the comments; comment sections on political blogs (with a few notable exceptions) are cesspools.
LongHairedWeirdo
Yes, ask for something that polls well, but they Republicans will never support, but remember: it *must* be something we can pretend their base should support.
For example: demand huge increases in funding “For the prevention of abortion” – i.e., by funding the heck out of birth control access. Now they have to either say “birth control doesn’t prevent abortion” or they have to oppose an abortion reducing measure.
The point isn’t just to stake out a hill to die on, but to stake out a hill that might sway some of their people. Obviously, you need to do this in pursuit of progressive goals, but it’s vital to use it to create a wedge between themselves and their followers. Because the point isn’t to cheer up progressives – it’s to defeat reactionaries.
WaterGirl
@jacy: I was getting pretty worked up after reading the article at digby’s. Thanks for calming me down again. I hope you don’t mind, but I suggested to Anne Laurie that your comment would be great to front page as an antidote to all the we’re doomed comments.
WaterGirl
@seaboogie:
I could not agree more. We all know the outcome when one side plays by the rules and the other does not. Been there, done that.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Ruckus:
certainly not with the Republican party, if they can’t get their shit together in their bizzaro world party of libertarians and evangelicals that’s their problem. But with some of the factions of the GOP, that might work, get them to split off.
Worth noting, both the Rust Belt workers and the Rural Poor want health care, so do we. That’s an opportunity. The Corporate Cons don’t want chaos like Obama care being replaced by Chickens for doctor’s services, that’s an opportunity.
cokane
goddamn, peak wingnut was a myth
George
@JoeSo: You were right the first time. We need to sow as much chaos for Trump and the GOP as possible. They earned it.
The GOP tried to destroy the country to destroy Obama. We need to destroy Trump to save the country.
Procopius
Sorry, but Democrats just don’t do that any more. Do you remember 2010? The strategy almost every Dem candidate adopted was to run as far as they could from the ACA. “Who, me? No, no, it was some other guy.” Do you remember 2014? The strategy almost every Dem candidate adopted was to run as far as they could from Obama. “You’d like to come campaign for me? Please don’t do that.” I don’t think Democrats have been confident that what they did was good since Hubert Humphrey. For some reason the only campaign message they want to send is, “We’re not as bad as the other guys.” Of course there are exceptions, but the Schumer wing, which has control of the party apparatus at the moment, has prospered from losing.
Procopius
@Hal: I think there are other groups with reasons to wait and see. For example I think there’s nothing we can do until we see what actually happens, who is appointed, what actual orders he gives. Speculating in the absence of information is a waste of energy and just adds unnecessary stress. Be patient. There’ll be tears enough to go around.