Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

T R E 4 5 O N

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2018 / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Primary #Winning

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Primary #Winning

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Some most encouraging / heartwarming individual candidates, too, but we’ll discuss them in a later post. (Add your nominations below!)

Reader Interactions

288Comments

  1. 1.

    Suburban Mom

    Woo hoo!!! Good morning from NJ 7, a district likely to flip to D this fall.

  2. 2.

    Elizabelle

    I think we should have a thread exhibiting our collection of “concern troll” headlines and articles in the runup to primaries by MSM writers who should have fucking known better. Karen Tumulty in the WaPost is a strong contender, although FTF NY Times rules the waves there.

    Because they sure got played, getting the Republican framing out there. And now it’s (to them): Democrats avoided stepping on their dicks again. For now.

    Someone overnight mentioned how awful Kornacki was. I tuned in for one minute at 11:00 p and he lost me with the concern squirrel on meth act.

  4. 4.

    NobodySpecial

    That turnout. No amount of voter suppression could stop it. So good to see.

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    A voting related relic which thought might elicit a chuckle or two. A reminder as well that movements antithetical to voting ain’t nuthin’ new. The tools may have changed, the message is about the same.

    Real anti-suffragist flyer from 1919.

    The horror, the horror!   ;)

  8. 8.

    gene108

    Pretty much all the Dems on my ballot ran unopposed, except for Bob Menendez, but I think he won his shot at reelection.

    Andy Kim is running to unseat my current Rep, Tom MacArthur, in Nj-3. Will ne a tough contest. MacArthur salvaged GOP’s attempt to repeal Obamacare and was the only person in the NJ delegation to vote for the tax scam bill. I really want him to lose.

    Plus Andy seems like super sincere guy, Fromm the one time I “met” him at a meet and greet in February.

  12. 12.

    p.a.

    @NobodySpecial:

    That turnout. No amount of voter suppression could stop it. So good to see.

    Assume nothing. Rethugs never quit. They’re still after SS 80 years later…

  13. 13.

    PsiFighter37

    @gene108: To me, the road to taking Congress is simple: it runs through CA, PA, and NJ. That equals more than half of the pickup opportunities needed to flip the House. From what I read from a poll (think it was Quinnipiac?) a couple months back, there’s a material non-zero possibility that NJ votes in an all-blue congressional delegation.

    As for CA – any color on whether our best candidates made it through to November? And as for Villaigarosa…it is embarrassing how poorly he performed. People can bitch about Newsom trying to ratfuck the primary, but he lost LA county and got half the vote that Cox did.

  15. 15.

    gene108

    @NotMax:

    So women voters were crazy leftists, and those opposing them were good, salt of the Earth Real Americans, from Real America, and not Fake America New York City.

    The more things change…

  19. 19.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    The Young Turks bilked their viewers for a couple hundred thousand dollars to run a candidate against Feinstein. In addition to the money, they spent endless broadcasts promoting their candidate and spreading fake info saying they were on the verge of victory.

    With the votes in, they got 2% of the vote.

  20. 20.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: No, not really. More concerned about your despair resulting from watching their “work.”

    I am serious about the pre-primary headlines. I saved a few, and could have a way bigger collection. They were insane.

    I think we need to contact those reporters, via email link to their bylines, and tell them how they got played and we can see them and what they’re doing. They could have reported on enthusiasm, and maybe they did, in the articles. But you’d never know that from headlines.

  21. 21.

    gene108

    @PsiFighter37:

    From what I read from a poll (think it was Quinnipiac?) a couple months back, there’s a material non-zero possibility that NJ votes in an all-blue congressional delegation.

    I have seen similar speculation. I think it is purely a matter of turnout. Can we get more people out, in Dem areas in each district than the R areas.

  22. 22.

    Chyron HR

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    Oh, they don’t want to win primaries. That would mean that their candidate and (alleged) ideals would be tested in a general election. Much better to lose the primary and complain that it was “rigged”.

  23. 23.

    Platonailedit

    Deb Haaland won the Democratic nomination for a New Mexico congressional seat tonight, clearing her path to becoming the nation’s first Native American congresswoman.

    https://t.co/3FmKh7BGna— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 6, 2018

    Finally, a real american. It just took over 2 centuries.

  25. 25.

    MomSense

    Well done Dems! I’m especially proud of Cali Dems for dealing with the crazy jungle primaries and a Los Angeles County “printing error” that took about 120,000 people off tthe voting lists. Those campaign offices must have been jumping yesterday.

  26. 26.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    This after more than a dozen hot takes were written last week claiming (without evidence) that Democrats’ electoral chances were rapidly deteriorating.

    It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia The Village

  27. 27.

    JMG

    Kornacki is to political reporting as Gus Johnson is to sports play-by-play, except that Gus is genuinely entertaining rather than irritating. As for pre-primary stories, one of the sad but basic tenets of journalism is that “what if this happens” when it probably won’t is a story required by editors everywhere. It’s just ass-covering in advance. I’ve said this here before, but it’s my belief that after 2016, pundits and political reporters will not predict Democrats winning even in elections that are over.

  31. 31.

    Bobby Thomson

    A good night. One piece of bad news – California state senator Josh Newman was recalled for voting for a gas tax, eliminating the Democrats’ supermajority.

  34. 34.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Guess who is flip flopping on tariffs and NAFTA:

    “American steel and aluminum workers need our help, and they need it now, but not at the expense of farmers, workers, small businesses and consumers in Vermont and throughout this country. Given Vermont’s proximity to Canada and our strong trade relations with Canada, these policies will be especially harmful to Vermont and other northern border states. It simply makes no sense to start a trade war with Canada.”

    He just spent the past three months screaming he would rip up NAFTA, which would mean starting a trade war with Canada.

    Shameless

  36. 36.

    eric U.

    “Trouble looms for Democrats as they achieve veto-proof majorities in House and Senate” — NYT, probably

    Think they would hire me to write headlines?

  37. 37.

    debbie

    @Elizabelle:

    They’re not going to let go of that, even after the results. NPR was just referring to the “status quo” in California.

  40. 40.

    debbie

    I was happy to learn that judge who barely sentenced that Stanford swimmer-rapist for “20 minutes of action” was recalled.

  46. 46.

    DandyLion

    @NotMax: Looks to me that the socialists had it right all along; should’ve let women vote earlier. And more often.

  47. 47.

    raven

    While I want to regale you jackals with tales from the deep I will demure for now to show you some great shots of our new city council person at her swearing in. Angela Davis would be proud!

    “Mariah Parker takes her oath of office for County Commissioner District 2 with her hand on the autobiography of Malcolm X and her mother Mattie Parker by her side on the steps of City Hall in downtown Athens, Ga., Tuesday, June 5, 2018. Parker filled the county commissioner seat vacated by Harry Sims who left his seat to run for mayor. She won the election for District 2 by 13 votes.”

  48. 48.

    Betty Cracker

    @Elizabelle: My husband and I were talking about the effect headlines have these days — not just proper headlines on news sites, but the alerts that get sent to people’s phones. My understanding is that they aren’t written by the reporters themselves, and obviously they’re designed as click bait. But I wonder what percentage of the stories attached to them get read all the way through. There really should be an attempt at an honest summary of the content, not just click bait. The headline is the only part that is widely seen is most cases. I don’t know how to fix this, but I think it’s a serious problem.

  52. 52.

    Elizabelle

    @Betty Cracker: I cannot decide if it’s click bait, or if editors or whoever assign the headlines skew GOP. Because it happens too damn often. I think we should complain and hold them accountable.

    Huge problem, because a lot of viewers don’t get to read the actual article, which may or may not support the blaring headline, because it’s behind a paywall. So they take away a mistaken impression.

    I think we need to keep the editors and reporters accountable. We can complain too.

    ETA: Maybe it’s some stupid dance where the headline appeases advertisers and the business community, who may or may not skew GOP or “no labels” (same thing), and the story fairly reports the situation but most people don’t ever actually see the nuance in the story.

  53. 53.

    TS (the original)

    @Elizabelle:

    I tuned in for one minute at 11:00 p and he lost me with the concern squirrel on meth act

    I tuned in slightly later and he was so concerned about the dems not getting a place in a multitude of districts in California. Why do they want trump sycophants to win? Beyond understanding.

  55. 55.

    eric U.

    @Elizabelle: All the twitter shaming of Haberman over her avoidance of the word “lie” when Trump lies shamelessly has seemingly had an effect. She has been calling him out more often on twitter, from what I have seen. Working the refs has worked for Republicans, it should work for us.

  56. 56.

    Baud

    @Elizabelle: I try to avoid clicking when a headline fits that sort of pattern so it doesn’t register as successful click bait. Probably just a drop in the ocean though.

  57. 57.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Not only did women candidates in general make a strong showing in New Mexico — winning D primaries for governor, land commissioner (VERY important position), US Congress, judgeships, etc., — we also had a liberal woman first-time candidate beat the conservative female D incumbent in a state house race. Our purple areas may be shifting more blue.

  58. 58.

    Elizabelle

    @TS (the original): I think we should complain. Loudly.

    I am sick of the GOP-fapping MSNBC “talent” congratulating themselves right and left — out loud — over being “the best in the business” (looking at you, Brian Williams).

    That’s for us viewers to decide.

    Can you imagine Edward R. Murrow doing this shit? I cannot.

  63. 63.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Looking at the pictures it appears they applaud and give her hugs. Whocouldaknowed?

  65. 65.

    Peale

    @kd bart: he’s the most popular politician of non-voters there is. He hasn’t done anything to turn them into voters, though. Just like he hasn’t done much to get actual voters who rejected him in the 2016 primaries to change their minds for his 2020 run. He’s done nothing but attack the “establishment” who he’s convinced robbed him.

  66. 66.

    satby

    @eric U.: I’ll believe it when she calls him out in print. Most people aren’t on Twitter. Which goes to exactly the point that @Betty Cracker: and @Elizabelle: are making.*
    * The point that the public perception of the news is being deceptively shaped by headlines (and Tweets) while the actual events may be more nuanced or even the opposite of what is headlined.

  67. 67.

    WereBear

    @Elizabelle: Journalism is not what it is about. The “news” is infotainment now. What’s more, even that is skewed, as you have pointed out.

    It’s like spam. There were always be fools who click on spam and it was pointless to plead and bed and shame them into not doing that. So we had to build tools that took spam away and they work pretty good, I must say.

  69. 69.

    NJeff

    NJ4 just picked a great candidate, Josh Welle, a Naval Officer and entrepreneur who has some big money backing. I actually preferred and voted for his more muckracking and progressive opponent, Jim Keady, but Welle is probably a better candidate for this Wall St worker heavy district.

    Uber misogynist Chris Smith is on notice. He’s gonna need to find a new job for the first time in 40 years. When he files for unemployment, I at least hope he has the decency to do it in his state of residency, VIRGINIA! (Where his son gets in-state tuition).

  70. 70.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: To be fair that is largely the Athens4Everyonel group who really spearheaded the “progressive” takeover of the council this year. They work their asses off and it’s going to be interesting to see what happens now. Our tax base is being killed by our neighboring lily-white Oconnee County that has managed to attract a great deal of the local retail to move across the river.

  73. 73.

    Peale

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: it was o.k. To dis free trade as long as that anger got channeled against Mexicans who are “stealing” our jobs and somehow cheating. But Canada can have all the jobs it wants, apparently, because of reasons.

  78. 78.

    SFAW

    @p.a.:

    Assume nothing. Rethugs never quit. They’re still after SS 80 years later…

    Few truer things have ever been written here. This should be (figuratively) tattooed on every Dem candidate’s forehead. (And it’s not just SS, it’s the entire New Deal.)

    “You’ve been saving all your working life, so that you don’t have to eat dog food after you retire. The Republicans want to steal all that money.”

    [Of course, then you get the standard concern-troll response: “You’re exaggerating! We don’t have to be like the Republicans in order to beat them.” Because both sides.]

  80. 80.

    sherparick

    @Elizabelle: I believe I read on Digby, Driftglass, Steve M at No More Mr Nice Blog, that there were no Democrats on the Sunday network and non-MSNBC cable gas bag shows this past weekend and that in writing political stories about reactions to the latest Administration outrages, no Democratic politician was quoted, even with these big primaries coming up. Still, the people keep coming. l

    Meanwhile, the stories coming from the Mexican border, with little children being put into cages (after all, King of Fools who is our President called them animals, so why the surprise), shames me as an American. We cannot vote these people out fast enough and to wrap this Man’s crimes around every tool of a Republican who supports him.

  81. 81.

    SFAW

    @rikyrah:

    Yep . Get ready for the Birth of A Nation campaign from the GOP

    Maybe they can resurrect Shelby Foote to tell us how great Nathan Bedford Forrest was.

  82. 82.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @O. Felix Culpa: All good news. I would add that the woman who won the D nomination for Representative from District 1 is Native American. I’m seeing that she will be the first Native American in the House if she wins in November. (Native American woman?)

  84. 84.

    NJDave

    @Suburban Mom:
    We’re in Long Hill, attended Malinowski’s rally in Berkeley Heights a couple of weeks ago. He’s the real deal, esp. compared to “No Stance Lance”. Absolutely delighted by the turnout!

  85. 85.

    SFAW

    @sherparick:

    King of Fools who is our President

    Our president? Have we all suddenly turned into racist morons economically-anxious WWC here?

  86. 86.

    dm

    JD Scholten is the Democrat running against racist embarrassment Steven King in Iowa. “Scholten” works as a search on ActBlue.

    In my ignorance, I was backing two candidates in that primary for a while before I realized, and decided to wait for the primary. Now to make up for lost time.

  87. 87.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW: “You’ve been saving all your working life, so that you don’t have to eat dog food after you retire. The Republicans are stealing all that money.”

    FTFY. You’ll get my bill in the mail.

  88. 88.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Cheryl Rofer: Deb Haaland will definitely be the first Native American woman in Congress if she wins in November; not sure if she’d be the first Native American ever.

  90. 90.

    oldgold

    Two things:

    One, why doesn’t Steve Kornacki buy a short sleeve shirt?

    Two, after several decades of only making financial contributions to pols, I actually went out and worked for a candidate. He won last night.

  91. 91.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Sharapova vs Muguruza underway at the French Open.

    Those two are so glamorous.

  92. 92.

    TS (the original)

    @Baud:

    To be fair, I think Dems were raising the alarm too. They needed people to turn out.

    When it comes to the political media – they don’t do fair and neither do I. The breathlessness and oh my b.s. from Kornacki is very different to the dems needing to GOTV.

  94. 94.

    Just One More Canuck

    @TS (the original): Where were these multitudes of districts? By my count (from the SF Chronicle website) there was one house district (8) that the Democrats were locked out of, a district that’s not even competitive

  96. 96.

    jonas

    So apparently in California, Gavin Newsom will be up against this rich guy from Illinois who sort of parachuted in and bought the GOP primary, and thinks he can win the governorship in the country’s largest, most liberal and diverse state by hitching his cart 100% to Donald Trump, attacking immigrants and Jerry Brown, who’s leaving the state with a $6 billion surplus. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

  98. 98.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Elizabelle: Someone overnight mentioned how awful Kornacki was. I tuned in for one minute at 11:00 p and he lost me with the concern squirrel on meth act.

    Ha! I was just gonna say I liked him when he was a nerdy reporter type– he had really good sources and insight on the Christie stories, for example– but I like your formulation better, this latest incarnation is just fucking annoying. I just saw a tweet from him from late last night “with almost 30% of the vote in….”, and I thought, “then shut up”

  99. 99.

    Leto

    Think about a Congress full of new public servants we admire.

    Think about a Congress who actually wants to pass legislation to help people? About sending people to Congress who don’t just want to “blow shit up”, but actually want to make a positive difference? Public servants who understand their responsibilities as outlined in their Oath of Office, and who will faithfully execute that oath. I’m excited about electing adults to replace the toddlers that are there.

  100. 100.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Kevin Drum:

    By the way, the Republican tax plan passed on December 19. Within a few weeks that brought the eight-year stock market rally to a screeching halt. Since the start of the new year, the market has been dead flat. Nice work.

  103. 103.

    jonas

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Ah, yes. The infamous gas tax. Remember the last time everyone in California was in a lather over a tax and turned out a perfectly competent Democratic governor and elected a Republican celebrity “outsider” candidate who immediately rolled it back and sent the state into a debt-fueled economic tailspin from which it only recently recovered? Good times.

    Seriously, though. If this Cox guy were some home-grown centrist who repudiated Trump, but also promised to lower taxes, there would be some reason to worry about the governorship, but from what I’ve read, he’s a complete RWNJ, has never held political office, and isn’t even from California. I don’t think he stands much of a chance.

  104. 104.

    Leto

    @OzarkHillbilly: I don’t think the market has broken 25k since then. Come close, but always reversed course. I think it was yesterday that someone linked a short blurb that economists are predicting another recession around end of ’19, beginning of ’20. I’m just glad we have such a steady hand at the helm, totally stable genius, to help prepare us for the potential upcoming pain. /s

  106. 106.

    Betty Cracker

    Here’s an example of headline / phone alerts contribute to “Dems in disarray” narratives — a WaPo alert I received on my phone moments ago:

    “California Democrats avert political disaster in many House races amid fears that the party could be locked out of November ballot”

    Okay, that’s true, as far as it goes. The jungle primary setup did legitimately cause concern that the Dems could field so many candidates that they’d split into too small factions and Republicans could lock down a district ballot. But here’s what actually happened, as it stands right now: Out of 53 districts, Democrats will appear on every ballot and the GOP is locked out of 10.

    Shouldn’t the fact that the GOP is locked out of nearly 20% of races in California be a bigger story than “Dems avert disaster”?

  107. 107.

    Brachiator

    @PsiFighter37:

    As for CA – any color on whether our best candidates made it through to November?

    Too early to tell. Mail in votes can roll in through Friday, and there was a small snafu with some voters dropped from the voting pages (including me), and having to use provisional ballots.

    And as for Villaigarosa…it is embarrassing how poorly he performed. People can bitch about Newsom trying to ratfuck the primary, but he lost LA county and got half the vote that Cox did.

    Not a big deal. Northern California and Southern California are like loosely connected worlds. Newsom does not have a lot of strength down here. But Democrats will come together in November. And Cox has to embrace Trump, and will inevitably sink without a trace.

  108. 108.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Betty Cracker: I don’t sign up for alerts. I have usually found that following Twitter feeds of journalists I like (Daniel Dale for WH coverage, Nikhil Wagle for Indian news etc.) or someone close to the ground like an immigration lawyer in the trenches (Greg Siskind, David Leopold, Andrew Free) gives me an accurate picture of what’s going on than reading newspapers or worst still watching news on TV even the Snooze Hour. I take it as a given that prestige media either concern trolls Ds or acts as R cheerleaders. I don’t expect any better from them.
    As for news outlets, WashPost is better than Vichy Times. I find Atlantic to be quite terrible. I am not particularly enthralled by the screaming headlines of Raw Story and the like. Like tabloids they promise more than they deliver.

  109. 109.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Betty Cracker: I’m just tired of the tendency SO MANY of my Facebook friends have of recirculating a headline and then lamenting that the Democrats are complicit, weak, not fighting back, etc., etc. For whatever reason “we” love the thrill of disaster and failure. We’re only happy when it rains.

  111. 111.

    kindness

    That Democrats are going to take the House isn’t a secret any more. I want the Senate. I want the Senate to indict McConnell for helping Russia. Impeachment isn’t as important as taking the Senate and having them tell Trump where to stuff it each and every day. Trump will stroke out. I’m happy with that.

  112. 112.

    Platonailedit

    @jonas: The nutjob still got over a million votes. In a fucking deep blue state. Don’t take anything for granted. Keep and build the momentum till the date that actually counts.

  113. 113.

    Betty Cracker

    @schrodingers_cat: Daniel Dale is wonderful. Not afraid to call a lie what it is, and he does instant fact checks.

    I’ve never seen polling on how many folks get info on current events exclusively through smartphone alerts, but my guess is it would be an alarmingly high number, particularly among young folks. It’s a real problem.

  117. 117.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    FTFY. You’ll get my bill in the mail.

    No problem, I figure your modification is worth 25 to 50 percent of what I was paid to come up with it.

  118. 118.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Betty Cracker: I bet you’re right, and that their involvement with news stories is predominantly “oh yeah, I think I heard something about that.”

  122. 122.

    germy

    @rikyrah: I liked this reply to Oliver’s tweet:

    Dems in Array!— J Gawl (@BetterCallGawl) June 6, 2018

    And this one:

    Media wanted Democrats to fail so bad. Michelle Wolf wasn’t wrong about the relationship between the media and Trump.— Thots & Prayers (@thewestwomb) June 6, 2018

  124. 124.

    Brachiator

    @Betty Cracker:

    Shouldn’t the fact that the GOP is locked out of nearly 20% of races in California be a bigger story than “Dems avert disaster”?

    The local and regional news outlets have been much better, but that’s to be expected.

    But it will be an interesting fight this November, with a lot of money pouring into the state.

  128. 128.

    germy

    I was hoping to see a mention of Lauren Arthur flipping the Missouri senate (in drumpf country) when I checked the morning TV news, but the networks were too busy discussing Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.

  129. 129.

    Jeffro

    Fuck the concern trolls, full steam ahead Dems!

    “The moral of this story, it’s simple but it’s true: the stars might lie, but the numbers never do” – Mary-Chapin Carpenter

    Now LET’S GO PUT UP SOME BIG NUMBERS this fall!!

  130. 130.

    Booger

    @O. Felix Culpa: Yeah, Ben Nighthorse Campbell back in the 80s, seems like he served in both the House and the Senate. Got an exemption from the rules which allowed him to wear bolo ties instead of neckties on the floor because of a judo injury to his throat.

    ETA: I see Ozark beat me.

  133. 133.

    japa21

    @germy: In a way, I am fine with that. The more scared the GOP gets, the more they go out to do despicable things. Let them think it isn’t as bad as it really is. Lack of attention on it won’t prevent Dems from voting. Lots of attention on it may make more GOPers vote.

  135. 135.

    Bruuuuce

    Lots of good news all around, last night. Well done, Team Blue; do it again in November, only more so!

    One item not from the primaries, but also excellent news: Judge Aaron Persky, the scumbucket who gave rapist Brock Turner six months in jail because more would have harmed his career as a swimmer, has been recalled by the voters in California. Moar consequences for assholes, and maybe we’ll be able to hold our heads high in the world again.

  138. 138.

    germy

    @Leto:

    Bring out the Clenis stories!

    The villagers have a firm grip on that breaking news story, to be sure.

  139. 139.

    zhena gogolia

    @MomSense:

    We had lunch with friends who have the most adorable affenpinscher (look it up!) yesterday. Every time I looked, my husband was walking around the house with her in his arms, kissing her head.

  141. 141.

    zhena gogolia

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I think you missed the feuds of the last two nights over negativity in comments. I’m afraid Kay got very upset and promised never to comment again, which was certainly not what anyone wanted to happen.

  142. 142.

    Brachiator

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’ve never seen polling on how many folks get info on current events exclusively through smartphone alerts, but my guess is it would be an alarmingly high number, particularly among young folks. It’s a real problem.

    A lot of younger people are apolitical, and I’ve never seen tech savvy people who are not political junkies make smartphone alerts any kind of priority. They seem to want more to turn off alerts and notifications.

    Also, I can’t imagine anyone who is not a political junkie or who does not live in California giving a hoot about the California primary.

  146. 146.

    schrodingers_cat

    @zhena gogolia: I just saw that. I left a comment for her asking her to stay.

    ETA: I have been commenting and spending less time here, because the fact free doom forecasts of a select few was getting to me. BTW I don’t count Kay among those people. Her tone can range from ironic to pessimistic but most of her analysis is fact based and I appreciate the window to the T voting public she provides.

  147. 147.

    Gin & Tonic

    I saw on the Twitter that US Rep James Sensenbrenner (R, WI-5) held a town hall in some dipshit town the other day (at 0900) and one constituent showed up. I want that fucking guy’s autograph.

  149. 149.

    Barbara

    I find concern trolling tedious as well, but I take “the sky is (or might be) falling” headlines with a certain equanimity. That’s because “we’ve got this in the bag” headlines are more likely to depress turnout. There’s a fine line, and I suspect that a lot of the headlines about California house races reflected the large gap between what might happen and any clear polling or other evidence to show what was actually likely to happen. It is within that gap that creative hand wringing takes over. Karen Tumulty’s use of terms like “panic” to describe what sounded more like a concerted effort to make sure people cast their ballots for candidates who had not dropped out was especially annoying.

  151. 151.

    Fair Economist

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    The Young Turks bilked their viewers for a couple hundred thousand dollars to run a candidate against Feinstein.
    With the votes in, they got 2% of the vote

    Celebration!A fit results for those grifters.

    I wish De Leon were doing better because he did a good job leading the State Senate and isn’t a generation past retirement age, but I guess we’ll do OK when Newsom picks the replacement if Feinstein has to retire.

  152. 152.

    satby

    @schrodingers_cat: I don’t care how anyone comments per se, though I obviously don’t like trolling. I think the repetitive gloomy comments (from anyone) get old though.
    I also think the stress of living through this awful time in our country is making everyone snappish and less tolerant.
    It’s doing that to me anyway.

  153. 153.

    zhena gogolia

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    We’re all feeling sick and depressed and panicky, but we have to stick together! I hope this will blow over. I don’t disagree with a single word she says. I just have to take a break from thinking the worst all the time.

  154. 154.

    bemused

    @germy:

    If one or two fragile commenters taking to their fainting couches have chased away Kay, I’m going to be really pissed off. I don’t even remember who started attacking Kay but it’s easy enough to just skip reading Kay’s comments if they bother someone so much. I do that all the time here with commenters that regularly annoy me.
    I love Kay’s comments. I love how Kay asks open questions that I may not have thought about before. I love her stories of her area republicans thought processes and so much more.
    A pox on Kay detractors.

  155. 155.

    Barbara

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Its a coping strategy to see the negative in every instance, or so I am told.

    As a kid I used to watch the show “Bewitched” (yes, this is going somewhere) and in one episode Benjamin Franklin came back to life in the modern day and his dialogue throughout the show was a series of the aphorisms he was so well-know for. At one point, he told Samantha, on trial for witchcraft about what to expect, that one should always be a pessimist — that you can only be pleasantly surprised. People hate unpleasant surprises. Think of how you felt on the night of November 8, 2016 and think about what you would have done to try to prepare yourself so that you could have tempered those feelings. If the negativity bothers you, take a break or try to relieve it through means other than outright criticism.

  156. 156.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @zhena gogolia: Oh crap, really? She is one of the commenters I value the most. There are many days when the news she brings me from the political trenches of Ohio keep me going. Kay, if you’re lurking, please don’t go away. We need you.

  157. 157.

    satby

    President Trump is preparing to sign a sweeping new law Wednesday aimed at expanding veterans’ access to private-sector health care. But behind the scenes his administration is fighting a bipartisan Senate effort to fund the legislation.

    WaPo (no link because I’m not a subscriber.)

  159. 159.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Omnes Omnibus: I went back and read that thread. She is upset. I read your comments to, unless I am missing something I didn’t find what you said particularly rude.
    Just this year I have been called a stalker and a Susan Sarandon like purity pony. I had to take a short break after one of those incidents. You stood up for me then, I remember that too. You and Kay are among my favorite juicers, its hard to see you two fight. T era is bringing out the worst in all of us.

  161. 161.

    Fair Economist

    @Betty Cracker:

    Shouldn’t the fact that the GOP is locked out of nearly 20% of races in California be a bigger story than “Dems avert disaster”?

    Of course not! That would be demoralizing for the Republicans, which would defeat the media’s goal to support Republican prospects. What do you think the media is supposed to do, inform the public about important information or something weird like that?

    IMO the jungle primary functioned exactly as it was supposed to – R v D for everything competitive, and some intraparty races elsewhere, allowing minority party supporters *some* voice in government.

  162. 162.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @schrodingers_cat: I blame Russian sock puppets.

    Even if they’re not always responsible, I’d like to see the politically active Dems in groups like this one develop a little immunity to and suspicion of bot-attacks.

  163. 163.

    Tokyokie

    @Betty Cracker: As a former metropolitan daily newspaper copy editor, I can assure you that in our shop, before the copy desk was dispensed with as an unnecessary expense, we were basically told to write the online headlines as click bait. And I’m guessing it was the same at other dailies as well, assuming that they still have copy desks.

  164. 164.

    Brachiator

    @germy:

    [email protected] spent part of Saturday in Orange County, ground zero in the war for House control — and never mentioned today’s crucial primaries.

    Yep. Bernie just played his greatest hits and pumped for a couple of initiatives that may appear on the November ballot.

    He is or should be politically irrelevant, except to his hard core base.

  166. 166.

    Jersey Tomato

    I had to turn Brian Williams off last night as he and his guests were chastising California Dems for turning off independents with their far-left lunacy caused by Trump Derangement Syndrome.

  168. 168.

    LAO

    It’s hard, I think, to remain optimistic or not feel worn down by politics since 2016. Just this morning, I had a nightmare about the election, which woke me up at 5:00 a.m. I’ There was no way I was going to back to sleep. I just decide this am, to use twitter as my cooping mechanism (I have no followers, so I think it’ll be like primal screaming therapy).

  169. 169.

    NotMax

    @gene108

    Yup. “Letting them vote spells DOOOOOOM!”

    The lyrics (the them) may change but the tune remains the same.

  171. 171.

    Brachiator

    @Fair Economist:

    Of course not! That would be demoralizing for the Republicans, which would defeat the media’s goal to support Republican prospects.

    But the Republicans don’t have any prospects in California.

  173. 173.

    LAO

    Looks like Trump is declaring all out war against the Justice Department:

    The White House has prepared the paperwork to pardon at least 30 more people, signaling that President Trump is poised to exert his constitutional power and intervene, in some instances, where he believes the Justice Department has overstepped.https://t.co/UavwBb9hIr— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) June 6, 2018

  175. 175.

    MomSense

    IMHO the tone policing about negativity is fucking annoying and much more annoying than the negativity. If you don’t like the negativity, skip over the comment. If you think you can help that person to feel better about an issue, then try that. Constantly scolding people for feeling scared or worried or stressed or pessimistic is the same attitude we mock when we say the beatings will continue until morale improves. And if you can’t tell the difference between a troll or bot and a regular commenter who is having a tough time and may need some friendship, then you are the one with the problem.

  177. 177.

    Ruckus

    @Platonailedit:
    Do remember that we are 42 million people in CA. There are a few pretty solid red areas. You are not going to win them all or get everyone to agree. There are people who think that the government should run with a zero balance every year. How that’s going to happen, they can not explain. There are very wealthy areas as well. Amazingly dems do pretty well there. This ain’t Kansas.

  178. 178.

    Brachiator

    @Tokyokie:

    we were basically told to write the online headlines as click bait.

    How is that different from what you were told to do for physical newspapers?

  179. 179.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jersey Tomato: I had to turn Brian Williams off last night as he and his guests were chastising California Dems for turning off independents with their far-left lunacy caused by Trump Derangement Syndrome.

    Jeremy Peters was really out-douching himself last night, pretty much going full Krashauer (Ron Fournier protege (I believe) and rightwing apologist masquerading as “just a reporter” at the National Journal).

  180. 180.

    rikyrah

    The best thing that happened to @Eagles since winning the #superbowl is @realDonaldTrump uninviting them to the #WhiteHouse Not 1 #Eagles player took a knee. It’s about social injustice period! #TakeAKnee @MSNBC @BostonGlobe @HuffPost @CNN @AprilDRyan @NFL @YahooNews @nytimes pic.twitter.com/35hGtpmmET

    — TheBillRussell (@RealBillRussell) June 6, 2018

  182. 182.

    Barbara

    @schrodingers_cat: I do understand. For instance, when looking at actual news stories I skip everything that has “might” or “could” in the title or the first paragraph. I don’t care what most people think might happen. In similar fashion, when I see hand wringing that seems excessive or ungrounded in facts, I skip over it. I am not the blog police, everything here is free and no one is forced to read it. At most, I try to help someone down off the ledge. I would also say that many of us have a negative streak and sometimes it gets old to read comments that in sum and substance are to the effect of “Vichy Times!” So, you know, if this is someone’s safe space for hand wringing or insulting particularly annoying media sources, I think we should all be mostly okay with that.

  183. 183.

    No Drought No More

    “Apparently, Manafort is more concerned about Russians than he is of Trump. Mueller should offer him the US Marshal’s Witness Protection Program. I was in it for 18 months during Watergate and they are very good at keeping witnesses alive”.

    [Two women in line at MacDonald’s in Podunk, Iowa]

    1st Woman: “Look at that guy shoveling fries. Doesn’t he look like Paul Manafort”?

    2nd woman: “Who”?

    1st Woman: “The guy who fingered Trump and then disappeared into the witness protection program”.

    2nd woman: “Yeah, now that you mention it, it sure does look like him”.

  184. 184.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @MomSense: Thank you. I’ve been been feeling the same way for weeks. I must have erased a dozen or more posts expressing those thoughts, right down to the phrase “tone policing”, because I thought it was just me.

  185. 185.

    smintheus

    No lockouts in CA? The results in CA 8 (at the NYT) show the top Dem trailing the 2nd Republican by 800 or so votes with all precincts counted.

  186. 186.

    The Moar You Know

    IMHO the tone policing about negativity is fucking annoying and much more annoying than the negativity. If you don’t like the negativity, skip over the comment. If you think you can help that person to feel better about an issue, then try that. Constantly scolding people for feeling scared or worried or stressed or pessimistic is the same attitude we mock when we say the beatings will continue until morale improves. And if you can’t tell the difference between a troll or bot and a regular commenter who is having a tough time and may need some friendship, then you are the one with the problem.

    @MomSense: Thank you for this. I just pie the tone police. Maybe they should pie all the commentors that give them such butthurt instead of running them off the ranch, but hey, it was their decision to fuck it up for everyone. John does give us that freedom, which I appreciate.

    I do find it horrendous that they now have the gall to cry crocodile tears about their success at having finally chased one of the people they don’t like off, but that karmic burden is for them to live with, not me.

  189. 189.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: wasn’t just us

    @ nycsouthpaw
    MSNBC panel at this hour is, on one hand, a NYT reporter who keeps saying Democrats are obstructing President Trump too much and, on the other, the policy director of the Romney/Ryan campaign who keeps saying Democrats are obstructing President Trump too much.Michael Cohen
    ‏
    Michael Cohen @ speechboy71
    This is honestly the strangest panel, particularly in that Jeremy Peters is describing an anti-Trump, no message Democratic Party that appears to bear no relation to reality
    /thread/

  190. 190.

    Brachiator

    Maybe a little more interesting than California’s jungle primary is how ranked choice is determining San Francisco’s mayor.

    Former state Sen. Mark Leno pulled into first place in the race for San Francisco mayor early Wednesday, as ranked-choice redistribution of losing candidates’ votes enabled him to overcome Supervisor London Breed’s early advantage.

    After all the ranked-choice votes were sorted, Leno had 50.42 percent to Breed’s 49.58 percent. …

    Either way, the winner will be a first for San Francisco: Leno would be the first openly gay mayor, and Breed would be the first African American woman to hold the job.

    When the first-place votes were counted Tuesday night, Breed was on top with 35.6 percent to Leno’s 25.9 percent, Supervisor Jane Kim’s 22.8 percent and former Supervisor Angela Alioto’s 7.6 percent.

    But Leno and Kim had encouraged each other’s supporters to list the other as their second-place choice, and it paid off big time for Leno — he received 77 percent of Kim’s second-place votes.

    Who will ultimately step into the city’s top job probably won’t be known for several days because of the ranked-choicesystem, under which the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated and his or her votes are redistributed to supporters’ second choices. The Elections Department plans to issue daily count updates at 4 p.m.

    Link

    https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Breed-takes-lead-over-Leno-Kim-in-earliest-12970895.php

  194. 194.

    Elizabelle

    @zhena gogolia: Will you (or someone else) link to the comment? Did Kay actually say that she was gone?

    (Asking because I don’t follow a lot of threads here.)

    Many thanks.

  195. 195.

    jonas

    @Platonailedit:

    The nutjob still got over a million votes.

    Yeah, in a state with almost 20 million registered voters, a pretty significant Dem over Rep registration gap, and that went overwhelmingly for Clinton in 16. Sure, we shouldn’t take anything for granted — ever — but as long as this guy sticks to his “Trump is great, let’s hate on immigrants and budget slash our way to prosperity” line he used to sew up the primary, I wouldn’t be too concerned. He’ll have support in the Central Valley (maybe — some ranchers may be rethinking things now that Trump has driven away their labor and gotten retaliatory tariffs slapped on their produce) and in some of the rural northern counties, but not much else.

  197. 197.

    Elizabelle

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Complain to MSNBC. They’re doing that on purpose.

    They and the FTF NYTimes have a certain level of contempt for their viewers/subscribers. Who should become ex-viewers if they are going to lie to us like that.

  199. 199.

    JPL

    Just took a break from yard work, and saw that Trump is concerned about a Melania story that might break shortly. hmmm That must be why she is suppose to travel with him today.

  200. 200.

    Barbara

    @jonas: Gavin Newsom is already calling him one of Trump’s foot soldiers in the war against California. Running expressly as a big supporter of Trump in California clearly has a limited audience.

  201. 201.

    Tokyokie

    @Brachiator: The main difference is that the headline counts for headlines in the paper were generally a lot tighter, meaning the headlines generally had to proceed noun-verb-object construction with little embellishment. If you have to write a 54-point headline that’s only 1 column wide, there’s not a lot of ways to do it. (My joke was the headline “It is to be” could be used on any story and would fit any count.) Online headlines, on the other hand, don’t have a type size per se, meaning they’re a lot looser. But you still have to fill them out or else they’ll look peculiar. And those looser headline counts lead to the embellishments that the big bosses prefer because that’s what makes them click bait.

  204. 204.

    Platonailedit

    @MomSense: @Barbara: This. The so called half-glass posters are needed to inject some reality (of what the traitorous and corruptest party is doing and is capable of doing) and perspective and not get carried away with the narrative of the day (dems are winning everywhere). To call them out as concern trolls and negative nellies constantly is an insult to them. For me, the posters who often diss dem leadership (dems cudda/shudda done this or that) here are the real trolls and negative nellies. I will take Kay over any of them.

  205. 205.

    trollhattan

    @jonas:
    He’s a “centrist” because he says he voted for Gary Johnson, see? He’s a rebel.

    No, we won’t be seeing Governor Cox inaugurated. Will he stir the base and get out the R vote? Who knows?

    Rs will try to tie gas prices to the raised CA gas tax while adroitly ignoring the jump in oil price since Trump broke the Iran deal. Dems will need to hang that on Trump. Not that the price of gas is the motivator Rs want to imagine. Fix traffic and potholes guys, then you’re somewhere.

  206. 206.

    Barbara

    From Slate, a take on the California jungle primary:

    If all of these results hold and Democrats avoid any lockouts in critical races, expect some discussion of how the threats were “overhyped.” But it took Democrats months of exhausting work to narrow candidate fields and consolidate around candidates, and the expenditure of many millions of dollars, to get here. The threats were real, and ably surmounted.

    In other words, a competent reaction to a threat of chaos.

  207. 207.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Elizabelle: do you know how to do that? I was just going over their main page, and I don’t see anything resembling “contact us”. Michael Cohen (“speech boy”) is a former Obama speechwriter, and “Southpaw” is anonymous but seems to get retweeted a lot, so I hope Peters, Williams and his producers are getting some blowback. It was just a demented fucking segment.

  209. 209.

    GregB

    Reporting out of England is putting a direct line between Cambridge Analytica and Nazi-leaks. Money for information. It was a global propaganda campaign, a successful one.

    Trump is ramping up the propaganda mill.

    A big effort to use African-American surrogates to push anti-Democratic propaganda.

    I also got into a back and forth over Snowden on twitter and the MAGA’s are all in on him.

    Trump is also pushing hyper militaristic nationalism to his digital zombie army.

  213. 213.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @trollhattan:

    Dems will need to hang that on Trump. Not that the price of gas is the motivator Rs want to imagine. Fix traffic and potholes guys, then you’re somewhere.

    Yup, this one thing(and maybe the only thing) that Tweety has a point, show that the money is being spent and put up big signs saying it’s being fixed because of the gas tax.

  214. 214.

    NotMax

    @Elizabelle

    Bran Williams’ show is the broadcast version of an emetic. There by rights ought to be a crawl across the bottom of the screen warning of dire side effects.

  215. 215.

    MattF

    Also, drifting a bit OT, the subject of Trump’s ‘rise’ in the polls has disappeared from the opinion (and news) pages. Because it didn’t actually happen.

  216. 216.

    Elizabelle

    @zhena gogolia: Just read the thread. Shoot. Kay did say she was gone. Clash with Omnes, which I did not read up on. Her comments:

    to Omnes at 11:16 p

    You know, Omnes, I was polite to you when I read your comment this morning and responded, but I regret that. I really had no idea how much trouble my comments were causing you. You’ve been incredibly rude to me twice now, which surprises me, because I;ve maybe had 5 interactions with you over 5 years. You can relax. I won’t comment anymore. That way you won;t have to find my comments, read them, and then say nasty things about me behind my back.

    to debbie, at 11:42 pm

    It’s fine. I don’t have to comment here. It’s not a big deal. I responded tonight because I regretted treating him decently when he was so fucking rude the first time. Correction- the second time. As I said, surprised me, because I have never been rude to him.

    That won’t happen again. Well, you’ll have to email me or something if it does because obviously I won’t know- but still :)

    What a mess. I don’t want us to lose either Kay or Omnes.

    Here is hoping John, Betty Cracker, Adam, and anyone else who can be in touch with Kay is working behind the scenes to bring her back.

  217. 217.

    japa21

    First of all, let me second, third, fourth etc., all those that love to read Kay’s comments, never see her as a negative Nellie and want her to stay. IMHO, she is one of the most insightful and informative of the commenters on this top 10,000 political blog.

    Secondly, regarding the general topic of negativity, there is a distinct difference between the “OMG, we’re all going to die” trolls and those that basically say, “this isn’t in the bag yet, these are the things I see that make me concerned” types.

    There are both that make their presence known here, and the former are deserving of derision. The latter, however, are necessary to keep us on our toes. They do not deserve to be called negative Nellies, and in fact, deserve our thanks for highlighting some things the rest of us may be missing. At the same time, we can assist those who might be putting to much emphasis on negative news without being “Shut up” about it.

  218. 218.

    Elizabelle

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Not surprised. I never go to MSNBC’s page, because it was a horror when I did try. Seems to be where bloggers go to die. (I loved Steve Benen; was too hard to follow him when I last tried.)

    Let me know if you find anything. I will look around.

    I wonder if the modern complainer takes to twitter, which gets back to MSNBC? No clue.

  219. 219.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    the general consensus seems to be that when Bolton started talking publicly about the “Libya model”, he (and maybe with Pence’s support) was trying to tank the summit. I don’t think Rudi is playing any kind of chess, but this just might have the same effect

    WORLD
    Kim Jong Un Begged for Summit ‘on His Hands and Knees,’ Giuliani Says
    With the summit plans back in place, the U.S. has the upper hand, President Trump’s lawyer said

    ETA:

    @Elizabelle: I wonder if the modern complainer takes to twitter, which gets back to MSNBC? No clue.

    I think twitter is the modern LTE, and you just have to hope things get amplified by some prominent people. MSNBC personalities are pretty skittish about criticizing their own. Except for John Heilemann, who seems to really hate, or at least be extremely annoyed by, Donnie Deutsch, who is a bellowing, buffoonish simpleton.

  220. 220.

    Elizabelle

    @NotMax:

    Bran [sic] Williams’ show is the broadcast version of an emetic.

    LOL. “It’s a fiber.” “No — other end.”

  221. 221.

    Patricia Kayden

    @raven: She looks like she means business and is ready to fight. Hope she does a whole lot of good.

  222. 222.

    chris

    @MomSense:

    IMHO the tone policing about negativity is fucking annoying and much more annoying than the negativity.

    Thank you!

  223. 223.

    different-church-lady

    In general I think we all need to be far more upbeat about the fact that our country is lead by a narcissistic asshole who loves to empower neo-fascists, wouldn’t you agree?

  224. 224.

    Immanentize

    @Elizabelle: Kay in the morning is a really important of my thinking breakfast. I mean that sincerely and as a compliment to her. Her viewpoint from Ohio is so useful as I shape my thinking. I had no idea about the dust-up, but damn! I was wondering where she was off to…. Of course I know I have no say over Kay’s actions and she will do what she needs to to carry on her important work. But I want her back.

  226. 226.

    No Drought No More

    John Dean’s reminder that he spent 18 months in the witness protection program begs the question (which may already be a matter of public record, for all I know): just who-or-what exactly made him fear for his life?

    Was it Julie Nixon Eisenhower? Dean’s caution would make good sense if it was her. Those old enough to recall her ferocious, year long public defense of her father- a man she believed to be innocent, which was a lie he never disabused her from holding- might tell you don’t be surprised if she is simply biding her time still..

  227. 227.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @rikyrah: Few promblems with their brillant master (race) plan

    * Open racism turns off as many whites as it emboldens. If didn’t work in the 1950s, then why will it work now?

    * So if sweet virgin white America is in such danger from being ravished by The Other, then what’s the White Salvation President been up to the last year and a half?

    * NFL players have been aggressively taking a knee for a while and MS13 been around since what, the 90s? Not much shock value there.

  229. 229.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    in case you were wondering how deep in the twitter weeds the Beast gets…

    Donald J. Trump @ realDonaldTrump
    The Fake News Media has been so unfair, and vicious, to my wife and our great First Lady, Melania. During her recovery from surgery they reported everything from near death, to facelift, to left the W.H. (and me) for N.Y. or Virginia, to abuse. All Fake, she is doing really well!

    in case you haven’t heard all the snarky jokes about my FAKE FAILING MISERABLE Marriage to MELANIE, who Hates me, let me hang a lantern on them for you! SAD!
    (Wait, I don’t see any misspellings. Conway? Scavino?)

  231. 231.

    Barbara

    @different-church-lady: We do not all need to keep fretting that Donald Trump is a narcissistic idiot more than we need to keep working to get out the vote and lift up those politicians, candidates, and just everyday people who are a living rebuke to his daily effort to rip apart the U.S. and send us hurtling in the direction of Moscow. If you want to sit in the corner wailing non-stop that is, of course, your choice.

  235. 235.

    burnspbesq

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Alas, the Wilmerite law professor appears to have beaten the more center-left law professor for second in my home district, CA-45.

    Will I hold my nose and vote for her in November? You bet your ass I will. Walters has to go.

  236. 236.

    Immanentize

    @LAO: Oh, going to court today, are we? (Just kidding. It will be monumental stupid — but “Dems Win Big” must be undermined, neh?)

  237. 237.

    Elizabelle

    @Immanentize: Losing Kay would be very bad. Agree with your comments.

    And the comment immediately above yours is exactly the kind of thing that makes me want to close the tab.

  238. 238.

    Mel

    @Elizabelle: This is a great idea.
    We should not only contact them, but also their editors. Both are under the pressure of the spin that their parent companies push them to present, but journalists fear losing readership and editors fear losing circulation numbers.

    If enough people contacted both editors and writers, with clear statements that we will document, link to and expose their lies and their spin games every single time, a few might cut back on the bs a little.

    Losing reader trust means losing readership, which means fewer online subscriptions and less physical circulation.

    It would take a massive effort, but every big effort starts with smaller steps.

  240. 240.

    Elizabelle

    Paul Ryan has borrowed a spine from someone. For a few minutes, anyway.

    FTF NY Times email alert:

    BREAKING NEWS
    Paul Ryan dismissed President Trump’s charge of a spy in his campaign and warned against his pardoning himself: “No one is above the law”
    Wednesday, June 6, 2018 11:27 AM EST

    Speaker Paul D. Ryan sided on Wednesday with a Republican congressman who had said that the F.B.I. did nothing wrong by using a confidential informant to contact members of President Trump’s campaign as it investigated its ties to Russia.

  242. 242.

    MCA1

    @Baud: Exactly. It’s not that hard to write the story with a subtext of “California is a huge opportunity for Democrats to grab up to a third of the seats they need to flip the U.S. House, as long as they can get candidates through the jungle primaries in a couple districts.” Instead of “Democrats are fucking blowing it in California because they’re in disarray and have no message or strategy.”

    I think the press is way off on the likelihood of the House switching to Democratic control in the Fall. They’ve all got it as a 50/50 or maybe 60/40 proposition. They’re falling for GOP framing, conflating the difficulties of the map in the Senate with the House, displaying some basic innumeracy and refusing to acknowledge the unabated enthusiasm gap in favor of Democrats. I mean, that special election for the MO legislature last night was another 20+ point swing. There has been zero actual incidence of any slowdown in Dem momentum in actual elections, which should give the lie to these generic polls on Congressional party preference. A rational view, in my very humble opinion, would hold that there’s as much of a likelihood of a total swamping where the Democrats pick up 50 seats as there is that the Republicans retain control. Right now the conventional wisdom is effectively saying that of the 75 or 80 or whatever it is districts that are R+6 or less, Democrats will be lucky to get a third of them when the average swing in special elections so far has been something in excess of 10 points. Does not compute.

  243. 243.

    Yarrow

    @MomSense: Thanks for saying this. Agree completely. Sometimes people saying downer things is a way to express fear in what they think is safe setting among like minded people who understand their fears and concerns. There’s a difference between that and deliberate negative trolling.

  247. 247.

    Shalimar

    @The Moar You Know: well, sure, he could have pied her, but then he would have missed all of her comments that he liked. Easier to try to control her into only making comments he liked. Not better, because it was horrible, but easier.

  248. 248.

    Barbara

    @Elizabelle: It was a straw man comment, implying that people who are bothered by negativity or hand wringing are advocating that we should be more upbeat about impending fascism. Because, you know, there isn’t anyone here who is even remotely close to doing anything of the sort.

  249. 249.

    zhena gogolia

    @Shalimar:

    Could someone point me to what Omnes did that was “horrible”? Not snark, a sincere question, because I don’t see it.

  251. 251.

    Elizabelle

    @zhena gogolia: I didn’t notice anything on a brief skim, but wonder if it’s one of those situations where — because both Kay and Omnes are attorneys, and used to addressing others with a certain amount of decorum and speaking carefully — what appeared terrible to them would have flown right over our heads (as used as we are to being drama llamas).

    I just wish the situation could get resolved and we would not lose either.

    ETA: I am guessing there’s a backstory?

  254. 254.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @MCA1:

    I think the press is way off on the likelihood of the House switching to Democratic control in the Fall.

    Nate Silver made an interesting comment that the history of election polling shows that the polls can be wrong, but if so they are almost always wrong in the opposite direction from Conventional Wisdom.

  255. 255.

    But her emails!!!

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Nate Silver made an interesting comment that the history of election polling shows that the polls can be wrong, but if so they are almost always wrong in the opposite direction from Conventional Wisdom.

    Makes sense given that “conventional wisdom” is probably reflected in polling models.

  257. 257.

    jonas

    @trollhattan:

    He’s a “centrist” because he says he voted for Gary Johnson, see? He’s a rebel.

    Yeah, but since then he’s apparently gone around assuring Republican constituencies that that was a one-time fluke and that now he’s “all in” on Trump’s agenda. Those quotes are going to be in heavy rotation in Dem attack ads. The only way a Republican wins statewide office in California is to peel away a lot of independents and a good chunk of registered Dem voters with a pragmatic, centrist platform. There have been times in the past where that was theoretically possible (and when you could still use the word ‘pragmatic’ to describe Republicans without laughing), but in 2018, you’re not going to achieve that by promising to implement Trump’s vision of America in the Golden State. As smarmy as Newsom can be, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a complete blowout in November.

  260. 260.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @zhena gogolia: @Elizabelle: I said this to Kay on Monday night and then I brought it up again on the following thread (something I should not have done and for which I have apologized).

    The only thing on this topic that I really said in the thread in which Kay said she was going to quit commenting was this:

    Omnes Omnibus says:
    June 5, 2018 at 9:50 pm

    @Elizabelle: I still read, but I comment less than I once did because I am more likely to lose my temper here than I once was. I don’t blame anyone for have moments of doubt and fear, but people who post little but negative thoughts wear me down. And then people talk about a pantless Baud and i throw in my mouth a bit.

    (No link because I am already at three)

    I am probably going to take a break from commenting for at least a day or two.

  261. 261.

    Shalimar

    @zhena gogolia: I can’t search right now, but I will when I have time. The original offensive comment he kept doubling down on was in a thread Monday night, not yesterday.

  262. 262.

    zhena gogolia

    @Omnes Omnibus: @Shalimar:

    I am spending way too much time on this because I’m supposed to be reading a really boring book and I keep coming here to avoid reading it. I went back to the original thread, and it seems to me that eemom is the one who escalated the whole thing. Now she can come and flame me, that’s fine. At any rate, I hope BOTH KAY AND OMNES KEEP COMMENTING!!!!!

  264. 264.

    Elizabelle

    @Omnes Omnibus: Ah yes, I saw that.

    I am no doubt one of the Tone Police, but Kay is never someone I take for a downer. She seems very realistic to me. It is always nice to be pleasantly surprised when things turn out better than expected. Virginia was scary enough last fall, but it’s still not Ohio. I don’t think I could live in the Midwest. Beautiful as much of it is.

    A break is good. Do not want to lose Kay, or you.

  265. 265.

    Platonailedit

    A win for science and women empowerment, spanish style.

    Spain’s first astronaut, Pedro Duque, has been named minister of science by the country’s new Socialist government.

    Prime Minister and self-labelled feminist Pedro Sánchez is expected to appoint a women-majority cabinet, in contrast to the male-dominated executives of ousted PM Mariano Rajoy.

    Women will take the deputy premiership, and the economy and finance portfolios.

    Mr Duque, 55, last went to space in 2003 as part of an International Space Station (ISS) mission.

    Spain’s first astronaut, Pedro Duque, has been named minister of science by the country’s new Socialist government.

    Prime Minister and self-labelled feminist Pedro Sánchez is expected to appoint a women-majority cabinet, in contrast to the male-dominated executives of ousted PM Mariano Rajoy.

    Women will take the deputy premiership, and the economy and finance portfolios.

    Mr Duque, 55, last went to space in 2003 as part of an International Space Station (ISS) mission.

    Only a handful of countries have governments where at least 50% of ministers are women. They include France, Sweden and Canada.

  268. 268.

    PJ

    @Elizabelle: @zhena gogolia: I think it was that Omnes followed Kay into another thread and kept repeating how much he didn’t like Kay commenting: https://balloon-juice.com/2018/06/04/sportsball-follow-up-open-thread-small/#comment-6896667 and https://balloon-juice.com/2018/06/04/sportsball-follow-up-open-thread-small/#comment-6896667. Then Goku also kept telling Kay to shut up. This was Kay’s response: https://balloon-juice.com/2018/06/04/sportsball-follow-up-open-thread-small/#comment-6896851

  270. 270.

    Shalimar

    @Omnes Omnibus: Add me rot the list of people who are happy to have you here. This disagreement was unfortunate and unnecessary, but it doesn’t change how valuable your voice is to hear.

  272. 272.

    waysel

    I find Kay to be one of the most rational, level headed, and perceptive commenters here. Kay, if you read this, screw all the naysaying jackals. Please come back.

  273. 273.

    Ruckus

    @Elizabelle:
    Let’s start a bring back Kay program!

    Kay is a smart person with a valuable and valid point of view. We need her here.

    I can understand why she might want to cut back or even stay away. I hope she doesn’t. I value her insight.

  282. 282.

    frosty fred

    @waysel: Weighing in very late, but I found it totally incomprehensible. Comparisons are odious, so I’ve self-censored the comment that came to mind.

  284. 284.

    gorram

    @PsiFighter37: There’s pretty much a solid column from Sacramento to Bakersfield that didn’t crack 20% turnout in electoral counts so far (though there’s a solid month of possible amendments to those figures). A lot of that is majority [email protected], and it tilts towards lower income people [email protected] and otherwise. Especially in the last stretch of the campaign, Villagairosa swung for those consitutuencies hard, but it just didn’t materialize into votes.

    This is actually a bit of a bust for Democrats, because a lot of the key congressional districts people have been hoping to pick up fall in that area. A contest between Villagairosa and Newsom in the fall might have driven up turnout there, most likely to Democrats advantages. This isn’t doom and gloom, just a potential lost opportunity. The tweet in the main article above is really heartening, that turnout was up everywhere outside of California, but it’s actually pretty worryingly *lower* for this primary than in 2014.

  285. 285.

    gorram

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Meanwhile Kevin de Léon was RIGHT THERE, and hey, he won the second spot in the jungle primary. Is he going to be worth their support now? My money is on no, because it was never about substantively changing who’s in government, it was about ~making a statement~

  286. 286.

    gorram

    @jonas: Somehow, this is more sensible than the Republican frontrunner in the Senate primary, who was a literal Nazi. He got knocked out by Democratic challenger Kevin de Léon so there’s no (already remote) possibility for a Republican win in the fall for that seat.

  287. 287.

    gorram

    @Fair Economist: Locally speaking, I saw a lot of people saying that a vote for anyone other than Feinstein made it possible for someone like James Bradley (Republican front runner, campaigning on “America First”) or Patrick Little (openly neo-Nazi) to end up one of the choices in the general. Her vote totals likely reflect people wanting to make sure that weren’t losing ground, now that she’s a set option, I don’t know that de Léon can’t run a very effective campaign against her.

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