Five years ago today, the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder in an appallingly bad opinion by Chief Justice Roberts. The voter suppression efforts that followed the holding continue to dangerously undermine voters of color. #RestoreTheVOTE pic.twitter.com/SeApalMNyv
— Miranda Yaver (@mirandayaver) June 25, 2018
"The Anti-War movement in Vietnam … The Civil Rights movement … both of those were much more civil in tone": @David_Gergen on the 'uncivil discourse' of politics in 2018 compared to other historical divides https://t.co/7tlX0riUCG https://t.co/AWsCwQwRwG
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) June 25, 2018
John Lewis seems to have a different recollection than David Gergen about the level of civility during the 1960s.https://t.co/trq9FmfaOR
— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) June 26, 2018
We should of course treat with great seriousness the demands that protest be conducted in a peaceful, respectful, polite way, because everyone knows that protests like that are honored in American culture and only aggressive uncivil protest is demonized. pic.twitter.com/JIj27ML7Ic
— Jacob T. Levy (@jtlevy) June 25, 2018
Note to media folks:
Stop asking prominent white men how they feel about civility.
White men aren't the ones being locked up in cages, abused by bigots, or shot by police.
Stop climbing to the very top of the privilege totem to ask the unaffected how the affected should behave
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) June 26, 2018
#civility https://t.co/CmhnwPSerT
— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) June 26, 2018
rikyrah
Good Morning,Everyone ???
tobie
Thanks for posting the picture of Kaepernick and others taking the knee. I’ve never understood the rancor of the response to what is at heart a respectful and humble gesture. You only take a knee before figures and symbols you revere. I always thought the meaning of the gesture was to call America to live up to its ideals.
?BillinGlendaleCA
I was under the impression that David Gergen was older than I am, but I guess being asked to leave a restaurant is much more uncivil than being fired at by the Ohio National Guard using live ammunition.
Platonailedit
Truthy tweet by The Hoarse Whisperer.
raven
Chicago Convention The Whole World is Watching 1968 Election
I watched this in the barracks at Ft Lewis as we prepared to ship out to Vietnam.
OzarkHillbilly
@tobie:
You don’t understand that white people take vehement exception to black people telling them they are tired of being treated like shit? I mean, it’s not like cops go around pulling over random white people for no good reason, searching their cars for no good reason, arresting them for complaining about such treatment, or shooting them because the cop was “in fear for his life” because white people are just so scary. Therefor, it doesn’t happen to anyone else.
Either that or they just don’t want to face the fact that they benefit daily from systemic racism one day out of 7 for 17 weeks of the year.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
We should be more civil, like republicans who screamed “lock her up”
tobie
Post has breaking news that Bolton is meeting with Putin at the Kremlin to plan the Trump-Putin summit. No doubt Twitler will lift the sanctions. And the press will spend it’s time discussing optics and low info voters will once again think we’re winning when we’re losing. Am in a bad mood today.
eclare
Stacey Abrams was on Late Night with Seth Meyers last night, she is impressive. I hope she has a shot.
The Ancient Randonneur
I have it on good authority that Democrats should base policy decisions on what won’t rile up the GOP base.
OzarkHillbilly
@?BillinGlendaleCA: David Gergen doesn’t remember the ’60s, that’s how we know he was there.
OzarkHillbilly
@The Ancient Randonneur: And let the GOP have a veto over who our party leaders will be.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: @OzarkHillbilly: Let’s see, he graduated from Harvard Law in 67 and spent 3 years in the Navy in Japan.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: And was on drugs the whole time!
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Why do I think he was a tight-ass butter bar who wouldn’t know a trip if he took one?
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@OzarkHillbilly: and then he worked 3 years for Nixon who was the paragon of civility
?BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: The last time I got stoned was in a HLS dorm room.
Platonailedit
The same old morose faces on cable noise for years now. Bring in some new talent, ffs.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Because he still is one today?
Mai naem mobile
There’s a clip of protesters asking questions/chanting at Georgetown, of Mitch McConnell as he is leaving with Elaine Chao. I hope one of the front pagers will post it. Anyhow the thread on twitter regarding the clip has a bunch if snowflake RWingers who think poor wittle McTurtle is being mistreated. McTurtle meanwhile is hiding behind Elaine Chaos’ skirts like a little boy.
I think it’s time John Roberts ,Scalito,Gorsuch, and Thomas get a taste of this ‘civility.’ Get a taste of real life and not their rarified Supreme Court chambers.
Jeffro
Pretty hard to beat this summation:
@The Ancient Randonneur: I know, right?
@OzarkHillbilly: I KNOW, RIGHT?
It’s long past time for Dems to loudly point this kind of thing out as YET ANOTHER DOUBLE STANDARD, berate the media for perpetuating it, and move right on…
Jeffro
Speaking of double standards, I love how Ocasio-Cortez’s win in NY last night is “the most shocking upset of the political season” (per CNN)
I guess they never heard of Doug Jones? Or sitting Speaker of the House Paul Ryan abandoning the field when his own party is in charge of both houses of Congress (an upset in its own way)? Aren’t those maybe bigger stories?
Platonailedit
Jeffro
Speaking of double standards, here’s a good one (re: Harley Davidson): Can The Quintessential American Brand Ride Out Trumpov’s Tweet Storms?
Hey WaPo, how about asking: WHY SHOULD IT HAVE TO? WHERE IS CONGRESS? CAN YOU IMAGINE IF A DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT WERE BULLYING A ‘QUINTESSENTIAL’ (or any other kind of) AMERICAN BRAND???
Jeffro
@Jeffro: whoops forgot link: Here it is.
J R in WV
My recollection of the past 65 years is made up of repeated Right Wing violence perpetrated against everyone else in the nation. Doctors being shot to death in their church by right wing fascists and theocrats. Peaceful voting rights and voting registration workers being beanten, some to death, by police using dogs and clubs and gas.
The military being used to shoot peaceful students at Kent State in Ohio and Jackson State in the deep south.
A right wing police riot lasting days in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic convention, with gas and clubs and beatings against peaceful political demonstrators who opposed the Right Wing war of colonialism in SE Asia.
OF right wing assassinations of President John F Kennedy, likely Democratic presidential nominee Bobby Kennedy the night he won the California Primary election, of worker for equallity Martin Luther King Jr. — all shot down by the right wing no matter how the mysteries of the actual execution were carried out, in the 1960s.
The National Guard suppressing demonstrations all over the nation after these murders, using machine guns to do so… pretty much the definition of a Right Wing violence spree.
Comparing the tiny number of people killed of injured by left wing violence in that era to the vast numbers of people, millions of them, killed by right wing and government sponsored death raining from the sky, that’s just absurd!!
And Fuck LBJ…
Central Planning
I’m tired of of every RWNJ telling us how to behave. I’m tired of their smugness.
I’m tired of people saying Michelle Obama’s “When they go low, we go high”. That can work if they feel shame or embarrassment for their comments or actions. If they don’t care, going high doesn’t do shit except play into their hands. It lets them continue to be fucking assholes and nothing changes.
I think the responses to all SHS, Bondi, McConnel, Chao, etc. are totally appropriate and necessary. You can’t have a civil discussion with a bully and get them to change. You need to do to them what they do to you. Not only does it make them actually stop for a fraction of a second, it makes you feel better too. When I was a kid, trying to ignore or reason with bullies didn’t get them to stop picking on someone. You need to fight back. The time for civility is over.
I’m sick of the media whining about the RESPONSES to Trump policies and not being outraged at the policies themselves. Fuck them. Fuck trump. Fuck his cabinet. Fuck the right wing. Fuck the republicans. And fuck trump again for good measure.
Kay
Jeff Sessions joked about the Trump family separation policy yesterday. His audience laughed and applauded.
I wish there was some way to verify they’ve stopped separating families. They all lied repeatedly about the policy when they first put it in.
debbie
Like my Mamaw always said, actions speak louder than words. The GOP’s objection to our uncivil words flies in the face of their many uncivil actions. They have no ground to stand on this issue. They have the microphone at the moment, but not the authority to speak to it.
debbie
@Platonailedit:
Good. Escalation is a sure sign of imminent collaps.
debbie
@Jeffro:
How about making fun of his assertion that these actions have nothing to do with his tariffs? How about mocking him for going into this with no thought of any consequences or pushback?
BlueGirlFromWyo
Another demonstration of non-violent civility. Much better than asking someone to leave your restaurant.
Kay
@Jeffro:
I’m shocked there’s no pushback to Trump attacking businesses either. In a way I’m glad the Trump Administration have now gone after Harley – it distracts the Trump Administration from their vendetta against that tiny restaurant and Harley is bigger and more politically powerful. Can fight back. The restaurant really doesn’t stand a chance versus the President. He’ll drive them out of business- punishment for speaking out against his policies.
BlueGirlFromWyo
FYWP. Didn’t post the link.
debbie
@Kay:
Key, I think there will be plenty of pushback. It may be too civil for Trump to catch on, but the rest of us will know.
MagdaInBlack
@J R in WV:
Its not absurd if theyre projecting that:
This is what the peasants will do given the tables were turned. Conservatives ( term used loosely ) are still in fear of the French Revolution.
OzarkHillbilly
BlueGirlFromWyo, the link is buried in your reply button.
Kay
@debbie:
It’s more bizarre analysis- “Who will win this fight? The President or the business he’s attacking?”
They’re lost. They’ve lost their way and they can’t get back on track. They see things thru the eyes and perspective of Donald Trump. He’s captured them. He sets up the story and they present it exactly how he wants them to.
They all backed the Trump Administration over that tiny restaurant. Unbelievable. The President and his team are going to drive that restaurant out of business and they see Trump officials as the victims.
MomSense
@Kay:
Like with all fascist movements, trump has become synonymous with America and with the Republican Party. For the cultists, the only possible attack on America is an attack on trump.
debbie
@Kay:
If by “they” you mean his supporters, you’re right. If you’re referring to businesses, I disagree.
I also think plenty of people will not abandon that restaurant, though I see a very strong parallel to the demonization of certain business in 1930s Germany.
rikyrah
@eclare:
If you know someone in Georgia, call them up and remind them to vote ?
rikyrah
@Central Planning:
When did your last name become Obama?
Remind them, she was talking about having to talk to her daughters. While that is nice for the Obama family, your last name isn’t Obama, so, you will go as low as you want.?
rikyrah
@Kay:
I can only listen to the lawyers fighting for the parents to tell the truth.
I saw the clip of that Demon …phuck all those muthaphuckas ?
Dorothy Winsor
The protests echo those of the past. We are in the majority. More people voted for HRC. More people share our positions on immigration, health care, etc. And we have minority rule. People sit back and take that for only so long. Peaceful protest is the way to go. If you forbid even those, you eventually do wind up with tumbrels.
Platonailedit
Jeez, talk about looting your own country.
Quinerly
@Jeffro: she is being interviewed on Morning Joe shortly.
A Ghost To Most
Fuck Little Dick Hitler.
rikyrah
I think that Mosby supporters THOUGHT that they knew what she has been up against. But, the police corruption trial over the past months has shown the depth of her fight.
https://twitter.com/justin_fenton/status/1011820624661098496
Chyron HR
@Jeffro:
Speaking of double standards, I love how Ocasio-Cortez is considered the “winner” of the primary just because all the votes were counted and she objectively received more of them. Apparently the “fight” is only expected to continue for months after the election is over when the socialist loses.
Platonailedit
@A Ghost To Most:
Time to ignore the twit’s tweets and concentrate on elections. Let the useless fugly stew in his own verbal vomit.
Matt McIrvin
@Central Planning: “Going high” doesn’t mean you’re always nice to everyone. “Going high” means you don’t condemn a bad person for being a woman; you condemn her for being a bad person. “Going high” doesn’t mean she gets to eat dinner out without somebody objecting; it means you don’t call in death threats to her children. Pressure has to be justly targeted and relevant, but it can still exist. There seem to be people who don’t get these distinctions.
Platonailedit
@Matt McIrvin: Thank you.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Kay,
They are liars
https://twitter.com/jacobsoboroff/status/1011815469928419328
Dorothy Winsor
@Platonailedit: I’ve mostly stopped reading his tweets. They’re too predictable to even be worth mocking.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@A Ghost To Most:
Not fair.
Unlike Donald Trump, Hitler served in uniform, demonstated physical courage and didn’t loot his country for indolent self-benefit.
Oh, and he liked dogs…
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Quinerly: Nothing says “fighting the establishment” like having coffee with millionaires and Drumpf enablers Joe and Mika.
Bobby Thomson
@OzarkHillbilly: heh. I’d bet a large sum of money that’s not why he doesn’t remember it.
Jeffro
@Kay:
Well, maybe not as a restaurant…but I bet they could make a few mil off of #Resistance t-shirts with a red hen symbol on them right about now. ;)
He can try. We can point it out and beat on the media to do its job, to enforce the same standards as if it were a Dem. And there are more of us, with fatter wallets, than there are of them…as the NFL just might find out this fall.
zhena gogolia
@A Ghost To Most:
But I like that he said, “I’m not going anywhere!” Maybe he’s lying, as usual.
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia:
Ooh, maybe Bolton is going to the Kremlin to see if there are any nice dachas in Serebrianyi Bor for Twitler to move into!
Quinerly
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: I’m with you on this. I never watched them until recently. Joe S. always gave me the creeps. I now do enjoy about 30 mins each morning of their hatred of Trump. It can be pretty intense.
trnc
@tobie:
I’d like to introduce you to the “Fuck your feelings” crowd, or as we sometimes refer to them, republicans.
Jeffro
@Chyron HR: Meaning…the media’s spinning it as some sort of illegitimate win? Or that the intra-party fighting will continue? I wasn’t sure what you meant.
I think I saw (WaPo? CNN?) a headline that said she ran on Medicare and jobs for all, and won. There’s a choice to put before the country: shall we go back to the merciless no-Obamacare health care days, or go with Medicare for all? Jobs for all, or continue to outsource & robot-i-cize our workforce while the 1% vacuum up all the gains?
Quinerly
Trump is losing another top staffer… a trade advisor that I have never heard of is leaving for “family reasons.” http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/394307-top-trump-trade-adviser-everett-eissenstat-to-leave-white-house
OzarkHillbilly
@zhena gogolia: Well, if there is a god he’s going straight to hell.
Platonailedit
Quinerly
@Platonailedit: leopards… Faces…. Womp Womp.
Chyron HR
@Jeffro:
Meaning that I’m still bitter than a certain socialist who ran in a particular 2016 primary decided the proper response to losing was a two-month spite tour.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
And he wasn’t called on this BS? I mean I am sure among elite white males that Gergan hung around at the time the debate over was quite civil brief when those things happened with mostly “Those kids/darkes need to know their place” with lot’s of agreement.
germy
Quinerly
1/4 of seats still empty. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/amid-trade-chaos-shakeups-on-national-economic-council
Spanky
CNN reporting that Sarah Sanders will get protection by the SS.
(Abbreviation intentionally ambiguous. Sad!)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Loving the article on those Harley Davidson workers who still support Trump.
In the near future, when some AFP or Deutschepresse stringer makes their way to the main drag in Janesville to see ragged people pulling oxcarts bearing scrap metal and old cloth to the recycling station (the last employer in that part of Wisconsin), the starving will still defend him while whining that he wasn’t given a chance and shouldn’t be locked in The Hague.
Spanky
Was it here that I saw the tweet last night by the Harley Davidson CEO where he said Trump knew nothing of trade, and called him a moron? I gotta find that again.
germy
Nothing illustrates the dynamics of mcconnell’s marriage better than that clip of him jumping into the car while his wife confronts protestors.
Most husbands would have stood next to their wives, not waited in the car while she fought.
It was nice seeing her lose her cool, though. She always presents herself as the calm face of whatever bullshit she’s promoting.
germy
@Chyron HR:
Who will fuck up the next presidential primary? Wilmer again? Or will he pass the torch to someone younger to fuck things up?
germy
Ohio Mom
I’ve been reading about Alexandria Casio-Cortez’s big upset win. I saw one of her ads on You Tube and yes, she said all the right things, had a great open, expansive, and earnest aura about her.
But part of me wonders if this win — of an unknown, inexperienced (how experienced is anybody at 28?) candidate usurping a very seasoned Democrat — isn’t the mirror image of Trump’s election. He didn’t have any experience in any elected position but he was seen by many as s breath of fresh air. “He’ll shake things up.”
And how much power does our side lose, trading seniority, institutional memory and relationships (all the things that make Congress run) for someone with idealism (abolish ICE, Medicare for all, etc.) but an empty tool box?
I’ll be happy to be talked out of this.
zhena gogolia
@Spanky:
I think that turned out to be a hoax.
OzarkHillbilly
@Spanky: To protect her from wait staff refusing to serve her? What are they gonna do, go in the kitchen and cook her meals for her?
zhena gogolia
@Ohio Mom:
I share some of your worries, and her ad was too Wilmerish for my taste, but it’s exciting to have young people of color, especially women, do so well. The Party does need revitalizing.
zhena gogolia
@OzarkHillbilly:
That’s about what they’re going to have to do!!!!! Too bad Bourdain isn’t here to describe in gruesome detail what she’s going to be served.
Ohio Mom
@Ohio Mom: Obviously Trump got a lot of outside help — by “mirror image” I mean an embrace of the lack of proven expertise. Not caring that there is no real, pertinent track record, going for personality over all else.
germy
Это курам на смех
@Spanky: It was, but last I heard the tweet was identified as a parody.
cmorenc
The conundrum is that uncivil protest tends to move the spotlight off the monstrous behavior (of the Trump Admin) being protested and onto the behavior of the protesters. Even though the monstrousness of the behavior being protested would seem to amply justify the personal shaming tactics being used against those responsible for the monstrous behavior, nevertheless it does tend to perversely shift the focus onto the behavior of the protesters rather than the monstrous behavior being protested.
Ohio Mom
@zhena gogolia: Couldn’t she had started in Albany?
Patricia Kayden
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I can’t take anything Gergen says seriously after that tone deaf comment. He must have been in a coma when African Americans (including women and children) were manhandled, beaten and killed during the extremely violent Civil Rights movement. He should apologize for making such an outrageously untrue statement.
Platonailedit
@Spanky:
What, SS will force the food joints to serve her under gun point? Ridiculous.
germy
@Ohio Mom: She ran in the district she grew up in. On the campaign trail she met voters who knew her family; had stories to share about her father.
The Ancient Randonneur
@Ohio Mom: NYCD-14 is about 80% minority with about 45% Hispanic population. The district is spread over a piece of the Bronx and a piece of Queens. Queens is probably the most diverse place in the USA. In other words, that part of Queens ain’t Archie Bunker’s domain anymore.
germy
danielx
Fuck civility. It’s wasted on uncivil people.
dr. bloor
@Ohio Mom: I share some of the concerns, although I think she turns out to be a net positive in the end. She engaged a lot of people in the electoral process who otherwise would have stayed at home, and her responses last night suggested she will work to unify her constituency rather than proclaim victory for The People’s Revolutionary Army.
We’ll have to wait and see how she responds to being part of a legislative body that is built to tamp down revolutionary change.
germy
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
Morning to Poco and the tribe ??
eclare
@rikyrah: Oh, believe me, they will vote without my reminding them!
Quinerly
@Spanky: I ran the entire quote through Google and came up with several obscure hits. Still wondering why if true, why there hasn’t been any MSM coverage.
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
Ok,
This literally just made me laugh out loud at work ??
Roger Moore
My Congresswoman.
geg6
@The Ancient Randonneur:
Yep. I have a former student who is in a PhD program at St. Johns and she is dating a guy who is active in that campaign. Not sure exactly who he works for (candidate or party or what), but he’s a young law student who has been working in the politics of that district since his undergrad days. She says it’s the most diverse place she’s ever seen and it’s young and very dynamic, where a lot of people look more like her than they do here (she’s African American). She’s never coming back to Pittsburgh, I think.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ohio Mom: She is one of 435 members of the House. If she lets them the other DEMs will help her learn the ropes. As for
The seniority only matters with in the DEM party and affects mostly her constituents, I think institutional memory led Crowley to think money triumphs over everything, a strategy that resulted in his defeat, one in which he outspent his opponent 5-1 and got pantsed by her. As for relationships, Crowley apparently forgot that the most important relationship was the one he shared with his constituents.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Ohio Mom: I haven’t looked deeply into her history, and I thought the line in her ad about Crowley “not living where we live” was a cheap shot– he was elected to live and work in DC, and now she was. But as long as she doesn’t turn any of her laudable goals into weaponized sanctimony and stupid litmus tests a la a certain other individual, I think she could prove to be a star. Based on what little I’ve seen, she seems to have both that trick of talking like real people talk and being charismatic.
and I can’t get past the fact that Crowley sent a surrogate to debate her, ten days ago when even I was picking up the buzz about this race. I’m deeply skeptical of anyone and everyone associated with Wilmer, but if I lived in the district, that would have made me think long and hard about my vote.
Quinerly
@rikyrah: Poco was typing under my nym. He’s actually quite clever. Good morning from HIS tribe. Try to have a great day. I’ve been in a pretty dark place for days. Trying to snap out of it.
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
either
1. should have never been hired in the first place because of something dark in the past.
2. has committed some sort of crime and hopes by resigning, won’t be charged.
germy
@OzarkHillbilly:
Excellent points.
I’m optimistic. I’ve liked everything I’ve read about her so far.
Unlike Chelsea Manning (who lost her primary) and the stuff she did and said during her campaign.
rikyrah
@germy:
I really do think this turned the tide. This showed a level of fundamental disrespect that folks were like.. ‘ we can try something different’.
Disrespect of a woman.
Disrespect of a minority.
OzarkHillbilly
@cmorenc:
That is a function of the GOP manipulating the media. DEMs can do the same.
Kay
Scolding Waters actually emboldened the Trump Administration. They’re now targeting all critics of the administration.
Harley Davidosn embarrassed the President and his team and that’s why Harley Davidson is being targeted. It never had anything to do with “civility”- it was about power. If you criticize these people they will use the weight and clout of their government positions to go after you. Media validated that.
NotMax
@Ohio Mom
Am reminded that Joe Biden, when first elected a senator, was not yet old enough to hold the office. He wouldn’t turn 30 until a couple of weeks after the election.
It’s her Wilmer worship I find more worrisome than her youth. May the former fade away as quickly as the latter.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
this is just some random guy on twitter commenting on NY-14, but I find this laughably believable
rikyrah
@Ohio Mom:
Ted Kennedy died in 2009. She used to work for him. That means, before she was 20 years old, she was bright enough, and focused enough, to get a job in a Senator’s office from a state that she didn’t live in. She was an active young person.
She didn’t just fall off the turnip truck.
From her wikipedia page (which didn’t exist until last night, I think)
germy
@rikyrah:
It was amazingly arrogant of him to send a surrogate.
I’m glad he’s being a good sport about losing to her (at least in public)
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@germy: yup. funny how wapo and gergen aren’t calling on the abortion nuts to show civility
FlipYrWhig
@Kay: They don’t do it to earn brownie points with Trump, they do it to get reporters and pundits to shut the fuck up about “civility” so maybe they’ll move on to something else.
germy
OzarkHillbilly
@FlipYrWhig: No, they do it because they are cowards. They could mention a thousand and one abuses by trump and other GOPs that are worse but they are afraid Mitch might tweet that they are on the side of MS-13.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@germy: sexually assaulting women by grabbing their genitals didn’t trigger their finger wag on civility
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@FlipYrWhig: I agree it’s a not-unnecessary part of the game, but I wish more of them would respond by talking not only about the larger and more pressing issues– “You raise an interesting point, Chuck, and I’m thinking about suggesting a bipartisan retreat to encourage civility across the aisle, but I’ve put that on the back burner until we find some resolution to the problem of asylum seekers having their infant children taken away and being shipped across the country for no reason”– but I wish more Dems (and maybe I’m just not seeing it) would point out that it was the employees, many of them LGBTQ and POC, who called the owner to tell them they were offended by Jethrene’s presence. Chuck and company need to be reminded more often, and among other things, that they are not the middle-class spokesfolk they think they are.
Cheryl from Maryland
I’m somewhat disappointed in the Maryland Democratic primary. I’m in Montgomery County, and the winners were either incumbents or “businessman” self funded candidates. As I said to one canvasser for David Trone, who won the primary for Maryland House 6th and will probably win the seat as the GOP candidate is a Trumpista, that his main qualification is being a businessman isn’t really a qualification anymore. At the County level, offices which were good starting points for young candidates with great qualifications lost to people who have been around forever. I’ll vote for the Democrats no matter what, even David Trone who bought his chance to run in the 6th after failing to buy an office in the 8th, but …
cmorenc
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yes, but to do that requires us to add tactical overlays to maintain control of the media narrative, on top of our primary objective of spotlighting the monstrous behavior itself, which complicates rather than simplifies keeping the focus on the monstrous behavior being protested. The fact that we ourselves are pouring so much of our own attention into an extensive discussion of tactical justifications than the substantive issue itself, illustrates the sort of conundrum we’re wrestling with.
We can wish the media wasn’t so easily distracted by any shiny object or loud noise strewn across their path, but even in order to change that or redirect their attention to substance, we have to start with the media we have and not the media we wish we had.
I’m NOT hereby being a naysayer to the shaming tactics under discussion. However, to succeed in achieving constructive impact from these tactics, we do have to acknowledge and figure out how to control this dynamic, rather than just wail against the infuriating stupidity, hypocrisy, and unfairness of it. The civil rights protesters of the 1960s figured this out with respect to the media environment of their day, though it’s hard in retrospect to appreciate how uphill and difficult it was to figure out how to successfully keep the focus on the wrong being protested, rather than the tactics of the protesters. We have to figure out how this can be done in today’s environment.
germy
(Vox)
JWL
“The Anti-War movement in Vietnam … The Civil Rights movement … both of those were much more civil in tone”: @David_Gergen on the ‘uncivil discourse’ of politics in 2018 compared to other historical divides 7:41 AM – Jun 25, 2018″.
To this day, America’s War in Vietnam remains the most profoundly formative experience of my life. I say that, I suppose, because I’m a honky. I certainly benefitted from the long overdue gains in that decade’s civil rights movement with its attendant spiritual and political gains. I came of age during it all. But the War in Vietnam is the rock upon which my politics rest.
I’ll credit Gergen with being honest- the man is inherently too civil to be otherwise. That is to say, he’s a decent man. I can only assume then that he’s also the personification of the proverbial, uncomprehending frog being slowly boiled to death in a pot. Only in Gergen’s case, he’s been spouting the same conventional two party bullshit for so long that he’s corrupted his own memory of past times. No doubt he would also advise Americans to “look forward, not back” in all sincerity. Gergen would not offer it, however (as is the case with Barack Obama and the generation of the two party politicians responsible for the catastrophe), in order to avoid altogether the bitter truth that Americans were stampeded with blatant lies into waging the War in Iraq. No, Gergen has instead mind-fucked himself into forgetting that 16,000 Americans were KIA in SE Asia in 1968 alone for no good reason whatsoever, and consequently wiser Americans than its two party war lovers increasingly demanded the senseless slaughter be stopped. That’s when the big lie was cultivated and took root that Vietnam had “been lost” began, years before that war’s end. That’s what Gergen is essentially still spewing with his ridiculous statement. It’s essentially the same shit sandwich Americans have been chewing since March of 2003, writ large: that the war was righteous, winnable, and lost as a consequence of domestic treachery alone.
Ksmiami
@Platonailedit: good they can starve for all I care. I feel bad for the innocent victims, but the ignoramus cretins who voted for Trump- they need to feel pain
Steve in the STL
@eclare:
Yes, she is. No, she does not.
Dorothy Winsor
My current district (Iowa 1) nominated Abby Finkenauer, a 29 year old woman, to run against Rod Blum, who’s usually listed among vulnerable Rs. She’s been in the state legislature for three years. We’re moving next week, so I won’t have a chance to vote for her, but I hope she kicks Blum’s butt.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Steve in the STL: I’m gonna pretend she does.
Realistically, do you think she has a chance of making a good, serious race that will boost down-ticket Dems and help make a stronger state party in the near term?
Mnemosyne
@Steve in the STL:
Who is she running against? I will hope for that person’s Jack Ryan-style public humiliation after being revealed as an abusive perv.
(Obvs, I mean Obama’s IL opponent for the US Senate, not the fictional character.)
TenguPhule
@Kay:
i mentioned this yesterday, Kay.
The pushback against his Amazon rant was better then what’s happening now.
Now its become FUCKING NORMALIZED that Trump can criminally threaten businesses with all the implied power of the US government at his back.
This will not end well.
TenguPhule
@FlipYrWhig:
And how has that worked out for them for the last 30 years or so?
Chris Johnson
@OzarkHillbilly: I’ve heard that Crowley had people going around putting up her posters on trees (illegal) and then reporting it. There was a lastminute scramble to un-sabotage things, because massive fines could’ve bankrupted her campaign.
Dems: that is how not to do it, it’s 2018 and everybody has cellphones with cameras, you can’t do republican-style shit like that.