Is the Taylor Swift endorsement the shot in the arm we need right now or am I losing my mind? I still think that the Kavanaugh travesty will bite Republicans in the ass, no matter how much they think they benefit from it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of their lives.
I’m dispositionally and morally opposed to turning the cheek or forgiving and I hope all of you are too. Let’s start by winning the House election in November. Give to the Balloon Juice More More More fund here, which funds 46 Democratic House candidates selected by readers. You can choose just a few candidates to minimize mailing lists.
There’s some new addresses for you to send post cards to at Postcard Patriots.
You can keep giving to Heidi Heitlkamp here. We blew past our initial goal but no reason not to keep giving. She’s a hero.
Elizabelle
I agree with you. And it will bite, sooner rather than later. I would guess it motivates our voters more, too.
Geoboy
How about we win the House AND the Senate?
Danf
Millennials only know the GOP as a bunch of assholes. They’re all of voting age now, and will become increasingly engaged as the years tick by. Meanwhile, the GOP just keeps dying. We’ll win this race. Just have to keep the centrists away from team D’s Leadership.
MazeDancer
Can’t sneeze at 83.6 million followers. And, importantly, Swift coming off the Neutrality Bench. Maybe it’ll help a little. Can’t hurt.
Thanks, Doug, for promoting the hot, fresh addresses at PostCardPatriots.com. Xochitl Torres Small sent us 800 after we managed the first 600. So could use a little help there.
Kendra Fershee’s campaign sent a nice batch of addresses. (And If John Cole follows anyone on Twitter could you tweet this at him? Thanks.) We haven’t had any requests for Kendra, specifically. Would like to change that.
WaterGirl
DougJ, BooMan posted a link to this, and I think we could be a terrific shot in the arm for this guy’s campaign.
The Loneliest Democrat in America
Maybe you can read it and see if you can find your way to putting up an Act Blue for him? If you get a chance, reply and let me know what you think?
WereBear
@Geoboy: I can handle that.
schrodingers_cat
@Elizabelle: They will pay, we must make them pay. We know what they want and that they will stoop low to the depths of hell to get what they want. It is up to the rest of us to not accept their desires as fait accompli and resist. Whether we will be successful I don’t know but not giving up without a fight. I am proud of Ds they fought.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I still think it will bite Kavanaugh himself in the ass. I have no idea why I think that, it’s not a rational thing. Just some kind of deep spiritual trust in karmic payback or something. No idea where that would be coming from.
Major Major Major Major
@Danf:
I sure hope so. Right now we’re the least engaged of the modern generations, even correcting for age.
rikyrah
meta (@metaquest) Tweeted:
GEORGIA: Thousands have been purged from the voter rolls. You have until TOMORROW, OCTOBER 9TH, to check and register. You can do this online here: https://t.co/ZQajLkd8bZ https://twitter.com/metaquest/status/1049298714609647616?s=17
Kay
While the GOP Senators whine about political protests and Kavanaugh attends cocktail parties with Facebook executives, she can’t go back to her own house because Trump/Kavanaugh lunatics are stalking her.
And they’re still ginning it up. This could be you. It could be any of us. She challenged powerful people so she must be punished. Not one of them on the GOP side stood up for the single citizen versus their powerful bloc. Given a choice they protected Kavanaugh, a person who was already wildly powerful and they handed him more. He was who they rushed to.
The same thing would happen to any of their constituents who challenged any of them.
Maybe the judge could take time out of his busy cocktail party schedule (he really shouldn’t be drinking anyway, let’s be honest) and call off his fans. Let her go back to her house. Maybe one of these wildly powerful lawmakers could enforce some laws so she isn’t harassed and intimidated the rest of her life.
Another Scott
Good morning, everyone.
Kavanaugh’s biggest electoral impact will be this November. He’s going to fade into the woodwork on the SCOTUS until he starts writing majority opinions on 5:4 decisions, and that’s not going to be for a while (several years?) yet. We have to make the Teabaggers pay NOW. When was the last time we heard anything about Gorsuch? :-/ But he’s still a reliable Teabagger vote…
Good for Taylor. Her news is getting lots of play on the BBC. I don’t listen to her music, but I’ve always liked her since her first appearance on SNL. She’s a great talent, and obviously has a good head on her shoulders.
Donated++
Keep fighting!! 28 days to go!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Kay
And for all the media/GOP bullshit about how this is great for Republicans, they’re sure anxious to help people forget what happened. That was the reason for the full court press to smear the protesters. Incredibly, they made the senators the victims. Susan Collins is too precious to be exposed to dissenting political speech while she’s pretending to make a decision she made weeks ago.
So don’t forget. They had a choice of whether to choose the side of this wildly powerful elite OR a regular citizen. They chose one of their own.
They’d do the same to any of you. The well-connected, the powerful, they will GET what they are entitled to and don’t dare any of you get in their way.
debit
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I am of the opinion that the media isn’t going to let this go. Does anyone think that the people who tried in vain to report to the FBI aren’t being contacted by, say, Ronan Farrow? This is not over. Fuck Face may have his seat, but every dirty, disgusting thing he’s ever done in his entire life is going to be brought into daylight. And it won’t stop. Every SC decision will bring him back into the spotlight. It will be especially awesome when his daughters are old enough to understand what dear old dad did.
Mr Stagger Lee
Heads are exploding in the alt-right over her endorsement. I guess 4chan thought that Taylor Swift would be the queen of Aryan Pop.
The Dangerman
Assuming the system isn’t completely rigged (hacking or whatever), it will be soon. You can’t piss off well more than 50% of the electorate (not irritate, not bother, not irk, I’m talking cold stone piss off), and survive very long.
Why’d they do it? We should also know soon.
Another Scott
https://twitter.com/ericuman/status/1048955501332111360
Science and Reason is the only way forward. We need to figure out a way to turn off the tribal lizard brain that dominates so much of RWNJ politics. We know how to solve our problems and make things better, but RWNJ leaders and consultants only care about winning elections so that they can get their tax cuts and keep the rubes inflamed to retain power.
It’s gonna be the death of us all if we don’t figure out the way to solve it.
Grr…
(ETA – Via LOLGOP on Twitter)
Cheers,
Scott.
Barbara
@Kay: They have no idea and I am skipping every article of that kind. I have no better information than they do, but I do know that in advance of the statewide elections in Virginia last year we were treated to weeks of hand wringing over the resurgence of Ed Gillespie and the tightening in the polls, so that grand poobahs were confidently predicting that Gillespie would win. If that kind of reporting motivates Democrats to remain engaged, I don’t care, but I am not going to read it because it is basically pure speculation aiming to present some kind of “fresh twist” on the election.
As for Susan Collins, I will say it again — the Nora Desmond of Republican politics, so entranced by the past image of the moderate New England Republican that she howls like a wounded hyena if anyone tries to force her to face the realities of the present.
rikyrah
Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) Tweeted:
Civility is for normalcy. When things are normal and working as intended, civility is part of maintaining balance. But when that balance is gone, civility does not help return it but rather, destabilize it further. Because your civility gives them cover for evil. https://twitter.com/ChuckWendig/status/1048666108801298432?s=17
Doug!
@WaterGirl:
Once we blow through these 46, I’ll do him and a few others
Elizabelle
@Barbara: Susie looks in the mirror and sees Margaret Chase Smith. But she is wrong!
Going to google where this song lyric comes from. It’s a good one.
Another Scott
@Doug!: But money that arrives too late isn’t going to have any impact on the race. It’s already getting pretty close. I’d say that putting the thermometers up sooner is better than later.
Thanks for all you’re doing here.
Cheers,
Scott.
Elizabelle
@debit: I am rather hoping he is former Justice Kavanaugh by the time both daughters are through puberty. It could happen.
And yes, I hope good journalists are working the story. And even more on dirty money in GOP campaigns and the hold Mitch McConnell has over his caucus.
Mnemosyne
@Another Scott:
Yep. There have been cases where a victim misidentified an unknown attacker, but not one that s/he had previously known. That’s why they kept trying to claim that she and Kavanaugh had never previously met even though he was a friend of her then-boyfriend.
jc
Those who voted for and enabled the Trump travesty have ruined their own reputations, permanently. They’ve shown their adult judgement to be fundamentally flawed, misguided, short-sighted, wrong-headed and intellectually crippled. It’s a question of basic human decency at this point. The era of Trump is still going to be an absolute disgrace 20 years from now, and those on the left won’t forget who stood where.
Shakti
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:I would assume Sniffledrunk Calendar still drinks quite heavily so I do not know what shape his liver is in or how difficult it is for SCOTUS justices to buy a liver in case of liver failure. Yes, I know nobody buys organs but how the hell did Dick Cheney get a donor heart when he should’ve died a long time ago?
Kay
@Barbara:
I read them. I’m definitely motivated by anger :)
I’ll watch his swearing in too. I want to watch him grovel before Trump. It was cringe-inducing last time. It will be worse this time.
Kiss up and kick down. That got him this far. He aint gonna develop character at this late date. That cake is baked.
Mnemosyne
I got all signed up with Postcards To Voters and will be writing postcards for Stacey Abrams and her running mate in Georgia. Super excited!
When I saw my shrink on Friday, she advised me to do postcards and decided that she will also sign up to do them now that she knows it’s a thing. I pitched her on both Postcards to Voters and Postcard Patriots, so we’ll see which way she goes.
Chyron HR
@Another Scott:
Pretty sure by the time Justice Bluto gains seniority, the GOP’s supreme court rulings will consist entirely of “BOOM! BOOM! THE STORM IS COMING! #qanon”
Barbara
@Mnemosyne: I am doing Postcard Patriots, just because they emailed me first with a list of names. I told them to send me 25 names for whatever campaign they thought needed the help.
Kay
My middle son’s new GF made him go out an canvass for Sherrod Brown Saturday. Sherrod isn’t in danger so if I had my druthers I’d boss them around and tell them who to work for, but I must say I am falling in love with the new GF :)
WereBear
There is precedent. Trump is very Russian in that he takes people in his sleigh so he can toss them to the wolves later. (So to speak.)
Another Scott
I hope she beats him like stiff egg whites…
(via ddale8 on Twitter)
Cheers,
Scott.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
Hope you’re right; however, the Right is already very busy at the Art of Transference. Glenn Beck this morning was comparing Democrats to Puritans.
HinTN
@WaterGirl: I read that off Booman’s page. The guy is fabulous. Progressive, conservative in the way I can support, down to earth. Yes, Doug!, please.
debbie
@debit:
I so hope this is true and that there are more investigative articles from both Farrow and Mayer through to and beyond the midterms.
Cacti
To my knowledge, Taylor Swift has always been fairly apolitical as a public figure, and is beloved by lots of white women.
I think it will definitely help with casual voters in that particular group.
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: Thanks for the pointer. Donated++
Cheers,
Scott.
r€nato
angry when their guy loses, even angrier when their guy wins.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/410340-christine-blasey-ford-still-unable-to-live-at-home-due-to-death-threats
debit
I can’t remember where I saw it (may have even been a comment here) but a woman posted that she was done with civility, with remaining silent in the face of rudeness or boorish behavior. I’m with her.
Our favorite breakfast spot is the Minnesota Grill in Roseville, a place my son mockingly refers to as the home of the Blue Hair Special due to the preponderance of elderly guests. There’s almost always a few gatherings of senior men loudly discussing politics over breakfast and I normally roll my eyes and try to ignore them, as they are always always always Trumpsters. This weekend I warned my family that if there was loud talk about current events, especially if there was crowing or victim trashing, I was going to confront them and Make a Scene. I’m done with worrying about the comfort of people who see me something less than them. Luckily, there was no talk, or it was far away enough that I didn’t have to hear it.
Elliott Gorelick
The trumpeting of the kavanaugh issue is the hook to cover up the russian hacking.
cmorenc
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
If only karmic justice was a reliable, timely phenomenon, Clarence Thomas would have been run over by a truck many years ago. Or even more aptly karmic, he would have choked to death while drinking a Pepsi-Cola. Instead, there he still sits as a gross insult to the justice he replaced on SCOTUS, Thurgood Marshall.
Doug!
Just added Greg Sagan!
WaterGirl
@Kay: Could Christine Blasey Ford take legal action against the president for his words at rallies that transfer into threats?
WaterGirl
@Doug!: thank you! I really admire the guy for just plowing ahead, doing what he feels like is his civic duty, his patriotic duty, to stand up to these pieces of shit.
It reminded me of why Christine Blasey Ford came forward and people who do that have to know we have their backs.
@Another Scott: I agree about the timing!
J R in WV
@Kay:
Sorry Kay, they swore him in privately moments after PastyWhite VP announced that he was confirmed. So too late to watch. It would have been horrible to watch, really!
WaterGirl
@debbie: I don’t have an opinion about Jane M, but I do believe Ronan F. will stay on this. To me, it feels personal to him, which is why I am confident he will not let this go.
So nice to have faith in SOMEONE who is a journalist.
edit: she was on Preet’s podcast a week ago if you want to listen to what she said about people still contacting them.
WaterGirl
@Doug!: Thank you, Doug!
Hopefully my loneliest democrat in America won’t feel quite so lonely.
Kay
@WaterGirl:
Not that I’m aware of. The specific harassment threats deal with “contact”- there’s no contemplation of someone inciting someone else to contact – I imagine that would be impossible to prove.
It’s a high bar, too. You need a LOT of contact. 30 text messages in one day kind of contact.
Trump, the thug, is sending a very clear message. Cross him or one of his cronies and this will happen to you. It’s horrifying. Conservatives can lie to themselves all they want but this is “state power”. Donald Trump is using his state authority – his government position- to smear and intimidate this woman. The United States of America is validating this behavior, simply because he’s the President and no one is doing anything to stop him.
WaterGirl
@Doug!: Is there a way to see how much each of the people are getting? To be clear, I am wondering if individual thermometers would show up anywhere if I looked for them.
edit: okay, I found the page here:
https://secure.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/51973
Looks like we really could make a big difference for him. Here’s where he stands now.
Who’s supporting Greg Sagan
Title & Author Donors Total Raised
The ActBlue Team
7 donors — $59.42
Win Back the House: 50 STATE STRATEGY
5 donors — $31.00
Balloon Juice More More More
1 donor –$25.00
Kay
@J R in WV:
No, he gets a public one! You knew he’d want to lord it all over his “enemies”- the 200 or so million people he doesn’t serve. The Left. That means “anyone Left of the far Right” now. That’s a fuckton of people this fraud doesn’t serve. I’m pleased as punch to be paying his salary, I must say.
Another bad hire. Bad boss hires bad people. That’s how that works. And make no mistake, Trump is his boss. That’s why we were treated to that embarrassing display where the judge bowed down to the President. Sick-making.
WaterGirl
@Kay: Thank you, Kay. What they are doing is totally disgusting.
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: Interesting, but not comprehensive.
Donations via Act Blue directly from his own page aren’t showing up in that list. (I gave $50 directly from his own page.)
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
MazeDancer
@Mnemosyne:
@Barbara:
And we thank you for helping Flip the House! Much appreciated!
PostCardPatriots.com was started for people who want to be able to boost turnout to Flip the House. And to support BJ Candidates. We just have BJ Candidates. No searching for key House races. We got ’em.
Which means you can get addresses fast and easy. And, well, Save Democracy.
And what better way to observe Trump Swears In Kavanaugh Day then writing PostCards?
debbie
@Kay:
He gets both. What ticks me off is that the public one will be televised. Obviously an excuse to let Trump don his reality star hat.
Brendancalling
I encourage everyone to call Lamar!, Corker, and Blackburn and ask their staff “if you’re so great why is Taylor Swift talking about you like her latest ex?”
Ksmiami
@Kay: I think every single one of us has a duty to harass Republicans every day and night. Bullies are cowards. If you know Republicans I’m sorry but the only way they will reform is if good ppl start treating them like the leper’s they deserve to be. Even within our families. Also note the Amherst college war memorial has the names of brothers who fought on opposite sides during the Civil War 1
Mandarama
@Brendancalling:
Ooh, I know what I’m doing this afternoon! High fives for this.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Ksmiami:
Not just that, ridiculous science deniers who substitute reality to for their fantasy world.
Butch
FWIW, I’m generally an easygoing guy, maybe too much so, but I no longer have any intention of turning the other cheek politically.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: good to know, thanks.
JR
Gotta keep digging on Kavanaugh.
Also, every GOP operative. Any listed in the sex offender registry?