Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

We are aware of all internet traditions.

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

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

How stupid are these people?

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2020 / Pre-Debate Open Thread: While They Have the Media’s Attention…

Pre-Debate Open Thread: While They Have the Media’s Attention…

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(Have a plan — and bring your own folding chair ladder, as Shirley Chisholm would say… )


 
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53Comments

  3. 3.

    Betty Cracker

    We turned MSNBC on a while back to hear the pre-debate spin. Tweety was babbling on and on about the Nixon-Kennedy debate. Which happened before the mister and I were alive. AND WE’RE KINDA OLD. Jesus God, MSNBC! Put that old fart out to pasture and give Joy Reid his time slot!

  4. 4.

    trollhattan

    @Betty Cracker:
    Did you know Tip O’Neill was the official Nixon-Kennedy debate bartender? You could look it up.

    What did Eisenhower have for breakfast that day, I wonder?

  6. 6.

    Kay

    USWNT defender Ali Krieger issued a strong rebuke to President Donald Trump after he tweeted about teammate Megan Rapinoe on Wednesday.
    “In regards to the ‘President’s’ tweet today, I know women who you cannot control or grope anger you, but I stand by (Rapinoe) & will sit this one out as well,” Krieger wrote.

    I just love these women and this fight. He doesn’t act Presidential so they (reasonably and sensibly) believe they don’t have to treat him like one.

    Is this the approach? As long as he behaves like a petty, mean-spirited asshole we all withhold the respect he craves but has never really earned? He isn’t respectful to others and not only isn’t he “Presidential” he doesn’t behave in an ordinary, decent way. He isn’t holding up his end. We could drop the end we’re holding. Boom. Down it goes.

  8. 8.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Betty Cracker:

    Jesus God, MSNBC! Put that old fart out to pasture and give Joy Reid his time slot!

    I heard that bit. It bored me, and I was 18 years old at the time. Chris dwells in the perfect, golden past (Tip’n’Ronnie, anyone?) With no TV, I rarely see Tweety, but I often hear him on the car radio. His spluttering, spitting, shouting persona is scarily reminiscent of a couple of aged politicians I could (but won’t) name.

  9. 9.

    Immanentize

    Did Mrs Senator Sanders say the problem at the border is not race, but economics?

  10. 10.

    Tom Levenson

    @Kay: Yes. Scorn and derision are effective against him…and are, in the end, the only way to break his hold on at least some of his supporters.

    I think back the Jimmy Swaggert: he was broken not because he was philandering fornicator, but because he became ridiculous, his behavior the opposite of his testosterone infused persona. Trump stands to lose supporters the more people turn his attempt to dominate them into a bad joke.

    Note: I’m not saying that those Trumpistas who might be pried loose in this way will then support anyone remotely acceptable, just that this is the kind of thing that can fracture an already weak base of support. The crazies who will disdain a revealed-to-be-laughable Trump won’t vote Warren…but some of them, at least, won’t vote for Rs either. And that’s a net win.

  11. 11.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: LOVE. IT. Hey GOP, who do you think the majority of Americans will side with here? You like what you’re seeing/hearing/tweet-reading?

  13. 13.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Boom. Both of those young women have earned their position with hard work and talent, in stark contrast to any Trump.

  15. 15.

    zhena gogolia

    @Kay:

    In normal times I might be shocked by the expression “f–king White House.” Not now. That’s what it is until/unless we get those criminals out of there.

  19. 19.

    Kay

    @Tom Levenson:

    It’s funny because it’s normal, right? They’re not overthinking it. He acts like an asshole, they hit back, like they might to a heckler or something. The Institution, The Presidency, props him up, but only if it’s recognized. You can just drop it and since he’s not holding it up it falls. It’s that easy.

  22. 22.

    Jay

    When Department of Homeland Security inspectors visited several border facilities in the Rio Grande Valley earlier this month, they found adults and minors with no access to showers, many adults only fed bologna sandwiches, and detainees banging on cell windows — desperately pressing notes to the windows of their cells that detailed their time in custody.

    The inspectors compiled a draft report, obtained by BuzzFeed News, that described the conditions as dangerous and prolonged. Some adults were held in standing room–only conditions for a week. There was little access to hot showers or hot food for families and children in some facilities. Some kids were being held in closed cells. There was severe overcrowding.

    The draft report was written by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General and addressed to the acting DHS secretary, Kevin McAleenan. It comes after inspectors visited five border facilities and two ports of entry during the week of June 10.

    It appears to have been sent to DHS officials last week for comments and requests for redactions before being released publicly.

    https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hamedaleaziz/inspector-disgusting-conditions-border-migrants-children

  23. 23.

    trollhattan

    @Peale:
    A shame he isn’t because now when I see him I become mesmerized by Mark Shield’s jowls and no longer function.

    Has anybody seen Shields and Wilbur Ross in the same room?

  24. 24.

    geg6

    @Kay:

    I couldn’t agree more. This is what you have to do. Treat him with no respect, the way he treats everyone else.

  25. 25.

    Juju

    I would never want to sit near Chris Matthews when he’s on a rant, unless I could cover myself with a tarp. He’s seems to have a spittle issue.

    Also, the podiums look like smallish tardises. I have no idea what the plural of tardis is.

  26. 26.

    Kay

    I met my first enthusiastic Tim Ryan supporter last night. I almost blew it because I thought she was being sarcastic. Saved right in time! “Oh, that’s great!”

    Very nice woman. She’d vote for a stuffed animal over Donald Trump, so no worries there.

  27. 27.

    Immanentize

    @Kathleen: I just saw the clip of Bernie saying, “Some people say” the primary was rigged. He is such a sad revival.

  30. 30.

    Mnemosyne

    @Tom Levenson:

    Why do you think the Republicans spent so much time tearing down Hillary in 2016? An opposition voter who stays home voluntarily is almost as good as an actual vote.

  31. 31.

    Joe Falco

    Meanwhile, in my and Raven’s neck of the woods…

    Hundreds of workers at Boston-based online retailer Wayfair walked out earlier today to protest the company’s sale of $200,000 worth of furniture to a contractor that runs migrant detention facilities for the federal government.

    Wayfair is opening a call center in Athens next year that will employ 500 people, Athens-Clarke County and state officials announced last week.

    Despite the controversy, Mayor Kelly Girtz said he has no regrets about approving up to $60,000 in local incentives for Wayfair to locate in the planned General Time development off Newton Bridge Road.

    “I’m still excited about them coming here, but I’m also happy they have employees who are concerned about human rights violations at the border,” Girtz said.

    …

    Girtz said he supports immigration reform, but there is little the local government can do about national policy.

    “We’re a welcoming community, we appreciate our immigrants, and we’re going to treat people humanely within our [city] borders,” he said.

    Girtz added that ACC attorneys are looking at “creative opportunities” to ease traffic enforcement against immigrants who are denied driver’s licenses by the state because they lack documentation. Such a proposal could move forward as early as August, he said.

    https://flagpole.com/news/in-the-loop/wayfair-employees-walk-out-over-sale-to-migrant-camp

    I think the mayor is hoping Wayfair will be the first one to blink and change course, sparing the local government officials from having to do anything that would endanger much needed jobs from coming to the area. I’m just hoping there’s enough pressure to get all these companies doing business with concentration camps to run away screaming.

  32. 32.

    trollhattan

    It gets better and better.

    US regulators have uncovered a possible new flaw in Boeing’s troubled 737 Max aircraft that is likely to push back test flights.

    The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it identified the “potential risk” during simulator tests, but did not reveal specific details.

    Boeing’s top-selling aircraft was grounded in March after two crashes.

    The company is upgrading the aircraft’s anti-stall software, which is the focus of crash investigators.

    In a tweet, the FAA said: “On the most recent issue, the FAA’s process is designed to discover and highlight potential risks. The FAA recently found a potential risk that Boeing must mitigate.”

    Reuters, which first reported the new issue, said during an FAA pilot simulation in which the stall-prevention system was activated, it took longer than expected to recover the aircraft.

    Other sources said the problem was linked to the aircraft’s computing power and whether the processor lacked enough capacity to keep up.

    Boeing said “we are working closely with the FAA to safely return the Max to service” and that it believed a software fix would address the problem.

    But the FAA will be looking into whether it is a hardware issue.

    If regulators are unsatisfied with the software fix, the microprocessor unit would have to be replaced and the grounding could stretch on for months longer than previously thought.

    –BBC

  34. 34.

    zhena gogolia

    @Kay:

    You know, when he spoke at the DNC in 2016 I got very excited about him too. I haven’t thought about him much since, but he impressed me on that occasion.

  37. 37.

    Raven

    @Joe Falco: Tough one, Kelly is good people and I’m sure this blindsided him. How many mayors do you see out picking up trash on Saturday mornings. Plus his kid loves my dogs!

  38. 38.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Baud:

    I really hope it tanks his support.

    Please, Baud. He’s incapable of showing gratitude to his support or anyone else.

  40. 40.

    Joe Falco

    @Raven:
    I’m sure he and everybody else on the commission are probably gobsmacked this came up before the ink could dry on the agreement.

  46. 46.

    Ruckus

    @Kay:
    I for one haven’t been treating him as presidential at all. He acts like the asshole he is and always has been. He has no concept of earning anything, he thinks he’s owed everything. I don’t think we should let him forget that he’s no better than anyone else and far worse than most. Person I grew up with, went to church with, whet to school with for 12 yrs, who has been in prison for almost 50 yrs for murder, I think better of her than I do drumpf. She’s paid for her bullshit, he’s been rewarded for his. Yeah, I respect her more than him.

  47. 47.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: I think it will hurt him. He is like a cover band at this point. Maybe not as offensive but also not that interesting

  51. 51.

    Ruckus

    @debbie:
    So now she’s saying he’s been banging his useless noggin on the counter all this time, counterpunching. Well that would explain the total lack of normal human thought and emotions.

  52. 52.

    Jay

    Until last week, a member of the Proud Boys — an often violent, far-right extremist group — worked for a private prison contractor (GEO Group) that runs immigrant detention centers for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. https://t.co/8pGinHMwBh— Caroline Orr (@RVAwonk) June 26, 2019

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