Former VP Biden and Senator Warren jointly wrote an opinion piece published in The Kansas City Star today. It’s about the lack of coronavirus relief oversight under the current embezzler in the Oval Office.
The piece lays out the glaring issues with disbursement of federal funds now and recommends ways to clean up current and future relief efforts, including addressing conflicts of interest (e.g., profiteering by crooks like Sens. Loeffler and Burr), stopping lobbyists from influencing the direction of the money hose and ending Trump’s outrageous and intolerable refusal to submit relief package disbursement to oversight.
I highly recommend reading the whole thing. I found the conclusion especially compelling because it makes clear to Trump and potential partners in corruption that there will be no “look forward, not backward” bullshit when Trump loses the election:
If Congress and the Trump administration are unwilling to act now, then we will ensure that these changes are made in January 2021, both through new legislation and immediate executive commitments made by the Biden administration.
The Biden administration will appoint an inspector general to review every coronavirus relief transaction currently evading serious scrutiny. Wasteful, corrupt deals and giveaways will be rooted out and undone. Suspicious transactions will be referred to the Justice Department for investigation and prosecution. Every Trump administration official and business executive contemplating such deals should hear us loud and clear. Trump may wink and nod at this corruption. We will not.
Real unemployment in America is soaring. But for many Americans, our economy wasn’t working even before the devastation of the COVID-19 crisis. As we recover, we have the opportunity to create an economy that truly works for everyone. That begins with a government that is accountable to the people — and that is what we will deliver.
Even before the pandemic, Trump and his inept, greedy cronies were running the most openly corrupt administration in history, and now they are flagrantly taking advantage of the worst public health crisis in a century to line their pockets. Rooting the crooks out and restoring faith in good governance should be central to the 2020 campaign, and this signals it will be. Bravo, VP Biden and Senator Warren!
EthylEster
crowd.loc.gov/help-center/welcome-guide/
OT but cool.
Check this out….if someone hasn’t already beat me to the punch.
Frankensteinbeck
For everybody afraid of ‘look forward, not back’, this is a promise to nail Trump’s corrupt ass to the legal wall.
eclare
Very good to read!
Shalimar
@Frankensteinbeck: It also seems to be a strong hint that Elizabeth Warren will be a major part of a Biden adminsitration.
debbie
@Frankensteinbeck:
Not willing to turn off my ad blocker to read it, but I hope their investigations will also include things other than PPE, etc. — things like Purell. It cannot possibly take months to manufacture the stuff. I’d bet Jarvanka Trump have highjacked shipments meant to replenish store shelves.
MattF
Attacking ‘crony capitalism’ is smart– a lot of people have noticed that Trump’s pals get the lucrative contracts and the profits. Also, publishing in Kansas City is tactical, rely on social media to spread the message. Also, glad to see Warren attacking; she’s good at it and it gives Trump a tummy ache.
germy
A New Broom Sweeps Clean
Waldo
Needed to be said. Now just wondering why they said it in the KC Star.
germy
@debbie: I suspect there are shrinkwrapped pallets sitting in warehouses. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jarvanka is selling it overseas.
eclare
@Shalimar: I would love for Sen Warren and Rep Katie Porter to take the lead on this.
OzarkHillbilly
@Waldo: Because nobody reads the FTFNYT?
BGinCHI
This is the most heartening thing I’ve read in weeks. Thanks Betty.
I’m gonna vote so hard it’s gonna leave a mark.
Josie
Every Democrat running for office should copy this and hit it with every speech and lots of ads. It speaks to the people who are not “in the club.”
MattF
@Waldo: If it was published in the WaPo, Trumpites would just blame Bezos. It’ll take a beat or two to spread to other sources, but that’s reasonable.
germy
@Waldo: I bet the folks at the NYT (Now Yelling “Tara!”) are miffed.
sdhays
@Shalimar: This kind of substantive collaboration is a very smart way to continue to unify the party. Whether Warren is part of the administration or not (I personally doubt it), Biden’s signaling that she’s going to be one of the people Biden consults with on a regular basis. She’s not going to be held at arms length.
lamh36
Morning BJ.
How crazy was yesterday on the Biden front…smh
That mess with Christine ODonnell’s niece was straight bullshit.
It gonna be a long azz 6months
sdhays
@Waldo: I think it’s smart. Biden should look past the national media and do more of this. The national media will report it and republish it, but it signals a more local focus. People are more likely to feel “seen” when the approach is more local.
bbleh
It’s a great start, but one piece, even a well placed one, won’t be nearly enough. They need to make it a theme, to hammer it repeatedly, and to have their surrogates hammer it, continually for days, to saturate the talk shows and the interviews and the chats with print reporters, to follow up with specific examples from all over the country, aimed at media in those areas, to answer every question with “this is just the Trump people trying to cover up for their corruption …,” to blanket the coverage so it gets through on multiple channels for a sustained period.
In a word, they need to focus. If they don’t do that — if they’re not prepared to do it or if they don’t have the discipline to do it — then it’ll be just another leaf in the forest.
WV Blondie
@Waldo: Perhaps because it’s smack dab in the middle of the country, surrounded by red states? Y’know, the people who actually need to see it?
Benw
Go get em, Liz!
JMG
Regional newspapers like the Star are getting killed by the virus crisis. No advertisers, either they’re shut down or don’t want to put ads next to the virus stories that’re the only thing people are reading. This is a shrewd lifeline to one, a genuine get that can only help the paper, if only by a very little.
Betty
Now if they can get the majority in both houses and overcome the timidity of Congress to act boldly.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@EthylEster: Really really cool!
However, if you just let them randomly give you pages, a lot of it is not in English. First one I tried was a newspaper in maybe Greek? Next one was a handwritten letter in what I first thought was Spanish (which I might have attempted) but soon realized was Portuguese.
The German Society of Philadelphia, founded in the 18th century to aid German immigrants with legal issues such as indenture contracts, has a similar thing going. They have “transcription Tuesdays” which used to be in person in their library and are now apparently continuing over Zoom.
I think I’m going to print that Biden-Warren piece and put it on my wall for inspiration, right under the Warren campaign flyer. More than anyone else, it is Elizabeth Warren who has helped me keep going with her stamina to get right in there and fight for us even back in January 2017 when most of us were still reeling and near-catatonic.
Kent
Fucking A!
And using the KC Star was a nice piece of shade to the so-called “paper of record”
And yes I know KC is in Missouri, but across the river in Kansas there is a race for an open Senate seat in which the Democrat Barbara Bollier is currently leading Kris Kobach 43% to 41% in early polling. Perhaps that was in Biden’s mind.
The political world does extend beyond DC and NY.
The Moar You Know
@Waldo: Times flat out wouldn’t have run it and WaPo would have buried it under twelve other opinion pieces.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Waldo: The MO/KS border? A salute to Harry Truman and a campaign talking point for Barbara Bollier?
A lot easier for Senator Warren to hold to this plan if she’s a powerful and nationally recognized part of a majority
MomSense
@lamh36:
I knew that when we made Franken resign without any investigation into the accusations, it was a trial run for the presidential election. The GOP will weaponize metoo, destroy it, and harm actual victims in the process.
schrodingers_cat
We need tribunals to figure out who botched the Corona virus response at the rate we are going we will have 100,000 dead before the end of May.
Have we found out yet what is happening with the commandeered PPEs and ventilators. There must be criminal penalties for the guilty.
WaterGirl
@Waldo: That’s a very interesting question!
Benw
OT: discovery of asteroids orbiting way outside of the solar systems ecliptic that were stolen from other stars during the early universe!
nytimes.com/2020/04/28/science/alien-asteroids-orbits.html
schrodingers_cat
@MomSense: Yeah but I had not thought the so-called progressives and lefties would give them a hand and start the fire.
MomSense
@Betty:
The timidity of Democrats in Congress has everything to do with the inconsistent voting behavior of Democrats. If Democrats turn out in every election the pols will know they can take these stances and not be hung out to dry at the midterm election.
Other MJS
Written as prospective President and Senate Majority Leader, right?
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@MomSense: They know we care more about sexual harassment and abuse than they do, so they’ll try to use it against us.
Also, it’s pretty much all they have to campaign on.
And in another repeat of 2016, the media are propping up Trump to keep the race close because horse-races sell papers / clicks. “It’s OK, there’s no way he can actually win”
Villago Delenda Est
All Donald appointees need to be scrutinized. To include the Judicial branch. No exceptions. These corrupt treasonous MAGAts need to spend most of the rest of their lives behind bars.
Villago Delenda Est
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: My nym, over and over again.
Wipe them out. All of them.
MomSense
@schrodingers_cat:
It was so fucking stupid. They did it for short term benefit and somehow missed that it was a Roger Stone op? C’mon.
WaterGirl
@Josie: I will never forget the line from one of Barack Obama’s early speeches (before he was elected) when he said something like “they have lobbyists; you get to write a letter”.
That meant a lot to me, and this article from Biden & Warren signals the same thing.
WaterGirl
@debbie: I refuse to turn off my ad blocker too, on principle. But in Safari, you can click the READER icon and see the whole article on their site, just without all the junk.
I imagine other browsers have something similar, but I think you have a mac, if I recall correctly from testing.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@MomSense:
thank you, I am fucking exhausted by this zombie notion that if Democrats would just shout more they could overcome the hard facts of votes, in elections, in the House, and in the Senate.
Josie
@WaterGirl:
Yes. Moreover, it’s a message that cuts across party lines.
Sab
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Warren is Senator from MA, but she was born and raised in OK, she went to college in TX, and she went to law school in NJ. She knows that there is a whole country out there. One of the things I like about her.
Baud
I like bypassing the national media.
germy
@lamh36:
Uh oh. I was doing yardwork all day yesterday and then I came in and watched two hours of the Three Stooges.
What did I miss?
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
I’m surprised to hear that from you.
Betty Cracker
@lamh36: I missed that happening in real time and had to piece it together after the reporter deleted her tweets. At first, I was confused because I thought the “O’Donnell” in the story was NBC’s Kelly. When I figured out it was the “I am not a witch” lady, I had to wonder why anyone spent a nanosecond on it. Jeebus.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Desperation.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: Think where we’d be if the governor of VA had resigned when so many people were calling on him to resign.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Let me clarify, I am not surprised now. But before 2016 I used to think that they were our allies.
WaterGirl
@Josie: You are right. Every single person trying to get unemployment – or whatever help is theoretically available – has no doubt felt the impotent rage of not being able to reach anyone that can fucking help them.
MomSense
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It’s so tiresome.
Baud
I dislike Twitter and am not on it, but a shout out to the good Twitter warriors on the front lines who are fighting the fight in real time.
Tokyokie
Maybe they chose the Kansas City Star because they feel sorry for its bankrupt owner, McClatchy. Or because McClatchy has done away with its copy desks and the tome wouldn’t be closely read before publication.
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
That’s why it is best to listen to the people who have the most at stake.
Eric S.
@Waldo: Among all the other potentially good reasons people have mentioned it is not behind a paywall at the KC Star.
WaterGirl
I read the whole thing, and several phrases jumped out at me, screaming that they were written by Elizabeth Warren herself.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@germy:
Some reporter said Biden had harrassed O’Donnell’s niece, who was 14 at the time, during some dinner thing. O’Donnell says she heard him ask how old her niece was and then say she was very well developed for her age.
Turns out Biden was laid up at home recovering from sinus surgery during that dinner. There’s evidence for that.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Betty Cracker: Several people here found/find the story credible, but…. she’s Christine O’Donnell’s niece, she was traumatized by what happened for more than a decade, but she didn’t realize who Joe Biden was till Bernie dropped out of the primary. She has several people who say she told them in real time, but none of them ever said anything to anyone. In Delaware political circles. For over ten years. As Joe Biden’s profile got larger and largerThere’s just something hinky about the whole story.
Which impression was confirmed for me when I saw that one of her witnesses is a former Tulsi Gabbard staffer. Just too many bizarre loose threads in this story
Frankensteinbeck
@schrodingers_cat:
I have watched the Twitter bitching because I have Sanderite friends I have just barely not disowned for it. The lefties are GLEEFUL about using this to discredit MeToo. There’s a whole lot of ‘Ha ha #BelieveWomen was just virtue signaling by left-of-centers.’
germy
@MomSense: We’re fortunate to have Tina Smith, who has done an excellent job.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: I agree.
Kent
And they really aren’t even bypassing the national media because the NYT and Washington Post are almost certainly going to talk about this anyway. They are just being forced to talk about it second hand.
WaterGirl
@Eric S.: Right. The “gatekeepers” in the media are not neutral. Bypass the gatekeepers and control your own message.
schrodingers_cat
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: But questioning BS campaign’s many links to Russia is supposedly paranoid and not kosher.
sdhays
@schrodingers_cat: I also want to know why the Defense Production Act isn’t being used to super-charge testing or for much of anything else other than telling big meat processing companies that they won’t be legally liable if they kill their employees.
Bruce K
This gives me just a tiny sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe, I’ll live long enough to make that pilgrimage to the prison cell where Donald J. Trump, disgraced former President of the United States, took his last breath.
germy
Ah! I just found out about this. The 24-Hour News Cycle claims another hasty reporter.
zhena gogolia
@Frankensteinbeck:
Excellent.
PsiFighter37
@Dorothy A. Winsor: In that case, the lede should be about people blatantly lying about accusations re: Biden. That’s the highlight – and frankly, it is straight-up the easiest way to neuter other people thinking this is a great way to try and nuke people’s lives and careers.
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: All I know is that is was subsequently proved that Biden hadn’t attended the event where the inappropriate comments supposedly happened.
HumboldtBlue
@germy:
A reminder that everything
@JoeBiden
will be accused of, by his political opponents, over the next seven months will be things that NO ONE else has credibly accused him of over the last seventy years.
Brachiator
It’s funny. Just the fact that the piece was jointly written by Biden and Warren made me feel good.
Cooperation. Not a raging ego demanding praise for everything.
PsiFighter37
@germy: Looks like another mediocre white person trying to get famous quickly and having it backfire on them. Fuck her.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
My Safari and aging Mac aren’t recent enough for that enhancement, but thanks.
zhena gogolia
@Brachiator:
I have to admit that when I saw the headline on the OP, I thought the KC Star editorial board would be demanding that Biden step down and let Warren be the candidate. Seriously. I was so relieved when I saw what it actually was.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yeah, all these campaign connections raise major red flags.
Frankensteinbeck
@Brachiator:
Biden has shown that his specialty is working with others.
debbie
@Baud:
If you follow one person, it should be Stonekettle. He is relentless.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Brachiator:
And it’s smart. And it’s a plan, not a vague, pointless ramble.
I want to live in that world again.
germy
@Betty Cracker:
He was there via video conference! So he was a giant floating head leering at the girl! Even more traumatizing…
debbie
@WaterGirl:
I’d bet she wrote all of it and he added his name as an endorsement of the piece.
WaterGirl
@germy: They “forgot” to suspend her for at least 10 days as a result of her careless disregard for journalistic standards.
No one learns without consequences.
dmsilev
@germy: That’s a lame apology. It should be ‘the allegations were proven to be false, and if I had done even the slightest bit of due diligence before blasting them out I would have known that.’And then burn whatever sources fed her the lead
At a minimum.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Good one! ?
germy
@WaterGirl:
@dmsilev:
And apology or no apology, the lie is out there, swirling around the fever swamps.
WaterGirl
@debbie: I think it’s been there forever? It’s subtle, so here’s a screen cap. you click the 4 or 5 lines on the left.
Another Scott
A good OpEd from sensible people with sensible proposals. Thanks for the pointer. It’s a good read.
Eyes on the prizes.
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@debbie: Good to know.
sdhays
@Betty Cracker: He must have used Obama’s time machine!!
WaterGirl
@debbie: My bet would be: first draft (Liz), edits (Joe or Joe’s team), final edits (Liz).
Frankensteinbeck
@germy:
I am less worried about the fever swamps. Like I said, I’ve been watching them. They can’t resist pairing accusations of this with stuff like dementia that makes anyone not part of their swamp go “What the fuck are you on about?”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
this is not part of a thread, the ellipse not withstanding. The previous tweet from the only President of These United States we’ve got is a promotion for his golf course in Scotland (that he makes money off of). The next one is a campaign commercial. Is it Stephen Miller who waxes purple like this for him?
WaterGirl
@germy: That’s why it’s such bullshit. She writes one lame tweet sort-of apologizing, and that’s it for her. But the lie lives on.
lamh36
@germy:
Called it last night when i saw she’s deleted it.
Her bosses at ABC said WTF are you doing take that shit down
Steeplejack
On topic: George Packer, “We Are Living in a Failed State” (The Atlantic).
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Interesting that even Trump is predicting a Biden victory.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
I predate forever.
That’s okay. I usually pick up the content from the comments here.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@debbie: that’s not snark, that’s pretty close to a quote from the original story, which I would quote from directly but I just went to the Examiner site, and the story has been deleted.
Seems like a lot of that going on lately.
debbie
@Frankensteinbeck:
Luckily, they’re all stupid. They’re not the clever geniuses they see themselves as. Their true mascot is James O’Keefe in his ridiculous disguise as a pimp.
WaterGirl
@debbie: Now I’m curious about what your hardware / operating system is on your computer. Is it older than Sierra? :-)
lamh36
@lamh36: They should have fired her or at the very least suspended her azz???
schrodingers_cat
@sdhays: Good question.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
It is Sierra, but Safari is (blush) 10.0.3. I spend 99.9% of my time in Chrome.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@MomSense:
I said at the time, that now they know it works, it would happen again and again.
germy
@HumboldtBlue:
and they will be things that Trump has been credibly accused of.
lamh36
@Betty Cracker: i saw it in real time and it was disgusting. I’ve never been one to use the lame stream media stuff before but that mess from that reporter last night was disgustingly lame.
Majority of twitter journos called her out but the quiet fro “legit” Bernie-journos was telling
trollhattan
@dmsilev:
“‘Some people’ didn’t appreciate my amazing scoop and so let me tell you, there are rules and the rules never take a day off. Later, yo.”
–Somebody named Sasha who totally isn’t Russian or anything
JPL
@germy: She apologized for posting it. How bout an apology to Vice Pres. Biden.
Calouste
@WaterGirl: In similar cases like this in the past is seems to take about 48 hours for HR and the corporate employment lawyers to line everything up and the hammer to be brought down. Companies just want to make sure that the case against an employee who could possibly get a million-dollar unfair dismissal payout is so watertight that even the sharkiest ambulance-chasing lawyer thinks it’s a waste of time to represent that employee in court.
Brachiator
@WaterGirl:
Lennon-McCartney. Joint credit even if one person was the main writer.
I think I would like to see more of this, Biden and other Democrats. It emphasizes party unity and maybe might make it harder for the Republicans to focus a counter attack solely on Biden.
Black cats rule
@Steeplejack: I haven’t been keeping up with posts lately but I read the other day that the housecat passed away. I am so sorry and will miss the glimpses into Stella’s cozy little life. Thank you for taking such good care of a senior kitty. I hope another can soon take command of the workstation.
patrick II
@Baud:
Your talent for concise and witty and, when called for, acerbic writing would be perfect for twitter. I don’t like it either, but it is a part of the frontlines. You can’t always pick the battlefield.
germy
@?BillinGlendaleCA: They laugh as they weaponize our decency against us.
Zelma
I think it was brilliant to publish it in the Kansas City paper. I didn’t realize it was a McClatchey paper. It is so sad that that company is facing bankruptcy. Their reporters do some really good work.
I don’t know how we can save the local newspapers. They are key to keeping an eye on local governments. I subscribe to both The Atlantic City Press and the Philadelphia Inquirer. I have been doing so ever since I moved here. The Press was bought by Warren Buffett’s company a few years ago. I was hopeful that maybe they would improve the paper. Instead it’s gotten worse. The Inquirer remains a strong voice. The paper has some kind of special ownership deal (I don’t remember the details). But the advertising pages are clearly down.
If we lose local papers, things will get much worse.
John S.
@WaterGirl: It’s all bullshit, and it’s unfortunate that a positive force for change (#metoo) has been turned into a mockery.
It was supposed to be about women being heard and having a voice – not given automatic powers of judge, jury and executioner. And it shouldn’t have been used in a “one size fits all” sort of way, because that’s not reality.
There are men who have been assaulted by men – and even women – that deserve to have a voice. There are women who have been assaulted by other women. It should have been about the powerless having a voice against the powerful regardless of the circumstances. Instead, it turned into a caricature of itself.
Kent
Because it is ALWAYS projection with these people. always.
Roger Moore
@Villago Delenda Est:
All Republicans who supported Trump need to be scrutinized, especially ones who suddenly changed their tunes. I’m sure many of them did it for crass political reasons, but I’d also bet some of them were either bribed or blackmailed.
HinTN
@germy: But not one fucking word about how much a LIE the whole thing was.
@dmsilev:
That, too!
Kent
If you read the twitter thread, people are FUCKING merciless and getting medieval on her ass. It is epic.
Zelma
I just noticed that the article said, “Special to McClatchy.” Is this appearing in other McClatchy papers?
Emma from FL
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Yes. I remember a number of us arguing for investigations. I was told women had to be believed not matter what. It was the end of my involvement in the discussion because I live in the real world. I know women who have lied about such things, for a great many reasons, from terror to self-interest. But nobody was interested in justice.
Steeplejack
@germy:
It wasn’t “a” tweet. It was a series of them, in which she led with the lurid accusation and then only at the end mentioned, Oh, yeah, apparently Biden didn’t attend that event.
I’d love for someone to put up the whole thread from screen caps or some “Internet is forever” archive.
lamh36
ETA: Nope Abrams blog just changed the headline
Uh huh…and someone said the niece also has deleted the original FB post accusing Biden
twitter.com/lawcrimenews/status/1256976354798645248
WaterGirl
@debbie:
howtogeek.com/423643/how-to-use-google-chromes-hidden-reader-mode/
Miss Bianca
@Emma from FL: Eh, I’m not going to get into it again over Franken, except to say that I have women friends in the industry who…shall we say…had stories.
Didn’t seem to me that he could credibly claim innocence. All I’m gonna say.
patrick II
Usually, smoke comes before the fire. But, the first complaint or two are bogus smoke, but the Republicans and Berniebros are trading on Joe’s reputation, throwing a lot of smoke out there and hoping somewhere they may start a fire. It worked with Franken and Tweeden.
zhena gogolia
@trollhattan:
Oh, come on, there are plenty of people named Sasha who aren’t Russian. Obama, for example.
germy
@Kent: Yes, the replies are awesome.
Out of curiosity, I checked her tweets. EVERY SINGLE ONE is about Biden scandals. When she’s not doing it herself, she’s re-tweeting other accounts.
Her intent is to take Biden down. She pushed too hard this last time, but she doesn’t seem discouraged. Her latest tweets are all “And the story continues…” about Tara, etc.
Here’s one sample from a few days ago, so you can see her tone:
Her plan is to take Biden down and then probably write a book about Biden during Trump’s second term.
lamh36
@lamh36: Dan Abrams blog deleted the last and now reporting it this way.
Notice still not calling it a lie on the part of O’Donnell or her neice
AliceBlue
@John S.: That was very eloquently stated. Thank you.
zhena gogolia
@Miss Bianca:
I’m irritated by the equating of Biden with Franken.
trollhattan
@zhena gogolia:
So you say!
trollhattan
re. The KC Star, turns out yesterday was the Kansas primary, so the piece may well have been paired with that event.
Miss Bianca
@zhena gogolia: Me too.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
Thanks! This is even easier!
zhena gogolia
@trollhattan:
Her last name sounds more Czech than Russian to me. But Sasha isn’t a Czech first name. Who knows.
John
Yes.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@HinTN: the source for the allegations was the young woman herself, the O’Donnell niece, through, as near as I can tell, Dan Abrams’ blog (I’d never heard of before last night)at the Washington Examiner, which somebody here said is a pro-Bernie island in that wing nut welfare penny saver. Fifteen minutes ago, the link went nowhere, now the story is back with an “update”. It looks to me like the story has been significantly expanded, including a claim from the young woman’s sister that “Aunt Chris” knew all about it, and the family talked about it. If you don’t remember Christine O’Donnell, long before she ran for office and assured us she wasn’t a witch, she’s been as aggressive a camera chaser as ever there was since the days of the Great Clenis Hunt. She was part of Bill Maher’s stable of pretty young rightwing women who would giggle at his jokes and tell him she was afraid to live in a world where Bill Clinton was getting away with a blowjob. Also Jesus abortion gay people.
Here’s the part about how she didn’t know who Vice President Joe Biden (2009-17) was until last month
Baud
@germy:
I don’t even understand that tweet. It was posted after Biden appeared on Joe, no?
trollhattan
@Zelma:
It was not in today’s Sacramento Bee, their supposed/former flagship paper. Perhaps tomorrow?
TBH the Bee op/ed page is a hot mess, with scant homegrown content and a fresh ration of awful conservative content.
I dread the outcome of the bankruptcy proceedings, because some damn VCs will end up with the remnants.
Betty Cracker
@lamh36: Did anyone even attempt to explain why O’Donnell just sat on that info when she was running against Biden at the time? I mean, it’s just absurd!
lamh36
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: uh huh…I see she’s deleted that tweet really quick an hasn’t tweete since
peej01
@Zelma: I checked out one of their other papers. It’s in the Charlotte Observer as well.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@zhena gogolia:
and by the equating of Reade with Christine Blasey Ford. And Biden and trump. I wish people would limit discussion of the Reade matter to the evidence about Reade and Biden, of trump to the evidence about trump, etc. No whataboutism in any direction.
Lyrebird
@EthylEster:
THAT IS SO COOL!!! Women’s suffrage heroes, Mary Church Terrell, Walt Whitman!
Thank you. I accidentally clicked on a twitter link earlier that led me to some Fox and Friends vomit about defeating leftists to protect freedom, ugh, I came here to wash off my eyeballs, and found this! Ahh.
Roger Moore
@lamh36:
If they really cared, there would be some actual discipline for performing such shoddy work. That the only consequence is having to delete a tweet and give a non-apology apology shows that they only care about getting caught.
zhena gogolia
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Well, I understand talking about Trump, since the same journalists who are (were?) salivating over Reade seem quite complacent about Trump’s refusal to be transparent about his own accusations or about his tax returns
ETA: Jennifer Rubin’s piece about how the journalists treat Trump vs. Democrats is a model.
debbie
Finally able to read the Biden-Warren op-ed. I wish they had mentioned the Trump Cartel’s diversion of massive amounts of PPE and other supplies, putting the frontline workers at even greater risk.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@zhena gogolia: his first wife accused him of rape, under oath, in what I consider a very credible story and it’s never. fucking. mentioned.
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: God, don’t pick everything apart.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It certainly was at the time. The divorce was even noisier than it was messy.
peej01
@debbie: It’s also in the Charlotte Observer which neither has a paywall nor demands you turn off your ad blocker.
Amir Khalid
@zhena gogolia:
Sasha Obama’s full first name is Natasha. That does sound kind of Russian.
trollhattan
@debbie:
A full accounting of Trump’s crimes would have taken the entire paper. :-)
My dream is zombie H.S. Thompson writing “Fear and Loathing in the Trump Administration.” DJ Trump deserves the planet’s entire venom supply spent in the historical accounting of his life, campaign and maladministration. He’s so bent on covering his tracks, it’s going to be a long time in the making–probably after many of our lifetimes. That’s a crime in itself, because I don’t see the Republican Party applying self-correction after this mess.
lamh36
@Betty Cracker: no because when ur agenda is to find something…you’ll believe ANYONE…smh
sdhays
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: So, she’s part of a family that runs in circles where they get to meet powerful politicians socially and she didn’t learn who the guy who supposedly harassed her was, even though he had been the Vice President of the United States for 8 years(!) and had been the front runner for the Democratic Primary for over a year, until after Sanders dropped out?
That’s…something. Any reporter reporting this should be fired if they work for an organization which considers itself respectable.
zhena gogolia
@Amir Khalid:
This always cracks me up. Sasha is a nickname for either Aleksandr or Aleksandra, so it can be a male or a female name. Natasha is a nickname for Nataliya (only female). For a Russian, to say that Sasha is a nickname for Natasha is ridiculous! But the Obamas aren’t Russian so they can do whatever they like.
Non-Russians also seem to think that Nikita is a female name. But it’s a very peasant-y man’s name. So when I hear “La femme Nikita” I envision a woman who looks like Khrushchev.
Steeplejack
@Black cats rule:
Thanks. Dunno which post you saw, but there were a couple of pictures in this one (#25 if FYWP doesn’t line up correctly).
I got a bit oogly-googly yesterday when I finally deconstructed the housecat’s workstation (throw and heating pad). There may be a successor someday, but not for the time being.
zhena gogolia
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Oh, yeah.
sdhays
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: She retracted it, basically because she was bought off. I think that’s at least the excuse they use for not discussing it now.
HumboldtBlue
The president created a leadership vacuum. China intends to fill it.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack:
Oh, beautiful little girl!
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: Thank you for that! Did not know that tip.
Good morning, jackals. Delighted to see this article.
Baud
@zhena gogolia: Interesting.
JPL
Jake Tapper asked Gov. Whitmer about the allegation, and I know Martha Raddetz asked Perez. What I didn’t hear is mention of Reade’s ever changing statements.
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: Nikita was French so it doesn’t count either.
Black cats rule
@Steeplejack: I did see those pictures, thank you. She was a beautiful little girl and I appreciated seeing her hard on the job! I well know that oogly feeling; going through their things is so difficult. Take care of yourself.
HumboldtBlue
A new CBS News poll finds Elizabeth Warren is well atop Democratic voters’ list of those who should be considered for vice president — with 71% saying she should be.
lamh36
Notice the few folks you see trying to come up with a defense of Pezenik for her twitter thread are Berni-journs like Dave Weigel here:
here. twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1256984358558339072
WaterGirl
@John S.: Yes, yes, and yes. They take any good thing and distort it to serve their own agenda. Disgusting.
Fair Economist
@sdhays: Biden has been signaling he will be a unifier and listen to other agents in the Democratic party. He’s being clear he will be a consensus leader.
Yutsano
@Amir Khalid: Get back to me when she starts chasing moose and squirrel with some short shady guy named Boris.
WaterGirl
@debbie: Yay!
I didn’t read it closely, but figured it would point you in the right direction. Reader mode doesn’t get around EVERY website, but it does work with most of them.
debbie
@Omnes Omnibus:
Really? One observation qualifies as “picking apart”?
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: BoJo probably isn’t up to chasing anyone right now.
PJ
@John S.: Unfortunately, the way it was used against Franken – to hound him out of office before the charges were investigated – was successful, so it will be used again and again, with calls from the media for any Democrat to step down as soon as the claim is made (Republicans get a pass, of course.)
Baud
@JPL:
They want to get a Dem on record for attacking an “accuser.” Biden didn’t fall for it, and no other prominent Dem will.
lamh36
SMH…when fox news does more research than the mainstream news we are in bizzaro world…smh
WaterGirl
@Roger Moore: Exactly!
MomSense
I’m not equating Biden with Franken. I’m talking about the process. If we don’t insist on even a cursory investigation of claims, the GOP will weaponize rumors and allegations and we look like we have a double standard if we only insist on investigating claims in some cases. It also does harm to victims if allegations are used in this way, but whatever. People love to miss the fucking point.
Salty Sam
DAMN! Reading this gave me an erection!
TMI? Deal with it. I’ve been waiting to see or hear a future admin lay down the law. As Betty C. said, BRAVO!
JPL
@Baud: It’s news and it’s not up to the dems to bring it up. Any good reporters would mention the number of times she changed her story.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: That step is always heartbreaking. I know you miss her, I’m so sorry.
Roger Moore
@JPL:
This highlights the real function of these kinds of allegations. They give the media a reason to ask a lot of questions about the target of the smear. Even if the allegations are promptly debunked, they create a perception of sleaze that’s very difficult to remove. It’s just another example of the “Big Lie” approach; people eventually begin to believe the Big Lie even if it’s been conclusively debunked. After all, these serious people wouldn’t be talking about it if there weren’t anything there.
schrodingers_cat
@lamh36: Yes and its BS bros amplifying this info not MAGA peeps.
But progressive Jesus and his campaign must never be questioned.
ETA: Although MAGA peeps started the fake story #2.
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: Yes, actually. It was a good editorial. There will be more. Everything cannot fit into one editorial, and we shouldn’t expect it to.
WaterGirl
@lamh36:
That is not a phrase I ever thought I would see!
Baud
@JPL:
They would if she accused a Republican of misconduct.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JPL: I have never seen the tic-toc tweet mentioned in a mainstream story, but a couple of bigfeet have retweeted with remarks like “interesting”
schrodingers_cat
@Steeplejack: My boss cat has similar markings she was beautiful.
Roger Moore
@schrodingers_cat:
Cultists to the left of us, cultists to the right of us.
Brachiator
@HumboldtBlue:
I do not want two people over age 70 on the ticket.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
Thanks.
Steeplejack
@lamh36:
Yeah, she buried the “scoop” at the bottom of the thread.
ETA: I saw the thread in near real time last night, and then the tweets started disappearing in real time.
Elizabelle
@Steeplejack: Had not seen. Stella was darling. I love her workstation; it’s so much closer to your keyboard than I was expecting. She may have felt safe and snoozy when she heard you clicking away.
She had a good life with you. Not every cat gets to be a tech wizard.
JPL
@lamh36: And the woman stands by her statement. She knows he was there. How long will it take for Martha Raddetz to say even though not on his schedule is it possible that he did show up.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack:
There is nothing sweeter than an elderly female kitty.
Baud
@Brachiator:
Kamala is at 59%.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle:
That’s sweet. I added it to the list of nominated rotating tags.
schrodingers_cat
@Roger Moore: They both dance to the same tune of white supremacy and misogyny.
Sab
@Brachiator: I am Warren all the way. If she cannot be president then keep her in the senate where she will be useful.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Brachiator:
or two white people, or another Republican in the Senate, even for a month, or more generally to see the Senate, and being a Senator, downgraded in our approach to politics. The Cult of the Presidency, or of the Executive Branch, is not a good thing.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Brachiator:
That’s my concern too. Plus I think we need to be nurturing the next generation of D politicians.
PJ
@zhena gogolia: “Pezenik” or “Peženík” or whatever is not a normal Czech surname (which tend to be either actual adjectives or nouns). There are some Czechs named Alexandr (like Sasha Vondra, former Ambassador to the US), but the usual form you see is Aleš.
JPL
@Baud: They have even investigated whether or not she has granite counter tops.
NotMax
OT #1.
Anyone care to hazard a guess as to the assailant’s political affiliation?
OT #2.
FYI, Massachusetts.
Betty Cracker
@JPL: I saw Whitmer’s conversation with Tapper, and I thought she handled it particularly well.
Sab
@MomSense: How do you investigate something with no fucking facts. When? Where? How? I can’t remember.
lamh36
@WaterGirl: it’s bizarro world. And we have to know that Fox News wanted to find something good on Biden.
That reporter fuq’ed up because she jumped the gun rather than try to verify the circumstances, so she’d get the “scoop” headline.
Add to that her obvious bias from previous tweets and there you have it…Fox News seeming more credible than ABC…smh
TPTB should really be looking into greater consequences for that alone
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Although frustrating, it’s also an opportunity for Dems to show their strength.
Steeplejack
@schrodingers_cat:
She was a little vain about her bronze highlights!
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
Thanks.
Yutsano
@Omnes Omnibus: …
I shall never forgive you for the mental image that put in my head…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@NotMax:
if you see Blue Lives Matter trending on twitter (edited), it’s mostly people pointing out the irony of police being screamed at (and effectively spat on) by white people, and having to confront long-gun toting goobers, and suddenly other white people aren’t concerned about Blue Lives.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
Eighty-one from a single store? Nice job, Walmart, way to protect your people and customers.
Somebody remind me how much the Walmart heirs are worth. “They’re rich because they worked harder than you.”
J R in WV
@JPL:
No one who has ever had a sinus headache would believe that Biden showed up for a ceremonial dinner after undergoing sinus surgery, even when a Doc called it a “minor procedure” — like “This may sting a little bit…” right?!?!!!
Elizabelle
@Roger Moore: Lest we forget, ABC is home to the extremely neutral Jonathan Karl. Chief White House correspondent.
Maybe Sasha was someone he was grooming.
I think she should be fired, in all honesty.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Omnes Omnibus: @Yutsano: do you also too have the Benny Hill music as earworm to go with the mental image?
Yutsano
@lamh36: The beauty here is she might have just blown up her credibility. ABC could let her go for this with that justification alone. Then she can find her new home at OANN where she can smear Biden and praise President Toadface all she wishes.
Anya
This is great. It should be the focus. I know crony capitalism and corruption are not topics the media likes to focus on but the Biden campaign should highlight this at every opportunity. Warren is the best spokesperson for this and I am so glad Biden is using her expertise and utilizing her credibility. More of this please…
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I don’t think Biden will put Warren on the ticket, but if he did, is there any reason Warren couldn’t resign the senate seat this summer effective inauguration day and endorse Kennedy III as her successor? That way, Kennedy III and Markey wouldn’t have to duke it out in the primary. I reckon it’s possible a Republican could win that race, but it seems unlikely, especially in a general election where Trump is on the ballot.
lamh36
Boston Globe makes the case for Kamala Harris as VP.
Kent
This. The running mate becomes the de facto front runner in 2024 or 2028. It needs to be someone who can leverage that into the presidency. So someone in their 50s like Harris or Klobuchar. Or else we will be electing TWO lame ducks in 2020.
Steeplejack
@J R in WV:
It’s only a “minor” procedure when it happens to somebody else. (Great quote from I can’t remember who on ESPN about a “minor groin injury” in baseball. ?)
MisterForkbeard
@Baud: That’s my choice. Strong, capable charming black woman from a safe state.
Also, I can wear my “dude gotta go” Kamala campaign shirt :)
Mnemosyne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
FWIW, I found the actual story credible, but I didn’t think Biden was the one who said it. If it turns out that it was made up out of whole cloth and not a case of mistaken identity, I’m gonna be pissed.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Do you think Warren would want to risk being out of office if Trump wins? I’m confident, but victory is not guaranteed.
lamh36
@Betty Cracker: i thought she already endorse Markey over Kennedy III
Anya
@lamh36: It actually seems like the ABC reporter didn’t just run with it for the clickbait, but she seems to have an agenda. If you look at her twitter tl, it’s almost all of it focused on the Biden accusation. But what’s most disturbing to me is that she deleted that whole thread instead of making changes. She deleted the parts the debunked the accusation and then sent a tweet about how she deleted it because it didn’t go through ABC’s vetting.
Twitter is still full of links of the Law and Crime article but not much credible debunking. I think the Biden campaign has to request from that site that they delete the article because their update is so weak and they’re still pushing the same disproved narrative.
Mnemosyne
@germy:
This unroll from ThreadReaderApp still has the whole thread, though I’m not sure for how much longer since the “parent” thread has been deleted:
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1256779429956780033.html
PJ
@lamh36: Harris is the best choice – she’s smart, young (for a Presidential candidate), a fighter (which will be necessary with all the GOP BS), a good successor in 2024 or 2028, and she will get more black voters to turn out where it matters in swing states. As much as I like and admire Elizabeth Warren (and wish she were the nominee), she would be 74 in 2024, and she’s not going to get any more people to turn out to vote.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@MomSense: Yup, that’s what I said at the time.
lamh36
@Mnemosyne: I recall from last night…I saw one comment that said the young lady is sticking by the incident, but another comment that said she deleted the original FB post about the incident that first caught the attention of the Biden-haters.
joel hanes
@sdhays:
I also want to know why the Defense Production Act isn’t being used to super-charge testing or for much of anything
It’s my impression that if Trump truly invoked the provisions of the DPA to compel production:
And that is why the Trump maladministration has not actually invoked the provisions of the DPA that compel production — because the Act is designed to prevent profiteering, and the Trumpies want to maximize profiteering so that they can grift off it.
So Trump did not use the DPA to compel meat production: he merely took the first step, identifying meat as materiel that _could_ be compelled under the DPA. Like so many Trump “actions”, it’s primarily a PR gesture, and changed very little about the legal situation.
J R in WV
@Kent:
I wouldn’t be surprised if President Biden resigns somewhere in the later half of his first term, making his VP running mate the first female President in our history, to run for election on their own in 2024.
That would be the stand-up thing to do, and Biden is perhaps the most stand-up guy we’ve ever had running for President in our lifetimes. Witness his total, complete, and successful support of President Obama for the whole presidency!
Kamala Harris is my favorite for that spot.
Baud
@J R in WV:
Biden might have health reasons that force him to resign, but I disagree that simply resigning is a stand up thing to do.
Yutsano
@lamh36: Massive nitpick: she is also South Asian. She has quite strong ties to her mother’s community as well. I know Schrödinger’s kitteh will have an opinion on this, but that would be an energetic and growing voting bloc worth tapping as well.
I’m also a Kamala stan so…bias!
lamh36
@Anya: I agree she definitely had bias if her tweets were anything to go by.
The thing is this:
Betty Cracker
@Baud: No idea. Just wondering if there’s a way out of the GOP governor appointment conundrum.
@lamh36: I think she endorsed Markey before Kennedy III announced his campaign.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mnemosyne: I could also imagine Biden saying one of those things he thinks is charming and flattering– ‘Yer gonna break a lot of hearts’, or ‘you’re a knock-out!’, and I really hope Jill and his grown daughter have sat him down and told him those days are fucking gone–, and I can imagine a fourteen year old and her friends blowing that up while they make fun of the old man
none of which, in my mind, makes the charges of violent sexual assault seem more credible.
PJ
@Mnemosyne: How on earth could it be a case of mistaken identity? Biden had been Senator forever at that point, everyone older than 9 in Delaware had to know who he was (seriously, you have to know who your Senators and Representative by fifth grade), and her Aunt Christine, who was supposedly right there and introduced them, was running against Biden that year – do you think she introduced somebody else as Biden? Or that some other old guy made that remark, and Christine said to her niece, “Oh, that Joe Biden!” Why would any 14 year old think that a random old guy was Joe Biden?
lamh36
@Betty Cracker: Ah…well, she can’t very well take it back though? Especially if Markey plans to keep going?
Anya
It’s interesting that the Law and Crime blog went with talking to the sister and not the accuser when they updated the story. Maybe the accuser was manipulated by her aunt and now she’s rethinking her accusation of Biden.
twitter.com/lawcrimenews/status/1256976354798645248
PJ
@J R in WV: It’s not a stand up thing to ignore the will of the voters and step down when there is no incapacity or other disability to hold the office.
lamh36
@Yutsano: Yup. She embraces all sides of herself for sure, but she def considers herself a Black woman. She reminds me of PBO in that way he embraces his mixed heritage, but does indentify himself as a Black man.
But neithe here or there…I love that they embrace and acknowledges all sides of their heritage
PJ
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Except that Biden wasn’t fucking there to say anything to her.
The rationalizing of the bad actions by bad actors amazes me. “Oh, even if it isn’t totally true, it has to be partly true!” Why?
Mnemosyne
@Roger Moore:
She posted it late on a Saturday night. As someone else said above, it takes a few days to put the HR paperwork together so she can’t sue Disney for firing her.
I’m guessing that they’re working on it now and she’ll be gone on Friday morning.
Kent
He wouldn’t even have to actually resign. He could basically go into semi-retirement his last last year and basically delegate most of the day to day powers to his VP and then let them run as a quasi-incumbent. Give them all the sexy jobs in front of the camera. The high-profile foreign visits. All the good camera ops. Make it clear to the US and the world that they are virtual co-president and the next president in waiting. While at the same time take the blame for anything shitty.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Yutsano:
Me, too. That said, I’m also a Warren fan, I just think Harris is a better choice for Veep, and it’s not as if Warren is retiring from politics if she stays in the Senate.
As I’ve said before, I think Harris would be taking one for the team if she agrees to do it. I don’t think she needs to boost to her career, and a Vice President is inevitably bound to someone else’s career and decisions, for better or worse.
Betty Cracker
@lamh36: Right, but if Warren resigned her own senate seat effective inauguration day, she could endorse Kennedy III for the race to replace herself as MA senator, which could take place in November rather than later in a special election. I’m 99.9% sure none of this is going to happen! Just speculating that if Biden did put Warren on the ticket, there might be a way out of allowing the GOP gov to appoint her replacement.
Kent
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Warren as chair of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs or alternatively, the Senate committee on Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in a Democratic Senate would be fucking huge. Senate committee chairs have tremendous power. Both legislative and investigative.
Sherrod Brown and Patty Murray are the ranking members on those two committees at present so we are in good hands. But I’d like to see Warren take a serious leadership role in the Senate when we start investigating the horror that is the Trump world.
Brachiator
@J R in WV:
No. This would not be good. We vote for a president with the expectation that the person will serve, and serve a full term.
We understand that a VP may have to step in, but only under extraordinary circumstances.
What immediately came to mind when I saw this was one of those staged moves where one of his cronies stepped aside so that Putin could resume a leadership post.
I could see Trump doing something like this, but the presidency does not belong to the president, and is not something that he or she can deliberately pass on to a designated successor.
My two cents.
It was interesting to think this through. Thanks.
PJ
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Whether it’s 2024 or 2028, whoever is Vice President will have a big name advantage against whichever other Democrats are running. (There’s a reason Biden was the front-runner for most of last year and this year). There is always the risk that Biden’s Administration will go down in flames, but I have to believe that after the conflagration of the Trump years, no matter how badly it goes, it will be a welcome relief to most Americans. And I actually believe that Biden has a better chance of delivering a Democratic-controlled Congress than any other candidate, and that if this happens, he will be the most successful Democratic President since FDR.
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne:
Good catch! That’s pretty much as I remember it from last night.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kent: Please stop trying to disappear the Biden presidency before he is even elected. I really doubt that he will pull a Palin and more or less quit part way into his term.
HumboldtBlue
I was in the camp of wanting Harris to remain in the Senate and use her skills to investigate the Trump’s criminality but the Globe has me convinced she’s the best choice and I also don’t want Warren as VP (70) and want her in the Senate investigating the financial dodginess of the Trumps.
Kamala Harris will get folks who may not be paying attention to more old white men doing old white man stuff to pay attention because she’s good.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I’m noticing that none of the scalps claimed by #MeToo and #BelieveAllWomen happen to be conservative politicians, conservative pundits or conservative funders.
Kent
Are you kidding me? Biden’s VP is likely to be the most powerful VP in a century. And the instant front-runner for 2024. Would also serve as President of the Senate in the event of a 50/50 split in the Senate which is honestly fairly possible.
germy
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: bill o’reilly?
Another Scott
@zhena gogolia: And pounding the desk with a sensible red pump??
Hehe. :-)
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
HumboldtBlue
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I look at this through the lens that Biden is only a one-term prez and whomever he chooses will be the de facto frontrunner in 2024 and will have a huge advantage when the campaign kicks off.
@Kent: I see Kent has already gotten there.
Mnemosyne
@PJ:
Pure speculation, but I think that Aunt Christine “helpfully” told her it was Biden and reinforced that over the years. People don’t realize how easy it is for beloved authority figures to create false memories for kids by “correcting” them, and she was only 14 at the time.
PJ
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Funny that.
One problem is that Republicans have no shame about any of their misconduct, and some of them, like Trump, revel in it. The only way Me Too can make difference with Republicans is if they are successfully prosecuted, and, to date, Trump has been successful in either buying off or stalling all the litigation against him.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kent: gotta win the Senate first, and Jaime Harrison was all but pleading for Biden to pick Harris in an election night interview the night of the SC primary
and I know he’s a long shot but I think it’s an important candidacy in terms of party-building in a state that may get less crazy over the next few years
lamh36
@Betty Cracker: Ah…gotcha
Calouste
@Anya: Crony capitalism is not something the media likes to focus on because that’s how a lot of them got their jobs in the first place.
NotMax
@Mnemosyne
Nothin’ says lovin’ like somethin’ from the coven.
;)
HumboldtBlue
@Mnemosyne:
Yes, you made a comment last night that had me thinking that even though it wasn’t Biden simply calling her a liar is more a disservice than pointing out she was mistaken or even “coached”.
Kent
@Mnemosyne:
@PJ:
Pure speculation, but I think that Aunt Christine “helpfully” told her it was Biden and reinforced that over the years. People don’t realize how easy it is for beloved authority figures to create false memories for kids by “correcting” them, and she was only 14 at the time.
So any guesses as to which GOP creep actually creeped on her at that dinner and who Aunt Christine helpfully blamed Biden for it?
Kent
That’s why you don’t pick Warren and risk, even for a month or two, the Senate in GOP hands if it can be avoided. There are going to be no months to waste in the next administration.
trollhattan
@J R in WV:
“Do hab a dice doby.”
“What?!?”
“Di ded do hab a dice doby.”
“I don’t understand you, what are you trying to say?”
“Dice do beet du.”
“Uh, you too. Bye.”
Anya
@zhena gogolia: Russians must’ve been mystified when the Obamas visited Russia. Imagine their surprise when they found out Sasha’s actual name was not Alexandra.
Mnemosyne
@HumboldtBlue:
They were much younger, but I’ve also been thinking about the kids from the McMartin preschool case. A lot of them ended up needing a ton of therapy because they had horrific false memories of “abuse” that had been implanted by careless prosecutors and social workers. A false memory like that is just as traumatic as a real memory.
PJ
@Mnemosyne: It’s possible but I don’t get why Christine would do that without an actual intent to use it against Biden in 2008 (and she must have known that Biden wasn’t there, and that if it were to be used in 2008, anyone who was at the dinner in 2008 would immediately call BS).
The more likely scenario is that this is an entirely new story: the niece heard about Reade, remembered that she had attended one of these dinners that all the politicians were at when her Aunt Christine was running, and made up a plausible gross thing for Biden to have said. Christine, who is a complete idiot, would then say, “Oh, yes, I remember when my niece told me that” because, being a gullible idiot, she would never even think to ask herself if this thing really happened because it was against a Democrat. (Note that Christine is no stranger to spreading bullshit – her campaign spread a rumor that her GOP primary opponent in 2012, Mike Castle, was gay (despite the fact that he had been married forever).)
Brachiator
@HumboldtBlue:
A couple of the top current Google searches related to Harris:
How old is Kamala Harris?
Is Kamala Harris Hindu?
Kent
I was disagreeing with the notion that he was going to quit. Do you honestly think that Biden will run for re-election in 2024 at age 81? I see him as very much of a transition figure to the next generation of younger Dem politicians.
I love me some Biden. He is really growing on me. But I also think he has less of a political ego than any recent candidate and will be more willing to delegate and share power than any president in recent memory. That just strikes me as who he is. Very much a team player. And pushing your VP forward at the end of your term to run for election would be the team thing to do.
HumboldtBlue
@Brachiator:
She’s 55 and her mother is Indian.Shit, I just realized Kamala’s No.1 supporter in the comments was relaying information.
Another Scott
@MomSense: Horse’s mouth (Franken’s resignation speech):
(Emphasis added.)
There were multiple credible allegations against him before becoming senator, he could no longer be an effective senator because of the party’s ‘no tolerance’ policy, and there wasn’t time for the process (which could take months or years to play out – especially with the GOP loving nothing more than dragging it out (remember it took 6 months for him to be seated because they refused to accept that he won)) to play out.
It’s done. I’m not sure that the process could have played out differently without even more damage to Franken and the party (and even more reason to try to weaponize allegations in the future). He was right to resign.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@NotMax:
Ha!
HumboldtBlue
@Mnemosyne:
There was another horrific case in San Diego in the early 90s that completely changed the way investigations into allegations of abuse against children is handled.
I spent two years watching up close and had more than a few conversations and was taught more than a few lessons by investigators in the hallways outside of courtrooms.
I was working on a story related to how a prosecutor handles dealing with the mental and emotional toll taken to take these cases forward, particularly because I had come to respect a specific prosecutor so much for her work.
Then I got let go and haven’t written a fucking word since.
Duane
@Tokyokie: Late to the thread but the KC Star pushes back against the RWNJ’s in KA and MO. Warren and Biden’s OP helps that. Smart politics. It’s like asking for your vote. KA has a D governor, MO had a D governor for eight years until the last election.
Kent
@Duane: KA? Kansas is KS
Another Scott
@Betty Cracker: My reading of the OpEd is that they’re showing that the White House and the Senate will work together to make sure that sensible oversight laws are written and that oversight will be a priority. Not that they’re going to be on the ticket together.
(I expect similar dual-author OpEds from Biden and other prominent Democrats going forward. E.g. Biden and Jay Inslee on climate change plans. At least they should strongly consider such things.)
Dunno how the MA Democratic Senate succession rules work, but I doubt that they’ll be needed. Warren can and will do a lot of good in a Democratic Senate.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Brachiator
@Another Scott:
Multiple allegations of what?
Franken is long gone.
But what bothered me about the process is that only the ultimate punishment was applied. This doesn’t seem to be a reasonable standard.
All alleged offenses are not equal and do not merit the same punishment. And is the standard for politicians that allegations do not require proof or strong corroboration?
Tokyokie
I don’t want to see Warren as Biden’s running mate. I don’t want to see a GOP governor appoint another Scott Brown, even in the short term. I might be OK with her as attorney general or Treasury secretary, but I’d prefer she wield power in the Senate.
And, for what it’s worth, my VP choice is Stacey Abrams, because I think she’d best drive up Democratic turnout nationwide.
Duane
@Kent: KS? When did this happen?//
Another Scott
@Kent: +1
He shouldn’t resign, unless there’s some serious health issue, and I don’t think he will.
Biden knows the importance of building a broad and deep bench. I expect him to spread the credit far and wide, not just to his VP.
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott:
Saying that is not productive There were not – in my opinion, and in the opinion of many many people – MULTIPLE credible allegations against Franken.
That’s all I’m gonna say, but geez, can we not go there again? Not helpful.
Brachiator
@HumboldtBlue:
Actually, I might prefer that any selection be even younger than Harris.
But you are right, I was just relaying information. I was curious to see what searches were being made about Harris?
ETA. Did you get out of journalism entirely?
Just respectfully curious.
HumboldtBlue
@Brachiator:
Yes.
The Lodger
@J R in WV: I can see a guy on painkillers after sinus surgery deciding to go to the dinner and being loopy enough to make that sort of comment to a 14-year-old, but I can’t see Joe Biden being that guy.
Omnes Omnibus
@The Lodger: An experienced politician like Biden would know not to go out in public while hopped up on goofballs.
low-tech cyclist
I’m all in favor of the Biden/Warren line here, but:
There are 68,000 Americans dead due to Trump’s dereliction of duty as President, with tens of thousands still to come. At the very least, Democrats should be calling for him to resign, or for the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment.
By September 1998, over 100 newspapers had called for President Clinton to resign over l’affaire Lewinsky, which was a triviality compared to what we’re looking at now. This time, of course, the media is useless. The Dems must be the ones to step up and demand that Trump step down. Where are they, and why are they not doing this?
I just don’t get it.
Villago Delenda Est
@WaterGirl: She was following the Village narrative, which is “find something that will stick to Biden”.
O. Felix Culpa
@low-tech cyclist: Oh god, the Dems r doing it rong
againalways.Chris T.
@Kent: Yes, but this is why we should use three character abbreviations for the states: Kan and Ark in the middle of the country. Del and Cal on the coasts. Look how great this works! It works great in the midwest too: Ohi, Iow. And the northeast: New, New, and New!
What could be better?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@low-tech cyclist:
They impeached him. The public sorta kinda supported it, and when the Senate acquitted him, collectively shrugged and went back to the Bachelor and the Masked Singer.
I don’t know how many papers called for trump to be impeached, then removed. It meant dick.
The 25th amendment process is far more difficult than impeachment.
If all the Dems called for him to resign, and he wouldn’t, you’d probably say they just didn’t yell it loud enough.
The only way out of trump is the November election. That’s it. No weird tricks. No deus ex machina (well, maybe one, but he seems almost unnaturally resistant to cardio-vascular disease). No passion or screaming from Democrats is gonna change that. So take the energy you bring to typing out your fantasies about what Dems should do and double down in whatever you’re doing to elect Biden. Cause that’s it. That’s the whole shooting match. Nothing else.
O. Felix Culpa
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Thank you. You expressed what I was too irritated to say.
L. Thomas
If the Moscow Mitch can order the senate to convene so they can push their crooked judge agenda, why isn’t the DOJ holding remote or convening to hold hearings to release Porn Star P…. Grabber Pinnochio’s taxes and DNA for Ms. E. Carrol’s rape accusation hearing?
America can’t wait until November to squash this bug and his lackeys:/
Lynda Richter
@Shalimar: I sincerely hope that ALL the presidential candidates (except Marianne Williamson) should be in critical positions in the Government, as well as many moderate (previously mainstream) Republicans.