We need @JoeBiden. We need a mensch.
From Rabbi Michael Beals of Delaware :
"The story I’m about to share with you about Joe Biden is special — in fact, I’m fairly certain I’m the only living person left who actually witnessed it firsthand.
[1/12]— Stanley Krute (@StanleyKrute) June 23, 2020
Quick bit of background: When someone passes away in the Jewish faith, we observe seven days of mourning, called shiva. We gather a group of ten Jewish adults together to say the Mourners’ Kaddish. It usually happens in a person’s home — somewhere intimate.
[3/12]— Stanley Krute (@StanleyKrute) June 23, 2020
Her apartment was too small to fit everyone into, so we conducted our worship service in the building’s communal laundry room, in the basement of the high-rise.
We assembled the 10 elders together, and it was in this most humble of places that I began to lead kaddish.
[5/12]— Stanley Krute (@StanleyKrute) June 23, 2020
At the close of the kaddish, I walked over to him and asked the same question that must have been on everyone else’s mind: “Sen. Biden — what are you doing here?”
He said to me: “Back in 1972, when I first ran for Senate, Mrs. Greenhouse gave $18 to my first campaign.
[7/12]— Stanley Krute (@StanleyKrute) June 23, 2020
Now, the number 18 is significant in the Jewish faith — its numbers spell out the Hebrew word chai, as in “to life, to life, l’chayim!” But it’s also a humble amount. Joe Biden knew that. And he respected that.
[9/12]— Stanley Krute (@StanleyKrute) June 23, 2020
He came to that service because he’s a mensch.
And if we need anything right now when it comes to the leadership of our country — we need a mensch.
I know this is such a simple, small story. But I tell it to as many people as will listen to me.
[11/12]— Stanley Krute (@StanleyKrute) June 23, 2020
More stories, from the replies to that tweet thread:
My daughter waited on his family at a restaurant in DC for his granddaughters b-day in 2015.
As they were leaving, he walked up to her and said “you did great kid” &handed her $50. She was fresh outta @WestVirginiaU, broke & hungry. I’ll never forget his kindness towards her.— sassafras (@rootb3er) June 23, 2020
?? This is from 2018:
“Joe Biden took his granddaughter to the movies in Georgetown last night…..on his way out he stopped to speak w/ a homeless man. A bystander took this candid shot. Character is about what you do when no one is watching.” pic.twitter.com/0bAqROyKPj
— Sleuthy Kyle Hidin’ in Basement ?? BLM ?TeamJoe (@kyle_teamjoe) June 24, 2020
And here’s another long thread — click on the tweet below for the whole thing, or read the ‘unroll’ —
So I took my phone back and did what he asked: I called her. "Hi Grammy," I said. "Sorry for interrupting your bridge game. Someone wants to talk to you." Then I handed my phone to the VP. /8
— Amanda Litman (@amandalitman) June 24, 2020
VP Biden stood still. He stopped smiling, turned solemn & serious, hanging his head like in prayer. "I'm so sorry, Grammy. I'm so so sorry. You know my son Beau died of cancer. As a parent, you should never have to even think of one day burying a child. It's a nightmare." /12
— Amanda Litman (@amandalitman) June 24, 2020
Hi, here is your unroll: @amandalitman: In NY's primary, I didn't vote for Biden. (I believe in voting your ❤️ in primaries, even in long-over… https://t.co/4549N1VrU8 See you soon. ?
— Thread Reader App (@threadreaderapp) June 24, 2020
Kropacetic
There are a lot of these stories. I remember a flood of them the morning of Super Tuesday. No doubt he is a genuinely kind person.
West of the Rockies
Crying? I’m not crying! You’re crying!
kindness
Uncle Joe is a genuine guy and a good man.
Juice Box
Well, since this is an open thread and a positive one at that, this is the prettiest Star Spangled Banner that I’ve heard:
watch
geg6
Someone in another thread defended some young person calling him a lesser evil. I dare that commenter and that young person to read this and say it again. The man is the epitome of kindness and empathy.
SiubhanDuinne
I read the rabbi’s Mrs Greenhouse story a couple of days ago, and it brought me to tears. Whatever else you may say about Joe, there’s no question that he is a genuinely loving, compassionate, and just *decent* man. And even at his advanced age (he’s about three months younger than I am), he has the capacity to learn and grow and expand his menschitude every day.
He wasn’t my first choice, but by God he’s the best choice.
Kropacetic
@geg6: I stand by everything I said. Here’s your bait back. Have a nice day.
John S.
To anyone from the other thread who says Joe Biden is the lesser of two evils, I say Nem zich a vaneh!
Baud
Joe Biden makes me feel like I’m the greater evil.
Just Chuck
@John S.: What’s the word for “pie” in Yiddish? Cuz that yutz done landed himself in the filter again.
MisterForkbeard
The Amanda Litman thread is really touching and amazing.
And it has Dirtbag Left is in there yelling about how Biden is awful and molests children, and how he and a bunch of Democrats have chosen to hate women because they don’t believe Tara Reade.
VOR
The contrast w/Trump is pretty stark.
trnc
18 of anything sure sounds better than 14 words.
dmsilev
He’s fundamentally a decent man. Since the word was mentioned in that first tweet, I thinking quoting the definition or translation or however you want to put it is appropriate:
(Ok, dignity might be a ‘gets partial credit’ entry…)
Sab
@Kropacetic: Joe Biden made a lot of policy mistakes in his long career. We all do. As far as I can tell he generally learned from them. His underlying decency hasn’t changed.
debbie
@MisterForkbeard:
Have I not been reading and listening enough, or has she fallen off the edge of the world recently?
John S.
@Just Chuck: Pirog!
West of the Cascades
@debbie: I think she changed her name again.
Kropacetic
@Sab: That’s why I advocate for him enthusiastically to anyone who seems possibly receptive.
John S.
@Kropacetic: You’re a shmendrick. I stand by that. Have a nice day.
piratedan
gotta remember, a LOT of these younguns are just getting started and are spared the notion of perspective and having lived through making bad decisions and understanding and learning from them. It’s easy for them to be in good and evil mode, because they’re able to see the ripples made in the pond from the edge of the water with the assistance of context and perspective that manifest themselves after the fact.
John Revolta
@debbie:
She has; but I suspect we haven’t heard the last of her.
dmsilev
@debbie: Her story fell apart once reporters without an ideological axe to grind started looking into it. Also, the reporters with an axe to grind dropped her like a hot potato, both because of the inconsistencies and because, well, Bernie finally unequivocally lost once Biden passed an absolute majority of pledged delegates.
Captain C
I’m starting to think their real goal* is to run re-education camps where they have real and direct power over people. Gaslighting, bossing people around, and worse is what they love.
*not that it’s remotely realistic or probable in the actual universe we live in, but…
Miss Bianca
Wow. Joe Biden is just kind and with it and present with people in a way I can’t even imagine being.
Wanting to be a more like Joe now…
The Pale Scot
@Baud:
Right?!
Really how fucking hard is that
Baud
Speaking of false accusations, whatever happened with Christine O’Donnell’s niece who was wrongly told that Biden was the guy who groped her when she was 14? I never heard a follow-up to that story.
Alison Rose
Like most Jews in this country (and to the persistent bafflement of Republicans) I have always and will always vote for Democrats, even if the particular Dem on a particular ballot isn’t my fave. Because I’m a fucking pragmatic adult. But it does my heart good to see these stories. I am indeed verklempt.
In other hit-you-in-the-feels-news, this new song and video from The (now sans Dixie) Chicks is powerful.
debbie
@dmsilev:
Good.
Cameron
I take a back seat to nobody for bitterness and cynicism, but, DAMN, these are some very moving stories. Too bad we need him as a President; I’d really rather have him as a neighbor.
Brachiator
This warms my heart.
geg6
@Kropacetic:
You always were an asshole, so your opinion is worth shit as far as I’m concerned.
low-tech cyclist
That’s definitely Biden’s superpower in this election: his fundamental decency.
Of course, any of the Dem candidates who stood a remote chance to win the nomination would have been way better than Trump, but the contrast between Biden’s decency and generosity of heart, and Trump’s…well, you know what Trump is – couldn’t be any more pronounced.
There’s that Dylan line that he not busy being born Is busy dying. And one of Biden’s other superpowers is that he’s still busy being born. He’s still learning, he’s still listening and paying attention and adapting his message to what’s going on around him. In less than a year, he’s gone from promising a rewind back to 2015, to being clear that the times call for big changes. Which is good, because we really *do* need big changes on so many fronts, from racial inequality to climate change.
I’ve said before and I’ll say again: Warren was my first choice for the nomination, and Biden was maybe my sixth. But he is capable of being the right President for this moment. So let’s make it happen.
WestTexan70
@Kropacetic: Yep — you remind me of the Trumpanzees. Get it through your skull that there is no perfect candidate. You’re the guy who complains that the scar isn’t perfect when the doctor removes the cancer that’s killing you.
MomSense
@Miss Bianca:
WWJD ?
dmsilev
One set of polls, early, etc. But still: ‘Fox has Trump losing Texas!’. Twitler will Not Be Happy.
JPL
@MomSense: How you feeling?
geg6
@Alison Rose:
Excellent stuff.
Subsole
@MisterForkbeard:
Yeah. We just got declared a Covid hotspot here.
If the Revos had the fucking strength of conscience to hold their end up instead of flouncing off in a snot-nosed huff, we wouldn’t be getting eaten by a goddamned plague right now.
I wish they had to go spout their sanctimonious horseshit at a covid funeral. Or better yet, Puerto Rico. Go explain to the survivors why they deserved to suffer so Comrade Campus Drum-Circle could make some fatuous point about how jaded and worldly wise they are.
“Dulce et decorum est, pro praxis mori.”
Miss Bianca
@MomSense: Ha ha, good one!
Captain C
@Subsole:
Praesertim si quis aliud scriptor!
John Revolta
@Baud:
She turned out to be even more full of shit than Reade. Like, on the day it was supposed to have happened, Biden was in another part of the country. Ditto for the second date they claimed.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@dmsilev: Florida +9 ?
Kropacetic
I’m voting for him. No question. So why all the deliberate antagonism?
WaterGirl
@MomSense: Have the antibiotics kicked in yet? With Strep at christmas, I could tell the difference in less than 24 hours.
Jeffro
@debbie: it’s funny, isn’t it?
no more Tara Reade.
those Ukraine corruption investigations sure seem to have stopped dead in their tracks.
hunter who?
China owns who again?
GOP, your goose is cooked, baby!
Baud
@John Revolta:
I know all that. I was wondering what happened after they got busted.
TaMara (HFG)
Damn onions.
Jeffro
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: most of these swing state polls are so bad for trumpov that even if he gets 2/3 of the undecideds, Uncle Joe still wins.
god I just hope they move fast while they have the WH and a D senate
trollhattan
@Juice Box:
Isn’t that just the greatest?
Removed from the sportsball arena and a 300×150 foot flag, it can be a very stirring anthem.
Brachiator
@Cameron:
The guy who lives next door to Rand Paul said exactly the same thing, recently. :)
Miss Bianca
@Kropacetic: I think it might have something to do with your championing of the “lesser of two weevils” trope…not sayin’ that it’s right, just sayin’.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@MisterForkbeard: How many divisions does the dirtbag left have?
Sab
@Kropacetic:
@Miss Bianca:
Sounds a lot like my perception also.
I am pretty careful with pie filter. Often my initial impression is bass-ackwards, and if I filter then I can never come to my senses.
Kropacetic
The GOP’s argues their position from the realm of make believe. Reality reasserts itself hard.
Miss Bianca
@Juice Box: Wow…I kind of hate our national anthem, but that’s truly lovely. Might have to rethink the hate.
JPL
@WaterGirl: My little grand imps dad was a carrier as a child and I had several episodes, but mine caused spikes in my fever that 104 was normal. Once I had his tonsils removed, I was fine. One time my now ex touched me and said do something.. Never had a sore throat though.
eddie blake
those are great fucking stories.
biden’s a good egg.
Kropacetic
Yeah, they’ve made that pretty clear, but in my defense, that was the discussion that was there to be had, a phrase straight out of the OP.
I just tire of the relentless hippie punching. It’s not cool. It’s not kind. It isn’t helping build support.
John Revolta
@Baud: I believe O’Donnell was quoted as saying “I’ll get you and your little dog too!”
Brachiator
Here’s a bit of whimsy for an uplift thread, from BBC News
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
I think the thing that really hurt was when it turned out the MSM reporters had already investigated her story. The Sandersnistas had been hoping to get her story out there circulating in the MSM for quite a while before anyone independent had a chance to investigate it thoroughly. That fell apart when the MSM was quickly able to say “we already knew this but decided not to publish because her story couldn’t be substantiated”.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kropacetic: Why don’t we not make a second thread today all about you?
Miss Bianca
@Kropacetic: Yeah, me too. I get tired all the time of hippies punching me for my wicked neoliberal ways and my support of obviously flawed candidates who just want to Kill Lefty.
Oh, wait…that’s not what you meant, is it? Oops.
SW
Guess I’m a hippie. Haven’t been punched by a Democrat since Daley’s goons did it in ’68.
John S.
@Kropacetic: Ridiculing someone for saying a decent man is evil because he doesn’t align with your politics 100% isn’t “hippie punching”.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kropacetic:
You’re not a hippie, and no one’s punching you.
Enough with your years-long whining already.
LongHairedWeirdo
This is a good set of stories to spread, especially because, let’s face it: no one could pretend that Trump shows actual caring for another human being. The closest he comes is when he cops a feel on the American flag, and *that* is all play acting. (Oh, sure, the rubes think it’s legit – and that there’s nothing odd about a man dishonoring the flag in that manner, but thinking it’s horrible to DROP TO ONE KNEE, INTENDING TO SHOW RESPECT, before the flag.)
Mo Salad
You don’t happen to have “Earth blown up by Vogons to create a bypass” on your 2020 bingo card, do you?
SiubhanDuinne
@Brachiator:
JFC. I sure hope the new owners know to keep that dog away from chocolate and grapes and garlic.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Anyway, Lefty is in Cleveland but he can’t sing the blues all night like he used to.
MisterForkbeard
@debbie: The story basically hugely imploded once it was revealed she had even lied about educational credentials in court. There’s been a few articles since, but everyone involved seems to have memory-holed the entire accusation.
With the exception of Rose Twitter and some very determined “Both sides are terrible” people, because I’m not seeing any reference to it at all by the right wing in my limited exposure to them. But Rose Twitter has gone all in on the “you can’t ever investigate or verify women’s accusations or you hate women” thing, which is pretty crazy. They don’t want to discuss the specifics at all, they just want to scream about Democrats.
Feathers
Biden is indeed a truly great guy. Strengths and weaknesses usually line up, so I see his willingness to see the good in Republicans as being the inevitable flip side of his immense goodness.
Also, I know lots of people have found the elastics from masks to be uncomfortable on their ears. Good news – here’s a Japanese crafting site with instructions on making a headband with buttons to slide your mask elastics over. They also show mask buttons on a bandana headband and a baseball cape, as well as other mask accessories. Save Your Ears While Wearing A Mask. Tips For Avoiding Ear Pain.
Hoodie
I was reading Barry Lopez’s Horizons a few weeks back. He’s a bit wordy for my tastes, but he does make some interesting points about the role of traditional elders, where “elder” doesn’t mean someone who is old, but rather someone who has learned from experience and understands their role in a community. As Lopez puts it:
Biden does embody some of these qualities. Part of his appeal is that he has been around forever and knows all the mistakes he’s made and has the maturity to actually care about everyone. There are others who exhibit these qualities (Pelosi comes to mind). In contrast, Republicans have placed their fate in the hands of a 74 year old toddler.
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: I know a few people whose potato salad the dog should avoid.
Roger Moore
@MisterForkbeard:
It’s interesting how the oh so concerned Rose Twitter don’t care to nearly the same degree about the dozens of women who have accused Trump. It’s almost as if defending women isn’t the real point.
MisterForkbeard
Before we get too deep into any of this, I want to say that I really do like Joe Biden. He’s not my favorite policy guy but he’s pretty good, and he has a fundamental ability to care that I just love. And he usually apologizes when he fucks up. Not always, but usually – and fights back when he knows he didn’t screw up.
@Roger Moore: They even originally tried to turn that into a positive for her: “You see, the Corporate Media buried this to protect Biden!” Didn’t work too well, since the media had basically made it a huge story.
Kropacetic
I don’t put up with that either. But those people aren’t here.
If you want to know who’s responsible for that, look to the people obviously baiting me to restart that conversation. I’m doing my best here to not take that. Can we please let this drop?
CarolPW
@John S.: Thank you!! Anything that might have been considered a punch in that thread should have been considered to be at the kids complaining about having to vote for the lesser of two evils, and then a lot of self-punching about long ago third party votes from other commenters. Complaining about purity ponies is not hippy punching, even if the people they are aimed at are Bernie adjacent because he is no hippie.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, well, speaking of the blues…Lefty may still be in Cleveland, but Jesus just left Chicago, y’all.
Eric S.
@West of the Rockies: Not me. You are!
Roger Moore
@Feathers:
The problem I’ve had is that masks with tight ear elastics also mash the mask onto my face. I think I like the tie-on kind better, since it’s easier to get the tightness just right- not so loose it slides off, not so tight it hurts.
trollhattan
Oh goodie.
Miss Bianca
@Hoodie: Very nice!
Omnes Omnibus
@Roger Moore: Fucking Goldilocks.
Mary G
I didn’t want Biden at all when he first got into the race, but I’m all in now. I retweeted one of those threads and said his slogan should be “Make America Kind and Decent Again.” MAKDA!
debbie
@Jeffro:
Don’t get too cocky. I think some of that crap will resurface later this year in an effort to sabotage Biden’s campaign.
Brachiator
In addition to Sarah Cooper’s hilarious send-ups of Trump, there should always be a little room for Janey Godley’s hilarious and sympathetic takes on Scotland’s First Minister Sturgeon
Ducks?
lamh36
Roger Moore
@MisterForkbeard:
It didn’t help that the media had the receipts for exactly why they discounted her story. They didn’t just say that they didn’t trust her; they could explain exactly why.
Miss Bianca
@Brachiator: You’re right, she’s hilarious too.
debbie
@MisterForkbeard:
Right. Rose Twitter (what little I see of it) is still a-flutter.
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Those people who put :: shudder :: raisins in potato salad?
gwangung
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Although, I WILL punch progressives who whine about outside forces oppressing them when I clearly see their own tactics and strategies led them to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Way too many progressives are secret authoritarians. They want to impose their system from the top down and not do the hard work of persuading the grassroots to follow their set of policies.
Roger Moore
@SiubhanDuinne:
Aw, hell no naw, Karen! Keep your bland-ass potato salad to yourself!
zhena gogolia
@Juice Box:
Oh, gorgeous!
Ladyraxterinok
@dmsilev:
Leo Rosten wrote the stories about H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N
If you’ve never read any, find some quick and read them! Will brighten your day
@dmsilev:
Omnes Omnibus
Democracy is hard work.
Roger Moore
@gwangung:
Part and parcel of this is that that kind of progressive wants to get everything in one fell swoop. They are unwilling to accept a partial, second best solution that helps people now when they can keep dreaming of a perfect solution in the glorious future.
ETA: I think this is also tied with their attempt to make a hostile takeover of the Democratic Party. They don’t want to spend the time and effort to build their own movement from the ground up. They’d much rather seize what someone else has built.
Kropacetic
@lamh36: There’s a lot to love in that bill. Data collection on use of force and misconduct, limitations on use of force and availability of military weaponry.
“Community based programs to rethink public safety” could be huge, a culture change. There have already been successful programs in this vein at the local level. There needs to be trust in the community if our public safety policies are going to work.
Mallard Filmore
@Kropacetic:
You will have a smoother time here if you wait until after the election to complain about Biden.
MisterForkbeard
@debbie: That’s definitely true. I don’t think it will be too effective, but I’m sure they’re planning on bringing it up, or maybe Barr will do the really obvious thing and announce and investigation into Biden’s Accused Rape 5 days before the election or something.
Kay
@LongHairedWeirdo:
Trump has a very narrow emotional range. It’s the thing about him that most strikes me as frightening- if normal people have 1-10 he operates between 1-3. It goes from staring blankly to bragging to nasty. That’s it. It’s weird. He’s missing this whole area that other people have. Chilling.
Kattails
@Juice Box: It absolutely is, and I’ve heard quite a few of them. At first I wasn’t quite sure whether he was, what, big footing her a bit. It was interesting to watch the subtle adjustments happening, back and forth. But it worked and was lovely. Thanks for posting.
Feathers
@Miss Bianca: FYI – National Theatre At Home has Nicolas Hytner’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream live this week. Gwendoline Christie plays Titania/Hippolyta. Apparently much gender queering, including having Titania and Oberon switch dialog, so that Oberon seduces Bottom. Am looking forward to it. Up through next Wednesday.
@Roger Moore: I like the ear elastics, but I made the mask, so I was able to tie off the elastics so the mask fit my face. The tutorial there does include a way to make mask elastic extenders, so that they go behind your neck. I don’t know how comfortable it would be, though. I just saw a pattern for a mask where the pleats went top to bottom, so I think I will try making one of those.
ETA: The damn Link!: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Miss Bianca
@gwangung:
That finally clicked for me when I read Bob Altemeyer’s The Authoritarians. Which, speaking of, I need to read again.
I used to pooh-pooh the notion that most leftists were anything but dyed-in-the-wool, small-d democrats, but then I started looking at the ways some of them relentlessly trash large-D Democrats for stuff they seem to give right-wingers an eternal pass on, and the penny dropped. Or, as I’ve taken to saying to some of my friends who still fervently promote the notion that the perfect is not only the enemy of the good, it is also the enemy of the merely Good Enough: ” ‘Nach Hitler, uns‘ sounded so much better in the original German.”
burnspbesq
@geg6:
we’ll probably hear that “lesser evil” bullshit about a thousand times a day between now and 11/3. But that’s the funny thing about elections, isn’t it? They’re binary. If you don’t affirmatively choose the lesser evil, you effectively choose the greater.
Miss Bianca
@Feathers: Ooh, thanks for sharing that!
Baud
I’m glad I’m not on Twitter. In my bubble, most of the anti Biden stuff has gone silent.
EmanG
@Miss Bianca: I hear he’s bound for New Orleans…
MisterForkbeard
@Baud: I’m not either – but I do see it on the replies and so on whenever someone here posts it. And I see some of this through very left friends on facebook. :/
gwangung
The lesser of two evils is STILL LESS EVIL, ASSHOLES.
burnspbesq
@dmsilev:
Abbott is growing reverse coattails as a result of his short-sighted and inept response to the pandemic. I don’t think they’ll be long or strong enough to sweep away the likes of Louie Gohmert, but Trump and Cornyn are going to find themselves in a heap o’trouble this fall.
Baud
@MisterForkbeard: I’m not on Facebook either. That helps.
burnspbesq
@Kropacetic:
because you’re defending the indefensible. Capisce?
The Pale Scot
@Mo Salad:
I did for 2017-18-19, but didn’t get it (sort of hoped for them to show up, if only to blow the creationists minds). What with the locusts, plagues, droughts, wildfires, I’m figuring a couple of hurricanes are a sure thing. Followed by crop failures in the fall. Vogons never had a chance
Kropacetic
No, I’m arguing against responding to indefensible behavior with more indefensible behavior.
I have plenty of good things to say about Biden, too, and I’ve said them. Some of you are so committed to the righteousness of your online bullying that you missed that.
Ms. Deranged in AZ
I don’t think we could have chosen a more diametrically opposed person to Trump. Biden’s empathy is his superpower and we need to see it, push it viral. Because real, caring people don’t try to bank on their character, they just do it particularly when no one is watching.
@Juice Box: Wow, that made me cry it was so good…daaaamn
Subsole
@Kropacetic: Dude, we fucking begged and pleaded with the Hippies to show up and vote so this fucking monster wouldn’t have power over us.
The fucking hippies flaked out and stayed home (twice!) while lecturing us about how we had it coming because we didn’t vote for Comrade Chairman Anointed-by-Birb.
The hippies are lucky beyond the narrow horizons of their comprehension that they are merely getting punched. And only verbally, at that.
Like, do you seriously think the Left is spotless, here?
SiubhanDuinne
@Miss Bianca:
You probably already know this, but Altemeyer and John Dean are co-authors of a new book called Authoritarian Nightmare, set for an August 25 publication date. It’s going on the list.
schrodingers_cat
@Roger Moore: Yes they are our Tea party, the Green Tea Party if you will.
catclub
somebody else mentioned “The Authoritarians”, and the chilling part of this is that Trump’s followers don’t care about that missing range at all.
Instead he is simply superior.
Fair Economist
@Mary G: I think it was inevitable that we’d become enthusiastic about any real Democrat who won the nomination. They were all at least decent people far superior to Trump. I’d have even gotten enthusiastic for Bernie, if a victorious Bernie had become the pragmatic and conciliatory guy he’s been since he suspended his campaign. Bloomberg, OK, I’d still have been grinding my teeth.
catclub
@burnspbesq: leadership would mean telling the country we have to suffer through tight lockdown, like the chinese did, and the Italians, in order to beat it.
Unfortunately, leaders are like eagles, we don’t have too many of either around here.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Twitter can be a cesspool but you can decide who to follow. I follow several Balloon Juicers, beat reporters both here and in India, several lawyers and now doctors and epidemiologists. So I can get the news without the MSM pundit filter.
On the whole I like Twitter. I use both block and mute functions pretty liberally too.
Kropacetic
No, again, I don’t tolerate this shit from anyone.
Fair Economist
@burnspbesq: Cornyn has created his own problems with things like his clueless tweet at the start of the pandemic implying just have a Corona beer and relax: twitter.com/JohnCornyn/status/1238878952644624390
japa21
@Kay: Well, Spock operated between 1-1.1 so there’s that.
piratedan
@Kropacetic: not gonna pile on here but a couple of things that may have gotten lost in translation..
I know you support Biden yet, you posted a link illustrating that one… the media is STILL gonna place their thumb on the scales by seeking and promoting interviews with the youngs who can be led to these statements that piss the olds off to no end that perpetuate the divisions that exist
two… dropping it at the top of a thread where the very thing that separates THIS candidate from the GOP candidate is on display and essentially tanked an entire thread.. that was supposed to help us feel better and have hope about the collective choice that was made by Dems nationally.
you may not feel the way that the young lady feels, you’ve stated so, yet dropping that nugget where you dropped it, when you dropped it and not doing a great job of distancing yourself from said statement or noting that we still have work to do among those who are supposedly media savvy from still getting played by the media that is enthralled to their fucking narrative just feels like biting on fucking tinfoil.
your follow ups notwithstanding, people are tired of watching erstwhile allies being played and they are exhausted that so many people come out of the fucking woodwork to put their purity and naivete on display.
I think we’re all tired enough of the purity pissing contests and are more than willing to embrace the flawed but earnestly trying to do good yet doing so in the tacit understanding that none of this shit is easy and anyone saying that it is, hasn’t the experience to understand why that is.
Roger Moore
@Fair Economist:
This seems about right to me. They all have at least something good about them, and we would have gotten happy and excited about whatever is good about them, even if there were other things we were less than happy about.
gwangung
@Fair Economist: Yup. I have to agree.
bluehill
@Fair Economist: Abbott topped this one trying to dunk on NY and CA. I would say something about karma, but it’s not even that. So dumb.
twitter.com/gregabbott_tx/status/1262257093031202816?s=21
Geminid
@Kropacetic: I am as hostile to leftist criticism of Biden as anyone here. But I read your posts in the earlier thread. You are being scapegoated.
Kropacetic
I did not. You’re referring to the OP.
For the record, this is what I said:
I’m not the one who derailed the thread.
I need a little help understanding this.
Kropacetic
@Geminid: Thank you. There were quite a few people who were more understanding on the other thread too. It means a lot to be heard.
I hear you guys too. I’m frustrated with the Trump administration. I’m afraid of what can happen if he gets another four years or even if he doesn’t. I want Biden to win. I was trying to offer what I thought was a good approach to work toward that. It’s fine if you don’t agree. I didn’t mean to upset anyone.
CarolPW
@Subsole: Who are you defining as hippies here? Because actual hippies turned out to vote because we are old fucks now, and old fucks always vote.
HumboldtBlue
That brought me to tears.
Subsole
@Roger Moore: Given their history, I was kind of stunned at the journalistic integrity.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
he’s really not– he has a long history here, and that’s what people are responding to
Kay
Reading polls and flailing. Good.
lamh36
Yes! Just let me know when it’s time to bombard the GOP Senate folks with calls in support!
lamh36
Subsole
@burnspbesq: Yeah. He can shitcan that ’24 presidential run. Ain’t happenin’.
Baud
@Kay: Reboot!
Ivan X
@Kropacetic: You are rowing against the current during a period when the BJ commentariat is consolidating support around a candidate that was nobody’s first choice while living in the specter of a pandemic and facing the terror of Trump possibly winning again as the election draws closer. The loving language of Biden as hero in this thread are evidence of that. It’s not really a period where some want to have thoughtful conversations considering alternative points of view expressing sympathy to potential villains (e.g. kids and lefties who end up not voting, or voting third party, because they can’t see what is plain as day to others). I personally like Biden fine but thought your original comment in the other thread was reasonable, and not proportionate to the flak you’re getting for it, at least in this specific case. (I don’t know one way or the other about whatever history of posts that others are referring to, though, I’m only talking about that and this thread.)
Miss Bianca
@EmanG: That’s the word on the street.
Miss Bianca
@SiubhanDuinne: I did *not* know this, thanks for sharing!
CarolPW
@Ivan X: And fuck you too.
John S.
@Ivan X: Shorter version. Wake up and smell the coffee. Biden is an easy and obvious choice over Trump.
Baud
LGM
Ivan X
@CarolPW: Jesus. What did I possibly say to warrant that? That just feels like an expression of raw hatred, and it hurts.
Baud
@Ivan X:
In case you really don’t know, your comment had a condescending tone.
opiejeanne
@Feathers: Yes, indeed. Biden is a very good man.
And thank you! Those are good ideas with the buttons and elastic bands.
Ivan X
@Baud: I reread it and I can see that now. Thanks for pointing it out without hostility. I’ll exercise more care next time, because I didn’t feel that as I wrote it, but it does come off that way, and I’m sorry to anyone who read it who felt condescended to. It wasn’t my intent.
Kropacetic
I’ve been posting here since 2008. I picked up a few persistent detractors in 2016. Admittedly, I had an angry flame out for a few weeks that year, but that was after months of getting the same sort of flak from the same cadre of about a dozen people for what I would consider similarly dubious reasons. Most of y’all are great. That’s why I stay.
Subsole
@CarolPW: I was running with the phrase hippie-punching. No disrespect intended to the folks who did the work.
That includes Bernie supporters, frankly. I am just so goddamn tired of watching the only, and I do mean ONLY, group of people fighting the tide of boiling shit that is our current era get constantly beaten on no matter what – especially by people who loudly claim to carry the same banner. As others have said, why do these people always have smoke for Pelosi, and none for Mitch? It’s abusive, frankly.
Gin & Tonic
@CarolPW: Boy, that seems … disproportionate.
Martin
@Jeffro: The thing to look at isn’t the gap, it’s the undecideds. Clinton was at 47%, +3 and she needed the 7% undecideds (the rest were 3rd party) to break for her. They didn’t.
If Biden is over 50%, he needs no undecideds. He can lose them all. And in a 41/50 race, undecideds would likely break for Biden.
In an incumbent race, if the incumbent is up, undecideds usually break their way. If they are down, they usually break against them.
Fox News has Biden +1 against Trump in Texas in a poll out today, with about 10% undecided. If it stays like that, I’d put the final result at 52/48 in Biden’s favor.
A lot of undecideds aren’t undecided. They have their finger in the wind and are trying to figure out which way it’s blowing. They’re followers.
Baud
@Martin:
It’s why Comey was so devastating.
Gvg
@Kropacetic: the word evil in connection was uncalled for. That one word made what you said wrong and everybody angry. We are angry because we are afraid. A certain small segment of the voters actually gloms onto stuff like this and votes third party which has recently cost us important close elections.
you then defended that statement and said you meant it. Something about Biden being a capitalist. I don’t agree with that either. Capitalism work better than other things. What’s been a problem is cult worship of the rich and calling it capitalism to the detriment of useful capitalism.
Nobody is perfect, but Biden is not evil, not even the lesser evil. Using that description is inflametory. Pick a different word and there would not have been this reaction.
rikyrah
Biden is a good person?
Jeffro
@debbie: Oh I’m sure, but…who cares? It fell flat already, and now we have the GOP’s/trumpov’s deafening silence for months on end.
If he’s such an international criminal…where’s the investigation? Where’s the charges?
It’s like after 2016, when I would needle my TCNJ relatives: whatever happened to those Clinton Foundation charges that were coming any day now? Uranium One? Their response was of course, nothing.
Mai naem mobile
@dmsilev: I want Orange Dbag and the GOP to get completely totally annihilated in this election..I mean to the point where it forces them to look at themselves and not just reconsider but actually change their positions. They need to see it as an existential crisis. I want many GOPrs switching parties because they see no future for the GOP. I don’t think it will happen but it’s the one single good thing that can come out of the past 3.5 years.
Cameron
So…how do we get these wonderful stories (and I’m sure there are many more of them from Joe Biden’s long career) out where the public, particularly the uncommitted, can see them? They really do speak for themselves, and I think can do more to move the electorate than most anything else. The contrast between somebody who behaves like this and the creature in the WH doesn’t need explanation.
Jeffro
@Martin: Isn’t the gap the undecideds, more or less? And isn’t this more or less what I’m saying?
Nowhere in the history of elections have ALL the undecideds broken for one candidate or another, incumbent or challenger.
trumpov’s at the point where he would need the vast majority of undecideds to break for him in order to win, and Biden (as you note) is already at or near the 50% mark anyway with the “decideds” in many of these state polls.
I’m sure Karl Rove said something to the effect that W only needed 50% + 1 vote. Well, Biden’s sure closing in on that in a LOT of battleground states.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Kay
@Baud:
Insufferable.
Martin
@Baud: Sure was.
Kropacetic
That was mainly in reference to the article the thread was about. People thinking about this election along those lines are reachable.
As far as the rest, no rehashing of Biden’s record in office or even from the primary season for now. Nuh uh.
CarolPW
@Gin & Tonic: Well, maybe you don’t find it offensive for someone to think that support for Biden is due primarily to terror of the virus and fear of Trump’s reelection. But I do consider that depiction of Democratic support of Biden offensive. That, and the lesser of two evils language, drive me mad.
Kropacetic
@Cameron: These beautiful Joe Biden stories are all over the place. A lot were in the NYT on Super Tuesday. Do we know of anyone cataloguing these?
Arclite
Hillary was a decent woman. Little good it did her.
danielx
OT but – if you need a shot of joy Chaka Khan is singing with Tedeschi Trucks Band on YouTube
The Thin Black Duke
And Krap derails another post. Jesus.
Martin
@Jeffro: Yeah, but the gap doesn’t necessarily tell you the relationship of the undecideds. If it’s 42/42, the gap is 0 but you have 16% undecideds. That’s a lot of room for either candidate to work with, except for the historical tendencies for how they break in incumbent races so that kind of race favors the challenger. If it’s 49/49, the gap is still 0 but you have almost no undecideds and the incumbent has a much better chance to pull that one out.
Kay
I think it’s good he’s coming to terms with it, however ungraciously.
Cameron
@Kropacetic: There probably are several people doing it, but I’m not aware of them. There’s an incredibly powerful narrative here, particularly since it’s such a razor-sharp contrast with the malignancy on the other side of the aisle. It’s certainly a better bet than attacking Trump on policies, since he doesn’t have any – you wind up boxing with a puff of smoke. Self-defeating: you lay out a reasoned plan to bring the economy back while defeating COVID-19; he gives you an infantile nickname. And it can also be presented showcasing Biden’s modesty and humility (which, let’s face it, are pretty fucking rare commodities in a politician), another sharp distinction from the self-promoting liar on the other side.
CarolPW
@Ivan X: Your post reads like one adult explaining to another why the children are upset. It’s not a good look.
geg6
@Gvg:
THIS.
Jeffro
@gwangung: Try this: “The ‘lesser of two evils’ ISN’T. ANYWHERE CLOSE TO. EVIL.” ;)
Jeffro
@Kay: It all comes back to his unresolved sh!+ with Fred, doesn’t it? We just don’t love him enough. Poor guy!
Ivan X
@CarolPW: for what it is worth, I don’t think those things, and if that’s what it sounded like I meant, it’s not. I support Biden, too, and it’s not for those reasons. I do think that I myself am trying to make myself feel better about his limitations as a candidate, given the stakes, and so perhaps I’m projecting my experience into others. I would like it, though, if you can tell me when I’ve said something that offended you in a kinder way than you did.
Ivan X
@CarolPW: acknowledged. It was not my best moment.
Kropacetic
@Jeffro: Do you need people to vote for the man or do you need them to like him? Not mutually exclusive, but only one is important in November.
Subsole
@Kropacetic:
Fair enough. Will try to tone it down on my end too.
June has been a looong fuckin’ century, and it ain’t even over yet…
Subsole
@Kay: He can come to terms with a jail cell, the fucking maggot. Better than he deseves.
Jeffro
@Martin: Ok. I guess I am looking at the gap between the two candidates and calling all those people (technically – we know they’re not really undecided) “the undecideds”.
Biden 50, trumpov 40 = 10% “undecided”. In the absence of any viable 3rd party candidate, they would seem to be the same thing. But I get your point.
Mine is that Biden already has a really good lead and in many cases has already hit or nearly hit the 50% mark, so even when it’s Biden 48, trumpov 44…trumpov has to get more than 3/4 of the remaining ‘undecideds’ in order to win.
I’ll just pipe down now. I think we’re in the same ballpark. ;)
Yutsano
Oops. Almost responded to the sea lion. My bad.
Jeffro
@Kay: I like the thought of Pence up there, lying and parroting the party line, just in case something happens with trumpov. Everyone will see him as just a continuation of the same lying incompetence, plus genuine religious nuttery.
Even my TCNJ dad calls him “Mullah Pence”(!) LOL
Captain C
@Miss Bianca: The sad thing is that the “hippies” being referred to aren’t even really hippies. They’re the political equivalent of trustafarians who used their monthly distribution to fund their tour with Phish (or post-Touch of Grey Dead) during their college summers.
dmsilev
@Kay: Hmmm. The classic Kubler-Ross sequence is denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. He’s spent a long long time at anger, we clearly got depression in that photo taken right after the Tulsa flop, so I guess reaching acceptance makes sense. I think he skipped bargaining though; that will have to wait until the plea-deal talks in a year or so…
Scott Alloway
@Mo Salad: Was waiting for someone to note the reference. Thank you. I keep my towel close.
Kropacetic
Campaign season hasn’t hit high gear yet.
beckya57
I’ve read a bunch of these stories on Twitter. They make me cry. There also is this:
youtube.com/watch?v=GwZ6UfXm410&feature=share
Scott Alloway
@Roger Moore: i use those little bands women utilize the bunch hair into a ponytail. Women? Yes. Their choices have color. Link two in a chain, attach to the mask and loop around the ear. Perfect.
Kropacetic
I’ll try to be a little more careful about how I put my arguments forward.
CarolPW
@Ivan X: Anthrax and tire rims vs. Italian. It’s an easy choice. What reads as understanding commentary about the validity of the anthrax point of view doesn’t work for me. Glad you see the problem and sorry for my vehimence.
Captain C
@burnspbesq: And, of course, with the ‘lesser evil,’ you get less evil!
Stacib
@Kropacetic: I’ve followed both threads. My eyebrow raising moment was your insistence on using the word evil about Biden. There is no way to dress that up once you plant that flag. He was always my first choice, and even when he says something cringeworthy, I believe heart and soul he is a good man.
Ohio Mom
A little late but that was a fabulous rendition of The Star Spangled Banner, with the added plus of social distancing by the singers. Interesting choreography.
The Biden story made me cry. I’m more partial to the Hillary and Warren approach of having plans, for everything, but if heartwarming stories are what works, I’ll buy a bigger box of tissues.
Frankensteinbeck
@Kay:
Trump’s downfall will be him painting himself into a corner with his fantasy worlds. You can see it happening with COVID. He’s going to convince himself that Biden is a fumbling senile wreck and walk face first into the freight train of a far better public speaker at the debates. And that’s one big reason there will be debates.
Ruckus
@geg6:
That was me. At least I did comment on this. It was intended as a comment against the concept that he is a lessor evil. Because none of us are perfect and neither is Joe Biden. Joe is miles and miles ahead of a hell of a lot of other people on the scale of perfect but like everyone else he doesn’t get 100%. So the reality is that he is the lessor of evils. Most people are the lessor of evils. They just have to be compared to the right person and they are less. And just because he is doesn’t make him a bad person or a bad choice for president. Because he’s anything but a bad person or a bad choice. He has a reasonable concept of the job, having learned from a pretty good example. He knows how the system works, from his working within it. And he is, from most accounts a pretty nice person, who has remained that in the face of some rather crappy happenings in his life. Was he your first choice for president? He wasn’t mine but then I think we had a number of excellent choices in the primaries. We would be so lucky to have him as president. Which is why I donate what I can to his campaign, and why I’ll be extremely glad to vote for him.
Ruckus
@WestTexan70:
Ouch!
Earned for sure but that should leave a mark.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Frankensteinbeck:
@Kay:
trump needs to sit down and watch all the Sarah Cooper videos
(actually, I think I read the other day that’s he’s blocked her, so he’s seen at least one, probably more)
Steeplejack
@Fair Economist:
And who drinks beer out of a double old-fashioned glass?!
Ivan X
@CarolPW: I prefer Italian. Hopefully we’ll dine well in November.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
assume a time machine….
Kropacetic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Hey, I can admit when I’m wrong…
…
…
Sally
I wonder if one of VP Joe Biden’s advantages will be the very thing the “left” criticises, that he has a vast history of kindness, compassion, and collegiality. If he gives Repubs a month to decide whether they are Americans or morans, and then gives them the FU, and goes all Prog Govt, will there be fewer people criticising him for being a pinko commie extremist who should “reach across the aisle”. Or would the howling gain less traction. Maybe. Like anti red Nixon was the only one who could get away with going to China. Many other examples, but just a thought, though I know we live in different times where reality hardly intrudes. Thinking, hoping that this man might surprise those critics.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Joe Biden can’t talk, Part the Nth
Ruckus
@Feathers:
I do masks with ties because I dislike the elastic. I wear an N95 mask at work and the elastic drives me crazier than normal. But the ones I make are ties, like a surgical mask, with the top strap at a 45 deg angle to the mask so in front of the ears and on the back-top of the head and the bottom coming straight off to the side and around the neck. Good position, wears well for long periods. I also make them 2 layers with a replaceable filter in the middle. That way they can be washed and they filter pretty decent, while still breathing well.
catclub
Bill Barr may have news for you in October.
satby
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: You said it! Much more nicely than I would have.
mad citizen
Trump had a right arm/wrist jerk today at the wreath ceremony; and Tom Joseph on twitter (who leads the trumpov-dementia theory) has a clip of trump taking some weird short steps from AF1 to the Beast. I’m watching to see if trump can still play golf or not. This weekend could be a tell if he doesn’t head to the golf course.
I’ve been thinking of posting that trump seems to have never had any interests, hobbies, etc. (not even parenting it seems) his whole damn life other than golf, which I have to assume he partly does because it gives him hours to tell others how great he is. But the above isn’t true–his hobbies were drugs and womanizing; and of course being a con man, but that was more his career.
satby
@The Thin Black Duke: Unreal isn’t it? Triple axle sea lioning.
Uncle Cosmo
@Ruckus: Nitpick here, old man, but “the lessor of two evils” is someone with a pair of terrible properties to rent:
You clearly meant “lesser.” It is insufficiently appreciated that no spellchecker can read the writer’s mind & thus will not rescue him/her from misspelling when the misspelling is itself a word. Word ;^D to the wise (guy)…
Kropacetic
@The Thin Black Duke: Yeah, the nice thing I said about Biden clearly triggered some people. Obvs my fault.
Scott Alloway
@CarolPW: Yep.
Old hippie here at 70.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kropacetic: We all carry our commenting history with us.
Kropacetic
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, some of you have been bullies a long time.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kropacetic: It always amazes me how you get that last nail into the cross.
Kropacetic
@Omnes Omnibus: Translated:
Geminid
I checked out the thread in question and sure enough it was a certain Ms. Cracker who introduced the phrase “lesser of two evils” by quoting Nailiah Summers of Dream Defenders in the opening post. All I ever saw any commenter do was discuss how to combat that argument.
db11
@Kropacetic: I don’t have any skin in this spat, but as an outsider I think you have conducted yourself with a lot more kindness and propriety in these threads than the people who’ve completely misread and/or maliciously misrepresented your position…
which if I’ve understood, is to advocate for reaching out to (some of) those voters who deploy the ‘lesser of two evils’ argument about Biden — because they can be pulled into the tent with a bit of empathy for their (naive) idealism — and not that you yourself felt that way about Joe.
IvanX had the closest explanation for what I’ve also observed, and in no way deserved the abusive response he received for doing so.
Nerves are raw, people are angry and scared — some suffering from political PTSD from the 2016 cycle and its all-too-real repercussions — and many are on a hair trigger in rooting out trolls and ratfuckers in these discussions, so it’s easy to get caught up in the overly-broad net that’s cast.
Plus a small few here are simply dyspeptic assholes who take perverse pleasure in doling out verbal abuse. I can’t speak to whatever specific history they have with you, but they reveal themselves.
Geminid
And Summers wasn’t even saying she wouldn’t vote for Biden; she was just whining about it.
Kropacetic
@db11: @Geminid: Thanks again guys. I feel a little less alone now.
chopper
@Omnes Omnibus:
it’s a talent all right. to be fair, when all you do is whine on the internet you’ve got lots of free time to learn skills like that.
Suzy
What an interesting post, Hoodie. Thank you for sharing.@Hoodie:
Bobby Thomson
It got a little dusty and I set up a recurring $18 donation.
As for the contrast in character, Trump’s preferred way of dealing with that will be to portray Biden as (a) effeminate {in other words, the standard Republican playbook} and lacking in the toughness we need, and (b) creepy.
Those will work with Trump’s core support (who for some reason see him as butch despite all evidence to the contrary), but Joe has a lifetime of talking to people with respect and a gravelly affect that just demolishes that strategy with anyone else.
Bobby Thomson
@CarolPW: Meh. If they don’t want to be depicted as children they should show up in off-year elections. Until then, not a lot of sympathy for any flack they take.