Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

So many bastards, so little time.

Books are my comfort food!

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

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

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Let there be snark.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Thursday Morning Open Thread: (More) Readership Capture

Thursday Morning Open Thread: (More) Readership Capture

by | 206 Comments

This post is in: , , ,


Nearly nine out of 10 Democrats approve of U.S. Senator Kamala Harris as their party’s vice presidential nominee, and she is more popular than presidential candidate Joe Biden among women, young voters and some Republicans, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday.

The Aug. 11-12 public opinion survey also found that 60% of Americans, including 87% of Democrats and 37% of Republicans, considered the selection of Harris – the first Black woman and Asian American nominated for vice presidency – to be a “major milestone” for the United States…

In addition, about 25% of Republicans said they had a favorable view of Harris and approve of her choice as Biden’s running mate. Only about 20% of Republicans said they have a similarly favorable view of Biden.

In a close election, peeling off even a small number of voters from the Republican Party could make a difference to the Democrats, political analysts said…

Reader Interactions

206Comments

  1. 1.

    Jeffro

    “Meanest” – ????
    SAD!

    Per that Dan Rather tweet, who DOESN’T live rent-free in the Orange Grudge Factory’s head by now?

  4. 4.

    rikyrah

    ???

    Not only did you print this birtherisn-on-steroids racist crap, @newsweek, but you failed to disclose this guy ran against Harris and lost AND wrote an article in national review saying exact opposite about Canadian born Ted Cruz. When did Newsweek become both racist AND stupid? https://t.co/2BbBRuVUyN— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) August 13, 2020

  5. 5.

    rikyrah

    Reposting because I hope a FrontPager sees it:
    Thread

    Just spent the last 2 hours phone banking here in Texas. I called a grandmother. She’s 91. Black. She answered so sweet. I told her who I was, and asked if she was registered to vote for November. She said YES MAAM! I said, “wonderful. I hope we can expect your support…”— Stephanie Clay ? (@_StephanieClay) August 12, 2020

  6. 6.

    rikyrah

    @rikyrah:

     

    <blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>“…. for the Biden Harris ticket.” She said, “Harris?” I said yes. She said, “He picked Kamala“ and broke down in tears, and started praying for Kamala. ? <br><br>I started to cry because I knew why this moment was heavy. I asked her, “what was she feeling?” She said…</p>&mdash; Stephanie Clay ? (@_StephanieClay) <a href=”https://twitter.com/_StephanieClay/status/1293390866300776449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>August 12, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

  8. 8.

    rikyrah

    @rikyrah:

     

    “…. for the Biden Harris ticket.” She said, “Harris?” I said yes. She said, “He picked Kamala“ and broke down in tears, and started praying for Kamala. ? I started to cry because I knew why this moment was heavy. I asked her, “what was she feeling?” She said…— Stephanie Clay ? (@_StephanieClay) August 12, 2020

  9. 9.

    Kay

    She’s a great pick and the announcement and first joint appearance were flawless. They couldn’t have done this better. I don’t know where it goes from here, but there wasn’t a single error or misstep in any of it so far.

  10. 10.

    rikyrah

    @rikyrah:

     

     

    “baby, I’m overjoyed. Look at God.” I told her I’ve been emotional all afternoon thinking about my slave great great grandparents, and how I wish they knew it would get better. She told me about her days picking cotton, and about her scarred hands.— Stephanie Clay ? (@_StephanieClay) August 12, 2020

  11. 11.

    rikyrah

    @rikyrah:

     

    ?????

    She talked about her grandfather being lynched. She told me she hoped Kamala had the best security. She’s afraid someone will try to hurt her. We prayed again. Before we hung up she told me to dream bigger than my last dream. I promised I would. Thank you Mrs Ethel. ❤️— Stephanie Clay ? (@_StephanieClay) August 12, 2020

  12. 12.

    raven

    Since it is so fucking important to have posts about college football and have people jump in and whine about “the south” I give you this post from my favorite Georgia football blog.

     

    Across the South, college football is a sacred tradition.” Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The Oxford dictionary defines sacred as “ Connected with God (or the gods) or dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving veneration.”
    So my smart ass comment wonders if this is the same religion of pedophile priests, or Jimmy Swaggert’s whores, or Jerry Falwell’s racism and corruption or the fraud of Praise the Lord club, just to name a few. I am so tired of God being used to justify Human stupidity, cruelty And corruption. God doesn’t give a fuck about SEC football. God ain’t gonna protect football players from Covid. As a religious person myself, I think it’s time for politicians to shut up about God and religion. Calling football sacred is SACRILEGE. Yeah, and I’m Southern and go to church.

  15. 15.

    debbie

    @rikyrah:

    I’m hoping LOWV and ACLU step in real quick. I think it’s Cuyahoga (Cleveland) who’s loudly objecting to one drop box serving 1,000,000 residents.

  17. 17.

    Chief Oshkosh

    Recent observations about the US Postal Service:

    1. I requested a mail-in ballot in a timely manner. It did not arrive in time for a recent primary. I had to vote in person, and because I had requested a mail-in ballot, the poll workers and I had to jump through hoops so that I could vote. My request for a mail-in ballot was confirmed more than two weeks out from voting day. The ballot should have arrived at least a week prior, and by previous experience, about 10 days prior.
    2. I just received an official communication from a federal agency. It took two weeks to get to me. The previous mailings from this agency, from November and March, both took three days.

    Something is not right.

  18. 18.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I think this is one that can be challenged by (a) or some boards of elections themselves. I think they can say it’s a localized emergency in those counties DeWine has designated high risk for covid, which are the urban and most populous counties. Those “county emergency” questions don’t go to the state board of elections- they go to a common pleas judge in the affected county. I think it’s an overreach.

  21. 21.

    SFAW

    Listened to NPR “discussion” re: the Harris pick. “Now let’s hear from some callers” First guy talked about how some of his friends call Harris a “race traitor.” The next caller had a similar RNC-style (or perhaps BernieBro?) talking point.
    Assholes.

  22. 22.

    Kay

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    It’s definitely delayed. I work in four county courts and they’re all aware the mail is being delayed. Obviously an issue for them because of notice requirements.

  23. 23.

    Ken

    harris has been a heavy favorite for months and your first, best shot is a bunch of quotes from the patreon grift brigade?

    I’m agreeing with those who say that Trump thought it would be someone else, and no one in his campaign dared to disagree with him or plan for any other candidate.

    I’m also agreeing with the idea that Trump thought that because Harris is an intelligent, powerful woman who could easily overshadow the top of the ticket, and there’s no way that he would ever pick anyone like that.

  24. 24.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    As I look around my boarded up downtown and read the staggering list of permanent closures, it occurs to me that the Biden/Harris campaign and Democratic governors and mayors need to rapidly roll out a financing plan to 1) stabilize businesses that will be viable at the other end of this and 2) create a financing mechanism not tied to the tyranny of the credit bureaus to allow those who lost businesses to try and rebuild. It is vital, and will vastly contrast with the conservative message of “do nothing, and let pain regulate choices going forward”. It’s nice to talk about the perpetually poor and all, but the newly poor but highly skilled and educated are going to need the lift, as our financial system simply won’t provide it.

    I say this because of what I’m seeing out there. Wife just participated in a town hall with her clueless employer – all of her commissions are gone, and their revenues are down in a sliding range between 97% and 88%. They are – without data – hoping for some beginning rebound next spring.

    My own revenue is already off 30% from last year so I’ve had to  ameliorate it with expense and staffing changes.

    Our household income is off by about $170K as the direct result of Trump.

    She feels so powerless and rudderless for the first time in her life that she’s started therapy, which I’m happy about. If that’s our situation, multiply it by hundreds of thousands in upper middle class homes.

  27. 27.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Kay:

    Four years ago, I generally counted on in town mail being delivered in  24-48 hours. Now, I’m hearing a week to 10 days.

  28. 28.

    Danielx

    Kind of waiting for this, in view of Postal Service travails:

    Trump to Fox News viewers: If waiting for your delivered by mail medications an extra ten days helps my re-election, you should be happy to do it.

    Unfortunately, a lot of Fox News viewers probably will be happy to do it. As far as Trump is concerned, everybody else can just fuck right off and do without for a few days.

  29. 29.

    Punchy

    @Chief Oshkosh: as many have said, this seems by design.  But they started this scam too soon; we have enough time to see and adjust.  Had they pulled this stunt in mid-Oct, the clear fix would be in and effective.

    As someone else said the other day, it seems the plan is to have Trump ahead in the count on Election night, then have the DoJ sue every state in an attempt to discredit mail-ins and have their count stopped.  Or just flat-ignore any counts by mail-in.

  30. 30.

    SFAW

    @Ken:

    I’m also agreeing with the idea that Trump thought that because Harris is an intelligent, powerful nasty woman who could easily overshadow the top of the ticket, and there’s no way that he would ever pick anyone like that.

    Because all those intelligent, powerful, accomplished, strong women are “nasty” in his “mind.”

  32. 32.

    SFAW

    @Punchy:

    As someone else said the other day, it seems the plan is to have Trump ahead in the count on Election night, then have the DoJ sue every state in an attempt to discredit mail-ins and have their count stopped.  Or just flat-ignore any counts by mail-in.

    I was thinking the same thing. But Barr would never do anything like that, now would he?

  40. 40.

    John S.

    @Danielx:

    Here in South Florida, we haven’t seen any noticeable disruption in postal service. Which means that they are strategically crippling postal service only in areas where they think it will have a positive benefit to Trump.

    Shocking, I know.

  42. 42.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: Have to agree.  Out of the top 3-4 VP contenders (all of them really good or better) she wasn’t my top pick but I’m seeing all kinds of reasons why she should have been.  Smart smart smart.

    Way to go Uncle Joe!

  47. 47.

    narya

    One message needs to be: the Republicans are screwing with the post office, and trying to prevent people from voting, because they have no ideas other than “give money to rich people and let everyone else starve.” If your ideas don’t win votes, well, that should tell you something–and cheating to win is not patriotic.

  49. 49.

    Jeffro

    @John S.:Which means that they are strategically crippling postal service only in areas where they think it will have a positive benefit to Trump.

    Would love to see the House and/or the Biden campaign start pounding on this…the House can start hearings now, Biden & Co can remind trumpov & Co that there will be prosecutions for tampering with mail delivery.

  50. 50.

    Chyron HR

    I refuse to watch on the grounds that Trump is an asshole, but do I understand correctly that his new ad depicts a literal and metaphorical Trump train barreling through an abandoned town without stopping, while Electric Avenue plays?

  51. 51.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @rikyrah:

    The sad part of this is all of the shattered hopes and dreams, the evaporation of years of hard work, and the absence of any relief for people who played by the rules. For all too many, it means as much as a year or more of zeroed income.

    This has to be considered, and all the soup kitchens in the world and “learn to code” programs can’t address it.

    The targeted relief will have to be such that it doesn’t immediately get disgorged by the owners of commercial real estate in the form of rent hikes – but remaining businesses will have to be stabilized and a legit, disconnected from credit ratings small business bank will have to be formed.

  52. 52.

    Ken

    @Betty Cracker: In the replies to Charles Pierce’s “pardon me but aren’t you dead” tweet, several people said they had reported the Cain account since it’s against Twitter’s terms of use to impersonate someone else.  Guess we’ll see if Twitter really cares.

    I am kind of curious who is doing the posts. It’s probably one of his staff, but are they still being paid?

  54. 54.

    Yutsano

    It’s kind of heavy this morning. But I had a bit of a revelation last night. Remember how we were remarking how both Biden and Harris were able to be dynamic even without an audience? They had practice. They both have given speeches on an almost empty Senate floor. However, the C-SPAN cameras were watching. So they both knew their audience was outside the Senate. So it occurred to me that I shouldn’t be too surprised at that.

  56. 56.

    PenAndKey

    @Ken: I’m also agreeing with the idea that Trump thought that because Harris is an intelligent, powerful woman who could easily overshadow the top of the ticket, and there’s no way that he would ever pick anyone like that.

    Which really goes to show how incompetent the people he’s surrounded himself with are. You’d think that at least one of his intrepid underlings would have taken it upon themselves to do the necessary opposition work to have a plan ready to present to the boss as soon as they heard who was picked, if for no other reason than to suck up and score a pat on the head. Heck, they wouldn’t even need to reveal that they were doing the work before the announcement, just present it after the fact and claim they’re just that good at their job or something.

    But nope, morons all the way down. I’m ok with that.

  57. 57.

    Chyron HR

    @Gin & Tonic:

    His grifting family/staff has co-opted his account in the name of the “The Cain Gang*”, which tweets the things that Herman Cain would have said if Trump hadn’t killed him.

    * Because Republicans are GOOD at messaging.

  59. 59.

    PsiFighter37

    @Jeffro: They should do that, but Democrats should also urge people to vote IN PERSON if they are able. This needs to be called on Election Night so that the orange baboon doesn’t go shrieking on about bullshit voter fraud.

  60. 60.

    Ken

    @Yutsano: It occurred to me that Trump has almost no such experience, and that the one recent time he tried – his COVID address announcing the travel shutdowns – he was absolutely terrible.

    (And the stock futures dropped in real time, but that’s not primarily because Trump can’t speak to a camera.)

  61. 61.

    WereBear

    @rikyrah: As I sit here, waiting for my results, this testing situation in America is phucking ridiculous ??

    I am sorry that for so many of us, things keep getting worse…

  62. 62.

    Jeffro

    @PsiFighter37: Agreed.  I had thought about voting early or absentee but I’m going to mask up and do it in person on Election Day.  Partially for the thrill and partially because of the reasons you’ve noted.

  63. 63.

    PenAndKey

    @John S.: Which means that they are strategically crippling postal service only in areas where they think it will have a positive benefit to Trump.

    Which also means that everyone involved in this little scheme is likely in direct violation of 18 US Code § 1703, which makes intentionally delaying the mail a federal crime. They better hope they successfully pull it off, because if not it looks like the penalty is up to 5 years in prison per ” letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail entrusted” destroyed, detained, delayed, or opened without approval. Also, obligatory “I’m not a lawyer” warning and all that, but from a layman’s perspective it sure looks like the whole “mail tampering” thing we were likely all warned was a crime as kids includes postal workers too. I guess the only question is if that also includes the Postmaster General or not.

  64. 64.

    Jeffro

    OT but it looks like Mitt Romney is blocking Ron Johnson from issuing subpoenas to Comey, Brennan, and other targets of the GOP’s Russia caucus.  How ’bout them apples?

    Hey snooze media, you might want to check that out, could be a story there (eyeroll)…if nothing else, some enterprising young reporter could be the author of the first-EVER “Republicans in disarray!!” story in the history of the United States.  =)

  65. 65.

    PsiFighter37

    @Jeffro: I’m doing it because NY massively fucked up their mail-in voting…Maloney (my congresswoman) barely scraped by, and I would be beside myself if I found out my ballot not being counted contributed to that.

    That being said, I anticipate there to be heavy in-person voting in the swing states, such that if we get a call in NC, GA or FL on Election Night, we know BIden will have won.

  66. 66.

    prostratedragon

    @Chyron HR:  My lord, they’re so bad it’s as if they were infiltrated. Something fundamental guarantees that they’ll out themselves whenever possible.

  67. 67.

    NotMax

    @John S.

    Anecdotal, but the place I order cigars from is in south Florida (Miami). The USPS tracking has shown shipments taking longer to leave Florida (Opa-locka postal sorting facility) and begin wending their way here. Additional delays all along the way.

  68. 68.

    Ken

    @Jeffro: I made the mistake of reading the replies, and the Republican spin is that it’s because Romney’s son is also implicated in the corrupt scheme that Johnson’s invented.

  70. 70.

    Yutsano

    @prostratedragon: They’re still impersonating a dead man. That is against the rules of Twitter. Of course getting them to enforce said rules is a completely different story.

  72. 72.

    artem1s

    MOMMY!!!! Marsha’s being mean to me!

    Really is this all they got?  They’ve had months to do opposition research on her. I guess they have to wait for the MSM, Tom Cotton, and Jim Comey to do it for them.

  73. 73.

    PenAndKey

    @Yutsano: They’re still impersonating a dead man. That is against the rules of Twitter.

    I thought so too, but as far as I could see when I tried to report that post “impersonating someone” wasn’t an option for the reason for reporting. You’d think it would be. Either that or I’m blind and just looking in the wrong spot.

  75. 75.

    germy

    Herman Cain has incorporated in the great beyond.  He belongs to the ages now.

    Therefore, he can tweet.

  76. 76.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @rikyrah:

    Dittoing that this deserves its own post.  We white men in particular need to know what this means to minorities.

    @SFAW:

    The overwhelmingly white and racist Republicans and Leftier-Than-Thous want to convince blacks SO BAD that Democrats are the real racists, and seem to believe it.

    @Ken:

    Add to those reasons that job #1 of Trump and his incompetent, corrupt court is to funnel money into their own pockets, not spend it for any useful purpose.

    @John S.:

    Which means that they are strategically crippling postal service only in areas where they think it will have a positive benefit to Trump.

    I have seen no evidence that this is true.  The new rules that are delaying mail should be even worse for rural (IE, Republican) areas than urban (IE, Democratic) areas.  Democrats in Republican areas (like Kay) are reporting the mail delays are terrible there.  We leap to thinking this is a plot, but if it is, it’s an incompetent one.  I think they’re just driving the Post Office into the ground with private sector policies to prove that the government running the Post Office is inferior.  (Yes, they’re proving the opposite but it makes sense from a Galtian viewpoint.)  When anyone complains that this might affect the election, they go ‘Hooray!’ and don’t think any further.

  77. 77.

    Soprano2

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: As I look around my boarded up downtown and read the staggering list of permanent closures, it occurs to me that the Biden/Harris campaign and Democratic governors and mayors need to rapidly roll out a financing plan to 1) stabilize businesses that will be viable at the other end of this and 2) create a financing mechanism not tied to the tyranny of the credit bureaus to allow those who lost businesses to try and rebuild. It is vital, and will vastly contrast with the conservative message of “do nothing, and let pain regulate choices going forward”. It’s nice to talk about the perpetually poor and all, but the newly poor but highly skilled and educated are going to need the lift, as our financial system simply won’t provide it.

    Not just them, but pretty much any small business. If the government wants businesses to be closed, it has to provide enough money to them to pay basic bills without a lot of conditions. The PPP was useless for any restaurant or bar that wasn’t open during the stay-at-home orders; my employees were better off on unemployment, and if we spent most of the money paying bills it wouldn’t be forgiven. There was another program that would be more suited to businesses like ours, but it was much less well publicized and had less money. I understand the impulse to want to keep people employed, and I applaud it, but there also needed to be a program for businesses like my pub. By the end of the year it’s going to be a bloodbath in the restaurant industry, and that didn’t have to happen. I’m afraid by the time Biden becomes president it will be too late for most of them.

  78. 78.

    Ken

    @PenAndKey: when I tried to report that post “impersonating someone” wasn’t an option for the reason for reporting

    Side issue, but it wasn’t until The Social Network came out that I realized Facebook, Twitter, etc. are for people who think all social interactions can be reduced to eight items on a pulldown menu.

    Though in retrospect, they’re created by people who think that, and have trained tens of millions of others the same way.

  79. 79.

    Betty Cracker

    @PsiFighter37: Someone did a column in The Times on that (J. Bouie, maybe), and it’s a consideration. I’ve requested mail-in ballots, but I dropped my local primary ballot off early at the election supervisor’s office and will probably do the same in the general to make sure it’s tallied before election day. Everyone needs to make sure they understand the rules in their jurisdiction.

  80. 80.

    Yutsano

    I just saw a Tweet from Robert Reich about making Elizabeth Warren Majority Leader. He should know better. Patty Murray is ahead of her in the Senate leadership. The first female Majority Leader will be her. Not Warren. Sorry but in the Senate time present there matters.

  82. 82.

    Yutsano

    @Betty Cracker: I always always ALWAYS drop my ballot off at the drop box. While it is true that postmark counts in the state of Washington I would much rather have the security of knowing my ballot did arrive on time. I really encourage anyone who has an mail-in ballot to do the same if possible especially closer to Election Day

  85. 85.

    Soprano2

    I wouldn’t say that our mail delivery in my town has slowed down; several months ago, we started getting our mail pretty late in the day, like after 5 or 6 o’clock. That was way before DeJoy, though, so I think it was just a change in route. I think it’s hard to say exactly what’s happening everywhere; an enterprising reporter should dig into this, and fast. I appreciated the reporting about the Waterloo, IA post office losing a sorting machine, because I think that generated a lot of outrage, attention, and “Huh?” from people who normally don’t pay attention to that kind of thing.

  86. 86.

    PPCLI

    @Punchy:

    One way to fight back would be for those states with Democratic governors to bring in a policy of beginning the counting now, with air-tight rules in place to ensure secrecy. Then after the polls close on election night, release the pre-counted early ballot numbers right away.

    (I don’t know if this plan would be legal. Perhaps it isn’t, and that is why this idea isn’t being tossed around.)

  87. 87.

    artem1s

    @Kay:

    they go to a common pleas judge in the affected county.

    Hopefully this will be resolved at the local level.  But disgusting that they have to go to these lengths and spend funds over this type of voter suppression once again.  If it has to be pushed up the courts I’m kind of hoping that it gets put in front of Jennifer Brunner.  Maybe she can squash this and reinstate all the early voting days she put in place when she was SOS!

  88. 88.

    PenAndKey

    @Ken: Side issue, but it wasn’t until The Social Network came out that I realized Facebook, Twitter, etc. are for people who think all social interactions can be reduced to eight items on a pulldown menu.

    I’ve known enough computer programmers to recognize that many of them are great at programming and categorizing data, but crap at edge case situations that fall outside of their defined framework. This doesn’t surprise me, at all.

    @Yutsano:

    I’m lucky in that my ballot drop box is at the town courthouse that’s a 4 minute drive from my house. I drop it off every time, so as long as I actually get the ballot on time I’m golden. Honestly, if they can’t ensure timely delivery every neighborhood should have a secured drop box like that.

  90. 90.

    Gin & Tonic

    @NotMax: I’m in a small town with a very small local post office, where I can chat with the staff. They say that at the regional sorting facility in Springfield, MA, mail just sits and sits. I tracked a piece coming from Indiana that sat there for five days before it moved on.

  91. 91.

    Immanentize

    So here is my mail contribution to the artisanal small-batch data gripes.  I mailed two boxes of Immp things to Texas from Mass.  Paid the extra to get priority mail so that they would arrive by this past Tuesday.  On Wednesday, box number one arrived.  Still nothing heard of from box number 2. 
    Annoying? 
    Waste of money? 
    Confirming event of USPS trouble? 
    All of the above?

  92. 92.

    germy

    Trump saying clearly on Fox why he won’t fund USPS. “Now they need that money in order to make the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots…But if they don’t get those two items that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting…”

    — Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) August 13, 2020

  93. 93.

    artem1s

    @Punchy:

    Ohio voters can also vote before Election Day. The early voting period runs from Tuesday, October 6, 2020 to Monday, November 2, 2020, but dates and hours may vary based on where you live.

    Start advertising early voting to your friends and family if your state has it.  Faceplant, Twittbox, everywhere.  They can’t pull an October surprise if we’ve already taken the decision out of their hands. In my experience the BOE early voting sites are generally less crowded than a typical grocery store and you get in and out faster too.  I just put this on my calendar.

  94. 94.

    sdhays

    I remember the (Very) White House shitting their collective pants when it looked like Kamala might actually be the nominee. Joe’s picking her brings their two worst nightmares on the same ticket. It’s just fantastic.

    And now this morning, Joe is using the language I’ve been wanting him to use in the debates (if they happen, and I’m not betting on them happening at all at this point):

    Biden Points Out Predictable Trump ‘Whining’ About ‘Strong Women’ Like Harris:

    “It’s no surprise, because whining is what Donald Trump does best. Better than any president in American history.” Biden said. “Is anyone surprised Donald Trump has a problem with a strong woman or strong women across the board? We know that more is to come.”

    I just see Joe calling out Donnie Dump for all of his incessant whining during a debate becoming the next “their you go again” or “you, sir, are no John Kennedy”.

  96. 96.

    PPCLI

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    I hope the Biden campaign is producing a series of ads on the theme of “Over and Over: Republicans f*ck it up like drug-addled, corrupt incompetents, and Democrats come in to repair the damage and get the economy on solid footing again”.

    Exhibit A: The Bush financial crisis, during which the country plummeted to massive job loss, evictions, and foreclosures because the Bush administration kept their heads in the sand and failed to do their jobs.

    Obama – Biden to the rescue and the result was the longest sustained economic expansion in history.

    Exhibit B: Can you believe the Trump party has done it again?

  98. 98.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Betty Cracker: Once again, the Simpsons prove prescient – “Bart, do you know what this means?” “The dead have risen and they’re voting Republican”?

  99. 99.

    Haroldo

    @Benw:

    Is she meanest even in Australia?

    To these ears, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation gives a ton of time to Trump direct quotes; lets him babble on for (it seems) minutes.  Biden and Harris are relegated to snippets of direct quotes, if at all.  The ABC is getting worse as the days slip by.

  102. 102.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @PPCLI: As far as I know, by law no votes are counted before election day for fear of numbers getting out and influencing voters.

  105. 105.

    NotMax

    @Immanentize

    If you’ve already told the tale, I somehow missed it. How goes (went?) the trip?

    Have seen scattered reports that priority mail is being throttled more than regular mail. Asked Mom in NY to mail me a letter first class (took 6 days to get here, only slightly longer than usual, but not unheard of*) and another letter at the exact same time via priority – still awaiting that one’s arrival.

    *I could accept attributing the extra time to fewer planes flying.

  106. 106.

    sdhays

    @germy: Well, at least we’re all on the same page, then. Donnie Dump is burning down the USPS to hang on to power. FACT.

  107. 107.

    A Ghost to Most

    @germy: Spending time picking apart their lies is doing their work for them. They don’t care, and their followers don’t care.  Facts don’t matter to fascists. Once they’re brainwashed with religion, they’ll believe what they’re told to believe.

  108. 108.

    sdhays

    @Yutsano: I just get tired of these kinds of suggestions, and it’s depressing coming from someone who should know better like Robert Reich. Teddy Kennedy, whose seat Warren holds, was an incredibly powerful and influential Senator, and he was never in the caucus leadership. You can say the same about Joe Biden.

    It’s just a derivative the “Green Lantern Theory” of politics, with LEADERS being the only consequential people. I don’t think Warren believes that because she’s not stupid.

  109. 109.

    Betty Cracker

    @Yutsano: Seniority aside, why do people assume Warren would be great at horse-trading and arm-twisting anyway? I mean, maybe she is! But the things Reich (and I, and millions of other people) love about Warren — her deep knowledge of how the financial system is rigged against working people, her insights into how to change the system to achieve greater equality, etc. — come from an entirely separate skill set. Murray seems to have the qualities needed to succeed in a lawmaker-wrangling role.

  111. 111.

    Immanentize

    @NotMax: We are in the midst of the trip!  We have a “drop off of most stuff” time slot of 2:30 central today. Then, on Saturday morning at 8:45, the Immp is delivered with his remaining items to the tender testing mercies of Rice U. I am not allowed on campus at all. Rice just announced in addition to day of arrival testing, they will now have weekly testing for all students, faculty and staff. That makes me more comfortable. I hope it makes students more anxious about breaking mask protocols….

  112. 112.

    germy

    @sdhays: @A Ghost to Most: @Frankensteinbeck:

    He admits it on national television.  He wants to slow the post office to interfere with mail-in voting.

    I mean, he admits it.

    It isn’t even conjecture at this point or “some of his critics claim” territory.

    I bet the rest of the GOP wishes he would shut the hell up, but he can’t.  Especially when he goes on Fox.

  113. 113.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Chief Oshkosh: I live out in the red red red Boonie Woods. It’s slowed down here too. Considering the fact that all mail, both urban and rural, are sorted at the same facilities*, they can’t target it that way.

    * I just got some chicks via priority mail from Lebanon MO. First they went to the KC facility. Then they went to the STL facility. then they finally came here early AM of day 3. A little longer than usual, and yes I was worried it might stretch to 4 days, but all was fine.

  114. 114.

    Betty Cracker

    @Frankensteinbeck: I’m usually with you on the “it’s the stupidity, stupid” angle, but burning the post office to the ground might actually be a strategic move. A dumb strategy that was implemented too early and affects Republican voters more and is therefore likely to blow up in their faces, true! But a strategy nonetheless rather than the usual lurching and flailing.

  116. 116.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Jeffro: I will probably vote early in person – one of the early-voting sites in Baltimore City is no more than 5 minutes’ drive from home & it shouldn’t be hard to identify the least busy times of day (probably late morning or midafternoon) for minimal viral exposure. You should consider that as well.

    IMO the Democratic Party ought to identify any jurisdiction that intends to delay counting early votes, and initiate whatever action is possible (executive, legislative and/or judicial) to require that they be counted immediately after the polls close on Election Day, together with that day’s in-person votes and all mailed-in ballots received by that date. (IIUC, MD intends not to begin counting mailed-in ballots until the morning after. This needs to be changed.)

  117. 117.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @germy:

    I bet the rest of the GOP wishes he would shut the hell up

    Saying openly they refuse to support anything that encourages more voting because that would help Democrats is mainstream Republican thinking and McConnell himself has said it to the press.

  120. 120.

    sdhays

    @germy: Do you remember when Kevin McCarthy lost his chance to be Speaker because he blurted out the truth on national television that the Benghazi committees were all a sham to tear down Hillary Clinton?

    Good times.

  122. 122.

    NotMax

    Just now finished up a four-part documentary on Prime which was a lot better than I anticipated, Europe in the Middle Ages. While hardly comprehensive, an interesting approach as well as informative. They create one person as a sort of pastiche of whatever topic they’re covering in each episode and present the re-enactment as a focal point for the travels necessary to cover so much physical ground. Approximately 50 minutes per episode, so moves along briskly.

    Part 1: Knights and Tournaments
    Part 2: Monks and Heretics
    Part3: Peasants and Nobles
    Part 4: Cities and Cathedrals

  123. 123.

    JPL

    @Yutsano:  The other day I mentioned that I’m voting in person, although I’m seventy-one.   I don’t trust the state of GA to count my absentee ballot.

  125. 125.

    JPL

    @Immanentize: My sister-in-law who lives in Houston, went a week without mail.   Her mail person wasn’t available, so they just didn’t deliver mail.

  127. 127.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Uncle Cosmo:and initiate whatever action is possible (executive, legislative and/or judicial) to require that they be counted immediately after the polls close on Election Day, together with that day’s in-person votes and all mailed-in ballots received by that date.

    The main thing is money, the money to hire the necessary people to certify and count all those ballots. I doubt anyone has any extra money lying around, what with the economic downturn and reduced revenues. We have to be patient and prepare everybody else to be patient because the numbers won’t be known for days, maybe more in some places.

  129. 129.

    ThresherK

    There’s something about the set of ultra-lefties who’ll jump thru hoops to say “Well, picking Harris lost <i>my</i> vote. But they’d better win!”

    That is an actual quote.

  132. 132.

    jonas

    @Danielx:  Unfortunately, a lot of Fox News viewers probably will be happy to do it.

    As long as they can be sure that someone they hate is hurt more, or can’t vote, they can do without the blood pressure meds for a few days.

  135. 135.

    John S.

    @NotMax: Flat mail and packages are sorted differently. I’m not sure which method your cigars are shipped in, but smoke if you got ‘em!

    I order all my coffee from Hawaii, and the shipment I was supposed to get via UPS got lost in transit. The replacement shipment was sent via USPS and got here on time last week. The UPS shipment magically arrived 2 days later – and 6 weeks late.

  137. 137.

    jonas

    @OzarkHillbilly: We have to be patient and prepare everybody else to be patient because the numbers won’t be known for days, maybe more in some places.

    Not only that, we’ll have an administration using every tool at its disposal in the federal government to actively stop, hinder, or delegitimize the counting every step of the way, backed up by local nuts who may resort to violence. It will make 2000 look like a cakewalk.

  138. 138.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @NotMax:

    Back in the Before Times, when the common American man could travel easily far and abroad and we welcomed by all manner of strangers, I went to Siena, in Tuscany. There was a large wall spreading betwen a church and another structure that closed off the end of a square that was being used as a parking lot. It was clearly something grand yet unfinished.

    I asked the guide what it was – her answer gave me a jolt.

    ”It was to be the largest, grandest cathedral in all of Europe”, she said.

    I pressed. “But why’d they stop?”

    Her response: “You’ve heard of the Black Plague?”

  139. 139.

    Immanentize

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  yes, Rice’s test and trace includes all those living off campus as well.  If an OC student tests positive, they can either quarantine in their apartment or home OR they can move into the quarantine dorm on campus.  Every OC student positive will be visited by a tracer.

  142. 142.

    NotMax

    @John S.

    They’re sent priority package (for which I pay additional shipping fees). It’s the only way the concern I happen to order from will ship to Hawaii, although they offer a UPS option to the contiguous states.

  144. 144.

    WaterGirl

    @Gin & Tonic: This was a 2-for-1 special for me.

    I was overjoyed to see that perfect comment:

    “When did Newsweek become both racist AND stupid?”

    And then I got to laugh at your perfect rejoinder:

    “Several years ago, if I recall correctly.”

  149. 149.

    patroclus

    I just got through reading a bunch of articles from India about Harris being the first-ever Indian-American V-P nominee and they are possibly even more thrilled about it than African-Americans and women generally.  This is a big deal there and reminds me about how Kenya reacted when Obama first became a Senator and then the Presidential nominee and then President.  Very heart-warming and filled with references to the “American Dream” and how Indian-Americans pride themselves on being a “model minority” in the States.  (And even some contrapuntal stories about how the “typical” Indian-American grandmother’s reaction would be “Kamala, why can’t you be the Presidential nominee?”).  Kamala means “Lotus” locally in several languages – perhaps it’ll be Lotus to POTUS.

  152. 152.

    SFAW

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    But now I think you were buying baby chickens.

    Unfortunately, Ozark hasn’t had the same luck with growing chickens as he had with the various plants and veggies he’s shown us. He’s still trying to figure out if he’s planting them too deep, or too close together.

    Yes, I know it’s as old as I am. So sue me.

  154. 154.

    frosty

    @Jeffro: @PsiFighter37:  My wife and I have decided to do the same thing. It’s relatively safe, our zip code has only had 40-odd cases and the polling place is a former school gym. High ceilings, big floor, spread out voting booths. I want to see this called on election night.

  156. 156.

    CCL

    @Betty Cracker:   I haven’t read all the comments, but I agree, it’s so important to understand somewhat your state’s election laws (and it’s often not easy).  For example, here, Absentee ballots are counted on election day, with public access to the counting process but, of course, the public cannot see the absentee envelopes/ballots.   The ballots are not unsealed nor counted and tallied before Election day – although, depending on the locality, the envelopes are usually recorded as having been received.

    Every primary, we have to explain to several “unaffiliated” voters individuals that we have closed primaries – and that means that unless they are “affiliated” with the party, they are not entitled to vote in that party’s primary.

    Election law isn’t obvious to the average person and I don’t blame them, but I am grateful for all the work being done this year to get important information out to potential electors (such as making sure to sign the absentee/mail in ballot envelope).

  159. 159.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ken: There is what I ordered (65) what they send (usually one or 2 extra) because of the inevitable (2 dead in transit). Even if my wording is less than clear, the math isn’t. I didn’t think I had to do that too for this bunch of jackals.  ;-)

  161. 161.

    frosty

    @PPCLI: Good idea, but the Democratic governor will have to have  D legislature to pull it off. Not gonna happen in PA. Mail-in ballot counting starts on Election Day. It’s worse in Maryland, it starts 8AM on the Wednesday after!

  163. 163.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @raven: Do you get pissed off every time someone says white people suck or that men hate women on this blog?  All Christian are intolerant assholes and Boomers are worse than Hitler?  Or is it just the South that gets you riled up?

  164. 164.

    cmorenc

    @Punchy:

    As someone else said the other day, it seems the plan is to have Trump ahead in the count on Election night, then have the DoJ sue every state in an attempt to discredit mail-ins and have their count stopped.  Or just flat-ignore any counts by mail-in.

    Exactly – with the help of some judge-shopping among newly Trump-appointed Federal District Court Judges.  Though IMHO they will quickly within a couple of days get overruled by most of the Circuit courts – Trump / Barr will have at least achieved the objective of throwing the election results into chaos and uncertainty for several days.

    Also, though I could be disappointed, IMHO when this gets to SCOTUS, Roberts won’t stand for these Trump attempts to sabotage the election in this blatant manner, because though he’s ideologically a firm conservative, he also values the institution of SCOTUS and his own long-term legacy, and how he has sided on some recent decisions against Trump hints that he wants no part in going out of his way to protect a rogue goon like Trump who has utter contempt for the rule of law

    In Roberts long-view, it’s also likely that his conservative 5-4 majority will survive 4 years of a Biden presidency and in the meantime, hopefully the GOP will nominate someone more sensible in four years to be in office when Thomas eventually retires.

  169. 169.

    catclub

    @Reboot: I read all these comments on how folks are  early voting… and then go read the Mississippi voting laws.  No early voting, no vote by mail,

    absentee only with valid excuse.

  170. 170.

    JPL

    @catclub: I was nine months pregnant and went to vote absentee in LA, and had to swear I’d be out of the state.    Maybe they have changed the laws since then.

  171. 171.

    Ken

    I got my pay stub today, and my (pretty big) company is still withholding FICA for Medicare and SS, so I guess they’re treating Trump’s order as meaningless theater. Either that or it would take three months for HR to change the payroll system, so they’re not going to bother wasting the money.

  173. 173.

    frosty

    @WaterGirl: Thanks, I’ll look into the hoops we have to jump through if we ask for a mail-in ballot and decide not to use it. If we do I’ll drop it off at the BoE at the County Courthouse.

  174. 174.

    mrmoshpotato

    @germy: I was about to post that myself.

    Hell, it would’ve been easier and more direct to say “I’m sabotaging the Post Office to sabotage the election.”

    These motherfuckers.

  175. 175.

    NotMax

    Hawaii successfully transitioned to 100% mail voting for the primary last weekend. No polling places. Final printout of results released only about 6 or so hours later than in previous elections.

    And total number of voters went up from previous elections.

  177. 177.

    mrmoshpotato

    @ThresherK:

    There’s something about the set of ultra-lefties who’ll jump thru hoops to say “Well, picking Harris lost <i>my</i> vote. But they’d better win!” 

    Something that makes you want to slap the shit out of the holier-than-thou, selfish shitheads?

  178. 178.

    Reboot

    @catclub: Here in Virginia, you can early vote at your local registrar’s office 45 days out from the election. I think Virginia’s situation was somewhat similar to Mississippi’s prior to the mid-term blue wave.

  179. 179.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @SFAW: But Barr would never do anything like that, now would he?

    It doesn’t sound like Barr would be so careless as to be so blatant. Then again, having the Trumps harass him with their brilliant plan and maybe he caved, more maybe they just assume Barr will do it. This is the Trumps after all.

  180. 180.

    Matt McIrvin

    I WAS going to vote by mail this year–seemed like a no-brainer, and I requested the ballots–but in-person early voting like I did in 2016 (when it first became available) and 2018 is looking like the better option now. The place at City Hall is usually essentially deserted when I do it, so the danger is relatively small.

    Massachusetts doesn’t seem to have any restriction on going to vote in person if you requested a mail ballot; it’s just a question of whether they already received your completed ballot. (Their rule is that the ballot has to be received by Election Day, but you can check on their website whether they received it and go vote in person if they haven’t. So that’s another option, but given COVID I’d like to get it done in as uncrowded a situation as possible.)

  181. 181.

    planetjanet

    @rikyrah: I saw this from you last night and it gave me all the feels.  Reminded me of some encounters I had knocking on doors the day before the election in 2008.  One person actually dropped everything and went with me to finish the route.  Oh wait, now you have me crying again.  This means so much!

  182. 182.

    evodevo

    @JPL: Not surprised…we are VERY VERY short on subs here at my Ky PO…no overtime, plus hiring freezes every time we turn around plus the workload from hell  have pretty much decimated our ranks.  If there is not funding relief soon, and airline flights aren’t resumed to carry Priority mail, the mail delivery will be as deceased as Herman Cain…

  184. 184.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Betty Cracker:

     

    A dumb strategy that was implemented too early and affects Republican voters more and is therefore likely to blow up in their faces, true!

    I don’t know that it’s all that dumb. It dampens enthusiasm overall and it creates confusion. What happened the last time there was confusion? Bush v Gore.

    BTW, I was in the audience years ago when Sandra Day O’Connor, out on the speaking tour in retirement and after her husband had died, told the (mostly rich, white, Republican) audience sitting in the country club clubhouse in their gated community that she went along with the other USSC “conservatives” so that a Republican president would be ” elected” and would name her successors that she could then retire sooner and tend to her ailing husband.

    She flat-out said that.

  190. 190.

    SFAW

    @germy:

    Is that how trump met the current first lady?

    Don’t be silly; Vladi sent her to him via DHL. [I don’t know if FedEx did international shipments in those days, but DHL certainly did. ]

  191. 191.

    snoey

    @Matt McIrvin: 
    Doesn’t seem to be much difference in my town. Either vote by mail but drop the envelope off at town hall or early vote and fill it out there.

    Primary ballots came 1 day after postmark date so I guess my local PO is just taking them to/from town hall directly.

  192. 192.

    Just Chuck

    @SFAW:

    First guy talked about how some of his friends call Harris a “race traitor.”

    Yeah, “his friends”, sure.  This is the point where any decent human should have gone *click* “let’s hear from the next caller.”

  194. 194.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Betty Cracker: Well put, Cracker! IMO Warren’s “skill set” makes her an attractive retail politician for a rather small sliver of the Democratic electorate** but in the past season put off (or at least failed to impress) enough of the rest of the party to win a single primary or more than a handful of delegates.

    Personally, I value Warren’s ability to identify problems and her ability to craft programs to solve them – but I would not want the shepherding of such programs through the Senate left in her hands. Which is Job 1, maybe Jobs 1-5, of a Majority Leader.

    ** Which, also IMO, is vastly overrepresented on this blog, leading to much weeping & gnashing of teeth.

  196. 196.

    James E Powell

    @germy:

    He admits it on national television.  He wants to slow the post office to interfere with mail-in voting.

    And none of the people who argued that Hillary Clinton’s email server was disqualifying will say that this is a problem. The NYT will not publish several hundred articles about it. Cable shows will not obsess over it.

    Shocking, I know.

  198. 198.

    bluefoot

    @rikyrah: Well that sucks.  You’d think 6 months into this, we would be better at testing.  Way back in March, my nephew was put on the list to get tested by the NYS Dept of Health (he was exposed and had symptoms) and was never able to be tested.  Hang in there and I have my fingers crossed for you.

  199. 199.

    Gin & Tonic

    @bluefoot: New York is doing better. My son just returned to Brooklyn from nearly a year out of the country – he’s isolating, but will be testing on Saturday, I believe.

  200. 200.

    J R in WV

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    Recent observations about the US Postal Service:

    1. I requested a mail-in ballot in a timely manner. It did not arrive in time for a recent primary. I had to vote in person, and because I had requested a mail-in ballot, the poll workers and I had to jump through hoops so that I could vote. My request for a mail-in ballot was confirmed more than two weeks out from voting day. The ballot should have arrived at least a week prior, and by previous experience, about 10 days prior.
    2. I just received an official communication from a federal agency. It took two weeks to get to me. The previous mailings from this agency, from November and March, both took three days.

    Something is not right.

    April 30th a tree fell on our house, right smack over the front door, about an hour into the afternoon. I called Davey Tree service, who had taken out a couple of trees last fall, and he came out that afternoon to take a look.

    The very next day the crew was out working with rope to stabilize the tree for safety. By the end of the day, the tree was off the house, and the trunk was hanging by those ropes outside the front door.

    Towards the last part of May we got the bill, as expected it was nearly $6K. In early June we mailed a check to their central HQ address in Kent, Ohio and were glad for the insurance check we had in hand!! In late June we got a “you’re late” bill, and in late July a “Pay up or it goes to a collection agency” letter. I called the local office, where I spoke to their very pleasant office manager, who I told the check had been mailed some time back.

    She told me I was not the first person to call with that information, and that she would put a stop on our account to keep it from going to collection. She knew the mail was failing. She totally believed me that the check was sent weeks ago, from southern WV to NE Ohio, weeks ago!

    I don’t know how American businesses can conduct normal business activities without the US Mail. How will people get medications? How will companies send purchase orders and invoices? If everything takes a month or two longer, won’t that add a big piece of overhead interest to the routine cost of doing business? Can’t the CEOs call the White House and tell them a huge mistake is being made here?

  201. 201.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Chief Oshkosh: They’re trying to create a situation where every possible voting option seems wrong and dangerous. In person: you’ll die of COVID-19. By mail: Trump will mess with your ballot. Drop box: we’re suing to eliminate the drop box! Instead of dealing with the mental distress some fraction of people will just decide not to vote, instead of using their least worst option and hoping for the best.

  202. 202.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    because I had requested a mail-in ballot, the poll workers and I had to jump through hoops so that I could vote.

    I wonder how many places this is the case. This is direct suppression even of in-person voting.

  203. 203.

    planetjanet

    @Jeffro: I am voting early, as soon as possible.  Maybe I drop off my mail-in ballot for vote in person early, just in case I get hit by a bus.

  205. 205.

    Zelma

    In New Jersey we have a no excuse needed mail in option.  But there is a snag.  Once you request a mail-in ballot, you will continue to receive one whether you request it or not.  In past elections, we have had people show up in person who then had to do a provisional ballot.  Since the recent primary was conducted entirely via mail, I’m wondering what’s going to happen in November.  Haven’t heard anything yet.

    BTW, it was a mess at our voting place.  They had over 100 people show up insisting to vote in person.  My town is both Republican and old.  They actually believe Trump.

  206. 206.

    Ruckus

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    It is their MO.

    Do the first thing that comes to mind and full speed ahead!

    Doesn’t matter if it’s illegal, or doesn’t actually do what they think it will, is effective or just totally nonsensical, this is the gang that couldn’t shoot, let alone aim.

Comments are closed.