— guy caligiuri (????????????) (@mmcgrath42) August 17, 2020
Pelosi emphasizes need for COVID-19 deal 'now' https://t.co/mrkfAriRZp pic.twitter.com/joJsQmgHNh
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 19, 2020
Once again, Democrats offer a compromise because people are suffering… I doubt the GOP Death Cult will agree to negotiate, which is not the best look for Repub Senators running for reelection right now:
… “We have to try to come to that agreement now,” Pelosi said in an online interview with Politico. “We’re willing to cut our bill in half to meet the needs right now. We’ll take it up again in January. We’ll see them again in January. But for now, we can cut the bill in half.”
A senior House Democratic aide said Pelosi was reiterating a standing call by Democrats for the White House and Republicans to meet them “half way” on coronavirus relief.
Pelosi also said she did not want to wait to reach a deal at the end of September, when Congress will need to agree on funding to keep the government open during the next federal fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
The Democratic-led House passed legislation with over $3 trillion in relief in May. Democrats offered this month to reduce that sum by $1 trillion, but the White House rejected it…
Meanwhile, Big Business is leaning on Mnuchin to pull up his socks and tell Meadows to stop playing games:
Cool thing about this is Trump manages to (1) hand Dems a legit argument about Trump trying to defund Social Security (2) upset employers (3) anger GOP Senators (4) blow up negotiations with the House (5) without actually even managing to deliver short-term tax relief. https://t.co/KKIdR2R3o2
— Jonathan Bernstein (@jbview) August 18, 2020
Elsewhere, FiveThirtyEight — in its attempt to be Hip with the Kewl Media Kidz — is embarrassing itself:
You either die a Silver or live long enough to become a Cillizza. https://t.co/3u9flE7LTh
— Tentin Quarantino (@agraybee) August 19, 2020
germy
Leave this one in the “Once all the old boomers die out, everything will be better” file:
germy
Welcome, Cindy McCain
Baud
@germy:
Karens for Biden!
OzarkHillbilly
Proof that the Swiss do everything better than we do: It snows chocolate there.
No need to, the neighborhood kids licked it clean.
WereBear
Politics sure makes strange bedfellows.
Baud
So tonight will be Hillary, Barack, Warren, and Kamala.
Damn, that’s going to be lit.
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly: And unlike the US, their chocolate quality is zealously guarded. Why Hershey is off my list, and Lindt still IS.
Baud
@WereBear:
The price of being the antifa party.
Raven
We made it to the beach. Jesus it was hot but right down on the water it was tolerable. The guys at the bait shop said fishing was ok but I got zip. About 3am the lighting started and just stopped! Like paradise.
germy
I must have missed this:
NBC reported that AOC endorsed Sanders instead of Biden. (But she already endorsed Biden way before the convention)
The tweet NBC deleted was really despicable. Is Andy Lack still running that place, or was he chased out?
Baud
@germy: Welcome to Hillary Clinton’s world, AOC.
OzarkHillbilly
Trigger warning: This video can induce an over reaction in the lacrimal ducts of the eyes.
debbie
Not quite sure what 538 expected after only two hours. ?
Mary G
I don’t know why people bitch about AOC not getting enough speaking time. She owns Twitter.
Raven
Social distance report, about the same as home. 80% masks in the grocery store. Nothing at the beach but it’s pretty easy to keep the distance.
Amir Khalid
How does Nate Silver not realise that his convention report card is laughably oversimplified and totally subjective?
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
So sweet!
gkoutnik
@Mary G: …and how many other first term Representatives got any speaking time at all, other than in the montages? My Rep certainly didn’t – a black, former rap producer representing a rural, upstate NY dairy district and doing a fantastic job.
debbie
@Raven:
Bonus points if no one is yelling at masked shoppers.
Good luck with the fishing, wherever you are!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@germy:
Sounds like she may be learning that there is a cost to targeting incumbents, insofar as people being prepared to expect the worst from her even if untrue.
Baud
WRT the “report card,” is Nate or anyone here tuning in to the several issue panels that the DNC is live streaming during the daytime hours?
OzarkHillbilly
@Mary G: “If I can regularly roast Trump sycophants in 280 characters or less, I can speak to progressive values in 60 secs,” -AOC
Raven
@debbie: They have mandates here and I saw no sign of resistance, just stupid motherfuckers.
germy
The people who run the major networks want to nip her in the bud. It took them decades, but they did it to Hillary. And they’ll do it to AOC, and anyone else they fear will raise their taxes.
germy
@gkoutnik:
Delgado?
Baud
@germy:
That’s good info. I was wondering about that last night.
germy
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Surely there are some incumbents who should be primaried? The guy AOC replaced was sort of coasting. And Lacy Clay was sitting pretty, using his office as a piggy bank. I’m glad Cori Bush challenged him.
germy
@Baud: But now I have a craving for calamari.
Baud
@germy:
Calamari is going viral.
Frankensteinbeck
I have a lot of mixed feelings about compromise offers. Even the full package probably isn’t enough, but America desperately needs help. Republicans don’t want to, and they’re hiding behind Trump to let him get the blame. On the other hand, “We offered to compromise and they refused” can be an excellent public message, and Pelosi knows it.
There is a takeway from this whole negotiation that liberals should recognize: The rich and business leaders want a stimulus. They need customers. McConnell and a fat chunk of his caucus won’t do it. When push comes to shove, elected Republicans choose hate over plutocracy.
Brachiator
Trump doesn’t care anymore, and he is slipping any leash the GOP leadership tries to put on him. His executive order here about payroll taxes may be illegal, and all it does is defer taxes until later. The amount still has to be collected and paid to the payroll authorities, so it is not even a real tax cut in any sense.
But this is all that Trump wanted. He never cared about either the GOP plan or the Democrats’ alternative.
Most economists agree that more relief would be good for people still kicked in the butt by the economic impact of the pandemic. McConnell does not want to give the Democrats anything, and may be counting on the tiny band aid of Trump’s executive orders being enough to fool some voters into believing that the Republicans give a shit about them.
The GOP may be looking ahead to November, and expecting the Democrats ultimately to give in. And that would certainly be reasonable. It might get some help to people.
But the riskier move would be to give power to the people. Don’t give in and tell them that the GOP plan offers nothing. And that if the people want the help they need, they should hang in and vote the Republicans out in November.
germy
Laura Ingraham reports, you decide:
“Jill Biden’s ex-husband accuses her of affair with Joe in 1970s”
The more desperate Joe’s enemies get, the uglier and lower they go.
gkoutnik
@germy: Yep
WereBear
@Frankensteinbeck:
This is why I am calling them a Republican Death Cult. They have reached the point where an apocalyptic cult brings the end of their world, because reality has impinged so very much.
They have reached the stage of Qanon primary candidates winning. The oligarchs were sure they had this monster under control. But they don’t.
Their propaganda successfully undermined their voters’ grip on reality. Now, their voters have been captured by the Trump Cult. The oligarchs are back to their own, tiny, numbers.
Which is why they are infesting our party. Their own base is out of their reach…
Baud
Steeplejack
Re FiveThirtyEight “grading the convention”:
Bonus comment: “Some could probably do with a B.S. from STFU.”
narya
Girding myself to take public transportation to the other end of the city to go to the dentist today . . .
Thanks to you all, I actually watched a lot of last night, and I LOVED the roll call! I’ve seen them before and meh, but last night, with the wide variety of faces and languages, with First Nations folks and folks of every color and ethnicity, well, I was there for it. I want them to do it this way EVERY year–it kept things moving while being way more moving than the usual hoop-de-doo in person.
Kay
Here’s the roll call vote from 2008 – the Clinton column is the delegates who voted for Clinton rather than Obama.
PenAndKey
The Democratic party is doing just fine, and as far as I can see nobody is infesting us, unless by that you’re referring to groups like the Lincoln project that are more anti-Trump/McConnell than they are pro-Democrat. I don’t see that so much trying to co-opt the DNC as I do it being multiple aligned groups with a common goal of removing Trump and the faction he represents from power. They’re our temporary allies, not us. We have a big tent but let’s not make the mistake of thinking everyone on our side of this particular fight is actually in it or trying to claim it as their own.
Kay
@narya:
I agree. Much better than on the floor. I actually loved the weirdness of it – the odd angles, how you hear the wind whipping around :)
Matt McIrvin
@Frankensteinbeck: The Democrats are actively helping the Republicans by even offering these deals. The Republicans are hurting themselves by being so reluctant to vote for them. If they pass, it probably even makes Trump’s reelection more likely, because people won’t be hurting as badly in November.
But we care and they don’t. That’s the difference.
Matt McIrvin
@PenAndKey: I really hope you’re right. Honestly, seeing the DNC give even one second of time to all these Bush Republicans seriously bothers me, even if I understand what they’re trying to do, and I’m just hoping we don’t get an administration full of old allegedly reformed neocons who’ll shank us like Comey.
Immanentize
@Baud: And Rhode Island style calamari is the bomb!
gkoutnik
@narya: Oh, yeah. Never want to see a conventional (so to speak) roll call again.
Immanentize
@germy: Were a majority of US citizens even alive when Joe was supposedly getting frisky with Jill?
JPL
When I went to Mediaite this morning this gem was on top Fox’s Brit Hume Praises Jill Biden’s Speech, Calls Her ‘Very Likable’ in Contrast with Michelle Obama’s ‘Hard, Angry Edge’ WTF is wrong with these people. Does racist memes just come naturally to them.
Steeplejack
@Raven:
Where you at? The usual place in Florida?
Mary G
@Kay: Also the mask wearing and social distancing just sent a message of “we’re the grownups who’re secure enough to just take care of business.”
Baud
@JPL: Yes.
gkoutnik
@JPL: …and I was telling my wife yesterday that I was disappointed that Michelle was so restrained (meaning, I suppose, that she is more of a grown-up than I am). Sigh…
I yearn for some bomb-throwing. I know, I know…
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Raven: That sounds lovely actually. I love thunderstorms, though I suppose the dogs didn’t.
ETA: I’ve read that beaches are pretty safe because there’s nearly always a breeze. Social distancing assumed, of course.
germy
A majority of US citizens were alive when trump was supposedly getting frisky in an elevator in Russia.
Immanentize
@Matt McIrvin: Just stop with the worry about Republicans at the convention. It is concern trolling. Not one has said anything that has contradicted the Dem platform. Think of them as a public parade of willing defectors.
Mary G
@Matt McIrvin: I find the lack of support or even mention for trans rights except as the T in LGBT disturbing, and no one has said boo about abortion. I get wanting to not scare the crossover voters they want, but it feels like they’re throwing the base under the bus a bit.
Frankensteinbeck
@Brachiator:
Not a good bet, since it looks like none of those orders will do anything. The states have refused the unemployment extension offer because they don’t have the money for their part. The debt relief and eviction moratorium are pipe dreams he didn’t actually order. Our resident IRS worker (Yutsano?) says the payroll tax cut physically can’t happen any time soon, because changing the process like that is a huge undertaking. When the voters are depending on something you said you gave them, and they don’t get it, they get pissed. It happened with the early coronavirus response.
Kay
@Mary G:
I think this was very successful for the audience. It was visually interesting. I thought I’d jump in and out like I usually do and I watched the whole thing. Good job. It managed to look both cohesive and organized but also like it was put on by the people appearing. It just sort of..worked and the coordination looked like it just..happened.
germy
Thunderstorms and neon signs
Immanentize
@JPL:
Yes.
ETA. Brit Hume and Tony Snow (dead you know) once interviewed me at like 5 in the morning about my client who was a person with what we used to call mental retardation the day he was executed. They both are jackasses.
Baud
@germy:
I hate Trump, but many men suffer from that at some point in their lives.
Or so I’m told.
Frankensteinbeck
@Immanentize:
All they have to do is say the racist/sexist/homophobic things they think. I’m sure they were honestly speaking their reactions.
Immanentize
@Raven: just casting into the surf is good for your Spirit (but be generous to your leg!)
Baud
@Mary G:
Are you watching any of the issue panels during the day?
We have prime time two hours for four days. Our message is going to have to be broad based.
OzarkHillbilly
From *The Post Office Scandal is Either Stupid or Evil, Your Choice :
I googled and can not find where they missed the deadline on any news sites. Has anybody else heard of it?
* fair warning, the Bulwark is a website for Never trump conservatives
Frankensteinbeck
@Baud:
I don’t give a damn about Trump’s affairs. His sex life is none of my business. His bragging about sexual assault says way more about his evil nature. I don’t think Putin needs it to blackmail him. Trump worships Putin as the coolest of the Cool Kids Dictators Club.
Immanentize
@Frankensteinbeck: I agree. But if it comes out that they are running down Michelle to praise Jill on Fox freaking News, we are winning. Their narrative seems now to be that Obama sucked, Biden is OK. Which is probably the plutocrat view until January 21.
OzarkHillbilly
@PenAndKey: Agreed.
Immanentize
@Kay: I know how much you believe kids need to be in school right now, but it is not going so well in practice. I think teachers should all make little DeVos voodoo dolls and publicly/symbolically put pins in her.
Baud
@Immanentize:
Kamala will be on tonight, so expect a Thursday hate fest on Fox and other right wing media.
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: As it should. Rhode Island represent!
Immanentize
@Baud: My issue, my issue! Why isn’t Brian Stevenson a keynote speaker at the convention denouncing the US system of State executions?
I think I’ll have to vote for West.
Frankensteinbeck
@Baud:
I am expecting Kamala to face an incredible, disgusting level of nonstop insults during the remainder of this campaign, with the mainstream media merely being condescendingly disapproving. I am hoping I am wrong. The Democratic base seems overjoyed with her.
Dorothy A. Winsor
If the Republicans go full metal nuts, it’s possible their more traditional members may seek a home with the Democrats and try to pull the party to the right. Under those circumstances, I can see the Ds splitting so you could have three nominees for president. Paul LePage in Maine is an example of a nightmare minority winner under circumstances like that. I’m willing to be convinced this is unlikely.
Another thought: Would the electoral college make a minority winner less likely?
Immanentize
@Baud: I do love that Biden said that we ALL must have Harris’ back. True. Some woman on Twitter said, love her and support her because Kamala is about to become the most hated woman in the country.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: Isn’t Rhode Island famous for you?
Baud
@Immanentize:
Interesting issue, since Kamala is strong in her opposition to the death penalty.
Ken
Any mystery Republican guests making a statement of contrition?
Gin & Tonic
@Immanentize: Squid produces more revenue.
Baud
@Ken: We’ll see. DNC is smart to keep us guessing.
Danielx
@Frankensteinbeck:
I don’t know if hate is the right word. Maybe economic philosophy, or theology.
Or is this one of those distinction-without-a-difference deals?
Immanentize
@Dorothy A. Winsor: There is no scenario in which the Democratic party would or could run two candidates for President of the US. And under your hypo — it would be a divided Republican party (old school vs Batshit crazy) dividing their already minority vote. As my great grandmother used to say,
“Doncha vorry, Sonny.”
Ken
@WereBear: Terry Pratchett’s take:
Frankensteinbeck
@Danielx:
I would say ‘yes’, since their economic philosophy is ‘give the rich everything they want’ and ‘hurt everyone else as much as possible.’ These are almost never obviously in conflict, but now that they are, it looks like the second part is more important to them than the first.
Immanentize
@Baud: I know. And I trust her and the Catholic Biden to do right. I really don’t care who they have at the convention as long as it maximizes votes for B/H.
I think Harris, as VP pick has two jobs:. Make Biden look good and don’t be a drag on the ticket (like Shriver or Palin). She will excel at both. (Yes, she was my primary choice, why do you ask?)
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: But squid don’t pay no taxes!
Baud
Danielx
@Baud:
There’s an app for that.
SFAW
@Baud:
TPM is also reporting that USPS workers have been commanded not to sign as witnesses for mail-in ballots.
DeJoy’s “OK, we won’t do much more vote suppression, now that we’ve been caught” caving needs to be extended/enlarged to include “and fuckery we’ve managed to do so far will be reversed.” Not that I think that reversal will happen without a court order (which will get appealed up to SCOTUS), or DeJoy’s money or family held hostage.
Kattails
@Baud: @Frankensteinbeck: Dear Baud, I, for one, saw what you did there. ;-)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Immanentize: I was thinking there’d be a new party–sort of like the emergence of the Republican Party in the deep national divisions before the Civil War. It’s hard for me to imagine the D party getting bigger but remaining unified.
Living in Chicagoland now, I do notice that it’s hard to have single party rule without a ton of corruption.
TS (the original)
@germy:
It’s always the women they attack – the media and the GOP. Always the women. Way past time their sexist right to rule & attack women be removed.
Brachiator
@Frankensteinbeck:
may be counting on the tiny band aid of Trump’s executive orders being enough to fool some voters into believing that the Republicans give a shit about them.
Which is why I called it a tiny band aid. The states are scrambling to see if they can help do what Trump promised, and Trump’s people are scrambling to see if they can redirect money not spent on the previous stimulus package to come up with a $300 benefit. About 7 red states think that they can pull something together.
Some of Trump’s most dedicated supporters will grasp onto anything that lets them think that Trump cares. And Trump is betting that he can bamboozle people long enough to make it to November.
But this shit is looking more like Trump scrambling to rescue one of this bad real estate deals back in the day. He is squandering time and resources to try to recover some of his lost popularity. And he may be going beyond the ability of the GOP to rescue him.
But I still run across people who stubbornly insist on seeing Trump as their savior.
I am not a big watcher of the national polls, but I will be interested to see how things look after the GOP convention.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: No, that’s work.
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: Controversial?? Controversial!!? What the ever-loving fuck? What, exactly, is the controversy? Who doesn’t love calamari?
SFAW
@Baud:
Little-known “fact”: Rhode Island’s Official State Bird is the Quahog. [Pronounced “koe-hog” by de locals.] A delicacy second only to calamari.
TS (the original)
@debbie: Not sure that they listened given their rating on policy content.
Waiting to hear their response to the non existent trump policy.
Immanentize
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Believe you me, corruption happens in two party states and cities as well. Some places, like Chicago, just have a deep tradition of backscratching, payola and corruption. Look at the bright side — it’s better than it used to be!
OzarkHillbilly
@Gin & Tonic: My son in law.
SFAW
@Gin & Tonic:
It was started by clueless Massholes who thought that the name of the moderately-corrupt former/late Providence Mayuh was “Buddy Calamari.” Outside of that, there’s no reason.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: Isn’t the controversy how Rhode Island calamari is served (hot peppers and garlic) versus ‘New York’ style (with marinara)? I much prefer the Rhode Island version.
Lacuna-Synecdoche
@Brachiator:
That’s my feeling as well – but Nancy has repeatedly shown herself to be smarter than me at this kind of thing, so I’m feeling a little conflicted. My natural impulse is that the Dems should tell McConnell, Trump & Sundry, “Fuck you. We’ll see you at the polls.”
I do wonder if this is coming from Nancy though, or if she’s offering another compromise at Joe’s request?
Kattails
@Immanentize: That would be a good home ec. zoom class, since everyone should know basic sewing. OK Kids, now we will learn how to recycle. Take one of Mommy’s or Daddy’s old shirts, or a sock, here’s how you do a backstitch, now a little embroidery for the face. Now, get those pins out. (Sadly, when I was growing up shop was strictly boys and home ec. strictly girls.)
Immanentize
@SFAW: Quahogs are big cherrystone clams. Are they birds too?
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: You know your daughter was misguided in her decision to marry that feller….
Gin & Tonic
@Immanentize: That’s like pretending there’s some “controversy” about clam chowder.
germy
@TS (the original):
Did you see the press conference where trump was asked (by a male reporter) if he regrets all the lies he’s told? Trump with a blank expression moves on to the next reporter.
If Yamiche Alcindor had asked the question, he would have blown up at her.
Immanentize
@Kattails: I love this! We need a simple pattern to make them look like DeVos. Where is Donnah when we need her?!
Ken
@Gin & Tonic: Personally I split the difference, with a cream and tomato sauce.
SFAW
@Immanentize:
Attempted joke at the expense of Vo Dilunders. Of course, now I’m probably on G&T’s shit list. [As if I wasn’t already.]
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: hmmmm. My Dad preferred Manhattan style….
SFAW
@germy:
Is that the S.V. Date exchange from last week? For a few moments, the Liar-in-Chief didn’t even understand the question.
Another Scott
@Mary G: I noticed one of the real people clips showing someone smiling in a Trans Rights t-shirt. I agree that it’s not been spoken about much yet, but the representation is clearly there.
Cheers,
Scott.
SFAW
@Immanentize:
Despite that, even native New Yorkers prefer New England clam chowdah.
ETA: How’s Immp doing in the wilds of … Houston, I think? I hope he is (and you are) well.
Cameron
@SFAW: I thought quahogs were clams
ETA: Too slow on the draw….
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: When I found that out I seriously questioned her values. Then when I found out they had to eat at a McDonalds a couple times when they were in Mallorca, I knew it was a truly lost cause.
TS (the original)
@germy: I don’t watch trump press conferences – just cannot – but I read reports & heard about your comment. It just seems to be getting worse, despite the democrats have more and more women in senior positions and congress. Other than the fools trying to bring up Jill’s ex, she will probably escape the criticism because
germy
@SFAW: Yes, last week.
At first he didn’t understand the question, but when it was repeated he simply went on to the next reporter without lashing out.
Gin & Tonic
@germy: It was a stupid question.
PenAndKey
From what I’ve seen the rule was put in place to ban postal workers (particularly clerks) from signing as a witness due to “operational capacity”. This is complete BS, especially given that they are simultaneously claiming that there’s enough idle capacity to shut down or remove postal drop boxes and remove sorting equipment.
Beyond all that, the law in Alaska says that an “authority OR any adult over 18” needs to sign as a witness. This is likely why the rule that was just put in place bars clerks from signing while on the job. Honestly, I’d tell those same clerks that they’re completely free to do so and if anyone at the federal level wants to complain or punish it for them they can expect an invitation to be another congressional witness by Pelosi. The fact that they’re simultaneously claiming to not be able to meet capacity and have so much capacity they can shut down or remove core functions is to brazen I’m honestly a little impressed they think they’re positioned strongly enough to get away with it.
At this point they have to go all-in Lukashenko-style to win this election, because they have to know that the second they lose power they’re screwed 6 ways from Sunday.
O. Felix Culpa
@Baud: I’ve watched several caucuses and councils: Hispanic, Black, Women, Rural, Native American and Disability. They’ve been interesting and I’ve learned a few things. A few technical glitches here and there, but generally well-produced. The challenge is of course multiple events happening at the same time.
OzarkHillbilly
@Gin & Tonic: If the purpose of a question is to elicit facts or policy, all questions asked of trump are stupid questions.
OzarkHillbilly
@O. Felix Culpa: You were asking me about male/female flowers on cukes, right? I looked yesterday and the answer is yes, cukes have male and female flowers.
Brachiator
@Lacuna-Synecdoche:
Good question. It would make sense to get Biden’s input.
germy
@Gin & Tonic: It was stupid in that he must have known trump would never answer “Yes, looking back, I truly regret some of the lies I’ve told.”
I think it was just the case of a reporter frustrated by hearing all the bullshit and deciding to ask the obvious question.
trnc
True, but reporting on it is useful because it shines a bright light on the Family Values charlatans.
Uncle Cosmo
@Immanentize: Speaking of surf-casting, yinz might enjoy this poem from my Poifick Master & Hero Of The Zeitgeist, W. S. Merwin (1927-2019). I know I have for many years, and I neither surf nor cast.
NB I tried to c&p it here for the multitudes, without success. Upon further review I realized (in the immortal words of General Yevgraf Andreievich Zhivago [Alec Guinness] at the very end of Dr. Zhivago): Ah, it’s a GIF.**
** Yes, the pun in fact depends on mispronunciation. Take it up with my Guangdong lawyer, Su Mi. :^p
O. Felix Culpa
@OzarkHillbilly: Thank you for doing the research for me! My cukes have beaucoup flowers, so I have to think that there are both types in the mix. Maybe they’re just late-bloomers, as it were.
Uncle Cosmo
@Brachiator: Keep in mind that asking for a given amount now does not preclude coming back to ask for more later, should that first amount be insufficient. It’s Salami Slicing 101.
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly:
Eww.
Uncle Cosmo
You aren’t.
Even before Uncle Joe committed to selecting a woman for the ticket, I said on this very blog that the Thugs wouldn’t be able to lay a glove on him & would instead target his running mate:
Last weekend I ran into a former elementary-school classmate (whom I hadn’t seen in almost 60 years), & the sad thing is that although he’s a pretty intelligent professional guy & isn’t overtly Trumpist, he is completely convinced that Harris will be POTUS before 2021 is in the books.
Not that it doesn’t concern me. I don’t consider Pirro’s offhand comment that Joe “wouldn’t even be on the ticket by Election Day” a prediction grounded in “secret knowledge” – but it works pretty well as a call for stochastic terrorism of the “will-no-one-rid-us-of-this-inconveniently-decent-Democrat” variety.
geg6
@OzarkHillbilly:
They’ve jumped ahead in time, I think. I believe the deadline is this Friday. Not that I think they are wrong about what will happen, mind you.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/13/politics/trump-campaign-voter-fraud-lawsuit-pennsylvania/index.html
There go two miscreants
@Ken: Reminds me of some of John Oliver’s rants!
StringOnAStick
@O. Felix Culpa: I’m growing a seedless cuke called Picollino and it has tons of both kinds of flowers. You can see tiny, tiny cucumbers right behind about half the flowers when they open so that’s where the fruit comes from. I can’t recommend this variety highly enough, it is super productive, tasty, and resistant to some of the typical cucumber diseases. The seeds are about $1 each but they are worth it!
WaterGirl
@Mary G: Not really disagreeing with you, but I think we need to look at the convention as a whole.
If the folks putting this together are smart, and I think they are, they are building toward something with the nights of prime time programming and the issue-based things in the daytime.
We are seeing these one piece at a time, obviously, but each event, prime time or not, is a chapter in the book that is the Dem convention.
Besides the obvious reasons to mock 538 for their childish report card, they are foolishly judging each chapter as a stand-alone book, which is a mistake.
Poblano should have stuck with what he was good at – the stats. That’s why he was so useful for a couple of elections; no spin, just the facts. I was worried he would get coopted when he hit the bigs, and here we are.
WereBear
@Ken: Can’t go wrong with Sir Pratchett.
Mo Salad
@Ken: Well, any friend of yours…
Ian
@Amir Khalid:
He knows. That dude and fact based analysis went on separate paths not too long after he got big and was placed on the NYT.
Ian
@Immanentize:
Well, other than the 3 or 4 times we did that already. But those were in the 1800s…
The argument I think Dorothy is trying to make is that as the moderate republicans become D voters there is a very realistic chance they could bolt on us for a John Anderson or Ross Perot style candidate.
LongHairedWeirdo
Oooowooowooo OUTCH!
(that’s the kind of burn that’s turning second degree, where the pain suddenly shoots up from “warning, warning!” all the way to “HOLY CRAP!”)
I respect Nate Silver’s statistical chops… probably more than I used to respect Greenwald’s righteous anger, before it became self-righteous. But I must confess, sadly, it was *accurate*.
(Oh: the T in “outch” is intentional. If people actually say “ouch” as a word, but it hurts more than expected, they frequently do kind of stick a T to get that -tch sound. Don’t ask me how I know this if you’re not interested in relatively mild BDSM.)