Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Giving up is unforgivable.

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

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

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Second rate reporter says what?

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

Petty moves from a petty man.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

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

I really should read my own blog.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

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

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2020 / RNC Con Leftovers Open Thread: The Rockets’ Red Glare

RNC Con Leftovers Open Thread: The Rockets’ Red Glare

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  2. 2.

    Calouste

    I’m sure there were tons of Canadian Russian girlfriends watching the RNC and giving money.

    Fixed.

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Yutsano: before I clicked I guessed it was Pete Carroll. I think if the NBA is the most forward-thinking of sports ball leagues, the NFL is the most retrograde. Good for Carroll.

  9. 9.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Sorry if I’m being a wet blanket, but aren’t those TV ratings nearly identical for Biden and Trump? 24.6 million to 23.8 million isn’t that big of a difference, is it?

  11. 11.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):  See how easy it is to fit 800,000 people in a room. Plus, I guarantee that 1/4 or more of Trump’s numbers were masochistic Dems hate-watching. I doubt the same is true in reverse.

  13. 13.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I heard a clip of Grifterella saying “judge my father by the results”. There’s the stuff of an absolutely brutal ad with that. I hope the Lincoln Project or American Bridge goes for it.

  14. 14.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    This is going to happen more and more over the next two months. They want violence.

    They are extreme chickenshits, which is why Portland is the hotspot.  The news seems to have gotten bored with it, but the violence never stopped in Portland.  The cops are wildly, utterly out of control there and Trump’s goons were actually small potatoes that just got big attention.  Portland is the big city where the right wingers are pretty sure the cops have their backs.

  16. 16.

    mousebumples

    Given how racist (and unwilling to accept that they may have beenaccidentally racist) so many Packer fans are, there’s been a surprising amount of forward thinking/statements and action on their part.

    https://www.packers.com/news/packers-players-appreciate-support-from-the-top

    The photo atop that article is what caught my eye when I saw it on social media.

    It’s also been refreshing to see how many people I follow on Twitter (sportswriters, comedians, actors, etc.) are all out of fucks left to give. They get “Stick to #topic” from people on Twitter, they have been responding back with, “LOL, nope. We’re not going to let you feel like things are Normal.”  Making them feel uncomfortable is the whole point. It won’t change everyone’s mind, but not wanting to ruffle feathers is part of how we (myself included) have let things get to where they have gotten. If you’re not forced to critically examine how you act, think, and feel, you’re not forced to change your approach.

  17. 17.

    Aleta

    Today I talked to a guy who’s the one in his town who owns the bulldozer and the diggers and big trucks and does all the town’s simpler roadwork, and digs gravel and foundation holes,  and makes driveways and lays pipes from wells for the new houses.   His wife captains a fishing boat.  He said, “I’m a lifelong Republican but I can’t vote for Trump.”   And went on about all the ways he despises him.  He hated the convention and the Family up on stage speaking.   “If he wins there’ll be nothing at all to stop him,”  he said.

  19. 19.

    randy khan

    @mousebumples:

    Baseball is a pretty retrograde sport compared to basketball (particularly compared to the WNBA, but nobody does well compared to the WNBA), not to mention the 2nd-whitest major sport after hockey,  and it’s been interesting to see that even baseball teams and commentators seem to be getting this.  We had all of the cancelled games this week, all at the players’ initiatives, and white players talking about how they needed to listen to the Black players on their teams.  And while I was listening to the MLB channel on Sirius XM this morning, both hosts (white former players who are now team broadcasters) were talking about how important this moment was and how it was bigger than sports.  One of them said he’d been retweeting a lot of things from black players and former players, and that he’d noticed some people had unfollowed him.  His on-air response was more or less that he didn’t need Twitter followers like that, so good riddance.

  21. 21.

    Steeplejack

    * TV Alert! *

    Dunno whether by design or serendipity, but TBS is showing Black Panther at 9:00 EDT tonight. There will be commercials, but it’s a good opportunity to take a look for the surprising (to me) number of BJers who have said they haven’t seen it (or any of Chadwick Boseman’s films).

  23. 23.

    Aziz, light!

    @Frankensteinbeck: Unfortunately our local hotheads will take the bait, and go out to confront them in force.

    The best way to handle these gunhumper fools would be to let them have their little cosplay march and pay no attention to them whatsoever. Just stay home, stop validating them, and give them nothing to do except stand around with their dicks in their hands. No news crew coverage means no rethug scare-the-white-people ads.

  25. 25.

    mousebumples

    @randy khan: His on-air response was more or less that he didn’t need Twitter followers like that, so good riddance.

    Which is great!  And, NBA-wise, I’ve loved to see the way my Milwaukee Bucks have really come together as a team during all of this. I mean, this is difficult – no doubt. And I’m not sure if we’ll ever get a public play-by-play of how the decision not to play actually transpired on Wednesday, but I’ve seen a number of the veteran white players on the team trying to find their way to be a good ally to their Black teammates (and to other Black individuals across the nation).

    I don’t want to put words in anyone’s mouth, but I’ve heard lots of, “I need to listen to my friends, to my brothers. I need to understand what they need, and learn how I can help them.”

    Professional sports have their own problems – perhaps largely due to the overwhelmingly old, white, male owners who don’t understand the meaning of adversity? – but the players, the bonds they forge … I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen.

  28. 28.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Its actually worse than that.

    Trump’s campaign asserted (without ant backing, proof, or supporting data at all) that they had X amount of online viewers. Can’t remember exactly how many, but they’re saying the total viewership is over 100 million.

    Fox cited that number. Trump then cited Fox as an ‘independent’ analysis proving he did better than Biden.

    It’s just another giant pathetic circlejerk, and they’re not even bothering to disguise it for the people who will pay more than two seconds of attention. But they think their supporters are stupid cultmember, and they’re right. And they count on sympathetic media to repeat the lie.

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: I believe that the Seahawks were one of the football teams who very much needed a player with Colin Kaepernick’s skills, but passed on him.

    I wonder if I am recalling that correctly, because I only pay attention to football when it intersects with politics.

    I also know the Seahawks because they had some really smart player outspoken player who was involved in some uproar or another, and was on the side of the angels.  Though I can’t recall his name

    edit:  I wonder with all this football awareness if someone will actually hire Colin K.

  31. 31.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Omnes Omnibus: IIRC Aaron Rodgers spoke out in support of BLM earlier this summer, too (much as it pains me to speak well of the Packers). And Drew Brees went from saying kneeling disrespected the flag his grandfather fought for (such an odd form of borrowed umbrage) to putting Jacob Blake’s name on his helmet during practice.

    ETA: @Omnes Omnibus:

    The 2018 Hall of Fame inductee then “liked” a photo showing support for Kyle Rittenhouse,

    Sweet Jesus, I didn’t see that. That’s fucking appalling.

  33. 33.

    senyordave

    Its going to be a long two months+ to the election.  I hope the Dems have a strategy to:

    1. Counter October surprises
    2. Have some October surprises of their own

    I have every expectation that Trump will use government departments to lie for hi, I wouldn’t trust ant arm of the government that falls under the Executive branch.  He has already corrupted both the CDC and the FDA.

  34. 34.

    debbie

    Wish I could remember the specific phrases, but the bits I heard of Trump’s speech were clearly Stephen Miller’s.

  35. 35.

    WaterGirl

    @Ken: I wrote this in the other thread:

    I read that and run to record that on Tivo.  Here, Black Panther is not on TBS until NEXT Sunday, 9/6.

    So this must vary be region or by something.

  36. 36.

    Ken

    According to the online guide, TBS will be showing Black Panther on Sunday September 6.

    EDIT: Oops, criss-cross with Watergirl’s comment above.

  37. 37.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: My brother has an interesting heuristic device for determining whether a Packer fan is a Democrat or a Republican.  Favorite QB of all time:  Favre or Rodgers (People who say Starr as simply considered old).  It tracks pretty well.

  38. 38.

    mousebumples

    Responding to lots of NFL-related comments, but I agree that I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen as of late, overall, across the league.

    The statement of the Baltimore Ravens was impressive – https://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/ravens-make-statement-demands-for-social-justice

    With yet another example of racial discrimination with the shooting of Jacob Blake, and the unlawful abuse of peaceful protesters, we MUST unify as a society. It is imperative that all people – regardless of race, religion, creed or belief – come together to say, ‘Enough is enough!’

    This is bigger than sports. Racism is embedded in the fabric of our nation’s foundation and is a blemish on our country’s history. If we are to change course and make our world a better place, we must face this problem head-on and act now to enact positive change.

    It is time to accept accountability and acknowledge the ramifications of slavery and racial injustice.

    Though we cannot right all the wrongs of our country’s history, we can:

    • Arrest and charge the police officers responsible for Breonna Taylor’s killing and the shooting of Jacob Blake.
    • Demand that Senator Mitch McConnell bring the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 to the Senate floor for vote.
    • End qualified immunity; require body cameras; ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants; hold police accountable in court; establish a framework to prohibit racial profiling at federal, state, and local levels
    • Support state- and federally-mandated CALEA Accreditation and national standards of care in policing.
    • Encourage everyone to engage in the political process by registering to vote on both the local and national level. (http://www.risetovote.turbovote.org.)
    • Demand prison sentencing reform that is fair and equitable.
    • Encourage every citizen to act with respect and compliance when engaging with the police. If you feel there has been an abuse of power, we encourage you to contact your police department’s internal affairs unit. (For Baltimore City, dial 410-396-2300.)

    We will use our platform to drive change now – not just for our generation, but for the generations that follow, for our sons and daughters and for their children.

  39. 39.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @mousebumples:

    It’s also been refreshing to see how many people I follow on Twitter [. . .] are all out of fucks left to give.

    Good thread on that topic:

    I saw a tweet where someone described that when they find out someone they know personally supports Trump, they lose all respect for them instantly. I liked it and retweeted it, but stopped short of sharing it on Instagram.

    Why?

    1/x

    — Gabrielle Blair (@designmom) August 28, 2020

  40. 40.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @MisterForkbeard:

    they think their supporters are stupid cultmember, and they’re right.

    While they may be trying to convince the base, the primary audience is and always has and shall be until January Donald Trump, whose pathetically needy ego demands constant external validation.  Convincing themselves by making someone else repeat their lie is a big narcissist thing.

    EDIT – @senyordave:

    Counter October surprises

    I’m sure they have an excellent plan to counter the inevitable October Surprises:  Stand back and let Trump fuck them up himself.  I have never seen anyone better able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory than Donald Trump.  Over and over he is handed what should be easy popularity spikes for a Republican, and he has fucked up every single one, usually within twenty-four hours.  At this point, no one who isn’t already a sworn Republican voter believes anything out of his or his administration’s mouth.  That, of course, is a big complaint from legitimate pandemic response folks, that if a cure is found, no one will believe or accept it because Trump lies so much.

  47. 47.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @japa21: There is a category for lunatics as well.  Dickey, Whitehurst, and Magic Man fans go there.  Zeke Bratkowski fans get backed away from slowly while avoiding eye contact and raising hands to show you mean no harm.

  51. 51.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Frankensteinbeck: October Surprises: Stand back and let Trump fuck them up himself. I have never seen anyone better able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory than Donald Trump.

    Yes, this, if Trump had the kind of political sense people attributed to him Trump would have at lest gone threw the motions of fighting the virus and be strolling to re-election now.  Look at Cumio, he was hated before by NYC, now Cumio is a hero just for doing his Job. Trump was handed his own 911 and blew it.

  54. 54.

    japa21

    @Omnes Omnibus: Only reason for my pick was his actions resulted in the wonderful phrase, “Upon further review, the Bears still suck.”

    Have to go with Aaron, with Starr second. Yes, I am old. Did get a chance to meet him nice IRL situation, not at a signature signing. His wife was upset they weren’t getting preferential seating at a restaurant where I worked and he told her that they weren’t any more special than anybody else there. I was impressed.

  55. 55.

    Chris T.

    AP tweet:

    Joe Biden’s acceptance speech at the Democratic convention drew 24.6 million TV viewers, edging President Trump, who had 23.8 million at the GOP convention, Nielsen says. Democrats saw higher ratings than Republicans on three of the four convention nights.

    Trump: “But if you discount the millions of illegal viewers…”

  57. 57.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Chris T.:  And Trump’s live audience, who with tears in their eyes thanked Trumped for accepting the nomination!

  59. 59.

    sanjeevs

    Usual concern trolls (Bill Maher, never Trumpers) saying Biden needs to a Sister Souljajh moment.

     

    its real obvious that Trump is really vulnerable on Coronavirus and they’re desperate to distract

  60. 60.

    artem1s

    it’s so stupid that there are so many who think ratings are some measure of a success of a convention. Or how many people go to a candidate’s rallies for that matter. The reason conventions are on TV is because the airwaves are supposed to belong to the public.  the media used to be required to do so many hours a week of public broadcasting.  the only reason we even talk about convention ratings is to get the stupid broadcasters onboard and so they see that it may get them some notoriety and/or ad buys if they do a good job on the pundit/announcing side. People watched conventions to see what Brinkley or Cronkite had to say about a candidate. conventions were only extravaganzas or special before videotaping and TIVO were a thing.  You tuned in if you were a political junky and thought you might miss some Kennedyesque moment. now that you can stream the whole thing at your convenience,   I pray the modern day version of TV convention goes away.  I actually spent some time streaming the ‘business’ portions of the DNC – policy and platform talk.  Imagine a convention that is entirely made of up TED-talk-like info segments that serve to inform the public about what the platform is all about.  I hope the DNC decides to completely reinvent the whole concept and ditches the staged protests, dramatic speeches, and damn balloons forever and all time.

  61. 61.

    different-church-lady

    Jeez I needed to see this: it was really starting to feel like the gaslighting was working.

  64. 64.

    James E Powell

    I’ve only read a few articles about Trump and the RNC that could be called positive. Ruth Marcus called the RNC effective, but that’s like grading draft choices on the night of the draft. The usual dick heads like Brooks and some idiot from the NYT were blathering about how moving Melania’s speech was for suburban housewives who allegedly weren’t going to vote for Trump anyway.

    But overall, there was less flattery of Trump and concern trolling of Democrats than I expected.

  67. 67.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @artem1s: it’s so stupid that there are so many who think ratings are some measure of a success of a convention.

    Trump is at the head of that list of stupid people. A ratings “failure” for him takes some gas out of the Trump blimp, which at the moment is the only thing keeping the Republican Party afloat.

  70. 70.

    lgerard

    Oh Jesus

    President Donald Trump is to visit Kenosha, Wis., where unrest has surged over the past week in the wake of the police shooting of an unarmed African American man, Jacob Blake.

    During a roundtable discussion in Orange, Texas, in which state officials assessed the storm damage from Hurricane Laura, a reporter asked the president whether he would also visit Kenosha.

    “Probably so,” Trump responded. “We’ve had tremendous success as you know. We were finally able to get the go ahead from the local authorities to send in the National Guard. We sent in the National Guard, and within a few minutes of the Guard, everybody cleared out and it became safe.”

    Tremendous success!

  72. 72.

    Kent

    @WaterGirl:

    @Omnes Omnibus: I believe that the Seahawks were one of the football teams who very much needed a player with Colin Kaepernick’s skills, but passed on him.

    I wonder if I am recalling that correctly, because I only pay attention to football when it intersects with politics.

    I also know the Seahawks because they had some really smart player outspoken player who was involved in some uproar or another, and was on the side of the angels.  Though I can’t recall his name

    edit:  I wonder with all this football awareness if someone will actually hire Colin K.

    Seahawk fan here.  I’d disagree.  The Seahawks are pretty set at GB with Russell Wilson but I suppose could use Kap as a backup.  There are lots of other teams with far worse starting QBs where Kap could be more useful.

    And Richard Sherman was traded to the 49ers a few years ago.

  73. 73.

    James E Powell

    @WaterGirl:

    I believe that the Seahawks were one of the football teams who very much needed a player with Colin Kaepernick’s skills, but passed on him.

    Kaepernick wanted a team that would let him compete for the starting QB job. Seahawks have a Hall of Fame level starter. He would have been a better fit with about 10 other teams, but they all refused to consider him.

    NFL owners are pretty much like the Kochs and the Mercers politically. I think they all gave money to Trump. There may be some exceptions. They are all Republicans, though.

  74. 74.

    opiejeanne

    @WaterGirl: We have Russell Wilson and had him at that point. A lot of fans were not impressed with Kaepernick when the Seahawks played SF, and I seem to remember that his tryout was less than spectacular. However, Pete Carroll said recently that he regrets not hiring Kaepernick at the time.

  75. 75.

    James E Powell

    @different-church-lady:

    That was the headline, but she said

    But the convention message offers an unsettling glimpse of the ugly weeks to come — and a challenge to Biden and Democrats to craft an effective response.

    Biden & Democrats need to ignore the RNC and work on getting their obviously popular message out and getting people to vote.

  76. 76.

    opiejeanne

    @debbie: Richard Sherman WAS with the Seahawks until a couple of years ago, and he’s not a quarterback, he’s a cornerback and a really good one. He’s with the Raiders now, I think. We were all sad when he left.

  77. 77.

    WaterGirl

    @Kent: Thanks for the correction.  If the football coaches are serious about this, any team who needs a player with Kaep’s skills should start expressing interest.  Now.

    Put your money where your mouth is.

  79. 79.

    Honus

    @Omnes Omnibus: I was at the Bears-Steelers game in Pittsburgh in 2005 when Jerome Bettis carried Urlacher’s ragged weak ass into the end zone when Urlacher tried to tackle him. He was getting beat do bad we were yelling “put in Urlacher” sarcastically.  He was a joke and I can’t believe he’s in the HOF.  Be like giving Trump a nobel prize.

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