Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Biden: Oh no. We’ve upset Big Pharma again.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

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

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Republicans in disarray!

RIP Zandar. We are still here fighting the stupid, now in your honor.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Cold Grey Dawn Open Thread: It’s Down to the Interns & Tryhards, Over There

Cold Grey Dawn Open Thread: It’s Down to the Interns & Tryhards, Over There

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  3. 3.

    Eljai

    Another part of the failure of that tweet is that Biden doesn’t look like he’s meandering at all. He appears to be walking purposefully.  And even if he were meandering, it’s not like that’s a shameful thing.  If you can’t meander on a Sunday during a holiday weekend, when the fuck are we allowed to meander?  Good day, sir!

  7. 7.

    Sebastian

    @rikyrah:

    Yes to the stealing but they are notoriously bad at business. All of them.

    They squandered it all on BS. The levels of stupidity and incompetence will be staggering when finally revealed.

  8. 8.

    Martin

    i wonder if there’s a scientific formula that can determine the exact point in the polling where Trump say’s fuck it, I’ll just keep all of the campaign funds.

  13. 13.

    opiejeanne

    @rikyrah: I think you’re right, and maybe the big money donors have decided they’ve given enough to these chiselers, these cheap thieves.

    Did you hear about Trump’s trip to Paris in 2018, when he decided not to go to the cemetery and had 5 or 6 hours in the American Embassy in Paris with nothing to do? He had his people pack up some artwork and put it on Air Force One, without asking the Ambassador. She was both perplexed and amused, because the things he took were copies of original pieces, or in one case, 20th century fakes of 17th century silver figurines.

    One of the copies was a portrait of Benjamin Franklin that is in the National Gallery, and which he could have asked to have hung in the White House. His staff, after figuring that out, swapped the copy for the real thing.

    He told Ambassador Jamie McCourt*, “Don’t worry, you’ll get them all back in six years.”

    They had better keep an eye on Donnie and Melania when they leave the White House because

  14. 14.

    Sally

    Hillary was wrong. They aren’t deplorable and there aren’t a small number of them. They are despicable, and it’s most of them.

  16. 16.

    Eljai

    @opiejeanne: After Trump leaves with his grifting family members and low quality hires, they are going to have to take a very thorough inventory from the art collections on down to the salt and pepper shakers.

  19. 19.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Sally: We need to agree on a hierarchy of hatred *grin*.

    deplorable > despicable, on that I think, we can all agree.  Where stands “contemptible”?  Is it beneath despicable?  between the two?

  22. 22.

    JAFD

    Good morning, fellow Jackals !

    Apologies to ye Californios, but has been beautiful weekend here in ye Mid-Atlantic.  Been out running errands on foot, trying to get back into condition before winter, two miles thru Bloomfield Saturday – saw some serious cricketeers in Watsessing Park – a mile around the Ironbound yesterday.  Plan to head to Manhattan today.

    Various electronic devices not behaving well, some I can maybe fix, some I ain’ gonna try.  Somehow ‘Patient Portal’ at my eye surgeon’s got wrong pnone number for me, so ain’ connectd there yet.  And other first world problems, all of which waiteth for Tuesday

    Bought some stuf at Staples this past week, coupon with receipt “$15 off posters or yard signs when you spend $75 or more” – exp. 10/31.  If anyone can use this, pass word to me via a front-pager with your address and I’ll mail it to you

    Love, luck and lollipops to you for Labor Day.  Keep your hands washed and your mask high !

  23. 23.

    NotMax

    @JAFD

    Plan to head to Manhattan today.

    PATH train?

    Was pleasantly surprised with how reasonable the senior fare for the combo ticket rail shuttle and PATH ride from Newark Airport through to NYC Penn Station was.

  24. 24.

    opiejeanne

    @Eljai: They’ll probably try to roll up the rug in the Oval Office, but that’s one thing I wouldn’t mind them taking: the colors are ugly.  They have no taste, and think beige and gold are a classy statement.   It looks like oatmeal served in a gold-rimmed bowl.

  25. 25.

    trnc

    @Eljai: Another part of the failure of that tweet is that Biden doesn’t look like he’s meandering at all. He appears to be walking purposefully.

    True dat, but think of it this way – anyone trying to “gotcha” a father walking to his son’s grave may not actually be interested in portraying anything accurately about that father.

  27. 27.

    Amir Khalid

    I don’t know how much a lack of TV advertising will really hurt the Trump/Pence campaign. It seems to me that the vast majority of American voters have already made up their minds.

  28. 28.

    opiejeanne

    @NotMax: I see these people partying like there’s no COVID-19, no masks, no social distancing, and I feel like we’re going to be trapped here at home for the next 30 years.

    I’m trying to figure out how we could just go somewhere, take a trip and stay safe from maskless idiots. I am thinking about renting an RV, tossing the cat in, and just going. That would be after the garden is finished for the year.  Two problems: the cost is prohibitive ($300+ a day!), and most of the passes going east will be closing at about that point. I mean, just getting out of the Seattle region on 90 is problematic by then. Do not want to get trapped in Wyoming in a snowstorm.

    I guess we could head for the Olympic peninsula, camp near a beach for a few days.

  30. 30.

    Geminid

    @Amir Khalid: Yes, there are not many voters on the fence this year, less than usual. There are more voters, though, who are registered, have a preference, and still might not vote.  For example, political analyst Rachel Bitecofer says that over a million Texas women were registered but did not vote in 2016. It’s probable that Pennsylvania and Florida will be very close this year, and trump needs both.

  31. 31.

    Amir Khalid

    My daily Covid-19 report.

    Malaysia’s daily numbers. A whopping 62 new cases today, one shy of last week’s total of new cases. 56 cases from local infection: 16 Malaysians, four in Kedak, one in Penang state, 11 in Sabah; 40 non-Malaysians, all in Sabah. 50 of the 51 cases reported in Sabah are from the Benteng Lahad Datu prison cluster. Six imported cases: two Malaysians, returning from Turkey; four non-Malaysians, arriving from Bangladesh (two), Indonesia, and Egypt. The cumulative reported total is 9,459 cases.

    Nine more patients recovered and were discharged, for a total of 9,124 patients recovered or 96.46% of the cumulative reported total. Active and contagious cases currently being isolated/treated in hospital soared to 207 patients; six are in ICU, four of them on respirators.

    There have been no new deaths since 1st September, and the total remains at 128 deathd — 1.35% of the cumulative reported total, 1.38% of resolved cases.

  32. 32.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: Bitecofer also says persuasion dollars spent on advertising have a relatively small effect, that investments in widely distributed voter contact to get out the vote pay off much better.

  33. 33.

    NotMax

    As forecast, India has sprinted past Brazil to become the #2 country in most reported COVID-19 cases. Nearly 91,000 additional cases in India over the most recent twenty-four hours.

  34. 34.

    p.a.

    Post-inaugural, would be cool to have a conceptual artist tent the WH for a weekend with “Fumigation in Progress” signs everywhere.

  36. 36.

    Sally

    @Chetan Murthy: Well, IMHO, deplorable < contemptible < despicable. Many of them are all three. I also thought HRC was incorrect in 2016, and called them despicable then, and argued that she shouldn’t have walked back her comments. I know that’s unrealistic, but I would have liked her to have said “Prove it, that you’re not deplorable”. Instead they have proven that there is no depth to which they will not sink.

  37. 37.

    Jack Canuck

    @Amir Khalid: Wow, that’s not a good turn of events.

    Meanwhile, things are looking better here in Australia on the numbers front:

    Australia as a whole:

    48 new cases in the last 24 hours

    1954 active cases (estimated)

    762 total deaths

    26322 total cases, with 22598 recovered

    And in Victoria:

    41 cases in the last 24 hours (lowest since early June)

    1781 active cases (estimated)

    675 total deaths (9 in the last 24 hours)

    A roadmap out of the serious restrictions in Melbourne & the rest of Victoria was announced yesterday, and it’s going to be slow and tedious and while dates were announced, it depends on targets being hit for numbers. A lot of people who should know better are complaining about “Dictator Dan” (Andrews, the premier) and ‘martial law’ and such crap. I learned today that if I’m not 100% against the roadmap, I must be a) an authoritarian lickspittle, b) too stupid to understand the hardships the restrictions are imposing on vulnerable people, c) completely lacking in empathy if I do understand (and apparently I and my family are somehow completely unaffected!), or d) some combination of all the above. Who knew?

  38. 38.

    Ohio Mom

    Anne Laurie can take the weekend off from Covid posts but apparently a thread will appear on its own.

    School has started in my suburban neighborhood; the district gave families the choice of sending their kids in for old-fashioned full days, five days a week or distance learning. There’s no hybrid and no changing your mind.

    When I go out on errands, I sometimes pass the elementary school groups of little ones with their parents, waiting for the bus to school (about nine am) or in the afternoon, groups of parents by themselves, waiting to greet their children as they get off the bus.

    No masks! They are bunched together, chatting, as they do, as if Covid does not exist. Bah! Vectors in the making, the lot of them.

  39. 39.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland — Today’s figures are that 146 people have tested positive for Covid-19, 2.4% of those newly tested yesterday. Over the weekend the number of confirmed cases was also very high, reaching levels not seen in Scotland since May this year. The test positivity rate is also increasing, something that must be worrying the government. Still no new deaths of confirmed cases though and hospitalisations are up only slightly.

    The government is tempering this increase in cases by comparisons with the last time such high numbers were reported, in the late spring. A lot of the confirmed new cases are in younger people, increased testing is catching very mild and early asymptomatic cases and there are only a few people in intensive care rather than the dozens of beds occupied during the first major peak in cases. It’s still worrying.

     

    We apparently had an anti-restrictions protest here in Edinburgh yesterday — I don’t go out much at the moment so I didn’t see it or hear it myself. It seemed to be somewhat like the German protests a few days ago, a lot of “mask rules are oppressive” and “re-open the country”. In other news 300 spectators at a recent charity football match have been told to self-isolate after several attendees came down with COVID-19 symptoms.

  40. 40.

    Ken

    @Martin: i wonder if there’s a scientific formula that can determine the exact point in the polling where Trump say’s fuck it, I’ll just keep all of the campaign funds.

    Data point: They’ve stopped buying ads in Arizona where Trump trails by 7 percentage points.  They have said they’ll start  again in October.

  41. 41.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Geminid: Bitecofer also says persuasion dollars spent on advertising have a relatively small effect, that investments in widely distributed voter contact to get out the vote pay off much better.

    I second that promotion. Both tops-of-the-ticket are so well known through national exposure that they’ve already defined themselves in the (prospective) electorate’s collective mind. Ads this year serve the same purpose as lawn signs & bumper stickers: Reinforce your supporters’ determination to get out there & vote & drag as many friends & family with them (in the physical and electoral sense). Use the $$$ to help them do it.

  42. 42.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Geminid:

     

    investments in widely distributed voter contact to get out the vote pay off much better

    Are there tasks that an older, crotchety lay-about can do to help the cause? I’m sure there are lists, but I’m finally focusing. So, I guess my ad is “Older, crotchety, and procrastinating lay-about seeks position to help save the world from destruction.”

  45. 45.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Sally: We all ought to keep in mind what HRC actually said in that famous speech of 10 Sept 2016:

    Now, some of those folks — they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America. But the other basket— and I know this because I see friends from all over America here — I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas — as well as, you know, New York and California — but that other basket of people are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they’re just desperate for change. It doesn’t really even matter where it comes from. They don’t buy everything he says, but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won’t wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroine, feel like they’re in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.

    IMHO the Biden-Harris campaign has done (& is doing)  outstanding work, not merely in recognizing the truth of this but in encouraging former Trump voters to come on board. We are going to need every one of them who can be shaken loose in order to decisively repudiate the Shitgibbon and all his divisive works – not just at the polling place but culturally.

    With cultural repudiation – a shared sense that Trumpublican bigotry and fascism should have no right to participate in public discourse – we probably have time to refloat and refit the Ship of State and get it back on course. Without it, we’ll have to battle the same shit every 4 years (if not every 2) – and all that has to happen is for a slicker, slipperier demagogue to rile the deplorables, despicables & contemptibles and (with the help of America’s enemies) just once steal or cheat their way to an election victory, and we’re back in the septic tank, maybe for generations – or forever.

  46. 46.

    waynel140

    Here is the Line of the Day:

    Douglas M. Griffin @DouglasMGriffin

    @Rschooley

    Kid’s got problems. He was born after Stripes and still named Francis.

  49. 49.

    Chris Johnson

    @Robert Sneddon:

    It seemed to be somewhat like the German protests a few days ago

    I heard about those on an anti-QAnon podcast I listen to, and was really startled. Really large numbers, and professionally produced signs IN ENGLISH begging for help from ‘Mr President’? Is that true and if so what the flying fuck?

    I mean, on the one hand clearly aimed for an audience of one, but also what the hell? How does that play in Berlin, how does that seem to Germans? If anti-mask stuff is essentially QAnon or partially QAnon and QAnon is essentially a Russian op, then it would make sense that QAnon/Russia is able to come up with resources in Europe (and indeed has lots of leverage w.r.t racism and right-wingism) so does this become an active attempt to get ALL the ‘allies’ and western-types to die off in piles of COVID-19?

    It really did startle me hearing about massive anti-mask rallies in fucking GERMANY. You would think they would be down with obeying health orders and wiping out the pandemic through disciplined behavior.

  50. 50.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @rikyrah: I honestly think that they have been stealing all along, and the big donors haven’t replenished the money trough yet.

    I honestly think that has been the chief raison d’etre all along for anyone to have worked to get and keep this son-of-a-bitch elected. From his horrible children to some schmuck in Florida selling Trump boat flags to yacht owners at West Palm Beach marinas it’s all about how they can cash in on the money that rolls in from the rubes.

    Period.

  51. 51.

    sukabi

    1. Wasn’t it in the last 2 weeks or ao there were reports of the drumpf campaign raising over $900m? This was at the same time that they were “reevaluating” their ad buys ..
  52. 52.

    J R in WV

    @Chetan Murthy: 

    deplorable > despicable, on that I think, we can all agree. Where stands “contemptible”? Is it beneath despicable? between the two?

    I think Contemptible sits right above, atop and parallel to Despicable…

  53. 53.

    lee

    I always got a weird vibe about Brad Parscale.

    I had a feeling he was going run off with all their money. I wonder how significant that that ‘death star’ tweet is now.

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