Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

It’s the corruption, stupid.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

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

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

John Fetterman: Too Manly for Pennsylvania.  Paid for by the Oz for Senator campaign.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Monday Morning Open Thread: As We Go Marching, Marching…

Monday Morning Open Thread: As We Go Marching, Marching…

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175Comments

  1. 1.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Blech.

    On the non-blech hand I get my youngest GD all to myself today. On the non-blechiest hand, I learned last night that I am expecting a 3rd grandchild in April. Getting old sucks but it has it’s moments.

  4. 4.

    raven

    We’re marching, marching to Shibboleth,
    With the Eagle and the Sword!
    We’re praising Zion ’til her death,
    Until we meet our last reward!
    Men: Our Lord’s reward!
    Women: Zion! Oh happy Zion!
    O’er wrapp’d, but not detained!
    Men: Lion, f’rocious Lion!
    His beard our mighty mane!
    Women: At First and Main!
    Men: Oh, we;ll go marching, marching to Omaha,
    With the Buckram and the Cord!
    Women: You’ll hear us “boom” our State!
    Men: Ha, ha! As we cross the final ford!
    Women: The flaming Ford!
    Choir: Zion! Oh mighty Zion!
    Your bison now are dust!
    As your cornflakes rise
    “Gainst the rust-red skies,
    Then our blood requires us must

  6. 6.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @WereBear: The 3rd one will belong to my youngest son and his wife down in NOLA, so no direct competition and unfortunately, too far away for us to get weekly interaction with. :-( but we will just have to make our way down there more often.

  7. 7.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Lovely news! Congratulations! This is not only non-blech, it’s anti-blech :-)

    Let’s all do whatever we can to make sure Ozark’s (and everybody’s) grandchildren have a healthy and sane country to grow up in.

  8. 8.

    Chyron HR

    Will you be killing baby’s and taking guns away ?
    Not at the event, no.

    “This just further demonstrates the Democrat failure party’s disregard for the economic insecurity of the White working class.” – Bernie Sanders, probably

  10. 10.

    glory b

    Ugh, so now the news this morning is “Tightening polls!” “Dead heat in swing states!”

    Also, I reallt don’t care for Yasmin Vesuvian (probably misspelled her last name). She’s a poor interviewer.

  14. 14.

    gkoutnik

    @SiubhanDuinne: No truer words.  I’ve pretty much had my run, but every day I think about the world that my children and my (so far) one awesome grandchild will struggle with.  That’s all that matters.  They are brilliant and can take care of themselves, but we’re all in this together.  OK.  I’ll make some phone bank calls just for you guys.

  16. 16.

    glory b

    @Chyron HR: I wonder why he is saying that Biden isn’t doing enough talking about healthcare. In western PA, I’ve seen his health care ad a lot.

    Also, because of the pandemic, Biden’s not campaigning with anyone. Why would he campaign with AOC? That seems to fly in the face of safety precautions.

  18. 18.

    Baud

    @glory b:

    Wilmer’s gotta Wilmer

    Also too, fundraising might be drying up.

    Also three, they want to say they were instrumental in Biden’s win.

  19. 19.

    glory b

    @gkoutnik: Am I the only one here with non-brilliant kids? I mean, I love them dearly, but they are average and I’m okay with that.

    So, do it, whatever it may be, for the average folks who will need a hand.

  25. 25.

    Kay

    Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s campaign is establishing a major new legal operation, bringing in two former solicitor generals and hundreds of lawyers in what the campaign billed as the largest election protection program in presidential campaign history.

  26. 26.

    gkoutnik

    @glory b:   Ha!  Of course my kids are brilliant.  So are yours!  And by brilliant I mean that they shine with the light that our children dazzle us with all the time.

    Ironically, I am retired from a career in School Psychology, in which I made required but generally un-useful assessments of children’s intelligence.  And no, I’m not up for a long discussion of intelligence and tests of, because after a long summer of strict quarantine, I am visiting the home of my very brilliant granddaughter, and she’ll be up soon.  So y’all are on your own.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Good.

    Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s

    Is that NYT style, to spell out the whole name without his former Veep title?

    ETA: I initially thought Joe had a son I hadn’t heard of.

  35. 35.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    Oh, sorry. Well, they switch from President XXX to Mr. XXX. My guess would be that this kind of thing is done to save space. Every word is precious, you know.

  37. 37.

    danielx

    @debbie:

    Every word is precious, you know.

    Especially if you are David Brooks, since you’re being paid the big bucks to generate eight hundred words of drivel twice a week.

  38. 38.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    The Trump campaign has a whole page on their website dedicated to lying about and attacking the lead litigator, so that’s good.

  40. 40.

    debbie

    My copy of the NYT Style Guide is very dated, but it does say “…with a title (if warranted),” so I guess they didn’t feel it was needed.

  41. 41.

    glory b

    • And, referring back to Wilmer’s complaints, since my first post on the subject, I’ve seen 2 Biden commercials on economic stuff, one about reversing the Trump tax cuts with a promise not to raise taxes on middle income earners and one about assisting black owned small businesses and working towards economic equality.
    • All 3 before 7:30 a.m.
  42. 42.

    NotMax

    Union Depot running on TCM right now. Warner Bros. managed to cram pretty much every star on its lot into a pre-code feature which includes everything the code would later disallow, and then some.

  43. 43.

    Sally

    I heard when my children were at school that if every gifted child grew up to be a gifted adult, the average IQ would be 30 points higher! Children develop at different rates, sometimes in fits and starts. A child might seem gifted at eight, and “average” at fifteen. Average at twelve might be brilliant at twenty two, doing research instead of taking exams. Sometimes we grow into ourselves! Edward De Bono asserted in one of his books that given a choice between being more intelligent or knowing how to think, he would unequivocally choose the latter. FWIW.

  44. 44.

    trnc

    @Kay: Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s campaign is establishing a major new legal operation, bringing in two former solicitor generals and hundreds of lawyers in what the campaign billed as the largest election protection program in presidential campaign history.

    Good. Shouldn’t take long for the wingnut wurlitzer to claim it’s all part of the rigging scheme, but whatevs.

  46. 46.

    Kay

    One of the two candidates for President has condemned violence of all kinds committed by anyone- Biden- Trump refuses to and indeed regularly incites violence- yet Biden is the candidate who is asked over and over if he condemns violence.

    I mean, it is infuriating how Trump plays media. Why would they accept his frame and pursue it in this way? It’s like he told them all- “go ask Biden over and over about violence”. Why would the onus be on the candidate who denounced violence rather then the candidate who refuses to denounce it?  That’s crazy, yet they ALL followed Trump’s lead. I don’t think any thought goes into this at all.

  47. 47.

    trnc

    @danielx: Especially if you are David Brooks, since you’re being paid the big bucks to generate eight hundred words of drivel twice a week.

    I was pleasantly surprised when Brooks was on NPR a couple of weeks ago. He roughed up DT and did not follow up with some backhanded BS about Dems, and the host did NOT try to lead him back around to said BS effort. Almost gives me a glimmer of hope for entitled media personalities.

  48. 48.

    trnc

    @Kay: Why would the onus be on the candidate who denounced violence rather then the candidate who refuses to denounce it? That’s crazy, yet they ALL followed Trump’s lead. I don’t think any thought goes into this at all.

    My fear is that a LOT of thought goes into this by media owners.

  50. 50.

    Baud

    @trnc:

    I’m not sure if it’s a lot of thought.  It’s more that they are culturally in tune with GOP type fears more than with Dem type fears.

  54. 54.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Trump set it up as “Joe Biden has to disprove that he supports violence” and they all said “sure! That makes sense!”

    There doesn’t seem to be any individual judgment used at all- no thought at all put into if the basic premise underlying the questions is valid. These individuals are failing. They have enormous discretion in the questions they ask and what they write. These are decisions they’re making – this isn’t responding to events- it’s creating a playing field. Why did they start with the assumption that Biden is responsible for the violence? Where did that come from it didn’t come from Donald Trump? It doesn’t make sense so they got this outlandish notion from somewhere- they got it from Trump. He directs their reporting.

  55. 55.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    I noticed an alert on the Ring app on my phone, someone had posted a message that 2 young women had stolen 3 of their Trump signs(they were placed around this person’s large Trump flag).  The comments were somewhat predictable for blue Glendale.  The best was…”You should have used burning crosses, they’re harder to steal and send the same message”

    ETA: The other good one was, “You should build a big beautiful wall around them”.

  56. 56.

    Zzyzx

    Yesterday afternoon while watching the Seahawks, I felt a warm and bright spot on my arm and I realized it was the sun shining through the window. I got all excited that the smoke was starting to clear but it was just a false hope. AQI of 242 this morning.

  57. 57.

    JMG

    Elite national reporters and commentators, print or TV, are in general people with very good six-figure and up salaries, nice houses, big mortgages, have many years before retirement and, this is crucial, in TV not a lot of job security. They skew towards both-sidesism as a cloaking device to maintain their jobs. They have a built-in lean to the Republican point of view because of their socio-economic situations.

  58. 58.

    Chyron HR

    @glory b:

    ’ve seen 2 Biden commercials on economic stuff, one about reversing the Trump tax cuts with a promise not to raise taxes on middle income earners and one about assisting black owned small businesses and working towards economic equality.

    Oh.  Now I understand the Bernie meltdown.

  59. 59.

    clay

    @Kay: According to the Trump surrogates yesterday, Biden is also responsible for our poor COVID response.  He’s got a lot on his plate!

  60. 60.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    “Joe Biden is responsible for all violence in this country” is the but her emails of 2020. If we win it will be despite their efforts to promote Donald Trump’s desperate attempt to pin something- anything- on Joe Biden.

    They didn’t have to do this. They could have used their own judgment and framed this in a much more honest way- they CHOSE this, in exactly the same way I choose questions to ask witnesses in a hearing, except unlike them I admit I am creating a favorable narrative for my client and don’t pretend to be a neutral.

  61. 61.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Good, because I’m afraid they’re going to need a massive election protection program. Even if Biden wins in a landslide I’m afraid they’ll be in court for a month or two fighting with Trump.

  62. 62.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    So, apparently Fox News is trying to drum up some bullshit by casting doubt on the legitimacy of half of the 2019 ActBlue donations coming from “untraceable unemployed” people. Has anybody else heard anything about this?

  63. 63.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @JMG: I wonder if elite media’s financial situation also indicates the way they grew up. If it does, then I suspect that has a strong a role as their current situation does. The politic you hear and develop as a young adult tend to stick with you

  64. 64.

    SFAW

    @raven:

    Firesign was what also popped into my head when I read the post’s title. Thanks for the lyrics, I had forgotten much/most of them.

  65. 65.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: One of the two candidates for President has condemned violence of all kinds committed by anyone- Biden- Trump refuses to and indeed regularly incites violence- yet Biden is the candidate who is asked over and over if he condemns violence.

    I mean, it is infuriating how Trump plays media. Why would they accept his frame and pursue it in this way? It’s like he told them all- “go ask Biden over and over about violence”. Why would the onus be on the candidate who denounced violence rather then the candidate who refuses to denounce it?  That’s crazy, yet they ALL followed Trump’s lead. I don’t think any thought goes into this at all.

    I am more and more convinced that many in the press want Trump to win, because for them it’s so much fun to cover the Trump presidency. I believe if you could get them all in a room and promise to protect their identities, most of them would tell you that they’ve enjoyed covering Trump because he’s good for ratings and clicks, and it’s fun because there’s a new story every day! Plus, they don’t have to work that hard to do their jobs these days, the scripts almost write themselves. I have no doubt that just like they dreaded covering a Clinton presidency in 2016, they’re dreading the thought of having to cover Biden, because “he’s so boooooring”. So of course they take the traditional position “Republicans always condemn all violence, Democrats encourage it” that we’ve heard since the 1960’s (even though it’s always been nothing but bullshit) and let Trump use it even though it flies in the face of their observed reality. At least they can finally now use the word “lie” when they’re talking about Trump and the virus because thanks to Woodward they can hear in Trump’s own voice that he knew things that he later lied to us about.

  66. 66.

    Gin & Tonic

    After avoiding my favorite beach all summer because of pandemic-related concerns, I went yesterday afternoon. It was pleasantly un-crowded, and I went for a swim in the ocean, which I’ve been dying to do for quite some time. Maybe once more this week if the weather cooperates and I can adjust me schedule.

  67. 67.

    Gin & Tonic

    @SFAW:

    I had forgotten much/most of them.

    I suspect I know the reason for that. Probably the same reason I don’t recall them either.

  68. 68.

    JMG

    Trump’s is surely the first presidential re-election campaign running on the premise he is not and never has been President.

  70. 70.

    Soprano2

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): So, apparently Fox News is trying to drum up some bullshit by casting doubt on the legitimacy of half of the 2019 ActBlue donations coming from “untraceable unemployed” people. Has anybody else heard anything about this?

    I saw this on Twitter, and everyone was pointing out that since for some reason ActBlue doesn’t have “retired” as a choice retired people choose “unemployed”, which is what causes that skew. It’s nothing more than another attempt by conservatives to drum up a scandal where there is none.

  71. 71.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Kay:

    “Joe Biden is responsible for all violence in this country” is the but her emails of 2020..

    I’m sorry Kay, but where are you getting this from? I haven’t seen this gain any traction whatsoever. Maybe I missed something? It’s been all about Trump’s Woodward interviews

  72. 72.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    ETA: I initially thought Joe had a son I hadn’t heard of.

    So you’re saying Biden has been cheating on Jill? He needs to prove that he hasn’t!

    He also needs to prove that he didn’t pass secrets to the Rosenbergs! And that he didn’t train the 9/11 hijackers!

    I hesitated writing the above because I can see it somehow making its way onto Cue A Nun boards.

  75. 75.

    Soprano2

    I heard a glimmer of hope about press coverage this morning on NPR – in a swing county in Ohio, they actually managed to find two Trump to Biden voters!!! I wish I could give them the reporter’s equivalent of a dog biscuit and say “do more like that, because they’re out there”. I was really shocked, because the story started out as the typical “This is a county that Obama won that swung to Trump in 2016, let’s go find out what people there are saying today” story. Those are usually a festival of Trump supporters saying they still like Trump.

    Why, I wonder, do they never go to the cities to find out who those people are supporting?

  76. 76.

    Baud

    @SFAW:

    So you’re saying Biden has been cheating on Jill?

    I believe it’s been confirmed that he cheated on Jill with his first wife.

  79. 79.

    Soprano2

    @Baud: I believe they thought actually having to cover her presidency would be boring, plus there was that “we all hate her she’s awful” thing that they couldn’t quit manage to cover up. Trump was the new, exciting person with new, exciting stories to write. I agree that Republicans would have handed them scandals, but they would have been nothing more than the same old boring bullshit the press has already written about numerous times.

  80. 80.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    I believe it’s been confirmed that he cheated on Jill with his first wife.

    I had forgotten about that. Does that make me a B-bot? [Not a b-boy, wiseguy,]

  81. 81.

    Soprano2

    @Baud: LOL, me too! They violated the unwritten rule that there aren’t any Republican voters who are going to vote for Democrats because Trump is so awful.

  85. 85.

    SFAW

    @Soprano2:

    I heard a glimmer of hope about press coverage this morning on NPR – in a swing county in Ohio, they actually managed to find two Trump to Biden voters!!!

    Inconceivable! Unpossible!

  87. 87.

    TS (the original)

    @glory b:

    I wonder why he is saying that Biden isn’t doing enough talking about healthcare

    Per the WaPo he is also saying lots more against the Biden campaign. Yet again he is campaigning for trump.

  88. 88.

    Immanentize

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: With you, maybe it’s not posturing?  I’m in BLECH mode myself today.

    The one that is pissing me off is the interviewers, the RNC and soon Trump no doubt complaining about Biden’s covid response!  How come Joe didn’t do more?  George Stephafuckyoulous was banging Biden on this line of underwear stains yesterday.

  90. 90.

    TS (the original)

    @Baud:

    Also three, they want to say they were instrumental in Biden’s win.

    They keep this up they will certainly be instrumental in Biden’s loss.

  91. 91.

    Kay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    I think it IS dinging Biden a little. Not to the extent that they all said it would, but on the margins in swing states, and I don’t want to give anything up. The longer Biden can keep several paths open the better, because Trump only has one narrow path. More is better.

  93. 93.

    Dopey-o

    @OzarkHillbilly: On the non-blech hand I get my youngest GD all to myself today. On the non-blechiest hand, I learned last night that I am expecting a 3rd grandchild in April. Getting old sucks but it has it’s moments.

    If i had known how much fun grandkids are, i would have had them first.

    bumpersticker seen somewhere in Colorado. Congrats Ozark.

  94. 94.

    SFAW

    @Immanentize:

    George Stephafuckyoulous was banging Biden on this line of underwear stains yesterday.

    That bullshit with Symone Sanders was pretty bad. She did her best to call bullshit on him, but he insisted on trying to create a “Cokie’s Law” moment.

  95. 95.

    Kay

    @TS (the original):

    The theory is that working class voters care less about a candidate’s “character” than college educated voters do and it didn’t come from Bernie, it came from a Democratic pollster. So appeals to “Biden is a better person” wouldn’t work with them, but “Biden will protect your healthcare” would.

    I don’t know if I agree with it or not- it’s insanely patronizing for one thing- but it is a theory and it isn’t just Bernies.

  96. 96.

    Kay

    @TS (the original):

    The theory is that working class voters care less about a candidate’s “character” than college educated voters do and it didn’t come from Bernie, it came from a Democratic pollster. So appeals to “Biden is a better person” wouldn’t work with them, but “Biden will protect your healthcare” would.

    I don’t know if I agree with it or not- it’s insanely patronizing for one thing- but it is a theory and it isn’t just Bernies.

  97. 97.

    Jeffro

    @Kay:Where did that come from it didn’t come from Donald Trump? It doesn’t make sense so they got this outlandish notion from somewhere- they got it from Trump. He directs their reporting.

    trumpov is shameless and refuses to stop lying, refuses to stop inciting violence…the GOP is shameless and refuses to do anything about it…so instead of continuing to report on that, the media just gives in & gives up.

  99. 99.

    SFAW

    @Kay:

    Trump only has one narrow path.

    I keep hoping Trump gets many paths.

    Of course, they’re paths to jail, penury, jail, deportation, jail, and jail for his entire family.

  103. 103.

    Kathleen

    @glory b: Love my daughter and adult grandsons madly. They’re bright, funny loving people. They were not “high achievers” in school but they have jobs they like and do well. Though one grandson moved out the family still has dinner together twice a week. I’m so proud of them for being who they are. Side note – grandparents can be more competitive than the parents.

  104. 104.

    Kay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    If it wasn’t this it would have been something else and they’re running out of time. They put everything in law n order, so that’s good, IF we can beat it. Not so good if we can’t. They spent the whole summer on law n order to the exclusion of what is their legit strongest area, which is the economy. I’m hoping that was stupid and a fatal error.

  105. 105.

    Barbara

    @Soprano2: These kinds of stores are just worthless. They are, basically, the media equivalent of junk food.  You can gin one up any time you want and you can, of course, always find someone to fit your preferred narrative — “The Black Voters for Trump!”  It’s one reason I will not listen to NPR news coverage anymore.  ‘With newspapers, online or paper, you can just turn the page or not open them.  I have given myself some rules for the road in consuming media. In addition to not reading anything that includes journalists interviewing a few voters, I also have crossed “X might happen” off my list.  E.g., “A Biden Landslide Might Be a Big Problem for Democrats.” Conjecture built upon supposition in every direction.

  108. 108.

    Kay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Law n order would be appealing to them because they’re lazy and bad at their jobs, and screaming “law n order” over and over doesn’t involve any actual work, while focusing on the economy would have, because they would have engaged and put some effort into passing more stimulus. These are lazy, mediocre people who rose because they have been coddled and protected from real competition their whole lives.

  109. 109.

    Matt McIrvin

    @zhena gogolia: A while back there was a story going around about a panel of experts gaming out disputed-election scenarios and concluding that anything other than a crushing Biden landslide was going to be a hellworld catastrophe, constitutional crisis, mass violence, etc. And maybe that’s true, but after seeing the link many times I finally clicked through and saw their list of “experts”–and it was a bunch of never-Trumper Republicans and some loose cannons like Donna “rigged primary” Brazile. I’m not sure I trust their judgment here.

  110. 110.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I just think it’s so funny and so typical of Democrats (in an endearing way) that NONE of us take the upside. None of us bet on it going better than catastrophe :)

    We all approach uncertainty as benefiting Trump, but uncertainty works both ways.

  111. 111.

    Betty Cracker

    @Soprano2: There was a big piece in either The Post or The Times (I think) over the weekend about white women in swing states who voted for Trump in 2016 who are now all-in for Biden. It was pretty encouraging. Biden is also doing a lot better with white college men than Clinton did (gee, I wonder why?), and the majority of white college women are with the Dems, as they were in 2016.

  112. 112.

    Barbara

    @zhena gogolia: Yeah.  I read the article on Arizona, and what kills me is the Nate fucking Silver tweet that was highlighted, that Biden’s path is very narrow — and runs right through Arizona.  Okay, I can understand why an Arizona publication would highlight it, but looking at Nate’s map, supposedly based on current polls, he has Trump winning Pennsylvania, Florida and North Carolina — all states where, according to 538’s current polling data, Biden is ahead.  I am not saying Biden will win in FL or NC (where the data is really within the  margin of error) but Silver’s tweet is incredibly dishonest.  This is why I am tuning out a lot of media.

  116. 116.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @clay: And not just according to Trump surrogates, this was from George Stephanopoulos, a few days ago

    Stephanopoulus demands Biden spokesperson explain Biden’s COVID stance from January

    “Following an interview in which he gave Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller little pushback, Stephanopoulos told (Symone)Sanders that Biden did not have a “significantly different response” from President Donald Trump.  “Can you point to statements in January and February where the vice president called for travel bans, social distancing, wearing masks?” Stephanopoulos wondered.”

  117. 117.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Barbara: 538’s own model has Biden carrying NC, FL, AZ and PA in the median scenario. Presumably Nate was constructing a most plausible scenario for a close/disputed election; those are all states where Trump coming out ahead in the end is certainly not outside the realm of possibility.

  120. 120.

    Betty Cracker

    @taumaturgo: I don’t know anything about RI’s state-level races or demographics, but it’s great to see local activism. That’s the way to build a strong bench.

  121. 121.

    Aleta

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone:  Ugh.  (Symone Sanders was good.)  And C&L headline went as Stephanop wanted.  *

    “I can do you one better,” Sanders replied. “In October 2019, Vice President Biden warned that we were susceptible and vulnerable to a pandemic. In January of 2020, he wrote an op-ed that warned and cautioned that Donald Trump should take this seriously. On March 12, he put out his plan for a COVID-19 response that spoke of widespread testing, making sure everyone had the proper personal protective equipment, that called for operationalizing the Defense Production Act.” …

    At that point, the ABC host interrupted.

    “I asked you about January and February,” Stephanopoulos said. “You said in March the vice president put out a plan, but he also put out a tweet that saying a wall will not stop the coronavirus …

    *Current headline: “GS Demands SS Explain Why B Didn’t Do  …”

  122. 122.

    Soprano2

    @Kathleen: Ding ding ding ding ding you win the prize!!!!! I’m hoping that in a few more election cycles we can finally get away from this unspoken bullshit narrative the press has that all the “real voters” are white people in the suburbs and rural areas. They never say it, but their coverage of the election just screams it. The unspoken assumption of almost all the election coverage is that the “normal” voter is still the white man (and woman sometimes), so we have to take who he is for more seriously than who any other type of voter is for. It’s becoming less and less true every election cycle, but they still use this template for almost all of their election coverage. “No need to go to the cities to find out what they think and who they are voting for, because they aren’t the “real” voter whose opinion we all care about”.

  124. 124.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2: I think that if you were able to poll the secret heart of Republicans (and some will come out and say it explicitly), you’d find that their default idea of politics is that the legitimate leader of the United States is the winner of white men. Or, at least, the winner of white people–the majority of the majority. If that doesn’t happen, something is seriously wrong.

    And that’s the intuitive notion that used to be more or less unquestioned across the whole spectrum. That the consent of the governed means the consent of the ordinary Joe in the street, and the ordinary Joe in the street is a white man. A lot of these media people–even if they’re not conservatives, they’ve been around for a while and they’ve got that somewhere in the backs of their minds.

    I think even the Bernie Sanders, Michael Moore left has got a bit of this going on. Their notion of the real working-class American is inherited from the white-guy “man in the street”. (I was surprised during the Flint, Michigan water crisis to realize that Flint is a majority-black city–and I think the reason it surprised me was that if you watched “Roger and Me,” you really wouldn’t have gotten a sense of that.)

    That you could have a majority of Americans, real legitimate Americans, WITHOUT winning a majority of white men–that doesn’t compute, even though it happens on the regular.

  125. 125.

    Aleta

    @Kay: For me it’s the cheating, which is intended to overcome uncertainty.  (Idle foolish thought:  If Dems were to cheat against the T campaign we’d do it so much better.)

  126. 126.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Aleta: One thing that helps us frighten ourselves is that I think the average Democratic worrier is better at evil-dictator strategy than Donald Trump is.

  127. 127.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Matt McIrvin: Look, if you don’t count AA voters, HRC didn’t get a majority.  That has to mean something.*

    *It does, of course.  Just not what they think.

  128. 128.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Betty Cracker: That article may have painted an overly-optimistic picture. Yes, there were progressive wins, but this was a relatively low-turnout election. RI had its “Presidential preference” primary in April, so this was just primaries for all other offices, only some of which were contested. Since the legislature and State Senate are so heavily Democratic, the “big tent” includes a lot of reps who don’t really represent modern Democratic values. Yes, a handful were turfed out, but a lot remain, and the cronyism and back-scratching is unlikely to decrease appreciably.

    There are also some complex (too complex for this post) divisions in the lege between Black and Hispanic/Latino reps, who “should” be allies but aren’t.

  129. 129.

    Soprano2

    @Matt McIrvin: I think that if you were able to poll the secret heart of Republicans (and some will come out and say it explicitly), you’d find that their default idea of politics is that the legitimate leader of the United States is the winner of white men. Or, at least, the winner of white people–the majority of the majority. If that doesn’t happen, something is seriously wrong.

    ITA with your whole comment, but especially this paragraph. You can tell it by all the “but if demographic “x” hadn’t voted for Obama he wouldn’t have won” or “Hillary wouldn’t have gotten a majority of the votes if so many black/Lation people hadn’t voted for her”. No one ever says “if white men hadn’t voted for Donald Trump in such numbers Hillary Clinton would have won the election”. It’s just assumed that whoever white men voted for is the “normal, acceptable” candidate.  Our society still believes that the “default” person is a white man, and it shows in all the press coverage of the election in many ways if only you look for it.

  130. 130.

    Kay

    @germy:

    His wife uses a private email account on state business.

    At some point there has to be an explanation on why email security doesn’t matter at all anymore. It was the single biggest issue in 2016 and now it matters not all. The people who promoted it as essential to national security should be embarrassed. They were either duped by Donald Trump or dishonest themselves.

  131. 131.

    Aleta

    @Kathleen: I wonder why they don’t go to resort towns,  expensive golf courses and marinas to try to interview people who spent two years enjoying their stock returns and tax cuts.

  138. 138.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Kay: How about it was such a big deal that Obama dad was born in Keyana and the fact that Trump’s mom was born in the UK  and he is married to a foreign national is a non issue.

  139. 139.

    geg6

    @Immanentize:

    He and ABC are doing a town hall special on the network this week (I think, Tuesday?).  I have heard nothing at all about holding a similar one with Biden.

  141. 141.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2: Note, we just nominated a white man literally named Joe, who at all times emphasizes his ordinary-guy characteristics. And a lot of the minority support for him was on the basis of an explicit calculation that this is what we have to do to win this one. So even if we don’t agree with the attitude, we make symbolic allowances for it.

    (It’s part of the reason I was personally a lot more comfortable with the ticket once Kamala Harris was on it. But even that may be a net disadvantage!)

  144. 144.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin: I think that’s different.  Acknowledging that the marginal Dem voter prefers white males is not the same as saying a candidate must win a majority of white men or white people to be legitimate.

  145. 145.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: The early schedule for the presidential primaries would mean that registration deadlines for state and local offices would have to be extremely early.

  146. 146.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Matt McIrvin: As a subset of that, when pundits look at the “working class vote” they mean white male working class. They don’t mean women, and they don’t mean working class men of whichever ethnic groups are not considered “white” this year.

  149. 149.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: And when they talk about the decline of unionism and what must be done about it, they’ve got a mid-20th-century image of white guys with lunch boxes working an assembly line, a mine or a construction site, not minority women in service and public-sector jobs.

  150. 150.

    Kathleen

    @Soprano2: I am so enraged about the dynamic you explained so well. I think it’s obscene and like you said they’re loud and proud with this practice.

  151. 151.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Matt McIrvin: I don’t think that’s fair to the African-American voters, especially the ones who saved Biden’s bacon in South Carolina.

    From what I’ve read people saying, Biden had their trust as someone who would not only listen to them but keep their issues (such as BLM) in the forefront of national policy. Liz Warren, much as I loved her and would have voted for her, never made the sale.

    And that did bug me. It meant that a Warren candidacy would be missing some of the enthusiasm of the rank and file. I must admit that the Biden-Harris combo does more to unify and excite the various factions of our factious party than any other team I could imagine.

  152. 152.

    Kathleen

    @Aleta: Not sure but I’m guessing the “Republicans are the party of the (white) hard working backbone of America” trope will influence the great unwashed to vote for Republicans. “Reporters” must have a thing for diners in rural Ohio.

  153. 153.

    Kay

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    We were told for months that this was a huge national security issue. They brought out expert after expert parsing it all the way down the exact meaning of every word and term of the classification scheme.

    Now it doesn’t matter, at all, who sends email from where. It discredits every single person who told us it was important. If nothing else I would think the experts would want to give the public an explanation.

  154. 154.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Baud: I’m pretty sure that’s the case here. Requiring candidates for local races to decide, file and complete all paperwork in Feb/Mar for a November election would be a real stretch.

  157. 157.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Kay: But they didn’t bring out experts. I can’t recall a single piece that quoted an actual sysadmin – someone who had actually built and run an enterprise-class e-mail system. It was all people who don’t have any idea what SMTP stands for who were bleating about this.

    The fact remains that HRC’s e-mail server was more secure than most governmental systems.

  159. 159.

    Kay

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I can’t judge the email experts- my son is an engineer and he said it was bullshit but he hates everyone.
    They brought out experts in “national security”. We heard all about the various levels of classification, on and on, for more than a year.
    Where are all those people? WTF?
    I mean, people talk about the “death of expertise”. Could some of that possibly be due to the fact that our experts are not themselves credible, due to their own actions?

  160. 160.

    Kay

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I know part of the NYTImes ethos is “never admit a mistake” but what about the rest?

    Andrea Mitchell and Jake Tapper told me over and over that email security was vital to national security. Shouldn’t they have to explain why they no longer give a shit?

  161. 161.

    Kay

    Miles Taylor
    @MilesTaylorUSA
    ·2h
    This bears repeating again and again: almost the entirety of
    @realDonaldTrump
    ‘s national security cabinet felt he was unfit for office and his impulses made America less safe. This isn’t hyperbole. It’s not a talking point. It’s the truth. Don’t become numb to it.

    Oh, Miles, they failed. They had to man up and appear publicly and tell the public that the President was dangerous, and they cared more about their careers than they did about doing that, so they failed.

    No one thinks they will save us anymore- they’re chickenshits. The worst scenario came to pass and they didn’t rise to meet it so now we have to do it.

  163. 163.

    taumaturgo

    @Gin & Tonic: 
    FYI:

    Turnout was relatively strong, considering there were no high-profile statewide or federal races and 14% of registered voters had no contested primaries at all in their precincts. More than 90,000 ballots had been cast at last check, putting voter turnout at roughly 11.4% — higher than in three of Rhode Island’s last five presidential-year primaries. (It hit 12.8% in 2012 and 15.4% in 2000.)

  165. 165.

    catclub

    Does anyone know why TPM is down?  I checked the “Is it me or everyone?”  website and hey said it is down.

  166. 166.

    catclub

    WTF?

     

    Trump Wants 4-Hour Debate Moderated by Joe Rogan
    September 14, 2020 at 11:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 107 Comments

    President Trump signaled he would participate in a four-hour debate with Joe Biden moderated by Joe Rogan, despite such a format being likely impossible.

  167. 167.

    catclub

    Trump Wants 4-Hour Debate Moderated by Joe Rogan
    September 14, 2020 at 11:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 107 Comments

    President Trump signaled he would participate in a four-hour debate with Joe Biden moderated by Joe Rogan, despite such a format being likely impossible.

    I think I had too many links. WTF? was also there. Also who is Joe Rogan?

  168. 168.

    J R in WV

    @Matt McIrvin:

    “You have just a tremendous differential between the president of the United States of America, who has just awesome coercive powers at his disposal, and a challenger who really has no power whatsoever in our system,” said Brooks. “Joe Biden can call a press conference; Donald Trump could call on the 82nd Airborne.”

    Of course Trump could call on the 82nd Airborne — the real question is whether the 82nd Airborne would answer “F’ you Trump, for the Putin Bonuses, the Corona Virus, taking the funds for our kids’ school for your phony border wall,  and so much more!”

  169. 169.

    J R in WV

    @catclub:

    “Joseph James Rogan is an American comedian, podcast host, and mixed martial arts color commentator.”

    So you could see why Trump wants a debate with Mr. Rogan in charge, he’s a comedian and wrestling color commentator.

    HAHAHA~!

    Now I’m laughing too — NOT!

  174. 174.

    glory b

    @Gin & Tonic: Yep. As I recall, the guy who installed Clinton’s server, the most secure system of them all, took the fifth when he was called to testify. I get it, if he was my client I’d have him do the same, because the repubs were clearly out for blood.

    Of course, then they crowed that his taking the fifth was clearly evidence of criminality.

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