Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Go Senator Whitehouse!

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

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

The willow is too close to the house.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Second rate reporter says what?

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

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

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

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

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson: the bland and smiling face of evil.

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

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

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

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

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Evening Open Thread: Strong, Compassionate and Unbowed

Evening Open Thread: Strong, Compassionate and Unbowed

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You go, Joe!

Just wanted you to have a chance to take a breath and remember that we are not in this fight alone.

Open thread

Evening Open Thread: Strong, Compassionate and Unbowed

Reader Interactions

155Comments

  6. 6.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @WaterGirl: My neighbors decorate their street light (we have the coolest street lights in this town) 365 days. It’s usually something cute or poignant – like all summer it was dressed in scrubs, mask and latex gloves.

    They’re a couple blocks away, but we always pass by on our walks.

    We walked by a few days after RBG’s death and it is dressed in a black robe and lace collar. I cried all the way home.

  7. 7.

    WaterGirl

    Someone on BJ said Katie Porter’s reelection chances are not looking that good.  It would be terrible to lose her.  I bet they are targeting her because she’s so good in the hearings.

  8. 8.

    TaMara (HFG)

    Speaking of national treasures:

  14. 14.

    HumboldtBlue

    @WaterGirl:

    From a July Politico article.

    Katie Porter (D-Calif.), the most prolific fundraiser among endangered House Democrats, brought in $2.5 million during the second quarter of the year.

    Porter’s total, generated from 131,000 contributions, is staggering not just because she raised it in the midst of a global economic crisis. It also is the fifth consecutive quarter that she has cleared the $1 million mark. Her fundraising prowess has firmed up her reelection prospects and knocked her Orange County swing seat to the very edge of the House battleground map.

    Her campaign will report $6.6 million in its reelection war chest as June 30. Porter, who ousted GOP Rep. Mimi Walters in 2018, has banked more in 18 months than most veteran members of Congress. Only four members had over $6 million in cash on hand at the end of the first quarter, according to a POLITICO analysis of FEC filings — and none were freshmen.

  19. 19.

    Jeffro

    I hereby move that, despite not being one of the many fine people who ran in the Democratic primary, we offer Katie Porter a spot in the Democratic Justice League, stat.

    She can be, like, Katana or something.  Power Girl?  She’s just awesome.

  22. 22.

    TaMara (HFG)

    Okay, I have to go and clean up the kitchen – I just made chicken tortilla soup, pizza dough and lemon chicken for the remainder of the week. The kitchen looks like you’d expect. LOL

  26. 26.

    RaflW

    It’s classically semi-intelligible, but I think Trump said in Duluth MN tonight that suburbs are being ruined by poor people and minorities. He’s just out loud yelling the shit now.

    @webster

    *blinks* Trump says: “30% of the people in the suburbs are low-income people. 30% of the people in the suburbs are minorities. And so we’re ruining this American dream for everybody.”

  35. 35.

    RaflW

    @Mary G: If HRC had a 5.4 point vote margin in 2016, the district has changed a lot from the old GOP days.

    Cook says Porter’s seat is Solid D, despite an R+3 overall rating.

  37. 37.

    RaflW

    @Suzanne: Duluth doesn’t really have suburbs, and he was of course talking to greater MN voters (and N. Wisconsin voters in the same teevee market).

    Our MN State Senate leader has become a full on Trumper, often saying stuff about how Minneapolis is a liberal hellhole that is falling apart (Gazelka is from a smallish town, though it’s prosperous as it’s the hub of the country club set’s lake homes). Black people bad! is all they’ve got. Which is enraging and really ugly. But also, one dearly hopes, a losing gambit.

    Oh, and I always forget until the wiki reminds me, Gazelka is a f\\\king Oral Roberts University grad. {retch}

  38. 38.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Suzanne:

    I mean you can even love them and befriend them and even live with them!

    @Kelly:

    “Portland Sheriff” Mike Reese makes a second $500 donation to Biden after Trump claims his support.

    Nice!

  42. 42.

    Ken

    @RaflW: Duluth doesn’t really have suburbs

    It’s the winters, right?  That whole “everyone who gets more than ten feet away from a building dies in the snow” thing.

  43. 43.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @TaMara (HFG):

    “My brother’s not the president. I’m talking about the president. The one who called you a liar, the one who said your wife was ugly!”

    Cruz is such a pathetic, cringey little coward.

  46. 46.

    Mike in NC

    Whoever would have guessed that Joe Biden would be the one to rescue this country from becoming a shithole autocracy?

  51. 51.

    jl

    @Mary G: More than they fear that they have bankrupted and damaged their own re-election campaign?

    I read some hot take piece last week that said the money problems were overblown. But since then I’ve read about more cancelled campaign ad buys and events. So, maybe big money problems are the real deal?

    Edit: OTOH, the Trumpster did do a lot of sleazy cash, grabs so I guess in their minds, no problem on that end.

  54. 54.

    Mary G

    NEW: The Biden campaign has raised more than $21.5 million online today, per a campaign official — its best day of the race.
    Added to the ~$10 million from 9pm-12 a.m. raised during and post-debate last night and you have a $31.5 million haul in a little over a day.

    — Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) October 1, 2020

    You all have me watching that Act Blue ticker now, too.

  55. 55.

    Jay

    BREAKING: Human Rights Watch (@hrw) out with horrifying investigation. The brutal NYPD attack on hundreds of protestors in early June in the Bronx wasn't just criminal & unconstitutional. It was *planned*. NYPD used the curfew to trap, assault, & arrest. https://t.co/jx6QBioxM0— Scott Hechinger (@ScottHech) September 30, 2020

    A day after this planned mass NYPD attack on protestors, Mayor de Blasio defended his force when asked: “I believe that you believe what you're saying. We had observers from City Hall who saw a very different reality.” We saw the videos. HRW investigated. He lied. Must resign. https://t.co/orTDkh3b3U— Scott Hechinger (@ScottHech) September 30, 2020

  56. 56.

    Scuffletuffle

    Any crocheters here? I’d like an RBG collar for every day wear. My  Gramma could have made me one,but she is long gone…

  59. 59.

    Jay

    Thread,

    If you're just hearing about Proud Boys for the first time tonight, after Trump asked them and other rightwing militias to "stand by," there's some local context you should know. Proud boys are frequently protected and weaponized by the Seattle Police Department. 1/— Spek (@spekulation) September 30, 2020

  61. 61.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    Mark Hamill @HamillHimself

    That debate was the worst thing I’ve ever seen & I was in The Star Wars Holiday Special.

     

  66. 66.

    Amir Khalid

    Has there been any post-debate polling yet? I have a hunch that the numbers will not look encouraging for Trump.

  68. 68.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Amir Khalid: Not a formal poll, but a nice summation of some results

  69. 69.

    Jay

    Hospitalized Brad Parscale ‘is under investigation for stealing up to $40million from Trump’s campaign and $10million from the RNC’, as he spirals out of control over White House ‘gravy train’ ending and mounting debt

    It’s the Daily Mail, ( right wing Brit trash), so no link,…..

  70. 70.

    bluehill

    @Amir Khalid:

    from 538

    On Tuesday, President Trump and Joe Biden faced off for the first time, in a rocky and, at times, tumultuous debate. We once again partnered with Ipsos to track how the debate affected Americans’ views of the election, using Ipsos’s KnowledgePanel to interview the same group of people both before and after the debate. The topline is clear: Americans were not impressed with the president’s performance. Whether that will actually lead people to change their votes remains to be seen, though it seems unlikely.

    https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-biden-debate-poll/

  71. 71.

    Anya

    @TaMara (HFG): That would hurt if Cruz was not a shameless coward. I wonder how his wife feels about him? His daughters would never have any respect for him when they find out.

  73. 73.

    Jay

    NEW: Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott has deleted his Sep 9 tweet that included the propaganda "Gotaway" video. I asked @CBP days ago whether the video was removed in response to advocates & reporters uncovering the video's false stats. CBP: We're still working on your request. https://t.co/c1W76J1gMc— Ben Schamisso (@schamisso) September 30, 2020

  74. 74.

    TS (the original)

    @Amir Khalid:

    Has there been any post-debate polling yet?

    The latest general election polls on 538 were taken Sep 27-30 so presumably a small portion after the debate.

    They show Biden at +7 +8 and +9

    On today’s polls Biden has gone from an average of +7.1 (from I think Monday) to an average of 7.6 & Biden is at 50.5%

    Surely it can only go higher.

  76. 76.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I love the RBG vote pic but her birth year is wrong! She was born in 1933 not 1913. I am figuring whoever made it was thinking 1913-2000 not 2020. I took a screen shot to save it and noticed it.

  79. 79.

    mrmoshpotato

    @TaMara (HFG): @HumboldtBlue:  Come on, Ted.

    You’re a sack of shit, and that beard doesn’t make you look rustic or whatever. It makes you look like your can’t afford razors. Though it does cover up your disgusting, smarmy face.

  80. 80.

    Jay

    Responses from Luntz focus group participants on Trump's debate performancehorrid, chaotic “unpolished,” “crackhead,” “ehh,” “puzzling,” “un-American,” “unhinged,” “an ass, but a confident ass,” “classic Trump,” “forceful,” “unhinged,” “bully,” “arrogant,” arrogant,” “typical.”— John Anzalone (@JohnAnzo) September 30, 2020

  81. 81.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Planetjanet: the Telemundo one was a ‘fan’ one.  Jason Miller was on Chuck Todd’s show this AM and kept on talking about it and Chuck called it a ‘fan’ poll not a real poll. I still don’t understand how Trumpov is managing to get around 30 percent support from Hispanics. Are these like the Oreo version of Hispanics or have the Russians aimed disinformation at Hispanics this year like they did with AAs in 2017?

  86. 86.

    prostratedragon

    @Jay:
    But they’re not the only people in NYC. This here is a thing of beauty.

    Edited for proper link.

     

    Two edits later: Dammit, I can’t get the link to the reply I want, which is not the fucking cops but further down on that page where they get a reply right where they have to see it.

  90. 90.

    burnspbesq

    @WaterGirl:

    ‘If Joe wins, Newsom will have to appoint someone to serve out the remainder of Kamala’s Senate term. All due respect to the many other fine choices, but if Porter doesn’t win re-election I think she becomes the obvious choice.

  91. 91.

    jonas

    @RaflW: “30% of the people in the suburbs are low-income people.

    I don’t know about MN, but in my neck of the woods, it’s almost exclusively the run-down farmhouses and mobile homes with cars on blocks on the front lawn that are festooned with Trump flags. I guess they watch him tell suburbanites “wouldn’t it suck if some *pooooor* people moved in here?” and think “well, surely he’s not talking about moi!”

  93. 93.

    opiejeanne

    @jonas: It’s funny. The house across the street from mine is a huge property, house is 17,000 sq ft, guest house is bigger than my house. This place is for sale for $8.5 million.

    Two doors down from my house is a single-wide on a big lot that, when subdivided, will be worth at least a couple of million dollars. There are no refrigerators or dead cars rusting on the lot, he keeps it tidy.

    The two households are white, elderly, Trump voters so I guess that kind of trailer trash is ok.

  94. 94.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @jonas: The day after the 2016 election I ended up driving between Wisconsin Dells and Wisconsin Rapids (about a 50 mile drive).  This is a poor section of the state.  No manufacturing.  Not great farming. Little tourism.  I noticed that there were a lot of scrap yards along Hwy 13 and everyone of them seemed to have a Trump sign.  I, myself, was hungover, angry, listening to old school punk, and quite relieved that I had one brief meeting in each town and got to spend the rest of the day in the car where other people weren’t.

  95. 95.

    Jay

    @jonas:

    as was proved in 2016 analysis, “economically anxious” was the latest code word for “well off fucking racist dirtbag”.

  97. 97.

    jonas

    @Mai Naem mobile: On Hispanics, 1. you have a ton of Cubans and Venezuelans in Florida who are rabid anti-socialists and see Trump as an ally. 2. there are quite a few evangelical Protestant and right-wing Catholic Hispanics who like Trump for the same reason their white co-religionists do (abortion, abortion, abortion).

    Biden is still running way ahead with Latinos generally, but not as much as with African Americans, for example.

  98. 98.

    Sister Golden Bear

    I can’t track down who said this, but i think it’s exactly right:

    “Joe Biden is a stutterer. Like many others, he has overcome the disability by understanding it and exercising extraordinary perseverance and discipline. If you know and love a stutterer and you watched the presidential debate last night, within minutes it became obvious what was going on. Abusive tone of voice, rapid fire interruptions, zigzagging change of topic, personal insult and humiliation, and family pain are all tripwires that scramble a stutterer’s ability to speak. There was nothing unplanned or spontaneous in the President’s strategy. The bastards did not prep him to attack Joe. They prepped him to attack Joe’s disability hoping that by triggering his stuttering they might deceive an audience unfamiliar with the disability into thinking that Joe was stupid, weak, uncertain, confused, or lost to dementia.

    If you have ever gotten in the face of bully on the playground protecting a stutterer that you love, the game being played last night was nakedly and painfully obvious.”

  99. 99.

    Jay

    WSJ @dnvolz @wstrobel scoop:CIA, NSA, ODNI officials urged Ratcliffe not to release information fearing it “would give credence to unsubstantiated Kremlin-backed material.”Ratcliffe did it anyway.And Lindsey Graham lapped it up and promoted it today.https://t.co/iHge6ULnb1— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) September 30, 2020

    This is the most blatant act of politicization by a DNI that I have ever seen. DNI specifically testified at his nomination hearing that he would never do anything like this. https://t.co/GI0ISWwNhy— Michael Morell (@MichaelJMorell) September 30, 2020

    Cheetolinni’s Director of National Intelligence is mainlining Russian Disinfo and spreading it around,…..

  100. 100.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Captain C:

    (ETA: Also, could someone remind me how to actually ’embed’ a tweet in the way a non-front-pager can?)

    Don’t think so, only the front pagers have that privilege. We can only link.

  104. 104.

    Kattails

    @Scuffletuffle: I crochet and tat, but those are pretty fussy to make. Looks like the ones online are of dubious quality however.  I’d love to get a look at some of her originals. The first one in the Elle article linked below is tatted

    Sign on to Ravelry and type in lace collars. Some nice designs. Now I want to look through some of my old magazines–very old–back to the 20’s.

  106. 106.

    Jay

    @HumboldtBlue:

    if you post in text, you can “embed” from twitter, that shows the text body of the tweet, but not photo’s or gifs.

    in twitter, pull up the tweet,

    On the down arrow, click “embed”,

    click copy,

    Paste in the text format.

  108. 108.

    Jay

    @Kattails:

    The Notorious RBG didn’t “just” wear Jabots, each one has a specific symbology and meaning, and she adopted them as a push back against the male members of the Court, “flashing” or in some cases, “fashing” ties as a form of signalling.

  110. 110.

    Captain C

    @Jay:

    I thought I tried that and it just showed the code.  Maybe I made an inadvertent typo between pasting and posting or maybe my computer’s just being persnickety tonight.

  112. 112.

    TS (the original)

    @Captain C:

    Type whatever you wish and then go to the text tab in the leave a comment box

    Go to the tweet & press the legless down arrow top right (I don’t know what that symbol is called)

    Then click on embed tweet. A Twitter Publish tab will open. Hit copy code and then paste that copy while in the comment text tab

    It was the worst thing I have ever experienced and I made out with a duck.— Lea Thompson (@LeaKThompson) September 30, 2020

  114. 114.

    TS (the original)

    @Captain C:

    I think you worked out if you use the visual tab when you imbed it looks like much garbage

    viz.

    <blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>It was the worst thing I have ever experienced and I made out with a duck.</p>&mdash; Lea Thompson (@LeaKThompson) <a href=”https://twitter.com/LeaKThompson/status/1311167462365261825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>September 30, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

  116. 116.

    Kattails

    @Jay: I did not know that, thanks.  Still would like to get some closeups, and more on the actual meaning of hers.

    The discussion just nudged me into the Ravelry site, where typing in “lace collars” yields over 900 results–fascinating. Some really exquisite; I’m just thrilled with the actual handwork. I have bits of old Irish lace made with the equivalent of sewing thread.

  117. 117.

    cain

    @WaterGirl:

    I looked it up and the district is considered “safely democratic” so not sure what you mean. Most districts in California have turned democratic there aren’t that many Republican.

  118. 118.

    Yutsano

    Test…

    EDIT: this was not the subject I was hoping to put up for my first successful post like this, but it needs to be shared. Chrissy’s pain is unimaginable to me right now…

    The number of women who suffer miscarriage is staggering – bigger than we think – 1 in 4 pregnancies result in such a sad, tragic & depressing time. Sending ❤️?? to @chrissyteigen & @johnlegend who have just lost their beautiful ‘Jack’. ?https://t.co/tTxyzajCxk via @newscomauHQ pic.twitter.com/UHDl36nCMb— Melissa Hoyer (@melissahoyer) October 1, 2020

  119. 119.

    TS (the original)

    @Yutsano:

    In my experience, you will find few women with children who haven’t had a miscarriage – sometimes it is so early you don’t realise you were pregnant – until you weren’t.

    And one of the states (I can’t remember which one) was trying to treat a miscarriage as an abortion to charge such women with a crime.

  121. 121.

    l3000

    @Scuffletuffle: No lace, but nice earrings of lace collars. dissentpins.com  And they donate to causes. Also nice posters/cards of thank yous to essential workers, etc.

  122. 122.

    Aleta

    @Kattails:  “old Irish lace made with the equivalent of sewing thread”

    I have some like that too, that my mother saved from older relatives.  Amazing work.

  123. 123.

    Steeplejack

    Holy shnikeys! I slept for a while earlier and am catching up on the news while hate-watching Quinn Martin Theater on MeTV: Mannix, Cannon, Barnaby Jones—dreadful, dreadful shows, yet I cannot turn away. Mannix goes to a “hippie club” in search of a client’s daughter, and I do a spit-take to see the real, actual Buffalo Springfield as the house band doing a trippy, live version of “Bluebird.” Continues on the background through the whole scene. Whoa. From the first season, 1967. Also has a “young” (already 34!) Tom Skerritt as an alternative-paper editor.

  125. 125.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    Not on now. And I never really got into it. Quinn Martin Theater is like a Dante-esque trip through the troughs of the ever more distant past. I watch mostly for the mise en scène and the recognizable actors.

  126. 126.

    Captain C

    @HumboldtBlue: Sort of, that was a cut-and-paste kludge.  Thankfully I think Jay and TS explained it (visual vs. text thing).  Anyway, thanks y’all for the help.

  128. 128.

    Sloane Ranger

    @HumboldtBlue: Ohhh, I wouldn’t insult a member of a New York  Italian family to his brother if I were you, Ted. Being beaten down publicly on TV is the least you can expect.

    Didn’t you see The Godfather? :)

  130. 130.

    Ian

    @Mai Naem mobile: It saddens me that the orange F*er isn’t losing Hispanics more, but that is generally the floor for republicans among Hispanics.  Keep in mind, that is a massive diverse non-monolithic category to poll as one group.

  133. 133.

    Kathleen

    @mrmoshpotato: I think Rand Paul’s hair is like Rethuglican sourdough. He cut a piece off and sold it to Cruz who covered it in a bowl for a day or so then put it on his face.

  137. 137.

    rikyrah

    Morning Consult poll:Support for the Affordable Care ActSupport 62%Oppose 24%This is a record level of support in the Morning Consult poll. The ACA has seen a roughly 20-point increase in support since 2013.— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 1, 2020

  138. 138.

    prostratedragon

    @Kattails:

    An article on some of Justice Ginsburg’s jabots and why she wears them. I’ve seen an interview in which she displays quite a few of them. Her favorite in general is a white lace one from South Africa that I think is the one she’s wearing in the photo with the article of the full court –at a time when she was the only woman, which she has said was a hard time.

    Here’s an article on one presented last year to Justice Ginsburg for a humanitarian award. The edge of the jabot has the word “Tzedek” worked into it, and she wore it for the opening session near to Yom Kippur. No picture here, unfortunately.

  140. 140.

    bemused

    @RaflW:

    Ha, Duluth population 85,000. All the rest of St. Louis County is small towns and rural. Suburbs aren’t really a thing up far north.

  143. 143.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    you would think a Cuban like Rafael Edward Cruz would stay away from a beard.

     

    I did a google search for his full name and it linked to a bunch of photos of the Unabomber (photo)

    Too funny.

  144. 144.

    JAFD

    Ah, gentlepeople, it’s not that there are that many Congresspersons from California named ‘Katie’.

    It’s not like back in the ’90’s, when the delegation from Philadelphia, to the Pennsylvania State Senate, included two men named ‘John White’..

    ..one of whom was European-American, the other African-American.

  145. 145.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @TS (the original): Jennifer Rubin is the new John Cole. A former Republican with no more fucks to give. I think she had three op ed columns yesterday savaging Trump and the Republican party. No idea whether her conversion is permanent but as of now she’s terrific.

  146. 146.

    Shalimar

    @Yutsano: For people who believe life begins at conception,  thry’re going to have to explain to me why God murders so many children.

  148. 148.

    WaterGirl

    @Jay: You were in moderation because you entered your name/nym as:

    1/ Border Patrol made a fictional video of a migrant killing a man w/ false &amp; misleading stats on migrants and crime. In latest

  149. 149.

    WaterGirl

    @burnspbesq: I wouldn’t mind that at all.

    Some CA folks clarified in another thread that Katie Porter is doing really well, with awesome fundraising.  So maybe someone confused Katie Hill with Katie Porter, or just typed the wrong name.

    Apparently the race to replace Katie Hill is not going so well. Those Rs want that seat back.

  150. 150.

    WaterGirl

    @Captain C: This may have been answered below, but if you paste in your embed code and what shows up is CODE – instead of a nice block quote with text and links in it – that means you forgot to make sure you were in TEXT mode when you pasted in the code.

    If you paste embed code while in VISUAL mode, you get code.

  151. 151.

    VOR

    @Sister Golden Bear: Nah, that’s a fancy post-debate justification – “Trump had a strategy”. Nope. Trump’s behavior was just who he is – a giant asshole. And that’s what his base likes about him, that he’s their asshole, saying the things they wish they could say out loud.

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