Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Israel is using food as a weapon of war. Unforgivable.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

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

ha ha ha! Nice try weird people.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

People are weird.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

You are here: Home / Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Every Picture Tells A Story

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Every Picture Tells A Story

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128Comments

  1. 1.

    MJS

    I think now would be a good time for Joe to get back out on his bike (socially distanced, of course), and cut an ad contrasting that with Wheezy McCovidspreader gasping for breath on the balcony.

  5. 5.

    Immanentize

    @MJS: new Reality President challenge —

    Once around the track on a bike.
    The downward ramp race.
    Two flights of stairs.
    Lifting hands over head three times.
    Etc.

  7. 7.

    Karen S.

    Open thread! My wife and I have been looking after my elderly parents (both are 92) for much of the year. They still live in my (2-story) childhood home. My mom had surgery in February to repair fractures in her tailbone and has also had a UTI. They both are hard of hearing and my dad’s short term memory is pretty much nil at this point. We had the living room converted into a bedroom for them downstairs last year, despite my dad’s reluctance, and I’m glad we did. That’s where they sleep now. A caregiver comes in a few times a week to help them out. I’m out there a few times a week and my wife comes with me at least once a week. If it weren’t for Covid, I’d be more inclined to try to persuade them to consider moving into a senior residential community. But the home they’ve lived in since 1966 is the best place for them right now, as stressful as it is to keep them comfortable there. I’m sad beyond measure to see their decline. The memories of when they were still vibrant and vigorous are ever present in that house.

    And despite all that, helping my mom and dad out has been, in a weird way, a welcome distraction to the absurdist comedy-drama that has been life in the U.S., especially this year.

  12. 12.

    Immanentize

    @A Ghost to Most:

    FDR — “If I fail, I will not be the worst President, I will be the last.”

    Seems like those times might have been sorta difficult too.  Quit yer hyperbolic, symbolic pant crapping.  You will be a happier human!

  13. 13.

    Ken

    I’m still expecting one of the open thread titles today or tomorrow to be “Well That Was Fast”.

    I turned on the TV and they aren’t playing solemn music yet.  I’m wondering if they’ll try the “Weekend at Bernie’s” scenario.

  14. 14.

    rikyrah

    Never forget

    Pence oversaw a severe breakout of HIV in Indiana under his watch because he ignored the science.

    He is the perfect VP for Dolt45 ?

    As Pence’s team mocks Harris for wanting a plexiglass barrier on the debate stage, worth noting that the CDC’s own guidelines call for work spaces to “install physical barriers, such as clear plastic sneeze guards” if applicable. Pence runs the COVID task force.— Sam Stein (@samstein) October 5, 2020

  15. 15.

    Immanentize

    @rikyrah: Little Imma is doing well.  His classes are going really well, but his math class he says is difficult because it is long on boredom punctuated by moments of intense insights.  He has joined the Rice Eclipse — their rocket club.  College is cool.

  17. 17.

    Karen S.

    @rikyrah:

    I haven’t forgotten. I remember being appalled and angry when I first read about Pence’s dereliction of duty there. That outbreak shouldn’t have happened, but Pence is who he is, no better than trump.

  20. 20.

    John S.

    @Karen S.: I’m not there yet, but those days are coming for me soon. My father is in his late 80s, but has been living overseas for the past 20 years — so there’s not much I can do to help him. My mother is in her 70s, but she refuses to slow down and doesn’t have a penny to her name. Between my brother and I, it’s almost certain my wife and I will end up being her primary caregiver in the next 10 years. And then there’s my autistic teenage son, who at this point it’s hard to say whether or not he will be able to live on his own at some point in the future.

    But I don’t look at at any of this with apprehension, because I know whatever the future holds I will find joy and satisfaction from it. The only thing that worries me is the prospect that Trump may win another 4 years.

  24. 24.

    Immanentize

    @Karen S.: I am sorry about the difficulty of your situation.  And having your parents in their home this year is a very good thing.  My Mom is in a transitional facility in the apartment/independent living section.  She has been locked down since March.  They get to take a walk around the parking lot a few times a week.  Meals brought to their room.

    She will be turning 90 on Sunday.  I am negotiating with the ‘Warden’ for a half hour visit.  It sucks.

  28. 28.

    Karen S.

    @John S.: There are moments when the sadness overtakes me and I can’t help but cry, but I also know the days I spend with them are precious. I’m getting into watching TV with my mom. We watch the food channels, the History Channel and the Discovery Channel. Her arthritis prevents her from cooking and baking anymore, but she enjoys watching others prepare food. There’s also a show about moonshiners in Appalachia she finds entertaining, probably because she grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, so it’s familiar to her. Even though my dad has to have the volume turned way up, I watch sports with him. I cannot watch TV news with him, though. He loves it, but I find most TV journalism appalling nowadays.

    I guess what I’m getting at it is that I still have fun with them, despite everything.

  29. 29.

    Hoodie

    @Karen S.: We’re going through the end-of-life stage with my wife’s parents now.  FIL has end stage renal disease and MIL is early Alzheimers.  Tough but funny at some times.  We realized how much MIL had slipped when she became convinced that FIL is having an ongoing affair with his secretary from his tour in Viet Nam some 60 years ago.  Now it’s up to affairs with 3 different women from Viet Nam, who apparently are emailing him daily.  Have no idea if this has any basis in reality, e.g., maybe he did have affair back in the 60s (wouldn’t put it past him).  FIL is not well, but still has his wits about him, I’m sure he wishes he was having 3 simultaneous affairs.

  30. 30.

    Karen S.

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Yep. I can’t help but think that if we had a better national response to the pandemic, we might be further along in getting back to “normal.” But we have a monster for a president and many other monsters aiding and abetting him, so here we are.

  33. 33.

    Jeffro

    Catherine Rampell has a tweet up mocking a White House staffer who’s complaining that trumpov & Co’s negligence resulted in so many Republicans being exposed to the virus by quoting the staffer and then tweeting (and I quote!): “From a member of the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party”.

    SO

    If you’re up and reading Balloon Juice already, Ms. Rampell, welcome!  ;)

    Four weeks to go, peeps.  Let’s fight hard and really run up the score!!!

  34. 34.

    sherparick

    Rick Wilson wants Biden-Harris to restart their negative ads

    https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson

    I have a different take. I follow the classic old Irish-American political axiom that when your enemy is busy destroying him or herself, you just step back and don’t interfere.

    I also think the positive ads (especially the dogs), cause an almost giddy feeling of relief when you look at the horror of the Republican Party and Trump, the gang of nihilists who couldn’t shoot straight.

  36. 36.

    catclub

    @Immanentize: Or walking a dog around the block?

     

    In my neighborhood there are many golf carts, so when those folks take the dog around the block it is often in the cart.  This is called ‘riding the dog’.

    I only feel a little dirt typing it.

  38. 38.

    Amir Khalid

    @sherparick:

    I thought the negative ads against Trump and the Republicans were what Wilson and his Lincoln Project cohort volunteered to do.

  39. 39.

    Kay

    Ed Yong
    @edyong209
    ·13h
    “Many of these staffers are people of color, and, especially among the butlers, are more than 50 years old—two qualities associated with higher risk for COVID-19.”

    It enrages me. Eugene Scalia was at those SCOTUS parties they threw. He’s the Secretary of Labor. He regulates workplaces. He does a terrible job as it turns out, but that is his official job. He can’t even protect the workers who are serving him in the White House.
    They’re like some kind of royal court. It’s appalling behavior.

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    Had a (rare) craving for something sweet so opened up a bag of a good brand of dark chocolate drops I had grabbed from the Halloween candy aisles during last month’s shopping trip.

    Same product the company puts out the rest of the year except with seasonal motifs on the bag. No change in product look or shape or taste. Only other concession to the holiday shows somebody has a sense of humor.

    Unwrapped the individual piece and by chance happened to notice teeny printing on the inside of the wrapper, to wit: “This isn’t a foil. It’s a costume.”

    @Hoodie

    Yup. When I’m at Mom’s, for me the volume set at 17 or 18 on her TVs is more than enough. She has them set at 45.

  41. 41.

    MattF

    @sherparick: I’m in the ‘Biden camp appears to be good at this politics thing and doesn’t need my advice.’ On the specific question, polls show that the driving force in this election is anti-Trump, rather than pro-Biden. So, running a wave of positive, pro-Biden ads makes a lot of sense.

  44. 44.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Karen S.: My 96-year-old mother in law is still in her home, and will only leave there on a gurney. Her husband was hospitalized and then went into a “rehab” facility a couple of years ago, where he died. So it’s largely up to my dear wife, who goes there weekly, on average, plus a caregiver who comes in daily to do the cleaning, drives her to medical appointments, does the grocery shopping, etc. She’s still largely alert and aware, and as I noted here, had my dear wife fill out her absentee ballot last week – the day it arrived – with a dismissive wave and an instruction: “all Democrats.”

    But being in her home is critical to her, and allows my dear wife to visit whenever necessary. It has its challenges, but is better than any available alternative.

  47. 47.

    Hungry Joe

    Progress: One of my swing-state Bernie Bros relatives — he voted for Jill Stein in ‘16 and declared he’d never vote for Biden because “he’s a corporatist warmonger” — now says he MAY vote for Biden because, long-term, Biden might (!) be better for his family.

    My mom, who’s 98 and doing pretty well in a retirement home, can’t wait for her ballot to arrive so she can vote for Joe. She has only one complaint about her situation: “Almost everyone here,” she semi-whispers (lest someone somehow overhear, I guess), “is a REPUBLICAN.” For political companionship she watches Rachel Maddow.

  48. 48.

    Baud

    @Hungry Joe:

    For political companionship she watches Rachel Maddow.

    Dude, tell her to start hanging out here. She’s a little young for this crowd, but she can talk to Goku.

  49. 49.

    Capri

    @Hoodie: When my son was doing his psychiatry rotation he met a woman who was also convinced that her husband was having an affair. He said that to talk to her she was absolutely rational and persuasive. She was at an in-patient facility because she was so upset at her husband’s fictional affair that she had attempted to murder him three times.

  50. 50.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Hungry Joe:

    declared he’d never vote for Biden because “he’s a corporatist warmonger” 

    Surprised he didn’t go with the tried-and-true-fucked-us-over “Hillary’s Biden’s a corporate whore!”

  53. 53.

    narya

    @Hungry Joe: Sounds like my (85- and 90-year-old) parents; except they also track the avowed atheists/non-religious types. My mom got hearing aids a couple of weeks ago (dad has had them for decades). She was complaining that a pair of her sneakers were squeaking on the floor, to which my father replied, “They’ve ALWAYS done that.” They are in PA, so eagerly awaiting their ballots.

  54. 54.

    sanjeevs

    @sherparick: This morning’s poll has Biden up 57-41.

    Biden is widening the lead by adding undecideds. Getting Trump to lose voters is almost inpossible -his approval has always been mid to low forties,

    So Biden’s strategy seems sensible.

  56. 56.

    Betty Cracker

    @NotMax: Watched some of the Hitler Chronicles on your recommendation, and I hardly slept a wink! Uh, thanks? :)

    Strange how it’s so much more compelling with color film. I didn’t think that would affect me so much since I’m an old TV and movie fan. But it does make it seem so much more immediate somehow.

  57. 57.

    Hungry Joe

    @mrmoshpotato: He told me that Hillary was worse than Trump because “she would have gotten us into a war.” Apparently there are far-, far-left loon sites and podcasts that one can get sucked into; he has fallen for some pretty out-there conspiracy theories. I responded to his possible move toward Biden with gentle, supportive encouragement: no point in saying, “Well, YEAH, you idiot.” Because he’s not an idiot. And a vote’s a vote.

  58. 58.

    Salty Sam

    @Immanentize: He has joined the Rice Eclipse — their rocket club.

    Very cool!  In my high school years I lived only a quarter mile from the RU campus, and we used to use that huge parking lot at the football stadium to launch model rockets.  Thanks for the nice memory.

  59. 59.

    Kay

    Kendall Karson
    @kendallkarson
    ·1h
    “I think the likelihood of Roe v. Wade being overturned is very minimal,” Sen. Ernst said of implications of confirming Amy Coney Barrett.
    Sen. Tillis too: “Nobody knows how she’s going to rule on that.”
    “It’s not on the ballot,” Trump at first debate

    Same old flim-flam. If Democrats take the political downside from supporting Roe, shouldn’t Republicans take the political downside from opposing it? They plan to both oppose and support Roe while jamming thru a far Right nominee?
    I’d ask but we’re not permitted to ask any questions of this nominee. She and her supporters have preemptively declared any examination of her work off limits in a blatant attempt to silence critics.
    She’s a public employee. We’re permitted to ask about her work.

  60. 60.

    Splitting Image

    @sherparick:

    Rick Wilson wants Biden-Harris to restart their negative ads

    https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson

    I have a different take. I follow the classic old Irish-American political axiom that when your enemy is busy destroying him or herself, you just step back and don’t interfere.

    I also think the positive ads (especially the dogs), cause an almost giddy feeling of relief when you look at the horror of the Republican Party and Drumpf, the gang of nihilists who couldn’t shoot straight.

    The news media’s laser-like focus on everything Trump says and everything Trump does has obscured what is one of the weirdest things about this election cycle: Biden’s approval ratings have been rising since the start of the year.

    In a normal election year, both candidates’ approval ratings tend to drop as their respective negative ads do their work. Since Biden’s approval has actually been rising, I’d say he only needs to keep doing what he is doing and trust his instincts. Trump’s negative ads aren’t working. And there isn’t much point in Biden going negative at this stage of the game, since Trump is doing most of his work for him. Every time Trump appears in public now is an ad for Biden.

  61. 61.

    JPL

    CNN is showing the entire Michele Obama video.   For those that want CNN to talk about Joe more, they just go their wish.

  62. 62.

    Immanentize

    @Betty Cracker:

    Again with the Godwin stuff!  ?
    WWI
    1918 flu pandemic
    Roaring ’20s (and Babylon Berlin)
    Economic Depression
    morality play right wing backlash.
    WWII

    We are living in the times of zip file history:
    ALL TIMELINES ARE COMPRESSED

  64. 64.

    Hungry Joe

    @Betty Cracker: WWII colorized film hits me the same way. I love black & white — it can strip away extraneous distractions, set its own mood — but most of that old footage was in black & white not because that was the filmmaker’s decision, but because shooting in color was so much harder, and so much more expensive.

  65. 65.

    Ken

    @Splitting Image: Every time Trump appears in public now is an ad for Biden.

    One side-effect of upward of 60% of the public thinking everything Trump says is a lie is that every attack he makes helps convince people Biden’s a great guy.

  66. 66.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Splitting Image: Yes.  Even in 2016, Trump’s popularity rose when he got off Twitter and out of the news.  The more people see him, the less they like him, but he can’t run a Rose Garden campaign with weeks left.  Joe just has to stay healthy.

  67. 67.

    Immanentize

    @Splitting Image:

    I’ll add, I think it’s too late for any Bill Barr concocted legal scandal that won’t instantly blow back against Trump.  As Kay says, they lie about everything!  Everyone knows this.  A minority of the population thinks this is a virtue.  But that doesn’t help when they tell the next unbelievable lie.

  68. 68.

    Ken

    @Immanentize: 1918 flu pandemic – Roaring ’20s (and Babylon Berlin)

    A few months ago, a historian noted that his colleagues are re-examining the roaring 20s. Now that they’ve had personal experience of a pandemic, they have more insight into the psychological motivations of everyone wanting a party.

  69. 69.

    Jeffro

    @Bobby Thomson: I hope that Biden & Harris consider passing on their remaining debates (Biden especially).  Their health is *the* thing right now.

    If they go ahead, then trumpov & Pence absolutely MUST produce negative Covid tests just before the debate.  Same with the audience members.  And masks are just a given.

    They’ll suffer not a single lost vote if they cancel, or even if they have to walk out mid-debate due to trumpov family members removing their masks, etc.

  70. 70.

    Karen S.

    @Immanentize: My mom was in the hospital and then a nursing home rehab facility in February and March. The last week she was in rehab, we couldn’t go see her because the first of the many pandemic-related restrictions to come hit senior facilities first. I was so glad when she was discharged home when she was. I’m sorry to hear of your situation with your mother.

  72. 72.

    Betty Cracker

    Chotiner’s tweet above:

    There has been way too much analysis the last four years about how all Trump’s lying creates an environment where no one has any faith in anything anymore, and way too little analysis of how all the lying has destroyed Trump’s ability to sell any message

    So true.

    The Trump campaign’s stupidity helps too. I’ve been anxious about certain lines of attack Trump could use against Biden that would possibly a) generate dumb media takes that are favorable to Trump, and b) alienate some voters we need to show up.

    But the Trump nitwits are diseased and flailing, millions have already voted, Trump remains focused on his cult despite math, and there are only 28 days left. Here’s hoping we can hang in there for four more weeks.

  73. 73.

    Salty Sam

    @Karen S.: Her arthritis prevents her from cooking and baking anymore

    This really resonates with me- one of the saddest parts of watching my mom deal with her declining health is that she no longer has the stamina to play in the kitchen.  She was a prolific cook and entertainer- she and dad ran a B&B in the early days of that business, and hosted some amazing events.  She passed that love of cooking to me as well.  One our shared memories is watching Julia Child together.

    I have a difficult enough time dealing with how she has drifted into the right wing alternate universe, thanks to Faux News, but when I do talk with her and she laments that she barely has the energy to make a PB&J sandwich, it breaks my heart.

  75. 75.

    JPL

    What if trump’s new plan is to cause the virus to spread so rapidly, no one can vote.    Then contest the election cuz his supporters couldn’t vote.

  76. 76.

    germy

    Cuomo was expressing his frustration during yesterday’s press conference.

    Fortunately, police behaved peacefully, despite the fierce resistance from the ultra-Orthodox.

    NYPD tried to break up a huge Sukkot party in Crown Heights tonight — and met fierce resistance from ultra-Orthodox revelers pic.twitter.com/sS8VuDaAUo
    — Jake Offenhartz (@jangelooff) October 6, 2020

  79. 79.

    H.E.Wolf

    A salute to all who are helping with their parents’ care. Although it happens in every generation, it is very visible this year… as is the love which underlies it. xoxo

  80. 80.

    Peale

    @MattF: Yep. We’ve got to get them to fall in love with him a little so they don’t turn around and vote the scum back in in two years.

  82. 82.

    mrmoshpotato

    @JPL:

    What if trump’s new plan is to cause the virus to spread so rapidly, no one can vote.    Then contest the election cuz his supporters couldn’t vote. 

    Counterpoint: He’s a manbaby who fell face-first into the presidency and thought the position would make everyone love him.  He never intended to do the actual job but now he’s confronted with a disaster that he can’t call a loser on Twitter, or grab by the pussy and threaten to sue unless it goes away.  And, worst of all – to him – the virus has come to punch him in the face.

  83. 83.

    Jay C

    @Betty Cracker: 

    Also, a Presidential campaign is really helped much, when, in addition to the supporters being (or being seen as) “ diseased and flailing” the candidate is, as well.

    57-41-2 with just four weeks left?
    I have the feeling that there is a little room for slippage there for Joe/Kamala (which I am sure the MSM will jump on like rabid hyenas), but I’d take a 55-45 win Nov 3 – especially if those numbers hold up for downticket races nationwide- without too much complaint.

    Except, maybe, for not icing Mitch McConnell.

  84. 84.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Peale: Or – and hear me out – we spend the next 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years electorally beating the living shit out of the POS GOP.

    Sounds good to me for a 40+ year POS party that’s done so much damage and always escapes with minimal to no consequences.

  85. 85.

    Ohio Mom

    John S. @20:

    “And then there’s my autistic teenage son, who at this point it’s hard to say whether or not he will be able to live on his own at some point in the future.”

    I have an autistic 23 y.o. and have been obsessing on the same question lately. Having to put the kibosh on most of his community activities in order to protect us, his high-risk parents, has been very painful for me. I thought we were doing a good job of launching him and now I’m making him stay home. I hope he can catch-up when this is over.

    The main advice I have for you, as someone a little further along — and you may have already done this — is open a STABLE account (and comparison shop, some states allow non-residents to use their programs, each state offers slightly different options); and find a good elder-care attorny to put the entire family’s affairs in order, and to walk you through guardianship/POA options.

    That’s not the sum total of what I’ve learned so far but they are good starting points because they have a beginning, middle and end; you can check them off a list. Unlike say, Will my kid ever understand money? Will he ever master enough social graces to manage himself in the workplace? Etc., etc.

  86. 86.

    Leto

    @Hungry Joe: @Betty Cracker: @NotMax:

     FREDERIC LUMIERE (WWII IN HD)

    Frederic Lumiere is an award-winning filmmaker and an industry recognized leader in the fields of HD production and post-production. He is one of the producers and directors of the 10-hour mini-series WWII in HD, airing on the History Channel beginning November 15, 2009 at 9PM ET. His first feature film, Tomorrow is Today starring Scout Taylor Compton (Rob Zombie’s Halloween) has received 11 awards to day. He has also produced, directed and edited award-winning programming for Cinemax, A&E, History Channel and Biography Channel.

    I sat down with the director to discuss his latest project, among other things.

    Short interview explaining some of the technical side of how they brought WW2 in Color to life.

  87. 87.

    Kay

    “A3P has assembled a battle-tested team of sharp, aggressive legal professionals who will help us do whatever it takes to push Judge Barrett’s nomination over the finish line by the end of October.”

    Such confident conservatives. Jamming thru the far Right nominee with no debate and no questions permitted in a mad rush before voters throw them out on their asses.
    They know the public doesn’t want this judge. They don’t care.

  88. 88.

    BC in Illinois

    @rikyrah:

    . . . Pence’s team mocks Harris for wanting a plexiglass barrier on the debate stage . . .

    Someone responded to that tweet, saying, “I’ve had to look at people from behind plexiglass since May.”  And they’re right.

    At Walgreens, MotoMart, Chinese food take-out, the local bookstore, StL County Board of Elections . . . . plexiglass everywhere.

    Except where Pence, the head of the Covid task force, lives and works.

    I can truly believe that he’s never encountered a plexiglass screen in his daily life.

  89. 89.

    Ruckus

    @Quinerly:

    In some ways it’s sad that trump is decompensating before our eyes, many don’t get to see that in their parents, the daily loss of physical abilities, the decline in mental awareness, sometimes the anger at how your life isn’t the same and never will be again. That the end is near and getting closer for him. And he knows it, even if he can’t say/believe/understand it. Someone with his massive level of crap does tend to push any feelings of sorrow right out of one’s mind. Them holding the nuclear codes and being such an ass does tend to wipe out any concept of caring. At all. What we are seeing isn’t that unusual for someone with his glaring faults and inabilities to even pretend to be human as they age out. He’s never really pretended to be human for most of his life and put himself in a position that everyone, not just in his sphere but in the world can see what a fucking ass he really is. And I’d bet on some level, he knows. Which is oddly satisfying. Said satisfaction passes easily. Rarely has someone just getting old and near the end of life been so dangerous to so many people.

  91. 91.

    PST

    @Gin & Tonic: My 96-year-old mother-in-law is still living alone in the house where she lived when my wife was born. We were very pleased on our last couple of visits to see that her old neighborhood in Toledo still runs about 10 to 1 Biden over Trump yard signs. Her health and resilience are remarkable. I am afraid that if she knew how to use Twitter, she would have been banned by now for expressing views like John is alleged to have done.

  93. 93.

    Kay

    Nate Cohn
    @Nate_Cohn
    ·2h
    Biden is also a light breeze away from leading in Texas, which would give him 413 electoral votes along with the other states where he leads in the polls

    Texas would be an earthquake. I know it’s a longshot but it wouldn’t just change things for the GOP, it would fundamentally change Democratic maps and campaigns.
    In a very real way it’s good for the country. For so long we were stuck in this pattern of contesting the upper midwest and Florida as if 60 year old white people were the only people who mattered. That’s not representative of the country.

  94. 94.

    Ruckus

    @sherparick:

    This.

    Biden/Harris best contribution to all of this is to act actually human, to give a bit of hope that not all politicians are self centered assholes. Because the current malmisadministration certainly can’t give any impression in that universe.

  95. 95.

    Roger Moore

    @sherparick:

    I agree that Biden should be focusing on positive ads, and for two reasons:

    1. It’s more valuable for him to define himself in positive terms than to define Trump in negative terms.  If both candidates get dragged into the mud, it favors the one who’s already dirty because he’s a professional mud wrestler.
    2. There are plenty of surrogates and third parties like The Lincoln Project to throw mud at Trump, so Biden might as well keep his hands clean.
  96. 96.

    Ken

    BTW for those who were wondering, the package insert for dexamethasone:

    Psychic derangements may appear when corticosteroids are used, ranging from euphoria, insomnia, mood swings, personality changes, and severe depression, to frank psychotic manifestations. Also, existing emotional instability or psychotic tendencies may be aggravated by corticosteroids.

  97. 97.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @sherparick: 

    I follow the classic old Irish-American political axiom that when your enemy is busy destroying him or herself, you just step back and don’t interfere.

    French military advice. From the master, Napoleon. “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”

  98. 98.

    PST

    @Bobby Thomson:

    Joe just has to stay healthy.

    It’s his number one job. Everything else must take a back seat. I had getting through the first debate without taking a serious hit as a distant second, but I’m not very worried about the others (if there are others). Trump can double dog dare him to risk exposure to COVID all he wants. No one cares.

  99. 99.

    Danielx

    @rikyrah: 
    One of several reasons Pence elected to become the shitgibbon’s VP candidate – he was going to get beaten like a rented mule in the gubernatorial election that fall. Even Indiana’s benighted citizenry had tired of his evangelical ass.

  100. 100.

    prufrock

    @Betty Cracker: They are exactly the same as a wingnut that you would argue with on social media.  There have been times I’ve indulged the devil on my shoulder and gotten out of the boat.  I’ll post something, and looking over it I’ll think that certain parts of my point are a little lacking in support, or might lean too much on a potential fallacy.

     

    I’ve never had a wingnut catch any of them!  They are blind to logical failings and unsupported arguments because that is all they ever use!

  101. 101.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @Omnes Omnibus: Pretty sure the ancient Chinese also were on to that one too…

    “Do nothing” is often the strategically sound course of action.

  102. 102.

    trollhattan

    @Betty Cracker:

    I continue being baffled by Trump’s ineffective flailing against Biden since he won the nomination, given Biden was the Dem Trump has most feared running against (as evidenced by the Ukraine shenanigans, Hunter Biden being the most corrupt political child evah, etc.).

    The best he’s got is old Joe is old? Look in the mirror recently, Donny? [I should not presume there’s a reflection.]

  103. 103.

    Warblewarble

    No need for a negative anti tRUMP ad campaign .He is running that just fine. Need more dogs,a Biden Harris BEST IN SHOW rosette would be wonderful.

  104. 104.

    WaterGirl

    @sanjeevs: To me, the most noteworthy thing about those numbers is that 57 + 41 = 98, so that’s only 2% with no opinion.

    Where there were still 6 or 8 or 10% undecided, I found that very worrisome even if the numbers for Biden looked great compared to Trump.

  107. 107.

    StringOnAStick

    @Citizen Alan: That’s a huge issue but a smaller portion of that 40% identify as nazi.  My dad the 88yo RW nut job would punch you in the face of you called him a nazi, even though everything about his political beliefs makes him one.  The label is so offensive though that you never know what isolated event can wake people up.  My dad never will because his level of authoritarianism would have made him very useful to Hitler or Stalin, but some are opening their eyes.

    I was at a socially distanced letters to voters get together last night (we’ve done 600), and one women told us that her RW parents are going to vote straight R but leave the president vote blank.  So, even some hard core R’s can no longer stomach him.

  109. 109.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Hungry Joe: You do realize all the WWII films were all done for propaganda purposes, that’s why they are always filled with cool stuff like SS Tiger tanks and not horses pulling WWI era artillery.

  110. 110.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    That picture of Trump standing tall and saluting ’cause he beat COVID is interesting; as others noted Trump is clearly trembling with exertion and gasping for air in the video, yet it sounds like The Base has fixated on the still image. Apparently Brent the Maga comedian is right, the Base can only be bothered with single picture and don’t have the attention span for anything more.

  112. 112.

    Kay

    Nate Cohn
    @Nate_Cohn
    Joe Biden leads by 11 among likely voters in Pennsylvania, per Monmouth. A terrible result for the president

    11!
    Those are the shy Biden voters.

  113. 113.

    ballerat

    @John S.: 

    But I don’t look at at any of this with apprehension, because I know whatever the future holds I will find joy and satisfaction from it.

    Thank you for that. I find it inspiring and it puts my dissatisfaction with my own less challenging life in better perspective. Perhaps I am not yet looking in the right places for my own joy and satisfaction. And truthfully, perhaps I have not even tried.

  114. 114.

    Eunicecycle

    I know I’m not the first to say this, but if Trump is defeated he could run again in 2024. Ugh. More reason to make sure he’s so busy with civil and criminal cases he doesn’t have time. And to drive his numbers so low he is humiliated.

  116. 116.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Ken: Of course in Trump’s case how do we tell the difference between side affects of the steroid, and his regular bat-shit behavior??

  117. 117.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Kay: Oh please! Oh Please!  Texas would be amazing.  Might be time for me to kick a little to the Flip the Texas State House , Act Blue fund! Which benefits ( 9 seats would flip the Texas State house to the Dems ):

    • HD026: L. Sarah DeMerchant
    • HD064: Angela Brewer
    • HD066: Sharon Hirsch
    • HD067: Lorenzo Sanchez
    • HD108: Joanna Cattanach
    • HD112: Brandy Chambers
    • HD121: Celina Montoya
    • HD134: Ann Johnson
    • HD138: Akilah Bacy
  118. 118.

    Kay

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone:

    First day of early (in person) vote in Ohio:

    Darrel Rowland
    @darreldrowland
    Franklin County early voters are lined up around the building before the doors open this morning on first day they can cast a ballot in 2020 election

    Franklin County is one of the D counties.

  119. 119.

    Kay

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone:

    About a year after Trump was elected I found out he wasn’t that popular in Texas, which immediately made me like Texans more. I know they’re still Republicans but they seem to have SOME standards, so good for them.

  120. 120.

    Ken

    @trollhattan: I continue being baffled by Trump’s ineffective flailing against Biden

    I suspect the campaign strategy meeting went something like this:

    STAFF: Mr President sir, we are pretty sure Joe Biden will be the nominee, and have convened this four-hour meeting to develop a multi-part strategy that will identify and hit at all his weaknesses.

    TRUMP: He’s Sleepy Joe. We’re done here.

  121. 121.

    Ken

    @Eunicecycle: I know I’m not the first to say this, but if Trump is defeated he could run again in 2024. Ugh.

    Ugh for us, but triple-ugh for the Republicans, and quintuple-ugh for any Republicans who were thinking of running.  Even if he doesn’t run, he’ll be standing (well, sitting and wheezing) on the sidelines tearing down everything the Republican candidates do.

    Assuming as always he’s alive and not in prison, or the really nice memory-care center his kids commit him to.

  122. 122.

    D Gardner

    @Karen S.: Your parents are obviously quality people; look who they produced! Thanks for sharing such a heartfelt and oddly optimistic moment in this madness.

  124. 124.

    sdhays

    @Ken: Assuming he survives his current illness (and I wouldn’t place any bets on that since he seems to be in charge of his own treatment), I really don’t think he’s going to have it in him to run again for public office, especially in 4 years.

    ETA: I’m sure Ivanka and/or Don Jr. are making plans already.

  125. 125.

    Elizabelle

    @Eunicecycle:

    I know I’m not the first to say this, but if Trump is defeated he could run again in 2024.

    Could you be the last to say this?  Pretty please?

    Don’t understand the borrowing trouble from the future impulse.  Isn’t 2020 hard enough??

    And yes, legal trouble and trial prep up the wazoo for Trump.  Forever until he kicks.  Bring it on.

  126. 126.

    trollhattan

    @Elizabelle: 
    Sure, Carter could have run again in 1984 and George HW Bush could have run again in 1996 but nobody drafted them and they didn’t make themselves available. Trump’s past his sell-by date.

    Sasse-Haley 2024?

  127. 127.

    Elizabelle

    @trollhattan:   I just want to get through 2020.  May the Republicans find themselves radioactive, for a long, long time.

    We need to get after their media enablers.  Hard.  No resurrecting the GOP so quickly this time.  They did not get their time in the wilderness.

    This is not a 50/50 country.

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