Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

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

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

This really is a full service blog.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Running scared

Running scared

by | 143 Comments

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I’m going to interrupt House fundraising today because fuck Mitch McConnell.

On Thursday, in a conference call with a group of lobbyists, Mr. McConnell vented that the party’s Senate candidates are being financially overwhelmed because of small-dollar contributions to ActBlue, the online liberal fund-raising hub

I like these Senate races bang for buck.

Barbara Bollier, Kansas Senate

Goal Thermometer

Mike Espy, Mississippi Senate

Goal Thermometer

Alan Gross, Alaska Senate

Goal Thermometer

By the way, remember when everyone shit their pants because Beto cleared $50 million in 2018 3Q. Theresa Greenfield just cleared $25 million in 2020 3Q in a state that is one eighth the population of Texas. Holy shit.

You can see all our candidates here.

Reader Interactions

143Comments

  1. 1.

    AxelFoley

    Got back an hour ago from early voting. Went with my folks. We had absentee ballots, but they wanted to vote in person, so we did. Took about an hour and a half at the Courthouse/Municipal building here in Virginia Beach. Of course, we voted for Democrats up and down the ballot.

  3. 3.

    Albatrossity

    Bollier has a small but significant lead in the latest poll. We can flip this one, and she will be a good senator in a time when we need stronger voices for science and medicine.

  7. 7.

    Marcopolo

    Since Kansas is included above, I will just re-up this from a couple threads ago:

    The Republican President of the KS Senate was caught on tape talking about how she plans to gerrymander Sharice Davids (KS-3) out of her seat when Kansas does redistricting for 2022. That is if she can keep supermajorities in the KS House & Senate so they can override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto.

    Here’s the clip:

    ? Gerrymandering Alert ?Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle (R) told donors that Republicans must maintain their #ksleg supermajority so they can create gerrymandered state & federal districts to undermine the will of voters & ensure complete Republican control of the state. pic.twitter.com/g8CuYUThek— Davis Hammet (@Davis_Hammet) October 9, 2020

    Kansas Ds need to flip one state house district in order to destroy the R house supermajority & foil this plot. Here are 4 candidates who are trying to flip KS HDs from Red to Blue if you would like to foil her plan. These candidates were included in a Data For Progress Fuck Gerrymandering ActBlue list that I gave to on September 30. That fund list has been switched to all TX candidates now so here are their individual ActBlue pages.

    Cheryl Arthur KS HD-67
    Katie Dixon KS HD-49
    Cole Fine KS HD-15
    Todd Maddox KS HD-60

    I had thought I was done with campaign donations as of September 30, but I gave to all of these guys today. And, of course, giving to these candidates is kind of a bank shot donation for Barb Bollier cause these folks will be GoTVing D voters.

  8. 8.

    Ocotillo

    I hope all this money being raised isn’t just going into TV ads.  With the pandemic and voter suppression there needs to be focus on “get out the vote” and fighting the last minute suppression efforts of the authoritarian party.

  9. 9.

    laura

    Just back from dropping our ballots at the County Board of Elections office. The workers indicated that traffic has been steady and heavy since jump. We voted so hard against that fucker.

    Ride or Die No Malarkey Jitney Back to the Future 2020!

  10. 10.

    Mike in Oly

    It’s payday – will be sending $$ after work tonight. I wanna see a blue tsunami make that worry on McConells stupid face a permanent feature.

  12. 12.

    Villago Delenda Est

    What this means is people are pissed at Donald and his enablers. Treason isn’t a good platform to run on.

  13. 13.

    Marcopolo

    Btw, as of this afternoon over 8 million people have voted. That is 6% of the total 2016 vote–more than 3 weeks before the election. Five states have hit 20% of their 2016 vote total: VA, WI, SD, VT, MN. Another five are at or around 15%: MI, ND, WY, NJ, and FL. A large percentage (~15) of these voters are folks who did not vote in 2016. That is also roughly the same percentage of AA voters who have now voted who did not vote in 2016. Where I live (St Louis County), both St. Louis County & St. Louis City have seen record breaking voter registration this year & as a result there are a record number of eligible voters on the roll for this election.

    Thanks to everyone here who has already voted/is voting early.

  14. 14.

    Jeffro

    Has anyone figured out where Barr, Christie, Jared, and Ivanka are yet and how they’re doing with the infection they got from the orange moron?

  15. 15.

    HinTN

    Theresa Greenfield just cleared $25 million in 2020 3Q in a state that is one eighth the population of Texas. Holy shit.

    I wrote postcards for Greenfield through Flip the West. They said they had sent some insane number for her.  It’s happening in ways we couldn’t foresee!

  16. 16.

    Calouste

    @Marcopolo: And that should be a slight undercount, as there are states where you can’t vote early, either because they are full vote-by-mail or because of GOP fuckery.

  18. 18.

    Haroldo

    It will give me great satisfaction to see Ol’ Moscow Mitch out of a job as Majority Leader.  Well worth the $$.

  19. 19.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Ocotillo: With the pandemic and voter suppression there needs to be focus on “get out the vote” and fighting the last minute suppression efforts of the authoritarian party.

    You are absolutely correct, and I hope you are among the many of us here who are taking concrete action in that regard! It’s going to be a badge of honor to have helped GOTV in 2020.

    [Consider the Saint Crispin’s Day speech from “Henry V” included here. :) ]

  20. 20.

    catclub

    Will he be dressed as Evita, or Franco? Or the Pope?

    • Trump to address hundreds from White House balcony
  21. 21.

    Ken

    @Jeffro: Have we seen Giuliani since he coughed his way through a Fox News interview and said he was waiting for his test results?

  22. 22.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    Donated to Bollier.  I give monthly to Espy and Jones — even if neither wins, I feel it is important for Democrats to make a good showing in the traditional South.  Excellent idea to support the Kansas House and Senate Democrats  – I will need to look at my political budget but plan to move them to the top.

  23. 23.

    piratedan

    @Ken: at the point where if these sanctimonious fucks die quietly and desperately at home to prevent any kind of bad PR, that’s just fine with me.

    really, fuck these people… I mean Lindsey Graham won’t get tested so he can claim he’s negative for COVID so they can place their appointed handmaiden onto the SCOTUS?

    If they fucking die on C-SPAN during the vote, it won’t matter to Mitch because he HAS to have this victory.  As soon as he gets it, he thinks that its fait accompli and that they’ll control the legislative process for decades to bring about whatever white people nirvana they envision.

    He doesn’t believe that by fucking over the process to get what he wants that what he’s done will have any negative repercussions and that somehow it will remain static in his favor.

  24. 24.

    JPL

    @Ken: Nope.  Maybe he’s with Chris Christi taking a holiday with the Weekends at Bernie crew.

    thoughts and prayers though

  26. 26.

    Martin

    Feeling a bit better. Just dropped off 4 votes for Biden, which won’t matter here, but 4 votes for Katie Porter should help. Plus 4 votes to end cash bail, 4 votes to oppose the Uber amendment, 4 votes for partial repeals of Prop 13. And a flu shot, and some goodies for under-the weather Ms. Marvel. All by e-bike, no emissions, powered by solar and my lunch.

  27. 27.

    Aleta

    Post:

    More than a week after Trump’s Sept. 30 visit to Minnesota, there still has been no contact between the White House or Trump campaign and state health officials about lists of attendees at Trump’s events. However, Minnesota Department of Health infectious-disease director Kris Ehresmann told reporters on a conference call Friday that nine people who had attended President Trump’s Sept. 18 rally in Bemidji, Minn., had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

    One case involved a person who was known to be infectious at the rally, she said. Two attendees were later hospitalized after testing positive, including one who was in intensive care.

    They are still monitoring the president’s Sept. 30 Duluth rally, when Trump and/or his aides may have already been contagious.

  29. 29.

    Martin

    Looks like the SC senator debate is about to be cancelled because Graham refuses to get a Covid test on the chance it’s positive and it scuttles the Barrett hearings.

    Seriously, we should have hid RBGs body until after the election. Pretty clear that they would have.

  31. 31.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Marcopolo: I think he’s going the full Il Duce. But I doubt that he’ll speak Italian.

    Il Douche. Pig Latin. Iglybay onway eroidsstay.

  40. 40.

    rikyrah

    What I like about ActBlue is that it helps us get the kinds of candidates we want.

    I am sending to the Senate candidate in Louisiana, not because I think that he will win, but because he is a solid candidate who deserves support.

     

    I am supporting Espy cause I actually DO think that he can win.

  42. 42.

    Marcopolo

    @rikyrah: Adrian Perkins is an awesome candidate.  So accomplished.  I, too, have given to him.  His kickoff trailer was amazing.

  43. 43.

    Martin

    @Marcopolo: Would like to note that 50% of the ballots cast were voters under 25. I had 5 locations within easy biking distance to drop off the ballots.

  44. 44.

    Martin

    It’s wild that Louisiana is getting hit by a major hurricane and nobody outside of Louisiana has the bandwidth to process it.

  45. 45.

    Gvg

    @Calouste: in Florida, they start counting the mail in votes Monday. I dropped mine last weekend. On line it shows as received and I was worried when it didn’t change to counted, then I found my notes. They start opening to count on the 12th. On the 19th most counties open for early in person votes.

  48. 48.

    Lapassionara

    @Marcopolo: oh my. Just a few days ago, the number of people who had voted was 5 million. In light of the total votes in 2016, 5 million is just blip, but now the number is growing daily by a lot.

    Thanks for the cheerful news,

  50. 50.

    PsiFighter37

    Lindsey Graham skipped out on his debate with Harrison tonight solely because he did not want to take a COVID test. What a fucking chickenshit. I have to imagine that plays poorly with people he needs to vote for him in SC (namely, white people with a college degree and/or brain).

  52. 52.

    Jeffro

    @PsiFighter37: guaranteeing that this will be the coverage from start to finish.  Hey Lindsey, whatever – you guys are going to (literally) die on this hill, and then we’re just going to take it from you with the stroke of a pen.

    Bouie had this right: losing the WH is the price trumpov must pay for his corruption; expanding the federal courts*, to include SCOTUS, is the price that the GOP must pay for enabling that corruption.  Just losing the WH is not enough.

    *It also happens to be the right thing to do for other reasons

  54. 54.

    piratedan

    @Martin: could be that in normal times watching the slow attempted strangling of Democracy ends up being a news buffet.  During a Dem administration, there wouldn’t be all this drama.

  56. 56.

    VeniceRiley

    @Martin: I put my ballot in the mail yesterday. Much the same. Really hoping Katie keeps her seat. I like her chances.

    Another thing seniors hate? Watching cruise ships dismantled in a scrapyard. This year is HellTV for seniors.

  59. 59.

    randy khan

    @Marcopolo: 

    I don’t know about other counties in Virginia, but in Fairfax County (pop. 1.1 million, call it 1/8 of the state population) they haven’t opened up the satellite locations yet, so if you’re near the Potomac you have to trek all the way to the government center if you want to vote early. (The satellite locations open on the 14th.) The same is true in Arlington County, home to 200,000 people, and probably a lot of other places in the state. So that 20% is going to go up a lot in the next week.

  61. 61.

    WaterGirl

    @Martin: I think someone – Schumer? – should point out that COVID can affect your thinking and decision-making abilities, so before any votes are taken re: a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, every senator must either be tested and confirmed COVID negative or abstain from voting.  Or the vote is delayed.

  63. 63.

    dmsilev

    @Baud: It was the Debate Commission that announced the cancellation, so I’m inclined to believe it will stick. The debate scheduled for the 22nd is still on, for now anyway. I hope they make that one a town hall.

  68. 68.

    WaterGirl

    I am confused again.  I thought Katie Porter was polling really well with great donations.  Is there some reason to expect that she will not win?

  69. 69.

    steppy

    So when does Yertle announce an “investigation” of ActBlue? You know, give ’em the old ACORN treatment…

  70. 70.

    HumboldtBlue

    @PsiFighter37:

    Nate Silver pointed his reticence is most likely due to the fact that if he’s positive he has to quarantine and that means the nomination for the handmaiden is off.

    @Martin:

    I see Martin was ahead of me.

    More on poll watchers and state law from Judd Legum.

    Georgetown University Law School “has created fact sheets for all 50 states explaining the laws barring unauthorized private militia groups and what to do if groups of armed individuals are near a polling place or voter registration drive.”

  72. 72.

    misterpuff

    @catclub: I want to see a photoshop of Drumpf wearing Mussolini’s Water Buffalo Hat except its made out of Trump’s Wig.

     

    Internet, Make It So!

  73. 73.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @WaterGirl: OT: If a person were to submit a set of photos for “On The Road” and wanted to submit an additional set for “On The Road-After Dark, National Parks Edition”, how would one differentiate the two?

  74. 74.

    Steeplejack

    @Jeffro:

    Christie is in day 6 of his “precautionary” hospital stay. Jared and Ivanka last seen jogging (with masks) last Sunday. No word on Barr or Giuliani.

  80. 80.

    VeniceRiley

    @WaterGirl: We just have RPTSD. The district was R for so long. But yes, katie will keep it. She’s running commercials on TV a lot and her opponent is nowhere to be found. I didn’t even recognize his name. But there’s a lot of rich white ahole money around here, and it’s best to keep an eye out until we are blue for 3 or so cycles.

  82. 82.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @dmsilev:

    I’m not counting on any more debates because Trump is a nail biting, bed wetting, gutless bastard.  We need to run up the score on Election Day and give him the biggest humiliation of his life.

  86. 86.

    WhatsMyNym

    @steppy:

    So when does Yertle announce an “investigation” of ActBlue? You know, give ’em the old ACORN treatment…

    Short answer – Money. Yertie doesn’t have enough to touch them and the banks that processed those billions.

  88. 88.

    HumboldtBlue

    @VeniceRiley:

    I flashed back to the young Democratic campaigner fighting a losing battle in an Orange County seat and catching the eye of the big boys.

    Was that West Wing?

  89. 89.

    Chris Johnson

    @Ocotillo: Yeah, hire lawyers. We need to not just burn the money but apply it usefully. That’s over MY pay grade but it’s still an important point.

  94. 94.

    NotMax

    Bollier’s self-inflicted wound last week enough to tip the scales against her in what might have been a razor-thin upset? She was talking to a farm group and got the (so-called [ed.]) PATRIOT Act and a trade bill she had been asked about totally confused.

  97. 97.

    Ken

    @Jeffro: [Expanding the courts] also happens to be the right thing to do for other reasons

    For example, they’re clearly overworked and not thinking clearly, as evidenced by some of their rulings.

    I would love it if some prominent Democrat said that while speaking for the expansion bill.  Pity we’re the grown-up party.

  103. 103.

    Another Scott

    @NotMax: Sounds like a nothing-burger to me, but YMMV.

    https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article246265375.html

    Joe Gierut, the spokesman for America Rising, a Republican-aligned super PAC, posted a video to Twitter Tuesday of Bollier struggling to answer a question about the Patriot Act during a September 28 call with members of the Kansas Farm Bureau.

    The call took place two days before the Farm Bureau endorsed Bollier’s opponent in the U.S. Senate race, Republican Rep. Roger Marshall. The Star obtained a full video of the 50-minute conversation, which confirms the 90-second clip circulated by Gierut has not been altered.

    […]

    Bollier’s spokeswoman, Alexandra De Luca, said the Johnson County state senator had misheard the question.

    “This was a Zoom meeting with the Farm Bureau where Barbara was discussing ag issues. She misheard the question and thought she was getting asked about the Trade Authority Act, which is legislation requiring congressional oversight of trade agreements,” De Luca said in a statement.

    Formally known as the Bicameral Congressional Trade Authority Act, it was introduced last year and co-sponsored by Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran.

    It would amend a 1962 law that gave the president the power to impose tariffs based on the recommendation of the secretary of Commerce if there are national security concerns.

    […]

    1) it sounds like a setup, and b) she quickly had a decent answer afterwards.

    I doubt many votes will be changed by it, and she’ll know better next time.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  106. 106.

    Another Scott

    Ever wonder why the #SupremeCourt was set at 9 justices in 1869?

    What was magic about 9? Why not 11? Why not 7?

    It’s bc in 1869 there were 9 federal appellate circuits.

    Today there are 13 circuits (12 regional + the court of federal claims). pic.twitter.com/xuV235iugy

    — Bill Murphy Jr. (@BillMurphyJr) October 9, 2020

    It’s just SCIENCE.

    (via LOLGOP)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  108. 108.

    WaterGirl

    At some point, I added Texas debate to my calendar for tonight, but I haven’t heard a peep about it all day.  I am wondering whether I might have lost my mind or been on drugs when I added it.

  109. 109.

    James E Powell

    @WaterGirl:

    I am confused again.  I thought Katie Porter was polling really well with great donations.  Is there some reason to expect that she will not win?

    I haven’t heard one way or the other on recent polling for Katie Porter. I do really hate her TV ads, which I see constantly on sports broadcasts, sometimes two in a row.

  116. 116.

    Falling Diphthong

    Jonathan Chait, on the scene with Graham: “That scene is like Act Blue porn. I mean, they might hire some actors and re-enact it.”

  123. 123.

    Ken

    @Martin: It’s wild that Louisiana is getting hit by a major hurricane and nobody outside of Louisiana has the bandwidth to process it.

    If they’re lucky, Trump will be busy annoying Rush Limbaugh and getting a remote diagnosis on Fox, and won’t have time to order them to withhold assistance until after the election. Or just delay it until they put his picture and signature on every aid package.

  126. 126.

    arrieve

    @Another Scott: I got a mailer from Lindsay Graham yesterday — I live in Manhattan and I’ve never voted for a Republican in my life, so whatever limited funds he has are not being spent well.

    Then today I got one from Melania Trump. I’m starting to think someone is just fucking with me.

  130. 130.

    Yutsano

    @Ken:  Like old man bumbling. He’s doing the Pence thing where he says nothing for about 30 seconds while he tries to think on his feet. MJ is better but she needs to get more specific with things. But the moderators are actually not giving them any time.

    Stream just died. Gonna go feed the dogs.

  134. 134.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Marcopolo: I don’t have the fortitude to watch another Republican gaslight and lie for an hour or two. Let us know how much ass-kicking MJ Hegar does if you can! :)

  135. 135.

    rikyrah

    @tom:

    You are not supposed to trust them

     

    This is WWII

    We are FDR

    They are Stalin

     

    We are Fighting the Orange Nazi, but after he is defeated, the Cold War begins again ?

  138. 138.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @arrieve: a hundred years ago I sent  John McCain an email about the MCA. For years I got regular emails from the AZ Republican Party. They finally petered out, but last week I got a hand-addressed mailer from Martha McSally, with a donation envelope. I wrote a note about how much I hate her and said I was gonna fast for a day and send the grocery money I saved to Mark Kelly.

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