Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

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

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

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

Tick tock motherfuckers!

I was promised a recession.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Consistently wrong since 2002

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

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

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

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

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

Infrastructure week. at last.

No one could have predicted…

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

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

He really is that stupid.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Three More Weeks

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Three More Weeks

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Srsly:


We can’t slack off, not yet. BUT:

… “It’s not good for my side,” said veteran GOP pollster Whit Ayres. “Pretty obviously, in many ways down-ballot Republicans are in the boat with Donald Trump. That’s good for Republicans in deep-red states, but more problematic for those in swing states.”

Asked for any bright spots for the Republican field, Ayres said, “I’m wracking my brain and just struggling.”…

“It’s not good,” said Alex Conant, a senior campaign adviser to Sen. Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign. “It’s been a long time since Donald Trump has had any good news, and when he does have good news, he manages to step on it.” …

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Friday if that people are depressed and upset on Election Day, “I think we could lose the White House and both houses of Congress, that it could be a bloodbath of Watergate proportions.” In November 1974, the first congressional election after the Watergate scandal drove Republican President Richard Nixon from office, Democrats added significantly to their majorities in both houses. They took back the White House in 1976 and added still more seats in Congress…

Dan Eberhart, a prominent GOP donor and Trump supporter, said there is no doubt that Trump’s handling of the pandemic is eroding support for down-ballot Republicans and could lead to a Democratic sweep of government.

“I hope the polls have it wrong,” Eberhart said. “But Republicans … need to develop a campaign strategy committed to protecting the Senate at all costs, even if it means sacrificing the Oval Office.”…

As though the Squatter-in-Chief wasn’t already lashing out at everyone around him.

Reader Interactions

132Comments

  1. 1.

    Craig

    Open Thread.

    Is there a prohibition on people providing chairs to voters in line, with incredibly long lines in places like Harris County Texas? It seems like a helper. Can catering companies provide these? Working on a proposal and need some feedback. West Coast bedtime, hopefully I’ll get some advice to when I wake up.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    “reward work, not wealth”

    I’m all for this, but I don’t know what people have to offer besides slogans to address wealth accumulation occasiomed by massive spikes in stock prices.

    Warren made some attempt with a wealth tax at least, although there are administrative issues for non-liquid forms of wealth.

    …

    Three more weeks till we can have real policy debates again.

  4. 4.

    SiubhanDuinne

    GA SoS office reports that 126,000 people voted in person yesterday — a 41% increase over the first day of voting in 2016. (Source: MJ, just now.)

  5. 5.

    jl

    My understanding is that NEJM did not endorse Biden, out of academic professional delicacy. It disendorsed Trump. I suppose that there is an obvious inference there, but I wanted to make it clear.

  8. 8.

    jl

    @Central Planning: We live in Trump years. Future rushes toward us too fast, past dilates into near infinity.

    Someone please remind me what the beforetimes were like. Seems like they were before I was born now.

  9. 9.

    jl

    @SiubhanDuinne: From some things Michelle and Barack Obama, and Biden, have said, I think Dems want to pile up as many early mail and in-person votes as possible. Want to get a shitload of both in. Most swing states have early in-person voting, and start counting them early.

    Having done GOTV, I trust people who run that more than the political consultants, so I have some faith GOP sabotage plans can be foiled.

  10. 10.

    jl

    If Dems can bank a mountain range of early votes, and Trump wants to create chaos on election day, how will turn out for the GOP and their voters waiting until Nov 3? I have to wonder.

    Edit: I double dog swear that as I finished typing, I just heard news report that people are stockpiling in fear of unrest as election approaches. TP, so the fear must be intense.

  12. 12.

    JPL

    I just saw a clip of trump dancing on stage, and now I’m queasy.    What a disgusting person, he is.

  13. 13.

    Jeffro

    That Biden ad using trumpov’s own words all spliced together and out of context is just great.

    Could our party, at long last, be learning how to play offense? Truly, these are amazing times. =)

  15. 15.

    Chris T.

    @jl: Costco had a “limit 1” on their TP (though I only ever buy one anyway) when I restocked yesterday. (I forgot to get both TP and coffee on the Costco run a week or so ago, and had occasion to get close to the Costco again, so did another run.) I had not been paying attention to whether there were any such limits earlier, but noticed it this time.

    (There was plenty of stock.)

  20. 20.

    debbie

    I couldn’t bring myself to even listen to the SC hearings yesterday. If in fact Barrett was rolling her eyes while statements were being given, someone needs to point out that (1) the SC is a place of gravitas and the last thing it needs are justices who engage in juvenile behavior, and (2) the very act of her rolling her eyes is evidence Barrett will be in the tank for Trump.

  21. 21.

    evodevo

    @JPL: My question is, how long did he last doing that “dancing”- he couldn’t manage 20 minutes in front of a crowd on Sat…would give a clue as to his actual health status…

  22. 22.

    debbie

    @Chris T.:

    The only limits at my Target now are on wipes. There are no limits on Purell, and this was the first week I saw shelves-full of the stuff. I bought more than I think I’ll ever need (5 8-oz. bottles), but I can’t deny I’ve been thinking about getting more.

  25. 25.

    JPL

    @debbie: I have wipes and I still want more.   Last week I gave a large container of lysol wipes to the pest control person.   You would have thought that I gave him a hundred dollars by his reaction.

  27. 27.

    Jeffro

    Jamelle Bouie, bringing the common sense as usual: Oh, Now You Believe in Norms…

    The same Constitution that says Republicans can confirm Barrett weeks before the election, that allows them to retroactively impose a new and novel partisan requirement (same-party control of the Senate) on judicial confirmations, also says Congress can add as many seats to the Supreme Court as it wishes. It says Congress can strip the Supreme Court of its jurisdiction to hear certain kinds of cases. It says the judiciary is as subject to “checks and balances” as any other institution in American government and that the people through their elected officials have the right to discipline a court that works against their will.

    AY-MEN!

    This may sound like it would lead to an ever-escalating arms race. But it doesn’t have to. The promise of retaliation can bring a new equilibrium. Expand the court, nullify the conservative advantage — show that all of the games and scheming were in vain — and you may create the space for an acceptable compromise around the scope and power of the judiciary.
    If they take power in January, Democrats can take the so-called high road and choose not to subject the court to checks and balances. Judging from the relentless effort of the Republican Party to seize and maintain control of the courts, though, Democrats should know that to disarm in the face of provocations like the forestalling of Garland and the confirmation of Barrett is to invite further aggression. The only way to win this game is, in fact, to play it.

  31. 31.

    OzarkHillbilly

    ‘Jet fighter’ godwit breaks world record for non-stop bird flight

    A bird said to have the aerodynamic build of a “jet fighter” has been tracked flying more than 12,000km (7,500 miles) from Alaska to New Zealand, setting a new world record for avian non-stop flight.

    The bar-tailed godwit set off from south-west Alaska on 16 September and arrived in a bay near Auckland 11 days later, having flown at speeds of up to 55mph.

    The male bird, known as 4BBRW in reference to the blue, blue, red and white rings fitted on its legs, also had a 5gm satellite tag harnessed on its lower back to allow scientists to track its progress. It was one of four to leave together from the Alaskan mudflats where they had been feeding on clams and worms for two months.
    …………………………
    Dr Jesse Conklin, from the Global Flyway Network, a consortium of Dutch, German and US scientists studying epic migratory journeys, said: “They seem to have some capability of knowing where they are on the globe. We can’t really explain it but they seem to have an onboard map.

    “They are flying over open ocean for days and days in the mid-Pacific; there is no land at all. Then they get to New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea where there are quite a few islands and, we might be anthropomorphising, but it really looks like they start spotting land and sort of think: ‘Oh, I need to start veering or I will miss New Zealand’.”

    It is not certain but it is believed the birds do not sleep on the journey during which they flap their wings most of the time.

    “They have an incredibly efficient fuel-to-energy rate,” Conklin said. “They have a lot of things going for them. They are designed like a jet fighter. Long, pointed wings and a really sleek design which gives them a lot of aerodynamic potential.”

  32. 32.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Jeffro: I have to admit I don’t understand why people say “well if the Ds add seats, so will the Rs and pretty soon you’ll have a 73 person court” and then sit back as if they scored a point. So what? Bring it on. 73 sounds great. Less chance for a single appointment to screw the whole thing.

  34. 34.

    JPL

    There’s some reports coming out of Gwinnett County that point to early voting going for Biden.   One site that had voters waiting several hours before casting their ballot, chanted Vote Him Out.    hmm

    The location my son voted at,  a person rode by on a bike and yelled Vote Biden and the crowd cheered and laughed.

  35. 35.

    MJS

    I know everyone is probably tapped out on donations, but if you have a couple of bucks to spare, consider donating to Chefs for the Polls. They’ll be trying to feed the people who have to stand in line for hours and hours just to vote. And we can be relatively certain that the people who stand in line for hours won’t be Trump voters.

  37. 37.

    raven

    @JPL: Gwinnett is incredibly diverse now. It’s incredible how it’s changed in the 36 years that I’ve been here.

  38. 38.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Jeffro: As I said the other day, Biden should answer any question about the SC with: “As the GOP has done, we will also abide by the constitution.”

  39. 39.

    Baud

    I mean, the GOP’s argument is literally “we get to do what we want because we control the White House and the Senate.”

  41. 41.

    OzarkHillbilly

    A feel good story for the day: Peru opens Machu Picchu ruins for one tourist

    Peru has opened the ruins of Machu Picchu for a single Japanese tourist after he waited almost seven months to enter the Inca citadel, while trapped in the Andean country during the coronavirus outbreak.

    Jesse Katayama’s entry into the ruins came thanks to a special request he submitted while stranded since mid-March in the town of Aguas Calientes, on the slopes of the mountains near the site, said the minister of culture, Alejandro Neyra, on Monday.

    “He had come to Peru with the dream of being able to enter,” Neyra said in a virtual press conference. “The Japanese citizen has entered together with our head of the park so that he can do this before returning to his country.”
    ………………………..
    Katayama, his entry ticket on hand since March, entered the ruins of the citadel built more than 500 years ago on Saturday, and became the first visitor in seven months to be able to walk through the world heritage site. His original plan had been to spend only a few days in Peru to take in Machu Picchu.

    “This is so amazing! Thank you!” said Katayama in a video recorded on the top of Machu Picchu mountain.

  42. 42.

    Matt McIrvin

    @JPL: The thing is, early voting going for Biden doesn’t indicate much of anything, because Biden supporters have already said they’re going to vote early by a huge margin over Trump supporters.

    In fact, I’m worried that Republican vs. Democratic mail voting returns in some states might not be leaning ENOUGH toward Democrats to be a good sign. If you predict that the mail vote will be for Biden 3 to 1, and it’s only registered Democrats to Republicans 2 to 1, is that bad? Maybe, unless some of the Republicans are crossover voters for Biden.

  45. 45.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    As I said the other day, Biden should answer any question about the SC with: “As the GOP has done, we will also abide by the constitution.”

    UN-blech!

    Although he has campaign staff to come up with stuff like that, you should consider e-mailing that to the campaign.

  46. 46.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Chris T.: I don’t think costco ever stopped with the limits on TP, paper towels  and wipes. The limit is on one brand so you get 2 brands if you’re desperate enough.

  48. 48.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Mai Naem mobile: At the Market Basket where I shop, they had no problems with paper goods for most of the summer, but now there’s a weird shortage of just paper towels. Everything else is fine. They’ve filled the paper-towel aisle with rolls of TP to make it look full.

  50. 50.

    Brachiator

    @Baud:

    I’m all for this, but I don’t know what people have to offer besides slogans to address wealth accumulation occasiomed by massive spikes in stock prices.

    It’s not necessarily a zero sum game. That the value of Bezos’ stock is increasing does not mean that other people cannot earn income.

    The biggest problem facing the country, and other countries, remains fighting the pandemic and getting the economy going again.

    I have read that the experts advising Warren on the wealth tax claim that they solved problems in fairly applying such a tax, but I am not sure that the claims are convincing. Other countries tried the tax, but abandoned it.

  52. 52.

    SFAW

    @Jeffro:

    That Biden ad using trumpov’s own words all spliced together and out of context is just great.

    Could our party, at long last, be learning how to play offense? Truly, these are amazing times. =)

    The Traitor Barr is having the DOJ launch an investigation into the Biden campaign’s “fraud.” CoRonna Romney McTraitor is screaming about Dems/Biden doing mean stuff. Mike Lee is turning to sneeze on Kamala Harris’s remote feed, as payback. Republicans everywhere are screeching about … something the Dems/Biden did.

    So, basically, another day ending in “y.”

  53. 53.

    Baud

    @Brachiator:

    That the value of Bezos’ stock is increasing does not mean that other people cannot earn income.

    Agree completely.  But the slogans always seem to focus first on the wealth generated by stock price increases.

  54. 54.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    They found Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui’s diary.

    “I don’t know the man. I think he got coffee for the campaign builders. It’s all a hoax by the Dems Chimorians.”

    ETA: Whilst googling “inca rivals,” the first entry that came up referenced “Tupac Inca,” so I guess I should have used “Biggie” instead of “Chimorians.”

  57. 57.

    Brachiator

    @JPL:

    I just saw a clip of trump dancing on stage, and now I’m queasy.

    The funny thing is that, judging by video clips, he pretty much had the same moves when he was a young man hitting the New York and Florida clubs.

  61. 61.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @Baud: I mean, the GOP’s argument is literally “we get to do what we want because we control the White House and the Senate.”

    The GOP motto should be “Everything not forbidden is compulsory”.

    Unless there is a law that puts them in jail for doing something shitty, then they will inevitably do that shitty thing as soon as it becomes convenient to do so.

  63. 63.

    TS (the original)

    @SFAW:

    Color me an optimist, but I think all the GOP screaming is having a negative impact on their election chances. So I will probably crawl under the bed for 2 years (and will certainly give up the internet in favor of alcohol) if I am wrong, but I am going to spend 3 weeks watching the GOPers squirm as they go further and further behind.

    So they get their SCOTUS pick (if they don’t all  succumb to covid) but if the democrats take the Senate, House & White House they have 2 years to sort out the voting rights act, the judiciary and so many other things. Democrats work, they will get stuff done because their lives depend on it.

  65. 65.

    Brachiator

    @Baud:

    Here is a fun side note on Bezos. According to a recent Forbes article, the price of Amazon stock increased 5 percent last week in anticipation of the upcoming Amazon Prime Sale. What does this mean for Bezos?

    The uptick in Amazon stock added $8.8 billion to the fortune of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the richest person in the world, from after the markets closed on Friday, October 2 through the end of day on Friday, October 9. His ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, got $3 billion richer this week thanks to her 4% Amazon stake.

  66. 66.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: In ancient Athens, they dealt with the risk of jury-tampering by having very large juries—the minimum was 201! So having a large number isn’t automatically a bad thing. I can see that having a larger court would have some serious advantages. Larger district and circuit benches might not be a bad idea either.
    Administrative Law Judges used to have to pass an examination before they could be appointed. That might be an interesting red herring to drag across the trail for the media—maybe we should do that for all Federal judges!

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_court_(ancient_Athens)

  67. 67.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven:

    I also moved here in 1984. You’re right about Gwinnett, but to me the starkest (and most welcome) change has been in Forsyth County.

  69. 69.

    Matt McIrvin

    I have tested negative for COVID-19, for whatever it’s worth.

    (No specific reason for getting tested other than that my town is, sadly, a bit of a hot zone at the moment, and the mayor urged everyone to go for free screening. It was a drive-through PCR test with the short swabs, not the long ones. I’ve been having all sorts of nagging allergy symptoms but they’re the same ones I have all the damn time.)

  70. 70.

    Betty Cracker

    From AP:

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Grasping for a comeback, President Donald Trump and his Republican allies are intensifying their focus not on Democratic nominee Joe Biden, but on his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris — arguing without evidence that it’s Harris, the first Black woman on a major party ticket, who would really be in charge if Democrats win the White House.

    The effort is laced with sexist and racist undertones, and one that is aimed at winning back Republicans and independents who are comfortable with Biden’s more moderate record, but may associate Harris with Democrats’ left flank, despite her own more centrist positions on some major issues.

    LOL! Please proceed, assholes.

  72. 72.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin: Glad to hear it.

     

    @Betty Cracker: I expected that months ago.  I can only assume that their polling numbers with white supremacists is down.

     

    ETA:

    despite her own more centrist positions on some major issues.

    Vice presidents don’t have “issues.”

  75. 75.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    The thing is, early voting going for Biden doesn’t indicate much of anything, because Biden supporters have already said they’re going to vote early by a huge margin over Trump supporters.

    I think people take this too far. They’re not guessing which precincts are D precincts. They know that so it isn’t really “I wonder if there are more Biden voters”. If it’s a D precinct with high turnout early they’re mostly Biden voters, which they knew before the first vote was cast. A banked vote is worth more than a potential vote because a banked vote is real and a potential vote is not. The early vote focus by Dems (and it is a focus- they’ve expanded early vote everywhere for a reason) is not about how many Trump voters there might be, it’s about how many Biden voters there are. They want every one of them. It’s no longer an unlimited universe of possible voters, too. They know how many likely D’s are registered and they know the number they need to hit as a percentage of the total likely D’s registered. If they’re looking at a particular county and they have 40% of likely D’s already voted they can extrapolate that out to what the total will be out of that precinct.

  76. 76.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I haven’t seen Bill this AM so I hope he sees this: Astronomy photographer of the year (2020) winners – in pictures

    This one… Skyscapes winner: Painting the Sky by Thomas Kast (Germany)

    The photographer was searching for clear skies in Finnish Lapland to capture the beauty of a polar night and could not believe his eyes when he saw what was waiting behind the clouds. Polar stratospheric clouds are something Kast had been searching for many years and had seen only in photographs until that day. He took his camera on to a frozen river to get a good view and started to take photos. The clouds slowly changed their shape and colours to create a painterly image

    Wow. Just Wow.

  78. 78.

    geg6

    @Kay:

    Yes, this exactly.  And it allows for efficient allocation of resources.  The best I ever saw at this was the 2008 Obama campaign.  But they didn’t face quite the challenges that are now facing the Biden campaign, so it may be that the Biden campaign may be even better at it.

  81. 81.

    John S.

    @Kay: Absolutely. The whole point is to run up the score so that when the polls start to close and the returns come in, there’s already a massive amount of votes already counted. It’s the same strategy Republicans have been using for decades — until Trump told them it was bad or something.

    Its pretty simple math to see how many Republicans and Democrats are registered, and then look at what early votes already came in to figure out what is left to tap into. And given that Independents are breaking heavily for Biden, there just aren’t enough Republican votes in most places to get the job done.

  82. 82.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Matt McIrvin: A month or two ago I bought a pack of paper towels at BJ’s. Not sure how many were in it, but it seemed like half a pallet – probably enough to last us until COVID-21. And it seemed they had an unlimited supply.

  83. 83.

    Kay

    @geg6:

    In X precinct there are 10000 possible Biden votes and 8000 possible Trump votes. Registration is over so we have that number. it’s 10000. We want all of them- we don’t care how many Trump voters there might be- the ceiling is 8000. Give him 80% of that. Would you rather be Joe Biden with 4000 of the possible 10000 banked or Donald Trump with 500 of the possible 8000 banked?

  84. 84.

    Soprano2

    Here in SWMO there are still shortages of wipes and kitchen disinfectant. Those shelves have been mostly empty since March. I’m so glad I bought a big jug of 409 spray back in January. Now I understand they quit making it! Guess when it runs out I’ll have to switch to something else. There’s plenty of bathroom cleaner, though. Then there are the weird shortages – for 3 weeks I’ve been looking for Mio and similar water enhancers, and they’ve been almost completely out. I checked not only WalMart but a couple of local grocery stores, and saw the same thing. Last Saturday there was some there, but the racks were still mostly empty. Weird.

    I heard part of Ben Sasse’s interview on “Morning Edition” this morning. He says Barrett did not say in the paper she wrote that John Roberts erred in not overturning the ACA back in 2017, or whenever it was. He almost stamped his feet when he said it, they’re so mad that Democrats are highlighting the danger to the ACA she represents. It’s so funny, now that Republicans have every (unpopular) thing they want within their grasp they have to pretend they really don’t want it. When she asked him if Barrett should recuse herself from any potential suit Trump might bring about the election, he asked “What suit?” (as if we all don’t know Trump has been tweeting about needing his justice on the court for his election lawsuit!) and then said something I’ve never heard an interviewee say before, that someone was in his ear saying the interview had to end, and he just broke it off. They really really don’t want to answer that question, because they all know it’s one reason she’s being hurried onto the court like this. Otherwise, why not take their time and just wait until after the election? I wish the interviewers would ask the Republicans why they aren’t considering COVID relief instead, since the American people need that a lot more than they need a new justice on the Supreme Court.

    For that matter, I don’t know why she can’t just be honest about her positions on all these issues, since it’s already been acknowledged that most all of the Republicans are going to vote for her no matter what. Just be honest about what your intentions are once you get on the court. I’m so tired of all the lying.

  85. 85.

    Jeffro

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: true!

    Plus you can always tweak ’em with a “well, the Rs will only be able to add more seats IF they ever get the WH and majorities of Congress back”

    And then wink, or something ;)

  86. 86.

    JPL

    @raven: The level of excitement could mean that the democratic members increase their  state house seats.   At least I hope so.

  87. 87.

    Falling Diphthong

    “When he does have good news, he manages to step on it.”

    Someone observed that it’s like Trump outsourced his closing message to Biden’s team.

  88. 88.

    Jeffro

    @SFAW: exactly.

    If they’re going to treat every last little thing as the Apocalypse, well then they’re just that much easier to tune out.

  90. 90.

    mrmoshpotato

    Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Friday if that people are depressed and upset on Election Day, “I think we could lose the White House and both houses of Congress, that it could be a bloodbath of Watergate proportions.”

    Sign me up!  Go fuck yourself, Ted!

    And of course.

  91. 91.

    Jeffro

    @Brachiator:

     

    @Baud: if we had truly progressive tax rates on this country, and the same tax rates on interest/dividends as we do for income, and fewer loopholes for the wealthy and well-connected, we wouldn’t have to consider ‘wealth’ taxes.

    Preaching to the choir probably here, but still…

  96. 96.

    mrmoshpotato

    @jl:

    I just heard news report that people are stockpiling in fear of unrest as election approaches. TP, so the fear must be intense. 

    Cole’s gonna laugh at us all again for not having bidets.

  98. 98.

    Jeffro

    @Matt McIrvin: So the argument is, “don’t vote for Joe…Kamala’s just going to bump him off and then she’ll be in charge?”

    Isn’t that, in reality, making the argument, “don’t vote for me, Donald J. trumpov, ‘cause I’m completely bugfuck nuts“?

  100. 100.

    SFAW

    @Soprano2:

    For that matter, I don’t know why she can’t just be honest about her positions on all these issues, since it’s already been acknowledged that most all of the Republicans are going to vote for her no matter what.

    Because echoing Roberts’s “stare decisis” lie during his confirmation hearings is so much more satisfying of a “Fuck You Demon-craps” than telling the truth?

    By the way, did you know  John McCain was a POW Amy Covid Barrett has seven children?

  101. 101.

    SFAW

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Trump has gone further–he keeps making veiled accusations that Kamala Harris is going to murder Joe Biden. I think it’s projection.

    Meaning he’s going to have Biden murdered? Or the Murderer-in-Chief is going to murder himself?

  103. 103.

    Matt McIrvin

    @SFAW: Maybe a couple of things. He at the very least didn’t give a damn whether he gave Biden COVID at the debate. And he might also be getting paranoid about Mike Pence.

  105. 105.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    I think her whole presentation is phony. “There I was, a humble teacher, and somehow I was plucked from obscurity and ended up…here!”

    Phony. She worked on Bush v Gore for God’s sake. She gives paid lectures to insanely Right wing homophobic groups, not once, but signed up five times. Her backers knew enough to pull her video lectures off the internet years ahead of her nomination, which is amusing, coming from the bullshit “cancel culture!” crowd who are supposedly all about debate.

    She’s a phony. This a carefully crafted narrative to get a Right wing radical on the Court. One of her backers said as much! He said “we were on the outside for 30 years and now we’re mainstream”. He means in the Republican Party. They were too far Right for the Republican Party.

    She’s pulling a fast one on the public. I resent it. Just be what you are. It’s the least she could do given what she’s taking.

    I deal a lot in property in my practice. We have Amish and Mennonite here. I have no objection to their religion but as far as dealing with them in business? They’re sharp operators. Right on the bounds of legality and everyone knows it- every auctioneer, every lawyer, every estate agent. They’re shady and shifty because they believe it’s A-ok to rob non-believers for the Glory of Their God. I think the same thing is operating here.

  108. 108.

    Joe Falco

     “But Republicans … need to develop a campaign strategy committed to protecting the Senate at all costs, even if it means sacrificing the Oval Office.”

    They had their chance at the beginning of this year but decided the Oval Office was more important than the Senate at the time. They chose Party over Country and now they may lose their grip on the country (hopefully). Accept the consequences of your actions, traitorous toads!

  109. 109.

    rikyrah

    Um…When did TEXAS become a SWING STATE???

     

    Polls Show Donald Trump Leading in Just One Swing State With Exactly Three Weeks to the Election

    Meghan Roos 3 hrs ago

    Polls Show Donald Trump Leading in Just One Swing State With Exactly Three Weeks to the Election

    An average of state polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight found that Trump had a 1.5-percent lead over Biden in Texas on Monday. It is the only swing state where polling averages indicate that Trump is in the lead among likely and registered voters.

    http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/polls-show-donald-trump-leading-in-just-one-swing-state-with-exactly-three-weeks-to-the-election/ar-BB19Yo4n?ocid=ientp

     

    WHEN EXACTLY DID TEXAS BECOME A SWING STATE??

    DA PHUQ??

  110. 110.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    Have you seen the exchange from her ’17 hearing on Griswold? She’s asked what she thinks about Griswold “when it came down”. OK, dumb phrasing by Kennedy but she’s supposedly brilliant so she knows what he’s asking. She responds “I wasn’t alive when it came down”. She’s a law professor. WTF? Her claim is she doesn’t read pivotal SCOTUS opinions? All her students do.

    They’re jamming a far Right judge on the court. Make no mistake. You deserve notice of that.

  112. 112.

    mrmoshpotato

    @rikyrah:

    WHEN EXACTLY DID TEXAS BECOME A SWING STATE?? 

    Ummm…..when Rethuglican “leadership” decided it was just fine to let their fellow Texans die from COVID-19?

    Wasn’t it Texas that set up a committee aka death panels to determine who should get ventilators?

  113. 113.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    Well, golly, why would you say that? It is the membership in every far Right group she could possibly find or is it the 5 times she signed a contract to present for a virulently homophobic group who preach that gay people are second class citizens? Maybe it’s that she wrote that Scalia was not far Right enough and needed to go further.

    You’re not proposing we draw any conclusions from her actions, are you? I think that’s a violation of her religious liberty.

  114. 114.

    Ken

    Republicans … need to develop a campaign strategy committed to protecting the Senate at all costs, even if it means sacrificing the Oval Office.

    Three weeks is enough time to do that, right?

  115. 115.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: it’s like a variation of that old Jeff Foxworthy routine

    “You might be a wingnut if…”

    “…you think Scalia wasn’t conservative enough”

  116. 116.

    Ken

    @rikyrah: Um…When did TEXAS become a SWING STATE???

    It’s odd to see political commentators give “swing state” status to the ones that are close, while ignoring the broader implications. f it were even more lopsided, would they talk about the swing state status of Wyoming, while ignoring the 420 EV that Biden had banked?

    Although I voted in 1984 I didn’t follow politics as much as now, and they probably had fewer polls and certainly no internet (worth speaking of).  Does anyone remember poll chatter from 1984?  Were they talking about “swing states” and if so which states?

  118. 118.

    sanjeevs

    @Ken: I watched ‘The Making of the President’ about the 1960 election and almost every state was a swing state. At one point Nixon boasts he’s visited all 50 states.

  119. 119.

    Soprano2

    @SFAW: By the way, did you know  John McCain was a POW Amy Covid Barrett has seven children?

    I wish one of the Democrats had the stones to say “I don’t care about your fucking family, I care about how you will rule on the law, and your family doesn’t have anything to do with that”.

  120. 120.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: he’s a phony. This a carefully crafted narrative to get a Right wing radical on the Court. One of her backers said as much! He said “we were on the outside for 30 years and now we’re mainstream”. He means in the Republican Party. They were too far Right for the Republican Party.

    ITA, I’ve been hearing about her for years as a possible Supreme Court nominee, so the whole “Ah shucks how did I get here?” schtick is stupid and insulting to everyone. We all know how you got here, Barrett, you’ve been groomed for this position for 20 years. I’d ask her why all her speeches were scrubbed from the internet, isn’t she proud of them? Is she ashamed of the things she said?

  121. 121.

    SFAW

    @Soprano2:

    I wish one of the Democrats had the stones to say “I don’t care about your fucking family, I care about how you will rule on the law, and your family doesn’t have anything to do with that”.

    No argument from me.

  122. 122.

    SFAW

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Ummm…..when Rethuglican “leadership” decided it was just fine to let their fellow Texans die from COVID-19?

    Disclaimer: I only saw the headline, didn’t read the article, but:

    TPM headline: “Up is Downism: Court Says Abbott EXPANDED Voting With Mail Ballot Drop Off Limits”

  123. 123.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Betty Cracker: About 10 nanoseconds after Uncle Joe announced he’d select a woman as his running mate, I predicted this. I’m surprised it took them so long to get around to it.

    It’s really all they have left in the GOP Election Ratfucking Toolkit, since they haven’t managed to lay a glove on Uncle Joe. And at this point it probably won’t help. They were too busy cleaning up after Hair Furor’s messes to go after her when they had a chance to define her as a skeery eeebil blacketv-black-black harpy. By now, too much of the electorate has seen enough of Kamala to satisfy themselves that she has neither horns nor tail, and will only laugh at the Thugs’ scaremongering.

  124. 124.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Gin & Tonic: My go-to for paper products is Big Lots – no membership fee, prices on TP and PT are excellent, and I’ve never seen them short. Some other good stuff too on occasion (if All-Bran at $2.50 a box ever shows up again I am prepared to back an SUV up to the loading dock).

  126. 126.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Jeffro:

    @Matt McIrvin: So the argument is, “don’t vote for Joe…Kamala’s just going to bump him off and then she’ll be in charge?”

    A former classmate of mine made a not quite so offensive form of this argument to me a month ago. The Democratic plan was for Biden to win the election and then resign for reasons of health fairly early in his term, making Kamala POTUS. This allegedly intelligent person had apparently bought into the Brittle Fume accusation that Biden is “senile” (when if anyone, it is Fume who suffers from Faux-Noise-induced dementia).

    Accusation always implies confession with these arseholes.

  127. 127.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Kay: They’re shady and shifty because they believe it’s A-ok to rob non-believers for the Glory of Their God.

    Isn’t that kindasorta what got Joseph Smith kilt and his followers driven out of Nauvoo? The conviction that in business transactions Mormons charged their coreligionists one price and “Gentiles**” (i.e., everyone else) a higher price?

    ** NB Only the Latter-Day-Saints had the chutzpah to brand the most Orthodox of Jews “Gentiles” along with the rest of us Later-The-Same-Day-Sinners.)

  128. 128.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @sanjeevs: At one point Nixon boasts he’s visited all 50 states –

    and historians have solid reason to believe that if Tricky Dick hadn’t made the promise to visit every state, or had abandoned it to campaign in states close enough for him to flip, JFK might’ve ended up an historical footnote and Camelot just a faint gleam in the bitter dreams of Democrats once more denied.

    Cripes. Nixon in 1969 was bad enough – imagine him in the Oval Office eight years callower and nastier.

  129. 129.

    Jeffro

    @Uncle Cosmo: 

    It’s nuts.

    I wonder what your former classmate would have said if you’d asked, “Ok, this ‘Democratic plan’ you’re talking about…who exactly drew this ‘plan’ up? The Democratic hive mind? Jill Biden? George Soros?”

    They always see a conspiracy (or eight) when just a simple reading of the facts and process will do.

    Maybe they need more hobbies, I dunno.

  130. 130.

    Heywood J.

    It’s a real shame that someone apparently has a loaded gun at Dr. Fauci’s head, and is forcing him to continue to participate in this murderous charade against his will. I’ll believe he’s genuinely angry about being cynically used when he does what he should have done months ago, when it was clear that his advice was being ignored.

    He would save far more lives by leaving right now, and spending the next few weeks hitting the chat-show circuit with the truth, unconstrained by “political” considerations to provide cover for killers and bastards. Get that monkey off your back, doc. Salvage your conscience while there’s still a chance.

    Anyone still willing to be seen in the same room with this human centipede of an administration is part of the problem, period. There is no “voice of moderation” anymore, there are only accomplices and useful idiots.

  131. 131.

    J R in WV

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Trump has gone further–he keeps making veiled accusations that Kamala Harris is going to murder Joe Biden. I think it’s projection.

    Well, a good thing Mike Pence has Secret Service protection, then!

  132. 132.

    WaterGirl

    @Matt McIrvin: In the end, there is no real predicting of what will happen with the election.  We just have to do everything we can to impact the outcome in every way we can.

    The rest is out of our hands.  But we can’t be very effective if we are in a panic. so we all need to take a deep breath, if needed, and work our asses off.

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