Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

When I was faster i was always behind.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Let me file that under fuck it.

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

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

You are here: Home / Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Friday Morning Open Thread: ‘Sleepy’ Joe Biden for President!

Friday Morning Open Thread: ‘Sleepy’ Joe Biden for President!

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228Comments

  2. 2.

    Baud

    Hanji’s video is amazing. One of the best of seen in a cycle with good videos.

    I keep saying this but if the Trump campaign was TRYING to lose, what would they be doing differently.

    Denouncing the GOP base.

  3. 3.

    MJS

    Good morning everyone. I watched neither town hall, but am encouraged by the reviews. I’m also encouraged that so many people have voted already. When people vote, Democrats win.

  4. 4.

    Brachiator

    With less than three weeks to go until the Nov. 3 election, Donald Trump and his campaign are counting on a surge of last-minute votes to give him a second term.

    Actually, Trump and the GOP seem to be counting on a surge of ongoing voter suppression efforts to help them. It’s pretty damn disgusting how some court decisions have supported efforts to restrict voting and to declare votes to be invalid.

  6. 6.

    Cermet

    The Post decided to add this morning an obviously false comparison this morning – claiming that Hillary was just as far ahead of the rump as Biden now is so the race is close since the fart cloud won in 2016; then tried to cover this total bullshit by adding that she was ‘slightly’ lower.  Damn the total bull shit just to not sound bias.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    Haha.  I observed this last night. The NY Post is upset their ratfucking isn’t working.

    Biden doesn’t get one question on Hunter Biden exposé at ABC News town hall (Ebony Bowden/New York Post)

  8. 8.

    Kay

    Matt Viser
    @mviser
    ·9h
    Joe Biden seems to not want the town hall to ever end. It concluded nearly 30 minutes ago, and he’s still fielding questions as voters take out notecards and ask the questions they didn’t get to during the televised broadcast. And Biden shows no signs of letting up.

    This is nice. It’ll be odd to have a president who likes people.

  9. 9.

    Ohio Mom

    It’s a fun sight, watching a building implode; I got to watch an old University of Cincinnati high-rise dorm crumble about thirty years ago.

    Something tells me that the Atlantic City implosion next January is going to be very well-attended, despite the cold and Covid, by an extremely enthusiastic crowd.

  10. 10.

    debbie

    @Lapassionara:

    Seconded on the photograph. Hopefully also emblematic of the GOP.

    There’s no news here about House races. Are we doing as well there?

    I’m hoping to vote in person today. It’s in the 40s, so I’m dressing like it’s January. If it proves to be too much, I also have Monday off, so I can try again.

  11. 11.

    MJS

    @Ohio Mom: New Jersey has a Democratic Governor and Atlantic City has a Democratic mayor. Surely they can find a way to move that building implosion up to the end of this month. It would make a fine closing ad.

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Biden isn’t perfect but he is good, and we could use good.

    I wish people would stop saying stuff like this. It just really pisses me off. It implies we are settling for less than we could have had. No matter who we nominated, they would have been “less than we could have had” because possibilities are infinite while reality is always finite.

  13. 13.

    TS (the original)

    Vindictive hateful person – as are those who vote for him – especially if they live in California. I hope this is all over the news in California.

    From Washington Post

    Fueled by extreme heat and tinder-dry conditions, wildfires exploded across California in September, blazing through almost 1.9 million acres, destroying nearly 1,000 homes and killing at least three people. One wildfire, the Creek Fire, became the largest single blaze in California history and grew so fierce it spun up fire tornadoes with 125 mph winds.

    But the Trump administration this week refused to grant an emergency declaration that would open up hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for areas devastated in those fires, California state officials confirmed to The Washington Post early on Friday.

    It’s unclear why the request was denied, when similar declarations were granted earlier this year for other wildfires. President Trump has previously threatened to withhold emergency fire aid to California over disputed claims that the state isn’t doing enough to prevent wildfires.

  14. 14.

    Betty Cracker

    Didn’t see the town halls, but from what I read, Biden committed to letting us know his thoughts on expanding the SCOTUS before the election. The accounts I read said he’d do so after observing how the GOP handles the Barrett confirmation. Do y’all think that’s a good idea?

  15. 15.

    JPL

    @Betty Cracker: I don’t know why he doesn’t point out that the role of the Senate is to advise and consent. Mitch refused to do his constitutional duties when Obama was President and there should be a remedy to that. He might admit that he doesn’t know what that remedy is.

  16. 16.

    WereBear

    @Betty Cracker: The accounts I read said he’d do so after observing how the GOP handles the Barrett confirmation. Do y’all think that’s a good idea?

    Yes, because otherwise it’s buried in assumptions that media lapdogs will claim haven’t happened yet and aren’t going to happen so it’s just another —Democratic whatever— and we aren’t fit to rule…

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MJS: Not if they want it done safely they can’t. It takes time to set these things up. Posts and beams have to be cut so that when the charges go off it all collapses and it all collapses in.

  21. 21.

    JPL

    If republicans retain control of the Senate, and Biden becomes president, will Mitch allow confirmation of Biden’s appointments?

  22. 22.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @Kay:

    What Biden did, in the middle of the night, when he thought nobody else was watching.

    But we know he was sitting on the steps of a movie theater at dusk along the river in Georgetown last week when he saw a man leaving the theater and asked him for money to buy a sandwich. The stranger gave Rashid some cash, then lingered on the steps to talk.

    Rashid recognized the man: Joe Biden, the former vice president of the United States, who had taken his granddaughter to see a film.

    Rashid then told Mr. Biden that he has had problems receiving a housing voucher from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The voucher could help him move off the streets to live in some kind of secure and clean housing. Joe Biden listened to Rashid, then went back inside the movie house to find a paper and pen, and reportedly wrote down the name and number of a someone he knows who might help.

    It was this image of the former vice president, handing a note of help and speaking patiently to a man who lives on the streets, that was snapped by passer-by on a cellphone and posted on social media sites. The photo captures a moment that may seem too rare these days, especially in Washington, D.C.: a small, telling, private and unscripted act of kindness.

    Joe Biden has been praised for his grace and goodness. He didn’t just give a handout to a man in need, but a hand of help, and stayed to talk. He saw Rashid not just as a homeless man, but a human being.

  23. 23.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    My guess is that he’ll call for a commission to consider ideas for judicial reform, or something like that, rather than saying yes or nay on court expansion.

  28. 28.

    Betty Cracker

    @JPL: Maybe that’s the answer he’ll provide. Something like, “McConnell and Senate Republicans abused the process. If we flip the senate, we’ll try to work with Republicans in a bipartisan way to see how we can address this, and if they won’t work with us, we’ll look at all the options available to us under the Constitution.”

  29. 29.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Betty Cracker: I think he’s handling the media idiocy as best he can. He kept saying, the reason I won’t make a statement is that as soon as I do, that will be the headlines and we need to stay focused on what the Republicans are doing.

    So as soon as it ended, what happened? We hear the pundits jabbering about whether Joe will pack the court. And they were still jabbering about it when we turned it off.

    Haven’t yet heard any coverage of Trump. Any good schadenfreude this morning? Did he have nice low ratings?

  33. 33.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: Yep, that would work. I think Dems will ultimately have to expand the court to have any hope of being allowed to legislate, but saying that straight up now is a risk Biden needn’t take.

  38. 38.

    satby

    @debbie: That’s better than Lovato’s own music video for her song.

    All the feels, they know how to invoke them. Glad they’re working with us. Hope our guys are learning.

  39. 39.

    Ned F.

    I did not know the Trump casino still stood empty in A.C., Does he still own it? Is he getting  New Jersey to  pay for tearing it down?  Yes, they really should blow it up on November third.

  40. 40.

    debbie

    @satby:

    So they picked her already-existing song? Even better!

    Those Lincoln Project guys really are doing Don Draper proud.

  42. 42.

    Kay

    The state that worries me is Pennsylvania. I don’t know why it’s still so wobbly. Biden is always ahead but it hasn’t moved as decisively as MI and WI. If we see Trump support that we didn’t anticipate it will be there. Florida would be really nice but Pennsylvania is necessary. That’s one where I hope they treat it as tied and go all in on turn out of Democrats.

  43. 43.

    Fester Addams

    @Ohio Mom:

    Something tells me that the Atlantic City implosion next January is going to be very well-attended, despite the cold and Covid, by an extremely enthusiastic crowd

    What do we have to do to make sure it still has the shithead’s name on it when the charges go off?

  44. 44.

    different-church-lady

    JUST BECAUSE YOU THINK BIDEN ISN”T PERFECT DOESN’T MEAN YOU HAVE TO SAY IT OUT FUCKIN’ LOUD!!

  45. 45.

    Skepticat

    @OzarkHillbilly: D’accord. If we had to wait for perfect, we could close down now. There’s no politician (or person) with whom I agree on everything, but right now we need the type of decent person Biden is.

  46. 46.

    Amir Khalid

    @Ned F.:

    The Li’l Devil on my shoulder says the building should be blown up on 21st January, with ex-POTUS Trump sitting tied up in one of the hotel suites.

  47. 47.

    Betty Cracker

    Florida is not faring so well on the coronavirus front. From the Tampa Bay Times:

    There is bad news Florida’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

    New cases of the virus are rising in the state once again, as they are across the country. For the first time since summer, there is now a noticeable statewide increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations.

    The turn comes as the state has slowly counted its dead, a toll that continues to rise while those in other states have flattened, causing Florida to climb the ranks of the hardest-hit states.

    Cases are up 20% over the last couple of weeks, mostly outside of South Florida, which was hardest hit earlier in the pandemic.

    On Monday, our stupid, feckless shithead governor attended a Trump rally near Orlando. He wore no mask and high-fived people all around the arena.

  48. 48.

    prostratedragon

    @MJS:  I keep looking at those long line photos and videos, and thinking, “Those people (mostly) are not there to vote for Trump.”

  49. 49.

    Princess

    @Betty Cracker: I thought that was a great answer. He gave them no sound bite to use against him but he convinced me for the first time that he might actually reform SCOTUS by expanding it to better reflect the make up of the country.

  52. 52.

    Puddinhead

    @Kay:  Central PA is hardcore Trump country and has reliable voters. It is going to be tough. One encouraging thing is that the RealClearPolitics poll average has Biden over 50%. That’s the magic number. If you look at Clinton’s polls in 2016 in the battleground states, she was ahead but her top line mark was always 46 or 47%. Too much room for Trump to make a move. The closer to 50% a candidate gets, the less chance you have of a late breaking upset.

  53. 53.

    Amir Khalid

    @Baud:

    BoJo went out of his way to sabotage a deal because he believes in a no-deal Brexit. Yes, he’s that stupid.

  55. 55.

    mad citizen

    @OzarkHillbilly: Also, I am so tired of the media trope/descriptor “deeply divided”.  It’s a win for Putin every time this is used.  Sure one side to totally dismayed by the other side voting for you know who, etc.  But we are all Americans.  We have always voted for one candidate or the other.  After the blue landslide, will they start saying that America is united?

  56. 56.

    Princess

    The poll watchers are all reminding us to be careful, to take nothing for granted, that we’re seeing Dems but the GOP are coming on election day, and I agree with them. There is enthusiasm on our side, but his supporters are enthusiastic too, and there will be people who didn’t vote for him in 2016 because they weren’t sure he hated Black people and women and immigrants enough, who will come out to vote for him now they are convinced he does.

    But.

    Waiting for election day is a dangerous strategy for the GOP. If you feel like you’re 10 points behind and about to lose, you might not bother to go out and vote if the weather is bad, if you are afraid of getting sick, if your life gets complicated etc. So we’ll see. (This is also why telling people to act like we’re ten points behind is not as effective as acting them to act as if we are one point behind — which is where we are in a lot of states. People despair.)

  59. 59.

    Soprano2

    We recorded both town halls since we weren’t home when they were broadcast. We watched the Trump one when we got home because I heard on Twitter how bad it was, and it didn’t disappoint. Trump has no idea what he’s actually supposed to be doing at a town hall – he treats it like it’s him vs. the moderator, and him vs. the voters, rather than being an opportunity for him to connect with the voter’s concerns. He did not answer one single question he was asked! Well, he did say he condemned white supremacy, but he was really grudging and grumpy about it. He acted offended that anyone could believe he endorsed white supremacy! Watching his town hall felt like an assault on the senses; it seemed like he was yelling most of the time, because he was so blustery, angry and defensive about everything. He really, really, really doesn’t like being questioned about anything he does or says, especially by a woman, and he let it show. That he couldn’t even denounce QAnon was something else. Guthrie was better than anyone I’ve seen at pushing back at him when he doesn’t answer a question, and at correcting the lies he tells. It was hard to watch but probably educational for some of the people who watched it.

  60. 60.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Immanentize: I don’t mind it. The primary race was contentious and there are a lot of people out there who, to be motivated, need to see that people like themselves who didn’t support the nominee and don’t consider him ideal are still going to vote for him. We can moan about it all we want but it’s the situation.

  61. 61.

    Kay

    @Puddinhead:

     hardcore Trump country

    That’s what worries me. As you know, Democrats do two things in states like Pennsylvania – they bring out their voters in urban and suburban areas and try to hold down margins in rural areas. It’s really specific- they know exactly the number they need in rural counties, so for example, in my rural Ohio county in 08 and 12 we were told we needed 8000 Obama votes out of the county, and we did that. That’s (IMO) where the covid related campaign narrowing will show up- not in urban or suburban but in fewer D votes out of rural counties, keep Trump to 67% instead of 70%- like that. If there’s a problem that’s what it will be. It won’t matter at all if he wins by 5, but I’d be more comfortable if he were up 7,8,9 to ensure 5.
    There are shy Biden voters though. I worked at the headquarters yesterday afternoon and had an older couple come in- he’s 81 and she’s 83 and they wouldn’t take a Biden yard sign because their neighbors are all Trump nuts and they don’t want trouble. They took a D county commissioner sign.

  62. 62.

    mad citizen

    @Kay: This site has Biden at 290 EVs: https://www.270towin.com/

    I’m kind of happy to see my midwestern state sporting a pale red color today (Leans R).  As Nick Cave would sing “I’ve got nothing against life per se.  There’s enough little things to make the big things from shooting yourself…in the head” (unreleased song but pops up on his 24 hour youtube channel).

  63. 63.

    Humanities Prof

    @Puddinhead: I’m beginning to agree that Pennsylvania could be a somewhat dangerous state this cycle.

    However….

    I did a bit of fudging around on 270towin.com.  If Biden’s campaign manages to flip Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Maine-2 and Nebraska-2, that gets him to 271 electoral votes.

    This calculation assumes that Trump sweeps Florida, Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, and Ohio.  I think Biden’s odds of grabbing at least one of those states are pretty good.

    Yes, we need Pennsylvania.  Yes, we want Pennsylvania.  But even if we crap out there, we have other viable paths.  And for all the anxiety, Biden’s still sitting on about a 6-7 point polling lead in Pennsylvania, which isn’t nothing.  He could still win the state even if the polls there are off by a lot.

  64. 64.

    Baud

    I’m not going to link, but Politico has really pushing a Dem civil war after the election.

    AOC, House progressives warn Biden on corporate hires

    Politico / by Alex Thompson / 3min

    The election is still 18 days away but Democrats are already drawing battle lines over what a Biden administration ought to look like

     

    I appreciate that they are at least covering this news, but the agenda is pretty blatant.

  65. 65.

    Soprano2

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    So as soon as it ended, what happened? We hear the pundits jabbering about whether Joe will pack the court. And they were still jabbering about it when we turned it off.

    They are so fucking obsessed with that it isn’t funny. On NPR this morning that was the only clip from the Biden town hall that they played or really talked about! They spent most of their time talking about Trump’s awful performance.

  66. 66.

    bemused

    @Soprano2:

    I enjoyed watching Guthrie’s persistent questioning of trump smiling most of the time. That must have really burned sexist, misogynist lard pumpkin perched awkwardly on his chair.

  68. 68.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Soprano2: My unemployment benefits ran out yesterday. Oddly enough, ‘packing the courts’ is the last thing I’m worrying about. I don’t think I’m the only one feeling this way.

  69. 69.

    Ken

    Mercedes Schlapp appears to have scored the biggest own goal for this debate (excluding Trump himself).  I hope someone is collecting all the “Mr. Rogers vs. _____” suggestions.  My favorite is definitely “crazy uncle” because the line was actually used by Guthrie.

    A close runner-up would be the unnamed Trump campaign advisor in the Daily Beast who said “He didn’t spend the whole time yelling, he didn’t piss himself, so this is as best as we could have hoped for.”  Do steroids cause incontinence?

  70. 70.

    Peale

    @Baud: Yeah. I do think we need to track where these guys land and hound the organizations that hire them. No more “John Yoo gets Immediate Tenure at Berkeley as a prestigious lawyer” crap. Or Barr Assistant Joins New York Corporate Law Firm as a Senior Partner.

  72. 72.

    Marcopolo

    @Betty Cracker: Since the confirmation is likely to occur the weekend just before the election, and with so many votes being cast early, I don’t think it really matters.  I do wish the Biden team had spent a little more time coming up with a better response.  Every time Biden gets asked this question it should be an opportunity to highlight what McConnell did vis a vis Oboma’s Nominations, to point out the rushed nature of the current process (which he kinda did a little of last night), and to educate the public that it’s the House & Senate who would need to pass legislation to change the size of the SC.  The way this issue is covered it’s like Biden just has to wave a magic wand or issue an EO and it is done. Just another example of how everything in our politics is covered as stupidly as possible.

  73. 73.

    evap

    OT, but the mention of the Trump casino in Atlantic City reminded me that I saw the Rolling Stones there in Dec, 1989.  It was the Steel Wheels tour, we had great seats, and it was one of the best concerts I’ve ever attended.  In those days, I didn’t really know who Trump was…

  74. 74.

    Peale

    @Kay: I’m a bit nervous about PA because 2016 turnout was actually quite high. We need to find 100,000 voters who didn’t turn out in 2016 or get trump voters to change their minds. I think the signs are there that there may be enough people who’ve changed their minds to win, but I can’t rely on people who thought Trump as a good idea in the first place to do the right thing.

  77. 77.

    Betty Cracker

    I feel compelled to defend Jeff Fecke’s honor a little since several of y’all are dragging him for noting that — gasp! — Biden isn’t perfect in a tweet above. I follow Fecke on Twitter, so I know he is 100% all-in for Biden. If the Dems had nominated someone else, Fecke would be 100% all-in for that person too. In other words, he’s the type of Democrat who regularly gets criticized for being a party shill.

    Iterations of “Biden wasn’t my first choice/isn’t perfect, etc., but he’ll do” is a pretty common, relatable sentiment within our coalition. It’s based on people’s real feelings about our current situation. It isn’t necessarily a dig at you personally or an attempt to demoralize Democrats. So maybe stop straining so hard to feel a pea of offense under 10 mattresses of good intentions.

  78. 78.

    germy

    Joni Ernst couldn’t name the price of soybeans at her debate.

    Barrett couldn’t recite all of the five freedoms guaranteed by the first amendment.

    Am I starting to see a pattern here with Republican women?

  80. 80.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    I don’t know. If Warren were the nominee and people constantly said “She’s growing on me despite her many missteps,” I think you would find it irritating.

    But I’m willing to tolerate just about anything if it’ll help get votes.

  81. 81.

    MomSense

    @evap:

    I think there was a kerfuffle between Keef and Trump – as in Keef hates trump and pulled a knife on him or something.  Keef apparently always keeps a large knife on him.

  85. 85.

    A Ghost to Most

    @MomSense: Trump wanted to wanted to be on stage with the Stones. Kief told him they’d walk if he was even in the building. There may have been a knife involved.

    Kief 2024. He’ll only be 45 in Kief years.

  87. 87.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Ken:

    My favorite is definitely “crazy uncle” because the line was actually used by Guthrie.

    I would love to have seen Mary Trump’s reaction to that line!

  88. 88.

    Kay

    @Peale:

    I like the NYT Sienna polls because they are really conservative with Party ID – they have a higher GOP sample which would allow for some higher proportion of R voters- that possibility is included in the number – so I think if anything they undercount Biden support. Their polls of PA have ranged from +10 to +1.

    No 1’s, 2’s or 3’s! I don’t want any of those! :)

    Obama won PA by a little more than 5 in ’12, so 5 is our benchmark.

  90. 90.

    Steeplejack

    @Betty Cracker:

    Didn’t see the town halls, but from what I read, Biden committed to letting us know his thoughts on expanding the SCOTUS before the election. [. . .] Do y’all think that’s a good idea?

    I don’t think it’s a good idea. It would just lock Biden into a hard position—or give the impression of that—which could then be used as a cudgel against him later, if circumstances or other factors change.

    Biden shouldn’t take the bait. I don’t think this is a big issue with “real” Americans. He should keep pounding Trump, McConnell and the Republicans on the real court-packing that they have been doing for years, and he should keep his options open.

  92. 92.

    Kay

    In my obsessing over Pennsylvania I noticed this.

    Obama and Romney were tied on average going into 2012 and O won (relatively) easily- it wasn’t contested.

    So the polls were off in the R direction in ’12. Mittens was robbed! :)

    I didn’t pay attention to it because I don’t care what happens to Mittens, but it’s interesting and maybe why Republicans were so insanely outraged. Of course, they’re always insanely outraged so it may have been “Tuesday”, but still.

  93. 93.

    WaterGirl

    My niece just asked if there is a good website that lines up where Biden and Trump stand on particular issues.

    Anybody know of any websites like that?

  95. 95.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker: I know he’s 100% DEM, my objection is that it sets up a low expectations narrative.

    ETA: and nothing kills turn out like low expectations.

  96. 96.

    Kay

    My middle son took a picture of him dropping off his ballot in Toledo. So thoughtful! He knows I need proof. Especially for him.

  97. 97.

    catclub

    @Betty Cracker: This is also a reversal of “the Democrats fall in Love, Republicans fall in line”.   I have no idea what it really means, but the Trump republicans have definitely fallen in love with dear leader.

  98. 98.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Amir Khalid:
    I want for him to have a long life sentence, in prison.

    @MJS: In many cases, inmates are required to hold a job while in prison

    I suppose it’s no longer picking oakum. Making license plates (I wouldn’t have one of his on my car), perhaps; or making junk-mail marketing phone calls?

    (For all other prison inmates, I am opposed to under- or un-paid servitude.)

    [Edited to add omitted words. And to remove one. It’s that kind of day, apparently.]

  100. 100.

    Kropacetic

    @Betty Cracker: Iterations of “Biden wasn’t my first choice/isn’t perfect, etc., but he’ll do” is a pretty common, relatable sentiment within our coalition. It’s based on people’s real feelings about our current situation. It isn’t necessarily a dig at you personally or an attempt to demoralize Democrats. So maybe stop straining so hard to feel a pea of offense under 10 mattresses of good intentions.

    This a hundred times over. Also, a lot of this “Biden isn’t perfect, but…” type of stuff is an argument to voters who haven’t already decided to vote for him.  It could also serve as a balm for the soul of people who are determined to vote for him and really not happy about the idea (trust me).

    Frankly, I’d find it a lot more concerning if people were going around saying Biden is perfect.

  101. 101.

    Kay

    We have 4 students at the high school who tested positive this week, which I feel like is high- it’s a small district (in terms of Ohio districts). Parents are really worried. It’s all anyone talks about- the people I talk to, who are mostly parents.
    There’s some blaming going on, which parents are reckless, etc. which I don’t think is productive so I hope that doesn’t start. It’s so bad already for kids I don’t want to start fighting about the kids who get infected.

  102. 102.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: Maybe I’m misremembering past campaigns, but this does seem like a new phenomenon, people seething over a mild qualification in a generally positive comment. Lots of Dems in 2008 would preface positive remarks about Obama by noting that they’d voted for Clinton in the primary, and I don’t recall anyone freaking out about that. It just seems weirdly defensive to me. So what? They’re voting for Biden in the general. That’s all that matters.

  103. 103.

    p.a.

    If journos can be convinced to actually press charges against tRumpturds assaulting them it may be statistically significant in holding down tRumpublican turnout.?

     

    Things change, and the pace of change increases, but max benefit could be tRump damaging the brand for a generation a là Hoover.  Unlikely as long as FoxSinclairHateRadio exists though.

    Any chance of Fairness Doctrine reanimation?

  105. 105.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker: I don’t recall the persistent use of this sort of phrasing in 2008. (And Hillary certainly didn’t get the benefit of positive comments in 2016).  But 2008 was a long time ago, and the Internet was still young.

    ETA: The problem isn’t that “Biden isn’t perfect” is factually wrong.  It’s the constant repetition of the theme that somehow we are settling because some people didn’t have Biden as their first choice in the primary.

  106. 106.

    TS (the original)

    @Capri:

    In my dreams  Biden takes Texas and it’s all over.

    This is my dream as well. And I don’t think it is impossible.

  108. 108.

    Kay

    In Christie’s scolding statement yesterday he wrote that “the first three rows were tested”.

    They only tested the VIPs!  I mean, not even them, of course they lied, but still – SUCH incredible assholes.

    How does he think this works? The virus recognizes status?

  109. 109.

    germy

    TV news last night had a long segment on a Florida boat rally for Trump, organized by Latinos for Trump.  Don junior was on one of the boats, pumping his fists and saying “Feel the love! We’re gonna win this!”

    The impression I got from the segment is that Florida is all in for Trump.

    Is this true, or more spin?

  110. 110.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Baud: It’s idiotic, too. No politician is perfect, so what’s the point of saying it, other than to take Joe down a notch.

  111. 111.

    Kropacetic

    @germy: The impression I got from the segment is that Florida is all in for Trump.

    I think we can be certain that all the participants in the boat parade will vote for Trump.  As for the rest of Florida, probably something like 50/50.

  114. 114.

    Kropacetic

    @Gin & Tonic: It’s idiotic, too. No politician is perfect, so what’s the point of saying it, other than to take Joe down a notch.

    An admonition to people whose expectations or standards (for lack of a better word) are too high, perhaps?  An appeal to people who don’t like Joe Biden but can’t stand Trump to, yes, settle.

    Try looking at this through the eyes of someone who isn’t a dedicated partisan Democrat.

  115. 115.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @tom: I trust them, I trust them to be exactly who they say they are: Conservatives. I’m not gonna say 100% (they are politicians after all) but a hell of a lot more than any present member of the GOP.

  116. 116.

    A Ghost to Most

    Jebus. The sparkle ponies are out in force in other comment sections this morning, whinging about how NBC betrayed them, and promising to boycott them FOREVER for their perfidy.

    In reality, the viewers saw an hour long ad for Biden. But forest, trees, .. .

  117. 117.

    TS (the original)

    @Kay:

    I like the NYT Sienna polls because they are really conservative with Party ID – they have a higher GOP sample which would allow for some higher proportion of R voters- that possibility is included in the number – so I think if anything they undercount Biden support

    Thank you for that. I keep seeing them as outliers yet could not work out why 538 rates them so highly.   I didn’t want to be getting “concerned”. I’ll go check some of the detail.

  118. 118.

    MattF

    So, MD Governor Hogan says he cast a write-in vote for Ronald Reagan. Disappointing. The MD Republican Party is officially all in for Trump, so I guess Hogan is determined to stay Republican.

  119. 119.

    Immanentize

    In 2008, I don’t really recall anyone using this “Obama isn’t all that, but…” construct.  What I remember were all the PUMA jackasses who pretty roundly got their butts handed to them.  Then Obama won.  My wife voted for Hillary and I supported Obama in the primary.  That was pretty common where we live.  No one qualified their support of Obama after the primary that I can recall — other than maybe saying they supported Hillary earlier.  Except of course for the PUMA trolls.

  123. 123.

    germy

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    TV news ran the boat rally story because vroom vroom vrooom!  big boats and waves, and they showed two young ladies in bikinis (they showed the same clip of the ladies twice)

    TV news is a visual medium, after all.  No time for pesky facts.

  125. 125.

    BruceFromOhio

    Call me hopelessly old school, but I’m pro-Mister Rogers and anti-QAnon.

    OK, Kristol has done something I didn’t think was possible, make a funny.

    The defunct Trump Plaza in Atlantic City is currently wrapped in black netting to keep people nearby from getting hurt by random pieces of its eroding facade. It will be imploded altogether in January.

    Irony or metaphor? Seems it is both.

    @MattF:

    MD Governor Hogan says he cast a write-in vote for Ronald Reagan.

    Typical Republican, living in a fantasy land, clinging to denial of what’s here and now.

  126. 126.

    WaterGirl

    @germy: Thanks.

    Yeah, I think she wants to share this with some friends who tend Republican – something side-by-side that will be easy for them to look at without having to work at it and do a bunch of research themselves.

  127. 127.

    A Ghost to Most

    @germy: Nope. They can’t admit that NBC might have known what would happen. Purity over progress.

    Eta: Same as it ever was.

  129. 129.

    Marcopolo

    We are over 21 million votes cast now! That’s 15% of the total vote in 2016. At this rate we’ll be over 50% by election day.

    I also want to drop this little item for RunForSomething. I started giving them 10 bucks/month in January ’19 and I think it is one of the best election-related investments I have made over the past 2 years. They have become a major force in building the D electoral/campaign infrastructure.

    How it started: How it’s going: pic.twitter.com/FJWIsXSSEM— Amanda Litman (@amandalitman) October 15, 2020

    They will be around after Nov. 3rd recruiting and supporting amazing young progressive candidates up & down the ballot in every state. I hope everyone here will consider starting a small monthly donation to them once the votes are cast since we can’t win races if we don’t have candidates running in them.

  135. 135.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Betty Cracker: I remember 2016 when there were quite a few “Hillary is the devil, but I guess I will vote for her” people around.  I think casting our candidate as spinach (good for you but yucky or at best meh) is bad politics.  You wear your 2016 PTSD your way; we’ll wear ours our way.

  136. 136.

    Kropacetic

    @Gin & Tonic: Boy, voting for somebody who’s been dead for 16 years is really showing your principles.

    GOP principles include voting for minor celebrities, more senility in government positions, and white supremacy.  Reagan and Trump fit the bill equally.

  137. 137.

    germy

    @WaterGirl:

    I recommend Joe’s Vision because of the policy details.

    We don’t see that stuff (for the most part) discussed on TV interviews and stories because they prefer dwelling on personalties and the horserace.

    But Biden’s page is full of real plans and goals, and how to reach them.

  139. 139.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Marcopolo: The other thing people should consider is actually running for something themselves. It’s not hard, and every municipality in the US has a whole bunch of elective, yet *very* part-time positions one could run for. School board, planning/zoning board, all sorts of stuff. You learn about your community, about your neighbors and about yourself.

  142. 142.

    artem1s

    @Princess:

    If you feel like you’re 10 points behind and about to lose, you might not bother to go out and vote if the weather is bad, if you are afraid of getting sick, if your life gets complicated etc.

    you also don’t go out to vote if you’ve been told all your life that the thing you are voting for doesn’t matter and should be drowned in a bathtub.  The GOP’s strategy to make their voters hate their government and anyone connected to it was always a losing strategy. That’s why they have had to rely on suppression for so long now that they don’t know anything else. Encouraging a small minority of people to hate vote is all they know how to do now.

  144. 144.

    laura

    @A Ghost to Most: My admiration for Keef is boundless (happily married, open tuning guitar wizardry, no tolerance for fuckwits, handy with a knife)- and this is just a great way to start the day!

  146. 146.

    Ken

    @germy: big boats and waves, and they showed two young ladies in bikinis

    So basically Don Jr. organized a PG-rated Girls Gone Wild video as a campaign event?  May the rest of his career parallel that of the original GGW guy, Joe Francis.

  151. 151.

    frosty

    @Kay: I’m starting to panic about my state – I don’t want to see newly registered Trump voters at the polls like I did in 2016. I’m hoping most of them are D to R switches and they were all Trump voters before.

    I’m glad that the campaign started doing something besides phone banking FINALLY. I’ve signed up for lit drops and canvassing every weekend until the election. Even at my advanced age I think it will be safe enough from COVID.

    @Puddinhead: Based on past elections, if York County goes over 34% Dem, PA goes Dem. 34%!!!!!  We’re solidly in Trump country here.

  152. 152.

    BruceFromOhio

    @Betty Cracker: Stephanopoulos tried to corner him in a ‘gotcha’ moment and Biden wasn’t having it. He pushed back with “this is what they want you doing, talking about anything other than what they are doing,” but Steph wasn’t gonna let it go. Biden punted, and it let the evening move on.

    Now Biden gets to manage the message from the campaign on that topic, while continuing to push the light back to where it belongs, on the Senate Republicans.

    I thought it was the right move. It alleviates the “BIDEN WILL PACK COURTS” headline, and leaves open the door for every Democratic candidate to respond to court-packing questions with, “You want to talk about court packing? Let’s look at the Republican record on this topic.”

  153. 153.

    germy

    Wonder what Ronald Reagan would think? Unbelievable. Remember these folks think satanists are running government with some cannibalism and pedophile rings thrown in for good measure.

    The GOP starts forging a new alliance with QAnon https://t.co/lo0OeWNI8j pic.twitter.com/GTn5IneMUG

    — Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) October 16, 2020

    Uh, Reagan’s favorite news outlet was Human Events which thought the Civil Rights movement was a communist plot, and he also had many friends who were John Birchers, so…. https://t.co/CBPTWthBw7

    — Seth Cotlar (@SethCotlar) October 16, 2020

  157. 157.

    Kay

    @germy:

    If you’re in a really Trumpy area it feels like he’s winning. However. I was on a Biden campaign zoom meeting and most of the people on it were from “blue” Ohio counties – urban and suburban- and they were absolutely chipper, so I think people are really localizing this.

  158. 158.

    A Ghost to Most

    From the Denver Post:

    With Cory Gardner trailing Hickenlooper, national GOP groups scale back their spending in Colorado

    “It’s over,” Republican pollster says of Colorado’s U.S. Senate race

    Buh bye, Cory.

  159. 159.

    Marcopolo

    @Gin & Tonic:   Yes.  That is the entire point of Run For Something!  Removing the anxiety, mystery, and knowledge based hurdles that currently exist when running for office at any level.  Did you click through to look at the tweet I posted?

  161. 161.

    BruceFromOhio

    @MJS:

    Joli is a Brickell-based immigration attorney and five-time beauty queen who dabbles as a pundit on Spanish-language television. She’s also a fervent Trump supporter and frequently posts about him on Facebook.

    I am seriously interested in how folks like Joli arrive at this place. No doubt in my view that the NBC production team on site is complicit.

    @Baud: LOL

  163. 163.

    Kay

    @frosty:

    My daughter volunteered to make  calls from NY into PA because she lived in Pittsburgh for a while and so therefore has some PA…magic (I have no idea how she thinks) but they keep giving her Florida lists, so maybe they’re not panicking like we are.

  164. 164.

    Kropacetic

    We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own.  Resistance is futile.

  169. 169.

    Ken

    @A Ghost to Most: One of my more unlikely fantasies is that some of the Republican senators who are clearly on the way out vote against Barrett.  I’m not expecting it to happen because it would smash their chances at wingnut welfare or lobbying and might even keep them off some corporate boards.

  170. 170.

    chopper

    @Baud:

    it just grates on me how liberals so often seem so incapable of just giving someone on the political stage a damn compliment. they have to throw in a caveat. nobody whose opinion is worth a damn is going to consider you some sort of ‘sheep’ because you said that joe biden is good at stuff.

  172. 172.

    frosty

    @Kay: Thanks, more travel pix to come. We’ve made the reservations to try to do the trip again in 2021. I added a couple more National Parks – we’ll be on the road for a little longer this time!

  173. 173.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Immanentize: It’s like there is some actual law of nature that requires DemocratsBalloon-Juicers  to first crap on their candidate before agreeing to support them.

    The Jackaltariat reminds me of a bon mot often attributed to Churchill, that the Americans would always choose the right course – after they exhausted every other possibility.

    I am thoroughly sick of Jackals who (I’ll give them this) acknowledge that Uncle Joe is the (near-)perfect candidate for the hour, but feel compelled to reaffirm their “progressive” credentials by prefacing that admission with He wasn’t my first or second or third or … Nth choice, but….

    Yinz remind me of the “progressives” who went gaga over Adlai Stevenson in 1952, and even after he was stomped by Ike insisted on renominating him in 1956 to be stomped even worse, and then pushed for his re-renomination in 1960 (when he would have lost to Nixon!). Like the Stevensonians, most of yinz are blissfully unaware that your politics are shared by only a tiny fraction of the electorate (each of whom has the same number of votes as you, i.e., one). Those that do understand wax wrothful at The People who fail to swoon over the wonderfulness of your political heartthrobs – kind of like a schoolmarm losing patience with students who can’t seem to give her the right answer.

    Hey, I don’t particularly object to all those months when BJ was so blatantly in the tank for candidates who showed the electoral acumen of tree moss, now that you’ve lined up behind Joe and Kamala. But do you have to be so goddamned whiny about it??

  174. 174.

    Immanentize

    @BruceFromOhio: How do folks like Joli get to Trump loving bobble head?

    Joli is a Brickell-based….

    That is about 90% of your answer. She’s rich. She undoubtedly hangs out with Miami rich people. A diverse group racially, but pretty far right politically. Also, about 80% of “immigration law” is business oriented — visas and citizenship for rich folks and their employees.

  176. 176.

    Kropacetic

    @zhena gogolia: Who is perfect? Please name one person who is perfect.

    What is the alternative? How far from perfect is that?

    It’s unutterably tiresome.

    I find it comforting.  However all *gestures at quoted text* that I find tiresome.  Different strokes for different folks.  Don’t be shamin’.

  178. 178.

    germy

    Amazing that the whole "there's a Republican I, as a decent person, can vote for" thing has persisted after decades of GOP filth and now Trump.

    I think the last Republican I voted for was Bill Green for Congress in 1978.

    — Roy Edroso (@edroso) October 16, 2020

  180. 180.

    Ken

    @zhena gogolia: Please name one person who is perfect.

    Oh, if only that question had been asked of Trump.  As it was, we just got a grudging admission that Jesus is more famous than he is.

    I wonder if his prep team [Objection! Assumes facts not in evidence] went over that with him, so he wouldn’t offend the evangelicals.  We know what he really thinks about his religious supporters.

  184. 184.

    germy

    @Kropacetic:

    I think when people here say they don’t think Biden is “perfect” they’re not talking about his personal attributes, but aspects of his political positions.

    Is it okay here for me to admit I don’t agree with ALL of his positions?

  187. 187.

    Immanentize

    @frosty: I am one who likes Pittsburg.  I saw Robert Fripp give a Frippertronics concert in a record store there in the Summer of ’77.  My friend was interning at Alcoa.  We drank a bunch of Iron City….  Good times!

  188. 188.

    germy

    @Kropacetic:

    I think it’s a symptom of the beltway pundits being more interested in talking about personalities rather than concrete policy proposals.

    And so if someone here says “Well, candidate x isn’t perfect, but I’ll still vote for him”  everyone assumes they’re talking about character.

  189. 189.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @germy: Jesus Christ.  No one has ever agreed with every political position of their party’s presidential nominee.  If I was the Democratic nominee, I would probably disagree with some of my own positions.

  190. 190.

    JAFD

    @OzarkHillbilly: Was there once or twice (mother liked to play the slots occasionally), three decades or so ago.  Remember winning a couple of dollars myself, joshed about depleting Tiffany’s college fund…

  191. 191.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JAFD: I have never been inside a casino. It is probably the last place I’d ever want to be, for a number of reasons. Different strokes and all that.

  192. 192.

    Jeffro

    @Omnes Omnibus:If I was the Democratic nominee, I would probably disagree with some of my own positions.

    LOL

    This…this…is truly the essence of being a Democrat.  =)

  193. 193.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Kropacetic: This a hundred times over.

    Bullshit a thousand times over, as is standard from you. For a minuscule fraction of the electorate, and for no one else.

  194. 194.

    Kropacetic

    @germy: I don’t think he’s perfect and when I say it, it’s 90% about policy; mainly policy he supported in the first 25 years of my life and beyond, not the last 12, but policy.  Biden is one of a rare few politicians I have a visceral negative reaction to.  There’s no question I’m going to vote for him; but I can’t stand the guy, never could. He’s Mr. Rogers now, he wasn’t always.

    “It’s OK to not like Biden or things he has done and still vote for the guy” is an important conversation to be having, especially if you want the votes of people who don’t really like him.  Do we really want that conversation being left entirely to the “don’t like” camp?

  195. 195.

    Kropacetic

    @Jeffro:

    @Omnes Omnibus: If I was the Democratic nominee, I would probably disagree with some of my own positions.

    LOL

    This…this…is truly the essence of being a Democrat.  =)

    And that is perfect.

    See also: “If you ask five Democrats, you’ll get eight opinions.”

  196. 196.

    germy

    @Omnes Omnibus: 

    Jesus Christ. No one has ever agreed with every political position of their party’s presidential nominee.

    Yes, I know.

    I was being sarcastic because there’s a small group of commenters here who take offense.

  197. 197.

    Ian

    @Patricia Kayden:

    And yet still relentlessly pro war.  That guy is scum and we lose track of that every time we mention him without the context of the blood of the million dead Iraqis on his hands.

  199. 199.

    germy

    @Kropacetic:  Biden is one of a rare few politicians I have a visceral negative reaction to.

    I don’t get that at all.  I find him likeable.  I also found Hillary likeable.

    If I say HRC or Biden isn’t perfect,  I mean I disagreed with some of HRC’s foreign policy positions, and some of Biden’s domestic ones.  But they are small disagreements.

    Republicans, on the other hand.  I have a visceral negative reaction to every last one of them.

  201. 201.

    Marcopolo

    @OzarkHillbilly:   Went to the Alton Belle casino once, sometime in the mid-90s.  It was a part of what was supposed to be a romantic Bed & Breakfast getaway while I was back in St Louis from AK (where I’d gone for grad school) over the holidays.  The casino visit was her idea.  It was a smoky hellhole of a place that I wanted to leave the second I arrived.  It wound up being a bit of a metaphor for that relationship as well.  Ah well, time doesn’t stop and people change.

  202. 202.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Fresh out of high school, the devout Catholic girl took vows in an order where the vow of silence permitted each sister to utter two words every 5 years.

    Five years after her entry, she was called into the mother superior’s office and asked if she had anything to say. Bed’s hard, she said.

    Five years later, the mother superior asked her the same question. Food’s bad, she said.

    Five years after that. Same question. She said, I quit!

    The mother superior said, I’m not surprised – all you ever do is complain.

    /rimshot

  203. 203.

    Marcopolo

    @germy:  Biden is a very different person now than he was 20 (hell, probably 12)  years ago.  If you don’t believe me watch some footage of him running the Judiciary Committee during the Thomas hearings, or some back and forth between him & Warren over the bankruptcy legislation he was pushing.  He really was a self-important ass and was on the wrong side of a lot of issue.

    I don’t know if it is age, or being Obama’s VP for 8 years, or the death of Beau, but he is a much more laid back (at least that how he comes across in public) person now and he’s lost the aura of self-importance he used to carry around all the time.

  204. 204.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Omnes Omnibus: 

    If I was the Democratic nominee, I would probably disagree with some of my own positions.

    If you were the nominee, I’d hope you would disagree with your usage of the past subjunctive.

  206. 206.

    germy

    @Marcopolo:

    I was working 2nd shift during the Thomas hearings, and so I watched most of the live coverage in real time.  I wasn’t impressed with Biden’s questioning then, and wasn’t fond of him.

    But I like him now, and Anita Hill is supporting his presidential run.

  207. 207.

    Kropacetic

    @germy: I came of voting age when Bush Jr. was President. After 9/11, a lot of policy was put in place that just scandalized me, mainly the PATRIOT Act and the Iraq War. It was mainly being pushed by Republicans, but two Democrats stood out as championing these policies. One was the only politician I ever knew to be an asshole before I started following politics, Joe Lieberman. The other was Joe Biden.
    During the Obama years I grew to basically like him, but then the racist and misogynist travesty that was the media environment surrounding our primaries this year just made me really resentful toward him (and Bernie).

  208. 208.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Immanentize: A Philly boy, eh?

    Um, no, Bawlmer born & razed. “Yinz,” however, was the favorite second-person-plural of my dear aunt & godmother, lifelong denizen of north-central WV. For her I think it was a further contraction of “you’uns.”

    “Yooze,” OTOH, is the preferred usage of my dad’s fambly in Nort’ Joyzee, often as part of “yooze guise.” IMO your dialectical geography is a tad muddled, but no problem. :^D

  210. 210.

    JAFD

    @Uncle Cosmo: Anyone would have gotten stomped by Eisenhower in ’52

    BTW, has anyone noticed that names of Presidential candidates have gotten shorter over the years ?

  211. 211.

    James E Powell

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    Not an expert, but I think your anger may be misdirected. Keep writing things like that if it makes you feel better, but you really don’t need to post them.

  212. 212.

    germy

    Twitter was wrong to block weblinks to an unverified political story, CEO Jack Dorsey said on Friday, as the company responded to criticism over its handling of the story that had prompted cries of censorship from the right.

    “Straight blocking of URLs was wrong, and we updated our policy and enforcement to fix,” he tweeted. “Our goal is to attempt to add context, and now we have capabilities to do that.”

    https://wnyt.com/money/twitter-changes-hacked-content-rules-after-biden-story-furor/5896843/?cat=10114

  214. 214.

    gvg

    @Baud: I don’t know…I find purity ponies to be dangerous fools. I sort of think we need to train voters to have more realistic expectations about elections in general.
    On the other hand, the prickliness is because of what we think went wrong in 2016. It’s not the way we would have reacted before then. We are worried, and that makes us touchy.

  215. 215.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Omnes Omnibus: I find your use of “yinz” to be a tiresome affectation.

    See #208 supra for a partial explanation. I also like to tweak the sensibilities of the large number of Pissburgh-area Jackals, including Our Bloglord Of Naked Mopping.

    @frosty: I’ve been wondering about “yinz” too. It sounds like we’ve got a Steelers fan living in Baltimore. Pittsburgh is the only place I’ve heard that particular plural of “you”.

    See #208 and the para above. Fairmont WV is 90 miles S of Pissburgh, and in the days of radio when Zia Adelina was a young woman, I suppose most of their audio cues came by way of KDKA.

    And FWIW, bite your former-Bawlmer tongue! I bleed purple & black, & when I need a smile on down days I pull up the UToob clips of Bart Scott pounding “TheRapist” Ben into next month on an unobstructed blitz and Jarret Johnson burying Whines Hard trying to sneak out into the flat. :^D

  216. 216.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Kropacetic: Biden is one of a rare few politicians I have a visceral negative reaction to.

    IOW, you’re a fucking arsehole. But we’ve known that from before you were KropaDOPE.

  218. 218.

    Miss Bianca

    @A Ghost to Most: Too much to hope for that he would decide to grow a spine and oppose Amy Covid Barrett’s nomination because he’s got no more to gain from being up Trump’s butt.

    Ha, sometimes I just kill me

    @Ken: Or what you said.

  219. 219.

    Puddinhead

    @frosty: if you look at York and Lackawanna counties, the swing +R in 2016 vs 2012 is about 40,000 votes, which was about the margin of victory. Luzerne was also a big swing (+32000). Those counties are where the time, money, and effort needs to go.

  220. 220.

    bluefoot

    @zhena gogolia: Somebody name someone who is electable and also perfect.  (For whatever definition of “perfect” they are using.) Hell, name someone who right now is more electable than Joe Biden if we could wave a magic wand and replace him on the ticket.

  221. 221.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Kropacetic: Did you see the Republicans become a cult and think to yourself “It would be nice if we did things that way?”

    No, I just thought that it would be nice if we could win power by convincing enough reasonable and reality-grounded folks to support us that we were no longer tempted to be nice to fantasy-dwelling unicorn-demanding purity ponies.

  222. 222.

    misterpuff

    @Betty Cracker: There’s a implied threat: Fuck up the Court by these McTurtle moves, and we will be forced to do consider the nuclear option. Back away and let the next president make the choice, no change.

    I doubt McTurtle cares but some GOPer  senators might.

  223. 223.

    The Moar You Know

    when I need a smile on down days I pull up the UToob clips of Bart Scott pounding “TheRapist” Ben into next month on an unobstructed blitz

    @Uncle Cosmo:  I just watched that 10 times in a row. Thank you posting that. I like the way his rapist legs thrash around afterwards like a bug that’s just been stomped on

  226. 226.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @germy: Well, if we’re getting into visceral negative reactions, I can’t stand Bernie Sanders.  I love a lot of his positions and give him props for pushing the center of the Dems left, but him personally, I really don’t like.  I was meh about HRC.  Love Warren, who was my first choice.  Big fan of Kamala.  And now that he is not trying to take the nomination and instead eviscerating people on Fox news, big fan of Mayor Pete.  And yes, Biden is likeable!!

    Forgot to say yes, also have negative reaction to all Rs. Cannot understand people who wanted to have a beer with Shrub, or who could vote for Reagan or Nixon, not to mention Romney.

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