Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

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

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

“woke” is the new caravan.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

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

Let’s finish the job.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

The words do not have to be perfect.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Thanks for reminding me that Van Jones needs to be slapped.

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

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

White supremacy is terrorism.

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

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: GOTV Cole Bait

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: GOTV Cole Bait

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244Comments

  6. 6.

    sanjeevs

    Trump has lost the last positive issue for him

    Donald Trump’s handling of the US economy is no longer benefiting his candidacy just weeks before election day, with a Financial Times poll finding more Americans believe the president’s policies are hurting rather than helping the recovery.

    The final monthly survey of likely voters before November 3 for the FT and the Peter G Peterson Foundation found 46 per cent of Americans believe Mr Trump’s policies had hurt the economy, compared to 44 per cent who said the policies had helped.

    It was the first time this year that a larger share of respondents said the president’s economic policies had hurt rather than helped, and was a significant drop-off since the start of the pandemic. In March, before Covid-19 forced nationwide lockdowns, Americans believed Mr Trump’s policies were helping the US economy by an 11-point margin.

  9. 9.

    Mustang Bobby

    MJ is laughing at Trump bragging about our “hydrosonic” missiles, which are apparently a brand of electric toothbrushes.

    We’re way beyond Monty Python now.

  11. 11.

    Jeffro

    @sanjeevs: 

    I started reading this thread with “Sabotage” playing in the back of my head. Now, for some reason, I’m hearing “Free Falling”. =)

  12. 12.

    NotMax

    Recently found on Netflix.

    Not as off the wall silly as I hoped for but still kind of cute – kops komedy kapers on Hashoter Hatov.

    Almost worth it alone for the eggplant subplot.

  17. 17.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    I had a Napolean Dynamite moment in high school when I belted out the entire song of Sabotage when it came on at a party. Not too long after the song came out. Good times
    2 weeks until our long National nightmare is over. Hopefully.

  27. 27.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Ah, the fountain of the latter tiers of middle age.

    I find that the occasional Xanax about a half hour before hitting the rack helps.

    If that’s not for you, 5-10 mg of melatonin can work occasionally, too.

  28. 28.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    At least 31.6 million votes have been cast.

    At this point 4 years ago, only 5.9 million votes were cast.

    Tejas
    In Texas, 4 millions votes were cast this past week. In both 2008 and 2012, 8 million votes were cast in Texas. In 2016, 9 million votes were cast. In one short week, nearly half of the votes from 2016 were cast. Early voting continues for 11 more days, from today through the 30th. It is possible 8 to 9 million votes will have been cast by election day.

  30. 30.

    danielx

    @OzarkHillbilly: 

    Had planned to sleep in, but unfortunately Natasha the Tuxedo Queen decided otherwise. She has discovered that raking the Venetian blinds will invariably get a reaction from the humans, so when she decides it’s time for them (us) to get up at 6 …she has conditioned us.*

    *About which WereBear would have a thing or two to say, but whaddyagonnado?

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    @raven

    They did include a separate section on Sunday which was a ten page “whatever you do, don’t vote for Dolt 45” editorial. A selected quote: “But the lesson from the past four years is that he cannot solve the country’s pressing problems because he is the country’s most pressing problem.”

  33. 33.

    Mary G

    2020 sucks.

    As the Dude would say.. New S**T has come to light.

    I have been diagnosed with Lymphoma. Although it is a serious disease, I feel fortunate that I have a great team of doctors and the prognosis is good.

    I’m starting treatment and will keep you posted on my recovery.

    — Jeff Bridges (@TheJeffBridges) October 20, 2020

    I’m profoundly grateful for the love and support from my family and friends.

    Thank you for your prayers and well wishes. And, while I have you, please remember to go vote. Because we are all in this together. https://t.co/6sAU4MYixl

    Love, Jeff
    — Jeff Bridges (@TheJeffBridges) October 20, 2020

  37. 37.

    Sab

    @debbie: Very much hoping that in 2022 Ohio voters realize he isn’t the innocuous milquetoast we thought he was, but actually an oligarch wannabe and possibly a Russian asset.

  44. 44.

    zhena gogolia

    I know you guys are sick of my JL Cauvin obsession, but just the way he’s wearing the MAGA cap here to announce that he got 50 Cent’s endorsement! LOL!

    DONALD TRUMP JUST GOT 50 CENT!!!!! (YouTube link below!) pic.twitter.com/Kc2SoxDcC5— Making Podcasts Great Again (@TrumpPod) October 20, 2020

  47. 47.

    danielx

    @zhena gogolia:

    Indeed she is. She is also magnificently annoying when she decides it’s time to motivate her humans because she hasn’t had canned kitty food in years, years to her being at least six hours.

  48. 48.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: I talked to her about using it because during my usual fall allergies I resorted to it just so I could breath thru my nose all night and noticed the added benefit that I slept all night too. She said go for it, it couldn’t hurt. This was last Wednesday. % days later and it’s already not helping. Maybe I’ll just go back to ludes.

  49. 49.

    Amir Khalid

    I have now seen something unexpected: a political candidate reciting his opponent’s campaign promises.

  55. 55.

    Kay

    Jim Acosta
    @Acosta
    ·9h
    Some Trump advisers simply could not figure out why Trump was attacking Fauci today with two weeks left in campaign. “Time is running out,” one adviser told me. “Time is our enemy.”

    These are the same advisers who told him to spend all summer on “scary black people are rioting in cities” instead of the economy.

  59. 59.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I’m not one of those people who thinks Trump would have won but for the pandemic.  But the pandemic does help making the polling better.  This country would be tearing itself apart right now if the polling were closer.

  60. 60.

    charluckles

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: 

    I know it’s not available to everyone, but the legal marijuana industry is putting together some pretty great sleep aids. Low THC, add in some CBD or CBN, and some melatonin. Just don’t make the mistake of taking it too early or your wife and kids will make fun of you for falling asleep on the couch at 730pm.

  61. 61.

    Betty Cracker

    @Mark’s Bubbie: FYI, if you use an apostrophe in your username, all of your comments will go in moderation until someone notices and approves them. I don’t know why, but that’s how it works. Maybe try “Bubbie of Mark”? ?

  62. 62.

    trnc

    @Amir Khalid: I have now seen something unexpected: a political candidate reciting his opponent’s campaign promises.

    I know, right? Maybe it was just a matter of time, what with Melania cribbing speeches and policies from the former first lady.

  63. 63.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    The truth is his campaign advisers are the media personalities on Fox news. If he loses, they lost it for him- Tucker Carlson, Hannity, Laura Ingraham.

  65. 65.

    Baud

    “At a rally in Wisconsin, Trump went on the attack, telling farmers that Biden will reverse Trump’s tariff wars that have forced so many farmers into bankruptcy.”

  66. 66.

    Geminid

    Politico has a good article this morning about the close Kansas Senate race. Barbara Bollier has a fundraising advantage, and is barnstorming rural Kansas with “lawnchair rallies,” where she’ll speak to people in lawn chairs in a field. While many of her votes will come from the cities and suburbs, as I pointed out to a friend yesterday with regards to North Carolina, shifting a 2-1 republican majority in rural counties to 3-2 can make a difference in a state like Kansas or North Carolina.  And it looks like the urban/suburban vote in Kansas will be solid for the Democrats. In the Kansas 3rd Congressional District, Sharice Davids’ race was shifted from lean Democrat to likely Democrat by one outfit. Davids flipped the seat in 2018.

  67. 67.

    Baud

    “Trump warned young people that Biden will take decisive action to reduce their student loan debt and would implement the Green New Deal.”

  68. 68.

    trnc

    @Betty Cracker: if you use an apostrophe in your username, all of your comments will go in moderation

    And here I thought the caret was the sneaky keyboard character we all had to watch out for.

  70. 70.

    danielx

    @Kay: 

    These are the same advisers who told him to spend all summer on “scary black people are rioting in cities” instead of the economy.

    Trump’s “advisers”, indeed. That right there tells part of the story, because Trump doesn’t take advice or counsel even when he would be better off if he did. Whatever the topic of the moment may be – and remember we’re talking about a guy with the attention span of an irish Setter on meth – he knows better, he’s the expert, and he doesn’t need any input from “advisers”. Which is why he says and does so many things that seem “counterintuitive” – corporatespeak used when it’s impolitic to ask what controlled substances the subject has been using.

  71. 71.

    Kay

    The guy who wrote “Santa Baby”, Phil Springer, has been paying for half page ads in the Toledo Blade promoting Trump.

  72. 72.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @charluckles:

    Well, I mean on this subject, I may or may not have cookies in the freezer, along with dough balls to make more. A quarter to a third of a cookie is just right as a mood stabilizer. Half is too much, and a whole cookie makes me a drooling idiot.

  73. 73.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: But down in the New Mexico 2nd, Xochitl Torres-Small’s race was shifted from lean Democratic to tossup. It’s a rematch with the woman Torres-Small beat in 2018, by 2,000 votes.

  76. 76.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Baud:

    “Chuck Todd explains how this is a game changer for the embattled president in a discussion with Chris Cillizza…”

  77. 77.

    TS (the original)

    @Baud:

    I’m not one of those people who thinks Trump would have won but for the pandemic.

    I agree with you, but I think the pandemic gave him a way to win the election if he had been able to act as did the PM of New Zealand or any other country who has got the pandemic under control.

    But of course he couldn’t do that. His brain is the size of a pimple and works in much the same way.

  79. 79.

    Betty Cracker

    @raven: I just read that, and while it’s helpful to be reminded that most people don’t pay much attention, I thought the conclusions were both-sidesy and facile, for example:

    For partisans, politics is a morality play, a struggle of good versus evil. But most Americans just see two angry groups of people bickering over issues that may not always seem pressing or important.
    How can politics better match the opinions of a majority of Americans? The fact is, it’s not an easy problem to solve.

    Eggplant parm or tire rims & anthrax for dinner? Most Americans tune out the arguments over the entrée they’ll soon be consuming, and they are the people we should be listening to! 

    The suggestion that politicians focus more on “tangible issues” than the “demands of partisans” is kind of a no-brainer that virtually all politicians do or at least pretend to do. But whether individual voters pay attention to politics or not, the electorate is as polarized as it has ever been.

  80. 80.

    Baud

    @raven:

    That’s not new info.  We’ve been calling them “normies” for a while now.  That concept has become mainstream, so the NYT is covering it.

  82. 82.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    The only Christmas song I like is “Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas” because it’s so melancholy.

    “If the fates allow”

  86. 86.

    Baud

    @raven:

    Your preface about us being hysterical about the NYT was what generated my comment, since this wasn’t an example of great reporting.  The NYT can and does do good reporting, but the political cost of it is too high IMHO.

  89. 89.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: When I hear “normies” I still wince a little because I first heard that term in the context of alt-right types complaining about people who were not them.

  94. 94.

    germy

     

     

    And so I’m offering this simple phrase
    To kids from one to ninety-two
    Although it’s been said many times, many ways
    Merry Christmas to you

    I know it rhymes, but rather unfortunate for the 93 year olds out there.

  95. 95.

    Geminid

    @Baud:  I’ve got my fingers crossed on the NM 2nd. It’s the southern half of the state, and it is poor. The federal government and the oil and gas industry in the southeast corner are the biggest employers. Those folks need a Congresswoman like Xochitl Torres-Small. She has out raised her opponent, but outside groups are taking up the slack. A freshman’s first reelection race is often the toughest, and there is usually a major effort to knock them out. I see this in Virginia, where Abigail Spanberger and Elaine Luria have to fight off a lot of dark money.

  96. 96.

    Baud

    I can’t believe they’re already playing Christmas music on this blog and it’s not even Halloween yet.

  97. 97.

    A Ghost to Most

    @Kay:

    My favorite is “Mrs. Claus’s Kimono”.

    I’m a sinister elf,
    With a sinister plan,
    Santa’s little helper,
    With too much time on my hands,

  98. 98.

    WereBear

    @danielx:

    when she decides it’s time for them (us) to get up at 6 …she has conditioned us.*

    *About which WereBear would have a thing or two to say, but whaddyagonnado?

     
    We are trainable! This is a good thing.

  100. 100.

    Kay

    @NotMax:

    It’s our grandchild’s first Christmas so that will be fun. I got her a deep blue velvet dress – I actually still have her mother’s red one but this baby needs blue. Requires. Do you think a jeweled tiara is too much? She hates things on her head so it’ll only be on 10 seconds. Then I’ll wear it.

  101. 101.

    SFAW

    Trump mocks Biden at Nevada rally by saying he “will listen to the scientists”

    “But if America follows MY bigly policies — because I know more than those loser scientists — deaths will top out at 15 100 1,000 10,000 50,000 100,000 200,000 LESS than 300,000,000, and the ones who die will all be losers and suckers anyway!”

  102. 102.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    IMHO our side has done a poor job playing the long game, instead pushing for action now.  I think and hope that a way out of this ditch is to not try to win the fight in a single blitzkrieg but capture ground inch by inch.  But I’ve felt that way since before Trump so take my views FWIW.  Also, who knows what a post-Trump post-pandemic society will look like, so all ideas might as well be thrown out the window.

  103. 103.

    germy

    The Justice Department, in an unusual claim, said President Trump couldn’t be sued for denying a rape accusation because his statement was an official act. E. Jean Carroll sued Trump for defamation after he denied sexually assaulting her in the 1990s. https://t.co/eQU3xb64Cr— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 19, 2020

    The Justice Department says President Trump was denying a rape accusation on behalf of the American people. https://t.co/3q2LSF7PDy— Windsor Mann (@WindsorMann) October 19, 202

    Is it November 3rd yet?

  105. 105.

    Soprano2

    @Kay:  Have they met their candidate? *rolleyes* The man who thinks it’s a clever attack to say that his opponent will listen to the science about COVID rather than letting people get sick and die?

  108. 108.

    NotMax

    @Kay

    Do you think a jeweled tiara is too much?

    Not at all. Although some sticklers would consider any insets over two carats to be gauche.

  109. 109.

    hueyplong

    @WereBear: Comrades!  The Ying Yang Twins are what The War on Christmas is all about, right Melania?

    Yo Santa, I done been good all year

    Can I get some weed and a 12-pack of beer?

  110. 110.

    Tom Levenson

    @OzarkHillbilly:  this is going to sound stupid, but it helps me w. my chronic insomnia: I’ve got chunks of the 11th edition (1910) of the Encyclopedia Britannica downloaded to my Kindle and when I wake at 2 or 3 a.m. I grab and read.

    The Kindle means no bedside light, and the text is interesting but not gripping. It seems to knock me off my mental loop and often though not always gets me relaxed enough to sleep within 10-15 minutes.

    YMMV.

  114. 114.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: @Baud: The only Christmas song I like is “Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas” because it’s so melancholy.

    “If the fates allow”

    For some reason the majority of Christmas music seems to be melancholy, especially the secular stuff. I’ve theorized it’s because Christmas brings out the nostalgia in people like nothing else does, a longing for things that have passed and people who are gone. I’ve always thought it was weird for a holiday that’s supposed to be “merry and bright”.

  115. 115.

    zhena gogolia

    @Kay: 
    I woke up this morning thinking, “I really would like to meet different church lady in person.” I just read this comment and thought, “And Kay too.”

  118. 118.

    Soprano2

    @Baud: I can’t believe they’re already playing Christmas music on this blog and it’s not even Halloween yet.

    Try being a choir singer – I’ve sung Christmas music in September. It’s super-weird, but I’ve gotten used to it.

  119. 119.

    Betty Cracker

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: True! My views are probably colored by my disreputable profession, but I tend to see it in terms of branding. I think the parties have a responsibility to build a brand people want to identify with — a premise that will attract enough voters to win. Voters have a responsibility to make sure the product they’re buying works as advertised. It doesn’t have to be a full-time job! :)

  120. 120.

    Zzyzx

    @Immanentize:

    I went to NMSU for grad school and spent 3 years there between 92 and 95. I definitely have stories.

    My book is largely about me escaping from there in summer 94 and going on Phish tour, not so much because I love Phish (which I do) but to get out of that place in the middle of summer.

    And yes it does. That’s the only reason we have a shot. Second largest city in New Mexico.

  121. 121.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @Matt McIrvin:

    It’s hilarious to see people who complain about “coastal elites” call other, normal people, who don’t understand their stupid, bizarre fascist memes “normies”. Elitist, no?

  122. 122.

    debbie

    @Kay: 

    No. He’s an adult; what he says is his decision. Not that he won’t blame them, of course.

    I just heard that Karl Rove is in town, begging wealthy attorneys and voters to donate to his fund to ensure Marilyn French is reelected to the Ohio Supreme Court. I’ve hated that woman since she was censured for telling voters at a fundraising event that they had to vote for conservative judges like herself. What do you think is the best way to stop Rove from this bullshit?

  124. 124.

    LurkerNoLonger

    A good news, good morning headline:

    Rush Limbaugh says cancer has shown progression in the ‘wrong direction’

    My only hope is he suffers and dies screaming. The world will be a better place without him.

  125. 125.

    Soprano2

    Heard an interview on Morning Edition this morning with Michael Anton, the guy who wrote the editorial about 2016 being the “Flight 93 election”. He wants 4 more years for Trump, of course, but he asserted that every institution of society is dominated by liberals, including corporations and the banking industry! He says he knows for sure what all liberals think because the press is totally dominated by them (never mind all the conservative press organs like Fox News) and always shoving it in his face (which is probably what he’s actually so upset about), so he thinks he can definitively assert what “liberals” want and believe. He was pretty much a total ass to Inskeep, so much so that Inskeep took him to task for claiming to know what Inskeep thinks and believes! Inskeep asked him if he thought Trump would have been more effective if he’d been less offensive, but Anton didn’t seem to think so. Evidently Anton is one of those “blow it all up” people.

  126. 126.

    Amir Khalid

    @Baud:

    The shopping malls here used to start playing Christmas songs even before Diwali, for the cynical reason that Christians spend more on their holiday shopping than Hindus. Fortunately, people started seeing this as disrespectful, so they had to give Diwali equal time.

  129. 129.

    Baud

    @Soprano2: 

    but he asserted that every institution of society is dominated by liberals, including corporations and the banking industry!

    Big business tends to be more progressive on “social issues,” at least for their white collar employees. No reasonable person would call them liberal because of that, but if you’re a purity troll on the right, the description makes some sense.

  131. 131.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Zzyzx: Oh gawd… Las Cruces in summer. Once sat under a bridge there in July with my thumb out for 14 hrs. One canteen of water which I ended up sharing with another hitchhiker who had NO water. Was finally rescued by 2 Santa Fe angels who had me laying down in the back seat just in case Daddy might see them while they took me to a cheap motel.

  132. 132.

    Gin & Tonic

    I dropped a note about this “Streisand effect” issue yesterday; here’s a followup. A historian in Ukraine published a book about the poet and Soviet-era dissident Vasyl Stus, who died in a labor camp in 1985. In it he mentions the actions of Stus’ lawyer, one Viktor Medvedchuk, currently a Putin crony and oligarch. Medvedchuk sued the author, a court yesterday banned the book, which was already out and for sale. It almost immediately sold out everywhere, and now it has gone to a second printing while the decision is appealed. This has done more for sales than anything I can imagine.

    Yes, I’m getting a copy.

  133. 133.

    germy

    @LurkerNoLonger:

    I didn’t know there was a feud between Limburger and the other nutjob radio guy:

    Limbaugh’s crying about his cancer on air! Worst 15 minutes in radio history! Spilled a large coffee all over counter and floor. I PROMISE MY AUDIENCE THIS- I WILL NOT DRAG YOU DOWN WITH ME! Best wishes RUSH, but stop and leave the stage with dignity.

    — Michael Savage (@ASavageNation) October 19, 2020

  137. 137.

    germy

    @WereBear: 
    He’s probably getting the best care money can buy.

    If I had received the exact diagnosis at the exact time, I’d probably be pushing up daisies right now.

  139. 139.

    Soprano2

    @Baud:  Big business tends to be more progressive on “social issues,” at least for their white collar employees. No reasonable person would call them liberal because of that, but if you’re a purity troll on the right, the description makes some sense.

    That was the sense I got, that because as a corporation they don’t hold hard right positions on every social issue (because, as a business, they don’t want to alienate a large block of potential customers!) they’re “liberal”.

  140. 140.

    Geminid

    @Immanentize: Xochitl Torres-Small’s home is Las Cruces.                    I drove in late from Tuscon one night and got a motel room on the northern edge of Las Cruces. It was the only scary one of the half dozen motels  I used that trip west. I drove downtown on my way out and it was nicer.      Outside the federal goverment presence, second home/communities, and it’s corner of the Permian Basin, New Mexico is economically challenged. Governor Michelle Lujan Griffin, did get a clean power package through the legislature last year, and that is creating jobs. The legislation shuts down the Four Corners coal fired electrical plant, retraining workers for some of jobs that a transition to clean power will bring.

  141. 141.

    Ken

    @Soprano2: That fits my personal theory of the 1-2-3 punch of late December:

    1. Winter solstice, so in the northern hemisphere we’re not getting enough sun
    2. Christmas, and as you say we wallow in nostalgia (and it’s never going to be as fun as when you’re a kid)
    3. End of the calendar year, so you think of what you’d planned for the year but didn’t do

    That last one’s going to be bad for a lot of people this year.

  142. 142.

    Soprano2

    I read that NY Times article, and what really jumped out at me was their assertion that “hard partisans” on the left barely addressed the issue of low wages, which “normies” thought was one of the most important issues. I guess these voters didn’t notice the campaign for the $15 hour minimum wage. The article never defines who these “hard partisans”, so it’s hard to make a judgment, but I’d say that at least on this one issue the “normies” are completely wrong, because Democrats often talk about how low wages are a big problem that needs to be addressed. Makes me wonder where they get what news they do hear about politics. I do agree that a lot of people are completely oblivious to things that many of us who comment on this blog care about a lot; that doesn’t mean those issues aren’t important, however. The tenor of the article implies that if “normies” don’t think it’s important, it’s probably not that important, but for example getting immigration reform right is important to everyone whether they realize it or not.

  144. 144.

    artem1s

    @sanjeevs:

    It was the first time this year that a larger share of respondents said the president’s economic policies had hurt rather than helped,

    well when you, your spouse, kids, grandkids, friends, and/or (former) coworkers don’t have a 401K to contribute to or an employer that’s going bankrupt and can’t match your contribution or even a cost of living raise, the S&P & DOW levels don’t matter anymore.  Dump only understands the part of the economy that means he can get loans to run another property development scam.  He doesn’t understand that no one was getting loans after the W crash.  He thinks that’s Obama’s fault not the banks failing. If this pandemic has done anything for this country it’s telling us exactly how dependent our economy is on the entertainment and service sectors. We could have used W’s depression to build a renewable energy economy but instead we were told to go to the mall.  We are shopping online like mad during this economic crisis and it’s done no more good that it did after Ws’ crash. We could have been building an infrastructure that could respond to a light manufacturing emergency like lack of PPE – but instead Don Jr. thinks the solution is taking the supply chain hostage and hoarding.  Idiots.

  145. 145.

    WereBear

    @germy: [Rush Limbaugh]’s probably getting the best care money can buy.

    Oh, of course! And he could burn money to stay warm, I understand.

    I do wonder if his long history with opiates means they aren’t working now.

  146. 146.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Gin & Tonic:  More fun on this. The Minister of Culture is recommending that everyone read the book, and has promised to personally buy copies of it for the national library.

  147. 147.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    My husband told me that this morning. The best thing we could do to win judicial races is persuade Democrats to vote the whole ballot. Our down-ballot drop off is ridiculous. They say they don’t know about the judicial races but I tell them Republicans figure it out and they can too. Democratic voters are, frankly, kind of a PIA. The herding cats thing is amusing until you actually have to get them to work together.

  148. 148.

    danielx

    @WereBear:

    Yes, I have been trained to be semi-annoyed by a loud purr and a cold wet nose in my face at 5:45 am. Now if she could train me to do something useful, besides attending to cat needs of course…

  149. 149.

    hueyplong

    Michael Savage using the word “dignity” is a good one.

    Cancer doesn’t need our rooting support in Limbaugh’s case.  It’s got this, as we’ve all learned to our sorrow in different contexts.

    Dasvidaniya, pig.

  150. 150.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    I noticed when I was standing in line to vote last week, the Democratic reps handing out sample ballots were all really pushing that voting the whole ballot thing. One of the judges, Mike Mentel, stood near the front door adding his encouragement.

  151. 151.

    Zzyzx

    Here’s one Cruces story. So there was a push in 1994 to zone the two adult bookstores out of business. I wrote in a letter to the Las Cruces Sun News using the arguments presented (e.g. reading about a dangerous topic influences people to act on it) to say that in that case, religious bookstores should obviously also be outlawed because look what people have done in God’s name.

    I then went off to Arizona to see the Grateful Dead for a few days. When I got back, there was a letter to the editor titled “Jewish Favoritism” which was a long rant about how Jews like me (deduced from my name) are evil and don’t get it and they made the NMSU yearbook no longer go under the name The Swastika…

    Not only was it insane, but it turned out that the Sun News didn’t know the word “causal.” They changed it in my letter to casual, the respondent mocked me, and they changed it in theirs too.

  152. 152.

    Baud

    @Soprano2:

    “hard partisans” on the left barely addressed the issue of low wages, which “normies” thought was one of the most important issues. I guess these voters didn’t notice the campaign for the $15 hour minimum wage

    I think you’re right about the news sources these people use.  Also, if a Dem talks 100 times about low wages, but gives one speech talking about racial justice or transgender bathrooms, it’s the latter than will occupy a lot of these people’s brains.  A primal response to a perceived threat?  I don’t know.  It’s tough to break through sometimes.

  153. 153.

    Llelldorin

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka): It always made them sound like they’re straight out of the broken end of otaku culture—I’d previously only heard “normies” as the term for people who don’t find it normal to spend days trying to figure out how to cosplay an outfit that only worked in the original because the characters were animated.

  154. 154.

    Emma from FL

    Any Christmas music sung by Pentatonix. And I say “music” advisedly. Nothing like the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy done a capella.

  155. 155.

    Baud

    @Baud: 

    To add, I think Biden has done a masterful job speaking about different issues to different groups. The question is whether that can be replicated on a large scale consistently.

  156. 156.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    Right. Use the card! Even if they know the state supreme races they never know the cts of appeal races – that’s where their own case is going if they appeal!

  157. 157.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: New Mexico has plenty of sun for solar power. And having camped at Santa Rosa State Park, I can report that it has plenty of wind energy. The tent sites there on the crest of a ridge, and I felt like I was going to blown into the valley.   It’s a nice camping place, though, with good walking. A good stop on the way in or out of New Mexico. And the Comet II restaurant in town has great New Mexican food.

  158. 158.

    Kay

    Kyle Kondik
    @kkondik
    Crystal Ball Senate rating change: Iowa Toss-up to Leans Democratic

    Good. Now Trump has to throw her under the bus, like he did yesterday to the Arizona candidate. God, these people. He’s dragging them down but they allowed this to progress where he now runs around distancing himself from them. Just spineless.

  159. 159.

    Aleta

    Late at night you see them
    decked out in shiny jewels
    the coming of the caravan of fools

    Some dull, blinding winter
    when you can’t help but lose
    you’re running with the caravan of fools

  160. 160.

    Ken

    @Amir Khalid: I have now seen something unexpected: a political candidate reciting his opponent’s campaign promises.

    I do salute Biden for resisting the urge to repeat Trump’s “I may have to leave the country” or “If Iowa doesn’t vote for me I’ll never go there again”.  I think Lincoln Project went there, and so did every late-night comedian, blogger, and twitter account, so that’s plenty of amplification.

  162. 162.

    Amir Khalid

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Fortunately, no. For weeks in the run-up to Eid al-Fitri and Christmas the malls play nothing but sappy holiday music, but we are spared that torment for Diwali.

  164. 164.

    persistentillusion

    @Soprano2: Try being a choir singer and a handbell chorister, starting to practice Christmas music in August. Every year. As a result, I loathe
    Christmas and most of its trappings.

  168. 168.

    narya

    @Baud: When I worked in the bakery, the owner would put Xmas music on in early NOVEMBER–and, of course, I was working longer hours to make all the stuff for all the holidays. I thought I would go insane: noone needs to hear Frosty the Fking Snowman, AND every other song, four times in a day. The second year I worked there, I had a little radio and headphones that I strung under my shirt & apron (so they didn’t get pulled into the dough sheeter) and listened to that. They thought I was nuts, but it helped.

  171. 171.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @raven: I was permanently warped by spending 17 years of my life in the Washington, DC area of MD, where you get steeped year-round not just in national politics, but state and District politics down to the tiniest trivia.

    There used to be ads about how great some piece of military hardware was, or ads pro or con some bill that was up before Congress (that was back when we had two houses of Congress that worked on legislation). I always used to wonder who those ads were aimed at.

  172. 172.

    tarragon

    @Sab: 

    That is almost exactly how we got our Meg. Dumped on a highway at six or seven weeks old.

    That’s pretty much how I got our goldfish. For real.

  173. 173.

    A Ghost to Most

    Every time I see Diwali celebration, my main thought is, “man, I hope nobody sparks a lighter”.

  174. 174.

    Another Scott

    @Betty Cracker: I’ve become a bit of a zealot about the importance of teaching people what “politics” is.  It’s not both sides bickering.

    Politics is the mechanism by which we address and solve communal problems.

    It’s important, especially for things like climate change and all the other “tragedy of the commons”, and making society better for everyone.

    Reporters who tut-tut politicians who are actually trying to do their jobs are doing doing (nearly?) as much a disservice to the public as the Qanon monsters.  Feeding cynicism is helping the monsters.

    Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  176. 176.

    narya

    @Kay: I failed on that this year. I totally didn’t think about it, and then when I went to vote, there was no line, and . . . I felt bad about it, but couldn’t do anything at that point. didn’t want to touch the phone too much, or slow everyone else down.

  177. 177.

    mali muso

    @Kay: This is why the postcardstovoters folks had us writing messages to Ohio Dems about voting for the OH Supreme Court candidates. Hope some of my little handwritten notes helped! :)

  178. 178.

    zhena gogolia

    @Mary G: 
    Yes, I thought that was an excellent ad.
    God, I remember when HE looked like a clown! Now he looks like a statesman.

  180. 180.

    Wapiti

    @Kay: Judgeships… we luckily have an alternative “paper” here in Seattle, The Stranger. They put out a voting guide every election which I can use as a sanity check. I’d struggle with the judicial election if I didn’t have that resource.

  181. 181.

    Geminid

    @Kay: Texas Senator John Cornyn probably hurt himself a couple days ago in a meeting with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board, when he feebly tried to distance himself from trump. Cornyn told the board he had opposed trump on issues like shifting defence funds to the border wall, but in only in private. Just a gift to Air Force veteran M.J. Hegar, who is now pounding this issue as an example of Cornyn’s cowardice.   Cornyn might have understood he had a trump problem, but his attempt to remedy it was ill conceived.    I’m guessing Texas republican leaders are telling the trump campaign their state doesn’t need a presidential visit, that trump can do more “good” in other states.

  182. 182.

    Peale

    @Wapiti: I would just trust that anyone running on the Dem line wants to be on that line and will vote for them. Its such an advantage to be GOP running for the judgeships that I figure any Svengali would want to get on that line.

  183. 183.

    The Moar You Know

    IMHO our side has done a poor job playing the long game, instead pushing for action now. I think and hope that a way out of this ditch is to not try to win the fight in a single blitzkrieg but capture ground inch by inch. But I’ve felt that way since before Trump so take my views FWIW.

    @Baud:  I don’t disagree but would replace “poor” with “criminally negligent”. And I have felt this way since about 1998. There’s never a plan. For anything

    Also, who knows what a post-Trump post-pandemic society will look like, so all ideas might as well be thrown out the window.

    I can tell you one thing I’m seeing in California right now that is something that will happen post-Trump/post pandemic that Dems need to prepare for and are not – Hispanics moving to the Republican party in large numbers.  Not an out-and-out majority, not yet – but a lot more than we’ve been counting on

    ETA:  not really going to be a factor in this election.  Will be major in future ones.

  184. 184.

    PJ

    @Soprano2:  Although “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” made it’s debut in Meet Me in St. Louis, which is set around the turn on the 19th Century, it was written during WWII, and if the fates allowed people to see each other again was a reality for many.

  185. 185.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @OzarkHillbilly:  Well, I slept the sleep of the just last night, after spending a half-hour doling out my stimulus ca$h to various campigns, GOTV & redistricting effort, & dropping off my ballot at the BMA (Baltimore Museum of Art, if that’s not a contradiction in terms) in the afternoon. (Of course pulling an all-nighter the night before to binge-watch Season 4 of The Expanse [damn that is a good series! Bring on Season 5!] may have had just a tad to do with the profundity of my slumber…:^D)

    Also: Belch.

  187. 187.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @PJ:

    Have yourself a Very Little Christmas,
    Make the season small.
    Wonder what we’ve got to celebrate at all.

    Have yourself a Very Little Christmas,
    Make the Yuletide blah,
    Keep the volume down on the fa-la-la-la…

    (I’m still working on the bridge…)

  188. 188.

    MisterForkbeard

     

    @Soprano2:
    I guess these voters didn’t notice the campaign for the $15 hour minimum wage.

    I had someone tell me yesterday that Biden and the Democrats need policies and they’re mad that Dems are only talking about how bad Trump is.

    I pointed out Bidens numerous speeches and press conferences, interviews and so on. His website, which is full of policy Dude didn’t care, saying “Clearly it’s not enough because I didnt see those.”

    Remember, when the media doesn’t cover is the candidates fault. At least for these guys.

  189. 189.

    Matt McIrvin

    @PJ: Also, most recordings of the song have lyrics altered to make them more cheerful than the “Meet Me In St. Louis” version: “Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow” became “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough”. I greatly prefer the original.

  190. 190.

    cain

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: 

    Given the sheer disruption that a pandemic has caused – even the disconnected folks has to be watching the administration response and shaking their heads. You can ignore politics or being ignorant of it – but you can’t ignore this pandemic.

  192. 192.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Ken:  Funny thing is that Shchedryk (Щедрик), that Carol of the Bells is based on, is a New Year’s song and not a Christmas song.

  194. 194.

    Roger Moore

    @Betty Cracker:

    The suggestion that politicians focus more on “tangible issues” than the “demands of partisans” is kind of a no-brainer that virtually all politicians do or at least pretend to do. But whether individual voters pay attention to politics or not, the electorate is as polarized as it has ever been.

    I think this kind of talk reflects the way those people think about politics rather than what you or I would see as an accurate reflection of the way real-world politics works.  People who vote but are generally uninterested in politics often care deeply about a handful of issues and tune out the rest.  They see discussion of issues beyond their personal interest as “playing politics”: either wrangling about an issue where the solution is obvious to them or wasting time on something that’s beneath notice.

    I think this is also where a lot of undecided voters fit in.  They care mostly about a handful of issues that are either too low priority for the campaigns to talk about or where one side agrees with them on issue A and the other side agrees on issue B.  I can imagine, for instance, that someone who votes primarily on the Catholic concept of respect for life could be really conflicted, agreeing with the Republican position on abortion but preferring the Democratic position on capital punishment.

    The problem is that a lot of these voters are too idiosyncratic in their beliefs to be reasonable targets for a campaign.  You can’t give up on “politics” and talk about “the issues” when nobody can agree on which topics fall into which category.  I assume this is part of the reason campaigns have so many white papers on every topic imaginable- it lets them say they’ve thought about whatever oddball issue a specific voter cares about- but it won’t solve the problem of voters wanting the candidates to focus on their pet issue instead of stupid stuff like the economy and COVID.

  195. 195.

    Kay

    @mali muso:

    My youngest son got a postcard! He’s already voted absentee and I dropped his ballot off. He was a Bernie person, but he reluctantly agreed to vote for Biden. He’s kind of awful about Biden, hints that he’s senile, but he does respect Obama so I think that tipped him over. Brand new voter.

  196. 196.

    Kay

    One thing I’m taking out of this election is how really wrong that hyper-sophisticated “nothing matters” refrain was with Trump. Trump’s a liar and pointing that out over and over did matter. Some 65% of people say he’s a liar and they therefore don’t believe a word he or the low quality hires say, which matters a lot when their election depends not on their own record but on smearing their opponent.

    They’re not credible and that has paid off. I read yesterday that they’re planning some huge lie on vaccines. THAT won’t matter. Most people don’t believe them and for a very good reason- they lie all the time.

  197. 197.

    different-church-lady

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Jeez, the speed at which things are going south for Trump is making me think early voting might be hurting Biden: how many of the Trump voters in those 4 million might have changed their minds after witnessing the ever-increasing crazy that’s bound to happen over the next two weeks?

  200. 200.

    different-church-lady

    @Mary G: Did you ever think you’d see the day when a former RNC chairman puts down his hatred for democrats sooner than a lot of the very-online-left?

  201. 201.

    Kay

    That’s why they’re all screeching that some credible news agency pick up the Biden smear. Most people don’t believe anything the President or his low quality hire say. They need, require, some other person to vouch for them because they have pissed away every bit of credibility that came with the office.

    Bankrupts on credibility. They spent all they inherited from Presidents prior and deposited nothing.

  203. 203.

    Mary G

    DOJ has filed multiple counts of antitrust against Google (WaPo)

    I smell political motives:

    Eleven Republican attorneys general — from states including Louisiana, Florida and Texas — have signed onto the Justice Department’s complaint. Other states may still choose to join the federal case, or they may opt to bring their own against the tech giant, widening the legal ground Google must cover to defend its business from serious, potentially far-reaching changes.

    and

    At times, the federal probe has proven acrimonious. The DOJ and Google have warred over the company’s apparent unwillingness to turn over documents that federal investigators describe as critical to their work. Within DOJ, meanwhile, government lawyers have sparred among themselves over the timeline for bringing a case particularly in the weeks before the 2020 presidential election. Dozens of agency staff signaled this summer they did not feel they were ready to bring charges against Google, but Attorney General William P. Barr ultimately overruled them — and set the Justice Department on a course to file this month.

  208. 208.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    It’s just accepted now that the President has no credibility. He knows it himself. He had to say yesterday that the WSJ was doing a story on Biden. Might be a lie- probably- but WTF? The President used to be able to say something and it meant something. He’s not relying on his own credibility- he’s using the credibility of the WSJ.
    Barr’s a liar too. I wish only that we had spent more time on his lies. It’s time well-spent. Chip away at their credibility and they’re much less dangerous to the country.

  210. 210.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I bet Republicans took a lesson from the Trump Administration’s extreme dishonesty and now think it doesn’t matter either. But that was wrong. People protect their credibility because it has value, and now we see the value. Attacking them as liars works.

  213. 213.

    Nelle

    @Tom Levenson: I can recommend any text on literary theory, though the one with two columns of tiny print per page is particularly sleep inducing. However, it is hazardous in case it drop on your head and rouses you back to wakefulness.

  214. 214.

    different-church-lady

    @Kay: The lesson here might be that if you don’t have the Senate then there’s nothing anyone can do until the end of the term. But at the end of the term the bill comes due, and Trump ordered three of everything in the store.

  215. 215.

    different-church-lady

    @Gin & Tonic: Maybe I should have said how many swing voters instead. Late movement towards Biden is starting to show. Yes, Trump’s base is baked in, but we don’t need to peel away a lot of votes.

  216. 216.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    You probably don’t follow anymore- he’s an absolute fucking windbag bore, so I get it- but his lying is much, much worse than it was even a year ago. He now tells whole stories that are completely invented. His response to his lack of credibility has been to lie even more.

    They all lie to him, too. In his media conference yesterday that he set up to promote the latest pack of lies he asked his campaign manager if they were “still up” in Michigan. The manager mumbled something about early vote, so the answer is “no”.

    They told him he was up in Michigan.

    I read “Bad Blood”, the book about Theranos, and when one of the engineers quit he wrote in his resignation letter that the place was full of lies and liars- that it wasn’t just the CEO- they had all started lying to one another. He could no longer function- he didn’t know what was real.

  218. 218.

    different-church-lady

    @Kay:

    it wasn’t just the CEO- they had all started lying to one another.

    The top always sets the tone. True of damn near any organization.

  221. 221.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    The funniest part to me is all this analysis of the “billion dollars” they spent. It’s the fucking Trumps! The odds that any of their financial filings have any relation to reality is between slim and none. It’s “a billion dollars”. They spent some amount on something. That’s the sum total of what anyone “knows”.

  222. 222.

    Ken

    @Kay: He had to say yesterday that the WSJ was doing a story on Biden.

    Was that the one about the major financial analysts saying that a Biden administration would result in better economic growth and more jobs?

  223. 223.

    Mary G

    @Kay: The whole Republican party has gotten much worse. Twitler floated a trial balloon of nominating Dan Ratcliffe to be DNI a couple of years ago, and Republicans resisted it, because he’s a whackjob and completely unqualified for it. But now Ratcliffe is in and swearing that the intelligence community finds no evidence of Russian involvement in the Hunter Biden “laptop,” and R politicians who surely know better are backing him up.

  224. 224.

    Kay

    @KenK:

    My favorite canvass ever was this woman who told me “I’m not that interested, honestly. I just vote for the Democrat. They generally align with my views”. Seemed like a happy person.

    I think this is sensible! She should follow her interests and use shortcut proxies for the shit that bores her.

  228. 228.

    James E Powell

    @Soprano2: 

    These “both sides are out of touch with what really matters” articles are on the list of the easiest to write and most tiresome to read. The people who are not engaged with politics are people who usually don’t know a fucking thing about politics. So their beliefs aren’t going to help them or anyone else to make the government more responsive to their needs.

  229. 229.

    Nelle

    Just got my latest GOTV report for my turf (neighborhood GOTV assignment).  Out of 75 registered Democratic voters, 32 have verified ballots in the “bank.”  Another 18 have received absentee ballots but not turned them in yet.  Another 21 are ciphers.  Going out to hang another message about dates to vote early and absentee, along with Nov. 3 polling place info,  on the doors with my “Vote” face mask in place.  Fourth day with snow on the ground and it is that damp chill that I hate.  Along with the pandemic, voter suppression, and baffling voter passivity and apathy, the weather is a good reason to vote early.

  231. 231.

    Chris Johnson

    I was promised the Beastie Boys so I had a listen. And got Iggy and the Stooges doing ‘Down In The Street’ and the Pixies doing ‘Where Is My Mind’.

    Underpromise and overdeliver, I guess :)

  232. 232.

    James E Powell

    @Kay:

    Democratic voters are, frankly, kind of a PIA. The herding cats thing is amusing until you actually have to get them to work together.

    I’ve always had struggles trying to convince D & D lean people to vote a straight ticket. They resist the idea as if it is just wrong. I tell them Republicans never hesitate. It rarely has impact. They will go out of their way to find a Republican or two that they like.

  233. 233.

    different-church-lady

    @WaterGirl:  “In our next episode: Steele searches his own soul to evaluate his culpability in laying the groundwork for the eventual Trumpian takeover of the Republican Party.”

  236. 236.

    James E Powell

    @Kay:

    The Theranos story is essentially the story of the Republicans since Reagan. Lies, promises never fulfilled, lies, fawning coverage by the press/media, attacks on anyone who disagrees, more lies, promises never fulfilled, collapse, then the people who really made it happen walk away unscathed, ready to do it all over again.

  237. 237.

    J R in WV

    @Tom Levenson: 

    That is hilarious!

    We listen to classical music all night long. I burned MP3s onto CDs, 12 or 14 on a disk. It helps with tinnitus, and by listening closely I don’t think about anything but the next note.

    If I start to read, then I’m thinking, and that’s bad for sleeping.

    But a 1910 encyclopedia, that might do the trick… We had a physical copy of an early encyclopedia when I was a kid, state of the art was steam engines and bi-planes. It was great bathroom reading…

  238. 238.

    Just Chuck

    I can’t stand it, I know you planned it
    I’mma set it straight, this Watergate
    I can’t stand rockin’ when I’m in here
    ‘Cause your crystal ball ain’t so crystal clear
    So while you sit back and wonder why
    I got this fuckin’ thorn in my side
    Oh my god, it’s a mirage
    I’m tellin’ y’all, it’s sabotage

     

    Yunno, Classical Music!

  239. 239.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Mary G: I’ve noted this for you folks before, but the first deaths of the Civil War occurred, not at Fort Sumter (where no one was killed), and  not at Bull Run, but on Pratt Street in Baltimore as loyal troops and railcars on their way to Washington crossed from the President Street station (in what is now Little Italy) to the Camden Station (next to the Oriole Park baseball stadium). A crowd of Confederate sympathizers and draft opponents assembled, a riot insued, shots were fired and deaths occurred. Read about it here (The Pratt Street Riot) courtesy of the National Park Service.

    (FWIW: If you visit Baltimore – after we get this COVID thing under control & sites reopen, of course – the former President Street Station now holds a museum dedicated to the Civil War. Stop just before or after lunch – avail yourself of one of the many excellent restaurants of Little Italy within an easy walk.)

  240. 240.

    Soprano2

    @MisterForkbeard:  I had someone tell me yesterday that Biden and the Democrats need policies and they’re mad that Dems are only talking about how bad Trump is.

    This kind of thing makes me crazy! They want it all spoon-fed to them by the press, which just doesn’t work that way. All the press covers is the controversial stuff; that’s why they talk about Trump constantly!

  241. 241.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Gin & Tonic: Not all that funny considering that Orthodox Christmas is in fact the second holiday celebrated around that time (5-6 January depending on the national flavor of Orthodoxy).

    During the Red years it was common to give & received New Year’s greetings (с Новым Годом, “s Novym Godom” in Russian) which often stood in for the religious holiday. I made a friend in Yugoslavia in the mid-1980s who sent me New Year’s cards (sretna Nova godina) until the country broke up, and Christmas (sretan Božić) cards ever after.

  243. 243.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Uncle Cosmo: Yeah, except the original Ukrainian lyrics have nothing to do with Christmas, they are wishes for a bountiful new year. And it was composed before Red times (just barely, 1916.) The English lyrics to Carol of the Bells are explicitly Christmas-y, but they were composed by an American, who had no connection with the Ukrainian composer, Mykola Leontovych. They are not a translation.

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