Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

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

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

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

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

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

How stupid are these people?

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

People are complicated. Love is not.

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

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

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Needles and pins

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I”m getting a bit nervous. This Jon Ossoff smackdown of David Purdue is my happy place

We’ve already raised an insane amount of money for Ossoff, but a little more couldn’t hurt. This is probably headed for a run-of: this could be the extra push over the cliff that gives Ossoff the majority and ends it or it could be a little more in the kitty for the run-off.

Jon Ossoff, Georgia Senate (regular election)

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This is a great place to give as well:

Four Directions (ballot access for Native people)

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As always, you can see all of our candidates here.

Reader Interactions

44Comments

  3. 3.

    J R in WV

    As a part-time resident in Arizona, who has traveled in Navajo Nation and tried to learn about the culture and life up there (from our residence on the Mexican border) I’ve been contributing to Four Directions for several years now. So glad to see their cause being supported here on Balloon Juice.

  5. 5.

    taumaturgo

    How refreshing, finally a democrat told the truth about a crooked republican. This should be a model for all democrats to tell the republicans to stop lying. See democrats, how popular this exchange has become so stop acting like wimps.

  7. 7.

    Barbara

    I just donated to Four Directions and Fair Fight (Stacy Abrams’ organization).  I figure my last minute donations are most effective for groups getting out the vote.

  8. 8.

    RaflW

    @Barbara: I just did both of those this week, and the ACLU in case things get weird. I’ve also been keen on Jolt Action in TX to reach Latino voters.

  9. 9.

    piratedan

    it’s a wonder that Ossoff didn’t just ask for a moment post that “observation” for a cigarette.  Unsure if I have seen so many GOP candidates get skewered like they have this year with Ernst screwing up Iowa commodities numbers, McSally calling out Kelly for gun control, while ignoring his wife survived a mass shooting event that cost her her job (that McSally eventually took).  Marshall ducking out of debates in Kansas, Cornym showing his “true colors” in Texas, Harrison eviscerating Graham for words and deeds in South Carolina and Sen. Collins stating that there is no systematic racism in Maine…

    and with the ability for us all to be plugged into these moments and see them for what they are…

    It really does seem that the R’s just trot anyone else out there with an R beside their name that are nothing more than cardboard cutouts of people and people are electing them because of the brand and not whether they are worthy to serve.

  10. 10.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @J R in WV:

    I was amazed at the stone face Perdue was able to maintain while Jon called him out as a plain old criminal, only worse.

    Yes, he kept a stony face but his body language — the side-to-side weight shifting, from one foot to the other — told the story. He was visibly anxious and upset.

    I’m so hopeful that Ossoff will be able to flip that seat. Would love to see Georgia and a few other Southern states send Democrats to the Senate this year.

  11. 11.

    scott (the other one)

    The thing that makes that Ossoff clip so devastating—aside from the fact that he’s bringing the truthhammer down so brutally—is how slowly and deliberately Ossoff is laying out the facts. He doesn’t stumble, he doesn’t um or uh, he calmly states the horrible truth so plainly, and with pauses in between each sentence to give time for the shrapnel to do major damage. Amazing.

  12. 12.

    Ivan X

    I have often thought, this cycle, about how R’s call even the most moderate of Democrats “extreme,” and how D’s rarely use that kind of language, even when it’s actually descriptive and accurate. What are we afraid of?

    I just gave some more money so I can achieve my self-serving ends of being able to post here about how proud I am of myself or something. Sometimes the right things get done for the wrong reasons.

  13. 13.

    James E Powell

    It amazes me and depresses me that a candidate can be so completely exposed as a fraud and a liar and still be favored to win election.

  16. 16.

    craigie

    @piratedan:

    It really does seem that the R’s just trot anyone else out there with an R beside their name that are nothing more than cardboard cutouts of people…

    I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Of course I admire Dems, but there are lots of them to admire. There is literally (and I don’t use that word lightly) nobody on the Republican side that I can think of who seems like an actual human or who knows what it’s like to be an actual human. It’s really pretty weird.

  22. 22.

    piratedan

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): don’t think that’s implied at all Goku, he specifically stated that watching that clip left him in a happy place….. never has a corrupt politician been exposed so elegantly and eruditely in a debate format.

  23. 23.

    artem1soo

    I am so happy Ossof decided to run again.  He keeps plugging away because it’s the right thing to do, not because it will win him a Senate seat.  He will be in office someday and I have a feeling he may eventually lose a seat because of this forthright approach.  But if he teaches the next generation that there is life beyond losing an election, he will have done good work.  The worst mistake the Dems made was accepting the GOP standard that having experience is an automatic disqualifier and no one should try to run again if they are term limited or have lost a major election.

    In some ways, more than an appointment on SCOTUS,  I would love to see Obama take a House seat – maybe Elijah Cummings seat – and drive the GOP crazy for the next 30-40 years.  No way would he have to worry about fundraising or losing a house seat.  And having him around all the time fighting for the arc of justice would be wonderful.  It would be like John Quincy Adams hanging around the house for decades and fighting to abolish slavery.  Not as sexy as being the President, but damn useful as an example of how to spend your retirement.

  24. 24.

    Roger Moore

    @James E Powell: 

    It’s bizarre that we consider Mitt Fucking Romney as one of the better ones.

    It’s even weirder that Mitt Romney actually appears to be one of the better Republican senators. Of course this is somewhat like saying lethal injection is one of the better ways of being executed, but it’s still remarkable.

  25. 25.

    randal m sexton

    I have been doing last minute GOTV donations to the swing state Democratic Parties. Penn, Wis, Fl, MI, NC, and Texas.

    Cannot believe Texas. If Texas goes blue, or even better is THE state that boots the orange turd, I hereby pledge to drink Shiner Bock beer and wear cowboy boots for a WEEK !!!

  26. 26.

    evap

    @randal m sexton:   I’m with you, but I think Shiner Bock is a bridge too far for me.  On the other hand, if someone said that drinking Shiner Bock for the next four days would guarantee Biden wins Texas, I’d do it.

  28. 28.

    WaterGirl

    Doug, did you see this comment from gkoutnik this morning?  I intended to email it to you, but my day got out of hand.

    A few days ago, Doug put up a fundraising post for Four Directions, a GOTV organization “dedicated to getting Native Americans to the polls.” I thought it was a good idea (everybody votes!) and donated, and then the link appeared in comments the next day. I thought it was still a good idea and added a little more.

    Yesterday I got a phone call from Lewis Cohen, Finance Director for Four Directions, thanking me for the donation. Then he said, “Let me ask you what may seem to be a strange question, but… where did you hear about us?”

    Turns out they had a big spike in donations, mostly from some place called “Balloon Juice.” They had no idea who we were or how we found them. I described BJ as best I could (that was interesting) and he again expressed his gratitude.

    Their motto seems to be: “Advancing equality at the ballot box across Indian Country.” So – thanks, folks, from Indian Country.

  29. 29.

    Anonymous At Work

    Does anyone have a clip of Perdue’s response?  I’d be interested in whether he could mount a response that was more than “Lie AOC lie Socialism lie.”

  30. 30.

    TiredOfItAll

    Just donated but cannot bring myself to watch the clip — I trust you balloon juicers without seeing for myself.  Blood pressure issues.  Just cannot politics any more. I’m sure I’m not the only one who read somewhere on the twitterverse that right now “…it’s like the whole nation is awaiting the biopsy results”.  Listening to Gymnopediés and pretty much chanting “Serenity Now!’ non-stop.

  34. 34.

    WaterGirl

    @TiredOfItAll: I think this clip would likely lower your blood pressure.  Jon Ossoff is quite calm as he delivers a scathing and accurate description of his opponent, and you never see the Republican get to speak.  It’s glorious.

  37. 37.

    piratedan

    @TiredOfItAll: if you watch it, it will make you smile, Ossoff didn’t just bring the lumber, in 1:12 seconds… he brought an entire forest.  Watching Perdue stand there and listen to it and just sway and blink, gives you the idea that he knows that Ossoff is talking but is unable to respond.

  39. 39.

    Frank Wilhoit

    @piratedan: No one remembers 1980 — or, if they do, it is only for Reagan; but the Republicans put forward six Senate candidates in that year who were exactly as you describe — all perfect nonentities. They were, at the time, known as the Six Horsemen of the Apocalypse. (Chuck Grassley was one of them.)

    In the next cycle, 1982, in Nebraska, the Republican Senate candidate was chosen for the spelling of his name and for no other reason. There was a popular radio station whose call letters were KECK, so the Republicans got out the phone books and found someone named Jim Keck to run for Senate. At least he lost; but he was a perfect exemplar of the approach to candidate selection that has now persisted for forty years.

  40. 40.

    Ivan X

    @WaterGirl:  That is awesome!

    I’m also curious how you described Balloon Juice. I usually go with “Liberal politics, pets, recipes, gardening, travel photography, and culture blog.” It makes perfect sense!

  42. 42.

    WaterGirl

    @Ivan X: @TomatoQueen:

    Someone, I think it was Betty Cracker, asked gkoutnik how he described Balloon Juice.  If I remembered which thread it was in I would go find it, but it sounded to me like he did a good job explaining what we are, and he did give the fellow a link to the site.

    edit: Good news is for sharing!

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