someone did a collab tiktok with a cat and it's perfect pic.twitter.com/8ckEIRo51y
— Rob N Roll (@thegallowboob) December 15, 2020
It’s the cat’s expression that makes the bit. Must you, human? Can I not have one unmediated moment of joyful creativity without your vulgar stalking? …
Speaking of which…
Incoming Biden WH deputy Chief of Staff Omalley Dillon says she thinks big bipartisan deals are possible even though the Republicans are a “bunch of fuckers” and “mitch McConnell is terrible”https://t.co/1spD5B734q pic.twitter.com/I631xo97nm
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) December 16, 2020
Within an hour of the networks’ at last declaring Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election, his campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon took to Twitter to celebrate. In contrast with what we’ve come to expect from those who serve in the current administration, she wasn’t gloating or triumphalist. She was honest, elated, and grateful. “We can do hard things,” she wrote, “and you just did!”…
… She is the first woman to manage a successful Democratic presidential campaign, the first woman to run a campaign that ousted an incumbent president, and of course the first person to spearhead a winning ticket in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic.
Her task since she joined the Biden team on March 12, 2020—less than 24 hours after Tom Hanks announced he had tested positive for Covid-19, the NBA suspended its season, and the World Health Organization designated the brand-new disease a global pandemic—has been to do the hardest possible things: Win a virtual election. Fight a cascade of misinformation. Keep hundreds of staffers and the candidate himself safe. Do not flinch.
After Biden is sworn in, O’Malley Dillon will serve as his deputy chief of staff—her first White House role ever after two decades in presidential politics. But in the meantime, with the tiniest bit of breathing room now that Donald Trump and the GOP have lost almost 60 court cases in their futile, craven efforts to overturn the will of the voters in the 2020 race, O’Malley Dillon made some time to meet Doyle over Zoom and talk about—what else?—the hard things…
The scary pull quote, which seems extremely on-point for the campaign Biden just won:
That might be what we’re missing—is that redefining of compromise. That it is or it can be the ultimate victory.
Yes, exactly. And frankly, that’s what we need. The president-elect was able to connect with people over this sense of unity. In the primary, people would mock him, like, “You think you can work with Republicans?” I’m not saying they’re not a bunch of fuckers. Mitch McConnell is terrible. But this sense that you couldn’t wish for that, you couldn’t wish for this bipartisan ideal? He rejected that. From start to finish, he set out with this idea that unity was possible, that together we are stronger, that we, as a country, need healing, and our politics needs that too.
Which is not to say it is easy. It is like a relationship. You can’t do politics alone. If the other person is not willing to do the work, then that becomes really hard. But I think, more than not, people want to see impact. They want to see us moving in a path forward. They want to do their work, get paid a fair share, have time for themselves and their family, and see each other as neighbors. And this overhang of this negative, polarized electorate that politics has created is the thing that I think we can break down…
But the Democrat lady said a Big SWEAR!!1!!…
I can’t count the number of double standards involved here. The things that Republicans and men are allowed to say (“refreshingly frank”!) that Democrats and women aren’t (“beyond the pale”!) is amazeballs. https://t.co/IpVpnqa1c8
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 16, 2020
decorum aside, the degree to which i get upset about a staffer calling politicians “fuckers” depends in no small part on the degree to which those politicians are, in fact, a bunch of fuckers
this is subjective, i understand this
— Normie Transition Team (@CalmSporting) December 17, 2020
Remember when Republican congressional representative @RepTedYoho called Democratic congressional representative @AOC a “fucking bitch” in person? I sure do. But, sure, tell us more about the outrage over a comment in a magazine interview that was directed at no specific person.
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) December 17, 2020
we burned the harsh language fainting couch four years ago, we are not dragging it’s charred and ruined frame out just to let a few anonymous sources score cheap points
— golikecorpromachine (@golikehellmachi) December 16, 2020
yes, after the last four years, let alone the last six weeks, the dems should definitely be worried about (checks notes) hurting congressional republicans’ feelings https://t.co/ioKhkOeubu
— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) December 17, 2020
On The Road – Captain C Goes to Japan: Second Tokyo 1
Baud
Where I come from, “fuckers” is a term of endearment.
debbie
I seem to remember the zero amount of outrage from other conservatives when Dick Cheney used the same word. Fuckem.
OzarkHillbilly
Fuck their feelings.
Baud
According to the news, Wilmer read The Art of the Deal and now thinks he would have done a better job negotiating with Mitch.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: But they’re all celibate!
satby
And the correct response:
Jane Lynch@janemarielynch
NotMax
FYI.
Doesn’t specify but those times are probably Eastern.
Baud
@NotMax:
It’s says ET right in the quote.
satby
@Baud: There’s more than a few obituaries I’m going to really enjoy reading when they finally get published.
satby
@Baud: that’s just so they can zoom home.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: :-)
NotMax
@a href=”https://balloon-juice.com/2020/12/17/thursday-morning-open-thread-performative-outrage/#comment-8001209″>NotMax
Senior moment (collect them all!). Eastern time is specified.
Baud
@satby:
Heh.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: I am as tired of Vt Jesus and his band of performance art ? progressives as I am of the Republican fuckers.
debbie
@satby:
Seconded resoundingly.
Van Buren
@satby: Other possible response: ” I would like to retract that. I misspoke. They are, in fact, goddam motherfucking nazi wannabees. I regret the error.”
Spanky
Now wait a minute. She didn’t call them a bunch of fuckers. She said she’s not saying they’re NOT a bunch of fuckers.
They are, of course, a bunch of motherfuckers, so I think she pulled her punches here.
NotMax
Couple of moderately entertaining recent finds on Prime.
Not the best heist movie you’ll ever see but sufficiently distant from the worst – Logan Lucky. Stretches of adroit film making interspersed with stretches of goes-on-too-long time spent with characters (and plot) treading water.
Lower key and strictly for gentle laughter is Make A Fake (originally Senza arte né parte). Italian hijinks poking a palette knife through the modern art scene. Trailer (no subtitles).
Betty Cracker
The “some advisors” who allegedly have the vapors over O’Malley Dillon’s language are probably the same tender blossoms who wanted to block Harris from the ticket because she threw some elbows during the primary. Ed Rendell and who else?
Suzanne
She’s not saying they’re a bunch of fuckers.
But I am. They’re a bunch of deplorable fuckers.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Does Ed Rendell speak on background? To his credit, he usually stands behind his assholery.
NotMax
Dillon’s comment may be the quintessential example of impolitic.
Baud
I wonder if this will be like “deplorables” with republicans proudly calling themselves “fuckers.”
OzarkHillbilly
Reposted from below: George Pell: Trump is a barbarian, but ‘in some important ways’ he’s our barbarian
And some people think my hatred of the Catholic church is a bit too extreme.
ByRookorbyCrook
Good morning! First real snow of the year in the wilds of Central New York. Poor Binghamton got almost 3 feet. My dogs and kids are happy.
So ‘fuckers’ is just too much for some of our donors? She could have gone with seditious, obstructionist twits to spare feelings.
Kathleen
@satby: I am giving you a virtual socially distant hug.
schrodingers_cat
@OzarkHillbilly: Who is this fucker, never heard of him before. So many fuckers, so little time.
Betty Cracker
Politico:
I wonder how much this trip will this cost U.S. taxpayers?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
And our feckless beltway media corpse wonders why they’re so roundly despised?
Oh wait, that would require introspection and analysis of their motives and operations. Never happens.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
If they don’t bring him back, it’ll be worth the expense.
RepubAnon
Republicans know that the path to success is keeping their base fired up – which is why they try to make Democrats apologize for saying things that fire up Progressives.
OzarkHillbilly
@schrodingers_cat:
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
At least he knows something about barbarians.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: True dat.
schrodingers_cat
@OzarkHillbilly: Nice, one sexual predator defends another. Birds of a feather.
raven
Pretty cool
They came like gifts from a Secret Santa, $20 million here, $40 million there, all to higher education, but not to the elite universities that usually hog all the attention. These donations went to colleges and universities that many people have never heard of, and that tended to serve regional, minority and lower-income students.
On Tuesday, MacKenzie Scott, the world’s 18th-richest person, publicly revealed that she was the one behind the donations to dozens of colleges and universities, part of nearly $4.2 billion she had given to 384 organizations in the last four months.
Amir Khalid
Why do I find myself thinkig of this South Park classic?
sixthdoctor
It’d be nice if someone in power pointed out publicly how these Republican fragile flowers, to a person, were happily dancing on Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s grave three months ago.
debbie
@Betty Cracker:
And exactly why are Pence and his ball&chain getting the vaccine now? Neither are in any way essential.
NotMax
Also wanted to point out that Larry Gelbart’s Mastergate is also now available on Prime.
Pace MAD, humor in a jugular vein.
satby
@sixthdoctor: They don’t care, and don’t care about what names they’re called. It’s simply to try to get the Democrats to own-goal by removing effective voices on our side.
debbie
@raven:
This is great! I wonder what Bezos thinks about this?
Danielx
I don’t know why people are so upset, she could have said they were pigfuckers. Which would be insulting to that noble creature the pig, I realize.
Kathleen
@schrodingers_cat: I second, third and fourth that emotion.
OzarkHillbilly
@schrodingers_cat: In the Covid thread, Van Buren had commented that, “I admit that I did not foresee that COVID would make strip clubs and churches allies against the government.”
Satby replied, ” Why not? They both use women’s bodies to service and gratify men.”
And then I saw the article which was kind of the bow on the wrapping of that discussion.
raven
@debbie: Hopefully he’ll match it!
rikyrah
She should have called them low-down no-good muthaphuckas ?
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
Satby??????
Brilliant response
rikyrah
Oh, and to the anonymous donor
PHUCK YOUR FEELINGS ?
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
??????
Chyron HR
I’m offended that someone named their child “O’Malley Dillon”.
rikyrah
@satby:
????
rikyrah
@raven:
Yesss ?
Ken
Depends on if it includes a return ticket, doesn’t it?
(After all, we’ve established that he doesn’t have a house in Indiana, or perhaps thinks he’s still the governor.)
rikyrah
??????
rikyrah
???
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
Every one of the times listed specifies ET.
:-)
Dorothy A. Winsor
These guys can’t help declaring every time that they have a problem with competent, ambitious women. They all need to shut up and sit down.
I’ve taken to saying “bunch of white guys” when I see pics of Republicans on the TV. Poor Mr DAW.
rikyrah
OzarkHillbilly
But Pence is the one who needs to pardon trump, the very definition of essential.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: I’m guessing it will be presented as part of the demonstration that it’s safe and good to get the vaccine.
Dorothy A. Winsor
This is interesting.
Amir Khalid
@rikyrah:
Wait — Ikea is an actual girl’s name? I remember an episode of Friends where Phoebe was pretending to be Swedish. The only name she could think of for her Swedish persona was, well, Ikea, and nobody was fooled.
raven
@Dorothy A. Winsor: “Officials in other big states such as Florida and Illinois also have reported being notified of reduced quantities of the vaccine through the federal government’s distribution plans”
JMG
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I’ll venture a guess the feds overpromised Michigan and a bunch of other states, say 49 others, on times and volumes of vaccine deliveries and are now admitting they can’t cash that check.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@raven: I wonder what that’s about.
JMG is probably right at #66
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Her brother Woolworth and sister Sears don’t find it unusual at all.
:)
Gin & Tonic
In the waning days of the Trump maladministration, and hopefully the twilight of Lukashenko, the Senate approves a good nomination for an Ambassador to Belarus.
raven
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I think an effort of this magnitude is bound to have issues.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor:@raven:@JMG: Pfizer reported a problem with getting some raw materials and requested the admin invoke the Defense Authorization Act to get those to them. Supposedly the issue has been resolved. This may just be the lag on that hiccup in production.
ETA <a href=”#comment-8001288″>@raven</a>: I suspect that comes from the same article I read. No doubt why the word ‘hiccup’ got stuck in my brain.
Geminid
@rikyrah: I have no use for Nina Turner, but the primary for that seat will not have a runoff, so she may be able to pull off a plurality win in a four or five candidate race. She’ll have plenty of money since she is a hero to many on the left. Some of them are lamenting that Turner is running as a Democrat after delivering such a forceful speech at the recent People’s Party convention. But these folks want power, so I think they’ll fall in line behind Turner’s Inside/Outside strategy.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
As the U.S. does not recognize Lukashenka as head of state one wonders to whom she will present her credentials.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: Oh man, that smirk makes that a very punchable face. Virtually speaking.
Gin & Tonic
@NotMax: I’ve heard that Tikhanovskaya has been invited to Biden’s inauguration, but can’t confirm that. Maybe Fisher could wait and present credentials when the latter comes to DC?
burnspbesq
@OzarkHillbilly:
Which is a reminder of just how high a standard “beyond a reasonable doubt” can become when an appellate court wants a powerful defendant to skate. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t think Pell did the things of which he was accused.
Peale
@JMG: I’ll venture to guess that the COVID team spent all of 30 seconds on the problem of manufacturing and just assumed that a vaccine is just like shopping for clothing. The stores they shop at are never empty. Things just magically appear when you want them.
Cameron
A Zoom talk about the hard things? I’m assuming Jeffrey Toobin is one of the participants.
NotMax
@Peale
“Not available? Can you check in the back room?”
:)
JAFD
@Chyron HR: Being on first cuppa, and not having read the article yet, would speculate that either A – she got married and add husband’s name to hers, or B – her parents did.
As she’s a distant relative of myne, HURRAH !
meanwhile, the weather in New Jersey has gone from 60 F and folks riding around in top-down convertibles Sunday to 30 F and 8″ of snow on ground this morn. That kind of temp change me old bones do not like. Blech.
Stay healthy and keep warm !
(I originally typed ‘and keep worm’ – problem with Dvorak keyboard is it’s easy to make ‘mistakes that seem to make sense’ – thot of leaving it in, seeing how yon jackals would react…)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@raven:
“Overpromising and Underdelivering as a Means to Profit” should be one of the chapter titles in “Art of the Deal”.
sab
@rikyrah: Nina Turner announced she wants to run for Marcia Fudge’s congresss seat. Then Emilia Sykes (Ohio Senate minority leader) announced she is thinking about running for same seat. This makes me happy. I really like Emilia Sykes.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Gin & Tonic: Did you have to look up how to spell that? Because if you didn’t, I’m deeply impressed.
@Cameron: I see what you did. And aren’t you ashamed?
SFAW
@NotMax:
We COULD, but you keep on making new ones! How are we supposed to keep up?
SFAW
@sab:
I received e-mail from DKos asking me to “sign up” to help her. My reply was, in effect, “only if she were running against Louie Gohmert or Matt Gaetz or someone similar.”
Immanentize
Re, “not saying they are not fuckers” comment, my favorite clapback so far has been:
That’s just how women talk in the locker room.
oatler.
What does “performative” mean? Is that a word now? oh you kids!
Betty Cracker
@rikyrah: I read some of Turner’s interview with Democracy Now yesterday. I get that people who are running for office will make unrealistic promises and stake out stretch positions, but she’s not even in the vicinity of reality.
One of the interviewers asked her about a recent interview with AOC in which AOC talked about Dem efforts to get another $1200 stimulus check for Americans without McConnell’s liability shield. Turner basically went off on the idea of a $1200 stimulus check, insinuating that it’s an insult that wouldn’t help anyone and that Dems need to go for a basic income program instead.
#1, I’d like to see her tell actual working people that $1200 is nothing, and #2, has she met the U.S. Congress?
Gin & Tonic
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I didn’t look it up. It’s easy.
zhena gogolia
Contrarian here, I wish she hadn’t said it. Why was it necessary?
ETA: Reminds me of Tlaib. Just because we’re all thinking it, you don’t have to yell it in public.
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
Not me. We could get together and argue over which of us hates those fuckers more properly, and neither of us could possibly be too extreme.
I was going to list some of their perversions, both current and historical, and quickly saw it would be way too long a comment, and so gave up that goal.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
I see what you did there…..
Jim, Foolish Literalist
You don’t come back from being told to look out the window.
Peale
@Betty Cracker: Unemployment Extension, schumemployment extension. What the Democrats should be demanding is a federal jobs guarantee to be implemented by January 1!
Geminid
@zhena gogolia: To her credit, aftrewards Tlaib admitted she shouldn’t have said it. She seemed sincere.
artem1s
Love that Biden’s Deputy Chief of Staff has Rs pining for the good old, nice polite days of Rahm Emanuel.
debbie
@JMG:
No, I think it’s MI’s blueness that is the offender.
debbie
@sab:
Me too. Screw Turner.
sab
@SFAW: dKos wanted Ohioans to vote for Paul Hackett instead of Sherrod Brown back in the day, so I am skeptical of their recommendations. They don’t do their homework.
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: Maybe in perfect world every political operative will always say exactly the right thing. We don’t live in that world, and this is, at worst, a Kinsley gaffe.
Immanentize
From upthread — seems like my Mom’s town got about 3 feet in upstate NY. We have about 10 inches here north of Boston so far. It’s beautiful and silent out.
When the Immp arises -. Fire in the fireplace.
Immanentize
Hive mind question. My receiver has a built in phono pre amp that works with MM style phono cartridges, but not MC (moving coil) cartridges. So, I need a phono pre-amp! Any suggestions?
Uncle Cosmo
@NotMax:
On the other hand, cousin Tarzhé
Considers it terribly declassé.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Obama told this great joke once, “when Rahm lost his middle finger in an accident he lost half his vocabulary” – it brought the house down because it was true, all Rahm does is swear. But it’s okay if you have a brother who is one of the most feared, popular and powerful media agents.
mrmoshpotato
Suck an ass’s ass, you traitorous, seditious, Russthuglican Trump trash who slurp Kremlin assholes!
Cry harder!
mrmoshpotato
@Immanentize:
Hot diggity dog! Also green with envy.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: I think the response should be this:
I hope there is no apology issued for this one, I don’t care how many politicians have the vapors. It’s time to tell the truth, even if I wish she had taken a more judicious approach.
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
THEY INTENDED TO USE THE VACCINE TO PUNISH THE BLUE STATES
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl:
mrmoshpotato
Deplorable fuckers!
scav
Best thing to my mind us to remind them that Trump is, in fact, a lame fuck at this point.
Booger
That’s John Oliver’s show, right?
Kristine
@Immanentize:
Stealing this
Also, if I get push back, I’ll follow up with “Okay–let’s see them prove her wrong.”
Princess
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Because Trump has found someone to sell them to or he’s using them as leverage for bribes.
Gin & Tonic
@WaterGirl: Here’s a good take, from someone we know
chrome agnomen
@scav: I bet any number of women would say he’s b been a lame fuck since day one.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic: Nickay!!!!
ixnay
@JAFD: Wow. You use Dvorak? I do not think I’ve ever met one (user or keyboard) in person.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Gin & Tonic: She’s a firecracker
Kathleen
@Geminid: Yeah. Dems only hold 4 out of 16 Congressional Districts in Ohio. I’m going to hate to lose this one.
Kathleen
@sab: Sykes is awesome! I hope she runs. I attended virtual Ohio Dem Party Convention and was impressed by the event and the exposure to young talented Dems in other parts of the state. Sykes was one of them.
dnfree
@Dorothy A. Winsor: my husband has to put up with similar comments, but he fortunately doesn’t take it personally because he’s not a Republican, and he knows it’s been true for too long.
Another Scott
@RepubAnon: +1
Cheers,
Scott.
CarolDuhart2
@Betty Cracker: I bet he makes it longer than a week. As long as it he makes it back before the 20th, his trip will be paid for. As for benefits from the the trip, it isn’t likely to be any. Foreign powers know that he can’t deliver on any promise he makes, and are waiting for Biden Administration personnel and policies.
But he’s far away from angry magats, which is what he really wants and needs.
lowtechcyclist
Maybe I’m just weird, but I want the most liberal Democrat in each district that can consistently be re-elected there. OH-11 has a D+32 PVI, so the Dem representing that district should be pretty damn liberal.
Mike in NC
@Gin & Tonic: Last night I heard Nicolle Wallace refer to Trump’s “toxic and dysfunctional” presidency. Nobody is holding back anymore.
Miss Bianca
@lowtechcyclist: Maybe I’m just weird, but I want the most *effective* Democrat to win, not the most “liberal”. I have yet to see any evidence that Turner really understands or cares how our government actually works. She appears to be more interested in…well..performative outrage than anything else. In that, she’s pretty much just like your average Republican these days. I’m going to be “represented” by one of these right-wing purity ponies for at least the next two years, so I may be uniquely out of patience here with this notion that the candidate with the most ideologically pure distillation of grievances “deserves” to win.
J R in WV
@Mike in NC:
Toxic and dysfunctional sounds like a good start in describing Trump’s time in office. Illegal, treasonous, hmmm, lots of words for what he did.
We should have a pool for how many listening devices they find in the White House…
ETA: maybe none, they just used his phone…?
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: I have often heard the general principle you express. You have an excellent opportunity to assess its value as applied to this actual race. Just look up former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner and current State Senator Emilia Sykes, a likely competitor. Read a few articles about each, like you live in the district and want to know who to vote for. It wouldn’t take long.. I have a hunch this won’t be the last time this race will be discussed here.
lowtechcyclist
@Miss Bianca: I don’t know Nina Turner from Tina Turner, but what I was hearing was ‘she’s bad because she’s a Berniecrat.’ Berniecrats cover an awful lot of ground; IMHO most of them want a better Democratic Party, while those who want a revolution and don’t care what gets burned down in the process get all the attention.
And with respect to effectiveness, the vast majority of Representatives aren’t going to be majorly effective. I’d love a House full of Katie Porters, but realistically if you’ve got a few dozen of them, you’re doing pretty good. Most of them, you just want them to vote the right way.
And for me, that means shifting the balance so that more liberal, less centrist outcomes become possible. For instance, I want a House Democratic Caucus where defending Rep. Richard Neal, who has been keeping surprise billing alive in his capacity as Ways and Means chair, isn’t something that Dem leadership can get away with anymore.
And the way you make it hard for them to get away with it is to increase the proportion of the caucus that don’t think that shit is acceptable. Personnel is policy, and all that.