I know there are mixed feelings about Pod Save America, but I like it, and I especially think that Jon Lovett is quite good. In this week’s episode, he had a segment comparing questions asked at town halls by regular folks to questions asked by the press to Jen Psaki. Here’s a YouTube link that starts three minutes prior to that segment, since Lovett prefaces the segment with an interesting observation about the role of the press as it deals with Democrats versus Republicans. Spoiler alert: the town hall questions are far, far better than the press questions.
Lovett’s point (in the clip) is that Republicans are treated as if they’re masculine, and Democrats are treated as if they’re feminine (in the stereotypical sense). Rough transcript:
It’s assumed that Republicans will be strong, intransigent, confident, and that their needs must be heard and appeased. It’s Democrats’ job to be nurturing, supportive, to listen, and to take care of those needs. That’s why asking Mitch McConnell, ‘What are you doing to create unity today?’ or asking Ted Cruz ‘What are you doing to bring the Senate together?’ or asking Tom Cotton, ‘Why are you not doing more to address that fact that you alienate so many urban Americans?’ are unusual. […] There’s an assumption that Republicans are who Republicans are, and its Democrats’ job to help nurture them and figure out how to work together for the benefit of the country. I think four years of Trump and the insurrection has called that out, and made it all seem more ridiculous.
Also, they don’t mention it when discussing the dumb questions about why Biden is going home to Delaware so often, but Biden does have some grandkids who just lost their father, and it is a very different thing to spend time with them than it is to rack up infinite mulligans at your own golf course.
Old School
Thankfully, Trump seemed to have no interest in spending time with his grandchildren.
Baud
The mommy party/daddy party idea goes way back. The more recent problem is that the GOP has become the deadbeat daddy party, while too many people continue to see them as a responsible daddy a la Father Knows Best.
Cheryl Rofer
Huh. What gender stereotypes do these correspond to?
ALurkSupreme
The trope that Rs are manly and Ds are effeminate is yet another conventional wisdom that I hope the current Ds will soon blast into the sun.
germy
@Old School:
A reporter should have asked Trump to name his grandkids.
germy
@ALurkSupreme:
Was it Maureen Dowd who wrote about Gore in those terms? Or Peggy Noonan? Or both…
Matt McIrvin
@germy: Dowd is absolutely obsessed with portraying Democrats as violators of gender norms: the men are feminine and the women are masculine, and this is bad and ridiculous.
Peggy Noonan was big on Republican daddyhood too.
Baud
I personally don’t mind the qualities of the maternal stereotype, except that, as used, it excludes any sense of toughness, which is not at all consistent with most mothers I know.
germy
@Baud:
Drunk abusive dad party. “Let’s not make him angry… if we do this one thing, he won’t beat us…”
ALurkSupreme
@germy: I believe so, yes, although I think she put that label on more Ds than Gore. Hard for me to say because I stopped reading her long ago.
Just Some Fuckhead
Seems like the behavior can be characterized as asshole/not asshole instead of placed in a male/female paradigm.
germy
@Matt McIrvin:
I am absolutely obsessed with Dowd as a violator of journalistic norms: she is too unintelligent and out of touch to be paid to write about current events, and this is bad and ridiculous.
Noonan, too. And Chuck Todd, and every last one on Fox.
rikyrah
I know people bring that up, but, that doesn’t even matter to me.
If 46 wants to go to Delaware – TO HIS HOME
Every weekend, I don’t care.
It is his HOME.
NOT A FOR-PROFIT BUSINESS.
scav
@Matt McIrvin: She must hate, simply hate Thatcher then, plus any Thatcher enablers it goes without saying.
Poe Larity
Iowa has had it with divisivenesses
Brachiator
@Matt McIrvin:
She was even worse about this stuff when she was sober.
JoyceH
@germy:
“Person, woman, man, camera, tv.”
MisterForkbeard
I don’t watch or listen to these in general, but this is a really excellent bit. The juxtaposition of “real questions” v. “reporter bullshit”, is stark. Real questions vs hitjob and trying to ‘make news’.
rikyrah
I think that the pundits and the MSM haven’t gotten used to US not giving two shyts.
Not only have we learned our lesson from the Obama Years.
But, we just watched the GOP abdicate their Constitutional Responsibilities for 4 years.
AND…..they were ok with Muthaphuckas ransacking their place of work and TRYING TO KILL THEM.
It’s very interesting that the MSM is just glossing over January 6th, like Democrats are supposed to be ok with the GOP inciting muthaphuckas to TRY AND KILL THEM.
Really?
Seriously?
They’re supposed to work that folks after that?
Phuck Outta Here.
Baud
@Poe Larity: Fortunately, no one can comply with the bill because it’s too divisive and thus outlawed under the bill.
Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix
@Poe Larity: Was that before or after they banned transgender women from playing sports?
Cheryl Rofer
@Cheryl Rofer: Sorry. Read the post too fast.
JPL
@Brachiator: Thank the lord that I’ve never listened to her sober. btw When was that?
Barbara
@Baud: ”The Deadbeat Dad” Party. OMG. That’s just so pithily perfect.
I know it’s off topic, but this latest mass shooting reminds me so much of one that happened in my home town, perpetrated by, gulp, the son of a close acquaintance (both white) of my mother. He was a bit older, but he too drove around in a black SUV targeting people with Asian heritage in strip mall settings, although he killed a white woman along the way. Looks like they are bending over backwards trying hard not to make it about race. What happened in that instance was eye opening, especially the amount of fan mail this guy began receiving almost as soon as he was taken into custody.
Old School
@germy:
I’m not sure naming all of his kids would have been a gimme.
Brachiator
@JPL:
Reportedly a Monday, several years ago.
Puddinhead
@JPL: Around the time when she wrote about wanting to shag Ronald Reagan’s foot.
JoyceH
@Barbara: And yet — one thing that struck me about the recent shooting is that a guy shoots a bunch of Asian-American women, and a thousand reporters ask if he killed them because they were Asian, and NO ONE asked if he killed them because they were women. It seems that men killing women is just the natural order of things, so natural that it doesn’t even merit a mention.
JPL
@Barbara: It sickened me that the sheriff said that the shooter had a bad day. You know who really had a bad day was the families of those who were murdered.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
I was going to say that this is an example of conservative cancel culture, but then the bill’s floor manager had this to say:
So they’re not banning these concepts, just making it difficult if not impossible to teach. Totally different! /s
Practically all Iowa Dems voted for that first bill. I’m sure that complaints process for K-12 students totally won’t be abused
pacem appellant
@ALurkSupreme: Blast into the cold vacuum of space. It’s easier than trying to purposely aim for the sun, and more poetic imo.
jonas
@Poe Larity:The concepts include the ideas that
an individual is unconsciously racist or sexist due to their race or sex or that the U.S. or Iowa are systemically racist or sexist.make white people uncomfortable.Fixed that for them.
Doc Sardonic
@Brachiator: Question….When is Peggy Noonan ever sober?
Jude
I love Pod Save America. They’ve helped me become educated enough to formulate some real zingers off the top of my head when dealing with Repugs.
Peale
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Since it will be impossible for curriculum designers to know what can be included without breaking the law, it will be dropped.
MattF
@Barbara: I guess that having a murderous ‘personal aversion’ to asian women somehow doesn’t count as either racism or misogyny.
germy
@JPL:
gene108
Does Lovett get paid for making those water is wet observations?
What would be more useful is to compare Republican rhetoric, especially with the rise of Trumpism, to that of abusive* people.
I’ve never been in an abusive relationship, but from what I read from folks on social media who have been there is an overlap, and how the media is influenced to take the side of the abuser, ie Republicans.
* Some of this stems from Republicans being considered the masculine party, but that’s just a starting point.
scav
Idiots Ordering White Authoritarianism.
or maybe Ascendency. Absolutism
RaflW
As this is an open thread, FWIW I’m posting this quote from a March 16 report, without further context.
gene108
@rikyrah:
Delaware’s not that long a ride from D.C. I bet some Delaware Senators could hop the Amtrak after work, and be home to tuck their sons in to bed every night.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Peale:
What will be dropped? The “divisive” concepts?
Barbara
@JoyceH: It is the duty of women to bear the total burden of not causing, and if unsuccessful, of mitigating, satisfying, or avoiding the sexual urges of men, depending on what the man wants under the circumstances.
Maybe you saw the tweet of the Evangelical pastor admonishing women that though they couldn’t all be trophy wives like Melania Trump, they could “do better” and “try harder” so that at least they could merit a participation trophy as a wife. And, let’s just say, he did not embody society’s stereotype of an attractive man. Honestly, though, that guy offends me lest than someone like Andrew Cuomo, who uses his support for women’s rights as a cudgel to punish actual women who try to stand up for themselves.
Feeling VERY salty today. But mostly feeling very sad for these 8 people and their families. Just truly, truly horrible.
Kathleen
@gene108: I get the feeling that the Mewling Beltway Media are working through some serious Mommy and Daddy issues in their “reporting”. When Hillary was wronged in 2016 I observed that Hillary didn’t ask America how its day went in the right tone of voice so America threw the dinner plate at her.
The Moar You Know
Speaking of gender based differences in expectations of politicians, I said this a couple of threads down and am going to repeat myself: Feinstein ain’t leaving.
Like Byrd, Kennedy and Thurmond, she’s determined to die at her desk and you’re all just going to have to suck it up. Nothing you can do or say is going to make her do anything else. She’ll never be voted or primaried out here in CA. So deal with it, and her.
LeftCoastYankee
The juxtaposition of the two sets of questions was pretty telling and funny to watch their reactions, particularly the laughter at the language “tells” used by reporters.
I think the well thought out question from “regular people” who are not from Washington or in PR world, is why Katy Porter and AOC questioning in the House seemed like a revolution. Asking smart questions that people would care about, with follow-up… and no Swampy qualifiers and/or cross-references or responses to the GOP’s (trolling) complaint of the week.
Jon
Isn’t that basically just a restated version of Murc’s Law?
Barbara
@The Moar You Know: Well, then, I hope she dies at her desk. Is that mean of me? Should I be nicer as a woman? I am tired of being nice.
germy
@Barbara:
If they make her husband an ambassador, maybe she’ll leave?
Just Some Fuckhead
@The Moar You Know:
Nothing we do our say would have made a difference either way but that never stopped a commenter from weighing in with an opinion, including yourself.
Jay
SiubhanDuinne
Maestro James Levine has died. Sketchy private life, possibly abusive to young men, but among the great operatic conductors of the ages. This makes me so fucking sad. I loved him as a musician, and was devastated when the stories emerged a couple of years ago.
Damn. RIP.
Jay
Another Scott
@The Moar You Know: Maybe, maybe not. We don’t know what private discussions are going on. Given Newsom’s recent comment that he would appoint a Black woman to replace her, I have to think that active discussions with her and her allies are underway.
But we’ll see.
Cheers,
Scott.
mary s
The media has long internalized the skewing of our political system to overrepresent white people. It’s a lot easier, and more profitable, to essentialize, naturalize, and perpetuate our dysfunctional system than to question or interrogate it.
Sadly, the current reality is that it *is* kind necessary for Democrats to appease people in the “heartland” and they do need support from the “working class” (aka white people nostalgic for the Old Days when men were men . . .). There are a lot of arguments to be made about how Dems should deal with this reality, of course. Meanwhile, Republicans currently have an interest in stoking the culture war — righteously (and/or “honestly”) speaking up for (aka stoking outrage among) real Americans, upstanding citizens, the moral majority, what have you. They have the advantage of . . . white supremacy.
Jay
Ran across a new to me meme today that I think is brilliant,
So, God took a rib from Adam,
Cloned another human, ( male, cause that’s how it works),
Transitioned that person to female,
All to make a wife for Adam.
Splain to me again your “issues” with Trans folks?
Just Some Fuckhead
@Jay: If Republicans oppose abolishing the filibuster the solution is to reinstate it if they take back the Senate. But it doesn’t sound like they oppose abolishing it if McConnell’s goal is to pass a whole lot of shitty Republican legislation without Democratic input if Republicans take back the Senate.
Jay
karen marie
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Wow. When I was in secondary school, girls had to wear dresses. Now they can tell their teacher to fuck off and claim free speech. What a world.
Just Some Fuckhead
@scav:
Indians Owned Whole Area
smith
@Jon:
There’s a gendered version of Murc’s Law that says when a man misbehaves, a woman must be held responsible for it.
AnotherBruce
@Just Some Fuckhead: I’m from Iowa, the slur from Minnesota is “Idiots Out Walking Around”
Eric K
@rikyrah: exactly, plus DC to Delaware is like a commute not some complex trip
LongHairedWeirdo
I have to say, Jen Psaki is teaching some good journalism lessons.
“people are saying…”
“Which people?”
“Well, President Trump….”
“We don’t listen to President Trump’s advice.”
“What is Biden going to do about the jobs lost due to the cancellation of the Keystone pipeline?”
“Can you tell me someone who has lost their job?”
“uh… constructing the pipeline is expected to create (umpty-thousand) jobs”
“So you don’t know anyone who has lost a job; and, the green jobs are coming.”
I hope the press starts learning from her; there’s lots of lessons they need to study. Like, someone who provides you information off-the-record is probably trying to use you, and if they’re known to lie about important things (like lawbreaking by the President, abuse of power, half a million dead people – uh, sudden thought: was *THAT* how Trump intended to save Social Security and Medicare?), they’re not trying to use you for good purposes.
Another Scott
What if a giant banana were orbiting the Earth at the same orbit as the ISS? (1:39)
Neato.
(via nycsouthpaw)
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
Feed seaweed to cattle. Save the planet.
Phys.org:
Good, good.
More at the link.
Cheers,
Scott.
Starboard Tack
@Another Scott:
Interesting. I wonder if that would help my digestion. What do you think the fart rate is for sushi eaters?
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@germy:
“Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.”
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Pod Save America is only interesting when they have Alyssa Mastromonaco on. She’s a hilarious nerd who swears like a sailor (video) Note her “Shangri-la Est 1942” shirt – perfect nerd humor.