For some reason while reading about idiot/ephebophile Matt Gaetz, who is now loudly proclaiming that he won’t resign, the dumb term “third rail of American politics” came to mind. The idea behind that phrase is that American politics is like a subway (?), and there were many ideas that were so perilous that proposing them would lead to immediate, painful and grisly electrocution. Man, Trump and his Q buddies sure proved that the notion of a third rail was a load of horseshit. Those fuckers dance on the “third rail” every day and laugh.
The DC press is performing valiant CPR on the corpse of the third rail and notions like it now that their favorite punching bag, the Democrats, are back in office. Still, I live in hope that the phrase is as dead as its creator, who’s probably Tim Russert or David Broder. Democrats are definitely holding on to the third rail by proposing not one, but two massive bills that will benefit the poor and middle class and (gasp!) tax corporations and the rich. Judging from the polls, they’re not only surviving, they’re thriving.
That reminds me of another phrase that you don’t hear anymore (or, ever, really): “I wish David Broder and Tim Russert were still around.”
Baud
I thought the original Third Rail was Social Security.
karen marie
Good morning!
hells littlest angel
Gaetz will be sacrificed to prove that Republicans have moral standards, and are perfectly capable of policing their own. Now, let’s discuss what it all means with our guests Newt Gingrich and Marjorie Taylor Greene.
debbie
I once watched a rat die on an actual third rail. It wasn’t pretty. That third rail is scary; this one’s fun to watch.
Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix
@Baud: Wasn’t it the Emancipation Proclamation?
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Yeah, that’s how I always heard it… and that Social Security third rail is still live, as far as anyone can tell. It got Bush, and Trump got in in 2016 by promising not to touch it!
Baud
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix:
I’m not that old.
billcinsd
I believe Eisenhower originated the term when talking about Social Security
PJ
My first recollection of hearing the phrase “third rail” in connection with politics was regarding the elimination of social security, probably sometime in the ‘90s. Republicans didn’t take a serious whack at it until Bush the Lesser was in office, but it didn’t get much traction even though Republicans, if I am remembering correctly, controlled Congress, because it would be political suicide for too many of them. So I think the notion that there are some policies which will doom the politicians who enact them is a real one. Obviously, that changes over time, and something that would be political suicide in one decade is perfectly cromulent in another. And I think that, on the Democratic side, time has shown us politicians who are willing to get themselves metaphorically electrocuted (voted out) by passing legislation that will benefit the vast majority of citizens even if their own voters are against it, as with the ACA.
germy
Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix
@billcinsd: Wikipedia tells me it was Tip O’Neill’s aide.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_rail_(politics)
As much as I would like to blame it on Broder/Russert…
germy
This photo:
Baud
I still think going from Chris Matthews to Joy Reid is probably the best upgrade in cable news.
NotMax
is like a subway
Any electrified railroad line which does not use overhead wires to transfer power. Considering the latter, if the phrase was “touched the pantograph of American politics,” very few people would have the slightest idea what it referred to.
:)
germy
Dershowitz is on board.
PJ
BTW, Clinton raised taxes and it did not seem to hurt him politically, and I never heard that referred to as a third rail until Mistermix called it that today.
I would venture that eliminating the ACA is getting close to a third rail now – Republicans could have done that under Trump but they didn’t, because too many of them were rightly afraid of the electoral consequences (or, like McCain, actually recognized the ACA was a good thing.)
Percysowner
As others have said, the third rail was never taxes. It started as Social Security and then Medicare became a second third rail .Try to reduce, or eliminate either and the Olds who always vote will NOT have it.
Baud
@PJ:
Hurt Dems in Congress however, and gave us Gingrich. That’s why 2022 is going to be so important.
jonas
Sure, this infrastructure bill is hugely popular, desperately needed, and would help a broad swath of middle America — but is it bipartisan enough?* is what Broder’s ghost is whispering in the ear of WH reporters and Joe Manchin.
*applies only to Democratic bills. Republicans passing some monstrous thing in the face of virtually unanimous Democratic opposition means Democrats have not been conciliatory enough and don’t understand that elections have consequences.
rikyrah
You notice how the GOP isn’t talking about the border anymore? Did the border ‘crisis’ resolve itself?
PJ
@Baud: I think this is why Biden is adamant about not raising taxes on anyone making less than $400K. If Democrats can win by raising taxes only on the rich, there is a path forward for economic prosperity for everyone.
Baud
I’d like some Dem to say we’re not going to pursue bipartisanship out of respect for Republicans. We respect that raising corporate taxes is as much an anathema to them as voting rights restrictions would be for us, and we’re not going to ask them to do that.
PJ
@jonas: Reporters and Republicans are really the only ones who care about “bipartisanship” anymore. Voters like the idea but I think in a crisis, or crises, as we have now, they care much more about results right now. At least that’s what Biden is banking on, and polling seems to support that.
Baud
OT, via Reddit.
M31
@Baud: the absolute best upgrade in cable news is going from watching cable news to turning off cable news
frosty
@Baud: You’re right, SS is the third rail. This post makes no sense.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@jonas:
“Today’s panel will include Chuck Todd, David Gregory, and special guests Chris Matthews and Mark Halperin. Joining us from his palatial home in Rio de Janeiro will be Pulitzer Prize winner Glenn Greenwald….”
MattF
There’s also ‘dead girl, live boy’. It’s a grim prediction, but I think Gaetz is headed in that direction.
MomSense
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
A who’s who of has beens.
Gvg
@Baud: yes, the third rail was social security not taxes or helping the poor or something. It was always SS. And it got weaker in my lifetime. Reagan cut some things. Grandfather voted Reagan and was complaining to my dad about the cut’s and my dad was like “he said he was going to, why did you vote for him?” Later Bush jr tried to privatize it and got burned, even his own party didn’t support it enough.
smith
Funny how third rails always turn out to be Dem programs that broadly benefit everybody that are bitterly opposed by Rs from their inception. In fact, the main reason for that bitter opposition is the knowledge that once established these programs are untouchable. I just wish voters would remember who gave them the things they love.
jonas
@rikyrah: I dunno — that’s basically all Fox seems to be covering these days: Brown Hordes Overwhelm Southern Border — Migrants Support Assault Weapons Ban.
mrmoshpotato
@M31:
I think you’re overprepared.
Brachiator
@Baud:
Yep. And still is.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: It’s only decent to forewarn us of Dump’s Soviet shitpile face in that link.
Gvg
@PJ: Taxing the rich is currently really popular even without some reason. Policies become more popular if they say tax the rich to pay for it than if they just stand alone. I think people are pretty pissed at the rich right now and recognize how out of wack things have gotten. The rich better hope they get higher taxes soon, otherwise things may get nasty.
jonas
@MattF:
Supporting your congressman when he’s been accused of being part of a sleazy sex trafficking ring with a corrupt county tax official is just lib pwning with a chef’s kiss. Nothing matters.
mrmoshpotato
@rikyrah: Did they find a different bullshit du jour?
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
The GOP and the lazy ass media tried to push the narrative that “Biden has a border problem,” but most ordinary people don’t care. The pandemic and the economy is still the main thing for them. Also, a good chunk of people see that Biden is a good man who is trying to deal with immigration.
There are some lefty purists unhappy with Biden. This is an incredibly dumb move on their part.
SFAW
@germy:
About two days ago, I mentioned Dersh being on board with Gaetz and the whole trafficking thing. I was attempting to make a joke, sort of.
I don’t mind being prescient (so to speak), but JHC.
jonas
I get the impression that may be, effectively, what’s happening around this legislation — big corporations and hedge fund managers figure that now’s a good time to take a modest hit on their taxes, and diffuse more soak-the-rich, pitchfork-wielding mobs going forward.
J R in WV
@mrmoshpotato:
I must admit, over the past couple of months I’ve cut back to just an hour or so of MSNBC while I fix and we eat dinner; Joy and Rachael mostly. Wife isn’t interested in cutting back at all, but she’s at the kitchen table and I’m in the library which is a room off the kitchen.
If it begins to bother me II fire up Youtube classical music performances, Franz Liszt the other night. So many Hungarian Rhapsodies!!
SFAW
@Baud:
Not clear that it was the tax increase that did it. Newtie’s GOPAC wasn’t the start of the whole “Demon-rats are Evul” BS, but he made great “advances” on that count. Also, the Contract On America was a big part of the 1994 campaign, and tax increases were only mentioned indirectly/peripherally in it.
gene108
@smith:
Not really. Actual Republican policies, as few as there are have never been widely popular. Republican voters aren’t voting based on policy preference, so it doesn’t much impact Republican politicians.
@Baud:
I think Democrats are quickly approaching that level of trolling.
oatler.
I thought legalizing pot was the third rail. Things have changed .
SFAW
@smith:
You kids with your jokes.
raven
@M31: It’s better than bitching and whining about it constantly.
Frankensteinbeck
Republican voters vote for assholes. That, specifically, is what they’re looking for, someone to pwn the libs. As a result, they get someone who will vote against things those voters might want in theory, but the voters are happy because they’re getting what they wanted most – an asshole. Economic stimulus packages are like gun control. It doesn’t matter if they want it, they hate a representative who votes for it.
rikyrah
@Baud:
I would make a monthly donation for a year to any Democrat who would say that.
SFAW
@Baud:
I think you should team up with that NYTimesPitchbot guy. I’m being semi-serious; DougJ could handle the “headlines,” and you could do the “policy statements/pundit analyses.”
jonas
@PJ:
Actually, the 94 Republican wave was driven in large part by outraged manufactured over the tax hikes. What nobody noticed is that, by the mid-90’s, the deficit had been largely eliminated, the economy was on fire, and all the predictions that the country would be reduced to a socialistic ash heap if top marginal rates for millionaires went above 40% were of course, as they always are, partisan hype designed to get rural whites to vote against their interests.
Jake Gibson
I do wish Tim Russert and David Broder were still around.
So I could punch them in the junk.
Doc Sardonic
@MattF: No, I think for Gaetz it might end up being live girl, live boy.
bbleh
… (or, ever, really)
Yes, thank you, thank you for that.
trollhattan
@germy:
Lawyer, or client?
WaterGirl
When I saw Gym Joran was standing by Gaetz, and someone commented on it seeming like all the Rs already knew that Gaetz was a pedophile, I had to disagree.
I think this is right up Gym Jordan’s alley – I would be good money that he doesn’t see them as pedophiles, but simply as people “who like them young”.
bbleh
@gene108: Republican voters aren’t voting based on policy preference, so it doesn’t much impact Republican politicians.
This, indeed.
Jinchi
@germy:
I never understood Dershowitz’s reputation as a liberal. A man who was most famous for defending wealthy celebrity murderers, who penned defenses of torture years before 9-11 made it the go-to position of Republicans, who regularly called for wars in the Middle East, and all that before he started palling around with the wanna-be fascist former guy.
Other than hanging out at cocktail parties in New York, had he ever done anything to actually justify the moniker?
Redshift
@PJ:
The thing I’ve read, which seems to be true, is that when people say they favor bipartisanship, they really mean they want legislators to get along and try to work together. The Biden team has figured out that if they say they’ll consider reasonable input from Republicans (knowing they won’t get any) and don’t say “screw you, GOP!”, nobody cares if it’s a party-line vote.
Jay C
Both, probably.
Lavocat
To paraphrase Louis Armstrong, I’m glad the motherfuckers are dead.
I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead, You Rascal You – Louis Armstrong – YouTube
Jinchi
@MattF:
We’ll know this is over when Fox finally flashes the “Matt Gaetz (D-Florida)” chryon.
evodevo
@Baud: Yes, this…I was just thinking that the other day when 7pm came around…
Brachiator
@Redshift:
Yep. The rabid GOP base will hate Democrats no matter what, but ordinary people who are not political junkies just want to see shit get done.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl:
So young they’re underage! And if you can ignore sexual abuse – that’s a bonus for Gym Jordan.
smith
@jonas: I remember the 94 election being widely touted as the Year of the Angry White Man. In other words, racism and misogyny, same as it ever was.
Another Scott
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix: I think Social Security stopped being the “third rail” after Rep. Claude Pepper (D – FL) died in 1989. He of the “… keep your foul hands off Social Security!” fame.
The media didn’t have the “ancient guy who riles up the old voters to protect Social Security” to go to as a counterpoint any more, so they stopped caring about Republicans messing around with it. While Pepper was around fighting for it, they at least had to go through the motions of Greenspan Commissions and bipartisanship.
Boehner and McConnell and all the rest of the leadership painted themselves into a corner. They’ve demanded total unity and no compromise to oppose any important – popular even – legislation proposed by Democrats. They’ve cut themselves out of the process. So, Biden and Pelosi and Schumer are going to ignore them and do what needs to be done. They’ll ignore the crocodile tears about death panels and caravans and ramming stuff down our throats and the debt killing our children and grandchildren in their beds and all the rest, and get the job done. And that’s good.
Cheers,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
My take is that Boehner can go fuck himself with a rusty chainsaw, but Brother Charlie Pierce puts it better.
Another Scott
@rikyrah: Yup, I noticed.
An AP and a CBS reporter visited a facility on 3/30 (warning – autoplay video) and saw that things were bad because of over-crowding, but no babies in cages. So, they got their video and can now move on to other things.
Cheers,
Scott.
Hungry Joe
@Brachiator: Re “lefty purists,” here’s an update on my Beyond Bernie relatives: Biden’s $1.9 trillion infrastructure-plus proposal is suicidal treason, a deliberate undermining of the last vestiges of American democracy … because it’s so much less than what is required. This is an expansion of their outrage over learning that the plan could eliminate half of childhood poverty, which proves to them that Biden is a “monster” because he doesn’t care about the OTHER half.
I’m hoping they’re a tiny minority. When people are close to you, and you hear that stuff all the time, you lose perspective.
oatler.
@mrmoshpotato:
I remember Jon Stewart making fun of Boehner’s orange face. If only he’d known…
mrmoshpotato
@Hungry Joe:
“Run the entire marathon at once, start to mile marker 26.2! Don’t pass marker 13.1, you corporate whores who won’t give us unicorn butlers!”
mrmoshpotato
@oatler.: Ah yes. I remember that.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Glenn knows what ails America – Democrats and black people voting….
Glenn Greenwald
@ggreenwald
Joe Biden has been lying about this bill for weeks, signalling and encouraging media figures to follow suit, which they’ve dutifully done. Credit to
@GlennKesslerWP
for documenting those lies (https://washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/30/biden-falsely-claims-new-georgia-law-ends-voting-hours-early/… ), and now this NYT article. But the damage is done:
Quote Tweet
The New York Times
@nytimes
· 3h
Democrats are concerned that Georgia’s new voting law will have a significant effect on turnout and electoral outcomes. The evidence suggests otherwise. https://nyti.ms/3woXCHt
Show this thread
10:53 AM · Apr 3, 2021·Twitter Web App
Brachiator
@Hungry Joe:
I have no words. The worst of these folks seem intent on being unhappy, while pretending to be the champions of the people.
Another Scott
@mrmoshpotato: +1
The “hehe Boehner said a swear about Fled Cruz!!” hot take is annoying. As I said downstairs, the House and Senate each regard the other as “the other body” to be held beneath contempt. Let me know when Boehner cusses out a Teabagger in the House. Even in Charlie’s excerpt, he treats freshman Crazy Eyes Bachmann as a very serious person who has power over him.
Boehner threw his power as Speaker away, and was happy to do so. Because he was a party hack and a snivelling coward.
Grrr…
Cheers,
Scott.
Hungry Joe
@mrmoshpotato: Exactly. EXACTLY. I’ve tried using Social Security as an example — it started out as a much smaller, limited program because that’s all FDR could get through Congress at the time. I’ve tried explaining how coalitions are the only way to gain political control, but they necessarily involve compromise within that coalition. I’ve even invoked Bismarck’s “Politics is the art of the possible.” Nothing gets through — it’s all Sellout, No Difference between Biden and Trump, Capitalism Must Die. I despair.
On the other hand, 15 minutes ago Ms. Joe drove off to get Covid shot #1. So, fuck despair.
mrmoshpotato
@Hungry Joe:
?No side effects.
I got my first dose of the Moderna vaccine on the 31st. Doing well aside from some slight soreness in my shoulder.
Hungry Joe
@mrmoshpotato: She’s getting it at the new Kaiser facility on Claremont Mesa. (San Diego, for you non-residents.) Pfizer.
MomSense
@mrmoshpotato:
I also got my first moderna on the 31st. I had to go to bed at 630 that night because I was exhausted and had a headache. The next day was a slog but by Friday I felt fine.
Feathers
@Hungry Joe: And the fact that Andrew Cuomo approved marijuana legalization proves that Democrats have been lying all along about it being impossible to pass.
Joe Falco
The only reason I would wish Tim Russert was still around is that we wouldn’t have been subjected to failson Luke for those first few years after Tim died. Maybe Luke could have done something else with his life besides wearing his dad’s suits and making a poor man’s attempt of copying his dad.
Benw
@Hungry Joe: cool! I grew up right near there.
Today I am officially fully vaccinated!
trollhattan
@Hungry Joe:
“A bazillion or go home!”
trollhattan
Sports
ballboat note: Just watched Pac12 rowing livestreamed using drone video coverage. Have never seen this before, and it completely changes the sport from a viewing standpoint–much better than shoreline or chase boat-mounted cameras.L85NJGT
600V DC is so steam punk. Even on rail systems that still use it, there are inverters and AC traction motors on the trains.
Work crews on the elevated sections don’t pay it much heed, I guess they are pretty well insulated. Working at-grade or underground it’s much more of a concern.
Cathie from Canada
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: And how stupid does the NYT think Democrats are? I wonder why anyone could seriously argue that Georgia would bother to pass a bill that WOULDN’T stop democrats and black people from voting.
Also, on another point, wasn’t Gaetz just reelected to the House in November — when “everyone” in Washington already knew what a scumbag sleezeball he was? I guess none of them could be bothered to mention it to Florida voters.
Sister Golden Bear
@Another Scott:
They’ve prevented moderate/conservative Democrats from having anyone they could compromise with to water down legislation.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Things that upset Glenn…
Glenn Greenwald
@ggreenwald
The legality of this policy, to say nothing of its morality, seems dubious at best. If you’re 49 years old and white, you’re barred from getting the COVID vaccine now in Vermont. If you’re 17 & “identify” as any other race (or if anyone in your household does), you get it:
Quote Tweet
Governor Phil Scott
@GovPhilScott
· Apr 1
If you or anyone in your household identifies as Black, Indigenous, or a person of color (BIPOC), including anyone with Abenaki or other First Nations heritage, all household members who are 16 years or older can sign up to get a vaccine! Get yours at
https://healthvermont.gov/covid-19/vaccine/getting-covid-19-vaccine…
11:33 AM · Apr 2, 2021·Twitter Web App
Citizen Alan
@Brachiator: There is literally nothing that Joe Biden or any other mainstream Democrat could do that would satisfy the purity left other than regenerate, doctor who style, into Bernie Sanders. And that assumes that they wouldn’t also dismiss Bernie Sanders the very second he tried to compromise in any way with someone who wasn’t a marxist.
Brachiator
@trollhattan:
This is pretty cool. Very creative use of drone technology.
Did you see the recent one-shot bowling alley drone clip?
PsiFighter37
@Sister Golden Bear: To be fair, there are barely any of the true Blue Dog Democrats that are left. Even folks who come from swing districts like Abigail Spanberger and Antonio Delgado are quite liberal compared to, say, any of the Arkansas Democratic congressional delegation from 2008 (2 D senators, 3 of 4 D reps).
Steeplejack
Brachiator
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
How many black people are there in Vermont? Four? Six?
You could probably vaccinate all the nonwhite people in Vermont by this weekend.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Brachiator:
My guess is that this policy was to ensure that NPR totebaggers would t crowd the field and snap up all the early doses.
Feathers
@Brachiator: not a drone, but a guy skating backwards with a custom camera rig: On Ice Perspectives.
Apparently, he shot many of the performances for the final gala of the most recent world championships, possible because it was performed without an audience beyond those who had been in the competition bubble all week. Of course, it wasn’t aired in the US, probably because NBC wants to show a few clips on their wrap up show next weekend. Sigh.
Brachiator
@Citizen Alan:
It’s too bad that the worst of the purity left want to make themselves totally irrelevant. I note that Sanders himself has been pretty co-operative.
Another Scott
Follow the money.
ProPublica:
Oversight matters.
Cheers,
Scott.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Another Scott:
I’ve long thought that the earliest Trump COVID responses would be found to have been riddled with graft and devoid of performance, and that a number of the recipients would ultimately find themselves with felony convictions for their efforts to hop the heavy train.
Another Scott
(Terry Mac is running for Governor again in VA, and is crushing the other candidates in fundraising. (Or at least he was early on.))
Cheers,
Scott.
NotMax
@Another Scott
Targeting voters in Frederick county?
;)
Another Scott
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Yup. Sometimes in a crisis, rules have to be stretched and worked around. But political pressure to reward cronies and friends should always be resisted because the truth always comes out. And those who make the decisions are responsible, no matter the source of the pressure.
(Other parts of that piece indicate that Navarro had his hair on fire about getting things done to fight COVID-19, but he did it the wrong way.)
Cheers,
Scott.
smith
@Another Scott:
Navarro wasn’t the only one:
Emergent is the company that spoiled millions of doses of the J&J vaccine recently.
The Thin Black Duke
To be honest, I think the majority of black voters find the lefty purists to be completely useless. Getting shit done is a slow, complicated and torturous process, and anybody who believes otherwise is inadvertently defining themselves as being privileged and obstructionist.
Yutsano
@Another Scott: I have to look her up again but there’s a black female candidate also running in the primary who’s looking to make some history in Virginia. I suppose with T-Mac sucking up all the oxygen her chances are basically nil. It’s still a nice thing to see.
germy
Doc Sardonic
@Cathie from Canada: Wouldn’t have mattered if they did. His district is so red no Democrat is going to win it.
Another Scott
@Yutsano: Lots of good candidates are running for the 3 statewide positions. VPAP has fundraising numbers (as of 12/2020). The first 2021 numbers are due this month.
It’ll be interesting to see how it turns out (whether voters will want new blood, or want to go with the incumbents/tried-and-true).
Cheers,
Scott.
JoyceH
@germy:
I just read that article – the donations defaulted to make the donation recurring, and in the last several months of the campaign, it changed from recurring monthly to recurring WEEKLY! Retirees and cancer patients wound up paying thousands of dollars they didn’t intend to donate. Its… quintessential Trump!
germy
@JoyceH:
I sort of like the fact that more and more people might wake up to what he really is. Folks who thought it was a good idea to donate to him… maybe they’re slowly learning what the rest of us already knew about him.
Sister Golden Bear
@Doc Sardonic: Nor any sane Republican. Stonewall on Twitter lives in Gertz’s district and had a thread about it. Voters in the primary passed on two other Republicans, by huge margins, preciously because they knew about his sleazy asshole ways.
JoyceH
@germy: Alas, from the article, it appears that most of the scammed supporters still support Trump, and blame the fundraising organization. It’s like in the olden days when the king screws up, some counselor has to be beheaded because the king is never wrong.
Doc Sardonic
@Sister Golden Bear: True…had forgotten he actually had two primary opponents, in that area you need be constantly on the alert for banjo music
cain
@The Thin Black Duke:
Also tiring – who wants to keep dealing with white outrage. It just gets tedious.
SFBayAreaGal
@Brachiator: That was fascinating.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
I forget who it was who said that the GOP’s resistance to the slightest compromise in the past, coupled with their current demands that Democrats meet them halfway, was like some Super Genius walking into a Mercedes dealership, offering twelve thousand dollars for an S-class V12, and wondering why the dealer threw him out instead of bargaining.
JoyceH
I’m in a good mood today because yesterday I got my echocardiogram. Medical techs aren’t allowed to discuss test results with you, just say that the doctor will go over it at your next visit, but they still manage to reassure, by saying things like, “I can’t tell you the results, but I’m not stepping out to fetch the doctor to come look at these pictures, which I would have to do if I saw anything unusual or concerning”. Then, since I am FULLY VACCINATED, I went to a faux-old diner where I had a Reuben and fries INDOORS while listening to the Beatles and the Beach Boys. Life is good, or getting there.
rikyrah
@Hungry Joe:
Yeah :)
Stacy
@Yutsano: We’ve got two excellent choices in Jennifer McClellan and Jennifer Carroll Foy.
rikyrah
@Benw:
now, for the 14 day antibodies countdown
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Baud: Amen, brother!
rikyrah
@Another Scott:
arrest them and put them in jail
James E Powell
@SFAW:
Opinions on the impact of the Contract vary widely. No right-winger will ever admit it was just another box of bullshit.
More than anything else, the 1994 campaign was the completion of the realignment that began when the Democrats became the party of civil rights. This was coupled with congressional reapportionment after the 1990 census that moved seats from the Union to the Confederacy. [NB – California also gained, but it was not as blue then as it is now.]
1994 was when the Republicans stopped being the party of country clubs and white shoe law firms and became the party of religious bigots and angry white men.
SFAW
@James E Powell:
I expect it was not your intent, but that was a “both sides” comment. Of COURSE no RWMF would admit that it was bullshit, just as no current RWMF would admit that GA SB202 and the various other laws (proposed or enacted) are racist, vote-suppressing BS.
But the COA gave them something to trumpet, and hammer the Dems with, aided-and-abetted by a compliant press
ETA: Maybe I have selective memory, but I don’t recall a lot of “Demon-rats raised muh taxes!!!” being a significant part of the 1994 campaign.
SFAW
@The Thin Black Duke:
Oh, right. Next you’ll be trying to tell us that there was still racism after Obama was elected.
Subsole
@Brachiator: The online left seems to be about two weeks away from trying to con me into mining Praxiscoin.
I think an awful lot of their shtick is just perpetually-14 libertarianism in vaporwave hammer and sickle drag.
James E Powell
@SFAW:
I don’t see that as both-sides at all. If I had the energy, I’d resent you for saying so.
The Contract came into the campaign late September. There are many varying views as to its impact.
I didn’t say anything about taxes, but by 1994 it was already well-established Republican dogma that Democrats would raise white people’s taxes to give free stuff to black people. No one had to shout it.
WaterGirl
@JoyceH: Very happy for you!
SFAW
@James E Powell:
The “opinions vary” comment was the key “both sides” phrase. As I said, I don’t think that was your intent, but we’ve mocked the MSM for using that same/similar phrase in any number of their both-sides pieces.
The “No right-winger will ever admit it was just another box of bullshit” was a non-sequitur. Not inaccurate by any stretch, but not really related to the “opinions vary” lead-in, nor did it support your thesis.
JHC, you need a thicker skin. I didn’t mean it maliciously. I may have drawn an incorrect conclusion, but I wouldn’t be the first to have done so, and I didn’t try to rip you a new one over it. [Yes, I have had more than my share of assholish moments, but I don’t think this was one of them. Omnes may disagree, of course.]
SFAW
@James E Powell:
Started well before 1994. Reagan at least, and probably Nixon
Seanly
There are 2 broadcasters I hate with a passion: Dick Vitale and Tim Russert. 1 down, 1 to go. Not a big fan of Chris Berman. They don’t have to kick the bucket just as long as they stop broadcasting.
I’m not seeing a lot of media pushing the “oh we gotta cut the deficit now”. But maybe I’ve already selected my media to weed out that trash and similar opinions.