Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

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

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Innocent people do not delay justice.

He really is that stupid.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

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

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

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Open Thread

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This post is in: 

I have the utmost respect for Adam Schiff and other politicians who care about the country and don’t have time for petty politics.   Schiff is definitely on my top-ten list of Democrats.

Who is on your list?

Update: While you are thinking about that, consider that Adam Schiff is asking for $5 donations to be split between him and Gavin Newsom, in an attempt to get Dems as fired up to vote as the Republicans are.  I accidentally donated 3 times while I was trying to get the URL to not include my ActBlue information.  Oh well, I can afford $7.50 to help save California.

I can’t recall who linked to this yesterday, but it was fun.

Totally open thread.

Reader Interactions

60Comments

  1. 1.

    There go two miscreants

    accidentally donated 3 times

    Well, that gave me a chuckle! I will pitch in some as well.

  2. 2.

    James E Powell

    Every mofo who supported the Great & Glorious Afghan Adventure is on cable TV today claiming that everything was going fine until Biden decided to end it.

    Nobody asks the key questions: Why does the current Afghan government have so little support? Why won’t the Afghan government forces fight the Taliban? What explains the apparent popularity of the Taliban?

    As our blog host tweeted:

    We can’t get half our own fucking country to embrace modern medicine. The idea we can change Afghanistan from the outside is ridiculous.

  4. 4.

    Edmund Dantes

    Got my Recall ballot in the mail this morning. Going to fill it out and send it back over the weekend.

  6. 6.

    WaterGirl

    @Edmund Dantes: I hope people aren’t doing the “vote ‘no’ on #1 and then leave their chose for replacement blank thing that is being promoted.  That just insures a Republican replacement if Newsom loses on #1.

    edited

  7. 7.

    Flanders Other Neighbor

    $25 donated.  I’m not leaving Q2 blank, but I don’t know who we’ll be entering.  I too feel like this strategy of leaving it blank is questionable.

    What would happen if he resigned today and and the Lt Gov took over?

  10. 10.

    burnspbesq

    I don’t like admitting it because he’s a Terp and Dookies are taught from the cradle to loathe those mouth-breathing, battery-throwing, inbred asshats, but I’m increasingly impressed by Eric Swalwell.

  11. 11.

    dr. bloor

    I have the utmost respect for Adam Schiff and other politicians who care about the country and don’t have time for petty politics.

    Hmmm…gonna need a definition of “petty” here. In addition to his assets as a legislator, part of Schiff’s effectiveness is because he is excellent at politics. See Also: Kicking $ to Gavin Newsom, a moron we desperately need to keep the Governor’s chair warm with a D fanny.

    I’d offer my own list of top Democrats, but aside from Nancy SMASH, I’ve probably never heard of them and would prefer to remain anonymous.

  12. 12.

    Mike in NC

    Republicans were against nation building before they were for it. Somebody named Dubya changed their minds. So for 20 years we pissed away billions in a country where bloodthirsty warlords run the show.

    Does anybody know if Rep. Ted Lieu has introduced that legislation whereby no federal project (building, bridge, etc.) will be named to honor the traitor at Mar-A-Lago?

  13. 13.

    Mary G

    I think Gav’s in a bit of trouble. He’s down a bit in the polls and the Republicans are in rabid Tea Party/TFG worshipper mode. I’m going to start doing some phone banks and post cards. Potus and Flotus are coming out to GOTV. Plus get the housemate’s stepfather to nag their extended family. Democrats are terrible at special elections.

  15. 15.

    dr. bloor

    @Mary G:

     
    East Coaster here: how much damage could a lunatic R do with a solidly D legislature in place during the remainder of the term? From a distance, it seems like the good citizens of CA might need a short-term wake-up call reminding them how they got to be more prosperous and powerful than the vast majority of countries on the planet.

  16. 16.

    Edmund Dantes

    @WaterGirl: Yeah I hope people aren’t doing that. I will be putting an answer done for two once I figure it out.

    But it’s a real problem. I had a conversation the other day with a fairly politically savvy person. I had to do a lot of work to convince that “A ‘no’ vote doesn’t mean their 2nd question won’t be counted”.

    kind of shocking but goes to show how poorly underfoot the process is by even people that I know are politically paying attention more than the average person.

  18. 18.

    Mary G

    Here’s an excellent piece by Ed Kilgore at NY Mag. The front runner for replacing Gav is not Larry Elder (the state is short of Republicans for sure), but some 29-year-old YouTube star named Kevin Paffrath who’s running as a Democrat, but I doubt he’s liberal:

    Paffrath graduated from UCLA in 2014 after studying economics, accounting and political science. He also became a real estate broker and opened his own company, Meet Kevin, The No-Pressure Agent.

    In 2018, he launched his “Meet Kevin” channel on YouTube. Today, Paffrath has nearly 1.7 million subscribers and eight videos with more than 1 million views each, with his most popular video a 40-minute primer on how to purchase a rental property as a novice investor. In one video, Paffrath says his net worth is around $5 million thanks to real estate investments, stocks, YouTube income and other assets.

    A Trump-style scam artist, sounds like to me, but probably won’t overturn the mask mandates like Elder would, so he’s my second choice vote.

  20. 20.

    Shana

    Since it’s an open thread: we recently returned from a week’s vacation in Rehoboth Beach, DE where we have vacationed many many times over the last almost 30 years. Our week ran from Saturday to Saturday but our first real day on the beach was Monday. Around 10:30 am a couple of helicopters flew overhead along the ocean just off shore. There are frequently small planes towing advertising banners along the beachfront advertising various spots in the area but I’ve never seen helicopters before. It took me a minute or two to realize what was happening, Joe Biden was returning from his home in Rehoboth Beach to DC. What tipped me off was the scattered applause.

    Then on Thursday or Friday we saw the helicopters again, this time accompanied by a group of 10 year old girls on the beach calling out “Hi Joe!” as they flew overhead. It was lovely to see the reactions of the people around us, pleased to be, even at a distance, near the President.

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    @dr. bloor: I meant pettiness in politics.  Schiff (apparently) wanted to be made AG of California, but wasn’t chosen.  Now he is raising funds for Gavin Newsom.

    He is of the “just win, baby” no petty grudges variety of politics that I can respect.

  22. 22.

    KrackenJack

    So far at least, it doesn’t feel like the neo cons and generic blame Biden RW media are getting much traction on their stabbed in the back narrative. Not as much media oxygen available these days combined with a core of American isolationism.

    Obviously, no country will trust us after Korea, Viet Nam, Beruit, Iraq, Afganistan. We must fight forever!

  25. 25.

    laura

    I’m keen on my State Assemby Member Kevin McCarthy (CA 7th). He spends his political capital. He’s been the driving force behind two important issues – police reform and early childhood education and has been dogged about them for years. I’d proudly support his political future when he terms out of his current office.

    To be clear, he is not that SoCal numpty House minority leader- that shite-bag is the evil opposite Kevin.

  26. 26.

    Poe Larity

    I accidentally donated 3 times

    You and me both since the vaccine made me magnetic. I need to degauss my keyboard.

  27. 27.

    smith

    Does the CA Constitution absolutely require this cockamamie system for running recalls? It would be hard to devise something more confusing, except maybe butterfly ballots. Even having a primary to choose possible replacements would be vastly superior. And the added cost would just be another disincentive to the minority trying to oust a duly elected governor.

  28. 28.

    HeleninEire

    @Ryan:

    I’ve been a NY’er all of my 58 years. A NYC resident for more than 40 years. He makes my, dunno; something radar go off.

    Maybe because he a great politician. Dunno.

  31. 31.

    Mallard Filmore

    @WaterGirl: I hope people aren’t doing the “vote ‘no’ on #1 and then leave it blank thing that is being promoted. That just insures a Republican replacement if Newsom loses on #1.

    Am I misinterpreting what you wrote?

    https://www.kcra.com/article/voter-guide-california-gubernatorial-recall-election-newsom/37284807

    Could I write in Gavin Newsom as a replacement candidate?

    No.

    A public official who is being recalled cannot be a candidate to succeed themselves in a recall election.

  32. 32.

    Another Scott

    Good topic, good video.  Donated for a good guy and an important cause.

    My state senator, Scott Surovell, is amazing.  One of the most prolific progressive bill-writers in VA, and gets a lot of them passed, sometimes even with GQP support.  Things like ending the death penalty in VA, raising the felony threshold (used to be something ridiculous like $100), has been fighting for years to get justice for a motorist (Bijan Ghaisar) who was killed by two US Park Police officers for no discernable reason, etc., etc.  He has clear ideas of what people need from state government, and how important fairness and equity is, and works hard to get it done. He should be in the dictionary under “work horse”.  Just a great public servant.

    I’m sure there are thousands of similar people out there, fighting every day to do a good job for us. We can’t get discouraged, and we have to keep working and fighting along with them.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  33. 33.

    Mary G

    Appears real?

    Job Opportunity!The U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan seeks a Public Engagement Assistant. The incumbent functions in an extremely sensitive political environment in which an ongoing insurgency adds to the urgency of accurate media reporting. https://t.co/tfm3aISgkC— Daybook (@DaybookJobs) August 13, 2021

  34. 34.

    tokyocali (formerly tokyo expat)

    @Edmund Dantes: Are you leaving the second question blank? I’m not certain what to do there. I don’t know any of the people listed and would rather leave it blank, but does that make it easier for Republicans on the off chance they squeak out a Yes majority?

  35. 35.

    Ealbert

    I live in Wisconsin, so I don’t know the ins and outs of California recall elections, but would it work to vote “yes” on keeping Gavin and then on question 2 to write in Gavin’s name. Since none of the candidates are likely get anything like a majority, I would think it could be pretty to get him to the top vote getter to replace himself.

  36. 36.

    dr. bloor

    @Mary G: ​
      Requirements: Valid passport and drivers license, fluency in Pashto and Dari, and ability to burn sensitive documents at sound barrier-breaking speed.

  37. 37.

    Scout211

    @tokyocali (formerly tokyo expat):

    I am planning to take a few days to find out what I can about all 46 (!) and then vote for the least obnoxious candidate who would do the least amount of damage. There are a few who claim they are Democrats but they aren’t politicians AFAIK.

    However,  Newsom and the state Democratic Party recommend leaving question #2 blank to make sure all the Dem voters understand that question #1 is what really matters.

  38. 38.

    dr. bloor

    @Edmund Dantes: ​
    Fair enough, although it seems like any reasonable effort to keep Feinstein appearing life-like would make her indistinguishable from her current state.

    ETA:  Is the absence of a high-profile Democrat among the Question 2 candidates a high-stakes bet that CA voters won’t vote to exile Newsom on Question 1?

  39. 39.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Dead thread but I like Reverend Warnock and I’ll put in a thumbs up for Colorado Rep. Jason Crow.

  40. 40.

    WaterGirl

    @Mallard Filmore: I just edited my comment to (hopefully) be more clear.

    There is talk of it being recommended that Dems vote NO on #1 and then leave #2 blank, with #2 being where you say who you want to replace Newsom if he is removed as governor.

  42. 42.

    tokyocali (formerly tokyo expat)

    @Scout211: Thanks! Without a choice to rally around, it seems likely that any vote in question 2 will be ineffective. Really wish the CA legislature would set the bar higher for this type of recall. This is such a waste of resources.

     

    @Ealbert: My understanding is that we cannot write Newsom in. It will not be counted. There is a list of certified candidates and only write-ins for one of those candidates will be counted.

  43. 43.

    WaterGirl

    @Scout211:

    However,  Newsom and the state Democratic Party recommend leaving question #2 blank to make sure all the Dem voters understand that question #1 is what really matters.

    That just seems so wrong to me.  If you do that and Newsom gets recalled, then his replacement will definitely be a Republican.  The seems like a terrible idea to me.

  45. 45.

    Scout211

    @WaterGirl:

    I agree. But this stupid recall process is so messed up and confusing  to most voters that the Dems decided to make it very, very simple.

    I do understand that.  Luckily, we have all the balloon-juice smart people here from California to help clear up all of the confusion.  :)

  46. 46.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    Who is on your list?

    Pramila Jayapal, Sheila Jackson Lee, Barbara Lee, Grace Meng, Katie Porter, Mikie Sherrill, Abigail Spanberger, David Cicilline, Danny Davis, Peter DeFazio, Raja Krishnamoorthi, and Bennie Thompson.

  47. 47.

    VFX Lurker

    I donated. Thank you for posting Adam Schiff’s fundraising link.

    The Los Angeles Times rolled out its recommendations: a gigantic NO on Question 1 and (in case voters choose YES) Kevin Faulconer on Question 2. They gave a long, lengthy list of reasons to vote NO on 1 and keep Gavin Newsom as Governor of California, and they chose Faulconer as the least-garbage option of the 46 terrible options on Question 2.

    https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-08-13/editorial-recall-the-governor-not-just-no-hell-no

  48. 48.

    lurker

    talked to a few people i met professionally over the years who were political consultants of various stripes.  the universal opinion of such people is that politicians are horrible people and will always disappoint you eventually.  it sounded like a combination of three things.  one, to succeed, you pretty much have to be a sociopath to some degree, that anyone other than a chameleon-like person will not make it very far.  two, the whole don’t meet your heroes concept comes into play, in that you project an image onto the candidate from afar, but if you get to know them reasonably well, they will inevitably fail to live up to your personal impression of who they should be (a lot of Obama supporters experienced some of this).  three, anyone who starts out well-meaning and socially normal will get twisted by the political process into someone who you do not like, unless they stay in small-time/local politics or get out, and even then, the same pressures are there, just easier to resist.

     

    So I gave up on hero worship and now vote for whoever makes realistic promises that align with what I think we need in society.  Almost always democrats.  I like how some of these people play politics, but am pretty sure I would not like any of them as people, even if they were at their charming best when I met them.

  49. 49.

    lurker

    @laura: think you are thinking of Kevin Mccarty.  Slightly different spelling.  Seems to be vastly better human being than the one from Bakersfield. (Not a high bar, but he seems all right as politicians go.)

    I have met Kevin Mullen (CA State Assembly).  He is a friend of a friend, and seems ok as well.  Not taking the step of getting to know him better for reasons in this comment @lurker.

  50. 50.

    Edmund Dantes

    @tokyocali (formerly tokyo expat): I don’t know yet. I have to figure out the list. Probably spend the weekend doing it at some point.

    beauty of all mail in elections though. I can take my time with my ballot in front of me then send it off as soon as I know. Love love the election system since I moved here. Have never missed an election no matter how small cause I always get a ballot sent to me.

  51. 51.

    lurker

    @dr. bloor: the right (wrong) person or someone in that vein could do plenty of damage.  This is not an experiment we want to try.

    When Gray Davis was recalled, he managed to combine a bunch of bad circumstances with personal unpopularity and a little too much ruthlessness.  We got lucky with Schwarzenegger, as he was not a real republican.  (It is a little hard to type that, but not the first time I have had to reckon with that sentiment.)

    Regarding Davis:

    • There was a DMV fee increase that made sense but was a great rallying cry for those who needed an excuse.
    • There were rolling blackouts caused by a power market and system that pre-dated him, where PG&E and our old buddies from Enron and other TX-based power brokers decided to game the system and screw things up.  Anyone who looked at the market and regulations could see how to game the system, but some moderate restraint had kept anyone from making things so bad that we got rolling blackouts before that summer. PG&E has always had problems, but their execs at the time seemed to be particularly tone-deaf.
    • Davis had intervened in the Republican primary overtly enough that he basically chose his opponent and did not really try to hide it.  He got someone who was easier to beat, and who was convinced of their own merit, but it just riled up the Republicans even more as a result.
    • Davis was also just a bland politician in general, with that magnified by the press.  He was the first Controller of CA to really try to trumpet that position as a way to raise his personal profile.  So he managed to look a little classless without having much panache to back it up.  Made pretty good technocratic decisions and bored everyone.  Think of someone attempting to self-promote ala the former guy, without enough animal cunning or charisma to pull it off, and with enough smarts to realize he should not really go too far down that road.  So it failed for him.

     

    Regarding Arnold, he had some of the fiscal responsibility ideas and wanted to get the politics out of politics, but for all that he is at least somewhat intelligent (not as dumb as he looks or sounds, especially in some movies), he was out of his depth as a politician.

    • He had to make deals with Democrats in the state legislature to do any legislation.
    • He generally did not pursue policies advocated by the right wing, partly, I suspect, due to growing up in a more progressive Austria relative to the hardcore parts of Republican California.
    • He did largely appoint R judges, some much better than others, and his judge appointments were not completely partisan (they rarely are in CA).  His appointment as chief justice of the CA Supreme Court eventually left the party a couple years ago publicly over Trump.

    Someone else in that position who was more rabidly partisan, or just more interested in a Machiavellian approach to power would be much worse.  The legislature they would be dealing with would have a stronger check on him, as the legislature is currently 2/3+ D in both houses (veto-proof).  But just having a really bad executive, well, we saw what having the former guy was like, and I think we all know that a more intelligent and self-controlled sociopath would be even worse.  Even Kevin McCarthy would be worse, and he really seems to be an idiot, as does Devin Nunes who hails from near there.  Faulconer had a more moderate record as SD mayor, but that is a purple area of the state with a long history of conservative Rs, such as former Governor Pete Wilson, who attempted to ride the anti-immigrant wave of the 90s in CA to the White House.  It was pretty red for a long time, and only recently trended purple.  It is not blue.

    Like I said, not an experiment we want to try.

  52. 52.

    phein62

    John Garamendi, CA-3.

    I was the tech monitor on a Congressional research project for about 6 years. It was supported by Garamendi, Hirono (she was a Rep then), and a few other Congress critters. The adoption of the tech was a no brainer — it is widely used in private industry to manage environmental compliance –, and would have saved US taxpayers millions of dollars starting in year 1. However, there was an entrenched bureaucracy against it, it would have taken a unanimous Congress to overcome, and when was the last time that happened? Still Garamendi supported us, and continues to do so despite it being a (currently) lost cause.

    There are probably dozens of Congresspersons fighting the good cause on myriad issues that never see the light of MSNBC, but I know about this one and this Representative, even though his District is 2,000 miles away from me.

  53. 53.

    KrackenJack

    @VFX Lurker: Newsome pressured the Democratic party hard to keep popular Dems off the ballot. There are six nobodies running as Dems. Some of them look pretty sketchy.

    Even if you vote No you should definitely vote on question two. Kevin Falconer former San Diego mayor is the most reasonable Republican from a harm-reduction point of view. Picking the least objectionable Dem will take some research and the votes may not coalesce around one candidate since the establishment is going all in on Vote No. If you want to do a write-in Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis seems like an obvious choice – as the person who would succeed to the office in any rational recall system.

  54. 54.

    Bill Arnold

    Technical (gaming) question: If, hypothetically, the Newsom recall succeeds and the replacement is a Republican, what is the tightest possible timeline for a recall for the replacement?

  55. 55.

    Scout211

    @KrackenJack:

    Write-in candidates must be registered with the state to count.
    https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/upcoming-elections/2021-ca-gov-recall/newsom-recall-faqs

     

    What are the candidate filing requirements to run as a write-in replacement candidate?
    A write-in replacement candidate must file a Statement of Write-In Candidacy with the county elections official of the candidate’s county of residence by August 31, 2021. A write-in replacement candidate must file with the county elections official the Statement of Write-In Candidacy, which shall contain the following information: Candidate’s name, Candidate’s complete residence address, A declaration stating that the candidate is a write-in candidate, The name of the office for which the candidate is running, The date of the election, Candidate’s 10-year political party preference history. (Elec. Code §§ 8600, 8601)

    The Certified List of Write-in Candidates will be available on September 3, 2021.

  56. 56.

    tokyocali (formerly tokyo expat)

    @Edmund Dantes: Thanks. Unfortunately, sending anything to the US right now takes a ridiculous amount of time. I wish I had the luxury of waiting, but I’ll get my ballot in Monday and hope it arrives before the deadline.

     

    @VFX Lurker: Thanks for the link. I had to do a double take when I saw it was San Diego’s ex mayor being recommended.

     

    @KrackenJack: I got my MBA with Eleni at Berkeley. She went into politics and I went into teaching. She was full of energy and passion then, and I’m glad to see her doing so well. I expect she will climb the political ladder even further.

  58. 58.

    KrackenJack

    @lurker:

    as the legislature is currently 2/3+ D in both houses

    Which is particularly annoying since that is also the threshold for the legislature to place an place initiative on the ballot. The only change they need to make is that, in the event of a recall, the Lt Gov takes over (just as the voters intended.)

  59. 59.

    KrackenJack

    @Scout211: I hadn’t seen that. Thanks.

    So option 1 (Falconer) or 2 (best available Dem). Option 2 would be best served by waiting to see if a consensus forms around any one them before submitting your ballot.

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