Ruben Gallego is a Democrat from Arizona and this is how he reacted this morning to some bad messaging:
Some follow ups from RG:
Then he went after a Republican rep who was using the “Liberal World Order” in the ways that you would expect. The he kept hitting Republicans on choice.
Was this bad or good on his part? Personally, I don’t really have a problem with a party that calls out bad messaging and asks for better. Also, I think Gallego is someone to watch who has a future in the party.
Kropacetic
Hit ’em with the one, two; that’s what we call the self-bigfoot.
NobodySpecial
I’m firmly on the side of better messaging, but speaking of better messaging.
We just came through a pandemic where the majority of the dead ended up on the side of the ledger that supports these crazies, and it’s the cycle where the Republicans have to defend everywhere, because they’ve got so many seats up, and a bunch of them in purple states.
And yet, and yet, and yet….when I go to places like here and LGM, they’re two steps from just waving the white flag or running off to Spain. These fucking vultures have been fighting an uphill battle for 40 years just to keep things from completely collapsing on them and we act like they’re one brisk walk from ruling the country forever as oligarchs.
I am dead fucking tired of hearing people claim we’ve already lost.
zhena gogolia
@NobodySpecial: ME TOO So tiresome
Old Man Shadow
Yes, this is fair. You should always assume you’re talking to the stupidest bunch of motherfuckers when you’re talking to Americans. Use small words that they understand.
Democracy = GOOD! Liberal world order? BAD.
Hell, hire the fucking Blue’s Clues guy to give speeches for you. Or Elmo. Elmo would also work.
“Gee! Elmo not like high gas price. But Elmo believe in Democracy!”
Kropacetic
Not I. Take the fight to these fuckers by voting, volunteering, and any other way to support worthy causes. Worthy causes include tuning out the dooooooom.
Baud
Two things.
Kropacetic
@Baud: Yup, all that.
mistermix
@NobodySpecial:
Spain? That’s a new one. Is Canada – the usual place people mention – too cold?
Edited to add: I don’t see a lot of giving up around here.
Tony Jay
Reposted from last night’s thread because why the hell not.
Is Biden keeping his mouth shut on major issues for fear of offending ‘socially-conservative’ Trump voters in Rust Belt states? (If ‘No’, then shut the fuck up)
Is Biden constantly to be found currying favour with the pro-GOP Media and issuing statements disparaging pro-Democratic groups and organisations? (If ‘No’, then shut the fuck up)
Is Biden backed up by a team of politically inept ideologues who couldn’t find a picture of their arse if spotted a map, a native guide and an actual picture of their arse? (If ‘No’, then shut the fuck up)
Is Biden constrained policy-wise by the output of right-leaning focus-groups and a bunch of superannuated ‘advisors’ who haven’t had a new thought since the turn of the millennium? (If ‘No’, then shut the fuck up)
Is Biden systematically purging anyone to the Left of Bill Clinton from the Party and blocking popular candidates from standing for election on spurious grounds? (If ‘No’, then shut the fuck up)
Is Biden employing AIPAC and its way-out-there redefinition of what constitutes antisemitism to silence the majority of Democratic Party members while he does all this? (If ‘No’, then shut the fuck up)
I could go on, but there’s not enough coffee in the world. Bottom line, if the fake-Leftists of America want to play funny buggers and undermine Biden in the run up to some pretty damned important elections, I’ve got a centre-left Party over here in the UK that could really, really do with his particular brand of ‘failure’. The one we’ve got now is worse than useless and the best friend the Tory Party could possibly hope to have.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
If Gallego is running on a platform of “For the love of god! stop talking like a grad student!” sign me up
different-church-lady
A) Don’t ever let advisor dude go on camera again.
B) Gallegro was constructive and realistic with the critisism. that’s a huge difference.
C) This is the problem dems have had forever. They’re so into their work that they forget not everyone else in the world does it for a living too.
West of the Cascades
If only there were some higher federal office that Ruben Gallego could aspire to in Arizona.
Oh, look, Kyrsten Sinema is up for reelection in 2024!!
The Moar You Know
“Bite the bullet” is the wrong fucking answer to that question, no doubt.
charon
Gallego is already viewed as Sinema’s likely challenger.
RaflW
Can we criticize this sort of demoralizing, bullshit category error by Biden?
eta: When this first came out, it was via a House member, and lots of pushback happened that it was just a rumor. Not a rumor any more, apparently.
So we have the Governor of KY, a fellow Dem, on record calling the appointment of Meredith “indefensible”. I’m with him on the messaging. I hope the leak yesterday was an effort to head of Biden’s terrible ‘instinct’ here to trust (eghad) McConnell.
Baud
@different-church-lady:
Agree. The most persuasive criticism of Dem messaging to me is that too many talk like wonks or experts.
Kent
It isn’t really that hard.
Here in the WA-3rd I think we have a really good candidate to take on Jaime Herrera Beutler in the primary and general election in Marie Gleusenkamp Perez. We have a “jungle primary” here in WA where the top vote getters move on regardless of party and Jaime is being challenged by no less than THREE MAGA election-denier dipshits on the right who will hopefully split the GOP vote and let Marie move forward. I think she is consolidating the Democratic endorsements and support.
Here is how you message without sounding like a wonk. Her latest campaign ad: https://youtu.be/l9HU6Vrfq2E
Mnemosyne
@NobodySpecial:
Me and you both. Especially when it’s the people who have been whiners and deadweights all along.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Pete Buttigieg is the master of avoiding this, even as he wonks.
Kropacetic
@Baud: It’s a fine line to walk; not talking to people like grad students, but also not talking to them like idiots
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Yes! Honestly, if Biden doesn’t run again, I am going to give a now more seasoned Mayor Pete a close look,* just for his oratory abilities.
* As my running mate.
Betty Cracker
I’d love to see Gallego replace Princess Sparkle Pony as US Senator from AZ.
@NobodySpecial: I know perceptions are subjective as hell, but I really don’t think the prevailing tone around here is defeatist. If anything, I’m more inclined to worry too many folks don’t take the possibility that democracy will go flying off the rails for good seriously enough.
Maybe it’s because I live in a state that’s already fallen to the authoritarians, so that colors my view.
Baud
@Kropacetic:
Yes, I didn’t mean to imply that it is easy. But the inability to do it does have effects.
Mnemosyne
@RaflW:
But, sure, it’s all true and everyone should panic.
Matt McIrvin
LGM is far more defeatist/civil-war-curious than here. They’re also far less activist than here, which I think is interesting.
West of the Cascades
@RaflW: How is this a “category error”? It replaces one Republican (GWB) nominated judge with another Republican judge (albeit Biden-nominated), but has the potential to accelerate dozens of appointments to other courts. If McConnell doesn’t keep his side of the bargain, Biden withdraws the nomination of this new turd. Especially if this gets all of the pending Court of Appeals nominations moved ASAP, that’s a fair trade for … basically no change on the district court in the Eastern fucking District of Kentucky.
To me it seems like good practical politics given the Sinemanchin-driven inability to change Senate rules to prevent the minority party from slowing down judicial appointments
Seriously: my practice involves solely public interest environmental litigation in the 9th Circuit, and something that accelerates getting more Biden-appointed judges actually confirmed on the courts in exchange for basically giving up nothing is a huge win. It depends on McConnell holding up his side of the bargain, but again Biden could just withdraw Meredith’s nomination if he doesn’t
For perspective, there are currently 8 Court of Appeals vacancies, 3 pending nominations, and 11 nominees for future vacancies (think “Breyer steps down in the future after Brown Jackson nominated”). For district courts, there are 65 vacancies, 18 pending nominations, and 2 nominees for future vacancies. That’s a lot of open seats that could potentially get filled faster if Biden’s little trick here works. Vacancy statistics at https://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/judicial-vacancies
Kent
Despite being an absolute horror, DeSantis is very fast on his feet and articulate in a way that Trump isn’t. Democrats need a candidate who can respond in kind and cut through the Bullshit.
Betty Cracker
@Kent: That’s a good ad. I hope she wins!
Kent
Cynical is how I might put it. But yes. There is virtually no activism over there.
Kropacetic
@Baud: Haha, never said you did.
Personally, I like to take the tack of sprinkling the big words in with some strong contextual clues and a big heap of approachable vulgarity and vernacular.
Also, public speaking 101, adjust your message for the audience. I learned it from, I believe, Ice Cube on the Chapelle Show..
Mnemosyne
@Kent:
We have one. Her name is Kamala Harris.
Baud
@Kent:
I see people on Reddit constantly talking about a general strike for various reasons (abortion being the latest). Nothing has come of it yet.
scav
Which argument actually comes up more often, the we need better messaging one or the we need better democrats / voters / jackals variant? It’s a close fought battle.
Baud
@Mnemosyne:
We have several. Pete is particularly good at the talking point though.
Mnemosyne
@West of the Cascades:
I find it kind of curious that the dude was considered for a nomination by Trump but had his name withdrawn. Is he conservative but unwilling to overturn long-standing precedents?
mistermix
@RaflW:
First, here’s a non-paywalled link to the latest Courier-Journal story on it. They were right from the start. https://archive.ph/dqL3f I just wanted to note that because there was a lot of criticism of the paper, and the reporter knew his beat.
Second, yeah, we can criticize it. But I’m holding back to see what the trade is, and if McConnell holds up his side of the bargain.
Baud
@Mnemosyne:
District court judges can’t really overturn precedents. They can only refuse to follow them.
Kropacetic
¿Por que no los todos?
Kent
@Betty Cracker: Despite the folksy blue collar thing, she is a Reed College grad (my alma matter) and both very bright and very liberal. She will definitely be a pro-choice activist and support all the progressive Dem goals. But she is smart enough not to run on those issues front and center in this purplish red-leaning district full of LOTS of blue collar towns.
GoBlueInOak
@Mnemosyne: Hahahahaha…oh wait, you’re serious…
James E Powell
@Baud:
I agree, but I consider both to be a horrifying waste of time.
We are 131 days from Arma-fucking-geddon. We have to stop arguing with each other and focus all our efforts on attacking Republicans.
[Much longer rant written, then deleted out of respect for @Baud and everyone else here.]
Kent
And nothing will. More performative dipshittery on the left.
Betty Cracker
@West of the Cascades: I’m not able to find a non-paywalled article that describes the terms of the alleged deal. If it’s truly an exchange where McConnell makes an irrevocable first move that approves a passel of judges before Biden nominates Meredith, that’s arguably defensible even though Meredith is an absolute horror show. If the deal requires putting any faith at all in McConnell’s word, not so much.
Baud
@mistermix:
I second this. Depending on the deal, it may be a hold your nose for the greater good situation.
Sadly, I think the only reason for the deal is that we can’t be assured of keeping the Senate.
GoBlueInOak
Gallego is 42 years old, so he’s probably 30 years younger than the median Democrat in Congress. So yes, I really do hope he has a future in the Party.
mistermix
@Matt McIrvin:
I don’t read the comments at LGM. What’s you take on those, if you read them?
Baud
@James E Powell:
That’s a first.
Thanks, Biden.
Old Man Shadow
@Betty Cracker: I worry a lot because the GOP has built-in advantages, because too many people for too long have been sleeping through politics, because the media favors the GOP, and really because I know these people. I was one of them.
They fucked up my head so goddamn much that it’s been 16 years since I left the GOP and five years since I left Evangelical Christianity and I’m still fucked up in the head by it, still deprogramming indoctrinated ways of thinking.
And the though of these people forcing their toxic religious bullshit on America by fiat or gaining the trifecta of government again fucking terrifies me.
different-church-lady
@Matt McIrvin: Trump broke their brains.
Mai Naem mobile
@West of the Cascades: why does he need McConnell? I thought the filibuster didn’t apply to judges. Its more than replacing one wing nut for another. It’s about making up for all the whackjobs that TFG appointed. Also each time one of these whackjobs gets higher up in the judicial hierarchy the more sheen of legitimacy they get. Oh, and let’s not forget the blue slip rule which is not in effect or in effect whatever is convenient for the GOP.
Kent
Which is a distinction without a difference frankly.
Look at all the MAGA Texas judges who make egregious rulings and even issue injunctions against national policies. And if a higher court doesn’t overrule them it just stands.
Kropacetic
@Kent: People have to coordinate and move outside their immediate group. I’m all for a general strike. There was a day recently one was supposed to be attempted. I won’t be the only one.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I would wait until after McConnell reneges before judging, but otherwise agree.
mistermix
@Baud:
Not in /r/fountainpens, /r/plantedtank, /r/camping or /r/nationalparks, some of the subreddits I read.
Seriously, though, which subreddits are you talking about.
zhena gogolia
@GoBlueInOak: Go fuck yourself.
West of the Cascades
@Betty Cracker: I think that it would be an good deal even if Meredith’s nomination came first, but then the Senate fast-tracks the confirmation of dozens of judges to the Courts of Appeal and district courts before the Senate considers Meredith. That is, the processing of Meredith’s nomination goes to the end of the queue as it normally would. And then Biden watches to make sure McConnell keeps his side of the bargain, and if he doesn’t Biden can withdraw Meredith’s nomination before the Senate considers it.
ian
@mistermix:
The maple syrup tastes like cough medicine.
Eolirin
@Mai Naem mobile: There are a bunch of ways that the minority can slow down the speed at which judicial nominees can move through the process, even if they can’t block it. If the dems don’t hold the senate in the midterms those tactics could freeze out any remaining vacancies.
Baud
@Kent:
It’s a difference. Appeals court opinions are binding on judges. District court decisions are not. It sucks for the parties in the case, but it’s not the same thing as actually changing the law.
WereBear
As it should! And the answer is to take back your state. Not for us all to play hopscotch as the theocrats chase us around the nation.
This is exactly like the run up to the Civil War. Setting the states against each other.
Kent
Still isn’t going to happen. The general strikes of a century ago were in the context of a highly unionized and militant industrial workforce. That workforce no longer remotely exists. Nor do those sorts of politics.
different-church-lady
@Kent: But the giant puppets will definitely do the trick this time!
James E Powell
@Baud:
I blame this on the demise of the big city machines and the decline of unions. Too many Ivy Leaguers and not enough “up from the streets” people.
Another Scott
@NobodySpecial: There was a story on Marketplace on the radio as I was driving home yesterday, about the economy. It was relentlessly negative. Interviewed some guy who said that we’re probably already in a recession. Even though unemployment is still very low, and unemployment claims are still very low, and we’re doing much much better with the pandemic, and costs to ship shipping containers are down a lot from the peak, and gas and oil prices are falling, and corporate profit estimates keep increasing for 2022 (Bloomberg says members of the S&P500 expect profits to be up 10.6%), and 10 year bond yields are falling from the peak, and housing inventory is finally rising and price increases are moderating and …
Yes, inflation is a problem and it’s hurting a lot of people. Yes, the stock market is down 20% from January 2022 (but still up over January 2021). But things are not horrible, horrible, bad and horrible.
Grrr…,
Scott.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: In an American context, the Great General Strike is like having your tiny third party win the Presidency–it’s a goal so huge and impossible that you don’t really have to do anything substantive about it, just bluster and complain.
One of the big, big things going on under the radar is that the labor movement, which was practically moribund for almost half a century, is reawakening, and even carrying on actual strikes that actually work in getting labor’s demands met (to his credit, Erik Loomis effectively trumpets this on LGM), and this general-strike crap has nothing to do with it.
Baud
@mistermix:
I don’t go there for politics, but I see some of the political stuff by chance. The most vocal one is /r/antiwork, but I think /r/workreform, /r/politics, and some of the leftier subreddits get into it occasionally.
Kent
Well OK, I agree. But my larger point is that district court judges are important too. And they often play the game where a higher court lets the bullshit stand because they agree with it but don’t actually want to go on the record.
Edmund Dantes
@West of the Cascades: (it’s only a district court level) it’s this type of thinking that leads to Dems still honoring blue slips for district court judges.
Eolirin
The thing is, I’m not sure what value McConnell gets out of this supposed deal other than making Biden look a bit bad. And maybe not so bad if there’s a huge spate of Judges that are really progressive that go along with it?
One District Court Judge isn’t very much to gain.
Kropacetic
@GoBlueInOak: Kamala can shut down some bullshit; pithily, thoroughly, and in an easily understood way. I seen it. Many times.
West of the Cascades
@Mai Naem mobile: Because McConnell (and fellow Republicans) can gum up and slow down the process (because of the arcane procedural rules that the Democrats can’t change until they get two more worthwhile Senators). Think of this potential deal as Drano for the judicial confirmation process.
And I should be clear that I have no faith that McConnell actually will keep his word – but the possibility is worth going for, and the threat of withdrawing Meredith’s nomination could keep McConnell’s slowing down of the process to a minimum. And it’s a chance worth taking if it means most or all of the current nominees get confirmed to the courts before the end of this Congress.
Kent
And lot of “edgy” tweeting.
James E Powell
@Baud:
We’ve had a few that issued troublesome nationwide injunctions.
This close to an election, I’m for brand clarity over political log rolling.
Baud
FWIW, the GOP did not get rid of blue slips for district court judges and the Dems kept that rule. That means you’re not going to get a lib judge in KY.
Miss Bianca
@GoBlueInOak: Has anyone told you to fuck off lately? No?
Fuck off.
Baud
@James E Powell:
Agree. District court judges can do damage. I’m just saying they can’t officially change the law.
West of the Cascades
@Edmund Dantes: No, it’s a reflection of the reality of the process of how judges actually get confirmed. The blue slip process is a separate issue, and needs to be dropped.
dnfree
ESPECIALLY not “Liberal World Order”! Where have these guys been? Any kind of “world order” comes across as “one world government” to the right, and even part of the middle. They’re going to “order” us around!
This is what drove me nuts when John Kerry was running for president. If there was any prolix, convoluted way to convey a thought, he went for it. I would find myself screaming at my TV or radio “Just say …..” (whatever the simple version was).
I like the Elmo suggestion.
James E Powell
@Kent:
That’s really a great ad. To the extent that ads help, I think there ought to be an ad like that to promote the Democratic Party nationally. What we stand for, what we have done, what we intend to do.
Betty Cracker
@West of the Cascades: Yes, as long as it’s a situation that doesn’t give McConnell an opportunity to get what he wants without fulfilling his end of the bargain, I don’t particularly care about the order of events either. That said, I can understand why the KY Dems are furious because Meredith is egregiously terrible.
Old Man Shadow
@WereBear: Except it’s not California vs. Florida.
It’s populated land vs. sparsely populated land. No easy lines. Civil War 2 would be a lot messier.
GoBlueInOak
@zhena gogolia: ahhhhh, is the K-hive angry?
She’s bad at politics and dear god if winds up with the nomination in the future, we’re screwed.
She sat down for interviews shortly after Dobbs issued – and it was blindingly obvious she was going to get questions about abortion rights. She hemmed and hawed on everything & just kept bleating about voting in the midterms. It was so bad even our very liberal public radio in the Bay Area noticed it.
She’s just bad at this.
Miss Bianca
@dnfree: I like the Elmo suggestion too. But that might just be because I love puppets. Yes, even giant ones.
West of the Cascades
@Betty Cracker: I can see that, too – I’m definitely a little too focused on the practical potentially good outcome for courts outside of Kentucky.
But it’s also conceivable that the worst case scenario is that the “deal” falls apart and Biden withdraws Meredith’s nomination, and there remains a vacancy on the district court in the E.D. Ky. that could be filled by a liberal judge if the situation in the Senate is more favorable come January 2023.
Miss Bianca
@GoBlueInOak: Seriously. Take your racist, sexist ass elsewhere, you wanker. All your ice-cold hot takes are as insufferable as your “youthful revolutionary” cosplay.
Geminid
@Kent: I think lot of the people calling for general strikes don’t actually have productive jobs to walk out on.
Kropacetic
@GoBlueInOak: Link? I’m legitimately curious.
mistermix
@Baud:
Yeah, I don’t go there for politics, either, so I was wondering where it was coming up. Those make sense.
Eolirin
I kinda feel like this is in response to the previous thread at least a little, and I want to clarify something: critiquing messaging is great, and I support it when it’s done sensibly and with a sense of realistic expectations, but what isn’t great is implying a shift in policy position when the messaging issues get worked out.
Messaging isn’t also values, and it isn’t the entirety of strategy. We weaken our side when we confuse messaging difficulties with a failure to have values or strategy. We’re painting our side as being feckless and incompetent when they’re not.
We’re already getting hammered by the fact that both trad media and social media erase our effective speakers in favor of focusing on the most tone deaf comments they can find, and erase our policy successes in favor of what’s still left to be done. We don’t need to add to that narrative.
Kropacetic
You think CEOs are calling for general strikes?
janesays
As the person who takes out Kyrsten Sinema in her primary in 2024 and becomes the next U.S. Senator for the state of Arizona?
Yes, please!
GoBlueInOak
@Baud: Yes, holdings of district courts are only binding on the parties. HOWEVER, Article III courts DO have the authority to issue INJUNCTIONS with nationwide scope. They used to be relatively rare, but the right wing has increasingly used this tool to forum shop for sympathetic conservative Federal district court judges and then get nationwide injunctions issued.
Matt McIrvin
@dnfree: The thing is, the deck is stacked even with these reactions. George H. W. Bush, a Republican president, drove all the paranoids around the bend by talking about the New World Order and it… made them more suspicious of Democrats.
taumaturgo
@Tony Jay: Biden is just being Biden and a good democrat:
“Biden doesn’t want to expand the Court. Won’t pressure Sinema and Manchin to back eliminating the filibuster to codify Roe. Doesn’t want to use federal facilities as abortion clinics. Doesn’t back statehood for DC or PR. But does want to nominate an anti-abortion activist and Federalist Society lawyer to a lifetime position on the federal bench as a favor to Mitch…?” J St. Clair
Baud
@GoBlueInOak:
Agreed. But people go to Texas or, to a lesser extent, Florida, for crazy injunctions, and that’s because the circuit courts there are also extreme.
Ken
I’m kind of interested in finding out if he can keep his word. It takes just one Republican asshole to gum up the process, and there are plenty of candidates.
Baud
@janesays:
I think that’s something we can all agree on, although some don’t think he can win the general.
debbie
@Miss Bianca:
Again, thank you!
Kropacetic
@taumaturgo: Some overstatements. Some things out of Biden’s hands. A huge distortion. A “why would he spend time on this when the votes weren’t there. And a free space.
BINGO!
debbie
Instead of criticizing messaging, how about “gently” correcting it so the moment to criticize isn’t lost? Reading this morning’s threads, so much more time has been spent slagging and demeaning — time better spent fighting who every one of us must fight to regain this country.
This has all been very dispiriting.
Kent
Or maybe he actually wants to get real shit done rather than performative bullshit that accomplishes nothing but distraction. If Manchin and Sinema refused to go along with abandoning the filibuster for Biden’s core agenda and voting rights, what makes you think they will do it for abortion rights or expanding the court? They have already said that they wont. What leverage do you think exists? The more Manchin defies Biden the higher his approval ratings go in WV and the more fundraising dollars flow in. That’s a fact.
As for Federally-sponsored abortions on Federal land and Indian reservations? Also utter bullshit as it would (1) violate the Hyde Amendment which is still in force and would need to be repealed by Congress, and (2) wouldn’t negate any state laws prohibiting abortion which can reach into Federal lands. In other words, the State of Texas can arrest you for having or performing an abortion the moment you step foot off of Federal land.
Stop reading so much bullshit on twitter and have a clue.
janesays
@Baud: I don’t know if he can win the general or not, but I am nearly certain that she can’t.
mistermix
@Eolirin:
I certainly don’t think that there was a shift in policy position when Biden, Pelosi and others all got together to say that 2 more senators plus the House will lead to codifying Roe. That’s at most a strategy change, and probably better characterized as a change in tactics. The longstanding policy of the Democratic Party is support of reproductive rights. The strategy and tactics change over time.
Mnemosyne
@GoBlueInOak:
Oh, look, the misogynist squad showed up. Let me guess, you’re still proud that your refusal to vote for Hillary had exactly the result we told you it would have.
But, hey, you felt smart saying, “Don’t blackmail me with the Supreme Court!” and that’s all that matters, right?
mistermix
@janesays:
Yeah, might as well let him try.
Kropacetic
@janesays: I seriously doubt Sinema can make it to the general, unless she goes indie.
Kent
Exactly. What is her pitch to Democrats in the general election.
“Vote for me because I will do….?”
[obstruct actual Democratic agendas?]
GoBlueInOak
@Kropacetic:
Examples:
https://jezebel.com/kamala-harris-dodges-question-about-providing-legal-abo-1849114467
https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/biden-roe-response-democrats-rcna35668
The public radio piece I literally heard on the radio while driving. So not a “link” for that.
This is CNN overview of its own interview. There’s a lot of “we are looking into thing” combined with a “would not says” when pressed on specifics and then deflecting to “just vote”.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/27/politics/kamala-harris-dana-bash-cnntv/index.html
Its embarrasing. Dobbs was leaked two months ago. Its been clear as day to anyone with a pulse that this was coming. And she’s talking about the White House equivalent of assembling a blue ribbon commission?
Enough with excusing Democratic failures. Enough.
Kropacetic
.
GoBlueInOak
@Baud: Totally, US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals was already crazy and Trump made it even crazier.
West of the Cascades
So much This. The evil chef’s kiss in that tweet was claiming Biden is doing a “favor” for Mitch, when it appears that he’s actually trying to accelerate the process of getting his judicial nominees confirmed.
Betty Cracker
@Kropacetic: I’m probably forgetting a really obvious example, but has any national figure ever self-immolated so quickly? I mean besides Madison Cawthorn?
GoBlueInOak
@Kropacetic: Calm the F down. I did above. Some of us aren’t terminally online hitting the refresh button every 10 seconds.
Mnemosyne
@GoBlueInOak:
It’s almost like the only way to get any shit done in the next two years is to give the Democrats a supermajority in the Senate, because Trump fucked up the judicial branch.
But you knew that, which is why you’re so desperate to prevent that from happening.
GoBlueInOak
@Mnemosyne: What the F are you talking about, you insane mouth-breathing lunatic?
I didn’t vote for her in the primary because I thought she was a sh*tty candidate, which wound up being true. But I most certainly voted for her in the general election.
GoBlueInOak
@Mnemosyne: If “we only are gonna do anything if we have have supermajority in the Senate” is weak, cowardly, spineless nonsense.
Read the room. The electorate hears that stuff – and rightly so – as wimp talk.
Kent
@GoBlueInOak: I’m not a Harris groupie one way or the other. She would have to win the primaries and if she did she would have earned it and proven her political abilities.
But linking to two opinion pieces by activists who are angry because Biden didn’t sprinkle out his magic presidential powers fairy dust to make Dobbs go away doesn’t make your case. Both articles rely on Biden expanding the court to overturn Dobbs. But Biden has no power to expand the court, only Congress does and you are delusional if you think the votes are there to do that no matter how much Biden or Harris speechify about it. That only happens if we keep the House and expand the Dem majority in the Senate by at LEAST two, probably more
Elections have consequences and Dobbs is the direct consequence of 2016 and 2000. And also of RBJ’s selfish decision to dump her entire legacy onto a bonfire and pour gasoline on it by not retiring when she knew she had cancer.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
you can tell the midterms are coming because Dwight is poking his wee pointy head in more frequently
I wonder what costume he’ll be wearing this cycle
but I could live without knowing
West of the Cascades
@GoBlueInOak: Time to turn on the pie filter.
MisterForkbeard
@GoBlueInOak: You’re calling Mnemosyne a lunatic? Man, that’s some serious projection.
I guess you’re glad she likes curbstomping trolls, because I think that’s why she came back.
MisterForkbeard
@Eolirin: I really wish I could just take this comment and repost it everywhere, and then nail to the laptops of our media and twitterati.
GoBlueInOak
@Betty Cracker: Andrew Cuomo? Gary Hart? Anthony Weiner?
Above of course all have a common thread involving not being able to keep their second brain firmly belted inside their trousers.
geg6
@Kent:
Kind of like Fetterman: John Fetterman: ‘Labels’ | Campaign Ad 2022 – Bing video
This is how you win in some places you’d never expect here in PA.
mistermix
@Betty Cracker: Well, on the D side, when one of ours really fucks up, they resign. So it’s hard to find a good example of someone who fucked around and stayed around to find out, cluelessly thinking that they are being politically savvy.
GoBlueInOak
@Kent: If Dems do somehow keep the House (not happening) and possibly getting to 52 (also not happening, but with odds that are not as bad as the House), and then fiddle around with their thumbs up their arses for 2 years…then they most certainly do deserve a solid arse whupping in 2024. And yes, despite all that, would be fantastic for Dems to get to 52 in the Senate.
But then they have to do something with that. Voters rightfully see a party in power not using its power and making excuses (and their partisans making even more excuses for them) and justifiably throw up their hands and say “screw you.”
I am completely out of patience with people who want to blame voters. Voters have NO responsibility to vote for your party. Your party has an absolute responsibility to convince voters to vote for them. I don’t know why that idea just gives folks massive butthurt.
And yes, RBG was arrogant and wrong in not retiring when Obama was President and she had CANCER. Its all politics, and a number of those older Democratic appointees on SCOTUS don’t seem to have grokked that. Thankfully, the total horrorshow we are living in seemed to have smacked Breyer upside the head at least such that we have a superior, younger replacement for him.
The Moar You Know
Keep reading this idiocy and I’ll keep responding: Puerto Rico’s internal politics are weird, and odds are pretty good if they’re admitted as a state they will have GOP Reps and Senators, not Dems.
Mnemosyne
@GoBlueInOak:
Suuuuure you did.
I told every one of you assholes that the Supreme Court was at stake if Trump won, and you cared more about your tiny wieners not thinking Hillary was hot than you cared about the future of this country. Now we’re in the exact situation that I fucking warned you we would be in if Trump won, and you’re still whining about your petty nitpicks against the Democrats.
But, hey, enjoy getting fucked over by the conservative Supreme Court that you thought was less important than having a mere woman be the boss of you.
geg6
@mistermix:
If you want to descend into a deep depression, that’s the comment section for you.
Kropacetic
@GoBlueInOak: One link to an article about a Harris interview with no quotes or video. The article states the question posed was not about abortion generally, which is how I understood your comment, but about a particular solution that has obvious problems already discussed on this thread and, even if found viable, would need some time to work out details.
One link to an opinion piece with not a single hard fact. Hard pass.
One link is Harris stating unobjectionable truths and discussing how she exercised her shared piece of Senate power to avert a bad outcome. Alas, there weren’t enough Dems in the Senate (or White House for that matter).
Summary: Not persuaded.
Kent
Democrats used to be better at that shit. We need more of it. Which is frankly night-and-day different from the centrist Evan Bayh type bullshit that consultants think is necessary to win in purple/red areas. Fetterman isn’t a centrist at all. He just knows how to talk to more ordinary folks who aren’t wealthy educated leftist partisans.
Kropacetic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Who the F is Dwight?
mistermix
@geg6:
Thanks – the comments section here is doing the job fine, no need to go anywhere else!
Mnemosyne
@GoBlueInOak:
I love when people who claim to live in California clearly have no clue why the state is finally back on track with a budget surplus.
Hint: it’s because pissed-off voters finally gave the Democrats a block-proof majority in the legislature after the Republican minority caused multiple state government shutdowns and furloughs.
Of course you think it’s “weak” to give Democrats in the Senate the same carte blanche. You’re still pissed off that shutting out the Republicans worked in California.
Geminid
@janesays: We will know a lot more about Ruben Gallegos’s prospects after we see how Mark Kelly does this fall. That and the Governor race will be good indicators of whether Democratic strength in the state peaked in 2020 or is still building.
When Gallegos’s name came up as a potential challenger to Sinema, some said he was too liberal, and that Rep. Greg Stanton would have a better chance in the general election. I think Gallegos would be a strong candidate. He speaks effectively, and I think he would do well with Arizona’s Latinos, who are turning out for elections in larger numbers now. Gallegos also served in Iraq as a Marine Captain. I’ve noticed that some people have a prejudice against Democrats running veterans but I think that few voters have a problem with that and many think it’s a positive.
Also, even though Stanton is a member of the “moderate” New Democrat Coalition, and Gallegos is in the “liberal” Progressive Caucus, they have few actual differences when it comes to policy, I think.
debbie
@Betty Cracker:
May she be the first of many. This “new generation” of politicians is not serving us well.
Mnemosyne
@Kent:
FDR was able to make a credible threat to pack the court because he had a supermajority in the Senate that could override any attempt at a filibuster.
But today’s “activists” conveniently forget that part, or more likely don’t even know it, because they’re mostly shallow and ahistorical.
janesays
That might be a factor if a lot more people died than has been the actual case. A million people dead is indeed a horrific number of deaths. Let’s also assume that the real number is double that – 2 million Americans dead. That is indeed a lot of people. But there are 330 million people in this nation, which means that we’re talking about 0.6% of the entire population. Given that the vast majority of COVID deaths were adults, let’s say we’re talking about 1% of the voting age population. Now, while it is true that a lot more of those deaths are occurring in GOP ranks than Democratic ranks, it isn’t as if there have been no deaths on our side. Let’s say that Republicans have been dying at a rate of 3:1 compared to Democrats from COVID (75% of the deaths are GOPers, 25% are Democrats). That means we’re talking about a potential gain of 0.5% in the voting population from COVID deaths that have taken out GOPers.
I’m fairly sure that there are very, very, very few races that are decided by less than 0.5% margins.
All of that is a long way of saying that the idea that Republicans are likely to substantial losses in their available voter base because of COVID deaths is not really borne out by the data. We may or may not do well in the midterms, but the number of Republicans killed by COVID relative to the number of Democrats killed by COVID isn’t likely to be a statistically significant factor in how things play out at the polls.
Kropacetic
We already getting *some* things done. Maybe not as much as we’d like. We’d get more with more Democrats. These are indisputable facts. More Dems is a result better than the alternatives.
People may be more receptive to your criticism, also, if you were more constructive and had a better grasp on sourcing.
Eta: Check the earlier threads, too. I was giving the same criticism to the other crowd earlier.
Mnemosyne
@MisterForkbeard:
You are correct. I am here to chew bubblegum and kick troll ass, and I’m all out of bubblegum.
Betty Cracker
@GoBlueInOak: Not sure about Weiner, but I think the rest of those people held their high-profile jobs for more than half of a term before they set fire to themselves.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
someone posited earlier today that Cynthia Lummis is the dumbest Republican in Wyoming. I actually don’t know enough about Lummis or Wyoming Republicans to comment, but it looks like a helluva competition (copy and pasting video does not constitute an endorsement of the RAP or Liz Cheney for higher office, which I don’t think is actually a concern)
mistermix
@GoBlueInOak:
As someone who’s taken a ration of shit here because I thought the Dems should have been faster on the draw with Roe strategy/tactics, I think you’re being a little harsh on the VP, who occupies an essentially powerless office, other than her super-important ability to break ties in the Senate. Here’s a list of her appearances on the topic.
https://twitter.com/KMC4wauk/status/1542526940304883713
Your thoughts on that?
Edmund Dantes
@West of the Cascades: I mean what the fuck are you even talking about? Blue slip process is literally part of the process or several biden appointees would be voted on except for they didn’t get the blue slip returned.
That’s some good pretzel logic you got going on there. The thing that is holding up the process is not part of the process. Bravo
mistermix
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I posted that and someone from Wyoming corrected me in the comments because obviously she’s a genius compared to a few of those dolts.
Tony Jay
@taumaturgo:
Did you just scan an entire list of my slams against actual militant centrist authoritarian dickheads and make up a fake quote because you didn’t or can’t understand a word of it?
I think you did.
The fucking state of you. What a maroon.
Edmund Dantes
@Eolirin: they had 2 months to prepare for the end of Roe.
if you can’t figure out your message in two months (we’ll longer as that had been the plan for the GOP judges for decades) on the end of Roe. Get the fuck out of politics and you deserve all the fucking criticism.
This isn’t fucking hard. It’s not asking for green lanternism. It’s asking for basic level competence for something you have 2 months to prepare for.
Kropacetic
@GoBlueInOak
Just wanted to add yours is a far more acute case while theirs is chronic but less severe.
Mnemosyne
@janesays:
My one caveat to your caveat is that those million+ deaths were not spread evenly across the population. They were concentrated in age groups of people 50 and up, who are also the most frequent voters. So I do think that COVID-19 is going to have an as yet unknown effect on the midterm elections.
Aunt Kathy
I didn’t read every comment so maybe somebody already mentioned this one…I recently chastised my Rep on Twitter for tweeting about defeating the “gun lobby.” Gun lobby is vague, low info people don’t know exactly what that means. Lobbyists for gun companies work for gun companies, so refer, specifically, to gun companies, their CEOs, their profits. And the Republicans hump the 2nd Amendment not out of principle, but because they know their real job is to make the $$ never stops flowing to gun companies. Be clear and targeted because god knows we’re all walking around w/targets on our backs.
Edmund Dantes
@janesays: she can’t. She’s poisoned the well. If I was in Arizona, I’d for vote for Gallego and take chances. Or if someone else is better that can win the general.
Shame we can’t clone Mark Kelly (ignoring his twin)
Mnemosyne
@Edmund Dantes:
Serious question: what concrete steps should they have taken, knowing that stuff like “open abortion clinics on federal land” can’t happen because of the Hyde Amendment?
Omnes Omnibus
@Old Man Shadow: I fucking hate Elmo.
Cameron
@Betty Cracker: Not exactly a national figure, and most stuff came to light after he lost the governor’s race, but I’m not sure anybody could clear the bases with a single swing of the bat like my man Andrew Gillum. And I still think he would have made a better governor than DeSantis.
Kropacetic
@Omnes Omnibus: Never got over not getting the tickle-me Elmo, huh?
Fair Economist
Criticism can be constructive or malicious.
Gallego’s criticism is constructive and fine.
A typical faux leftist criticism would be “HE’S TRYING TO DESTROY LEFTISM IN AMERICA BY SAYING LIBERALISM IS GOOD! BETRAYAL! BOYCOTT THE DEMS IN NOVEMBER!”
And that would be malicious.
CaseyL
@WereBear:
*To be fair to Lincoln, he expected to be alive to guide the post-war era, and certainly didn’t bargain for a Counter-Reconstructionist Administration selected in 1876 to undo everything.
Fair Economist
@Edmund Dantes: They *did* have their message ready. The message is “vote for and donate to Democratic candidates because the only way to fix this is with a bigger majority”.
And that’s the honest truth. The Hyde Amendment stops any serious actions. The few things we can do like defending interstate shipments of mifopristol are already being done.
Edmund Dantes
@Mnemosyne: don’t wait a week to say “I’m for a carveout of the filibuster for Roe”. Don’t waffle on the day Dobbs is released as to whether filibuster reform is necessary. Say “yes if filibuster reform is necessary to codify Roe, we will do it.”
messaging does matter. He is the leader of the party. You talk about stuff for decades for it to come to fruition. It helps when the leader of the party is saying this is where we need to go. Until now, he’s been against it. And even when he knew Dobbs is coming and the only path forward (ignoring the miracle of. 60 seat senate) is filibuster reform. You say that explicitly so people understand where you stand. Cause the less politically savvy need the steps laid out.
Hell it shouldn’t have taken Dobbs for the leader of the Democratic Party to see “we support the rights of one of our largest constituencies, and we will do whatever it takes to get it including filibuster reform”
Messaging does matter.
Edmund Dantes
@Fair Economist: without filibuster reform majorities don’t mean they get this stuff. Unless you think 60 senators is happening anytime soon.
superdestroyer
The Democrats should have learn by now that phrase such as “white privledge,” “Latinx.” “equity,” or “trauma” should never be said by a single Democrat whether an office holder, a consultant, or a staffer. Everything Democrats get on the DEI bus, they lose votes. Trying to boost turnout by using all of the left of center graduate seminar terms loses more votes in the long run.
Kropacetic
So, what happens when we say we’ll do it and it turns out that, despite our best efforts, we can’t.
West of the Cascades
@Edmund Dantes: I was pointing out that you were equating a strategic attempt to unstick the confirmation process with “the sort of thinking that keeps blue slips in place” – which don’t relate to each other. Now you come back with somehow MY logic is messed up because I think that both the blue slip process AND other Senate machinations that hold up confirmations should be eliminated or cut down? Do you actually think before you type stuff and hit “post comment”?
TheTruffle
I come here for relief from the Eyores on other sites. They should have messaging experts on these networks. Not just wonks.
Fair Economist
@Edmund Dantes: Filibuster reform is going to take less than 60 votes, although it’s not clear exactly how many.
Nonetheless, it’s a simple truth that we can’t fix the Court or codify Roe without Congressional action. The one and only thing that matters now is getting a Congress that is actually in Democratic control, as opposed to Manchin control. Biden evidently decided that attempting some illegal action the Court would smack down in hours (you know they’d super-fast-track any suit) was counterproductive, and I think he’s right.
(OK, there is a substantial secondary goal of getting as much power in state legislatures as possible, too, but that’s a closely related goal anyway.)
Kropacetic
@superdestroyer: Most of those are valid words, in the right context. Agree we can do better than Latinx for referencing a broad demographic in a gender-inclusive way.
The rest of your list suggests you want to remove most of the language we use to discuss societal ills. No alternatives are offered. Also the list comes across a little racialized, with the one general victimhood-related inclusion.
Eta: Shorter Superdestroyer; Stop trying to enfranchise the disenfranchised, we have the already fully enfranchised to think about.
Mnemosyne
@superdestroyer:
Uhhhh, you realize who the voter base of the Democratic Party is, right? It’s Black women.
Why would we avoid talking about the concerns of the party’s most loyal and dedicated voters?
Mnemosyne
@Edmund Dantes:
How do we do filibuster reform with, at best, 49 votes in the Senate? Or did you think that Sinema and Manchin were going to sign on for that?
Not to mention that the president is in a different branch of the government. Schumer should be the one talking about filibuster reform.
different-church-lady
@Kropacetic: Dwight is legion.
Kropacetic
@different-church-lady: Funny, doesn’t provide clarity.
different-church-lady
@mistermix:
Why are you doing this to us?
Kropacetic
@different-church-lady: Maybe GoBlue will learn something or do something ban worthy. Personally ambivalent on the outcome.
different-church-lady
@Kropacetic: I’m sorry, this is Abuse. Clarity is down the hall, second door on the right.
p.a.
karensky
Deese must have been sleeping under a rock since GH Bush eas President. He gets the Tone Deaf award from me. Ruben Gallego is right on target!
different-church-lady
@TheTruffle: “Hey, you… they guy we hired to produce the Insurrection Hearings… any of your buddies do TV appearance consulting?”
MisterForkbeard
@Mnemosyne: I’ll concede that Biden should also be pushing for filibuster reform. But he’s actually very limited in getting that done. He can’t hardball Manchin or Sinema (both of whom are pretty ready to bolt if that happens), so the most he can do is express his support for it (as he’s done) and then promise that getting 2-3 more senators can actually make that happen.
In the meantime, he’s got to work on limiting damage from the worst and most fanatical Supreme Court in existence.
The Lodger
@Kent: “No pre-existing conditions other than an entreprenurial spirit.” That made me smile.
Kropacetic
@different-church-lady: Sorry, my mistake. Keep up the good work.
different-church-lady
Annnnnnnnnnnnnny moment now we’re gonna have the “economic anxiety” argument again…
different-church-lady
@Kropacetic:
If I could do that I wouldn’t need the talcum powder.
Kropacetic
@different-church-lady: Didn’t understand that either but figured it’s best if I don’t pry there.
StringOnAStick
@geg6: Yep, I quit going to LGM when I realized it was putting me into a depressive spiral, and some of them were commenters I loved from Roy Edroso’s old non-paywalled blog. LGM’s commenters seem to be heavily academic types more interested in scoring clever snaps than actually doing anything other than planning for AGW death and general doom. I can’t deal with them anymore.
Paul in KY
@The Moar You Know: PR will have Democratic Senators. That’s why the GOP does not want them admitted as a state.
different-church-lady
@Kropacetic:
There: right in the bulls-eye.
Mnemosyne
@MisterForkbeard:
The best way to disempower Manchin and Sinema is to elect a minimum of 4 new Democrats to the Senate so Manchin and Sinema’s votes are irrelevant.
There’s a reason why certain people online are working hard to prevent that outcome.
different-church-lady
@Kropacetic: If you have to pry there then even the talcum power isn’t going to help.
Kropacetic
@different-church-lady:
different-church-lady
@StringOnAStick: I suspect more than a few of them are heavy caffeine addicts. And I’m pretty sure Loomis is a bot.
p.a.
General strike!? Those putzes didn’t even get a min wage hike; it was the poor schlubs at MickeyD’s etc who started that ball rolling.
Mnemosyne
@different-church-lady:
I just remembered — I’m pretty sure that GoBlue is the dude who said, “Your vagina is not magic” to me on this very website in 2016.
He meant it as “women’s votes don’t really count,” but it still cracks me up from time to time.
The Moar You Know
@Mnemosyne: In terms of sheer numbers, it isn’t. Not even close. It’s white women.
In terms of “can we afford to alienate these voters”, well, we can’t afford to alienate anyone. We need every single vote, everywhere.
Paul in KY
@Kropacetic: More Dems is the best solution!
different-church-lady
@Mnemosyne: Talcum power is DEFINITELY not going to help that dude…
different-church-lady
@p.a.: I was told that Occupy accomplished everything!
Kropacetic
@Mnemosyne: I’m having trouble deriving the meaning you suggested from the text provided. Soooo curious about the context.
Did we lose archives when the site went down?
Kent
@The Moar You Know: White women voted for Trump 53% to 47%. If you erased all the white women’s votes from 2016 then Clinton wins in a landslide.
Mnemosyne
@The Moar You Know:
In terms of who’s actually doing the hard day-to-day work of getting out the vote, serving on committees, networking etc … it’s Black women who are the base of the Democratic Party.
Georgia has two Democratic US senators that flipped the Senate to D thanks to Black women, not white women.
different-church-lady
@Kropacetic: We did, but word is our entire inglorious history has been recovered in full. WG is working on a way to fold it back into the new site.
Starfish
@RaflW: Yeah, I just went back to the thread from this morning where several people were telling me it was bullshit.
“It is fake news because I don’t like it” is not a thing. The way that people were trying to dismiss journalists out of hand when they work for a Pulitizer Prize winning paper in Kentucky was pretty gross.
Kropacetic
Not the route I’d take, despite the outcome.
different-church-lady
@Mnemosyne:
Especially the hard work of one black woman in particular.
Kropacetic
@different-church-lady: This will be a post-it note for that glorious day.
MomSense
@West of the Cascades:
I agree with you. The people who want Biden to be more LBJ should embrace this very LBJ move. It sounds like a very good deal for us.
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne: And the thing that kills me about these super lefties meeping about how FDR and LBJ* just got shit done by waving the magic Presidentin’ stick is not only how they seem blissfully unaware of the fact that both Presidents had sizable Democratic majorities in Congress, but *also* unaware of the fact that had they been living in those allegedly halcyon days when men were men and Presidents were Presidents, by cracky, is that they themselves would have been screeching that both FDR *and* LBJ were corporatist war-mongering sellouts.
Believe me, back in my grad student days I had to read enough Communist and Socialist newspapers to feel reasonably confident whereof I speak.
*obligatory “fuck LBJ” inserted here for raven’s benefit
Redshift
@Kropacetic:
We did. It was announced a couple of days ago that our overworked tech crew now have a copy, so they’re not lost permanently, but I don’t think they’re available here yet. (Still need to be merged with the new content.)
Omnes Omnibus
@Kent: An district court decision does not create a binding precedent.
Ruviana
@different-church-lady: This might be the best explanation for Loomis thar I’ve ever read!
taumaturgo
@The Moar You Know:
Endorsing and advocating for statehood of DC and PR makes a ton of sense. Think about it, maybe 4 D Senators and justice serve to both territories. Yet the moderates continue to point out the difficulties and the reasons why it can’t be done, and thankfully lots of voters are coming to the conclusion that with the current leadership that never tries, it would never get done.
Redshift
@MisterForkbeard: I feel like Biden expressing his support for it also makes it less adversarial for activists to be asking Senate candidates about it at every campaign event. Biden is the leader of the Democratic Party, so it’s more “why aren’t you on board with the party” now and less “please support my radical grassroots cause.”
Miss Bianca
@Edmund Dantes: Gosh, you’re so smart, you must be making your living coaching political candidates on how to win their offices! Or running for office yourself!
Or, wait…maybe you’re not? Maybe that’s that *other* Edmund Dantes dude? (Who got curb-stomped for just being a Democrat in KY, but that’s beside the point). You’re just Some Guy on the Internet? Huh.
Mnemosyne
@taumaturgo:
You don’t know much about the politics of Puerto Rico if you think they would elect two Democrats.
Kent
This. Also the egregious BIPOC.
There is a local NPR ad for some organization running in the Portland area talking about how the do loans for BIPOC and women. So I guess what the really mean is for everyone but white men?
I have also heard local NPR reporters use “Democrat Party” and Latinx in the same sentence. Sigh.
Kropacetic
@taumaturgo: It ought to be done. And I am certainly not with the moderates. What I’m looking at is numbers, i.e. are there greater than or equal to 60 reliable Democrats in the Senate?
He said maybe. I assume a he.
I still say right thing to do regardless of it’s end result on Senate composition.
Ruviana
@Kropacetic: I think Dwight is Jim’s nickname for GoBlue . I should note that autocorrect wants to make ‘GoBlue” into goblin.
Mnemosyne
@Kent:
Are white men as a group having a hard time getting bank loans these days?
Redshift
Speaking of messaging, I’m on board with the Rude Pundit:
The Supreme Court Tells the 21st Century to Go Fuck Itself
Baud
@Kropacetic:
House passed DC statehood. Manchin opposes in Senate. Maybe other Dems too.
PR depends on local interest. DC wants to be a state.
Kropacetic
A close relative to the troll. Given their mythical status, I can determine my own mythos.
Kent
@Mnemosyne: The point is the messaging.
different-church-lady
@Ruviana: I mean, do we actually think Loomis visits a different grave site in a far-flung part of the country every day?
Kropacetic
@Kent: Everyone else’s gain is my loss.
Paul in KY
@Mnemosyne: I assume I don’t know much about it, if the PR would elect a Repub senator.
If so, I would have thought the GQP would have pushed for it pre-2018. Maybe because the PR citizens are dusky?
I have always assumed that the PR would send 2 Dems (or from some party that would caucus with the Dems).
geg6
@StringOnAStick:
LGM’s comments section always puts me in mind of a depressive group of grad students. I can’t take it. And the front pagers often drive me nuts. The screeds about how fucked over university faculty are and that administrative jobs are not at all necessary I find especially infuriating. I have worked for the past 24 years at a major research university in one of those mid-level administrative positions they find so offensive. I put in more work in a day than most faculty do in a week and I get paid about a third of what they get paid. And, to be honest, without me and people like me, they wouldn’t have jobs. Fuck the faculty. Bunch of overpaid prima donnas.
Miss Bianca
@taumaturgo: You evidently feel a lot more confident than I do that Puerto Rico would automatically elect Democratic representatives and Senators. Given that they can’t even agree that they want to join the US as a state, despite numerous referenda on the subject, and given that their political proclivities as a society seem to tend conservative, I would call that “wishful thinking.”
Doesn’t mean that I think we shouldn’t be pushing for statehood for both DC and PR. Just that I don’t think it’s a magic bullet solution to our representation problem.
Kropacetic
@different-church-lady: Visit? No. Research? Doable.
Baud
@Kent:
The place I notice Latinx the most is in emails from progressive organizations. I’m sure it is more widespread than that though. I don’t know how widespread it is among Dem candidates.
Mnemosyne
@Kent:
That’s the tricky bit: you were not the intended recipient of that message. Not everything in this world needs to be directed to white people, and I say this as a straight white woman.
Baud
@geg6:
Nominated.
different-church-lady
@Kropacetic: So it ought to be “Eric ‘Visits’ an American Grave” then.
Does the man have a family? Do they ever see him? Maybe they’re like, “Hey Dad, why don’t you write another of those grave things you do?” just to get some peace and quiet.
(P.S. – Maybe if I spent a lot less time snarking it up here I could be just as productive as Loomis?)
Mnemosyne
@Paul in KY:
Puerto Rico currently has one Congresswoman, though there are limits to what she can vote on. She is a Republican.
https://gonzalez-colon.house.gov/about/committees-and-caucuses
ETA: And, yes, Republicans don’t push for them to become a state because they’re brown and speak Spanish as their primary language.
Kropacetic
Don’t let the truth get in the way pf a good story.
marcopolo
@West of the Cascades: The issue here for me is twofold (plus an additional point lol):
Kristine
@mistermix:
Depressive spiral. They pick up the mood from the posts, which I also find are often depressing. Give up. All is lost. If anything constructive is mentioned, it gets buried.
gwangung
@Mnemosyne: Yeah….and also….who are the fastest growing segments of the population? Asian and Latinx. In the long term, focussing on the fast growing segments without turning off too many white folks is a winning strategy.
super destroyer centers white people implicitly. it’s a loser mentality. And racist as well; there were times where racial minorities were there for the picking by Republicans, and superdestroyer just whined about the effort needed.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: People who complain against voting have it in them to make a general strike successful. That is high comedy. ROTFLOL
Baud
@marcopolo:
This is false. The Dems have the same rules as the GOP did. Blue slips for district court judges, none for appeals court judges.
McConnell’s leverage on appeals court nominees isn’t blue slips. It’s the right to use up floor time through Senate procedure.
Cacti
I think Gallego was spot on.
Also, he has my total support as a primary challenger to Sinema.
Kropacetic
Superdestroyer walked right up to the edge of explicit, turned around, and took a piss.
Miss Bianca
@marcopolo: That’s three. Three-fold.
Also, i’m not sure I would call the guy who’s managed to hold elective office for almost as many years as I’ve been alive “out of touch with the average Jane”. If anything, judging just by results, I’d say he’s very likely *more* in touch with what the average Jane thinks and feels than your, say, average online lefty is.
James E Powell
@West of the Cascades:
How about since we are on the brink of an historically significant midterm election, we just send a message that Democrats don’t appoint judges who want to ban abortion?
How about we do some clarity & consistency?
different-church-lady
@marcopolo: “Our *three* issues here are fear, and surprise, and ruthless efficiency…and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope…”
Paul in KY
@Mnemosyne: Thanks. Had no idea their rep was a Repub! I went to her site and I didn’t get that cray cray vibe that you get with your standard craven TFGlovin Repub.
Miss Bianca
@Cacti: If you live in AZ, that’s great. If not, your support and .25 will get Gallegos a gum ball.
Cameron
@Mnemosyne: I’d really like to see Puerto Rico become a state – climate change is making the storm season progressively worse, and I think there’s a better chance of getting Federal emergency aid as a state than as a territory. And, no, “aid” doesn’t consist of throwing paper towels at people like Biden’s stupid-ass predecessor did.
different-church-lady
I’m really tempted to say Biden should go with, “We don’t negotiate with terrorists.” But it’s probably a lot more difficult than that.
marcopolo
@Miss Bianca: I, for one, am totally aware of the congressional majorities that FDR & LBJ had at the time which allowed a lot of their agendas to succeed (also don’t forget LBJ knew everyone’s skeleton in the closet and was never afraid to use that to get a vote for something).
I don’t expect miracles from Biden. I just want competence and a noticeable effort to do things that the base wants. Show me you are trying, you know? I’m please that yesterday Biden shifted on carving out a Roe/Individual Privacy hole in the filibuster. I’d like to see more of that, more publicly (how about legalizing MJ, being more proactive on student loan debt, etc…). And honestly, I think this shift is a result of all of us D base folks squeaking. We squeak, loudly, we get some grease. Works for me.
different-church-lady
@Cameron: I dunno… the 51 star flag is gonna be really ugly.
Kropacetic
It’s hard to build a wall around an island.
syphonblue
@Baud: blue slips aren’t a rule. They’re a courtesy. The Democrats can just….not do it. This is a completely self-inflicted own-goal, and it is beyond stupid. Biden MUST stop it.
marcopolo
@Miss Bianca: I’ll have you know, I am not merely average. ;)
Cacti
@Miss Bianca: I no longer live in AZ, but have many family members who do.
But go ahead and Arizona-splain to me if you think you know something about the place that I don’t.
Kropacetic
@syphonblue: Might be worth it to consult both the current composition of the Senate and how Senate rules are changed. The results may surprise you.
Eta: Did someone light some sort of beacon?
Not quite…
Suzanne
@Betty Cracker:
You and me both. But remember that this is an uphill climb. If Gallego was more like Mark Kelly, I’d feel more confident. But he’s pretty progressive, and Arizona is a state with Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, Debbie Lesko, and David Schweikert as congrescritters. It will be a heavy lift.
Mnemosyne
@Cameron:
I’m fine with PR becoming a state, if that’s what their citizens vote for. IIRC, the last couple of referendums failed.
I’m pushing back against the idea that it would automatically mean two more Democratic Senators. At best, we would get one of each, but two Republicans are much more likely given the current politics there. Even in the wake of TFG fucking them over, AFAIK. Anti-communist propaganda aimed at painting the Democrats as BFFs of communist dictators in Latin America has been way more successful than most people realize.
Kent
@Kropacetic: Young people are leaving Puerto Rico in droves for better opportunities in the continental US. Meanwhile the same aging white demographic that is moving to Florida to retire is also moving to Puerto Rico. Statehood would only accelerate that trend. I wouldn’t assume it is remotely a sure Dem Congressional delegation today or anytime in the future.
Cameron
@different-church-lady: Well, that’s why we have to add DC and make it 52!
Cacti
@Mnemosyne: The last PR statehood referendum passed 52.5 to 47.5.
syphonblue
@Kropacetic: blue slips are not a Senate rule
They can – and have been in the past – simply ignored
Baud
@syphonblue:
It’s up to Schumer, not Biden.
Also, I was simply pointing out that the information given was not correct. Dems didn’t restore blue slips that the GOP had gotten rid of.
Kropacetic
@syphonblue: Senate membership will still have a say on the matter.
Miss Bianca
@marcopolo: You don’t want much, do you? “I don’t expect miracles, it’s just that Biden has to prioritize MY priorities and get them taken care of RIGHT NOW or I’m going to call him incompetent and out of touch with the base.”
The Biden Administration has managed to get a fuck-ton of progressive shit done in a very short amount of time and all with a COMPLETELY obstructive Republican opposition, an Extreme Court, a hostile MSM, nonstop kvetching from the right *and* the left, and some shivving from Sinemanchin on the side.
Nevertheless, he’s persisting. I’m sorry you’re not getting everything you want right away, with sprinkles on top. Neither am I, but you’re not going to hear me bitch about it. I’m just expending my meager resources trying to get more Democrats elected so we can, you know, get those Democratic majorities in Congress you claim to be aware had some slight role to play in getting historically progressive legislation accomplished.
Sure hope you’re doing the same.
ETA: Ha, very well then – I will *never* call you average!
Mnemosyne
@Cacti:
And since TFG rejected it, now they have to hold another one.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Puerto_Rican_status_referendum
You know what might fix this problem? Getting the Democrats a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Crazy talk, I know.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Here’s the reporter who broke the Kentucky judge story gloating about his pay-walled story that apparently (I’m not sure cause it’s still paywalled) didn’t mention either an up-coming retirement or the US attys that are (again apparently cause I still haven’t seen anything that looks like the last word) part of the still undefined “deal”
“BlueAnon”. Lends some credence to those who were skeptical of him because they knew his history
Eyeroller
@geg6: The LGM crew are really complaining about “executive” administration, like Associate Deans, not staff. And I don’t want to say too much so I don’t leak too much private information, but they’re completely full of shit on that as well. I tend to agree that University Presidents are overcompensated, but at R1 universities there are plenty of $250K-$300K per year faculty and it only takes two or three of those to equal the President’s salary. LGM compares overall average faculty salaries to administrator salaries at R1 institutions. Both faculty and administration are higher paid at those places.
Cacti
@Mnemosyne: You said the last one failed.
You were wrong. Being factually incorrect isn’t a point of view.
Miss Bianca
@Cacti: Shucks, all *I* know about AZ is having lived there myself for a time and still having all my in-laws there. But do *you* please go ahead and explain Arizona to *me* with the same creamy and delicious blend of arrogance and superciliousness you try to explain everything to everyone around here.
ETA: For what it’s worth, Gallegos would have my vote too.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I follow the /r/homedepot one for obvious reasons, but see a lot of references to /r/antiwork on the almost weekly “we should unionize” threads over at /r/homedepot.
Mnemosyne
@Cacti:
Yay! You caught me in a single error! Does that magically turn their one Congresswoman into a Democrat, or … ?
taumaturgo
@Kropacetic:
The cynic in me thinks that the democrats are waiting for the republicans to steal the issue from them, then jump in support of what would become a republican initiative. A refrying of GQP initiatives.
Cacti
@Miss Bianca: Is it true that Arizona has a big hole in the ground?
Kropacetic
@taumaturgo: Here’s the catch, though, Republicans are against what Democrats are for; now updated at the speed of the internet.
Miss Bianca
@Cacti: It definitely has many, many people with big holes in their heads where their brains ought to be.
But that was just my experience. YMMV
Cacti
@Miss Bianca: Honestly, I didn’t find Arizona people to be very friendly or pleasant.
Must be the heat.
Miss Bianca
@Cacti: I’m not being entirely fair – I met some very cool people in AZ, mostly in the library field.
But I literally could not take 90+ degree heat by 9 am in April down Phoenix way. I think it does do something to people’s brains. “Crazy with the heat” ain’t just hyperbole.
Matt McIrvin
@different-church-lady: There are some not-bad designs out there–not quite as symmetric as the 48- or 50-star deal but we’ve had worse:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/51st_state#/media/File:US_flag_51_stars.svg
(and good ones for more stars as well)
Geminid
@Baud: I bet Ruben Gallegos doesn’t use “Latinx.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Geminid: he very famously recommended that Dems stop doing that
Suzanne
@Cacti:
Hey, I moved out. The niceness quotient probably rose significantly.
Geminid
@Geminid: There were some excerpts from a podcaste interview with Gallegos put up in Politico Playbook a couple months ago. Gallegos used “Latino” when he slammed Democratic outreach to his community. I don’t do podcastes but that one is a good one I bet. Ruben Gallegos is a smart, perceptive man.
Cacti
@Suzanne: More like the last nice person in your neighborhood moved out. ;-)
Kropacetic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m here for the attempt at gender inclusivity but there must be a better way. Maybe one of those adjectives ending in ‘e?’
Hispanohablante? Imprecise and excludes non-Spanish speakers of Latino, Chicano, etc descent. Anyone got a better one?
There’s likely too much diversity in this group to lump them under one term.
Suzanne
To note about Ruben Gallego:
He represents a district in South Phoenix that is majority Latino, and was drawn that way back when Arizona was under the VRA and had to have two majority-minority districts. So the districts that got drawn have a large Latino population, but the others are much more diluted. (Raul Grijalva represents the other.) Winning statewide is a much different thing than winning either of those districts.
The other thing that should be noted is that the current mayor of Phoenix, Kate Gallego, is his ex-wife. There is apparently some bad blood there. She is not awesome (a lot of my lefty friends have complaints about her not doing a great job with the evil Phoenix PD), but she is also interested in advancing her career. So far, they’ve been very radio silent about one another, which is good.
Suzanne
@Kropacetic:
Most of the Latino people I know identify as their nationality/ family’s nationality of descent. I don’t know why we’re trying to change that if they’re happy with it.
Kropacetic
@Suzanne: Some people feel the need to assign a group designation without first knowing the individual. Also, sometimes people need a way to refer to the entire group.
Miss Bianca
@Suzanne: Yeah, you’re right, he might definitely not be able to take the whole state. I just have always liked his style, tho, and the heart wants what it wants. I’m not sure when I’ve ever been more disappointed in a politician than I have been in Sinema, but I’m also marinating in the bitter possibility of, “maybe she’s as good as we can get in AZ Dems right now.” (Mark Kelly notwithstanding – he seems to be a stand-up kind of guy.)
@Kropacetic: I honestly don’t know what you do with a language that has gender built into it on as fundamental a level as Spanish does.
Captain C
@Miss Bianca:
Having worked in a library in AZ, and gone to library school there, I agree. There are also some pretty cool artsy people there as well.
I suspect you’re correct on this. It’s probably doubly so for the tweakers who live there (I knew a few of those as well).
Kropacetic
@Miss Bianca: Get everyone to speak Esperanto?
Sorry, Esperantx.
Suzanne
@Kropacetic: I have a fairly strong bias to letting people decide what they want to be called. I use “Latino” when discussing all of those groups in total, which is not that often. Most often here and not really anywhere else. Otherwise, I say, “Mexican”, “Guatemalan”, “Colombian”, etc, as that’s how I almost always hear my friends/colleagues identify. I never use “Hispanic” or “Latinx” or “Latine”.
superdestroyer
@Mnemosyne: But pandering to black women means getting a lower percentage of the white, non-Hispanic vote and of the Hispanic vote outside of California.
Remember when the Democrat thought that the growing Hispanic population in Texas would turn the state blue. A party that gives blacks veto power over policy and governance issues will never be able to win Texas.
Kropacetic
Of course that’s the ideal, you know, when you know the person. In fact, to do otherwise would be just plain terrible.
For collective purposes, as you noted, this doesn’t work. I do find the mission to be as inclusive as possible while we nevertheless continue sorting people to be laudable, but inclusivity doesn’t work if people don’t broadly accept the methodology.
superdestroyer
@Kent: While listening to a media criticism podcast, the hosts played a clip of an NPR reporter using the terms “birthing people” and “chest feeders”
It is kind of hard to talk about defending women’s healthcare issue when one refuses to use the word “women” or the phrase “breast feeding.”
Also, the term “person of color” should be avoided. It is used to confuse since it requires the listener to use context and personal knowledge to comprehend who the speaker considers a “person of color.” Example: a black woman who was a liberal Democrat was discussing the lack of “people of color” in Silicon Valley. The listen had to know about the workforce in Silicon Valley to understand that to the black woman, Asian-Americans were not “people of color.”
Kropacetic
It doesn’t have to, first. Second, white people who can’t handle the idea of improving outcomes for a group of people who have historically been treated very poorly can take their votes and shove them up their ass if they want. I’m even willing to make it an official polling place.
Third, you’re really testing that implicit vs. explicit racism boundary, huh? I’m pretty sure you’re over the line now.
superdestroyer
@gwangung: But very few Hispanics/Latinos approve of the use of Latinx. Using Latinx is more of a signal among very progressive academics and activist to let them know what their politics are. If one are really trying to appeal to Mexican-American voters in Texas, Arizona, and Nevada, one would not use the term “LatinX”
Baud
@superdestroyer:
Kropacetic
Women are cool. I don’t keep many around but they’re wonderful in professional spaces. Breast feeding is cool too. Do that shit where you want.
Trans inclusion is also cool. Learn it.
Miss Bianca
@superdestroyer: “pandering to black women”? “pandering to black women?”
Get all the way the fuck out of here with that talk. Racist, sexist asshole.
Kropacetic
@Miss Bianca: You know, pandering, like not excluding. Pandering, like doing at least the bare minimum to ensure they get a decent life alongside as many others as possible.
different-church-lady
@superdestroyer: Pardon me for saying so, but your worldview seems to be stuck in “all against all” mode.
Suzanne
@Kropacetic: I do think there are times where the limitations of language, in a good-faith effort to be inclusive, glosses over some distinctions that are probably important to a discussion. I read a piece that pointed out that women’s healthcare has been shit for centuries, and gynecology as a practice was literally created through experimentation on enslaved women, and it continues to be shit (as we saw last Friday). And if we refer to “pregnant people” and not “pregnant women”, we might be using language to erase a pretty critical power dynamic…. that not all people can be pregnant and that fact has been an axis of marginalization.
I don’t have an answer. I wish people could both intend and assume good faith in these discussions. Like, insisting on listing every exceptional circumstance is unwieldy and is quite frankly an erasure tactic. Especially when discussing effects on disparate communities. But the converse is understanding that including as many people as possible is important, too….especially when discussing effects on individuals.
different-church-lady
“You see, y’all don’t understand: it’s impossible for any group to not hate all the other groups! So you gotta pick the biggest one and ignore all the others! Hey, wait a minute… Why does everyone keep telling me to fuck off?!?”
bjacques
Open thread?
The heartwarming yet cautionary Pride story about the Apple logo and Alan Turing that friends were passing around on Facebook is apocryphal or at least wildly inaccurate. I checked. I didn’t forward it, because doing so signals steadfast gullibility despite years of object lessons of its dangers. Nobly meant, but opening oneself to being exploited for less noble ends.
Also, The sort of people who use “Latinx” are often real pendejx.
Kropacetic
@Suzanne: I get that, I do. Like I said earlier today, know your audience. For broad consumption, for simplicity sake, “women” is ideal.
When nuance is called for; yes, trans men can get pregnant. It merits discussion, especially when speaking to trans groups or in fora where more in-depth discussion is called for.
Suzanne
@Kropacetic: I remember getting pissed reading a Reddit thread where (mostly) women were discussing the need for women in prisons to have menstrual supplies, and a commenter noted that “menstruation is a women’s issue”, noting that the needs of different people are not taken into account in prisons. And then a trans commenter noted that menstruation is not a women’s issue, because “not all women have a uterus or get periods”. And the discussion went to absolute shit from there. Like…. that fact is narrowly true, and yet when women in prisons have to use a single sanitary napkin for a fucking week, maybe it’s not the right time for that?
See also: discussions about female genital mutilation that get derailed by intactivists talking about their circumscisions.
different-church-lady
@Kropacetic:
I have no idea how to go out on this limb without having it snap off but…
I think you all know I’m all for inclusion. But I keep wondering how far we’re gonna bend language just to accommodate a very small percentage of people. If someone who was born female wants me to address him as a man, I’ll do it gladly. But I’m not going to bend over backwards to make every utterance about every person gender neutral. It’s making sane, decent people feel like they have to navigate a maze where a mistake lands them in woke prison, but meanwhile the deplorables just go right on with their shit even harder. I think it’s turning a lot of people off. But at the same time we can’t just ignore it as an issue — there’s a needle to thread, and I think we haven’t found the eye.
Kropacetic
Different people? It would be the bulk of the population needing these supplies in women’s prisons; age, health, and cis gendered status notwithstanding.
It’s important to distinguish between good faith and bad faith attempts at inclusivity as well. What you described sounds like ratfucking. A good faith attempt would have brought up the attempt without trying to derail the conversation. Crossing ‘t’s and dotting ‘i’s type shit.
Again, I think it comes down to “who is your audience?” Clarifies a lot.
different-church-lady
@Kropacetic:
Made even more difficult by the fact that good faith people might be very ham-fisted at constructive criticism, and bad faith people might be very clever about disguising their bad faith.
livewyre
Something big must be up, because they’re coming out of the woodwork to campaign against us. At least it isn’t just one name taking over a whole thread this time.
edit: Spoke too soon. Guess what name is on top of the next one. They’re really going for it.
Kropacetic
@different-church-lady: All we can do is our honest best. No one is asking for more. No one you should pay any mind to at least.
Geminid
@Kropacetic: Besides Ruben Gallegos, Rep. Veronica Escobar (TX- El Paso) and Senator Ben Ray Lujan would be worth checking out if you want to see how they describe their community. They may use Latino generally, and Latina when speaking of women. I don’t know. But in searching for an inclusive descriptor you may be trying to fix something that isn’t really broken.
Veronica Escobar are worth checking out anyway. Lujan was an up-and-comer in the House Democratic leadership when Senator Udall retired 2020 and Lujan won his seat. Until then Lujan was thought to be a likely successor to Nancy Pelosi when she stepped back from leadership.
Veronica Escobar’s story is especially interesting and her Wikipedia biography is well worth checking out. Before entering Congress, Escobar was El Paso County Judge, a powerful position in Texas. Her Wikipedia article describes how in the previous decade Escobar, attorney Steve Gomez, activist Susie Bird, and businessman Beto O’Rourke put their heads together and devised a plan to supplant their city’s retrograde political leadership. They did, and they all went on to win office. The four were known locally as “The Progressives.”
When O’Rourke gave up his seat to run for the Senate, Escobar took his place in Congress, another talented member of the Democratic Class of 2018.
Suzanne
@Kropacetic: “Different people” meaning that most people in prisons (all prisons total) are men and apparently the standards of care were written with that population in mind.
Kropacetic
@Suzanne: But this is a health issue. Like, a real one.
superdestroyer
@Kropacetic: Once again, pandering to blacks to act sanctimonious is no way to win more elections. Talk about helping everyone rather than screaming “black lives matter” with the implication that others do not matter.
superdestroyer
@Baud: Texas has gone from the discussion around 2012 where the Democrats were destined to be the majority to a state where an idiot like Ken Paxton is going to easily win re-election because he is a Republican.
Why not try to win by talking about how to improve the lives of Hispanics, blue collar whites, and blacks. However, I suspect that top 10% rule in Texas really hurts Democratic candidates. Every middle class and blue collar parents gets to see first hand how few blacks are in the top 10 % of their child’s high school class and how black students in the top 10% have more academic opportunities that white students in the top 10%.
superdestroyer
@Miss Bianca: How else can one explain the pandering on riots in 2020, on black on black crime, on the talk of depolicing and ending incarceration, on the demand for race-based reparations on top of affirmative action and minority set asides.
Look up how many right of center websites, podcasts, and radio shows are mocking the recent news about Emmett Till while black homicides in 2022 are ignored.
If the Democrats want to keep underperforming in elections, keep pandering to blacks and maintain the veto power that blacks have over policy and governance.
superdestroyer
@Kropacetic: Actually, the pandering would be having the position that blacks are below agency but above criticism.
different-church-lady
@superdestroyer: I’m done explaining to racist assholes why saying “black lives matter” is not the same thing as saying other lives don’t.
Which means I’m not going to explain it to you.
Miss Bianca
@superdestroyer: SHUT UP, asshole. Ot at least pull your sheet over your mouth so we don’t have to listen to your constant use of the term “pandering”.
Or better yet, go back to mumbling over goat bones under your bridge. Nobody’s going to miss you.
marcopolo
@Miss Bianca: This thread is probably well dead, but obviously you don’t recall my posting history here over the past 15 years. I do as much or more than most here (like except Watergirl who is just on another level) when it comes to monetary and time support in electing solid D politicians. So eff off on that.
Also, I don’t think I ever said anything at all about my happiness with what Biden has accomplished. I am very plugged into politics and generally I am happy. My concerns are addressed towards getting base D voters energized about the November midterms. And no, I don’t think the elected D establishment from the Biden Administration to Schumer in the Senate to Pelosi in the House are doing as much as they could (and this, yes, may be as much performative as actually passing stuff) to give the voters we need to vote for Ds in November to hold the House and get 2 more seats in the Senate a reason to vote like the house is on fire (cause, you know, the house is on fire).
Anyway, glad we are both working (apparently in our own ways) to get Ds re-elected and new Ds elected. And in the future perhaps you will think a little harder about whether comments about how Ds could do better are constructive (I always make suggestions) or just doom and gloom whining cause I can’t stand the latter either.
Matt McIrvin
@Mnemosyne:
Worse, in a way: they succeeded, but not so unambiguously that opponents could accept the result was legitimate.
J R in WV
@ BillinGlendaleCA:
There’s also a pretty good reddit thread called /r/maliciouscompliance about following stupid rules so closely you shut down the business, or at least make it not profitable. I like that one quite a bit.
Another Scott
@different-church-lady: Language evolves slowly, but constantly, and sometimes for good reasons.
Remember “Ms.”?
Cheers,
Scott.
Geminid
@superdestroyer: I think that you would do better to use “Black people” instead of “blacks” when you refer to these Amricans. It would show more respect. As it is, you sound like some 20th century Boer.
O. Felix Culpa
@Geminid:
Ben Ray Lujan was my Rep. and is now my Senator. He’s a solid D vote and little more.
AxelFoley
@Baud:
Baud/Buttigieg 2024?
superdestroyer
@different-church-lady: If one has to give a long explanation of what one really means, then one is failing at messaging. Of course, the real reason Black Lives Matter fails in messaging in how many of the messengers seem to really hate white people.
superdestroyer
@Miss Bianca: Insults and profanity is no way to win election. The first rule of messaging would be to stop call voters stupid and idiots. Of course, that messaging would also require progressives to stop so much racial and ethnic pandering.
superdestroyer
@Geminid: Why the capitalization for Black People but not for white people. That sends a clear message of who is the target of the pandering and who will be the bill payer of the pandering.
The Democrats have a clear choice: to keep making themselves the “Black” party of the U.S. with the Republicans defaulting into being the white party or the Democrats can stop pandering to blacks and appeal to a larger section of all voters. If keeping abortion available to women is important, then the pandering has to stop.