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You are here: Home / Elections / 2022 Elections / Squishable Friday Open Thread

Squishable Friday Open Thread

by Betty Cracker|  August 26, 20228:13 am| 130 Comments

This post is in: 2022 Elections, Open Threads, Politics

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You love to see it: [NBC]

Arizona Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters softened his tone and scrubbed his website’s policy page of tough abortion restrictions Thursday as his party reels from the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Just after it released the ad, Masters’ campaign published an overhaul of his website and softened his rhetoric, rewriting or erasing five of his six positions. NBC News took screenshots of the website before and after it was changed. Masters’ website appeared to have been refreshed after NBC News reached out for clarification about his abortion stances.

“I am 100% pro-life,” Masters’ website read as of Thursday morning.

That language is now gone.

So the people who’ve been selling themselves as hard-right culture warriors for months are going to switch gears and market themselves as moderates for the duration? I mean, that kind of thing can work — we’ve all seen it.

But the switcheroo might be a harder sell since the extremist kooks Republicans put on the SCOTUS have ripped a right away from half the voting population. Even DeSantis is subtly back-pedaling: [Politico]

DeSantis said he was in favor of additional “pro-life protections” after the Supreme Court overturned Roe. He recently signed Florida’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks into law, but the governor has not articulated what other steps he would take or accept. During a press conference Tuesday, DeSantis said “the first thing” is to “defend what we’ve done,” a reference to the ongoing legal challenge to the new ban. “We want to make sure what we’ve done will stick,” said DeSantis, adding that the current law was “difficult to achieve.”

Framing it as an issue of legal caution is absurd because DeSantis is already shoveling millions of Florida taxpayer dollars to a wingnut chum’s fancy DC law firm to defend the many unconstitutional laws he’s already signed. At $725 an hour!

The linked Politico article also includes results of a new poll on the Florida gubernatorial race. The news isn’t great — DeSantis is up 51% to Crist’s 46%. But the poll also found that independents — about a third of FL voters — are “turning on DeSantis,” and it was taken before Crist walloped Fried this week.

According to the pollsters, DeSantis drops below 50% when the homeowners insurance crisis and abortion rights topics are introduced. So Crist knows where to focus. I hope he also pounds on the guns issue because DeSantis has said he will pursue “open carry” in a second term, and the last fucking thing on earth Florida needs is open carry. Jesus God, read a room.

Anyhoo, it’s an uphill climb, but I’m not giving up on this race. It is definitely possible to make DeSantis a one-term governor and zero-term president.

Open thread!

PS: Twice in the last year, most recently yesterday, I helped someone move. Why the fuck are people asking a not very fit and decidedly middle-aged woman to carry heavy objects in the hot sun? If I’m ever asked again, I’m just gonna laugh and say, “I’m an old woman! Fuck off!” I mean, there have to be some advantages, right? I’m going to claim that one, goddamnit!

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Reader Interactions

130Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    August 26, 2022 at 8:15 am

    A 5 point deficit is amazing.  Not saying we will overcome it, but the hole isn’t as deep as I expected.

  2. 2.

    P Thomas

    August 26, 2022 at 8:17 am

    Scrubbing a web site and making bleating noises is not the same as “changing my position.”

  3. 3.

    satby

    August 26, 2022 at 8:19 am

    “I’m an old woman! Fuck off!” I mean, there have to be some advantages, right? I’m going to claim that one, goddamnit!

    Do it! I’m older and I’ve been claiming that one for a while. One if the perks, so use it!

  4. 4.

    rikyrah

    August 26, 2022 at 8:22 am

    Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊

  5. 5.

    rikyrah

    August 26, 2022 at 8:22 am

    Screenshots are forever.

    Hope the Kelly people are making an ad as we type

  6. 6.

    WereBear

    August 26, 2022 at 8:23 am

    Helping people move is a twenties thing. By one’s thirties, we see the virtues of staying put.

     

    because DeSantis has said he will pursue “open carry” in a second term, and the last fucking thing on earth Florida needs is open carry. Jesus God, read a room.

    Quoted for another LOL from me, Betty.

    I can’t keep my pundits straight because I avoid them unless filtered through a sane mind, but weren’t we constantly told our little wimminminds were getting hysterical about overturning Roe v Wade on the grounds the Republicans didn’t really mean all those things they just said to get elected.

    I think a lot more people than us are realizing, they do.

  7. 7.

    satby

    August 26, 2022 at 8:24 am

    Crist is coming off pretty well in the interviews I’ve seen, and his decision to play against the hatemonger aspects of DeSantis should pull the undecideds, I hope. Especially with the Dobbs decision.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    August 26, 2022 at 8:24 am

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning.

  9. 9.

    rikyrah

    August 26, 2022 at 8:25 am

    @Baud:

    I don’t believe that it’s five points and neither should BC.

     

    Uh uh.

     

    Crist is far closer than that.

  10. 10.

    satby

    August 26, 2022 at 8:26 am

    @rikyrah: 🌞🙋

  11. 11.

    eversor

    August 26, 2022 at 8:27 am

    @rikyrah:

    Nothing on the internet is ever truly gone.  You’d think right wingers would realize this but instead they keep getting hit with internet archives of stupid stuff they said.

  12. 12.

    Baud

    August 26, 2022 at 8:28 am

    @Baud:

    Also, notice how the anti-choice people aren’t screaming betrayal.  They understand politics.

    (Mistakenly posted in covid thread).

  13. 13.

    rikyrah

    August 26, 2022 at 8:30 am

    And, to no one’s surprise…

    Truth Social hasn’t paid its bills 🤣😂🤣😂🤣

  14. 14.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 26, 2022 at 8:30 am

    @WereBear: Some of them do. Whether Masters does is unclear to me. But it doesn’t matter whether they mean it, because they all contributed to the same outcome. If they just said it to get elected, they were playing with fire and women are now getting burned.

  15. 15.

    ProfGilson

    August 26, 2022 at 8:31 am

    I would rather donate my spleen than help someone move.  Seriously.  I used to own a pickup truck and was therefore treated as the go-to guy for moving.   It got old very quickly and I was a strapping young man.  If got to the point where I offered to pay the rental on a U-Haul truck so that we could get everything in one trip instead of five with the pickup truck.

    I am especially annoyed when people above the age of 30 expect family and friends to help them move.  Hire movers, people, they are not that expensive and they do the shit right!  Don’t further fray your already tenuous relationships with family and friends- do the right thing!

  16. 16.

    Josie

    August 26, 2022 at 8:31 am

    I’m with you on the not helping with moving thing, BC. I don’t even want to participate in my own move.

  17. 17.

    evodevo

    August 26, 2022 at 8:32 am

    If it’s someone you care about (friend/relative/etc.) tell ’em you’ll pack up the boxes, but that’s it, and then quietly disappear.  I was naive enough in my 20’s that I helped several people move, and when it came time for payback, when I moved, I got nuthin’ but excuses out of them.  My poor inlaws helped us move twice.  I didn’t ask them after that.  I figured they didn’t need to be doing that at their age… Nowadays, I just say I have a bad knee, sorry about that…

  18. 18.

    Jeffro

    August 26, 2022 at 8:33 am

    It will be HIGHLY ironic if Democrats manage to hold the House and Senate, and win governorships, due to their stances on guns and abortion.

    I mean, go back in time and tell 80s/90s Dems that.  They’ll laugh in your time-traveling face.

    Why, it’s almost like it’s a center-left country or something!  ;)

  19. 19.

    Baud

    August 26, 2022 at 8:33 am

    I hope the only words not readacted from the search warrant affidavit are Russia, Putin, and nuclear.

  20. 20.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 26, 2022 at 8:33 am

    No one has ever asked me to help them move. I think I’m offended.

  21. 21.

    satby

    August 26, 2022 at 8:33 am

    So I hope there’s some investigation going on about how all those  GQP congresscritters qualified for hundreds of thousands of $ PPP loans. Smells like fraud.

  22. 22.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    August 26, 2022 at 8:34 am

    2 weeks ago today the usual suspects in the media were gleefully predicting the FBI search would lead to a rpublican backlash at the ballot box and then they lost a R+3 district on Tuesday.

  23. 23.

    p.a.

    August 26, 2022 at 8:35 am

    Has DeathSantis called Crist a s0çalist yet?  Will Crist have the backbone not to tack to the Villages-defined ‘center’ and actually USE the info the polls are telling him?  I’ve heard in the past that he’s a schmuck…

     

    Off Topic: anyone want to build a workshop?  I keep getting emails saying I’ve won Won WON lots of great stuff from Lowes/HomeDepot/assorted tool manufacturers😉. DON’T LET THIS OPPORTUNITY PASS!

  24. 24.

    Baud

    August 26, 2022 at 8:35 am

    @rikyrah:

    I think the surprise is that someone gave Trump credit.

  25. 25.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 26, 2022 at 8:36 am

    I don’t mind helping people move, even if I am old and arthritic, but the last time I did I got really pissed at moving stuff they didn’t even want because Goodwill hadn’t been able to get there in time.

  26. 26.

    Soprano2

    August 26, 2022 at 8:36 am

    @P Thomas: Especially in these days where everything is online and there is video of a lot of stuff. It’ll be hard for him to run from his real positions. Plus, people don’t like weasels, and this smacks of being a weasel. Proudly be who you are, I think that always works better than trying to pretend. Like Dr. Oz trying to pretend he’s a regular guy from PA, he looks ridiculous every time he does it. Voters hate that stuff.

  27. 27.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 26, 2022 at 8:36 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Buy a pick up. They’ll be begging you.

  28. 28.

    Betty Cracker

    August 26, 2022 at 8:37 am

    @Baud: Yep — they understand the long game. Politico doesn’t provide details about the press conference at which DeSantis gave his mealy-mouthed answer, but he rarely holds legit press conferences. He holds campaign rallies in front of sycophants with curated media audiences, and the “make sure what we’ve done will stick” line sounds like a work-shopped response to reassure the fanatics while not unduly alarming the middle.

    Last week, an actual reporter got close enough to shout a question about abortion at DeSantis, and he literally ran away. He knows it’s a dangerous issue for him.

  29. 29.

    Baud

    August 26, 2022 at 8:37 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I’ve stopped asking people for help because they always turn me down.

  30. 30.

    satby

    August 26, 2022 at 8:38 am

    @p.a.: The spam emails are way outta hand. I guess the grifters with the car warranty renewals decided dangling free stuff would grab the rubes.

  31. 31.

    Danielx

    August 26, 2022 at 8:38 am

    @rikyrah:

    Do tell! I mean, I’m not surprised, but…

  32. 32.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    August 26, 2022 at 8:38 am

    That DeathSantis is barely above water in a deep red state is amazing.

    Imagine if Elizabeth Warren was barely at 50% in Massachusetts with 2 months to the election, there would be general panic among supporters and admirers.

  33. 33.

    Soprano2

    August 26, 2022 at 8:39 am

    @WereBear: OH, more than once I was told I was hysterical and no way were they going to make abortion illegal or go after contraception. Now people can see that we weren’t hysterical after all!!!

  34. 34.

    Soprano2

    August 26, 2022 at 8:40 am

    @Baud: They know he’s lying to try to get elected. I don’t think he’ll fool anyone.

  35. 35.

    Soprano2

    August 26, 2022 at 8:43 am

    @Baud: I bet we’ll get “a”, “an”, “and” & “the” too. LOL I hope it’s not understandable by anyone. I understand why the press wants to see it, but they’re going to get someone killed. The only reason TFG wants to see it is so he can sic his online howling monkeys on them.

  36. 36.

    Soprano2

    August 26, 2022 at 8:45 am

    @David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: It’s funny, the “1A” program didn’t do a post-election show about the election this week. It was weird, because they almost always do at least one 20-minute segment to talk about it. I was pretty annoyed.

  37. 37.

    Geminid

    August 26, 2022 at 8:46 am

    I don’t think that Masters will gain many votes by moderating his position on abortion. It may lose him some votes among extremists, though. They’ll say, “here we’ve finally caught the car, and it turns out you’re all bark and no bite!”

    This can be a problem with the first time candidates Republicans are nominating. They are making up a lot of policy decisions on the fly. In Master’s case, he was catering to the extreme when he was trying to win his primary. But it’s harder nowadays for Republicans to tack towards the middle for the general elections. Their cranky base doesn’t tolerate it.

  38. 38.

    Soprano2

    August 26, 2022 at 8:46 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: You should have put it out by the curb, someone will take it! That’s how we get rid of stuff in my neighborhood.

  39. 39.

    Betty Cracker

    August 26, 2022 at 8:48 am

    @ProfGilson: Exactly. When we moved in 2018, we hired movers! It was the first time we had ever hired movers, and it made sense because during the 14 years we lived in our previous house, we aged out of the “mover” demographic.

    New rule: if I ain’t moving my own shit, and I’m not, I ain’t moving yours!

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    August 26, 2022 at 8:51 am

    Reminder of the NYC meet-up today.  Weather is predicting (of course) scattered showers for afternoon and evening, so might want to tote an umbrella or rain jacket. Worst case scenario we can move to an indoor venue.

  41. 41.

    John S.

    August 26, 2022 at 8:53 am

    @David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:

    FL isn’t as deep red as you think. Every GOP governor going back to Jeb! barely squeaked by in the general election. Deathsantis himself barely defeated Andrew Gillum with less than 35,000 votes, which was less than a 0.5% margin of victory.

  42. 42.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 26, 2022 at 8:56 am

    @NotMax: Have a wonderful time at the meet-up, everyone!

  43. 43.

    topclimber

    August 26, 2022 at 8:56 am

    @Baud: That will change when Baud 2XXX wins the White House.

  44. 44.

    Spanky

    August 26, 2022 at 8:57 am

    @Soprano2: I don’t think hillbillies have curbs.

  45. 45.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 26, 2022 at 8:59 am

    @Soprano2: ​That’s what I’ve done with every move I’ve ever made. “Free Stuff” says the sign, and soon it is all gone.

  46. 46.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 26, 2022 at 9:00 am

    @Spanky: True, we have ditches.

  47. 47.

    WereBear

    August 26, 2022 at 9:01 am

    @Soprano2:

    Them: Go after contraception? What’s wrong with you?

    Me: You don’t really know them, do you?

  48. 48.

    Ohio Mom

    August 26, 2022 at 9:02 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: My plan for when we move is to take some *selected* things I no longer want so I can have a yard sale at the new place. I think I’ll meet a few neighbors that way.

    I’m sure there will be other things that I thought I needed but don’t fit in the new house that I can add to the pile. But questionable stuff is already being hauled to the Goodwill donation center. So far this month, at least two car trunk fulls.

  49. 49.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 26, 2022 at 9:05 am

    @Ohio Mom: ​I had a system. I would pick up an item and ask, “Have I used this in the past year?” If the answer was no I asked myself a 2nd question: “Am I going to use this in the next year?” If the answer was again no, it didn’t make the move.

  50. 50.

    germy shoemangler

    August 26, 2022 at 9:06 am

    @emptywheel triggered Roger Stone 😂 pic.twitter.com/Quhp1WLU2K

    — The Ghost of GC 🌻 (@gtconway3dg) August 26, 2022

    I wonder if he reads balloon-juice.

  51. 51.

    sab

    August 26, 2022 at 9:09 am

    Our last year in Florida we made Mom, eight months pregnant, go on a seven hour canoe trip in the Florida sun.

  52. 52.

    Soprano2

    August 26, 2022 at 9:16 am

    This happened last September, but the article is new. J.D. Vance did an interview with a right wing activist who at one time said “feminists need rape”. Vance compared liberals in government to Nazis, and said the government needs a program similar to the de-Nazification that happened in Germany after WWII. He said after TFG wins the election in 2024 he should break the law to do this. Holy cow…..

  53. 53.

    oatler

    August 26, 2022 at 9:19 am

    As far as I can see Blake’s ads have been  running with  no “softening”. They think outsiders will decrazify Arizona. His campaign is a Q-anon tesseract.

  54. 54.

    Soprano2

    August 26, 2022 at 9:19 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: We once scheduled a pickup for a console TV that could no longer be repaired. The repair shop said they were going to bring it to our house and put it by the trash cans so it could be picked up. When I got home it wasn’t there, so I called them and asked when they were going to deliver it. They said they had already dropped it off around 1:00! Between then and when I got home at 3:30 someone had already taken it. They saved me $35!

  55. 55.

    Soprano2

    August 26, 2022 at 9:20 am

    @WereBear: Good God, I told people that TFG appointed a high-up person in HHS who said all hormonal birth control hurt women and should be banned! People just didn’t believe it.

  56. 56.

    O. Felix Culpa

    August 26, 2022 at 9:21 am

    @satby:

    Hehe. I totally love the “this you?” twitter that has sprung up in response to GOP bleating about student loan forgiveness. The new White House social media hire (Megan Coyne?) has been great too.

  57. 57.

    Ken

    August 26, 2022 at 9:22 am

    @Baud: He did pay for a few months, then stopped. I expect they waited a bit because they didn’t want the fallout from cutting off service. But yeah, at this point anyone dealing with him should know there’s a good chance they won’t get paid.

    Let me find that tweet… Oh of course it was Popehat:

    I think I could make a credible case that the officers and directors of a company that decide to contract with Trump are breaching their duty of care, so well-established a deadbeat he is.

  58. 58.

    Soprano2

    August 26, 2022 at 9:26 am

    Speaking of moving and sales, I finally got through the last of my mom’s stuff last weekend. I have an appointment with the estate sale people on Tuesday to go through the house and see what I have to sell. All I have left to do is go into each room and get the stuff I decided to keep and take it home. Plus I have to get some ornaments out of the Christmas stuff – my grandma had a neighbor who was a home ec teacher who made these gorgeous Christmas ornaments out of real eggs for me and my sister when we were kids. No way am I selling those! They think they can have the sale around the first of October, then I can get the house clean and ready to sell. I’m hoping to have her estate mostly settled by the end of the year. It’s a pretty ambitious timeline, but I need to have something resolve – I have too many irons in the fire right now.

  59. 59.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 26, 2022 at 9:26 am

    @Soprano2: One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

  60. 60.

    Soprano2

    August 26, 2022 at 9:27 am

    @Ken: I don’t know why anyone who deals with him doesn’t demand payment upfront. That’s what my husband did when he had his printing business once someone had demonstrated they were reluctant to pay.

  61. 61.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 26, 2022 at 9:28 am

    @Soprano2: That sounds good. You’ve sorted out what needed to be done and set it in motion.

  62. 62.

    Wapiti

    August 26, 2022 at 9:29 am

    @ProfGilson: Yup, I’ve had a lot more damage in self-moves than when movers handled the stuff.

  63. 63.

    Ken

    August 26, 2022 at 9:30 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I once helped friends move, and because I was the guy with the pickup, I got the job of taking the stuff they didn’t want to the Goodwill. I think I made five trips, fortunately it wasn’t that far.

    On another move, I was helping with packing, and spent about an hour wrapping the china from a glass-door cabinet. Afterward I asked if the china was a family heirloom; “No, we bought it to have something for that cabinet.” Ah, I say, the cabinet must be special; “No, we bought it to have something on that wall.”

    I went home afterward and played George Carlin’s “Stuff” monologue until the headache stopped.

  64. 64.

    Ksmiami

    August 26, 2022 at 9:33 am

    @WereBear: And now the normies don’t gaslight when we say contraception is next on their list…

  65. 65.

    linnen

    August 26, 2022 at 9:33 am

    I find treating someone holding horrible positions just to get votes (pandering to horrible people) just like someone being ironically fascist the best.  There rarely is a good reason (being under cover is one) for pretending to be despicable. Just saying that this is a false front is not a good look for a person.

    Even when there is Justifiable reason, ‘becoming the mask’ is a real thing.

  66. 66.

    Leto

    August 26, 2022 at 9:34 am

    @Baud: the first page of the affidavit was released.

  67. 67.

    Scout211

    August 26, 2022 at 9:35 am

    @satby: @O. Felix Culpa:

    This morning, at least one of the GOP members named on the White House Twitter account responded. Link

    “Mean Joe Biden is soooo unfair!”

    NBC News has reached out to all five lawmakers for comment.
    Mullin responded to the White House on Twitter by saying Biden was unfairly targeting business owners for “protecting their employees” during the height of the pandemic.

  68. 68.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 26, 2022 at 9:35 am

    @Leto: Haha. Very funny. You got my hopes up.

  69. 69.

    Bupalos

    August 26, 2022 at 9:36 am

    @John S.: I’m afraid the new truth about Floriduh though is that a lot of the immigrant culture which is typically hardwired respect for multiculturalism and minority rights is aging into 2nd and 3rd generation where it typically starts to become nativist and backward-looking.

    And at the same time, Floriduh is at ground zero for climate change effects while miraculously not far from ground zero for climate refugees. I don’t believe in ceding an inch of ground to the Back-lashers, and Dems can win anywhere that isn’t overwhelmingly rural. BUt I think in many ways Floriduh is at least going to be Rethugs home field advantage for a while. I like the prospects for reversing backlash trends in the rust belt and upper midwest better than in Floriduh.

  70. 70.

    satby

    August 26, 2022 at 9:36 am

    Crist coming on strong in a campaign appearance yesterday:

    “Those who support [DeSantis] should stay with him and vote for him and I don’t want your vote. If you have that hate in your heart, keep it there. I want the vote of the people of Florida who care about our state”

  71. 71.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 26, 2022 at 9:36 am

    @Baud:

    they always turn me down.

    The Secret Service detail IS intimidating, Mr. Virtual President.

  72. 72.

    Soprano2

    August 26, 2022 at 9:38 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Yeah, in a way it feels good. However, I also had a 10-minute complete meltdown the night after I called them. I think it was a reaction to everything that’s happened this summer.

  73. 73.

    Soprano2

    August 26, 2022 at 9:39 am

    @Leto: OK that is funny!!!!

  74. 74.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 26, 2022 at 9:39 am

    @Ken: ​God save me from useless stuff.

  75. 75.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 26, 2022 at 9:41 am

    @Leto:

    Theres a word for that, and it rhymes with “sick soul.”

  76. 76.

    CliosFanBoy

    August 26, 2022 at 9:42 am

    Why the fuck are people asking a not very fit and decidedly middle-aged woman to carry heavy objects in the hot sun?

    My uni asked faculty to help students move into their dorms as a bonding experience.  Hell no!  I’m in my 60s. Let the fit 18-22 year olds move their own damn stuff!

  77. 77.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 26, 2022 at 9:43 am

    Wow. Just wow. (pic)

  78. 78.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 26, 2022 at 9:43 am

    @CliosFanBoy: Cripes. Whose idea was that?

  79. 79.

    satby

    August 26, 2022 at 9:43 am

    @Bupalos: For YEARS we’ve wished for candidates who would run unashamedly liberal campaigns instead of trying to thread the needle as a mushy middle-of-the-road Rino. Now we’ve got some one like Crist doing that, and he actually is a moderate. Against the GQP, moderates look like wild-eyed leftists. Remember, that was the big critique against Biden, and look how well that’s turned out for us. Crist may surprise us yet. Hoping Val Demings does too.

  80. 80.

    Lapassionara

    August 26, 2022 at 9:45 am

    @Bupalos: I think this may be correct. I saw where about 100,000 more Republicans voted in the recent primary than Democrats, and there wasn’t really any contest in that primary. It is an uphill climb for sure.

    although, the Republican plan to come after Social Security and Medicare should weigh in the Democrats favor in a state full of retired people. You’d think so, anyway.

  81. 81.

    Baud

    August 26, 2022 at 9:47 am

    @Lapassionara: Is there any evidence that turnout in the primary correlates to turnout in the election?  Honest question, I don’t know.  But I’ve seen people use that stat for ages.

  82. 82.

    Leto

    August 26, 2022 at 9:47 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: tickle?

  83. 83.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 26, 2022 at 9:48 am

    @Betty Cracker: I hope it’s a dangerous issue for Florida Rs

    Jim DeFede @DeFede · 13h
    “I do not believe that the dignity and the worth of human life is tied to the circumstances of their conception. But I recognize that that’s not a majority position.” – @marcorubio on why he personally opposes abortion in all cases including rape and incest. @CBSMiami

    Richard M. Nixo@dick_nixon 11h
    Dumb as hell. Dumb. Dumb. He doesn’t need to shore up his right. The party does that for him. All those people will turn out anyway. This is the act of someone sweating into his eyes. My God, all Demings has to do is go to Orlando and Tampa and Jupiter and say, “I’m a mother.”

  84. 84.

    Leto

    August 26, 2022 at 9:49 am

    @CliosFanBoy: No, you still come out and then introduce them to management: Yeah, this needs to be done by 5. I’ll be in my office.

  85. 85.

    Baud

    August 26, 2022 at 9:52 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Rubio wants to run for president again.

  86. 86.

    Ken

    August 26, 2022 at 9:54 am

    @Leto: Cute. I also saw one that just had TFG’s name and a bunch of “18 USC 973”.

  87. 87.

    KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))

    August 26, 2022 at 9:56 am

    @satby: “Crist is coming off pretty well in the interviews I’ve seen, and his decision to play against the hatemonger aspects of DeSantis”

    My husband commented yesterday, FL Dem candidates seem to have agreed on ‘love’ as their uniting theme to take on DeSantis’s smothering hatefulness. Crist, Demings, and Maxwell Frost were all on our TV presenting such sunny, energetic optimism, and using the language of love. It’s a refreshing contrast to Republican hatefulness, and it’s so great. But I also love the new, aggressive muscularity we’re seeing from Dems, such as last night’s White House Twitter calling out every Republican who criticized student loan relief with their PPP loan relief. I loved President Biden calling MAGA “semi fascists.” Crist and Demings, at least, are going to need to find a way be just as tough and aggressive, while maintaining that sunny, positive, energetic optimism. I’m confident Val can do it, but I don’t know enough about Crist to know if he has the stuff.

    As for the rest of the November elections, I’m really feeling (very cautiously) optimistic. I know it’s early, and I don’t want to peak too early, but there’s real energy, and Dems really seem to have figured out how to FIGHT this year. I know cornered rats fight twice as hard and much more viciously, and I’m sure they’ll pull some dirty tricks we can’t even imagine now. But I have some hope.

  88. 88.

    MomSense

    August 26, 2022 at 9:57 am

    Like I always say if you want a scorcher schedule your move for that day. If you want rain, go camping.

  89. 89.

    germy shoemangler

    August 26, 2022 at 10:00 am

    Does anyone know what’s up with Gavin McInnes?  Was he arrested (on air) for his involvement with the sale of ghost guns?

    Roughly 12 hours since Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes disappeared during a live broadcast of his show, and it’s still not clear whether it’s a prank, he was arrested, or something else happened. No confirmation from any law enforcement agencies so far.

    — Will Sommer (@willsommer) August 26, 2022

  90. 90.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 26, 2022 at 10:01 am

    @Leto:

    Tickle? No.

  91. 91.

    germy shoemangler

    August 26, 2022 at 10:02 am

    @Baud:

    Maybe he can debate Chris Christie again during the primaries.

  92. 92.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 26, 2022 at 10:02 am

    @Baud:

    Every time we have gotten excited about primary turnout we get warned it does not corollate with general election turnout.

  93. 93.

    Rand Careaga

    August 26, 2022 at 10:03 am

    When I moved to larger premises in 1998, my attitude was “Pay someone to move when I can do it myself? Are you crazy?” When that rental was unexpectedly sold out from under me the following year I was all “Move myself when I can pay someone to do it for me? Are you crazy?”

    Next move will probably fall to my heirs and assigns. I don’t envy them.

  94. 94.

    PaulB

    August 26, 2022 at 10:05 am

    I did ask a friend to help me move the last time I moved, but I paid him well for his time. It was mostly about helping him out, since I knew he was struggling financially. He wouldn’t accept my help but would accept payment for services rendered. Win-win.

  95. 95.

    germy shoemangler

    August 26, 2022 at 10:06 am

    “alternative medicine. what’s the harm?”

    Congressman’s Wife Died After Taking Herbal Remedy Marketed for Diabetes and Weight Loss | Kaiser Health News https://t.co/lW1dUmsqQt— Xeni (@xeni) August 26, 2022  

    The dietary supplement industry needs a lot more regulation.  I remember when they found lead in vitamins for children.

  96. 96.

    Chetan Murthy

    August 26, 2022 at 10:09 am

    @germy shoemangler: Caveat MAGAt.  [the congressman is a GrOPer]

  97. 97.

    Edmund Dantes

    August 26, 2022 at 10:10 am

    @rikyrah: Masters already made an Ad preemptively. In front of a bunch of kids. Where he’s trying to claim his positions weren’t what they were.

    best part is he is holding a Tie  fighter during the ad playing with it.

    of course the fascist is going to play  with the toy representing the Empire and its fascist undertones. Where the costume design was very “give us space Nazis”

  98. 98.

    germy shoemangler

    August 26, 2022 at 10:10 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Who would vote in a primary and then not bother with the general election?  It would seem it would be most likely the other way around, but I have no evidence to support this.

  99. 99.

    James E Powell

    August 26, 2022 at 10:12 am

    @Soprano2:

    Republican voters agree with all those statements.

  100. 100.

    Layer8Problem

    August 26, 2022 at 10:13 am

    @NotMax:  Have a good one!  I considered breaking OpSec to stop by, but I’m returning grandtots down the coast.

  101. 101.

    Mallard Filmore

    August 26, 2022 at 10:14 am

    @Baud: 

    I’ve stopped asking people for help because they always turn me down.

    I’ve stopped asking to help people because they always turn me down.

  102. 102.

    Lapassionara

    August 26, 2022 at 10:17 am

    @Baud: I don’t know the answer to that question, but the info I saw suggested that the Democrats had a lot more motivation to vote in their primary than the Republicans did (based on the contested races). So the point being made was there were a lot more votes on the R side.

  103. 103.

    Soprano2

    August 26, 2022 at 10:19 am

    @germy shoemangler: Those herbal supplements can be really dangerous.

  104. 104.

    germy shoemangler

    August 26, 2022 at 10:20 am

    @Soprano2:

    Kidney failure, liver damage, etc.

  105. 105.

    Paul in KY

    August 26, 2022 at 10:40 am

    @Soprano2: I think he preys on people who are desperate for a job and/or ones who would brag “I’m contracted to do a job for Trump Crown Royale Imperiale Superleggara Hotel”

  106. 106.

    cliosfanboy

    August 26, 2022 at 10:42 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: ​
     bad ideas can come from anywhere in our administration.

  107. 107.

    Ohio Mom

    August 26, 2022 at 10:45 am

    @Soprano2: We are beginning to see how JD Vance escaped his upbringing: by being a complete snake.

    There are probably other ways to leave behind an economically struggling, psychologically destructive family but his was clearly saying and doing anything to appeal to the gatekeepers to what he had identified as his next stop.

    In his own way, he is as hollow and mean-spirited as his elders were.

  108. 108.

    cain

    August 26, 2022 at 10:47 am

    @satby: The white house twitter feed was pretty fucking awesome – tweet quoting and then just basically telling htem how much of the PPP loans got forgiven – millions of dollars of loans for some forgiven and with all that loan forgiveness they can’t fucking allow regular americans to shave 10k or 20k off their loans for people under 125k – you can bet these GOP critters are making way more than 125k a year as income.

  109. 109.

    Scout211

    August 26, 2022 at 10:48 am

    @germy shoemangler: McClintock is my congressman. It was news last December when she died suddenly. It was very curious why no statements were made.  It was very hush-hush. I saw the announcement yesterday. The whole thing was very sad. (And I am not all that comfortable feeling anything for this asshole). But I feel sad for her that she felt a need to take an herbal remedy to lose weight. So much pressure on women . . . Sigh.

  110. 110.

    Brachiator

    August 26, 2022 at 10:52 am

    @Scout211:

    But I feel sad for her that she felt a need to take an herbal remedy to lose weight. So much pressure on women . . . Sigh.

    I just recently saw news stories about this. I was wondering why the wife may have been dabbling in the junk science of health supplements.

  111. 111.

    Brachiator

    August 26, 2022 at 11:01 am

    @cain:

    The Guardian has a pretty good story about how people on Twitter are mocking PPP hypocrites.

    Now Biden’s debt cancellation has given the phrase new life: “This you?” is rolling through Twitter like a bowling ball, toppling critic after critic as it nullifies their claims. The source of many of the “receipts”, in this case, is the public record of those who had their Payment Protection Plan (PPP) loans – the federal funds intended to keep businesses afloat early in the pandemic – forgiven.

    MMockery can be a great political tool when wielded deftly.

  112. 112.

    Citizen Alan

    August 26, 2022 at 11:05 am

    @John S.:  And after all this year’s, I still think Graham would have won. But she was “The Establishment” and the Bernie Bros wanted something new and shiny.  And that was enough to put gillum up up by 2% in a 4 person primary.

  113. 113.

    CaseyL

    August 26, 2022 at 11:13 am

    @germy shoemangler: I follow a homesteading vlogger who is really into herbal remedies – but she makes her own, from scratch, is emphatic about doing so, and also about doing extensive research into potential side effects.  I’m not into herbal remedies, consider them all woo, but I do respect her for trying to be careful and sane about it.

  114. 114.

    Citizen Alan

    August 26, 2022 at 11:15 am

    @Ohio Mom:

    If I ever meet JD Vance, I will tell him to his face that I think his mother could have kicked the drug habit if only she hadn’t been saddled with a psychopathic child.

  115. 115.

    JustRuss

    August 26, 2022 at 11:18 am

    , I’m just gonna laugh and say, “I’m an old woman! Fuck off!” I mean, there have to be some advantages, right? I’m going to claim that one, goddamnit!

    I recently told my daughter I was going to start letting loose my cranky old man, and she replied “What do you mean start?”

  116. 116.

    Bill Arnold

    August 26, 2022 at 11:34 am

    When I looked to see if the wayback machine had blake masters’s web site, this was the response.

    Sorry.
    This URL has been excluded from the Wayback Machine.

    Mr. Blake Masters is not an honest man. If one is a politician, attempting to hide one’s strongly avowed political opinions is dishonest, and at best a form of lying.

  117. 117.

    KSinMA

    August 26, 2022 at 11:38 am

    @NotMax: Wish I could be there! Have a wonderful time, and enjoy New York!

  118. 118.

    Jinchi

    August 26, 2022 at 11:45 am

    Why the fuck are people asking a not very fit and decidedly middle-aged woman to carry heavy objects in the hot sun?

    Word on the street is that you’re really good at the job.

  119. 119.

    Bill Arnold

    August 26, 2022 at 11:51 am

    @germy shoemangler:

    I wonder if he reads balloon-juice.

    Roger Stone has no clue who(/what) he fucked with/how fucked he is.

  120. 120.

    Jay

    August 26, 2022 at 11:59 am

    Decades ago, I had to cut down a tree.

    Hauled all the small stuff to the Compost Facility, ( they would chip it and use it as mulch on City property or running trails in the Parks),

    stacked the big, already split stuff near the curb with a sign saying “free firewood”.

    Nada, for days.

    Changed the sign to say “firewood for sale!”, and that night at 2am, screech of brakes, grunting sounds and all the wood was gone.

  121. 121.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    August 26, 2022 at 12:01 pm

    The news isn’t great — DeSantis is up 51% to Crist’s 46%

    Over at Kos they have an argument that that going by the special elections after the SCROTUM (edit) SCOTUS abortion call, the polling is off by seven points to towards blue. So if that’s true no DeSantis.

  122. 122.

    Jinchi

    August 26, 2022 at 12:16 pm

     

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    As an outsider looking in, Republicans seem to consistently win Florida, but only by tiny margins (49.6 to 49.2).

    Don’t know what to make of it. You’d think if they were rigging it they’d manage a bigger margin.

  123. 123.

    Jinchi

    August 26, 2022 at 12:21 pm

    @topclimber: That will change when Baud 2XXX wins the White House.

    I like how you’ve left yourself a 900+ year window.

  124. 124.

    way2blue

    August 26, 2022 at 12:27 pm

    What!  You’re not an old woman.  No way.  Nope…

  125. 125.

    misterpuff

    August 26, 2022 at 12:55 pm

    @Edmund Dantes:

    best part is he is holding a Tie  fighter during the ad playing with it.

    The X-Wings were too sharp for him to play with. Might put an eye out.

  126. 126.

    dnfree

    August 26, 2022 at 1:54 pm

    @satby: Moving residences using friend power plus beer is for the young.

  127. 127.

    dnfree

    August 26, 2022 at 2:22 pm

    @Wapiti: our move before last we hired local movers for a move of approximately 3 miles.  We had so much damage that they had to pay more to repair our furniture than they made on the move.  I think for such a short distance they sent one person who knew what he was doing and two people they picked up off the street.  They damaged furniture plus the house we were moving out of.  Seems that they didn’t think they had to strap the furniture down for such a short distance.

  128. 128.

    kalakal

    August 26, 2022 at 2:39 pm

    I listened to an interview with Crist on WUSF this afternoon in the car. He came across really well. Crist is actually very likeable, because he likes people, unlike DeathSantis who comes across as a whiny bully. I’m mildly optimistic about his chances, it’ll be tough but it is doable.

  129. 129.

    Gravenstone

    August 26, 2022 at 2:54 pm

    @Bill Arnold: Should we give him credit for having an IT team enough on the ball to block that potential avenue of embarrassment?

  130. 130.

    WaterGirl

    August 26, 2022 at 3:38 pm

    @NotMax: Do you want a post for the meetup so you guys can live blog it rather than talking to one another?  :-)

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