Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

This blog will pay for itself.

Let there be snark.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

This really is a full service blog.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Call Me Crazy, but I Think We Can Take the Governor’s Office in TX, FL and GA (Open Thread)

Call Me Crazy, but I Think We Can Take the Governor’s Office in TX, FL and GA (Open Thread)

by | 217 Comments

This post is in: 

(Waiting impatiently for news about the Special Master.)

I think we can do it.  I love this ad.  Don’t tell me we can’t win TX and FL.

Link to the most powerful ads in the comments, and I’ll add the best ones for FL and GA.

Totally open thread.

 

Reader Interactions

217Comments

  6. 6.

    bbleh

    (Waiting impatiently for news about the Special Master.)

    Ok now that’s quite enough!  This is a family blog.  You take that weird kink stuff elsewhere!

    ETA: and re Gov races, even if Dems don’t win, having energetic and compelling candidates out there motivates Dem voters and organizers, and it can give wavering Republican-leaners pause, even if only about whether to show up or not.

  9. 9.

    topclimber

    I don’t THINK it is crazy to say Dems take at least one of the three.

    I don’t CARE if it is crazy to say Dems can take all three. Hope is not a sufficient condition of victory, but it sure is a necessary one.

  12. 12.

    WaterGirl

    I wonder what this is about.  (unless it’s just MAGA nonsense)

    MAGA pundits are touting news of a set of FBI raids but I’ve seen no confirmation anywhere. Anyone? — Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) September 9, 2022

  17. 17.

    PaulB

    I don’t think you’re crazy and I do think it’s worth calling out that each of these is in reach. That said, while I think we can win one or all of those, I honestly do not think we will.

    That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fight, and fight hard, since getting rid of those assholes is good on the national level, as well as on the state level, and the people in those states will find their lives measurably improved by the victory. It also benefits the down-level races to fight hard for the races at the top of the ticket. And getting more money to the candidates, getting more people actively involved, has longer-term benefits for future contests.

    Let me just add that my political prognostications since 2016 have absolutely sucked and I would be delighted to be wrong about what I think the eventual outcome will be. I also want to add that while my opinion is kind of a downer, I’m putting my money where my mouth isn’t, as I’ve contributed at least five times as much this year to Democratic candidates and various get out the vote initiatives than I ever have before. And plan to do the same in 2024.

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    @PaulB: I believed Obama could win in 2008, long before most people did.  I believed that we could win in Georgia in 2020-21, and we did.

    So while I can’t claim to see into the future, my track record is pretty decent, and I have a good feeling about these three.

  22. 22.

    kalakal

    I don’t think you’re crazy, and even if I did, I’d still want you to be right.

    It just occurred to me that a lovely little bonus to a TX Dem wave would be seeing that shit Paxton getting prosecuted rather than being perma stalled indicted

  28. 28.

    JPL

    @HumboldtBlue: Chilling!   There was another one out of Texas where the doctor is trying to reach the governor to see if he could save a woman who was having a miscarriage life.

  30. 30.

    Carlo Graziani

    Well, nowadays “ground game” includes a good strategy to counter voter suppression in cities. I hope the O’Rourke campaign has a well-funded, well-staffed, and well-lawyered one, that is in place now and gaming out the election to come. There is no doubt whatever that to Texas Republicans a black person at the polls is the definition of voter fraud.

  31. 31.

    Yutsano

    I have friends in Texas who I got to talk to in person last month. One of them is almost certain Beto is gonna win this time. It’s because he’s nibbling the margins in the red counties of Texas. He’s also massively inspiring the blue sections of the state. I’m in cautious optimism mode but I also trust someone who is actually there. If nothing else Beto is beating the snot out of Abbott in the public space. It might just happen.

  32. 32.

    Another Scott

    @MazeDancer: I think we can take all 3 as well if we motivate our voters and fight for access for them.

    Meanwhile, …

    ABC, NBC, and CBS are all airing Charles’s first speech as king. None of them aired President Biden’s primetime speech about the ongoing threats to American democracy.

    — Renée Graham 🏳️‍🌈 (@reneeygraham) September 9, 2022

    Most comparisons are false, but it is a strange juxtaposition, isn’t it?

    Forward!!

    (via nycsouthpaw)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    Major League Baseball’s competition committee has voted to implement a pitch clock and ban defensive shifts starting in 2023, sources tell ESPN.

    It is official: 15-second clock with bases empty, 20 with runners on; and two fielders on each side of 2B bag, both feet on the dirt.
    — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 9, 2022

    Also, the bases will be bigger.

     

    ETA

    Pickoffs and step-offs reset the pitch clock, and the rules will limit pitchers to two for each plate appearance. (The number would reset if a runner advances.) A pitcher can make a third pickoff attempt, but if it’s unsuccessful it will be a balk, allowing the runners to move up a base.

  37. 37.

    David Hunt

    I have no idea if you’re right, but I live in Texas and I vote in every election. I’ll do my small part toward making that portion come true.

  38. 38.

    Almost Retired

    I’m not good at predictions, but I think we’re going to hold the California State House, too.

    OT, got the Moderna/Omicron booster shot.  Ass is officially kicked, and humid, 100 degree weather with no air conditioning is not helping.  Even the dog finds me too whiny and grumpy to hang out with.

    But, it’s better than getting Omicron.  Or living in Florida, where it would usually be like this…

  40. 40.

    Dangerman

    NOT crazy. Partaking in some funny stuff, perhaps, which is most definitely not crazy in 2022 (2020 is not beatable, but 2022 is making a run at it).

  41. 41.

    Kelly

    Fire safety electrical power shut off happened a few minutes ago. Probably won’t have power until Saturday night maybe Sunday morning. Not particularly worried about a fire because the power lines were the likeliest thing to start one.

  44. 44.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @WaterGirl: MAGA nonsense

    Regina Chea@regina_chea 1h
    BANNON BOMBSHELL

    Steve Bannon on The Charlie Kirk Show breaks the news that at least 35 FBI Raids were conducted yesterday against Trump allies across the country as part of their ongoing political persecution efforts

    MAGA nonsense that’s gonna get a meter reader or a guy passing out fliers shot “IT WAS THEM FBI NAZIS COME TO RAID ME!”

  46. 46.

    Carlo Graziani

    @HumboldtBlue: I must have misunderstood the point of the game then. I thought it was to allow fans plenty of time to visit the concession stands for those epicurean delights at bargain prices.

  51. 51.

    PaulB

    @WaterGirl:So while I can’t claim to see into the future, my track record is pretty decent, and I have a good feeling about these three.

    A better track record than mine, and I would be over the moon to find your predictions are correct. Despite my somewhat pessimistic outlook, I genuinely do think that these contests are winnable and that the margin of victory in each is likely to be in the low single digits. These are races where a few votes really can make a difference, where turnout will really matter.

  54. 54.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @bbleh: Would Steve Bannon lie about something like that?

    And I answer my own question “Yes, yes he would, Don Pardo.”

  55. 55.

    the pollyanna from hell

    I found a rooming house in Rome, GA, through the William S. Davies Homeless Shelter. I’m in a poor neighborhood in the NW quarter that seems strongly in favor of Marcus Flowers. My kind of people! Abrams and Warnock, too, of course.

  57. 57.

    El Muneco

    @Baud: Back in one of the _Baseball Abstracts_, Bill James gamed out limiting the number of pick-off throws and reasoned that it would make things even slower as runners try to bait two throws over in order to get a free run-up on the next pitch. This leads to a staring contest with the pitcher looking over his shoulder as the runner minutely shuffles back and forth.

    He didn’t foresee limiting step-offs as well, which will at least force an end to the process at some point.

  58. 58.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @HumboldtBlue: I can tell you that the skies over Tracktown, USA, are orange right now.  Smoke from wildfires to the SE are moving in a NW direction, and our air quality is plummeting as a result.

  61. 61.

    raven

    @Baud: Way back when I was a municipal sports guy I adopted breakaway bases and a double first base that was intended to cut back on collisions. Commie fuck that I was.

  63. 63.

    Ken

    @Carlo Graziani: They’ll end up adding another rule for “television timeouts”, like in American football — the players just stand around for three minutes while the broadcasters show the commercials.

  65. 65.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Baud: ​
      This will have unintended consequences.

    Right now pitchers are throwing max heat and using a delay between pitches to recover physically. With a 15 second clock they’ll either continue to throw max heat and incur injuries or reduce their speed and pitch to contact. when you go back to the 60s, pitchers would throw 300 innings and pitch on three days rest because most weren’t trying to strike out batters, instead they would induce hitters to hit ground balls and let their infield do the hard work.

    I prefer that kind of baseball. More action, more singles, more double plays, more steals, less strikeouts. But to, coin a phrase, it’s going to be a whole new ballgame for veteran pitchers.

  70. 70.

    Jinchi

    Is anyone else suddenly getting spammed with fundraising texts from Republicans?

    I don’t know how I got on their radar, but Ron DeSantis, Hershel Walker and Ron Johnson all seem to think I’m a likely Republican donor.

  71. 71.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Game one of the 1969 World Series: score 4-1; played in 2 hours and 13 minutes

    Game one of the 2019 World Series: score 5-4; played in 3 hours and 43 minutes

    I for one welcome our new time overlords

  72. 72.

    raven

    @Baud: They would have hung me from the highest yard arm if they could have. The worst thing was starting with a one-and-one count. You don’t need 4 ball and three strikes in a game where you pitch the ball underhand.

     

    eta for Water Girl, all of this took place in Urbana!!!

  75. 75.

    kalakal

    @MazeDancer:

    Apparently, Brits found it “Pitch perfect

    As a Brit I can say that I did.

    Thank you for putting up the link.

    It was very strange to ‘H. M. the King’ at the beginning

    Also this room is very dusty

  76. 76.

    raven

    @the pollyanna from hell: Oh yea, there is this

     

    THE CAPITOLINE WOLF, A FAMOUS emblem of Rome, Italy, is a rather strange piece of art. It’s a bronze statue of a wolf, with a bear-like and mournful face and an octet of very prominent teats, from which two cherubic children are suckling. It’s supposed to represent the foundation story of the city of Rome, in which a she-wolf kept abandoned twins Romulus and Remus alive by nursing them, until a human family found and adopted them. It was considered to be an ancient piece of Etruscan art for many years, but now it’s thought that the wolf was cast in the 11th century and the twins added about 400 years later. The original is still in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, on Capitoline Hill, one of the seven hills of the Italian capital, but there are copies of this statue in cities around the world. This is because Italian dictator Benito Mussolini had a habit of sending them abroad in the 1920s and ‘30s to sympathetic countries or groups. (There may be more in Romania than in Italy.) There are a handful in the United States, including one in Rome, Georgia, and one in Rome, New York, and a certain mythos and pride has grown up around these statues.

  77. 77.

    Kent

    I lived in Texas for 13 years and was constantly disappointed with my neighbors when it came to voting.  So I don’t know.  There’s always hope I guess.

    In terms of TX, FL, and GA I have the most hope for GA because at least the people of GA have recently voted two Dems to statewide office and one who is Black.  I don’t know when the last Dem won major statewide office in TX or FL but it has been a while.   Especially in TX.

  78. 78.

    lgerard

    Like the idea of winning a few governor seats, but REALLY want to see Ron Johnson and Micro Rubio whacked even more.

  79. 79.

    Andrew Abshier

    I’ve disliked Charlie Crist over the years, but credit where credit is due: he came out of the gate swinging as soon as he won the nomination.  It’s still going to be an uphill journey, but I do think we have a chance in Florida.

  81. 81.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Speaking of “crazy“:

    “Ozzy Osbourne says he’s done living in the United States – because of gun violence. The English-born iconic lead singer of Black Sabbath and TV personality announced his reasoning for calling it quits on the U.S. in a recent interview with The Guardian, saying that the violence is “f***ing crazy.”

    “Everything’s f***ing ridiculous there. I’m fed up with people getting killed every day,” he said. “God knows how many people have been shot in school shootings. And there was that mass shooting in Vegas at that concert … It’s f***ing crazy.””

  86. 86.

    Dan B

    @Lyrebird: Oops.  Kelly is in Oregon I believe in the western foothills of the Cascades east of Salem.  They evacuated from the fire around Detroit, Oregon last year.

  92. 92.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    If Bannon keeps this up he’ll gain a reputation for being untrustworthy

  94. 94.

    jackmac

    WG is decidedly not crazy. Go for the Texas, Georgia and Florida sweep (and then some)!

    In fact, this may be shaping up to be a watershed year for Dems. The major media has barely noticed the shifts yet (and don’t tell them).

  97. 97.

    JPL

    Stacey needs to step up her ads.   She has a message, especially now with a major hospital closing because republicans refused federal money for clinics and Medicaid.   I found her abortion ad confusing.

  98. 98.

    Sure Lurkalot

    I avoid polls like the plague but it’s hard to avoid the headlines about them…where it’s been reported that Georgia does not look so hot for team D. I’ll put my faith in WG’s track record for clairvoyance and hope that as many contend that polling is irrevocably broken.

  99. 99.

    trollhattan

    @kalakal:

    The discussion got me to listen to his address and it was quite touching without being mawkish. Perhaps also a newfound ease in front of a camera I’ve not seen before.

  100. 100.

    JPL

    @Sure Lurkalot: Insider Advantage is a shaky poll, but Stacey has not run a strong campaign.

    I think we need to focus on saving the house   I love Marcus Flowers but there is no chance that he will win

    fyi I still think Warnock wins.

  102. 102.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    A federal grand jury is investigating Dump for fraud.

    Gee, that’s so out of character

  104. 104.

    Shalimar

    I thought we could take at least 2 of the 3 in 2018.  It was a crushing disappointment in an otherwise good day.

  105. 105.

    JPL

    @Geminid: Today he released a clear and precise ad on Walker’s stance on abortion.   I do think he spent too much time on the wife beating, because unfortunately that did not damage him.   Walker turned it around as mental health issues, and Warnock attacking mental health.

    Warnock is also focusing on his accomplishments which is good.   That is how he wins.

    Walker is not committing to a second debate.  Let’s do the first one.   If I were Warnock, I would run the ad that I will debate anywhere and call him a liar.  Okay maybe a coward to debate outside his comfort zone.  imo

  106. 106.

    trollhattan

    @David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:

    Trump? Fraud? How dare anybody use those words in a sentence!

    We have a Trump wannabe who has managed to defraud victims of the nation’s deadliest wildfire. How’s that for cynical?

    Butte County prosecutors have accused a building contractor of preying on victims of the most destructive wildfire in California history, filing charges against a career white-collar criminal who, according to his customers, took hundreds of thousands of dollars to rebuild homes without finishing them.

    The Butte County district attorney’s office indicted Jay Soderling, 63, the owner and operator of Aurora Ridge Homes, in connection with the work he did after the Camp Fire. The fire killed 85 people and destroyed more than 12,000 homes in Paradise in November 2018. The charges come four months after a Sacramento Bee investigation revealed that Soderling was a longtime white-collar criminal with a history of fraudulent business dealings.

    The Bee’s reporting revealed that Aurora Ridge customers in Paradise paid Soderling hundreds of thousands of dollars to rebuild the homes they lost to California’s deadliest wildfire. One of his alleged victims said he paid Aurora Ridge more than $200,000; another paid $228,000. Neither wound up with a completed home.

    Officials with the town of Paradise told The Bee that Aurora Ridge didn’t complete any of the homes it started, although a contractor who stepped in for Soderling’s company after it was suspended did finish three properties.

    The district attorney also has been investigating another Paradise homebuilder — Tricia Cohen of Cubic Quarters, another company featured in The Bee’s May investigation. That company that promised customers it would replace their vanquished homes with inexpensive pre-fabricated structures made from steel in China.

    Several customers told The Bee that Cubic Quarters, like Aurora Ridge, collected payments totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars without finishing their homes.

    The Bee’s investigation revealed that before she became an unlicensed homebuilder in Paradise, several of Cohen’s former business partners from around the country said she took tens of thousands of dollars from them and never paid them back. Soderling, a Bay Area contractor with a record of criminal convictions going back decades, was charged with a felony count of contracting without a license in a declared disaster zone and misdemeanor charges of false advertisement and charging customers down payments that exceeded the state maximum of $1,000.

    Maggie Corron, who says she paid Aurora about $228,000 for an unfinished home, called the indictment “wonderful news.” She said the home was supposed to cost about $300,000 to rebuild, but the problems with Aurora have ballooned the cost to more than $400,000. She just obtained a contractor’s bid of $220,000 to finish the job “and that’s just bare bones.”

    https://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/article265381231.html

    Backgrounder includes income tax evasion in 2011 and S&L fraud back in the ’80s. Lucky ducky keeps getting second chances, for some reason.

  108. 108.

    Geminid

    @JPL: A poll in May produced for Atlanta5 TV (I think) showed Kemp ahead and Walker behind  among the same 1300 person pool. The differential may lessen, but this told me that there may be some ticket splitting, possibly enough for both Warnock and Kemp to win.

    Kemp and Georgia Republicans seem to have a unified party. This could change some if a certain stable genius decides to stick his small fingers in the peach pie. But the guy is distracted and may not get around to undermining Kemp.

    I still have hopes he’ll try to sandbag DeSantis.

  110. 110.

    Timill

    @kalakal: Yup. And: “His Britannic Majesty’s Secretary of State Requests and requires in the Name of His Majesty all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance, and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary.”

    Which reminds me that I must renew mine…

  114. 114.

    Geminid

    @Jinchi: It sounds like some Russian soldiers have had enough of Putin’s war. Evidently the Ukrainian army also captured a high ranking general, maybe the front commander.

  116. 116.

    trollhattan

    @C Stars: Agreed, how cynical do you have to be, before rushing to a disaster site and making a fast buck by defrauding people who lost everything but their very lives (and TBF, some survivors also lost family members and pets)? Monsters.

    I await defense attorneys asking for a venue change so he can get a “fair Jury.” Russia? How does Russia sound?

  118. 118.

    WaterGirl

    @JPL: I think Stacey is smart enough to make a change if what she’s doing isn’t getting her the lead.

    Have you considered volunteering for the campaign, if you’re not already?  Surely that would give you access to someone you could share your thoughts with, re what’s working and what’s not.

  119. 119.

    trollhattan

    @Citizen Alan:

    I think he’s making a funny. The only tussle California statehouse Republicans have left is whether they can erode the Democratic supermajority to force more votes, more often, and override vetoes (that one is just theoretical).

  120. 120.

    kalakal

    @trollhattan:

    It was the line from Hamlet that broke me.

    I’m actually surprised how this has affected me, I’ve never been that keen on the monarchy as an institution but her passing has really made me realise how much she’s been part of the background to my world for over 60 years

    I always admired her sense of duty, and to carry that sense of commitment  for 70 years is incredible.  I also thought she must have been terrific with people, when your job has involved dealing with people like Trump, Thatcher, Ceausescu and you keep going you’ve got to have had something. It was confirmed to me when I read David Notts’ account of his time running a trauma centre in Aleppo

    https://twitter.com/doctor_oxford/status/1567877435512815618?s=20&t=KkDAJvbp2Pazbvcpr8iFvw

    Hasn’t converted me to being an ardent monarchist but I can admire and respect someone who did a very difficult job so well and for so long. Compare and contrast that commitment to most inheritors of great privilege. She was certainly a class act who brought a much needed dignity to the world stage, much as Obama did compared to his predecessor let alone his odious successor.

    @HumboldtBlue:  Thanks, it’ll be a sight to see I’m sure. Organising D-Day was probably a simpler task

  122. 122.

    Origuy

    @raven: I saw the original when I was in Rome in July. I knew the myth, but I didn’t know about the Mussolini connection. I took a picture of the plaque in the museum, it says 5th Century BC.

  124. 124.

    WaterGirl

    So if the DOJ and Trump both have to send something to the court TODAY, can they both file at midnight?  Or is it an end of business day kind of thing?  Do they play a game of chicken because no one wants to release theirs first?

  127. 127.

    Kelly

    @WaterGirl: We have lots of ice for the fridge and dry ice for the freezer

    No generator

    We have our folding A-frame trailer with propane stove and fridge

    Mrs Kelly cooked a bunch of stuff yesterday that we can eat cold

  130. 130.

    Geminid

    @Baud: New Georgia voter registrations are a wild card. The Atlanta TV5 poll showed Kemp ahead among the cohort 50 years and older, and Abrams leading among registered voters 49 and younger. The latter group has more unregistered voters and the gap could be erased if enough of them are registered by October when the voting rolls are closed .

  131. 131.

    kalakal

    @Origuy: I’ve never seen the real thing, just pictures but also knew the myth. Never heard of the Mussolini copied, that’s really interesting.

    A statue that always fascinated me is the Piraeus Lion outside The Armory in Venice. It dates back to 380bc and was looted by Venetians in 1687 from Piraeus(Athens). What makes it fascinating is it’s got a load of 11century Scandinavian runes carved into it, probably by members of the Varangian guard. It’s a great mixture of history and cultures in one object, classical Greece, Viking graffiti and an Italian renaissance setting.

  132. 132.

    kalakal

    @Origuy: I’ve never seen the real thing, just pictures but also knew the myth. Never heard of the Mussolini copied, that’s really interesting.

    A statue that always fascinated me is the Piraeus Lion outside The Armory in Venice. It dates back to 380bc and was looted by Venetians in 1687 from Piraeus(Athens). What makes it fascinating is it’s got a load of 11century Scandinavian runes carved into it, probably by members of the Varangian guard. It’s a great mixture of history and cultures in one object, classical Greece, Viking graffiti and an Italian renaissance setting.

  134. 134.

    JPL

    @Geminid: The GA economy is good which is why you have to target specific issues.  Early on Stacey targeted Medicaid expansion, and polls were closer then

    Honestly, the ads should focus on the issue rather than her.   IMO

  135. 135.

    caphilldcne

    @raven: this is the weirdest thing. I lived in Rome NY from age 12-14 and visited the Beeches for special occasions but have no memory of this. But I’m certain I’ve seen a Capitoline wolf in Rome Italy when was 7. Nowadays my folks are in Alabama and I’m wondering if visiting Rome, GA should be on my bucket list??

  136. 136.

    WaterGirl

    @Kelly:  Sounds like you have a plan, and obviously this isn’t your first rodeo.

    If you get inspired and ever want to write up a little something about what it’s like to live with the risk fo fire, and fire prevention like this, and how/why it’s worth it or whatever you might come up with, let me know.

  137. 137.

    zhena gogolia

    Okay, if you were wondering which way Tapper was going to jump, here it is:

    CNN is currently doing a panel discussion about if Biden should invite Trump to the Queen's funeral. Jake Tapper says it would be "clever" for Biden to do it. pic.twitter.com/PB6vQK9FpL— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 9, 2022

  138. 138.

    JWR

    @WaterGirl:

    So if the DOJ and Trump both have to send something to the court TODAY, can they both file at midnight?

    Pretty sure I heard it was a Midnight deadline, and not an end of working day sort of thing.

  148. 148.

    Dan B

    @Kelly: The light in Seattle is golden orange and the Cascades are completely obscured.  It’s gray almost to the zenith.  That’s 250+ miles to the north of you, for non PNW folks.

  149. 149.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud: I don’t think anyone knows yet. They are just filling up airtime with this incredibly vacuous pap. Who the hell cares? Jeff Zeleny comes off really well too. “It would be the forgiving thing to do, but I don’t expect Biden to do it,” or something like that, just to make Biden look bad.

  151. 151.

    Geminid

    @JPL: Virginia Democrats made Medicaid expansion a winning issue in 2017. They almost flipped the House of Delegates even though they were fighting on a Republican drawn map. The next legislative session 3 Republican Senators and 10 Delegates crossed over and helped Democrats put it through.

    I hope Abrams can center this issue in Georgia voters’ minds. A lot of people want Medicaid expansion, including health care professionals.

  157. 157.

    Steeplejack

    I have seen the jokes about the Queen’s remaining corgis being shot (“tiny little blindfolds”) because she didn’t want to leave any behind, but today I was relieved to see that instead they are now dowager corgis. Whew!

    (I don’t think there are many, if any, left, because the Queen had been letting the pack shrink by attrition.)

  160. 160.

    JPL

    @Geminid: True.  Stacey was a moderate and is trying to find her way, but that was a winning issue.   She needs to concentrate on that.   My concern is that she pulls down Warnock.

    As I have been clear, I live just north of Atlanta, and it has been interesting to see the change.   Although I am going to lose Lucy, I think the new drawn district flips in the next election.  I’ve knocked on lots of doors, and it’s coming, the republicans won’t be able to gerrymander their way our of it.  imo

  163. 163.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl: Acyn posted an even worse one, where he’s complaining about MSNBC analysts attacking Trump’s lawyers. Or I guess it’s because they predicted TFG wouldn’t get his special master.

    Tapper: A bunch of MSNBC legal commentators attacked you. Have they apologized at all…. I guess some legal commentators have a difficult time stripping out the politics pic.twitter.com/bgrjHCIb9A— Acyn (@Acyn) September 9, 2022

  167. 167.

    SmallAxe

    @WaterGirl: good stuff, here for it. We can definitely win both the Gov and Senate seat here and we’re going up against arguably the worst maga’s got

  169. 169.

    CaseyL

    I don’t understand why Stacey Abrams isn’t doing better; and simply can’t get my mind around how well Walker is doing against Warnock.  Are Georgians nuts?

    It’s very worrisome, because we know Kemp rigged the gubernatorial election last time, since he was the head of the state’s Elections office (I am to this day gobsmacked there was no pressure or push to make him resign the post first). There’s no reason to think he won’t pull the same crap this time.

    Don’t know about Florida. DeSantis is very popular there, God knows why.

    But Texas is possible, I think.  Abbott has screwed the pooch over enough big issues that maybe, just maybe, people will vote their own interests and well being this time.

  170. 170.

    WaterGirl

    @Leslie:

    I would love for all of that to be true, but this seems like a huge assumption on his part:

    If Ukraine got him, they overran his headquarters and all the paper & electronic records held there…intact.

    Do we know how he was captured, and where?

    Slightly related, do we know who he got the Lt. uniform from?  Is some Russian soldier without clothes?  Or stuck with a General’s uniform?

  171. 171.

    Lyrebird

    @Leslie: That’s the Lt General that tried to disguise himself and run away, right?  Even if the information they got is only a tenth of what Terlenko is thinking, still a BFD, yes.

  172. 172.

    Baud

    @JPL:

    I’ve knocked on lots of doors, and it’s coming, the republicans won’t be able to gerrymander their way our of it.  imo

     
    👍

  174. 174.

    Lyrebird

    @zhena gogolia: I can’t keep up with you and Baud, but I sure wish these news networks would hire YOU over people who would waste the attention of thousands on petty conniving vacuous pap.

     

    ETA: and I have said the same, without your great phrase though, to or about all the front pagers, too, to be clear.

  175. 175.

    kalakal

    @zhena gogolia: FFS! The man is loathed and despised in the UK. He’d be as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit*.

    Tapper is a wart.

    *fun fact. A trump is UK slang for a fart

  176. 176.

    caphilldcne

    @The Thin Black Duke: Tapper’s a weird person. He was senior editor of Washington DC’s City Paper (pretty alternative at the time) which is how I remember him or at least first came across him. He also did that date with Monica Lewinsky article that I thought was totally a jerk move. So I basically think the guy’s an inauthentic ambitious dick who’s successfully used some alterna credentials to move into the highest levels of journalism while totally selling out.

  178. 178.

    zhena gogolia

    @phdesmond: He’s an excellent actor. His performance as Tony Blair in The Queen is amazing. Almost as good as Roger Allam in the same film.

  183. 183.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @zhena gogolia: Jesus, wouldn’t it have been more dignified to just offer on air to cut John Malone’s grass, or detail his car?

    It’s been a while, but I’ve lost count of how many times CNN has tried to, so to speak, triangulate against MSNBC. More times than some NBC suit has tried to pull the network to the right. It never works in either case.

    ETA: Trying to picture Chuck Rosenberg or Joyce Vance in “attack” mode

  184. 184.

    Geminid

    @CaseyL: Kemp has a couple factors in his favor. For one, Georgia has a dynamic, growing economy and a fiscally sound state government. Rightly or wrongly, this is bound to rub off some on an incumbent Governor.

    And, Kemp is white and male while Abrams is Black and female. That’s probably worth a couple points at least.

  185. 185.

    Steeplejack

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    LOL, trying to picture Chuck Rosenberg in anything but “stoic boulder” mode. Last week Stephanie Ruhle brought him up short on something, and I think his eyes widened about a quarter of an inch. Equivalent to a spit-take from anyone else.

  186. 186.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Kelly: Yeah, it’s mostly high smoke, obscuring the sun, but not on the ground smoke where you have to mask up to walk 20 feet.

  189. 189.

    Burnspbesq

    @kalakal:

    It was the line from Hamlet that broke me.

    Yes, that was really good. The room suddenly got dusty on this Irish Republican.

  190. 190.

    Amir Khalid

    @zhena gogolia:

    Dear me. It’s no secret that the Queen detested Trump, and Britons hate him for how rude he was to Her Majesty when he visited Britain. He’s the last person you’d want in a US delegation to her state funeral.

  194. 194.

    bbleh

    @WaterGirl: Naw that’s just the deadline.  They file when they’re ready, each gets copies, they get to chew it over, nothing is done for days afterward, it’s all very orderly and civilized.

  197. 197.

    Calouste

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The US is only going to get two invites, and they are going to the Bidens. The chapel at Windsor Castle where the funeral service will be holds 800 people, and there are going to be a lot of folks to invite. The Queen had a large family, all the former Prime Ministers, all kinds of royals from around the world, reigning or not, etc, etc.

  201. 201.

    WaterGirl

    @bbleh:

    Naw that’s just the deadline.  They file when they’re ready, each gets copies, they get to chew it over, nothing is done for days afterward, it’s all very orderly and civilized.

    Oh, okay, disappointing, darn.  In that order!

  204. 204.

    Soprano2

    @Baud: They’ve been experimenting with that pitch clock in the minor leagues for a couple of years now. They run it but don’t actually enforce it.

  205. 205.

    James E Powell

    If memory serves, I’ve got some kind of bet with (I think) WaterGirl on Beto.  I forget the terms.

    I’d love to lose, but I just don’t see it happening. Texas is another country.

  207. 207.

    Skepticat

    I’m a proofreader, and we have quite a few political clients. An overwhelming number of their ads and walk cards are focusing very strongly on Roe v. Wade. At one point long ago, I thought overturning R v. W would happen, but I thought I might rob the Rethuglicans of one of their major draws; little did I know it would be used as such a strong cudgel against them. Thank goodness.

  209. 209.

    bbleh

    So apparently briefs filed, nominees named, and I am VERY disappointed that NONE of my suggestions were adopted.

    And now we will see how Trump’s Hand-Picked Judge decides.

  210. 210.

    Eibeinaka

    @HumboldtBlue:

    The chunk of Welsh he speaks “Yma o hyd” is “We are still here”.

    Which is also the title of a Welsh folk song by Daffyd Iwan from the early eighties.

    It has become a song sung by the Welsh fans before International football games, and is beloved by the players, even those who only speak English.

    In the summer, Daffyd Iwan sang it before a World cup qualifier in Cardiff. Cardiff, although capital of Wales, is probably the least likely place to find Welsh speakers in the country, and traditionally football fans would be those less inclined to use Welsh.

    The sight of a whole football crowd in Cardiff singing in Welsh along with him moved him to tears.

    https://youtu.be/emPhXdwhQoE

  212. 212.

    leeleeFL

    @WaterGirl: My Mom and I, ( whiter than white ) were eating dinner in  a restaurant in FL in 2008, talking about Barack and Michelle.  A Black couple across from us asked us if we really thought he could win.  My Mom looked them dead in the face and told them he had to win!  He was her second chance at a Roosevelt, and she won the last time she voted for one!

    The couple were so surprised, the husband kept saying if she feels like that, maybe Barack has a chance!

    I love that memory!

  214. 214.

    GoBlueInOak

    You’re crazy. We aren’t winning any of them.

    Beto has a very sizeable polling gap against Abbott & he’s been totally unable to narrow it.

    Ditto Kemp vs Abrams.  Huge gap for Team Blue. She’s losing that race and it won’t be close.

    Florida is the closest of the 3, but the fossil known as Crist is running behind Voldemort with only two months left to go & Florida is not a swing state anymore. It’s pure hillbilly wingnuttery & De Santis as an incumbent has it in the bag.

    It’s a waste of money supporting these races at this point.

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