• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Petty moves from a petty man.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Let me file that under fuck it.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Consistently wrong since 2002

An almost top 10,000 blog!

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Some Call It Progress

Some Call It Progress

by Betty Cracker|  July 25, 202312:57 pm| 148 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Open Threads, Politics

FacebookTweetEmail

If you’re old school online, you may remember that time when mansplainy Marxist chud Freddie deBoer got ridiculed by some feminists and seemed to set off on the well-trodden, horseshoe-shaped path toward the land of “maybe conservatives have a point about this cancel culture thing” blah blah blah.

deBoer lags behind fellow pilgrims (Greenwald, Taibbi, etc.) who have ritually swallowed the red pill at the opposite end. Meanwhile, he has resurfaced at New York Mag, of all places, to plant a signpost, more in sorrow than anger, at least for now. The title of the piece is “AOC Is Just a Regular Old Democrat Now.”

See, AOC endorsed Biden on “Pod Save America,” and the congresswoman has failed to distribute the socialist goodies that are languishing in her handbag. So she’s a sellout.

Typically, when I criticize Ocasio-Cortez, the response is not to argue that she has actually acted deftly as a politician, much less that she’s demonstrated any consistency between her statements and her actions. Instead, I’m constantly told that the problem lies in expecting anything from her at all. Hey, she’s just one Congresswoman! She’s hemmed in by her party and an undemocratic system! She’s constrained by capitalism! Again and again, I’ve been told that asking Ocasio-Cortez for minimal ideological consistency or, even worse, results, is simply to ask too much.

Shades of conjured Tom Friedman taxi drivers and Maureen Dowd siblings haunt that paragraph. I suspect deBoer’s correspondents presented reasonable arguments about the limited power of a single representative among 435, the function of consensus and coalition within democratic systems, the structural advantages the U.S. Constitution provides to land masses, dark money in U.S. politics, etc.

I don’t believe deBoer is “constantly told that the problem lies in expecting anything from her at all,” except maybe by the chorus of strawmen in his head. Conveniently, the chorus segues to the central thesis:

But this defense immediately suggests a rather damning question: if AOC never had a chance to do anything… what have we been celebrating her for? Why has she been subject to such immense, embarrassing hagiography? And if the response to every complaint about a lack of results is to say that we should never have expected anything in the first place, what was the point of nominating her instead of Joe Crowley, the 10-term Democratic machine politician she displaced?

Most people outside deBoer’s immediate ideological echo chamber did not in fact indulge in the “immense, embarrassing hagiography.” It’s true that as a youthful, photogenic, social media savvy, working-class House rep, AOC inspired many young voters, as Rep. Maxwell Frost does now.

This is a good thing! We want left-leaning young voters to feel that they are represented and have a stake because Democrats champion the issues they care about. It’s imperative because Gen Z tends to focus on issues rather than parties.

As for the point of nominating AOC over Crowley, well, arguably, that’s one part of the explanation for how the party moved in a progressive direction, which it inarguably has. The center of the Democratic Party has shifted to the left since 2008. It’s a fact.

We Democratic Party voters did that by electing more progressive representatives who moved the coalition to the left. Not in a straight line; it doesn’t work that way. But the center of gravity shifted.

After trashing AOC for being a Democrat, deBoer goes full heretic and expands his criticism even unto Bernie Sanders! See, deBoer was told that even if Sanders lost the primary in 2016, the campaign would establish “durable lefty muscle” within the Democratic Party.

And you know what, it did! It’s not solely due to Sanders, of course, but he and others did inspire lefty candidates and voters who stuck with the party and therefore have a voice in its direction.

Well, I think the jury has come back in: the increased visibility of a few socialist politicians has not made far-left Democratic power any more achievable or scalable.

“Far-left” and “socialist” are the load-bearing descriptors there, but still, there are none so blind as those who will not see. deBoer concludes by saying AOC was a symbol and that his disappointment in her signifies that “it’s going to take more than symbols.”

Well, good morning, starshine. The earth says hello!

I don’t know for sure what this epiphany portends for deBoer. Maybe he’ll round that curve eventually. Maybe not. I don’t much care. But I’m confident the rest of us regular old Democrats will soldier on.

Shoot, I’m old enough to remember when Nancy Pelosi was considered a far-left radical — before party consensus caught up and “transformed” her into the regular old Democrat who became the first woman Speaker of the House. It’s the way of things. Some call it progress!

Open thread.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Partisanship as a determinant of health
Next Post: Take the W — or the L (Open Thread) »

Reader Interactions

148Comments

  1. 1.

    Chetan Murthy

    July 25, 2023 at 1:06 pm

    Huh.  AFter his being some of the things you recount, BC, I remember FdB had a bit of a mental  breakdown, and wrote a farewell letter saying he was going to stop blogging for his health.  Gosh, it seems like he’s gone back on that.

    I fully-agree with everything you write, and furthermore, these quotes are clear evidence the gaslighter is cherry-picking and purposely slanting AOC’s positions.  I’m rabidlly left-wing, and sure, I want more/more/MORE NOW! but I’m not an IDIOT (unlike FdB obvs) and I know that you get there incrementally.  AOC does too, and that’s GOOD!

    FdB OTOH,  obviously is in the “burn it all down, at least then I’ll be on top” crowd.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    July 25, 2023 at 1:06 pm

    People who hate Democrats always fail upwards in our media culture.

  3. 3.

    Paul in KY

    July 25, 2023 at 1:07 pm

    AOC knows what’s best for America! Good on her!

  4. 4.

    rikyrah

    July 25, 2023 at 1:08 pm

    @Baud:

     

    People who hate Democrats always fail upwards in our media culture.

     

    Tell it again.

  5. 5.

    rikyrah

    July 25, 2023 at 1:09 pm

    Reposting:

     

     

    I honestly believe it was the pilots saying that they would strike with the drivers that brought UPS back to the table. They were all geared up to use SCAB truck drivers.

    SCAB Pilots? No.

    Really American  (@ReallyAmerican1) tweeted at 11:13 AM on Tue, Jul 25, 2023:
    BREAKING: UPS and the Teamsters have just struck a deal in what the Teamsters are calling “the most historic tentative agreement for workers in the history of @UPS, protecting and rewarding more than 340,000 UPS Teamsters nationwide.”

    The tentative agreement, which still must be… https://t.co/sFoU0lRT38
    (https://twitter.com/ReallyAmerican1/status/1683873139879444480?t=TPZEMRrf2H87Bk0ujKpDQA&s=03)

  6. 6.

    West of the Rockies

    July 25, 2023 at 1:09 pm

    I had the same thought regarding “time and time again…”

    Well, DeBore remains consistent.   He continues to think he’s one of the ultra cool kids (but he has too much integrity, don’t you know, to care about that).

    He’s just trying to enlighten a world of disappointing dunces while making us weep for joy at his wordcraft.

  7. 7.

    counterfactual

    July 25, 2023 at 1:10 pm

    I don’t follow AOC’s career closely, but I have the impression her goal is Committee Chair then Speaker of the House, rather than a font of legislation.

  8. 8.

    emmyelle

    July 25, 2023 at 1:10 pm

    Just FYI, I heard that episode of PSA and I would not call AOC’s non-non-endorsement of Biden and actual endorsement. She was careful to leave the door open to endorsing some other government-hating left-wing garbage salesperson who is less anti-semetic than RFK.

  9. 9.

    BR

    July 25, 2023 at 1:11 pm

    As someone who wasn’t much of a fan of AOC in her early days, I think she certainly has a good chance of being president one day if she wants to. I don’t get the sense that anyone has been as capable of communicating with an enormous audience of young people and at the same time does the work and asks really serious and important questions in hearings. (Maybe because she can command so much alternative media, she doesn’t need to pound her fist at hearings like everyone else in congress.)

  10. 10.

    Baud

    July 25, 2023 at 1:12 pm

    @emmyelle:

    That’s a pretty small universe of people though.

  11. 11.

    emmyelle

    July 25, 2023 at 1:13 pm

    @Baud: Unfortunately, the population is not zero.

  12. 12.

    Gravenstone

    July 25, 2023 at 1:13 pm

    One of John’s rare missteps to invite that jackass here back in the day. Oh and Freddy, the “far left” was never going to get scalable power. It’s far more difficult to steer a broad coalition one direction than it is to coopt and expand a willing cult (eg. Republicans).

  13. 13.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    July 25, 2023 at 1:14 pm

    I don’t believe deBoer is “constantly told that the problem lies in expecting anything from her at all,” except maybe by the chorus of strawmen in his head.

    It’s the uncharitable interpretation of “willing to work with others to get anything done at all.”

  14. 14.

    lowtechcyclist

    July 25, 2023 at 1:16 pm

    Hell, we’ve moved distinctly left just since 2019!  Biden’s governed as a liberal, and been quite successful at it. I’ll be damned if I know what deBoer is upset about, nor do I care. He can let the door hit him on the way out, so long as he kindly disappears.

    And AOC, as one Congressperson out of 535, can only move the Democratic Party to the left by herself but so far. That’s bloomin’ obvious.  But she’s an excellent communicator, and if young voters can identify with and be inspired by her, and vote in greater numbers because of her, then she’s doing way better than a replacement-level Democrat like Crowley.

  15. 15.

    Baud

    July 25, 2023 at 1:16 pm

    I don’t follow AOC that closely, but I get the impression people like Freddie wanted her to be the leader of the Dem version of the Freedom Caucus, and it’s true she hasn’t done that.

  16. 16.

    Eolirin

    July 25, 2023 at 1:17 pm

    @BR: I was under the impression that she didn’t really have to do any fundraising and that’s a large part of why she’s able to be much more prepared at hearings.

    Now that’s more an indictment of the way elections get run in this country than a criticism of her but it’s also a bit of a free rider thing, given that the system is what it is at the moment.

  17. 17.

    MattF

    July 25, 2023 at 1:19 pm

    DeBoer labors away at justifying his opinions. Not interesting to me.

  18. 18.

    BellyCat

    July 25, 2023 at 1:19 pm

    AOC was elected by espousing progressive goals that people wanted to hear and achieve. AOC is thriving because she sensibly realized that the best way to achieve these goals is by building coalitions among her colleagues rather than being ideologically inflexible and, thus, largely isolated (see Bernie Sanders).

    Let not the perfect get in the way of the good when making “the sausage”! I was initially and am increasingly impressed with her.

  19. 19.

    Old School

    July 25, 2023 at 1:19 pm

    If you’re old school online,

    I’m Old School online!  (Which isn’t quite the same thing.)

  20. 20.

    Old Man Shadow

    July 25, 2023 at 1:20 pm

    I was born in 1974.

    I would argue that Joe Biden’s actions have made him the most left-leaning president of my lifetime.

    That’s not to say that he’s progressive or perfect at all. He definitely has flaws. But he has moved left as he has been pushed by Democratic voters. Sometimes that meets the wall of Republican (and Manchin/Sinema) Obstruction, but he has gotten a lot of what he wants passed into law.

    I too would love to have glorious revolution from people into single payer health care, free university, mandated paid parental leave, public preschools for all, etc. But enough of my fellow Americans disagree with me that it’s going to be difficult to do until a large majority of them are on board with that agenda.

    So take the “W’s” you can, man.

  21. 21.

    matt

    July 25, 2023 at 1:20 pm

    If Sanders had hired better people maybe he would have established more muscle in the party. The brie lady and David Sirota aren’t the kind of people who will do that for ya.

  22. 22.

    rikyrah

    July 25, 2023 at 1:20 pm

    @Baud:

    I don’t follow AOC that closely, but I get the impression people like Freddie wanted her to be the leader of the Dem version of the Freedom Caucus, and it’s true she hasn’t done that.

     

    Part of that group that is mad that the leftists have not been allowed to take over the Democratic Party in the same way the lunatics on the right control the GOP.  I consider myself a mainstream Democrat.

    And, I’m quite satisfied with what President Biden and his Administration are doing.

    I’m about people passing legislation.

    Less AOC

    More Lauren Underwood.

  23. 23.

    Yarrow

    July 25, 2023 at 1:20 pm

    If you’re old school online, you may remember that time when mansplainy Marxist chud Freddie deBoer

    I thought you were going to talk about when he was a front pager here.

  24. 24.

    narya

    July 25, 2023 at 1:21 pm

    In related-if-you-squint-reallllly-hard news, my local brewery does a collaboration beer with some local black-owned businesses/brewers. The name for the line of beers is “Freedomish,” and honors Juneteenth; the specific beer each year gets its own name and formula, though each has been a saison. This year’s collaboration is called “Reclaiming My Time,” and it includes spelt, peach, cranberry, and hibiscus, and I am here to report that is extremely tasty and refreshing

    ETA: and it explicitly honors Maxine Waters on the label.

  25. 25.

    Baud

    July 25, 2023 at 1:23 pm

    @Yarrow:

    My hope is that period got lost during the BJ Armageddon.

  26. 26.

    BruceFromOhio

    July 25, 2023 at 1:23 pm

    @Baud: This. There 218 Republicans fucking up the legislative works, but somehow its the Democrats who block advancement of progressive ideals in government.

  27. 27.

    kindness

    July 25, 2023 at 1:24 pm

    President Uncle Joe has been a Godsend.  He’s done so much to further the cause with such little margins for error.  The trolls that say he (or any of his supporters) aren’t liberal enough, are just trolls at this point.

  28. 28.

    schrodingers_cat

    July 25, 2023 at 1:26 pm

    @rikyrah: Seconded. Biden’s doing a great job as is Underwood.

    Going to watch Oppenheimer this afternoon. Will write my thoughts about it, later.

  29. 29.

    VOR

    July 25, 2023 at 1:26 pm

    I remember dreading FdB’s contributions here because he never used 1 word when he could use 10. He was a challenge to read.

    I suspect the real problem some people have with AOC is that she is working within the system, not simply standing on the sidelines and throwing bombs. There are a lot of people who want an ineffective Democratic party so the Republicans don’t look so dysfunctional.

    IMHO under Biden the Democratic party has accomplished a surprising amount given the fanatical opposition. Have they gotten everything? Hell no, which means keep going. Get what you can and keep moving forward. To use a football analogy, don’t expect a touchdown in one play, you have to keep squeezing out first downs.

  30. 30.

    dc

    July 25, 2023 at 1:26 pm

    What a complete and total a**hole this guy is. How does he get published?

  31. 31.

    dc

    July 25, 2023 at 1:28 pm

    AOC is in Congress to get stuff done. She does take stands that may be ridiculed as symbolic (not by me), but she also gets plenty of what can get done done.

  32. 32.

    schrodingers_cat

    July 25, 2023 at 1:28 pm

    @dc: He was a FPer at Balloon Juice as well.

  33. 33.

    Yarrow

    July 25, 2023 at 1:28 pm

    @Baud: Nope.

  34. 34.

    Citizen_X

    July 25, 2023 at 1:28 pm

    @narya: “Reclaiming My Time” is a great beer name for that series! And it sounds refreshing.

  35. 35.

    Baud

    July 25, 2023 at 1:29 pm

    I’ve been told that asking Ocasio-Cortez for minimal ideological consistency or, even worse, results, is simply to ask too much.

    Narrator: He has not been told that.

    I am curious though, what ideological inconsistency is he saying AOC engaged in? I’m not curious enough to give him an undeserved click, but if anyone knows, please let me know.

  36. 36.

    Yarrow

    July 25, 2023 at 1:31 pm

    @Baud:  Maybe her “ideological inconsistency” is that she doesn’t give him the time of day. A lot of these guys seem to have that issue with women.

  37. 37.

    Xavier

    July 25, 2023 at 1:32 pm

    @Gravenstone: It’s far easier to prevent things from being done than it is to do things. That’s the Republicans’ super power.

  38. 38.

    FelonyGovt

    July 25, 2023 at 1:32 pm

    @rikyrah: Labor unions are really gaining strength by sticking together. The writers and SAG/AFTRA strikers are being supported by below-the-line crafts in entertainment, like set decorators, lighting techs, etc. In turn the striking writers and actors are supporting striking hotel workers here in LA.

  39. 39.

    Betty Cracker

    July 25, 2023 at 1:34 pm

    @rikyrah: More of both would be great.

  40. 40.

    BR

    July 25, 2023 at 1:34 pm

    @VOR: ​
    Exactly. For a lot of people who make their money by being angry online, being contrarian is the only acceptable approach. If you cooperate and compromise, which is required in democracy, you aren’t ideologically pure anymore and can’t sell any outrage to your audience anymore.

  41. 41.

    Ruviana

    July 25, 2023 at 1:34 pm

    Bless you Betty, I wanted to read a take-down of Freddie when I saw the tweet!

  42. 42.

    Baud

    July 25, 2023 at 1:35 pm

    OT, for BC

     

    Laffy
    @[email protected]
    Things are going swimmingly!

    “#DeSantis lets go of more than 1/3 of campaign staff as reset continues

    … a total of 38 jobs shed across an array of departments.” #2024election https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/25/desantis-lets-go-of-more-than-1-3-of-campaign-staff-as-reset-continues-00108046

    POLITICO · 13m
    DeSantis lets go of more than 1/3 of campaign staff as reset continues

  43. 43.

    Hob

    July 25, 2023 at 1:35 pm

    Looking at deBoer’s brief bio on Wikipedia, I was horrified to find out that he has taught both high school and college. Every single thing I’ve ever seen him write makes him seem like he would be pure hell to have as a teacher, just on a personal level— even if he hadn’t written a whole book about how The Bell Curve is basically right and some kids just aren’t worth teaching.

  44. 44.

    Betty Cracker

    July 25, 2023 at 1:39 pm

    @Baud: I’m hoping Pushaw gets pushed overboard. She seems like a bunny boiler.

  45. 45.

    BR

    July 25, 2023 at 1:39 pm

    @Hob: ​
    Oh wow. He really is a candidate for horseshoe theory.

  46. 46.

    Yarrow

    July 25, 2023 at 1:41 pm

    @Betty Cracker:  If DeSantis flames out and has to come back to Florida he’s going to take it out on you guys. Hard to imagine how things can get worse but it seems like they always find a way.

  47. 47.

    lowtechcyclist

    July 25, 2023 at 1:42 pm

    @Eolirin:

    I was under the impression that she didn’t really have to do any fundraising and that’s a large part of why she’s able to be much more prepared at hearings.

    True, but there’s at least a hundred Dem Congresscritters who are in extremely safe districts; she isn’t some rare case here.  A bunch of them could do this.

  48. 48.

    Bex

    July 25, 2023 at 1:42 pm

    @Baud: Things went even more swimmingly this a.m.    https://theguardian.com/2023/jul/25/ron-desantis-car-accident-presidential-campaign-florida-tennessee

  49. 49.

    Hoodie

    July 25, 2023 at 1:43 pm

    I was happy forgetting that the Freddie the Bore existed.   As for AOC, she gave a fairly limp endorsement of Biden when interviewed for PSA, i.e., “considering the current options” (RFK, Jr., last time I checked).

  50. 50.

    Brachiator

    July 25, 2023 at 1:44 pm

    I don’t believe deBoer is “constantly told that the problem lies in expecting anything from her at all,” except maybe by the chorus of strawmen in his head.

    I stand and applaud this beautiful put down.

    Little Freddie is the epitome of someone with nothing interesting to say who found a way to rise within the punditocracy. And once lodged there, he continues to find people who will employ him.

  51. 51.

    trollhattan

    July 25, 2023 at 1:45 pm

    @Baud: If I disappear from the water surface is that a reset of my swim?

  52. 52.

    Baud

    July 25, 2023 at 1:46 pm

    @lowtechcyclist:

    I don’t know what AOC’s ActBlue haul is, but my guess is that she gets a lot of money just for being herself. Most other Dems aren’t so well known.

  53. 53.

    trollhattan

    July 25, 2023 at 1:47 pm

    @Hoodie: Maryanne Williamson appears, briefly, waves and then vanishes, leaving a wisp of incense smoke and glitter.

  54. 54.

    emmyelle

    July 25, 2023 at 1:51 pm

    @matt: If Sanders knew what “better people” meant, and who “better people” would be, he would not be Bernie Sanders.

    This guy fundamentally hates the idea that the outcome of politics should be governing and that doing politics right requires actual skills, knowledge, and competence.

  55. 55.

    emmyelle

    July 25, 2023 at 1:51 pm

    @Hoodie: It was incredibly weak, and highly conditional. then she gave Cornell West a tongue bath.

  56. 56.

    Captain C

    July 25, 2023 at 1:52 pm

    @Baud:

    what ideological inconsistency is he saying AOC engaged in?

    Not giving Freddie everything he wants, at the instant he wants it, in the way that he wants it, even if it contradicts what he wanted a minute nanosecond ago, and even if, especially if, he doesn’t have a clue about what he actually wants.

  57. 57.

    p.a.

    July 25, 2023 at 1:52 pm

    I think part of the problem certain people have with AOC is that she’s a woman of color who is very effective at internet ballkicking others’ posted idiocy.  It’s not, of course, the racism/sexism/baldface lies that are the problem.  It’s her responses.  Very uncivil!

  58. 58.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 25, 2023 at 1:52 pm

    @Gravenstone: I guess deBoer is one of those people who thinks the American masses would go socialist if only we stopped pushing race and gender and sex issues and forthrightly endorsed white man socialism.

  59. 59.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    July 25, 2023 at 1:52 pm

    @lowtechcyclist:

    As a prominent D voice, I observe that I like her speaking pattern – its a lot more more down-to-earth and less scoldy than Elizabeth Warren (who grates on my nerves).

  60. 60.

    Albatrossity

    July 25, 2023 at 1:52 pm

    If only the GOP had a young, charismatic, media-savvy politician that DeBore could lionize. Alas, they only have one George Santos, and a pile of Chuck Grassleys.

  61. 61.

    Eolirin

    July 25, 2023 at 1:53 pm

    @FelonyGovt: Without solidarity, at a cultural level, the only possible outcome for a society is brutal and ugly for most.

    We only have a chance of making a more equal and less awful world if we’re willing to look out for each other.

    I think the younger generations increasingly get this. And I think it terrifies those with power right now.

  62. 62.

    Sure Lurkalot

    July 25, 2023 at 1:55 pm

    @Gravenstone:

    It’s far more difficult to steer a broad coalition one direction than it is to coopt and expand a willing cult (eg. Republicans).

    Interesting comment! I always get in a chicken and egg argument with myself over Republicans. How did their primary voters get so big fuck nuts? Did the pols drive them there to the point of no return or vice versa?

  63. 63.

    Eolirin

    July 25, 2023 at 1:56 pm

    @lowtechcyclist: A bunch of those dems in safe districts still spend a whole lot of time fundraising for other Dems. And some of them do the prep work too. AOC isn’t the only one coming to hearings prepared. But it’s a lot easier if you’re not part of the money making machine.

  64. 64.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    July 25, 2023 at 1:57 pm

    @Baud:

    So as they hunt for new jobs, do they leave their DeSantis service off the resume and explain the gap as “I was in prison for a sex crime I definitely enjoyed committing” so that they have a greater chance of being employed?

  65. 65.

    VOR

    July 25, 2023 at 1:57 pm

    @Baud: Lord knows I used to drop AOC some money on Act Blue every time there was a coordinated attack on her.

  66. 66.

    gvg

    July 25, 2023 at 1:58 pm

    I don’t recall Freddie being ideologically consistent nor really very lefty. I recall he thinks he is on the left, but I don’t agree that he really is. He did not take being challenged very well, and he was boring.

    I don’t think AOC has anything to worry about from him.

  67. 67.

    Baud

    July 25, 2023 at 1:59 pm

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:

    Yes.

  68. 68.

    Nelle

    July 25, 2023 at 2:03 pm

    @rikyrah: Thanks for the reminder.  Time to send Lauren Underwood some more money.  I do like her work.

  69. 69.

    Maxim

    July 25, 2023 at 2:05 pm

    @rikyrah: Excellent. Thanks for the update.

  70. 70.

    lowtechcyclist

    July 25, 2023 at 2:06 pm

    @Baud:

    I don’t know what AOC’s ActBlue haul is, but my guess is that she gets a lot of money just for being herself. Most other Dems aren’t so well known.

    Tru dat, but if you’re doing a good job of representing the Dems in your D+12 district, you really only have to be well known to them to minimize the likelihood of a serious primary challenge.

  71. 71.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    July 25, 2023 at 2:06 pm

    @Baud:

    Interviewer: “You were in prison for a sex crime you liked? Which crimes?”

    Jobhunter: “All the bad ones. I was really gross.”

    Interviewer: “Are you sure you weren’t working for the DeSantis campaign?”

    Jobhunter: ” Prison. Really bad crimes.”

  72. 72.

    OverTwistWillie

    July 25, 2023 at 2:07 pm

    @Albatrossity:

    Alas, they only have one George Santos,

     

    But he is multitude.

    Championship Polo player, modernist furniture designer, Metallica lyricist, thought leader…..

  73. 73.

    SuzieC

    July 25, 2023 at 2:11 pm

    Since it’s an open thread, Ohio’s Reproductive Freedom amendment has qualified for the November ballot.

  74. 74.

    Baud

    July 25, 2023 at 2:11 pm

    @SuzieC:

    👍

  75. 75.

    Kay

    July 25, 2023 at 2:14 pm

    I’m amused but not surprised that deBoer is moving on from “wokeness is an existential threat to my career and also the earth itself”

    They’re all going to have to find something else to write about. That particular grift is just played out.

  76. 76.

    Betty Cracker

    July 25, 2023 at 2:14 pm

    @Nelle: Also, Rep. Underwood is a nurse, and nurses are the best of us. Well, bartenders too. We need both. ;-)

  77. 77.

    lowtechcyclist

    July 25, 2023 at 2:16 pm

    @Eolirin:

    A bunch of those dems in safe districts still spend a whole lot of time fundraising for other Dems. And some of them do the prep work too. AOC isn’t the only one coming to hearings prepared. But it’s a lot easier if you’re not part of the money making machine.

    Maybe so. But back before ActBlue became a big deal, I remember reading more than once that Congresspersons pretty much had to spend their afternoons dialing for dollars in order to have the money to get re-elected.

    Just seems that (a) that shouldn’t have ever been true for the Dems in ultra-safe districts, which btw there are more of now than there were 20 years ago, and (b) ActBlue should have changed the calculus for a lot of Dems as well.  The party and its candidates are raising literally billions through ActBlue, that should result in fewer Congresspersons who need to spend their afternoons calling affluent donors, no matter whose behalf it’s on.

  78. 78.

    Kay

    July 25, 2023 at 2:16 pm

    I guess they all go back to being “Marxists” now that they’ve slain the woke dragon they dreamed up.

    Not a moment too soon! Freddie was starting to sound like Jeb Bush.

  79. 79.

    Suzanne

    July 25, 2023 at 2:18 pm

    “Far-left” and “socialist” are the load-bearing descriptors there, but still, there are none so blind as those who will not see. deBoer concludes by saying AOC was a symbol and that his disappointment in her signifies that “it’s going to take more than symbols.”

    Well, good morning, starshine. The earth says hello!

    Now HERE we come to my complaint about (much of) the progressive left: the…. inability? refusal? lack of pragmatism? lack of project management expertise? Whatever it is, exactly, they are really bad at consolidating and exercising power. You need power to do stuff.

  80. 80.

    trollhattan

    July 25, 2023 at 2:18 pm

    @OverTwistWillie: Metallica lyricist

    Truly the meanest thing ever said about George Santos (lead dancer, Bolshoi Ballet).

  81. 81.

    piratedan

    July 25, 2023 at 2:18 pm

    The good reps that handle themselves well when the mics and cameras are on are a real blessing because of the fact that effective messaging is essential to make the positions clear.  A good bit of that is thanks to the candidate themselves, but it also shows that they have good staff and they’ve hired good people to keep them on track.  That is a big deal imho… compare that to who Trump and the GOP surrounds themselves with…..

  82. 82.

    Betty Cracker

    July 25, 2023 at 2:19 pm

    @Kay: 😂

  83. 83.

    Brachiator

    July 25, 2023 at 2:20 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I guess deBoer is one of those people who thinks the American masses would go socialist if only we stopped pushing race and gender and sex issues and forthrightly endorsed white man socialism.

    Yeah, I think that is about it.

  84. 84.

    lowtechcyclist

    July 25, 2023 at 2:22 pm

    @SuzieC:

    Since it’s an open thread, Ohio’s Reproductive Freedom amendment has qualified for the November ballot.

    Yay!!!

  85. 85.

    Cameron

    July 25, 2023 at 2:22 pm

    @Baud: More and more….the flow is increasing…..a tidal wave of ex-staffers…..a pudding tsunami……

  86. 86.

    Kay

    July 25, 2023 at 2:23 pm

    @gvg:

    He’s the antiwoke Right and centrist ninnies favorite “Leftist”. Andrew Sullivan thinks he’s brilliant and original. Do you need more than that? The Andrew Sullivan endorsement should be a career killer.

    He has amazing subversive and original ideas, like… students should take the SAT. Or…the 1990s were better. Do they not know of Jeb Bush? These are not new ideas.

  87. 87.

    Cameron

    July 25, 2023 at 2:24 pm

    @Kay: And they’ll use the traditional Marxist line, “Hello, I really must be going.”

  88. 88.

    Baud

    July 25, 2023 at 2:25 pm

    @Kay:

    The RFK, Jr. of pundits.

  89. 89.

    Cameron

    July 25, 2023 at 2:25 pm

    Perhaps Mr. DeBoer should run for office himself and show AOC how it’s done.

  90. 90.

    Eolirin

    July 25, 2023 at 2:25 pm

    @Suzanne: I commented on this in a thread… well I can’t actually remember how long ago because my symptoms are acting up and stress is bad and it fuzzes out my already shaky relationship with time passing, but these people are stuck in a fundamentally revolutionary framework: because the social order doesn’t provide the results they want they don’t view the social order as legitimate. And you don’t participate in a system you don’t find legitimate. You either try to tear it down or you check out.

    As opposed to fascists who will try to seize power at any cost and don’t mind hijacking the system if that is the easiest way to accomplish their ends. Or institutionalists and incrementalists who want to do things through the existing social order.

    Revolutionaries are the weakest in terms of getting their preferred outcomes up until the entire system is on the brink of collapse or overhaul. And even then they usually get hijacked by the fascists. But there’s a kind of logic to it even if it’s ineffectual.

  91. 91.

    Kay

    July 25, 2023 at 2:29 pm

    @Baud:

    BLM, Me Too and Covid drove a certain portion of the self proclaimed public intellectuals completely round the bend and it wasn’t just on the Right. Center and Left too. I read Freddie and IMO his discomfort with Democrats has as much to do with me too as it does with Medicare for All. There’s a certain kind of “Man of the Left” I am just familiar with after 25 years.

    They’re ninnies. They can’t be trusted in the clutch. They panicked.

  92. 92.

    Frederick Stibbert

    July 25, 2023 at 2:29 pm

    I recall Freddie’s writings being slowly tortured to death over at LGM, & after several rounds of that he claimed mental illness & did a GBCW, which elicited some sympathy & zero forgiveness. Now that he’s back, I’ll be sure to check over at LGM for more red-hot skewering.

  93. 93.

    lowtechcyclist

    July 25, 2023 at 2:30 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I guess deBoer is one of those people who thinks the American masses would go socialist if only we stopped pushing race and gender and sex issues and forthrightly endorsed white man socialism.

    Makes me think of stores that decided to ditch their core customers to go all-in trying to win over the young people who’d never shopped there.  (Thinking JC Penney, but there are others.)

    Just from a pragmatic POV, blacks and other minorities are the base of the Democratic party, and women vote much more heavily Dem than men do, both among whites and minorities.  We could throw all that away in order to chase after WWC men, or we could try to build on the coalition we have, and work harder at turning out the people who will vote for us if they vote, both by doing the things that give them more reason to vote for us, and by GOTV operations.

  94. 94.

    Kay

    July 25, 2023 at 2:31 pm

    @SuzieC:

    Yay. I loathe Frank LaRose. He’s not just a sleazy, corrupt Trumpster he’s dumb as a fucking rock. He has to lose everything.

  95. 95.

    Brachiator

    July 25, 2023 at 2:32 pm

    @Eolirin:

    Revolutionaries are the weakest in terms of getting their preferred outcomes up until the entire system is on the brink of collapse or overhaul. And even then they usually get hijacked by the fascists.

    Or they become fascists.

  96. 96.

    Kay

    July 25, 2023 at 2:33 pm

    @Frederick Stibbert:

    I had sympathy for him over the mental illness, but I don’t think one can take “people are mean to me on the internet” and parlay it into a whole world view. His mental illness explanation was great, though.

  97. 97.

    TriassicSands

    July 25, 2023 at 2:36 pm

    LAWYERS?

    I just got out of the hospital after a stay of more than a week. I’d like to pose a question to any lawyers in the crowd. This doesn’t have to do with my care, which was split into reasonably good and very poor.

    Upon my discharge, I learned that the hospital had gone through my wallet and inventoried it without my knowledge and while I was asleep. At no time did they inform me that they wanted to inventory my wallet (small print?) and at no time was I incapacitated or unable to assist in or observe the search of my belongings. The explanation, which was as bogus as much of what went during my stay, was that they needed to protect the hospital from a patient claiming dishonestly to have lost something while in the facility. Then, supposedly, they would have an inventory which protected them, because they would have, without my knowledge have determined what I brought into the hospital. I am not pananoid, but that is clearly not th way to respect a patient’s rights or ensure an accurate inventory. The biggest problem with that is that they got to determine what was in my wallet and belongings and were some employee to steal something, I would have no claim because the official inventory was done by the thief. I spent many hours awake during which we could have done a joint inventory — I wouldn’t object to that — ensuring the accuracy and leaving no question as to the veracity of that inventory.

    My question: Is that legal? For medical reasons I will never return to that hospital (St. Michael Medical Center in Silverdale, WA) and I have no interest in suing anyone for anything. But I find what was done to be an “unreasonable search.” Yes, I know that applies to governments and corporations hold a special position in this society with all the rights of citizens and more. I may well have signed something that said I gave them permission to search my belongings, but no mention was made of that and any papers I signed were when I was in a very bad way (pain) and it would be unreasonable for anyone to think I was going to wade through a bunch of legalese. What I signed was presented as giving them permission to treat me and bill my insurance. Nothing else was mentioned.

    The only time I wasn’t able to give direct consent and participate in the inventory was when I was asleep. That is when they chose to act.  I told my friend that my advice would be to empty his wallet (if possible) before entry and leave a note in his wallet saying FUCK YOU.

    I called the “concern” line, but that simply results in a recorded message and the hope someone will get back to me.

    Does anyone know if this is legal in the case of a conscious, competent patient?

  98. 98.

    Shalimar

    July 25, 2023 at 2:38 pm

    @Yarrow: I looked through a few dozen of Freddie’s old BJ posts.  He mostly wrote about things i don’t care about, in voluminous detail, but I didn’t see any where his opinion was blatantly stupid.

    He did have one funny one where he criticized Louis CK for defending asshole behavior at a time when people were giving Louis CK a pass because they didn’t know yet that he was the worst of the misogynistic assholes.

    This also was before Freddie revealed his own caveman attitudes towards women, which Sadie Frost hilariously de-pantsed him for.

  99. 99.

    Suzanne

    July 25, 2023 at 2:38 pm

    @Brachiator: I have read some of his Substack, and I find it clear that he is status-obsessed. He may be socialist in his politics (who can tell?!) but he loves being on top of a social status hierarchy.

  100. 100.

    Kay

    July 25, 2023 at 2:39 pm

    I have (perhaps!) more sympathy for Leftists than many here – I just think we’re a big tent and they’re in it, PIA though they are, but I have lost a lot of respect for them re: Ukraine. I don’t know anything about foreign policy but I know an authoritarian dictator invasion when I see one and I know incredibly brave and tough people who are defending when I see THEM. I don’t know how one gets and stays on the wrong side of that fight. I won’t forget it. WTF. It’s probably unforgiveable, really.

  101. 101.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 25, 2023 at 2:44 pm

    @lowtechcyclist: They’re nostalgic for the FDR coalition. But the demographics of the American electorate were profoundly different then.

  102. 102.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    July 25, 2023 at 2:45 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Less AOC

    More Lauren Underwood.

    Why not have lots more of both?

  103. 103.

    MattF

    July 25, 2023 at 2:46 pm

    I’m reluctant to post a tweet from Frank Luntz, but he serves here to confirm that this is an actual Trump campaign ad. Makes me think of the old ‘1984’ Apple Mac Super Bowl ad— ‘A garden of pure ideology’.

    ETA: Warning, flashing lights.

  104. 104.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 25, 2023 at 2:49 pm

    @Kay: RT and associated Russian propaganda outlets spent years quietly positioning themselves as a thinking man’s critical alternative to the warmongering Washington foreign policy blob, and during the Bush era particularly that was like catnip. I really think they were already laying the groundwork then, and during the Obama era, while simultaneously courting white evangelicals with an image of Putin as the great white savior.

    American lefties pushing the Putin line over Ukraine is just the payoff for that work.

  105. 105.

    Chip Daniels

    July 25, 2023 at 2:49 pm

    Since the day she was elected, conservatives and misogynists of all stripes have worked desperately to try to catch her in some gotcha moment, where she would utter a poorly worded comment, or take an absurdly extreme stance or maybe endorse someone or something which turned out embarrassing.

    She has nimbly sidesteps every trap laid for her, kept her head down and worked hard to learn the ropes and make things better for her constituents.

    Which I think is driving them up the walls in madness.

  106. 106.

    patrick II

    July 25, 2023 at 2:52 pm

    I live near Chicago.  I was just outside.  The air tastes like dirt. I have heard it is because those Canadians are not properly raking their forests.

  107. 107.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 25, 2023 at 2:54 pm

    @Kay:

    He’s the antiwoke Right and centrist ninnies favorite “Leftist”.

    Not either of the Bruenigs? Or Matt Taibbi?

  108. 108.

    Jay

    July 25, 2023 at 2:54 pm

    @Kay:

    Being a Canadian Leftie, all I have to say in that regard is Putin khuylo!

    Slava Ukraini, Heroyam Slava.

    #Ruzzia is a Terrorist State.

  109. 109.

    Jay

    July 25, 2023 at 3:00 pm

    @patrick II:

    The Ross Moore Lake fire got some rain last night, but also heavy winds, so the rain did little. It’s twice the size of yesterday and is now moving Northwest, while the fire crews are still working the Northeast corner to keep it away from the 5A highway and the evacuation routes.

    The fire has started eating buildings.

  110. 110.

    Sister Golden Bear

    July 25, 2023 at 3:00 pm

    Shorter deBoer: AOC still won’t fuck me.

  111. 111.

    Citizen Alan

    July 25, 2023 at 3:04 pm

    @Kay:  I have never met a Marxist in real life who wasn’t a pampered white guy from an upper middle class background working a job that paid 6 figures.

  112. 112.

    Geminid

    July 25, 2023 at 3:05 pm

    The party dynamics discussed by Ms. Cracker play out in Democratic House primaries, especially the ones for open seats. Next year’s Maryland 6th CD primary will provide one example. The western Maryland seat opened up when Rep. David Trone elected to contest the primary for Ben Cardin’s Senate seat. There are 7 candidates so far, with more expected.

    The newest, 52 year old Joel Levine, worked in the Obama administration (yea!), then on the 2020 Sanders campaign (boo!), and after that the Biden campaign (yea!). Mr. Levine helped found the liberal advocacy group J Street in 2008, and competed in the 2016 8th CD primary that Jaime Raskin won. Other primary candidates included now-Rep. Trone and current Maryland Party Chair Kathleen Matthews. The 8th CD covers the inner DC suburbs, and the 6th covers the outer and the rural counties beyond.

    Trone succeeded 6th District Rep. John Delaney in 2018, after Delaney decided to run for President. Mr. Delaney’s wife, April McClain Delaney, is currently a Commerce Department official and is reported to be interviewing staff for a campaign to represent her husband’s old seat.

    Montgomery County state Delegate Joe Vogel is also running. Vogel, 25 years old, is 6 months into his first four year term. As a child, he and his family immigrated to the US from Uruguy, where his great grandparents had fled in order to escape the Holocaust.

    The 6th CD extends from westen Montgomery County north and west to the state line. Rep. Trone was reelected last year by 25,000 votes out of 255,000, 54.7 to 44.2%

  113. 113.

    Sure Lurkalot

    July 25, 2023 at 3:07 pm

    @Old Man Shadow:

    I was born in 1974.

    I would argue that Joe Biden’s actions have made him the most left-leaning president of my lifetime.

    I have a couple of decades on you and it’s true for me too.

    I definitely thought Obama was more left leaning on the campaign trail than he governed. I mean, Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner AND Arne Duncan? No doubt some of it was team of rivals claptrap and “see, I’m not a Marxist” accommodation. But did I expect Mr. MBNA to be a champion of labor and to engineer the largest rejigger of community and manufacturing reinvestment in some 60 years? No, I most definitely did not.

  114. 114.

    Ruckus

    July 25, 2023 at 3:07 pm

    @BellyCat:

    Let not the perfect get in the way of the good when making “the sausage”! I was initially and am increasingly impressed with her.

    To me the thing is that as many have stated, she’s one among a not insignificant group. And does a good job. Is she perfect? Likely not, but then who the hell is? Not one human being – NOT ONE. Does she have an agenda? Yes. Is it a decent agenda? Yes. Is she smart? Yes. Does she understand her job? Yes. Does she do it well? Yes. Does she do the exact job I want her to do? No? Yes? Would anyone besides me do the exact job I want her to do? Very Likely Not. As an (ex)employer that worked to parts of a very few thousandths of an inch (or a lot smaller!) making things, there are tolerances for a reason, Nothing Is Perfect. Nothing ever goes exactly as everyone wants because that’s impossible. There isn’t the time, the ability to be perfect. Perfect doesn’t exist. Is she good enough? Or is she better than good enough? I’d say better. Quite a bit better. And that is rather rare. Take it from someone who spent decades building things as close to perfect as possible, it is impossible to be perfect. Close is damn hard enough.

  115. 115.

    Old School

    July 25, 2023 at 3:08 pm

    @Baud:

    I am curious though, what ideological inconsistency is he saying AOC engaged in? I’m not curious enough to give him an undeserved click, but if anyone knows, please let me know.

    • AOC endorsed Biden for re-election when Biden hasn’t improved immigration policy to deBoer’s liking.
    • She voted to prevent a railroad strike.
    • She voted “present” on a bill to fund Israel’s Iron Dome.
    • She voted for the American Rescue Plan even though it didn’t raise the federal minimum wage.
  116. 116.

    Suzanne

    July 25, 2023 at 3:09 pm

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    Shorter deBoer: AOC still won’t fuck me. 

    Nor will others.
    Lots of mediocre men out there. It wouldn’t be a problem, but they’re so loud.

  117. 117.

    patrick II

    July 25, 2023 at 3:12 pm

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    AOC is a pragmatic social idealist and so is a favorite of mine. She has a gift for selling a more social agenda, especially her early support of a “Green New Deal”, clever titleing that tiied Climate Change technology to FDR-like economic benefits, much of which made it into Biden’s Inflation Reduction bill, also a nice re-titleing for people who considered Climate Change legislation a cost not a benefit.

  118. 118.

    laura

    July 25, 2023 at 3:13 pm

    Today in hot garbage man discourse-FDB: She’s popular and I’m not, she leaves me no alternative but to trash her. Also, I’m pulling her pigtails

    No disrespect to Sanitation Workers who perform one of the top 10 most dangerous jobs in America- they have my deepest regard for the hard jobs they do and their reassuring presence in our neighborhoods.

  119. 119.

    sdhays

    July 25, 2023 at 3:17 pm

    @VOR: Yes, that was what I remember. He was an awful writer. I quickly realized what he had to say wasn’t worth the slog to read through it.

    Amazing that he still gets paid actual money to just write. He’s not worth 100 NFT’s of my finest farts.

  120. 120.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 25, 2023 at 3:18 pm

    @Sister Golden Bear: This is probably the most accurate assessment of FdB and his ilk that I have seen.

  121. 121.

    Suzanne

    July 25, 2023 at 3:18 pm

    @sdhays:

    He’s not worth 100 NFT’s of my finest farts. 

    LAWL.

  122. 122.

    Brachiator

    July 25, 2023 at 3:19 pm

    @Suzanne:

    I have read some of his Substack, and I find it clear that he is status-obsessed. He may be socialist in his politics (who can tell?!) but he loves being on top of a social status hierarchy.

    I think I know what you mean. Also, I think he wanted to be acknowledged as a public intellectual, even though he didn’t bring anything to the table. He had no particular expertise, experience or perspective other than his supposedly progressive stance.

  123. 123.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 25, 2023 at 3:22 pm

    @Old School: Those aren’t ideological inconsistencies.  Those are the actions of a pragmatic politician.

  124. 124.

    Baud

    July 25, 2023 at 3:24 pm

    @Old School:

    Thanks much.

  125. 125.

    Baud

    July 25, 2023 at 3:25 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    He was answering my question about what Freddie argued.

  126. 126.

    Eolirin

    July 25, 2023 at 3:25 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Ideological consistency of the kind deBoer is demanding is incompatible with pragmatism

  127. 127.

    MrKite

    July 25, 2023 at 3:25 pm

    Just have to say: I love when Kay comments. I either learn something, or I realize there is nothing left that requires remarks from me. Except this, of course,  and just this once.

  128. 128.

    Geminid

    July 25, 2023 at 3:30 pm

    @lowtechcyclist: I sometimes think of the pursuit of white working class voters as the Great American Snipe Hunt.

    I think the ones Democrats can get are already with the party. An example: I was talking to my friend Debbie this morning about her siblings’ voting habits. They all grew up in a Medford Massachusetts, working class family. Two brothers and a sister live in New Hampshire now, and they always vote Democratic.

  129. 129.

    tam1MI

    July 25, 2023 at 3:31 pm

    what was the point of nominating her instead of Joe Crowley, the 10-term Democratic machine politician she displaced?

    I distinctly recall that when AOC beat Crowley for the nomination, it was reported that people in the district felt that Crowley had been neglecting it in favor of DC power brokering. In addition, he ran a campaign heavy on paid media and light on personal appearances. Meanwhile AOC was going to every neighborhood in the district personally knocking on doors. And since then she has made sure to keep in touch with her constituents. That was the point, Mr. DeBoer.

  130. 130.

    Kay

    July 25, 2023 at 3:31 pm

    @Citizen Alan:

    We have one in our Democratic group who is very earnest and did come up poor – I know his parents. But he loves AOC so he’s no uber sophisticate like Freddie. He buys us all food constantly. Pizza. Donuts. Huge coolers of pop. He also has a 70k house on the poor side of town that he owns outright – no mortgage. I was like “look at you, landed gentry!”  He blushed.

  131. 131.

    Ruckus

    July 25, 2023 at 3:33 pm

    @Suzanne:

    They are loud because otherwise you wouldn’t notice them at all.

    They are average. At best. They may be like SFB, except they didn’t get to start adulthood with 400 million, not all of which was his.

    None of us are perfect, we are human. Some are a lot farther away from perfect than others, but none of us are all that close, we are all human.

  132. 132.

    catclub

    July 25, 2023 at 3:45 pm

    @Sure Lurkalot: ​
     

    I definitely thought Obama was more left leaning on the campaign trail than he governed. I mean, Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner AND Arne Duncan? No doubt some of it was team of rivals claptrap

    It is interesting to know now that the Liberal on the team of rivals was Joe Biden.

    Obama was supremely talented at giving everyone the impression he would govern the way they see him.

  133. 133.

    Geminid

    July 25, 2023 at 3:45 pm

    @Kay: I think the lefties who fell for the anti-NATO narrative on Ukraine were already outside the Democratic tent, never to enter. That issue has been very telling, though. It’s like a chemical agent that precipitated the Left into two groups.

    I think the pro-Russia one is the smaller. It’s also the more feral, and predictably the men are the worst. They call environmental activist Greta Thunberg a “War Pig” now, because she rightly blamed Russia for the destruction of the huge Khavkova Dam.

  134. 134.

    rikyrah

    July 25, 2023 at 3:46 pm

    @SuzieC:

    YES…

     

    Vote down that Statute in August, and approve Abortion rights in November!

  135. 135.

    Kay

    July 25, 2023 at 4:01 pm

    @MrKite:

    thanks!

  136. 136.

    Quaker in a Basement

    July 25, 2023 at 4:05 pm

    @BellyCat: Too much common sense in that comment. This is the internet. Yell more!

  137. 137.

    Miss Bianca

    July 25, 2023 at 4:07 pm

    I wasn’t really active on this site when Freddy da Boor was spouting off here but my God…was he always this much of a choad? If so, no wonder the jackals ended up running him off. The wonder is that anyone else is paying him actual solid money to spew his BS.

  138. 138.

    Quaker in a Basement

    July 25, 2023 at 4:08 pm

    @tam1MI: The real, actual work of being a Congressional representative isn’t very sexy. It gets little coverage in local press and none at the national level. So in my book, AOC played it smart–talk about issues that get attention; do the work that wins loyalty.

  139. 139.

    Miss Bianca

    July 25, 2023 at 4:43 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I concur.

    @Sister Golden Bear:

  140. 140.

    Kay

    July 25, 2023 at 5:07 pm

    @Geminid:

    My youngest son is sort of coming out of it – I think that may have more to do with having a GF and two years of college under his belt though.

    We argue about it. The last go round he told me “tankie is a smear and you would be mad if I called you a ‘shit lib”.

  141. 141.

    Geminid

    July 25, 2023 at 6:04 pm

    @Kay: Maybe you can find a way to introduce your son to that Cleveland lady with the “Fuck Putin” bumper sticker! I bet she knows harsher words than “tankie.”

  142. 142.

    Hob

    July 25, 2023 at 6:28 pm

    @Frederick Stibbert: ​
      …he claimed mental illness…

    I have absolutely no trouble believing that he told the truth about having untreated bipolar disorder. There are plenty of people who can be aggressive grandiose blowhards without being literally manic, but once you have some experience with people who are literally manic, there’s a certain flavor to their aggressive grandiose blowharditude (and the extra miserable kind of aggression that gets added in when their mood starts to head downward again and they can feel their righteous power stalling out) that’s impossible to miss. The closest thing to it is crystal meth, but tweakers are a bit more likely to be out doing reckless things rather than just having Internet fights.

    Of course, deBoer is also an idiot with terrible opinions, so he is perfectly capable of writing some bullshit even if his medication is working these days (and I hope for his sake that it is; mania may look fun, but it isn’t). This latest exhibit doesn’t seem quite as desperate as his past work, it’s just inane and self-aggrandizing.

  143. 143.

    Hob

    July 25, 2023 at 6:35 pm

    Btw, while looking at commentary about FdB’s book, I ran across a Nathan Robinson Current Affairs piece where Robinson trashes that book thoroughly for what seem like pretty good reasons, but then goes on to demonstrate why I can’t stand reading his writing either. The punchline is that in the course of his redundant, overly elaborate, thinking he’s the only one who grasps these simple points, roughly 50,000 word explanation of why “some kids are just too dumb to educate, so we shouldn’t try” is not actually a good socialist argument… Robinson repeatedly states that this is really a shame because deBoer is such a good writer. (Not linking to it because no one really needs it in their life, but should be easy to find if you must)

  144. 144.

    Hob

    July 25, 2023 at 6:42 pm

    @Kay: “Tankie” is pejorative for sure, and of course no one would like being called one unless they are literally a proud defender of mid-20th-century Soviet oppression. But at least it makes it fairly clear what direction the insult is coming from! “Shitlib” conveys absolutely nothing except “you’re a liberal and I think you’re shitty, and/or most liberals are shitty.” Someone who hasn’t been sufficiently exposed to Internet subcultures could easily and logically assume it was a Rush Limbaugh coinage.

  145. 145.

    Geminid

    July 25, 2023 at 7:01 pm

    @Geminid: On second thought, I would not want your son spoken to harshly. But the lady with the Fuck Putin sticker on her car might know some more colorful words.

    @Kay

  146. 146.

    brantl

    July 25, 2023 at 7:23 pm

    @trollhattan:Truly the meanest thing ever said about George Santos (lead dancer, Bolshoi Ballet).

    Isn’t that lead dancer, Bullshit Ballet?

  147. 147.

    Frank McCormick

    July 25, 2023 at 7:51 pm

    Excellent post, Betty!

    And in balancing posts criticizing AOC for not yet creating a fully functioning anarchic-socialistic syndicate in the USA, I like to cite the volumes of right-wing vicious attacks on every single thing AOC says and does, second only in number and tone to anything from them concerning Nancy Pelosi.

     

    Some see this as Republicans making them representative stand-ins for the Evil Left. But I see this as pointing their limited arsenal at the two people in Congress they see as their greatest threats.

  148. 148.

    Rev. Paleotectonics

    July 25, 2023 at 7:55 pm

    @matt: PREACH

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - Christopher Mathews - Iceland: Season's Fleeting 3
Image by Christopher Mathews (6/13/25)

PA Supreme Court At Risk

We did it!

We raised the 25,000 for The Civics Center, and with the external matches, that gives them $60,000 for this Spring effort!

You guys rock!

Recent Comments

  • The return of Mo Salad on Late Night Open Threads (Jun 14, 2025 @ 4:34am)
  • 🐾BillinGlendaleCA on Late Night Open Threads (Jun 14, 2025 @ 4:32am)
  • YY_Sima Qian on Late Night Open Threads (Jun 14, 2025 @ 4:30am)
  • YY_Sima Qian on Open Thread: Tracking the Protests (Jun 14, 2025 @ 4:27am)
  • eclare on Late Night Open Threads (Jun 14, 2025 @ 4:10am)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
War in Ukraine
Donate to Razom for Ukraine

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!