Bidenomics is investing in a future that’s made in America. pic.twitter.com/Eky2c5xFfx
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 16, 2023
https://t.co/FiY59Ey7pT pic.twitter.com/aGPCtzXjvE
— Ben LaBolt (@BenLaBolt) October 15, 2023
Biden gives fewer press interviews. But he woos more influencers. https://t.co/3dRPgoxYA7 pic.twitter.com/vZo4ewxpmL
— WonkPorn (@WonkPorn) October 17, 2023
Our Failed Major Media: How *dare* That Man In the White House go around our prestigious gatekeeping!…
In the Washington Post, “Biden gives fewer press interviews. But he woos more influencers” [unpaywalled gift link]:
… In his first two-and-a-half years as president, Biden has held fewer news conferences than his predecessors. He has given fewer interviews to major news organizations, despite his promise to restore traditional press relations after the Trump era.
At the same time, the White House is contacting an array of online influencers, social media personalities, TikTok stars and other nontraditional figures to spread its message, creating an alternative communication network that is different from previous presidencies.
Biden’s aides say they are responding to an evolution in the media landscape, not breaking sharply from precedent. But critics say that the strategy gives the White House far more control over the message, often letting Biden avoid scrutiny and sidestep the harder-hitting questions that traditional reporters might fire at him…
Ben LaBolt, the White House communications director, said Biden finds various ways to interact with journalists, for example taking questions after a speech or talking to reporters during a trip. And he noted that the White House gives reporters regular access to other top administration officials.
“Our communications strategy is ‘all of the above’ — which it must be to break through in a fractured media environment and an era of information overload,” LaBolt said. “We study where Americans get their information and make sure we are meeting them where they are, whether that is traditional newscasts, social media or consumer outlets.”
CBS’s 60 Minutes also scored exclusive time with the president at the Detroit Auto Show, and correspondent Scott Pelley used it to press Biden on such issues as how he would hold down gas prices amid the Ukraine war. Roughly 10 million people watched the 60 Minutes segment live, a smaller viewership than four NFL games airing at the same time, according to data collected by the Nielsen company…
Not *one* question about Hunter’s laptop, or why Commander hasn’t been euthanized!…
The White House notes that Biden has spoken to such respected journalists as PBS’s Judy Woodruff and ABC’s David Muir. Still, many of his television interviews have been with specialized outlets, such as Comedy Central or the Weather Channel.
And he has done numerous interviews with less-traditional figures, from Brian Tyler Cohen, who hosts a podcast and YouTube show, to Heather Cox Richardson, who writes a newsletter on the online platform Substack…
Biden’s White House is betting on its digital-heavy strategy to amp up interest among a younger and more diverse group of voters. It has staffed a suite in the Eisenhower Executive Building, adjacent to the White House, with online-savvy aides charged with highlighting Biden’s accomplishments to that cohort.
Past iron gates, Secret Service agents and fortified walls that make WiFi reception spotty, the staffers strategize on how to make their audiences feel like they’re getting an inside peek…
We just joined Truth Social, mostly because we thought it would be very funny.
Follow us there for truths and retruths or whatever they call them: https://t.co/tKNFKcOsUE pic.twitter.com/Jofjex8kp9
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) October 16, 2023
Now that’s a headline pic.twitter.com/PguqkRqEVB
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) October 13, 2023
When someone close to you calls you to talk about something that matters, you pick up. Talking to each other about the issues President Biden is running on is how we break through the noise. That's how we're organizing & that's how we're going to win. https://t.co/pOO6IPdzI6
— Meg DiMartino (@MegDiMartino) October 13, 2023
======
That Other Topic:
why is everyone acting like Jordan is speaker- they didn't vote yet, did they?
I'm gonna wait for the vote because I have complete faith they will fuck this up
— John Cole (@Johngcole) October 16, 2023
After two weeks without a speaker, Rep. Jim Jordan says there will be a vote on the House floor Tuesday at noon. Jordan fell more than 50 votes short during internal party voting on Friday after Majority Leader Steve Scalise also failed to unify Republicans. pic.twitter.com/kREvOcVItU
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 16, 2023
Good explainer, from the Associated Press: “The House is set to vote on a new speaker. Here’s what to know”.
Reader Interactions
169Comments
Comments are closed.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊
satby
just have to point and laugh at this statement in the first WaPo link:
Princess
Traditional media thinks that what they do is ask hard questions? Traditional media needs to spend some time watching the foreign press. I’ve never heard, seen, or read a decent political interview from an American journalist, one that has pointed, prepared follow up questions, and is not reeling of bias on one side of the other.
satby
And two things about the Biden comms team strategy: it’s working with younger voters who don’t listen to mainstream news orgs at all; and Biden was trending on Truth Social as the top “follow” recommendation last night.
He really hires the best.
gene108
There are daily press briefings with the Press Secretary WaPo. Too bad reporters aren’t getting scoops for book deals, but getting reporters book deals isn’t Biden’s job.
Phylllis
@satby: ‘Might’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.
Frankensteinbeck
Wow. This article really is a pathetic whine-fest. So self-important it verges on parody.
Anne Laurie
@Frankensteinbeck: I hope you mean the WaPo article, and not my post!
WaterGirl
At least it’s not Jim Jordan! win!
hueyplong
Those little lines of self-gratification from the Wash Post are just our reminders that the lot of them are, as Tony Jay might say, wankers.
In the media world, 13 months is beyond forever. There is plenty of time for the constantly-repeated storyline to be so bad for Trump that the GOPers are trying to figure out a way to un-nominate him while worrying that he’ll take down the entirety of their presence in purple America.
It’s ok, once in a while, to imagine events pivoting in a desirable direction.
The Thin Black Duke
@satby: This can’t be repeated enough.
The media team in the White House that Biden hired are targeting the demographic who doesn’t read the NYT or watch MTP. These are the voters who exist underneath the fossilized mainstream media’s radar.
Joe’s pretty fly for an old white guy.
RepubAnon
@satby: Like what kind of cheese he prefers on his Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches?
Nettoyeur
So “media critics” are complaining that the Biden team are shaping their message without talking to them first? Just WTF do they think Trump does every day with unhinged rants and rambling tweet-rage, all slavishly amplified by fakee “journalists” in the Fox echo chamber? The WH is putting out coherent ideas on actual policy they are trying to implement, but the media prefers to give time and space to Trump-GOP turd throwing and concern trolling about Biden’s age. So the WH is going around them to a base of influencers (who don’t seem to require bribes or blackmail). Seems pretty smart to me.
satby
@Anne Laurie: of course he does. That article is full of sad little mean girl digs at the Biden comms team (and Biden); reads like Muffy is big mad about getting thrown out of the clique in high school.
rikyrah
@satby:
They are completely delusional.
Everytime the President gives them the chance in a Press Conference , THEY CLOWN.😡
Jeffro
It’s funny – for all the times I’ve wondered about what the utter de-evolution of the GOP would look like, I never pictured Gym Jordan as a candidate for Speaker of the House.
And yet, I feel like I should have pictured that, because that’s what it is
hueyplong
@Nettoyeur: Yes, we all remember those JFK-esque banterfests of witty repartee between Trump and the press as, with humor, they intelligently debated issues of burning concern. The mere mention of “bleach” or “anal insertion of flashlights” brings back memories of trying to keep up as the discussion hovered way over my head.
rikyrah
@satby:
So true 😒
Chris Johnson
@hueyplong: More than that, you HAVE to be able to imagine a desirable direction to be able to head that way. Period.
Wilfully insisting on only bracing for doom is debilitating and undermines good planning. You can’t function without attempting to make ‘if nightmare and disaster DOESN’T happen’ plans.
Geminid
@Princess: These are not hard questions that Biden is sidestepping, they are are leading questions. He knows a set-up when he sees one and doesn’t take the bait.
Jeffro
@Jeffro: and for what it’s worth, even seeing Jordan as the GOP’s ultimate debasement of itself is probably premature.
Jamelle Bouie: The Apothesis of Jim Jordan is A Sight To Behold
It’s also weird to think of Sean Hannity’s as the shell-of-the-GOP-that-remains’ “whip”, but that’s what he is re: Jordan. I wonder what the hot takes would be if an MSNBC host played even remotely the same role for the Democratic Party?
Kay
@Jeffro:
It’s really bad news. They’re putting him in there to contest the 2024 election results. Buckle up! They’re going to try it again!
I think we have at least an even chance of taking the House again though, so that’s the cure.
hueyplong
@Chris Johnson: Yes, a little more Attack and a little less Maginot Line.
Geminid
@Jeffro: It looks like Jordan will win the vote today, but I don’t think this is a done deal. Jordan could well be Speaker this time tomorrow morning, but I won’t be surprised if he’s not.
OzarkHillbilly
I told Blaine Luetkemeyer that I didn’t think God loved me enough to have at the head of their party a self avowed and adjudicated sexual predator AND to have the head honcho of their House caucus a sexual deviant’s enabler. I said the ads write themselves and I hope they enjoy being in the minority for the next 3 or 4 decades.
eta: I only hope the American electorate doesn’t let me down.
Tony Jay
Predecessors or predecessor?
Was that common? The President inviting one or more of the Three Letter Infotainment Channels to the White House for a major announcement or a one-on-one interview? I had the impression they were rare by design. Trump loved the attention so much he delighted in making the Press run to his, but did anyone learn anything from them?
You mean by actually having a Press Secretary and not corralling journalists into holding pens for his supporters to scream death threats at? Because I think he’s done that. Or is this a whine about the scarcity of leaks that could be edited for jazzed-up scandals or hoarded for tell-all books?
What critics? Name them. How many of them do you see when brushing your teeth of a morning, and how many of them work for people with an R after their name?
What questions? List them, then cross out the ones that have been asked and answered already. Oh, and then go back and put a sharpie through the ones that don’t at least rise to the level of a sixteen year-old mean girl at an Ivy League Prep School. I guess that’s a pretty thin list now, eh?
“Inside peek?” Jeebus on a springy dildo, do all of these pricks think they’re writing for Kidz Entertainment Newz?
I can genuinely feel my brain liquefying as I read that drivel.
Chris Johnson
@Kay: Also, do not forget that these people are what my favorite internet leftist, Vaush, terms ‘retarded’.
Just because Jordan has some kind of plan to use freaking Sean Hannity and whatever remains of the Putin wing of the Republican Party, to bully the others into line in order to attempt some kind of underpants gnome plan for seizing ultimate power and making Donald Trump dictator for life, does not make any of that REALISTIC.
Every accusation is a projection! They are fucking well falling apart by the DAY. I’m inclined to look forward and start trying to figure out what to do with people who used to be what Republicans were, before all this mess. They’re going to be really screwed, and they’re really backed into a corner. I’d like to see things unwind, more than a little bit.
Until then, the American right is in desperately bad shape. They’re not being allowed to chart a survivable course. That’s a problem. They’re hostages. They should be allowed to back away and return to being stodgy conservative sorts who don’t like social welfare: that at least represents a demographic.
Quinerly
Good morning!
I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around “Speaker Jordan.” Wasn’t there a documentary being produced by Clooney? Did I miss its airing?
schrodingers_cat
Regarding the panic about Jim Jordan becoming the Speaker.
He has to yet become Speaker
We are assuming that he can remain in the Speaker’s Chair until the end of this Congressional term.
We are also assuming that if 1 and 2 come to pass that it will help the Republicans.
I think it has a more than 50% probability of reducing R’s white vote share from 57% in the 2022 elections below 55% in 2024.
Because JJ is an embarrassment, he lacks polish and takes away the plausible deniability and the cloak of respectability that so many “independent” but in reality R leaning middle class and upper middle class white voters love.
You know those who insist that they are above politics.
ETA: My numbered list formatting disappeared when the comment appeared.
WaterGirl
@Quinerly: The documentary has not aired. And there has been no explanation for the delay.
rikyrah
The time when Prince sang with the Muppets 😄
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8hHjsHv/
Anne Laurie
I’m reading NUMBER GO UP, and Sam Bankman-Fried keeps talking about the high risk / high reward ‘hypotheses’ that ended up with him in a cell. Gym J6 Jordan’s Could be speaker, could be ousted! shenanigans seem very much like the national political version of SBF’s coin-flipping experiments!
catclub
@Geminid: I can imagine at least two votes against him: Scalise and Mccarthy
OverTwistWillie
Joe’s campaign has all that money, and won’t spend it on legacy media ad buys.
Sending Lester Holt to Israel ain’t cheap, and whadda you Libtards know anyways? Maybe FOX News viewers are persuadables, if you just kiss their asses long and hard enough.
Soprano2
@satby: It’s rather arrogant that they assume that anyone but them won’t ask tough questions or challenge him at all. Besides, they ask hard-hitting questions like “Aren’t you really too old to run for president?” and “Why don’t you want us to know about your son’s business dealings?”.
Another Scott
Don’t pay much attention to what people say, pay more attention to what they do.
That is all.
;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
catclub
Just crazy. SBF thought that if a bet had a 51% chance of tripling his money and a 49% chance of losing all his money, he would bet… all his money – repeatedly.
Soprano2
@satby: That’s another thing I thought, that it’s smart for them to pursue this kind of strategy. We’re talking with someone about ads for the pub; we want to do short YouTube ads that will be targeted to certain kinds of searches and a certain zip code. That’s the smartest, most cost-effective way to reach people these days.
Another Scott
@schrodingers_cat: (Any fancy formatting (colors, bullets, etc.) gets stripped if you edit the comment after posting. Unfortunately.)
Cheers,
Scott.
Soprano2
@The Thin Black Duke: He’s smart enough to hire good people and then listen to them! There’s a lot of wisdom in knowing that you don’t know everything.
mrmoshpotato
Wait. So the elephant is saying they nominated Putin’s puppet the pu**y-grabbing pile of shit? I need some clarification.
ETA – also, anyone else want some pizza and cheese fries now?
catclub
Buying ‘dwarf throwing contests in your neighborhood’?
p.a.
The gatekeepers stand at the gate, railing at the fact that Biden isn’t using the gate, as the gate stands in the middle of a field, unconnected to any wall, fence, or barrier.
Anyway
@OverTwistWillie:
There were plenty of “Joe from Scranton” ads during the Phillies game.
Another Scott
@Soprano2: When we look for new establishments to visit, on those rare occasions when we exit the bunker, we look at TripAdvisor and occasionally Yelp reviews. (Yelp can be a sewer, though.) I never would have thought to look at YouTube for reviews like that.
Just another datapoint.
Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
Frankensteinbeck
@Anne Laurie:
Of course! The WaPo’s “Pay attention to meeeee!” is just sad.
Josie
@Soprano2:
The trouble is that asking good questions involves actually studying the issues, and who wants to waste their time doing that.
catclub
Democrats need to pound on “Why did Jim Jordan refuse to appear when he was subpeonaed by the House Jan 6th Committee? What is he hiding?”
Betty
@Tony Jay: Their favorite hard question. “Aren’t you too old to run for re-election?” What else do they have? Creating too many jobs? Trying too hard to preserve democracy and avoid a war in the Middle East?
Another Scott
Profiles in Courage, Fall 2023 GQP Edition…
(via nycsouthpaw)
Cheers,
Scott.
Ken
In fairness, the Biden campaign isn’t paying for defense lawyers in four criminal and who knows how many ongoing civil trials.
satby
@Another Scott: That’s a life rule I wish everybody followed; it would cut down on so much bullshit in life. Just think: Republicans would never win another election in our lifetimes, for one example.
Soprano2
@catclub: LOL, no!
mrmoshpotato
@p.a.: SAD!
Soprano2
@Another Scott: It’s more about getting our name out there and showing what we have to offer people. Advertising is expensive! I figure if we’re going to do some, best to be where the people are. My thought is to have short 7-15 second ads that show our place with the pool tables, one about karaoke, and one about our food. People have to see things over and over before they look at them. Also, if I were you I’d look at Google reviews, they give you a good overview. I always look at the newest ones; establishments change, a review from even 6 months ago might not tell you much.
mrmoshpotato
@Ken:
Cheaters! Why are they such cheaters like that? Or does Biden like losing the indictment race?
ETA – why did they make Dump get indicted so much for being a career criminal? Molester-enabler Jordan should look into this!
Ken
Yeah, it’s insane, but not a crime. Which is why what he’s on trial for is betting other people’s money, without their consent.
Quinerly
@WaterGirl:
Thanks!
I kinda took myself out of deep dives in the news for 3-4 months. Just have hit the headlines.
It was a summer of yard projects and plantings (I’m obsessed with growing roses in the High Desert). July was tied up with cataract surgery…I sprang for the upgraded one so never have to wear contacts or glasses. Severe Astigmatism in left eye and the implanted lens rotated. Surgeon had to redo it…only second time in 25 years of practice that a lens once placed, rotated within 3 hrs of surgery.
I’m coming off of 9 days of houseguests. The husband ruined their trip. She had planned it going back 2 plus years.
JoJo las Orejas and I are hitting the road Thurs. Socorro, Magdalena, Datil, Truth or Consequences, Elephant Butte Lake, and San Antonio, NM. We need a road trip.
Have a great week!!!
Ken
with young, happy people playing pool, the women in low-cut tops…
with young, happy people singing, the women in low-cut tops…
with young, happy people eating and drinking, the women in low-cut tops.
I should say that I have no formal training in advertising, and the above is just what I’ve picked up from decades of watching ads.
Tony Jay
@Betty:
“Aren’t you too old to run for re-election?”
“Nope. Next question.”
“Do you agree with critics that you’re too old to run for re-election?”
“Is there an echo in here? No. Next question.”
“A lot of people feel you’re too old to run for re-election. How do you respond?”
“The same way I just did. Are there any questions that aren’t about age? No? Then we’re done here.”
“Mister President! Why won’t you answer the question? What are you trying to hide? Is it your age?”
BREAKING NEWS – BIDEN SHUFFLES SLOWLY OUT OF ‘CHAOTIC’ PRESS CONFERENCE TO DODGE QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS CAMPAIGN FITNESS – BREAKING NEWS.
Layer8Problem
@Ken: Who had that line about “half of my advertising budget is wasted, but I don’t know which half”?
Betty Cracker
Steve Scalise must be furious that he gave up his campaign for the speakership so fast. He beat Jordan head-to-head but then withdrew when he failed to reach 217 in a day. He was playing by the old rules.
NorthLeft
You might think that a mature person/organization might question itself as to why am I being bypassed/unfriended. A little introspection by these journalists and organizations might be in order for them to understand why they are no longer being treated as fair dealers who have access to a large audience.
As if!
Ken
Political pundits get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars every year for in-depth analysis like this, and here you are giving it away for free.
WaterGirl
@Frankensteinbeck: Just one more way of saying “Don’t you know who I am?”
Corrected: “Don’t you know who we are?“
frosty
@Quinerly: Have a great Road Trip! We almost made it to Elephant Butte awhile ago but it was a little too far out of our way.
We’re leaving Thursday for a short one to New River Gorge National Park (newest one) and southern Virginia to ride the Virginia Creeper rail trail. Hoping for no rain!
OzarkHillbilly
@Ken: I think his business model could do with a tweak here and there.
Geminid
@Quinerly: That sounds like nice trip! Hope you have good weather. The Land of Enchantment often does.
WaterGirl
@Quinerly: Sounds like you have had a lot going on!
lowtechcyclist
@satby:
Yeah, that was my reaction too. I could name a bunch of people here who could ask better questions than our snooze media. They don’t even bother to educate themselves enough to ask good questions even if they wanted to.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: I have found myself hoping that Scalise will vote no on Jordan. Maybe he should vote for himself!
Too bad that S is toward the end of the alphabet. I bet a bunch of people would have followed his lead.
The Thin Black Duke
@lowtechcyclist: Hell, that fifteen-year-old journalist who DeSantis threw out of his press conference asked tougher questions than the dildos taking up space on MTP.
terraformer
Obviously, another really good reason Biden is reaching out beyond traditional media and press
is because they aren’t reporting context and nuance, and/or are simply forwarding whatever missive Republicans spew wholesale, absent any fact-checking. The political media simply isn’t reporting what we can all see and hear about issues of the day
so, keep them in the fold, but sidestep the bigs as needed to counter their *eyes wide open decision* to not inform and education the populace
Soprano2
@Ken: Probably, yes, although my preference would be to show all ages, because that’s who we attract. I’d rather have the 25-60 age group, they have more money and drink more responsibility. Not a big fan of people in their early 20’s and alcohol.
Yarrow
@Betty Cracker:
Are there rules in this Republican chaos to pick a Speaker? It looks like the rules are whatever they decide they are, including deciding not to certify election results if they don’t like them. They just make everything up as they go along. Power is the goal. Rules are for suckers.
Betty Cracker
@WaterGirl: I bet Scalise can still undermine Jordan if he wants to since Scalise has been in party leadership for a while and knows how to whip votes, etc. But he’s a scumbag too, and while he might be disappointed not to get the gavel himself, he probably still aspires to it and will likely bide his time and wait for Jordan to implode instead of alienating Jordan’s supporters by raising a stink today. As far as I can tell, they’re all in on the same nihilistic agenda anyway.
OzarkHillbilly
Really? Liz Truss? She who couldn’t outlast a head of lettuce? That Liz Truss? No wonder you have loser stank all over you Ted.
Yeah, don’t get your hopes up, this is Texas we are talking about.
Hmmmm… Than again, a football player in football mad Texas? He just might pull it off. But I’m not gonna hold my breath.
Quinerly
@Geminid:
Thanks! We have had our first frost outside of Santa Fe. The aspens up at 11,000 ft at Ski Santa Fe have been beautiful. I was hoping even though we are heading south that it would be cooler. Looking like the 80’s. I have never been to “The Very Large Array” (the movie “Contact”) and they are having one of their open houses Sat. There’s an odd little restaurant (Tumbleweeds Diner, Google it, I am intrigued) that opened in Magdalena. I have been reading about it and the backstory, so this trip started out as food destination trip (with TorC added because of the best chicken fried steak ever is there, and the Owl Bar’s Green Chile Cheeseburger in tiny San Antonio, NM). I really need a break after these visitors. And a trip planned around restaurants and bars is great for just talking to strangers and not having to think too much. These last house guests and his behavior rattled me so much that I phoned a dear friend who was coming out in Nov to postpone his 2 week visit. He has recently been diagnosed with Parkinsons and I was blunt…very concerned about mobility and altitude issues. Actually, I think he was relieved that I was the one to pull the plug on his visit.
Have a great week!
Geminid
@WaterGirl: Don Bacon (NE) will be called early. He could be a bellwhether among anti-Jordan forces.
Sure Lurkalot
@Tony Jay:
From Raw Story via MSNBC
And stiffing them per the article.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/trump-owes-money-to-media-outlets-and-secret-service-after-not-paying-his-bills-report/ar-AA1igocR
So our lofty press with the hard hitting questions is being paid to sit in a pen and be heckled by morons.
“Why that’s not humiliating at all,” says Sally Stenographer. “Why is Biden sooooo ooooolllllllddddd?”
Quinerly
@WaterGirl: busy summer.
The flagstones took so much longer than I had planned. Only 3 pallets but Miguel could only work on weekends and not every weekend. The fake turf for JoJo in his side yard went down pretty easy, though… 1000 sq ft. Best thing I have done here for him. He loves it. I bet I have 50 pics of “a boy and his turf.”
Leto
Biden’s first post on Shit Social was pretty funny as well.
sdhays
John Cole speaks for me. Yes, the “moderates” almost always fold, but scheduling the vote before nailing down all the necessary votes isn’t an act of strength. We’ll see.
Also, for fuck’s sake, national press, how are you counting Trump’s interviews? He was almost never interviewed, unless getting shouted at over the whir of the blades of Marine Force One counts, which it absolutely shouldn’t.
Yarrow
Doesn’t look like Jordan has the votes, at least not yet.
John S.
@sdhays: They yearn for the days when Governor Jethrene would tell them it’s raining while pissing on their heads.
Geminid
@Quinerly: Thanks, you too.
You’ll miss Santa Rosa it sounds like. If you ever want to get away for a camping trip I can recommend Santa Rosa Lake State Park. Most of the camping spots are in a bowl looking over the lake, but there are 10 tent sites on the ridge above, and I don’t think you are required to sleep in a tent to use them.
There is a 8 mi. loop for horses across from the tent site parking. I found that to be a good place to walk inside of because I could not get lost! The Pecos River below the dam has some nice hiking along it also, but its not as flat as the loop up top.
That ridge can be very windy. One time I was there I drove into town and hung out at the library to get put of the wind. Then I picked up a big container of Chile Verde at the Comet Ii restaurant to take back to camp.
Santa Rosa also has Blue Hole, which is a neat spot.
catclub
I can nearly remember the guy who said something along the lines of “With all my money I blew millions on fast cars and fast women. The rest I wasted.”
moonbat
@catclub: Sounds like a paraphrase of W.C. Fields.
catclub
Not so sure about the whipping votes part. Before the vote on the floor he said he had X and only got X-20. Counting matters.
Betty Cracker
@sdhays:
True. It might work because the bully-victim dynamic seems to be all that’s left of Repub politics. But that doesn’t make your observation any less true, and it doesn’t inspire confidence that any arrangement will be a lasting one
@catclub: I’m pretty sure Scalise is Archimedes compared to Jordan, but point taken!
Quinerly
@Geminid: 💚
We have chatted about Santa Rosa before. I love the Comet but haven’t been there since moving here. Only on trips out here when on 40 thru Tucumcari and making the turnoff at Cline’s Corners onto 285. Actually, I live off of 285, about 45 mines from Cline’s Corners, so in the scheme of things, not that far from Santa Rosa…..about 90 mins. Thanks for reminding me about The Comet. Need to put Santa Rosa back on my radar! I have pretty much traveled the state all over, but still need to make it to Fort Sumner, Billy the Kid’s grave, and Bosque Redondo. I somehow missed those the year I came into the state through Clovis and Portales. JoJo and I can combine a 2-3 night trip down that way with a stop in Santa Rosa.
Thanks!!!!
Eolirin
@Yarrow: Bleh, I hope their count is off, because they’ll probably be able to get that. Of course they’ve shown consistently that they can’t count, so it could be.
Josie
@OzarkHillbilly:
I am on a really limited budget and hardly ever send money to a candidate unless it is on one of WaterGirl’s fundraising projects. I just sent money to Allred last week. I believe he has the best chance in years of winning here in Texas as a Democrat. My son thinks I am a dreamer, but I believe in him.
Jamey
Anyway
@Quinerly:
Happy trails! Is this a camping trip or RV or do you find motels or make reservations ahead of time or… ?
Hilbertsubspace
@Yarrow: After the first vote, the holdouts should threaten to vote Jeffries if there is a second vote.
Tell Gym to his face “No means No”.
Geminid
@catclub: One problem with whipping votes in that caucus is that a lot of members won’t be counted. That’s why McCarthy called a vote on the motion to table last week without being sure he had the votes. He had to roll the dice, like Jordan intends today.
This morning’s Politico Playbook had an article listing 7 members who as of last night said they were “No” votes on Jordan.* But the reporters said that a number of members would not say at all. They also said the was “a lot of tension” among caucus members.
* I think Gimenez (FL) and Kelly (PA) said they would vote for McCarthy; Diaz-Belart (FL) and another guy said they’d vote for Scalise; Buck (CO) and Rutherford (FL) said they were Nos; and Bacon (NE) said he “wasn’t budging.”
Eolirin
@Josie: There is some small amount of hope, mostly in that Biden managed to get 46% of the vote there in 2020, a 5% improvement over Hillary, though Trump’s share was only down by a very small amount, and Beto only lost by ~2% in 2018. Dobbs and continuing demographic shifts could maybe make enough of a shift to beat Cruz. We desperately need another seat, given how hard it’s going to be to hold Montana, and Texas and Florida are about our only chances.
On the other side of the ledger are worsening voter suppression tactics and the 2022 results being awful.
Old School
My hope is that the anti-Jordan Republicans vote present and Jeffries ends up winning due to Republican incompetence.
I also hope Democrats have a continuing resolution with Ukraine funding in it ready to hold a vote on as soon as this occurs.
WaterGirl
@Quinerly: sweet!
Yarrow
@Josie: How’s Allred doing with Latino voters / in the Valley? That’s where the margins will be in Texas.
UncleEbeneezer
@Soprano2: I’ve always been impressed with the fact that after the Primary, Biden started meeting with his competitors: Buttigieg, Harris, Bernie, Warren etc. and updating his policies to include some of their ideas. That is a sign of someone who isn’t going to let his ego restrict his options for doing the right/best thing. The fact that when Kamala rightfully called him out on a foolish position/quote of his about bussing. It was probably the biggest punch landed by any of the other Dem challengers. So many white men would have held a grudge over that, and even tried to later get revenge, but he didn’t. Instead he made her his VP and integrated many of her policy stances into his platform. That has always impressed me.
RepubAnon
@Betty Cracker: The MAGA negotiation tactic is to refuse to negotiate and demand unconditional surrender. It works if the other side lacks spines, or if they feel that surrender is better than no deal
That is how Gaetz got the one person can move to remove the Speaker rule. The non-MAGA Republicans aren’t willing to negotiate with the Democrats, so surrender is their only option if they want to get a Speaker in place.
It’s a bad decision on the Republicans’ part: they should refuse to give in to the MAGA extortion. There’ll be gridlock either way, so no loss.
Yarrow
@Hilbertsubspace:
Jake Sherman is reporting this. I’m not sure what “drop off” means. Drop off voting Yes for him, or drop off the No list?
rikyrah
@Tony Jay:
Ding ding ding.
They are being denied the’ access’ that would get them the ‘ scoops’ that they wouldn’t reveal in REAL TIME to inform the American public because they want it for THEIR BOOKS.
Manyakitty
@catclub: McCarthy is behind him, I think. He sunk Scalise.
Uncle Cosmo
Years ago I read somewhere that while many young’uns have difficulties dealing with their parents, their relationships with their grandparents tend to be decidedly more positive.** (Maybe on the one hand it has to do with the old saw that
So I would not be at all surprised if PUJOTUS plays better with the kids than with their grouchy glibertarian-leaning GenX parents.
** FTR I have no personal experience to support this: Both my biological grandfathers were dead before I was 2, and the remaining grandmothers and stepgrandfather, who lived 200 miles away and were seen for a few days a year, had about 30 words of English among them. (And I understood no Italian til long after they too were gone, let alone the various bizzare dialects they spoke.)
Quinerly
@Anyway:
We aren’t camping on this trip. I have all these points on my Choice Hotels card. So some with points, some paid. It’s only 3 nights. Oddly, there is a very nice Econo Lodge (it looks like one of the old Rt 66 motels that you see in Tucumcari) in Socorro that we stayed in last February when we did a 3 week drive about that included Silver City and the Black Mountains. I’m getting a kick out of it. I have a good friend who is in her 80’s. She is driving over from Moriarty for Saturday, the Very Large Array open house, and dinner at this place in Magdalena. So my free, points night is 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom suite at this funky and clean Econo Lodge. My friend with Parkinsons who canceled his trip out here in Nov, only stays in Marriotts. I have enjoyed telling him about this suite at the Econo Lodge in Socorro. He thinks I speak in a foreign language. That makes me laugh.
Geminid
@Yarrow: That sounds like some Jordan voters will drop off if he can’t get 217 on the first ballot.
narya
@Anyway: I saw them a bunch when I visited my parents in PA, but haven’t seen any here in IL. (Then again, it’s hard to overestimate how blue my particular location is.) I thought it was pretty good.
Ken
@Yarrow: From the headline “JORDAN IN TROUBLE”, I assume it means he’ll lose Yes votes, but I agree it’s unclear. The press really should develop a system for reporting news that allows more than 140 characters.
Yarrow
@Geminid: That’s the guessing in comments but it’s unclear.
Hilbertsubspace
@Yarrow: Drop off the “no” list.
Republican lawscribblers would always claim that they will convince everyone to appear like everything is under control whether it is or not.
Manyakitty
@Betty Cracker: no reason he can’t jump back in. It’s not like rules matter to these people.
hueyplong
The one at a time declarations of support for Jordan yesterday pretty much reeked of not being at 217 and pressuring others in the run-up to today.
But normal speculation about motivations and strategies are iffy when discussing intra-cult squabbles.
Manyakitty
@Quinerly: gotta ask, what did the husband DO?
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@mrmoshpotato: I want pizza and cheese fries only on days that end in ‘y’. Sadly, my cholesterol won’t let me.
Hilbertsubspace
@Hilbertsubspace: Or I could be completely wrong (as usual) and it means drop off the “yes” list
Yeah, I think it’s drop off the “Yes” so bad for Jordon, good for America.
MagdaInBlack
@Manyakitty: Thank you, I’ve been dying to ask.
Sean
Here is something infinitely funny to me this morning. Jim Jordan is now pitching a clean CR through April of next year to his caucus, his reasoning being that the automatic 1% cuts are “leverage” they can hold to get better and crazier appropriations bills passed to cut spending.
So Jordan’s “plan” is…what McCarthy’s team already negotiated. And now, some of these “never CR” folks are on board! Ralph freaking Norman says he’s ready to go! Thomas Massie too! So, Kevin gets deposed, 2 weeks of chaos ensue, and now they’re going with the “leverage” they had anyway – negotiated by Kevin McCarthy himself? The supposed leverage that results in hard military spending cuts come April the GOP will then have to own when their absolute batshit appropriations bills fail in the senate? Biden’s team must be pretty stoked at this turn of events if it plays out.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/jim-jordan-plan-avert-shutdown-becomes-house-speaker-rcna120623
They’re acting like they just discovered the 1% cuts! McCarthy must be absolutely floored that this is the Jordan strategy. It’s unreal. Jim Jordan is repackaging the deal they already had as his own idea and at least some of these nuts are championing him for it. McCarthy earned this 1000%, and it’s hilarious.
Miss Bianca
@satby: Right??
I mean, I swear, all these MSM figures see themselves as a cross between Woodward, Bernstein, and Hildy Johnson – but they actually come across as slightly more clueless Les Nesman.
noncarborundum
@WaterGirl: They had to make it difficult by adding “Kars-4-Kids singing”. I was enthusiastically behind the bag of flaming dog poo up until that point.
Another Scott
@Layer8Problem:
John Wanamaker, maybe.
Cheers,
Scott.
Citizen Alan
@catclub: Oh I don’t know about that. Both men are such utter Craven cowards who I would not be at all surprised for both of them to meekly submit to the guy who screwed them over.
Eolirin
@Sean: It’s also not leverage. 1% cuts aren’t worse than a shutdown. Pass the damn senate bills is still where we’d be at. There’s not going to be any negotiation with the house. The senate bills are already the negotiation. That they’re still delusional about this is mind boggling
Never mind that they can’t even pass their own appropriation bills
kindness
I figure Jim Jordan will win the Speaker job today. It won’t matter. Jordan stands for the no compromise wing of the party (it’s majority now), and that won’t work all that well when the Senate and the Executive branch are held by Democrats. I predict total gridlock on any and every issue that comes before them.
Let’s see how middle America likes that take come the ’24 elections. I suspect they’ll toss the Republican majority out like week old stinky trash.
geg6
@Anyway:
They are running all over the tv here in the opposite side of the state. I see them on HGTV and local news shows all the time.
Citizen Alan
@lowtechcyclist: I think the entire press corps could be replaced by junior or senior student journalists from the fifty top-ranked college newspapers, and it woyld be a vast improvement.
Another Scott
@Hilbertsubspace: Based on #50 above, I ass-u-me that the folks wavering or medium-soft NO aren’t going to put him over the top, but aren’t going to be out by themselves if he gets the number he needs.
It’s a very unstable equilibrium. Jordan will not win by 1. He’ll win by a lot, or lose by a few.
I expect him to lose on the first ballot, them to call an immediate recess, and then the background threats and arm-twisting resume.
I continue to think that it’s too early for the bomb-throwers to consent to electing anyone Speaker. I think we’ve got a few more weeks of this stuff.
We’ll see.
Cheers,
Scott.
Sean
@Eolirin:
Exactly, it isn’t leverage at all. They’re going to be squeezed so hard with the pressure of those military cuts against a senate slate of bills that are passed as originally negotiated.
The house will get nothing they’re asking for, other than the bad press of whatever insane bullshit they pass in their appropriations bills and the subsequent ads running in their districts.
Quinerly
@Manyakitty:
He supposedly has all these health issues. His wife says he is an over the top hypochondriac. He is overweight. He basically wanted us all to stay in and watch TV. He exerted himself 2 days total. About a week after he was “forced” to walk about a block, he once again exerted himself on Tues before they were to leave … he thought he was having a heart attack at the restaurant where we were having breakfast. (That’s when I learned he pulls that about once a month at home and they have to call the EMS…very small town, less than 500). Mind you now, he is a musician and plays with his band almost every weekend, stands for sets, and carries equipment in and out of gigs.
I am very patient with people with poor health, but I learned so many of his issues are made up. And he constantly talks about his health. He has very good health care and constantly goes to the doctor. He didn’t “feel comfortable” with our leaving him alone here. So, we stayed here and I cooked 3 meals a day.
When they got back home, the next day he thought he was having a heart attack. She sent him in an ambulance to the hospital. When she got there a few hrs later…..that’s when she learned he hadn’t taken his medications the entire time they were here. His excuse was that the altitude made his head fuzzy…and we were always rushing him.
This is the Reader’s Digest version.
Kathleen
@Jeffro: Excellent piece. Thank you. I can’t believe these words appeared in the New York Times.
Josie
@Yarrow:
We don’t know yet. Things will get more clear after the primary. He will have some work to do there, since he is from Dallas and not well known in the Valley.
Geminid
New Republic Capitol Hill correspondent Grace Segers reported that Jordan is wooing farm district Republicans by promising to move the 5-year Farm Bill through the House. She noted that Jordan has not voted for a Farm Bill once in his 18 years in Congress.
MagdaInBlack
@Quinerly: “Boys” ruin everything. 😉
Josie
@Geminid:
This should be interesting. I hope someone is keeping a master list of all his promises.
Matt McIrvin
I know I’m usually one of the doomers here but when people fret about Jordan becoming Speaker of the House, I have trouble figuring out how that functionally differs from any other Republican becoming Speaker of the House, given the current makeup of the House.
The Speaker certainly has some power to determine the general agenda but to some extent it rests on the majority’s consent. McCarthy, or some retiring not-as-deranged Republican, would at this point not get us much more than Jim Jordan, even if they managed to stay in the position, and it’s not as if the House is going to get any substantive laws passed to advance a conservative agenda–they’ll just pass a bunch of hopeless stupid bills that will die. They’ll harass people with absurd investigations and hearings but they were doing that anyway. We may be headed for an extended government shutdown, but we’d get that regardless.
It might not even be much different from the situation with Hakeem Jeffries becoming Speaker (which will not happen anyway, so not much point in thinking about it).
Kathleen
@Frankensteinbeck: I eagerly await the coming irrelevance of Pundlandia.
WaterGirl
@Manyakitty: Who are the two “him”s in your comment?
Frankensteinbeck
@Another Scott:
He can only possibly win by… what, 5 votes? A squeaker is his only victory option.
Quinerly
@MagdaInBlack:
And, I think of all those years I only “ran” with boys.
The kicker to this is she is my dear, dear friend. But he is my last living blood relative.
jonas
“Did you know you’re old?”
“Can you comment on how old you are? Is it over 100?”
“Can you respond to allegations that you’re super elderly?”
“Just a quick follow-up. You’re old!”
“Is Hunter old? What about his laptop?”
Eolirin
@Matt McIrvin: I think this analysis ignores that there’s a decently sized majority for both the senate appropriation bills and Ukraine funding, and that the only reason why they haven’t both happened already is because they’re not being allowed to come to the floor.
If a dozen or so Republicans cut a deal with the Democrats and change the House rules to ensure it can survive a tantrum from the bomb throwers, we can have a functional congress, at least for basic governance stuff.
We’re not advancing our agenda this cycle either way, sure. But the House Republican caucus is broken and non functional in a way that even the Senate Republicans aren’t. And that’s all down to the Speaker and the rules that McCarthy agreed to to become Speaker without Democratic help.
We can meet the barest needs of governance if a minority of the House Republicans are sidelined.
They can back away from being held hostage by the worst elements of their caucus if there are enough Republicans with spines. Open question there.
MagdaInBlack
@Quinerly: I have those years as well.
Manyakitty
@Miss Bianca: heh. They probably think turkeys can fly.
Kathleen
@Miss Bianca: Right! Without Les Nessman’s earnestness and genuine desire to be an actual news person vs a gossip mongering narcissistic hack.
jonas
@Matt McIrvin: Agree with everything you said here, but will add that Jordan is part of Trumpworld in a way that McCarthy really wasn’t. Sure McCarthy went down to Mar-A-Lardo to kiss the ring and all that, but he was never in that inner circle of real MAGA nutjobs who ended up derailing his speakership. Jordan is, and regardless of what promises he supposedly made to some of the holdouts to get on board, a potential Jordan speakership would give Trump and his worst people access and influence that they haven’t had for several years now. That could be very bad.
Manyakitty
@Quinerly: good heavens. Way to bring the misery, dude. No wonder you need to get out and blow off the stink!
Manyakitty
@MagdaInBlack: right????
Uncle Cosmo
Or just perhaps he was told in no uncertain terms that the Thuglican mob enforcers prepared to “persuade” caucus members families into voting the (far-) right way by threatening their families** would only do so for a candidate endorsed by their Dear Leader Orangecandyass…
** “And if youse call the cops we’ll kidnap your youngest daughter and send her back to you one finger at a time…”
Manyakitty
@WaterGirl: McCarthy is behind Jordan; I think McCarthy sunk Scalise.
Kathleen
@jonas: “Does Hunter Biden’s laptop contain documents about how old you are?”
Quinerly
@Manyakitty:
I cried Sat over this. It’s been a couple of weeks since they left but it all sunk in for me this past Sat. She’s such a good person. Military brat, mother murdered when she was young. She goes with the flow. Tough…does everything around their house, fixes stuff, and juggles 3 jobs while he sits on his ass at home and plays 4 gigs a month with some of the same guys he has played with 50 years. She had planned her trip out for 2 years. Everything she wanted to do. Originally, he wasn’t coming but then he did. It’s pretty much like he controlled and sabotaged her trip she had planned and saved for.
I am so glad I live alone, with my dog.
piratedan
@Quinerly: discovering your state’s hidden gems is always fun. While the spouse and I finished her Pedal the Petrified ride, we road tripped over to the Bandera Ice Caves and Volcano park, very cool drive thru the Zuni reservation past El Morro.
We also have hope that on our next trip to Denver that Las Vegas hasn’t been too impacted by the wildfires, always thought that area was kind of special.
Manyakitty
@Quinerly: ugh. That sucks. How do we end up coddling such dead weight?
Soprano2
@Quinerly: I hate to say it, but it sounds like she enables a lot of this stuff. She should have done the stuff she wanted to do whether he wanted to go along or not. I don’t know them, but I recognize the controlling behavior. He doesn’t want to do anything, but he doesn’t want her to either. It’s awful, and I feel sad for your friend that she allows herself to be controlled in this way. When you love someone it’s hard to break free from it. My husband does the “silent treatment” thing when he gets mad at me. The first few times I was upset and tried everything to get him to talk to me. Finally I realized that the way to get past it was to ignore it, and treat him the same was as I always did. What I noticed was that the fits (because that’s what they are) got shorter over time, sometimes lasting only a day, because he figured out that I wouldn’t change how I behaved. He would never tell me what he was upset about, and claimed that he couldn’t talk about it because he’d get really really angry, so I decided my best course was to ignore it. The silent treatment is a type of controlling behavior, and I decided not to be controlled by it. If he can’t be adult enough to tell me what he’s upset about, why should I care about it?
Tony Jay
@Sure Lurkalot:
The fuckity what now? They are being defrauded by the Trumpalumpists and they still can’t bring themselves to report on it?
Media News is broken. Just another institution undermined by greed and really, really stupid stupid people. I mean, feh-uhk but these people couldn’t tell a chocolate milkshake from an upturned arse.
Ksmiami
@schrodingers_cat: his entire demeanor is a PR nightmare – a simultaneous throbbing liver of rage, vileness, sweating and thin combover. Sure Republicans go make him the de facto spokesperson for your party… as it circles the Drano.
Subsole
@rikyrah:
See, this is the enjoyable part of the process: that magical moment when it slowly, sloooooowly dawns on these folks that reputation is not an infinitely renewing, bottomless account that can simply be pulled from at will in perpetuum.
Those priceless life lessons: that trust requires maintenance, patience is finite, and no matter who you think you are, there cones a point where you most assuredly ain’t.
Jeffro
@Kathleen: you’re welcome! Bouie usually doesn’t pull any punches. =)
Juju
@Quinerly: He sounds like an attention junky. I’m sorry you had to deal with that.
Quinerly
@Soprano2:
Totally agree with you on my friend and her husband. The kicker in this is they rarely do anything together when they are home. They have been together 45 years and basically separate lives for the last 20 when they are home. Yes, there’s some weird co dependency going on. But, he got the upper hand from the minute they got off the plane. “i’m dizzy and having problems breathing.” He had our full attention here, whereas, at home she goes to work while he’s still sleeping. They truly go days without even seeing each other.
Here, we were all trapped with each other. I kept thinking she and I would just leave him, but she fell into his manipulation. I held my tongue because I don’t get involved in couple’s marriages. I figured out long ago that I am not good marriage material. Very independent and self sufficient. I don’t do lazy or people who become lazy. And, I am a big believer in keeping separate addresses even when in a long term relationship. I’m an odd duck. And know it. I’m in no position to give advice, though. I just went on with my days while they watched television.
H-Bob
@Geminid: Plus each reporter asks the same damn question (perhaps 30% change it up slightly, as though they’re gonna trip him up). To the reporters, the purpose of press conferences is for each reporter to have a video clip of that reporter asking the President a question. The reporters are mad because they have fewer video clips for their personal portfolios.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Ksmiami: And however long it feels, it was only a few months ago that he tried to use his standard bully tactics on … was it Fani Willis or Letitia James? I must be getting old; I can’t keep straight all the cases where Trump is the defendant and Jordan’s been trying to put his thumb on the scale. Anyway, I’m recalling how he got a formal letter in response from his target explaining in great detail how severely unimpressed she was with his interference.
I’m trying to imagine what would happen if Jordan tried something like that on Joe Biden. I suspect Biden’s response would leave Doug Piranha weeping with envy.
Quinerly
@Juju:
And from beautiful Pitt County, NC. You still in Greenville?
JustRuss
You know what he’s also done fewer times than Trump? Threaten to punish journalists he doesn’t like.
catclub
‘If you loved me you would know what the problem is’
No asshole, I am not a mind reader, use your words.
Subsole
@rikyrah:
This.
These people don’t treat their jobs as anything but a branding mechanism. They steadfastly refuse to take their own jobs seriously. Their bosses don’t make them take it seriously. Their shareholders don’t make the bosses make the workers take it seriously.
Their entire industry doesn’t respect itself as anything but some discount-rack Patreon. Substack on someone else’s dime. Then they turn and lecture all the people who are starving for serious media analysis???
F.
O.
H.
unctuous
@Kathleen: Outstanding.