Biden's three presidents event allows him to show unity Trump lacks. Trump consolidated power in GOP but is estranged from others who could help with votes outside core loyalists – his VP declined to endorse, as did his final primary opponent. George W. Bush & Trump long at odds.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) March 28, 2024
President Biden is raising more money for his campaign tonight than Donald Trump raised in the entire month of February.
Don’t tell me that people aren’t excited about Biden.
— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) March 28, 2024
From USAToday, “‘A positive story to tell’: Obama and Clinton rip Trump, boost Biden at $26M NYC campaign fundraiser”:
Barack Obama and Bill Clinton joined President Joe Biden Thursday night in New York at the most lucrative fundraiser of the 2024 campaign, warning fellow Democrats that Donald Trump must be defeated while making forceful cases for Biden’s reelection.
“Joe is absolutely right that we’ve got not just a nominee, but frankly a party and an entire infrastructure that increasingly seems unconcerned with the essence of America,” Obama said of Trump and Republicans. “The idea of self-governance and the possibilities of us all fully operating and bridging our differences and moving forward.
“But we also have a positive story to tell about the future,” Obama added.
The three presidents took turns taking questions during an “armchair conversation” moderated by Stephen Colbert, host of CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”…
“I think our democracy is at stake, not a joke. I think democracy is literally at stake,” Biden said. “Think about the things [Trump] has said, think about the things he wants to do.”
Biden added: “We’re at a real inflection point in history, things are changing. This guy denies there is global warming. This guy wants to get rid of not only Roe v. Wade − by the way which he brags about having done − he wants to get rid of the ability of anyone anywhere in America to have the right to choose. All the things he’s doing are so old.”…
Clinton made an economic pitch for Biden, who has struggled to get credit for an improving economy. Clinton accused Trump while in office of taking credit for an economy that had started improving under Obama and said Biden later inherited “a mess” left by Trump.
“All of a sudden, Joe Biden comes along and creates roughly twice as many jobs,” Clinton said. “So I believe in keeping score. Not in a vindictive way but in a positive way. He’s been good for America and he deserves another term.”…
Addressing Israel’s war against Hamas, Biden said the U.S. must work to get more food, medicine, and supplies to Palestinians. He said it’s “understandable Israel has such a profound anger” following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. “They weren’t killed. They were massacred,” Biden, said, but added that Israel must do more to limit civilian causalities.
“We must, in fact, stop the effort that is resulting in significant deaths of innocent civilians, particularly children,” Biden said…
The fundraiser was a star-studded affair. In addition to Colbert, actress Mindy Kaling, star of “The Office” and “The Mindy Project,” hosted the program, which featured musical guests Lizzo, Queen Latifah, Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo, and Lea Michele.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and first lady Jill Biden also delivered remarks.
Lizzo performed her hit song “About Damn Time.” Queen Latifah sang “U.N.I.T.Y.” …
Remember — sharing is caring:
.@StephenAtHome at the New York fundraiser: Three presidents have come to New York and not one of them is going to court via @jeffmason1 https://t.co/koqERd6ToL
— Nandita Bose (@nanditab1) March 29, 2024
Lizzo rocking the house … @TheDemocrats #BidenObamaClinton pic.twitter.com/CqXViap7Rr
— Jaime Harrison (@harrisonjaime) March 29, 2024
Putting her own twist on Tina’s River Deep, Mountain High… the amazing @CynthiaErivo #BidenObamaClinton pic.twitter.com/fKyRH5hXLT
— Jaime Harrison (@harrisonjaime) March 29, 2024
LOL!!! At the end of the Biden, Obama, Clinton fundraiser, President Biden confirmed the existence of Dark Brandon saying “By the way, Dark Brandon is REAL!” pic.twitter.com/WxeNQGDYZ5
— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) March 29, 2024
Here’s your reminder that these three have created 49 million out of the 51 million jobs in America since 1989.
96% of all jobs for the last 35 years — created by Democratic Presidents. pic.twitter.com/5uyvWhFNao
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) March 28, 2024
Giving the GOP a big sad…
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) March 28, 2024
On The Road – frosty – 3rd Annual National Park/COVID Challenge – Oregon – Birds of the Oregon Coast
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊
Baud
So you’re saying he’s a Democrat.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Baud
“Despite claims of party unity, former president Carter conspicuously absent from Biden fundraiser.” /NYT
Baud
@Baud: he = Biden, as you’ll would have surmised.
OzarkHillbilly
Not a single felony indictment among this murderers row. Proof that the justice system is rigged…. against GOP politicians who commit crimes anyway.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
As Mendendez has learned, unlike Republicans, we fire, not promote, politicians that are indicted.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I found this this AM:
Georgia Republican official fined $5,000 for voting illegally nine times
Whadya wanna bet the GA GOP doesn’t even ask him to resign?
Kay
I’m glad Clinton endorsed Biden’s economy because a lot of older Democratic men still consider Clinton the high water mark for the economy (although Biden’s economic approach is better because it’s built on things that last – if we can keep it).
eclare
Queen Latifah sang the original lyrics to U.N.I.T.Y.?
I hope she did.
Scout211
I read that yesterday.
Compare and contrast:
It’s a relief that her five year sentence was finally overturned but a black woman in a Texas voting by mistake one time gets 5 years and a Republican pol in Georgia votes illegally nine times and gets a fine.
Jeffg166
@Baud: Yes, a 99 year old man in hospice didn’t show. Says a lot.
OzarkHillbilly
@OzarkHillbilly: On the flip side of the voter fraud coin:
How many hours did it take to convict Ken Paxton? Oh yeah, they dropped the charges after I forget how many years in exchange for a slap on his wrist (no way do I believe the $300K are coming out of his pocket).
@Scout211: Heh. I’d say “great minds” and all that but you might should worry. ;-)
eclare
@Scout211:
Yeah I saw that earlier, it was so jarring to see those headlines on the same day.
OzarkHillbilly
@eclare: A couple more voting rights headlines to ponder:
Montana supreme court strikes down Republican-passed voting restrictions
South Carolina Republicans can use discriminatory map for 2024, court rules
I said back in 2020* that an improved Voting Rights act should be job #1 for DEMs in Congress and I feel the same way now in 2024.
* not a criticism, they had a few other pressing matters to deal with and they had to make difficult choices. Not that I agree 100% tho.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
They fell a Manchinema vote short of doing it.
Soprano2
@OzarkHillbilly: He probably didn’t consider it to be a “real” crime. You know the reason they’re obsessed with Democrats committing voter fraud is because they know they do it.
I don’t have much of an update on hubby. He’s still in the hospital, slowly improving. I finally talked to the caseworker yesterday. Turns out that even though I kept telling the nurse I wanted to talk about my options for home care, the caseworker only handles placements in nursing homes and other facilities! There’s another person who handles what I want, so now I have to wait for them to call me. All of this is so frustrating. I’m going to call the VA this morning to see what it takes to start that process, and then I’m going to call the senior care company the elder law attorney I saw yesterday recommended to me. Two months ago I thought I was six months to a year away from needing these services. Just goes to show you never know what’s going to happen.
Geminid
@OzarkHillbilly: The South Carolina ruling mainly affects Racy Mace’s 1st CD.
One analyst says that Congressional redistricting is pretty much finalized now, and that at least on paper, Republicans came out +1 Representative.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Ahhhh… I should have thought of that.
OzarkHillbilly
Seeing as the GOP is all in on trump I have to wonder what they think a real crime is… No I don’t. It’s anything they do except done by a black or Hispanic person.
ps: hope you are getting some sleep.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
The linked article talks about other Dems opposing filibuster reform generally, but not specifically about the voting rights bill.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Thanx for the edification. I pretty much forgot all that.
Soprano2
@OzarkHillbilly: Not much, I’m going to sleep in this weekend. I really think hubby won’t be getting out of the hospital until Monday. Yeah, just checked the labs they did on him this morning. His creatine is 2.46, it’s supposed to be 1.5. He isn’t getting better as fast this time as he did last time. Before once they cleared the stents of stones his kidneys improved in a couple of days. He’s been there since Tuesday and the tests still aren’t that good. Sigh…..
I love that I was able to create a portal account for him, it enables me to look at all of his test results, doctor’s notes, and other stuff like that. This is the wonderful side of technology, I don’t have to wait for the doctor to call to know what the tests say.
Chief Oshkosh
@Soprano2: You are fighting the good fight. For what it’s worth, there are many of us out in the ether who have undergone somewhat similar travails and who are pulling for you.
We have such a horrible healthcare and housing system in this country. The only solution I see is long term and entails electing more and more better and better Democrats.
Which is entirely doable!
Layer8Problem
We’re off to This Nation’s Capital this morning to visit the grandkids and their parents. For the folks from down and around there, how’s the traffic through the Baltimore area given the bridge disaster?
OzarkHillbilly
@Soprano2: Fingers crossed that you can. Since I retired I have learned to take naps. Not gonna say they make up for the sleepless nights but they help.
MelissaM
Where’s Betty? Here’s the history of the butter lamb:
https://www.salon.com/2024/03/28/the-history-of-the-easter-butter-lamb-an-enduring-polish-tradition-in-the-states/
Jeffro
AMEN!!
Ken
With all due respect to Gov. Newsom, Democratic presidents will always have an advantage in job creation because of the economy’s mysterious habit of crashing under their Republican predecessors.
eclare
@Soprano2:
Thank you for the update.
Jeffro
Our side: 2 successful two-term ex-presidents, 1 successful current president, Lizzo, Queen Latifah, Mindy Kaling, Stephen Colbert, zero felony charges.
Their side: 1 highly unsuccessful one-term loser, various Mar-a-Lago gargoyles, Kid Rock, people willing to pretend that trumpov didn’t just kick his golf ball back onto the green. Oh, and 88 felony charges.
Jeffro
from the NYC fundraiser, which was interrupted multiple times by
morons who can’t seem to find a GOP event to disruptprotestors:TBone
PA had a small voting rights loss yesterday (incorrect date on mail ballot invalidates entire ballot) but Marc Elias says:
Imagine that! Lack of Standing! Are you paying attention, Supremacist Court?
Betty
@OzarkHillbilly: Manchin and Sinema wouldn’t do anything about the filibuster or they would have gotten it done.
Ken
The case went all the way to the Supreme Court which… did nothing for five months, and now it’s too late for any revised maps to be used.
As I saw on some Bluesky account, “Tell me one thing the Supreme Six would be doing differently if they were actively working to help Republicans.”
Geminid
@Jeffro: The protesters were hustled out fairly quickly. One was Diane Sayre(sp?), Independent New York Senate candidate. She is affiliated with the Schiller Institute, a LaRoucheite outfit.
Baud
@Geminid:
Valid lefty causes always get hijacked.
TBone
As in Georgia, peaches are a BFD in the season here in central PA. I get them in tall glass jars, preserved by the Mennonites who grow them, with just the barest hint of sugar (the only other ingredients are peach halves and water). Summer in a jar any old time of year.
Here’s to our 3 gentlemen kicking ass and taking names last night. 🎶
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3GCrzjVdmSg
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty: Yep, Baud corrected me above. Sheesh, my memory…
Kay
@Baud:
Well, bad actors are always portrayed as “hijacking” Left causes, but only Lefty causes. Bad actors among or amid any other cause never “hijack”, apparently.
New Deal democrat
@Ken:
This really made me angry. It is a clear demonstration of the GOP court majority’s hostility not just to the Voting Rights Act, but as revealed most potently by Shelby County, their hostility to the very 15th Amendment itself.
TBone
A deep, deep dive into Lake Schadenfreude for fElon Skum 😆🔥
https://www.wheresyoured.at/the/
It goes into Don Lemon and doesn’t stop until fElon’s entrails in Texas are rotting in the sun.
Glidwrith
@OzarkHillbilly: Another question: what was he doing that the court kept extending the probation?
Ben Cisco
@Soprano2: I am so sorry for what you are going through.
Baud
@Kay:
I don’t care about those other causes enough to care whether they get highjacked
Soprano2
@Kay: Maybe we don’t recognize it when it happens on the right side.
Kay
@Baud:
No one says this disgusting display of blatant religious bigotry “hijacks” the cause of anyone who supports Israel:
One Larouche supporter can discredit a whole Lefty cause, while an entire group of powerful Right wing elected officials can’t discredit another cause. Just an interesting double standard.
The United States supposedly rejects collective punishment and abhors civilian casaulties. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people holding us to that professed standard. That’s how “standards” stay standards – people hold you to them.
Baud
@Soprano2:
We do though. We’re always pointing out how the GOP has been taken over by grifters and worse. Or No Labels, another grift operation. We just don’t care about them.
Baud
@Kay:
I didn’t say anything about discrediting a cause.
And we always point out how Bibi is discrediting Israel. This false sense of bias is just that — false.
OzarkHillbilly
@Glidwrith: Good ask.
Soprano2
@Kay: Who said that person discredits the cause? The problem is that when someone like that becomes involved it makes the cause seem less serious than it is to others, because the person is an unserious actor who doesn’t actually care about the cause but only cares about drawing attention to themselves rather than actually advocating for the cause. I don’t know what can be done about that, either. I’m waiting for them to do even one demonstration against Republicans who are also supporting Israel’s war and who are holding up aid to Gaza. Somehow these protesters can’t seem to find even one Republican event worthy of protest.
tam1MI
The United States supposedly rejects collective punishment
Whereas the protestors in question absolutely embrace collective punishment, since their whole message is, “Do what we say, or we will throw the election to Donald Trump and then you will all suffer.”
Kay
I recognize that bringing up this issue is inconvenient to the Democratic Party in an election year, but tough shit. Such is the burden of power. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and all that. People don’t exist to serve political parties. Political parties exist to serve people. The protestors are right. If the United States says they oppose collective punishment then the United States has to actually oppose it, or it’s not a standard at all. If these protestors weren’t holding them to it – futile as it seems to be – who would?
Baud
@Kay:
If you want to put your faith in LaRoucheites, which is what was claimed above, go ahead.
RevRick
@Baud: Going back to Hoover, Democratic administrations have far exceeded job, income and GDP growth of Republicans. It turns out, stimulating the economy through government policies and spending is a good thing.
Republican economic policy can be boiled down to three ingredients:
1). Tax cuts, especially for the wealthy;
2). Deregulation of business;
3). Opposition to any downward redistribution of income (such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, ACA, SNAP -food stamps).
Soprano2
@Kay: What do you think about the Palestinian activists in Michigan who are actively trying to defeat Biden? They aren’t trying to influence his position, they’re basically trying to get TFG elected. That seems like they’re cutting off their nose to spite their face to me. I just wish they could find one Republican event to protest in the same way. Why aren’t Republicans who control the House also seen as complicit?
Kay
@tam1MI:
Well, not “what they say”. What the United States says. The United States is opposed to punishing civilians in a conflict. The protestors are demanding the United States uphold its own professed standards. That’s why Democrats never actually contradict them but instead say they are “working on it” or “can’t in this instance” – you’ll never hear Democrats DISAGREE with them, because that would be disagreeing with the professed position of the United States.
Kay
@Soprano2:
I think Arab Americans in Michigan – who at 70% D are part of the D coalition- have as much right to demand Democrats pay attention to their issues as any other part of the D coalition, and as much right to use political leverage as any other part of the D coalition. The fact is the Biden Administration rhetoric changed as a result of their lobbying. They now advocate on behalf of Palestinian civilians (which matters – It matters a lot what the US President says) where they didn’t before. They’ve kept the civilian deaths front and center in the national discussion and if they had been good, obedient Democrats and kept silent that wouldn’t have happened.
Soprano2
@Kay: I agree with that, they have the right to advocate for their position and try to influence the government to change. What do you think about the Palestinians who are actively trying to defeat Biden? They don’t care about influencing his policies, they’re trying to get him out and replaced with TFG, who certainly won’t give two shits about Palestinian civilian casualties anywhere and actually said something like that Israel should be able to do whatever they want to Gaza. To me this makes absolutely no sense.
Kay
@Soprano2:
The squeaky wheel really does get the grease. We wouldn’t have a huge political lobbying industry if this weren’t true. I think they played a role in the extraordinary US efforts to get some food into Gaza. I can’t prove that of course, but we were dicking around for months begging Israel to allow food in (making Biden look weak) and Arab Americans in a necessary state for Democrats made a lot of noise and lo and behold, we came up with the emergecny port idea. Funny how that works.
People want to see the US President as effective. No one wants to hear “we can’t get food in – no one will let us!” The pressure probably helped Biden politically.
Miss Bianca
@Jeffro: Oh, thank God. I love it when the grown-ups in the room have finally had enough and lay down the law in such stark simple terms.
I have ZERO respect for “protesters” who just want to yap and bay and blame people for not quickly and easily solving problems that have no quick or easy solution. Also those who spurn meetings with administrators who actually shape policy on some whackadoodle notion that they hold the moral high ground on their pet issue.
Kay
@Soprano2:
They don’t lobby Republicans because 70D/30R. They don’t have any leverage with Republicans. Republicans aren’t seeking their votes – hence Republican Israel supporters tanking a judicial nominee because the nominee is Muslim.
I feel like you guys are mssing this connection. The reason they lobby Democrats is because they vote for Democrats. It doesn’t make much sense for Democratic voters to say “I won’t vote for you!” to a Republican elected. They don’t vote for Republicans anyway. What you object to about them is what makes them part of our coalition. If they were 70R/30D they’d be lobbying Republicans. Well, they wouldn’t be, because they’d support killing Palestinian civilians if they were Republicans.
Kay
@Soprano2:
Here’s another way to look at it. They are 70D/30R because they oppose killing civilians and oppose anti Muslim, anti Arab bigotry. That’s why they’re in our coalition and that’s also why they lobby Ds and not Rs, because Ds share those values and R’s do not. It would be a big waste of time to lobby the party that just scuttled the first Muslim ct of appeals candidate, loud and proud that they did it because they hate Muslims, right?
Kay
@Soprano2:
The poltiics of this for D’s is actually really interesting because it’s evolving. Corey Booker supported the Muslim lawyer for the ct of appeals. Booker is a huge Israel supporter. But NJ also has a large and very Democratic Muslim community. Now, I’m sure Corey Booker isn’t a bigot so he might have supported the Muslim ct of appeals lawyer anyway, but it doesn’t hurt that quite a few of Bookers constituents and supporters are Muslims.
Welcome to coalition politics. It’s not easy but it’s worthwhile. I makes us a better, stronger party.
tam1MI
The fact that these people can’t find a single Republican to protest should be your tell that they care more about destroying Democrats than helping Palestinians. You mean to tell me there isn’t a single Republican running in a swing district in this election?
The other tell is that they went straight to the threats to throw the election to Trump. Or I dunno, maybe I missed the numerous times Rashida Tlaib tried to take a meeting with President Biden or the State Department or Congressional leadership to discuss her constituents concerns and got the back of their hand.
Kay
@Soprano2:
If we all get out wish and the GOP becomes a rump Pary it’ll be even more complicated, because Democrats will have every group :)
Super diverse! Let the cat herding begin!
Chris Christie used to stick up for Muslims v Republicans too – see, NJ’s large urban Muslim population, but he’s a one off. They’re anti Muslim bigots as a rule.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kay:
Booker might have supported the judge anyway? Might have?
geg6
If anyone is a listener of podcasts, word is that Biden, Obama and Clinton will all be the guests on the Smartless podcast which is hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett. Apparently recorded live before the fundraiser. I subscribe to this particular podcast, so I’m really looking forward to it.
UncleEbeneezer
This! Agitators will always exist, but part of coalition politics is also that the majority of the coalition has every right to tell them to kindly fuck off when their actions and timing threaten to burn the whole coalition down. Protestors are not entitled to just do whatever they want without criticism. We have every right to call this bullshit out for the danger it creates. If you want to be a part of a coalition to defeat Trump, don’t waltz in with threats to help Trump win. Or you will get removed, and be rightfully blasted for being an asshole who is endangering the goal of the coalition. It’s really not that complicated.
tam1MI
@Kay: Welcome to coalition politics.
Coalition politics involves teamwork and compromise. One member of a coalition throwing all the other members of the coalition under the bus because the leaders aren’t moving fast enough in their preferred direction to suit isn’t coalition politics. It’s hostage taking. “Do exactly what we say in the exact way we say it or your right to exist as a LGBT+ person bites it”.
Mike in NC
Joe rakes in a cool $26M+ in one night. Fat Bastard’s gonna need to sell a bunch of his bibles.
Kay
@tam1MI:
They’ll probably vote for Democrats. They don’t have any choice. But I would get used to more Arab American and Muslim political activism, in Michigan but also elsewhere. They have some leverage in the Democratic Party because they vote for Democrats and tend to be in the urban centers we need, and like every other group in the Democratic Party, they will use it. It’ll be good for Democrats. The protestors are closer to the majority of Americans on this issue than Joe Biden was. They may actually help him politically, by moving him off what was, IMO, a blind spot, where he was simply not sympathetic or interested enough in the 30k Palestinian victims of this. Most Americans want us to help them, and most Americans are right- it is not in the US interest to stand by while a million Palestinians starve to death. That’s not good for our objectives. Biden saying he couldn’t do anything made him seem weak and was bad politically. No voter will like that. They want him to project power for good.
frosty
@Layer8Problem: Traffic is good this week. Baltimore County schools are on spring break.
VFX Lurker
We’ll see in November.
Meanwhile, if an individual voter says they’ll never vote for Biden, accept and respect their decision and move on to the next voter.
geg6
@tam1MI:
Exactly. And let’s not allow people to deflect from the fact that some of the most vocal leaders of the push to get other Muslim voters to vote for Trump or third party are actually long-time Republicans. Fuck this bullshit. Yes, they are certainly entitled to lobby their congresscritters and the WH to do more for Palestinian civilians, but making threats and lying to their audience about what is actually happening and exactly how much leverage the US has to stop Bibi and the IDF from the disgusting path they are on isn’t acceptable. But then GOP ratfucking is often not visible to many, many people.
dirge
If a bad actor shows up to hijack a right wing cause, how exactly are you supposed to tell them apart from all the neonazis and theocrats already running the thing?
UncleEbeneezer
@VFX Lurker: But that’s the best part! If they don’t vote for Biden and that ends up throwing MI (or other razor-thin margin) states to Trump, it will be Biden’s fault, our fault, Obama’s fault, the DNC’s fault…everyone will be to blame but them.
We saw this already in 2016 when people pulled this exact same bullshit over legitimate issues like police reform. Passionate, Black activists, bloggers, podcasters etc., like Elon James White, Mark Lamont Hill, Ice Cube, Killer Mike, even Michael Harriot encouraged people not to vote for Hillary with #EarnThisDamnVote bullshit and at the end of the day, they got what they wanted: just enough people refused to vote for Hillary in three states that we got Trump in the Oval Office (and a SCOTUS that tossed Roe and Affirmative Action into the trash), gave us a Muslim Travel Ban (which apparently would be just great for Palestinians!) an attempted border wall and babies in cages. Guess how many of those people who encouraged voters not to support Hillary have admitted their complicity in helping elect Trump…if you answered “zero” congrats, you are correct.
So here we are again with people pulling the same bullshit (aided and abetted by Putin) using a valid issue to help defeat Biden and using social justice language to claim that anyone who sees what they are doing and calls it out is the real meanie for doing so. Talking a big game about “accountability” for Biden, but I guaran-fucking-tee you that if Trump wins, not a single one of them will be willing to hold themselves accountable for helping to make that possible.
Citizen Alan
@TBone:
Nonsense! Everyone knows that peaches come in a can, and that they were put there by a man in a factory downtown.
Citizen Alan
@Kay: That would imply the existence of any good actors on the Right, instead of it just being one giant gang of crooks all trying to outcrook each other.
UncleEbeneezer
@geg6: Also if Netanyahu is the worst enemy of the Palestinians (which I think is obvious as HE is the one actually running the attempted genocide) and Netanyahu is openly wishing for Trump to get elected again, it’s kind of a tell that anyone who is threatening to help Trump win is not acting in good faith with their claims that they are just doing what is best for Palestinians.
mrmoshpotato
@Citizen Alan: How many peaches?
mrmoshpotato
@TBone: High def! LOOK OUT!
Citizen Alan
@tam1MI: Any “Palestinian activist” who is working for the election of Donald Trump is not a supporter of palestinians but rather someone in favor of their extremination. The first day president Shitgibbon enter’s office, his first phone call from the oval office will be to putin to get his instructions for the day. But his second will be to bibi to let him know that america will be perfectly fine with it if he rounds up all the palestinians in gaza and just kills them all.
Citizen Alan
@Kay:
Hell, they’re bigoted against Christians that aren’t conservative enough to suit them!
Warblewarble
Israels crimes are approved by the war cabinet, it is a lie that this “NETANYAHU’S WAR. Thisi is expansiionist Israels genocide.
Citizen Alan
@mrmoshpotato: oh, millions!
UncleEbeneezer
@Warblewarble: And who is the Prime Minister of Israel presently? And which candidate is he rooting for in November?
Geminid
@tam1MI: Since I got this thing rolling I’ll point out that the particular protester I pointed to is not a member of the Democratic coalition, but rather an independent candidate for New York Senator. I saw video of two security guards walking the woman posted by a New Yprk Magazine reporter and Diane Sayre posted, “That’s me.” The reporter asked her to stick around for an interview, so maybe the magazine’s Intelligencer platform has more.
Sayre’s Twitter bio mentions LaRouche and the Schiller Institute which fronts the organization. She ran for Senate against Chuck Schumer last cycle and her positions on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict may have been expressed then. But I never noticed that organization taking much of an interest in the question.
I would not say the LaRoucheites are “hijacking” this protest movement but they are definitley being opportunistic here. I followed them last year when they were disrupting town meetings staged by New York area Democratic Representatives including Reps. Ocasio-Cortez and Bowman, who are more supportive of the rights of Palestinians than most Democrats.
Then the issue was aid to Ukraine.and the protesters were hollering about Joe Biden dragging us into nuclear war. And I mean hollering; the same two big guys with big voices taking turns shouting over Ocasio-Cortez and Bowman at their town halls.. I expect the people organizing last night’s event were on the lookout for those two and the Schiller Institute did not bother trying to sneak them in.
That said, I would not say that Sayre and her crowd represent anyone but themselves, and certainly not Arab Americams who have good cause to protest the civilian casualties in Gaza.
Geminid
@UncleEbeneezer:Netanyahu is the Pfime Ministdrl but last October 12 the Knesset put him in a War Cabinet with two Hallant and Gantz, who despise him and limit his powers. So the commenter is correct on this particular question.
Eolirin
@Kay: They have been advocating on behalf of Palestinian civilians the entire time. They just weren’t doing so as forcefully as some would have liked because Biden didn’t immediately start from a position of attacking Bibi and his government’s direction. Those conversations were held behind closed doors.
Biden isn’t willing to risk the continued existence of Israel either. This includes continuing weapon shipments so that Hezbollah can’t start an invasion from the north. Israel isn’t Bibi. Bibi and his government will eventually be gone. Biden doesn’t want Israel to be as well. This is a sore spot for certain people.
But like, one of the very first things that was done by the US, in terms of diplomacy, was an attempt to stop Israel from cutting off all access to water and food into Gaza.
Humanitarian efforts have been consistant the entire time, and the reason why the port thing came up was because the many other things that were being tried keep failing because the IDF keeps doing things like shooting at aid workers and blocking supply trucks.
The Biden administration has been working behind the scenes for a ceasefire, hostage releases, and better humanitarian aid corridors from the very beginning. They just didn’t do so through the news media.
But Biden in his public comments has been very consistent in his messaging to Israel to not go down the path it went down. This idea that the Biden administration was blind to the plight of Palestinian citizens has always been bullshit. Go back and look at the transcripts of Biden speeches around 10/7 instead of second hand reporting on them. There was one speech, out of many, that failed to mention the Palestinians and call for limiting damage to the civilian population, and the Biden administration apologized for it months ago.
Just because people are protesting doesn’t mean actions are being taking differently than they would have been anyway.
They’ve made changes to messaging and are more open about what they’ve been very clearly pushing for behind the scenes. That’s all that’s changed.
There’s no evidence of changes to their diplomatic strategy or objectives. I see no reason to think the increasing pressure on Bibi isn’t because of patience wearing thin rather than because of domestic politics. I see no change in direction in terms of US demands here, just an increasing ratchet of pressure as Bibi has continued to be actively hostile to those demands.
Which is the normal diplomatic process?
If it makes those protesters feel better to claim credit I’m fine with that, but the Biden administration isn’t setting foreign policy direction because of a 14% uncommited vote in Michigan.
Increased urgency and intensity because the whole world is starting to turn on Israel? Because the humanitarian crisis is reaching a tipping point that requires more forceful intervention? Sure. One of the core objectives here is making sure Israel survives this, and another is preventing hundreds of thousands of, if not a million plus, civilian casualties. And letting the latter happen almost guarantees that the former will be untenable.
Increasingly that means stopping Bibi from doing what he’s doing. If he is able to persist anyway, a choice will need to be made about whether that first objective can be abandoned. And that’ll be the real test. I pray we do not need to find out.
SoupCatcher
Super broad strokes here…
Activists and organizers are necessary parts of any coalition that I want to be part of, but there’s always going to be a tension between them. And often they’re not even talking about the same things. Activists are staking out a moral position where compromise makes no sense and organizers are trying to get something done where compromise is unavoidable. I feel like things don’t happen without organizers and good things don’t happen without activists. It’s very easy for people/organizations who have a vested interest in the status quo to keep good things from happening by exploiting the tension between activists and organizers. The amount of money that’s been spent, is being spent, and will be spent by our opponents is orders of magnitude more than our side has.
Subsole
@UncleEbeneezer:
Late to the party, but this was righteous.
dirge
I don’t think think this causal connection is as clear as you make it. The administration’s position is also responsive to Israel’s actions and internal politics, the cooperation (or lack thereof) of other regional actors, and Hamas’ negotiating position. Personally, I don’t think they’re engaging with it as a domestic political issue very much, if at all, and their evolution is almost entirely explained by pursuit of their foreign policy goals.
It looks to me as if they’re prioritizing a long term two state solution over the immediate need for a ceasefire. They seem to think that requires carefully calibrated, gradually escalating pressure on Israel, which looks a lot like turning a blind eye, but isn’t. People of good faith can disagree about whether that’s right, but it’s not crazy. It’d be huge if they can pull it off.
For the most part, I think that’s the right approach. Domestic messaging could easily disrupt diplomatic efforts. To the extent that they have to make a choice between talking to Dearborn, or talking to Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi, they should ignore Dearborn.
David 🏈 Mahomes! 🏈 Koch
Does this mean we don’t get an open convention? 🥺
Geminid
The actual war in Gaza underlies this debate, so this Jerusalem Post article from last week is relevant, I think. It’s based on a radio interview of retired Major General Israel Ziv, former head of tge IDF’s Operational Directorate. It’s titled:
https://m.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-792864
Paul in KY
@Soprano2: Best of luck! Had some good luck with VA and then had some bad, as in my dad & mom made too much money (for VA to provide some stuff). Guess that was a 1st world problem.
Paul in KY
@Jeffro: Don’t forget Toby Keith! Oh…he’s dead. Well, how about Ted Nugent? He’s still alive and and err maybe Wayne Newton? Oh, oh, Lee Greenwood! Take that Libtard!
Paul in KY
@Kay: I’m not sure what you are getting at here.
TBone
@Citizen Alan: 💙
Paul in KY
@Kay: I do understand they lobby Pres. Biden and Democrats, as they vote Democratic. Sound tactics by them.
Paul in KY
@VFX Lurker: Still tell them they are stupid, though.
Kay
I was at the Daily Kos convention in 2012 when supporters of same sex marriage shouted down Democrats on human rights, so I would appreciate it if people would stop telling me these protestors and activists are just SO out of LINE that no one can possibly bear them.
Every fucking group in the Democratic Party does this. They lobby DEMOCRATS to change DEMOCRATIC policy – and it works. They protested Obama on same sex marriage and Obama moved. So I’m still wondering why these people can’t do the same.
Gay rights supporters didn’t protest Republicans in 2011 and 2012 because they’re not morons – they protested Democrats, because they vote for Democrats. That’s the leverage. They don’t have any with Republicans, so they don’t try to change Republicans. This is not difficult or hard to understand.
Geminid
@Eolirin: One key step President Biden took was in the first days of the war, when Netanyahu urged him on a phone call to pressure Egyptian President Al-Sissi to let Palestinians flee across the border into Egypt. Netanyahu made the same request to Macron and Sunak. All three told Netanyahu “No way! Al-Sissi won’t stand for it and neither will we.”
This was reported several weeks later and has not been confirmed officially, but I think the reporting here was credible. Like a lot of this war’s story, I think we’ll find out after the war is concluded.
Kay
@dirge:
Well, I’m sorry to hear that because that’s what I suspected and what the human rights advocates fear – that 10’s of thousands of innocent Palestinians civilians are being sacrificed for the sake of a larger agreement between the US and Israel. That’s fucking brutal. If that’s the actual plan I suggest the Biden Administration don’t brag about it – you understand why the people dying might not think that’s a great deal.
Kay
@dirge:
Well, I’m sorry to hear that because that’s what I suspected and what the human rights advocates fear – that 10’s of thousands of innocent Palestinians civilians are being sacrificed for the sake of a larger agreement between the US and Israel. That’s fucking brutal. If that’s the actual plan I suggest the Biden Administration don’t brag about it – you understand why the people dying might not think that’s a great deal.
wjca
Not take the Mifepristone case. Which would have left in place the lower court decision banning it.
Kay
You should also understand that the protestors believe that Netanyahu and the Right in Israel are seeking to defeat Biden in November and that you-all are all dopes who don’t see that. They think Biden will never get a deal because that helps Biden politically and the hard Right in Israel don’t want to help Biden politically – they want Trump. So they also think you’re wrong on the politics.
Kay
I sometimes think women in the Democratic Party should have made more noise. Maybe we’d still have a full set of rights. Not sure being good team players and going along helped us all that much.
Geminid
@Kay: From what I’ve read about the ceasefire/hostage negotiations, I don’t think it’s true that the US is prioritizing a Two-State solution over a ceasefire. We have pushed hard for a ceasefire because that’s a prerequisite for any kind of progress on the larger problem.
But these negotiations have been reported extensively by among others, Barak Ravid in Axios, so if you are interested you can see for yourself. The reporting goes back about seven weeks, starting with a meeting in Paris between CIA Director Burns, his Egyptian and Israeli counterparts, and Qatari Prime Minister Al-Thani. I think you have professional experience in negotiating, so you can probably make a fair judgement.
dirge
Yes, it is.
Every choice here is between lives lost now or in the future, in Palestine or throughout the region, in the tens of thousands or in the millions. A permanent regional settlement is the only thing that can change that grim calculus, so it must be the first priority.
It’s possible to argue that it’s a false dichotomy, that Biden could bring Israel to heel without risking greater harm. It’s not, however, actually possible to know whether that’s true. We’re all operating under vast uncertainty, including Biden.
It is, indeed, fucking brutal.
dirge
Well, probably better to say the US hasn’t really been pushing for a short term, stand-alone ceasefire, because it strongly prefers one structured to serve as the on-ramp towards a durable settlement. And, to the limited extent that the US can control events, it has been tolerating delays and civilian casualties in the hopes of getting the latter rather than the former.
Geminid
@dirge: I have followed this story very intently, and from what I’ve seen the Biden administration has been pushing very hard for a ceasefire. It would follow the framework put forward after the first Paris meeting; basically a truce during which one of Hamas’s abductees would be freed each day and a larger number of Israeli “security prisoners” would be released into the West Bank. The idea is to free 40 of Hamas’s child, elderly and health challenged, and women prisoners first.
The Qatari proposal is to build on this to get a more permanent ceasefire. That is what the Biden administration wants also. I’m not going to characterize the latest developments, but Barak Ravid has at least five articles in Axios about these negotiations and they are worth reading.
The US is not pushing for a permanent ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as Hamas is insisting upon.
dirge
@Geminid:
Thanks for the additional details. I don’t think we have very different understandings of what’s going on. I’m just trying to characterize why the administration won’t say ”ceasefire now, or we cut off aid” until all hope of something better is lost. And of course there is a cost to that.
Geminid
@Geminid: This is because such a ceasefire would leave Hamas in charge of the Gaza Strip, and we share Israel’s war aim of ending Hamas control of Gaza. So in this sense, we are pushing a ceasefire intended to revive negotiations aimed at establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Right now, I don’t think anyone expects anything more than beginning that process.
Geminid
@dirge: It’s a negotiation between two bitter enemies. Israel has the upper hand militarily, while Hamas believes it is winning the war of public opinion and believes that time is on their side.
The Jerusalem Post article I linked to at #95 touches on some of the issues. But right now, the ceasefire negotistions are at an impasse despite the “bridging proposal” CIA Direcrtor Burns presented last week.