Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

How stupid are these people?

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

In my day, never was longer.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

You are here: Home / Political Fundraising / Targeted Political Fundraising 2023-24 / Fuck That Bum, Let’s Go Joe: Moving On and Doing the Work

Fuck That Bum, Let’s Go Joe: Moving On and Doing the Work

by | 259 Comments

This post is in: ,

Moving on and doing the work – funding one future leader for the Worker Power Leadership School!

Moving on and doing the work – that’s what will get us the outcome we want in November.  So let’s send our student to Leadership School and move on to the next group that needs our support to do something great.

We have $250 left on yesterday’s Angel match, but Andrew re-upped with a mother thousand.  So we are calling this a NEW Angel Match for $1,250, and everything resets with a new Angel match.

Matching up to $150 per person, up to the $1,250 total.  

Can we get to $10,000 today?

If we can get to $10,000 before the clock strikes midnight tonight, another angel will add $500 to the thermometer.  

Teamwork!

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

259Comments

  3. 3.

    JaySinWA

    @Baud: Despite the Chevron ruling, I’ll take the ambiguity to allow it to mean the same thing on both sides of the pond.

    ETA for this case only

  5. 5.

    schrodingers_cat

    Self described progressives and assorted nervous Nellies and other malign characters are doing an I told you so dance in the comment threads about Biden’s age. Many of these same fuckers had no objection to Bernie Sanders age in 2020 when he was older than Biden. I find them tiresome in the extreme

    Biden has delivered on many of the progressive demands and yet for the most part they have rewarded that with hardly any loyalty.

  8. 8.

    debit

    I found myself laughing in incredulous disbelief this morning at the headlines and videos suggesting that Biden should drop out for being old, I guess. No one, not one single pundit or journalist has suggested that trump should drop out because he’s a convicted felon. I must channel the youngs and ask what the actual fuck?

  16. 16.

    zhena gogolia

    Has Jen Psaki said anything? My husband gave me her memoir, not knowing I’m not as crazy about her as I used to be. Even though it emerges that Obama threw her under the bus (didn’t give her the big job and let her find out by someone seeing a xerox left on a machine), it still seems she feels kind of embarrassed about working for uncool Biden.

  18. 18.

    rusty

    The entire (supposedly) left of the NY Times editorial page has turned on Biden. Friedman, Bruni, Kristof and Krugman are all calling for Biden to withdraw.  I think the NYT sucks, but that is going to create a lot of pressure and turmoil.  We are so screwed. (And of course the NYT thinks has a big article how Trump won the debate.)

  19. 19.

    cain

    Yesterdays freakout by the old Democratic political class. JFC, they were talking about replacing Biden and I’m like ‘MF, we ain’t doing that’. One bad debate performance does not make the election made. These people…

    Plus, once you start going through Trump’s talking points – they are BAD. There is a lot of stuff in there that people are like ‘wtf?” Black twitter is already disseminating ‘black jobs’. GOP politicians are fucking up trying to explain that when asked. There is so much political attack material – Trump has fucked himself.

    Yeah, could Joe have pushed back? Yeah, ok. He didn’t. He had a bad cold, although I don’t know if they gave him meds and he got better by that after debate party.

    Trump is going to say he won, and he might be enviable for another round – but honestly, there is no point debating that loon. Who won in this debate? CNN and the political class. They are going to have endless debate and prey on the fears of Democratic voters. Fuck them.

    ETA – Every person here who posted anecdotes from their own families reaction – we all know every one of you is going to put a circle on Joe Biden when it comes to voting. This entire election is already polarized – but what other have reported, hispanics and black people are offended by the things Trump has said – plus he’s lied so much there isn’t a statement that didn’t not say “yeah, that’s a lie” by any cross section of the voting public. It is inescapable that that Trump lies his ass off and cannot stop lying.

  20. 20.

    Al Rennick

    Jason Lewis @SenJasonLewis

    State Senator Jason Lewis proudly represents the people of the Fifth Middlesex District of Massachusetts, which includes the cities and towns of Malden, Melrose, Reading, Stoneham, Wakefield, and parts of Winchester.

    “President Biden has contributed a lifetime of distinguished public service to our nation. In 2020, he rose to the challenge of defeating Donald Trump and restoring dignity and honor to the presidency. (1/3)

    Under his leadership, our country has made tremendous progress. But now it is time for him to step aside. Our party has many younger leaders who are experienced, talented, and ready to step up and defeat Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans. (2/3)

    We should have an open Democratic Party convention in August to select our presidential nominee. I’m calling on fellow Democrats to join me in this cause. (3/3)”

     

     

  24. 24.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Point taken. I turned it off 1/2 an hour in, but 90% of that was I simply couldn’t listen to That Voice and all those unanswered lies. Still, I woke up letting the Eeyore punditry get to me.

    My wife had three substacks she subscribes to that had live chats during the debate. One of them, The Big Picture, was saying during the fucking debate that Joe should step down as candidate. Unsubscribed. And she’s also this morning ranting about CNN and how there was a reason (that Former Guy “town hall”) why she never reads or watches CNN any more.

    Anyway, consider my ass kicked for doubting Joe and feeling despair for an hour or so. We both ended the morning by opening up ActBlue and making donations to Joe. I hope his June numbers are YUUUGE, and fuck CNN and all the punditry.

  28. 28.

    wjca

    @schrodingers_cat: Never Trump Rs have Biden’s back more than supposed progressives and other assorted mostly white Ds having a meltdown.

    This.

    Note, having a meltdown while presenting exactly zero real-world scenarios where their preference (“Biden steps down”) improves Democrats’ chances.  That’s “real world” as in, including a real person, not a fantasy savior.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    @schrodingers_cat: Do I feel good about last night?  Hell no!

    Do i feel good about these SCOTUS rulings?  Hell no!

    To me, it just means we need to work harder and do EVERYTHING we can, so today I’m focusing on sending one future leader to Leadership School.

    I’m excited about my meeting with the NC Black Alliance peeps later this morning, more planing for what we can do for NC.

    One foot in front of the other, people.  That’s not just all we can do, it’s EVERYTHING.

  31. 31.

    West of the Rockies

    Agreed wholeheartedly.  Yeah, today’s SCOTUS rulings suck.  Last night was disappointing.  Let’s not piss ourselves though.    Buck up, move ahead.

  33. 33.

    WaterGirl

    @debit:

    No one, not one single pundit or journalist has suggested that trump should drop out because he’s a convicted felon.

    What about the fact that he’s a pathological liar???

  34. 34.

    catclub

    Plus, once you start going through Trump’s talking points – they are BAD.

    Ad: “Do you like where you live? Trump basically called it a shithole. Biden called it the greatest nation in the world.”

  37. 37.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Re #27, brace yourselves. The psyops have begun and it’s going to be unrelenting. “I’m a lifelong Democrat but I’m going to vote MAGA up and down the ballot and here’s why…”

    @West of the Rockies: Could also be a sleeper, an account that was on lurker status since 2020 and just gotten marching orders.

  41. 41.

    Gvg

    @Al Rennick: When is state senator Jason Lewis up for re-election? He is the one that needs to go. I imagine he will find out too. Doesn’t strike me as the smartest district to say that kind of thing.

  42. 42.

    catclub

    @cain: plus he’s lied so much there isn’t a statement that didn’t not say “yeah, that’s a lie” by any cross section of the voting public.

     

    “I am not to blame for January 6th, Nancy Pelosi is”

  44. 44.

    wjca

    @Al Rennick: We should have an open Democratic Party convention in August to select our presidential nominee. I’m calling on fellow Democrats to join me in this cause.

    Why do I have the distinct feeling that these people haven’t thought this thru?  They somehow imagine an “open convention” will nominate their preferred (imaginary) savior.  Who will somehow put together a campaign organization in a couple of months.

    News flash: the convention delegates are, overwhelmingly, Biden-Harris delegates.  So, when the fantasy open convention fantasy meets reality, Harris gets nominated.  Not one of their imaginary saviors.

  46. 46.

    Quadrillipede

    Ooh, is wallowing in despair perhaps a luxury that a lot of marginalized people don’t have  the the time and opportunity to fully indulge in? 🤔

  47. 47.

    catclub

    CNN Business:

    Donald Trump had a much better night than Joe Biden. Markets are unfazed

    That is a reasonable response.

  50. 50.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @cain:

    There is so much political attack material – Trump has fucked himself.

    White liberals and the news act like Biden was alone on stage trying to outperform a poster of Superman.  Trump came off like Hitler.  Okay, maybe it’s easy for us to overlook because we know he’s Hitler, and his base loves Hitler, but the undecideds found him repulsive, anyone less than white went “Fuck you right back, asshole,” and the unmotivated went “Holy shit, he really will ban abortion.”  Last night was a terrible night for Trump, no matter how focused we are on it being a bad night for Biden.

  52. 52.

    Quadrillipede

    @Baud: That means something completely different in the UK

    Although curiously, “bumming a fag” has a completely innocuous meaning over there…

  54. 54.

    Captain C

    @rusty: FTFNYT:  “If, as we should, we discount the fact that TCFG rambled himself, told nothing but lies, and didn’t address any of the questions asked, it’s obvious he overwhelmingly won the debate because Biden is Old and also because Pinch the Lesser’s taxes will rightfully be lower under a TCFG regime.”

  57. 57.

    WaterGirl

    Thank you to everyone who is donating.

    You can bet that everyone on the Biden campaign is still doing the work this morning, including Biden.

    Biden kept on in 2020 when no one thought he could win, and that’s what he’s doing now.  You can bet on it.

  59. 59.

    Hildebrand

    Why does it feel like all the Democratic bedwetters think that The West Wing was a documentary.  They believe that a debate can ‘make or break’ a campaign, and I just have never seen any evidence of that.

    Of course, I’ve never seen the utility of the debates in the first place – they tell us absolutely nothing about a candidate or how they will govern.  That format of debating just never happens in the course of governing, so why do we do it other than to cater to the horse race crowd?

  61. 61.

    Captain C

    @zhena gogolia:

    Not one of them called for Trump to step aside when he was convicted of 34 felonies.

    This might be a good rebuttal to the Chicken Littles and bad-faith yakkers:  “Did you instantly, loudly, and repeatedly call for TCFG to step down after he was convicted of 34 felonies?  No?  How about when his business was convicted of massive fraud?  No?  Or when he was found to have committed sexual assault and liable for defamation to the tune of nearly $100 million?  No?  Then your opinion on Biden is less than worthless.”

  63. 63.

    Quadrillipede

    @WaterGirl: What about the fact that he’s a pathological liar???

    What about shark-battery-messiah-hitler-vengeance-you-are-the-stolen-classified-document?

  64. 64.

    JoyceH

    Do I wish Biden were younger? Sure I do. But let’s be realistic – Biden stepping aside would not result in the party unifying around one mythical Obviously Perfect Candidate – several dozen who see themselves as the OPC would step forward and NOT step back, and the party would devolve into chaos. And face it- Biden only has to survive until the afternoon of January 20th to at least temporarily save democracy for sanity, and then we can leave it to the criminal courts to sweep out the trash.

  65. 65.

    bluefoot

    The debate may have been bad, but I am going to try on focusing my energies on making things better (countering negativity and misinformation, working on voting, caring for people) and taking care of myself so that I have the energy for the long haul. It’s hard not to get sucked into the vortex of hopelessness but I am going to do my best.
    And honestly, I can’t afford hopelessness – it’s literally life and death for me and people like me. I don’t have the luxury of rolling over and hoping the storm won’t get me.

    ETA: I can’t donate right now – I’ve been unemployed for a while, but I will do what I can.

  66. 66.

    Quiltingfool

    Welp, read almost all the comments about the debate.  Woo boy.  Seems like we demand perfection from our President.  He’s got to be flawless 24-7.  When your own supporters crap on you, who the hell would ever WANT to be President?   Why can’t we, just for once, be like Republicans (yes, I know, I threw up in my mouth a bit just saying that) and FORCEFULLY support Biden like they do that felonious piece of shit Trump?  Is that too much to ask?

    Rant over.  The cat and I are now going to the sewing room, to share a Bismarck  donut (she loves donuts, go figure) and work on an adorable blue and yellow (Slava Ukraini!) cat quilt.  I’m calling it “Dreaming of a Free Ukraine” as the appliquéd cats are sleeping beneath flowers.  This is what the appliqué looks like, (different color) if anyone needs to smile!

    pin.it/5UNqPtI2J

  68. 68.

    Captain C

    @wjca:

    Why do I have the distinct feeling that these people haven’t thought this thru?

    Because they most likely haven’t?

  70. 70.

    schrodingers_cat

    Candidly Tiff on Twitter

    Last night reminded me that when shit goes wrong folks will quickly abort ship and leave you stranded. No grace given, understanding or loyalty. Biden like the Clintons aren’t perfect but they have our backs and we got theirs. Too many that look like them are weak and fickle.

  71. 71.

    ArchTeryx

    @PJ: They always are after a bad day for the Ds. They aren’t called Troll Farms for nothing. After that debate they all got their marching orders from their oligarch overlords, and are fanning out everywhere to clammer for Biden to resign.

  73. 73.

    The Thin Black Duke

    Biden is an so-so orator who also manages to get shit done. Too bad too many Americans would rather be entertained.

  74. 74.

    Quadrillipede

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: “I’m a lifelong Democrat but I’m going to vote MAGA up and down the ballot and here’s why…”

    Yeah, it’s just so tediously predictable: “me, a lifelong Democrat voter for sure, certainly not a Republican operative, that’s the ticket…”

  75. 75.

    RaflW

    @wjca: Exactly.

    I am not in favor of kicking Biden off the ticket because he had a cold last night (sidebar: FFS why wasn’t everyone masked around him for the past week, at least off camera?) and underperformed.

    That said, I see only one path to Harris being the top of the ticket and that swap not being an automatic electoral disaster. I say disaster not because she’s who she is, or because she’s a multiracial POC, but because a brokered convention in which the current incumbent is toppled and there’s a nominating scramble, even a ‘backroom deal’ scramble, will signal all the “Dems in disarray” freak-outs to volume 11+.

    No, what would need to happen (and this is so far fetched, it won’t, and that’s a good thing) is this, in my one person quasi-humble opinion: For a ticket-change to have a chance, even a small chance, Biden would need to resign the presidency. Post haste.

    I know, you’re probably spluttering. But hear me out (or not!). Biden resigning elevates Kamala on the spot. She’s the president, and she has the positional power to say “I need to be the nominee for re-election. And my running mate is xxx [I’m gonna say Pritzger, but on this point you can pick your fav].”

    Yes all heck would break out. And given that the House & Senate need to confirm a VP appointment, we would very likely not have a VP until the election, but that in itself becomes one of Kamala’s biggest kudgels to attack the GOP. “See, they don’t even care enough about the stability of government to follow the Constitution and approve a VP. For even a few months! They’re total radicals and hate our system of government. Do not, under any circumstances, reward their intransigence with access to this office this November.”

    It’s all just silly fantasy on my part. But it would, IMO, be less toxic than a brokered convention. That, among other things, implies that Biden is too old to have the job he has now. And that we as a party suck at picking a nominee. I reject both of those notions.

  76. 76.

    Captain C

    @Quiltingfool:

    The cat and I are now going to the sewing room, to share a Bismarck  donut (she loves donuts, go figure)

    My late cat Kashmir loved cheesecake.  Junior’s cheesecake to be specific.

  79. 79.

    Tony Jay

    @Quadrillipede:

      Although curiously, “bumming a fag” has a completely innocuous meaning over there…

    Really depends on where you went to school.

    Roughscrape Comprehensive School? Cadging a cigarette.

    Eton? It’s warm that butter and put your dress pants in the presser time.

  82. 82.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @schrodingers_cat:

    On Twitter, Never Trump Rs have Biden’s back more than supposed progressives and other assorted mostly white Ds having a meltdown.

    Progressives have never supported Biden. They’ve voted for him only reluctantly. Nothing he has done for them, and its been a lot, has changed that.

  83. 83.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @schrodingers_cat: Thank you, Biden and the dems are the reason the PACT act passed which helps a lot of vets who previously did not qualify for VA health care, Biden and the Dems are the ones fighting the Repubs on abortion, Biden is why a lot of people had their student loans forgiven. And Biden and the Dems are the reason a whole lot of infrastructure is getting repaired and replaced.  I could give a shit that he is old he gets things done, he has an awesome, smart, competent VP.

    People who need to get “excited” about a candidate in order to vote for them are children, I want the most competenet person and the one who has the ability to work with others to get something done, NOT the narcissist with “charisma”.  I feel like I am living in the movie Idiocracy…

  85. 85.

    debit

    @WaterGirl: Exactly. all we can do is all we can do. I can’t control the narrative or anyone else’s actions. I can push back and mute and ignore the doom screamers, so that’s my plan. That and donating.

  87. 87.

    RaflW

    @WaterGirl: LoL. Thankfully, I can’t remember the name of that troll (though I’m not convinceable that it wasn’t a DougJ sock puppet, maybe meant to shit-stir the commentariat back then).

  88. 88.

    Chris

    @Hildebrand:

    Of course, I’ve never seen the utility of the debates in the first place – they tell us absolutely nothing about a candidate or how they will govern.  That format of debating just never happens in the course of governing, so why do we do it other than to cater to the horse race crowd?

    I mean, generally speaking, I think watching debates is the worst kind of latent high school civics mentality, that treats watching them as some kind of civic duty on par with voting.  When the plain fact is that any remotely informed voter should have everything they need to know long before the debates.  The debates are a pro wrestling performance.  If you learn anything from them or are swayed by anything that happens in them, you’re either embarrassingly uninformed, or a total idiot whose voting preferences don’t have a damn thing to do with either candidate’s policies.

  91. 91.

    Another Scott

    @RaflW: There was some discussion on Morning Edition by Phillip Martin on weaponizing plagiarism to go after black (especially women) scholars.

    The same thing, and more, would happen if Biden resigns.

    The monsters know they cannot win fair elections and that their policies are unpopular. That’s why they try to make people cower. When they get a scalp, they push for more. There’s never any end to their demands.

    We don’t win elections by cowering. We win elections by fighting for what’s right and for what we believe in.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  93. 93.

    Fair Economist

    @schrodingers_cat: Trump was terrible. Constant lying; can’t keep his facts straight. He has no support from top business leader because in meetings with them they say he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

  94. 94.

    Tony Jay

    Also, to paraphrase my opinion from an earlier thread.

             +++ JACKAL NEWS OPINION +++

    June 27/28 2024 – Bird migration routes across North America suffer catastrophic disruption as heritage media outlets respond to Biden’s debate underperformance with simultaneous howls of orgasmic joy.

    June 28/29 2024 – In controversial finding, Republican candidate for President remains a rapey lie-peddler, multiply convicted felon and incoherent hate-geyser, casting doubt on widespread opinion that debate stutter < demented nutter.

    +++ JACKAL NEWS OPINION +++

     

  96. 96.

    Barbara

    @Another Scott: See, e.g., Ralph Northam — who realized that resigning would have given the governorship to the very people who had never been able to command a majority of the electorate.  Screw all this yakking that essentially amounts to “let us smart people decide what’s good for the rest of you.”  The editors at the NYT, and every other person has one vote like you and I do.

  97. 97.

    WaterGirl

    @Fair Economist: Thank you!

    We just passed the halfway mark on the $1,250 Angel match!  We’re nowhere near $10,000 in the thermometer though, so maybe that as a goal before midnight may have been too ambitious?

  98. 98.

    Renie

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:  I did the same thing.  Went to ActBlue and donated to Joe.  Best way I can show my support.

    Notice those saying he should step aside never say who should replace him or how the logistics of it will work.   Snowflakes.

  99. 99.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @schrodingers_cat: Al Rennick,  Seeker, Steve Crickmore, and Down Dog Damn have all made appearances in the last twelve hours.  I am not going to call them trolls, but I will note that they only tend to show up when there is an opportunity to criticize and second guess.  Their prerogative, of course, but it doesn’t lead me to put a lot of weight on their observations.

  100. 100.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, …

    Jack Fitzpatrick ☘️
    @jackfitzdc
    17m

    Biden is asking Congress for nearly $4 billion to respond to the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, the Maui wildfire damage, and tornadoes in the Midwest.

    It’s theoretically possible for Congress to act on this soon… or to wait until late September.

    news.bgov.com/bloomberg-gove…

    Biden Seeks Nearly $4 Billion for Key Bridge, Disaster Relief
    President Joe Biden is asking Congress for almost $4 billion in emergency funds to respond to the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, Maui wildfires, and Midwestern tornadoes.

    [image]

    news.bgov.com

    Jun 28, 2024 · 4:07 PM UTC

    The work goes on. And is getting done under Biden’s leadership.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  102. 102.

    bluefoot

    @Quadrillipede: Expensive indeed.  I’m only just now learning the impact past hopelessness has had on my physical health, not just my mental health.  And that’s just the impact on me internally, not how I act in the world!  So I will attempt to plant a flag right now: Fuck hopelessness.  Even if it means all I can do is die on the proverbial barriers protecting someone else, figuratively and if need be, literally.

  105. 105.

    PJ

    For all the bedwetters, trolls, and Republican operatives indulging themselves in the reaction to last night’s debate, today’s Supreme Court rulings have already pushed the debate to second or third place on the landing pages of the Washington Post and the NY Times. Monday’s decision, which will either grant Trump immunity for official acts, or, at a minimum, make sure that the Jan. 6 case goes to trial after inauguration day, 2025, will surely be the biggest news of the week. A week from today, this debate will be just another flavor of “But Biden is old!”, fading in the rear view mirror.

  106. 106.

    rikyrah

    Renee (@PettyLupone) posted at 11:22 PM on Thu, Jun 27, 2024:
    The problem is… y’all don’t allow an inch for Dems to be less than perfect but will open a barn door for Republicans to have their way at corruption.

    November is all that matters.

    What y’all do from now until then, how focused you are… is on you. Not Joe. And not Dems. YOU.
    (x.com/PettyLupone/status/1806543661473440122?s=03)

  109. 109.

    Barbara

    @Another Scott: The Baltimore Harbor is open to shipping three months after the Key Bridge was destroyed by the Dali.  They were forecasting true hardship for a lot of workers and the city of Baltimore, and they have crossed a huge milestone for limiting that damage.

  111. 111.

    scav

    I can see the politics and media as late capitalism entertainment engines of profit boosters are out in force.

  112. 112.

    H.E.Wolf

    I’m on Team Do The Work.

    What the work is, will vary from person to person. For me, time spent discussing the horrifying worry of the day just drags me down and keeps me inactive. I prefer to put that time to practical use. (“Practical”, in my case, means that being able to see visible progress.)

    Nelle asked in a previous thread for specifics. I haven’t got Nelle’s awe-inspiring ability to strike up warm, productive conversations… so I play to my strength: a high tolerance for repetitive tasks. :-) Currently I have 2 of them.

    1. Five postcards in progress, which cheers me up because I can imagine the unknown Democrats on the other side of the country who may be more likely to vote because of my effort.

    2. Working from home on data entry for my state Democratic party, which lifts my spirits because there are so many volunteers already enrolled, and more arrive daily.

    Wishing everyone the same good fortune I’ve had, to be able to find my niche.

  114. 114.

    rikyrah

    Elie Mystal
    @ElieNYC
    Conservatives have now completed their generational goals of overturning Abortion, Affirmative Action, and Chevron.

    If y’all don’t think Obergefell and gay marriage is next on the chopping block, you must read the New York Times.
    9:38 AM · Jun 28, 2024
    x.com/ElieNYC/status/1806698688695120356

  119. 119.

    Seanly

    I was already supporting Biden’s campaign with $100 a month since January. I was disappointed in his performance in the debate but I just poneyed up another $250 for Joe. Also, fuck Trump & fuck CNN.

  120. 120.

    Barbara

    @rikyrah: Notice that their concern is NEVER couched in stating that they will vote for the Democratic candidate whoever it is.  I mean, this is seriously starting to piss me off.

  124. 124.

    Hildebrand

    @Chris: Yep – I’d much rather listen to a one on one sit down interview that really digs into a topic or issue.

    Two candidates standing or sitting next to each other to recite talking points and then pundits, or even voters, scoring the outcome is just ridiculous.  

  126. 126.

    nonrev

    Copium on the left is no more dignified than copium on the right.  Last week we all thought (including me) that Biden would wipe the floor with Trump.  That didn’t happen and in fact it didn’t happen Biggly.   Its not the Balloon juice readers or the commenters on this thread its the wide audience that watched the debate and to them Biden lost.  Truth, lies, moderators, sickness, all make not difference.  Its the optics and the perception and the perception was that Biden was feeble and at times confused.

    Of course this video (link) of Jill Biden helping Joe down 5 steps didn’t help dispel the idea Biden is to feeble and a bit to mentally slow to be President.

    I love Biden but I’m not willing to chance a Trump Presidency just to
    stick with out guy no matter what”

    Its time for a debate on alternate Dem Presidential  candidates

    x.com/bonchieredstate/status/1806523597948698797

  130. 130.

    Raoul Paste

    I want Joe Biden  to experience a sudden jump in fundraising,  as an indication of how much support he has countrywide.

    He is a good man.  I am writing a check today

  131. 131.

    Baud

    You know how WaterGirl does a lurkers post from time to time. She should also do a post welcoming newcomers and infrequent critics after bad news days.

  133. 133.

    EarthWindFire

    @nonrev: That debate better include how to prepare for Trump’s second term. If you think Trump will hesitate to point out the weakness shown by changing horses midstream, allow me to sell you a bridge in Brooklyn.

  134. 134.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Oh, and just for the record, if my white-ass ears could hear the dog whistle in “black jobs,” it must have been a klaxon for any POC.

  138. 138.

    JaySinWA

    @Baud: You know how WaterGirl does a lurkers post from time to time. She should also do a post welcoming newcomers and infrequent critics after bad news days.

    A bad news bears troll rodeo! Round ’em up, head ’em out.

    Ye haw!

  141. 141.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Omnes Omnibus: When he descended from that elevator ranting about anchor babies in 2016 (or was it 2015). My friend’s twelve year old knew that he was being targeted. You have to be an incredibly dense person or a deliberately oblvious person of a paler hue to not hear the bull horn of the fascist creep.

  142. 142.

    WaterGirl

    @Josie:

    Ken Paxton may have his just reward

    I read that as:

     Ken Paxton may JUST have his reward

    and I thought, oh no, more bad news.  Then I caught the word placement of “just”.  Yay for good news!

  144. 144.

    WaterGirl

    Thank you to everyone for all the donations!

    We have $700 left on Andrew’s final match.

    I have company coming for lunch in 15 minutes, so I need to make the sour cherry mojitos, and I’ll be off-line for a couple of hours.

    But I will check back on this thread for more donations after my siesta.  :-)

  145. 145.

    O. Felix Culpa

    So, is the $15K to send one person for training for one month? If so, that’s some gold-plated training and questionable bang for the buck, even factoring in travel, housing, etc. Speaking as a retired nonprofit financial executive, who has worked for a variety of organizations including educational institutions, it raises questions for me.

    I am basing my query on the following statement from an earlier thread, which perhaps does not fully reflect what the money is intended for. I’d value clarification. Thanks.

    In case you missed last night’s thread, we are in the process of raising $15,000 to send one young person to Leadership School to learn about organizing and how to lead a political team.

  146. 146.

    Another Scott

    @WaterGirl: [sssush!]  My scheme to get people to make the number an even dollar amount won’t work if too many jackals know about it!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  147. 147.

    tam1MI

    @Seeker:

    Biden has to end his campaign. Its unfortunate but it’s the truth.

    And I will repeat for the cheap seats:

    OK, fine. Name the candidate that can step in with 5 months left to go, build a war chest equal to Trump’s, and rally the party behind them, including the 90% of primary voters who will have been effectively disenfranchised and their votes nullified by ousting Biden. I wanna know just who this miracle worker candidate would be. Put your money where your mouth is and give me a name.

     

  149. 149.

    Layer8Problem

    So many new or infrequently seen names, and seeing so much of you suddenly! To what do we owe this pleasure?

    Maybe you’re just lifelong Democrats coming out of lurkage to gravely furrow brows and stroke chins, or, and work with me here, maybe more like boiler rooms of helpful new commenters from Saint Petersburg or office parks in Fairfax County? Hey, I’m just asking questions!

    ETA:  Folks, new trolls fearlessly proclaiming doom don’t need engagement, they need pie.

  150. 150.

    Jerry

    Unfortunately, #4 in this guy’s list is all too true.

     

    courtneymccain0525

    6h
    6 hours ago

    Lessons I learned after the debate:
    1.) There is little benefit to presidential debates in this day and age.
    2.) If a pathological liar can deliver his lies confidently, and the truth teller tells the truth with a weak, raspy voice, many people will be fooled into believing the liar.
    3.) Too many people on the left are willing to abandon ship because of a bad debate performance, despite Biden’s strong performance in office.

    4.) My biggest fear is not MAGA, but wishy-washy leftists.

  152. 152.

    la caterina

    Let’s F-ing go!!! In for $50. Thanks for keeping up with the fundraising, WaterGirl.

  154. 154.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Jerry:

    2.) If a pathological liar can deliver his lies confidently, and the truth teller tells the truth with a weak, raspy voice, many people will be fooled into believing the liar.

    I’m not sure if this is true, but I learned a whole lot of people assume it’s true.

  155. 155.

    CaseyL

    Glad I bugged out last night.

    I was feeling pretty doom-and-gloomy, but not because of Biden. I was having an enraged doom-and-gloom because I knew what the reaction throughout social media and the MSM would be. Crepe-hangers would be out in force – some already were – and having been through that SO many times before, I just could not stand another bout.

    I sent the Biden-Harris campaign a nice money contribution last night – and this was after I had decided my finances really couldn’t take giving campaign contributions anymore, to anyone.

    It made me feel better.

  157. 157.

    Jerry

    Everybody needs to remember how Romney was going to win in a huge landslide after the first Obama/Romney debate where Obama came off as lethargic. Remember how that worked out for ol’ Benghazi47%er?

  158. 158.

    schrodingers_cat

    @bluefoot: And make these DSA types feel good about themselves. Its tokenism. But if you deign to have your own opinions they will question whether you understand English. Happened to me on this blog with more than one FPer.

  160. 160.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Dunno if anyone else is watching, but Biden is delivering a helluva barn-burner speech at a NC rally. He energetic, speaking clearly, sharing good substance without getting into the weeds, engaging with the crowd,  and cracking the occasional ad lib joke. Old Handsome Joe hasn’t gone anywhere.

  164. 164.

    debit

    @SiubhanDuinne: thanks for that!  Like I said last night, I wonder if the lack of an audience factored in Joe’s energy levels. I feel like he needs someone to engage with to truly shine.

  167. 167.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Another Scott: Thank you. I checked their website before posting, and only saw info on training. I see from the article you linked to that they’re paid full-time while at school. That makes more financial sense. One charity rater gives them a “silver” rating, which is neither the highest nor the lowest possible, so no major red flags there.

  168. 168.

    Eyeroller

    @debit: I am not a stutterer so don’t really know, but I suspect he was having trouble managing it under the conditions of the debate. That by itself can make the voice seem raspy and can especially appear to cause lapses of train of thought as he concentrates on getting the words out.  He’s more fluent speaking more off-the-cuff and perhaps in a more informal setting.

  170. 170.

    schrodingers_cat

    Al Gore and Mitt Romney won their first debates but W and Obama won the presidency. Hillary wiped the floor with the Orange Buffoon in their debates but Orange squeaked out a victory in EC. Winning the first debate is no indicator for winning the presidency.

  172. 172.

    cain

    Tom Nichols asking after watching Biden in NC. “Where was this guy last night?” – I responded that not under the gaze of his debate preppers.

  174. 174.

    Soprano2

    @cain: I disagree somewhat – Biden said that everything TCFG said was a lie, multiple times. In fact, pretty much every time he had to respond to TCFG he said that what he was saying was lies.

  175. 175.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @debit:

    I wonder the same. His campaign staff is going to need to ensure there’s a friendly audience wherever he goes from here on out. ETA: Although the minute it ended, the MSNBC pundits pointed out, with some relish, that waaaaay more people watched the debate last night than watched the rally today

    I made the very very bad mistake earlier of having the TV on during Andrea Mitchell’s show. She and her guests were positively gleeful in their speculating about who would or should informPOTUS that he needs to drop out. Should it be the First Lady? A staffer? A respected elected Democrat? It was really sickening. Thanks be to gods for the mute button.

  176. 176.

    ArchTeryx

    This explains why overruling Chevron is the disaster to rule them all. It’s a one-way ratchet straight to fascism:

    A brilliant dissent, of course, is still a dissent: a largely futile cry of sorrow and anger that reflects the liberal bloc’s near-total loss of influence at this Supreme Court. Even Kagan’s most biting prose cannot stop what will happen next. The majority has shot a missile at the agencies that run our government, from the Department of Commerce and the EPA to the Department of Labor, the Food and Drug Administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and every other bureau that protects Americans from harm every day. Rather than strike down one specific law, the conservative supermajority has hobbled the functioning of hundreds of agencies all at once. The decision will have a wildly outsized impact on Democratic presidents, who typically seek to beef up regulations, while favoring Republican presidents who enter office with a deregulatory agenda. And it leaves Congress in the lurch, denying lawmakers the ability to write laws the way they have for more than a century: empowering agencies to tackle threats to the general welfare through broad legislation that lets experts fill in the gaps.

     MARK JOSEPH STERN, Slate.

    It’s an existential threat to our entire federal government, throws the legal profession into complete turmoil, and it makes it impossible for Ds to govern as Ds in either the Executive Branch or Congress. They just checkmated us. The deadliest decisions are the ones most liberals aren’t even aware were being made.

    And they made sure to drop it the Friday after the debate, which ironically helps Biden far more than it does Trump. But unless Biden’s willing to ignore the Supremes, he may as well lock the doors and turn off the lights of the entire Executive Branch in DC.

  177. 177.

    BenInNM

    Feeling inspired by most people’s resolve and ignoring the rest. Put in another $25.

    Also gave $50 to Biden. I give most of my contributions here, but I think Biden/Harris having a good donation haul post debate would be good.

  178. 178.

    BR

    @PJ:

    I just checked out a bit of the North Carolina rally, yeah, Biden seems fine. Clear and loud. I didn’t watch the debate, so dunno what happened there, but if this Biden keeps showing up, seems like he’s not the one we need to worry about.

  179. 179.

    Mousebumples

    @SiubhanDuinne: He energetic, speaking clearly, sharing good substance without getting into the weeds, engaging with the crowd, and cracking the occasional ad lib joke. Old Handsome Joe hasn’t gone anywhere.

    Idk if I can find it again, but I saw some bsky speculation last night that CNN was messing with audio inputs to make Biden’s voice more scratchy and Trump more yelly.

    I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt, but… I don’t trust the media. Fuck ’em.

  181. 181.

    Nunc Pro Tunc

    Lo-o-o-ng time lurker, almost never poster, here. There are lots of new names who are coming here preaching doom and gloom, so I wanted to be a new name preaching the opposite.

    Think back to 2004 when John Kerry mopped the floor in a televised debate with Dubya. Kerry looked like a movie President straight from central casting while Dubya floundered. End result? Dubya won the election. Obama got scorched in his first debate with Mitt Romney, and for a lot of the same reasons at play last night. End result? Obama victory in November. One debate does not decide an election.

    I’m not telling you not to be concerned about November. Goodness knows I wouldn’t do that. But there are things we can do to advance the ball for the election. Let last night pass, and do them.

  185. 185.

    lowtechcyclist

    @cain:

    Yesterdays freakout by the old Democratic political class. JFC, they were talking about replacing Biden and I’m like ‘MF, we ain’t doing that’.

    Ditto.

    Like it says in large friendly letters on the cover of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “Don’t Panic.”  I don’t do panic, and I certainly don’t do despair.

    We don’t know for sure how this thing is going to turn out. In the meantime, we stay the course, and have hope.

  186. 186.

    banditqueen

    The pundits and chicken littles don’t speak for me–in for $10 & wish it could be more–thanks so much for doing this.

  187. 187.

    RaflW

    @Another Scott: I don’t quite agree with your premise, though I absolutely agree that the right is never satisfied with any gestures by those they attack.

    My very hypothetical (and not encouraged by me) exercise is about what Democrats could do to address what other Democrats are seeing as too much of a deficit with Biden.

    I don’t think he’s “too old” but I do see Dems fretting about this. I want it frontally addressed, but if … IF … the weak-kneed response congeals, I’m arguing that a brokered convention and a replacement ticket in August is a fools errand.

    If so, the go for broke, maybe it works option is what I outlined. I don’t think it’s possible or desirable. But it’s not, to me, analogous to Claudine Gay’s resignation at Harvard.

  188. 188.

    Juju

    @Fair Economist: It’s not just in business meetings that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I still wish someone would ask him to define tariff. I don’t think he has a clue as to what a tariff is.

  189. 189.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Was it over when the Supreme Court bombed Pearl Harbor?

    It’s not over, till we say it’s over.

  190. 190.

    cain

    @Soprano2: Sure, but you have to drag his criminal record into it. The idea here is not to convince the audience. By dragging his felony charges in with the lies – you’re attacking his ego. The point is to throw Trump off his game to make him say even more outrageous things.

    Going forward, any debate with a GOP candidate should be about only attacking and throwing them off their game. It’s not about convincing the american people about policies. We have to stop doing that. This isn’t West Wing or “The American President”.

  191. 191.

    ArchTeryx

    @David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: The bad guys won that fight, but the good guys absolutely went out in style and made the bad guys look like the evil clowns they were. Sometimes that’s the only choice you have: Go out with a bang. This situation, hopefully, isn’t that hopeless yet.

    If you want to delete my previous comment, mods, feel free. I didn’t realize this wasn’t an open thread.

  192. 192.

    lowtechcyclist

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    Biden is an so-so orator who also manages to get shit done. Too bad too many Americans would rather be entertained.

    I just wonder how many Americans have a sense of how much Biden’s actually accomplished. Lord knows the MSM have done their best to downplay any of it that couldn’t simply be ignored.

    I’m still amazed at how much he got through Congress in 2021-22.

  193. 193.

    cain

    @ArchTeryx:

    Agreed. See my link to ABL’s twitter feed. We are in deep shit. This country is going to tank hard and it will be the SCOTUS fault. The kochs and others are probably celebrating but when that economy starts tanking because of no regs – it’s not going to be pretty.

    Basically, we are declaring the death of expertise and choosing to leave interpretations of statutes to 6 assholes who are political hacks.

  195. 195.

    JoyceH

    Just saw Nancy Mace on CNN talking about Biden’s “obvious cognitive decline”.  How does she sleep at night? The Dems need to flood the airwaves with lengthy clips of Trump’s bafflegab.

  197. 197.

    cain

    @RaflW:

    I know, you’re probably spluttering. But hear me out (or not!). Biden resigning elevates Kamala on the spot. She’s the president, and she has the positional power to say “I need to be the nominee for re-election. And my running mate is xxx [I’m gonna say Pritzger, but on this point you can pick your fav].”

    The people calling for Biden’s resignation do not want Kamala – they are going for Newsom and Mayor Pete. They want to sideline the black woman. If they do that, it will be political death. The one demographic that consistently votes democratic are black people. Idiots.

  199. 199.

    scav

    Moving mom nigh-perfect stumbled into neologism here:  Doomsplaining.  There’s a lot of it going around.

  200. 200.

    ArchTeryx

    @cain: Turning the country into Somalia isn’t exactly going to be good for business either – they want consistency, predictability and stability. Doing business with the United States of America is a whole lot easier than doing business with a miniature version of the Holy Roman Empire, but here we are.

  202. 202.

    Mike in NC

    This deeply corrupt court is going to facilitate Fat Bastard’s coup attempt every chance they get. Many of the January 6 terrorists are going to walk.

  203. 203.

    ArchTeryx

    @zhena gogolia: Probably buried under a bunch of DayQuil or whatever meds they gave him. What’s been going around is not a cold. It’s the flu, and summer flu is nasty, but this bug is also very short lived. He probably was reeling on stage because the man was sick. I’m 30 years his junior, and I would have been a complete basket case up there. I had this bug. It’s really ugly, so ugly I thought I had COVID (I tested negative). People are way underrating how bad it is to try and concentrate when you’re sick.

  204. 204.

    Soprano2

    @Omnes Omnibus: Oh man, I was so wishing Biden would ask “What the hell do you mean “black jobs”, there are no “black jobs”.  I heard it loud and clear, and I’m almost as white as Colbert is.

  207. 207.

    Archon

    Obama had one bad debate and the Chuck Todds of the world were predicting a Romney landslide.

    I am concerned though because there does seem to be a cohort of voters that are looking for ANY excuse to vote Trump then blame Democrats for all the fallout, but lets hope the “swing voter” actually understands the stakes.

  208. 208.

    hrprogressive

    To the extent anyone cares about what someone at Ye Olde “GOS” thinks, I found this take to pretty good.

    Will it solve everyone’s anxiety right away? No.

    But it’s worth bringing into the zeitgeist.

    Check it out

  209. 209.

    Jackie

    Time delayed. Watching a very energetic President Biden speaking in Raleigh, NC. Do I wish this is the Biden who showed up last night? You bet I do! I truly think (and I know Biden set the rules) the debate format was too restrictive, but it is what it was.

    I’m happy CNN covered his entire speech, so that many of the bedwetters can see last night was a fluke – not the norm.

  212. 212.

    ArchTeryx

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, it’s a bit of hyperbole, but you as a lawyer are better suited than many to understand what a disaster this decision was for our regulatory and legal structure. What would you call the legal balkanization of our once strong central government into 50 different cantons, each with their own set of mutually exclusive laws and regulations? A total lack of a central government allowed Somalia to devolve to what it is, and now the Supremes just did a lot of the same to us.

  213. 213.

    Soprano2

    @Eyeroller: That’s why I said he should ditch the effort to recall specific facts and figures and talk in more expansive ways about what he’s done, what he plans to do in a second term, and about how big of a liar TCFG is.

    I think his debate prep people should find out where these outrageous lies TCFG tells come from, like the one about abortion “after birth”. He kept referring to the former governor of VA, so obviously it’s about something he said that the right has interpreted as meaning a baby can be killed after birth for some reason. They need to find out about that crap so Biden can debunk it, because even though it sounds crazy to us TCFG referring to a specific person saying it makes it sound credible. There are a lot of his lies that are like that, there’s a kernel of something in there that actually happened in some way and has been twisted by the right to mean something else entirely.

  214. 214.

    burritoboy

    Don’t these people have any courage?  How much of a coward do you have to be to throw over everything you’ve claimed to believe in for this?  Perhaps it’s me being (small c) conservative, but this performative weakness of their characters is appalling.  If anything, when a leader stumbles (if this is even a stumble), it’s now time for you for shine in your own virtues and actions to support him in what you’re all doing. Your own actions is what you can control, and freaking out at the earliest and easiest opportunity doesn’t say much for these people as allies. Ultimately, it’s what you do when your allies have a loss that really matters (it’s easy – often even unnecessary – to find supporters when things go well), NOT what you do when times are good. Blech.

  216. 216.

    zhena gogolia

    @burritoboy: Great comment. I’m trying to follow this advice.

    I’m already on a monthly donation to Biden-Harris, but maybe I’ll do a little extra today.

  220. 220.

    Eyeroller

    @Soprano2: ​Former Virginia governor Ralph Northam is a pediatric neurologist. He once talked about “comfort care” for newborns who would not live, rather than taking heroic measures to try to save them so they could live for a few hours or days or weeks. That has been twisted into “killing them after birth” which then turned into “abortion after birth.”

  221. 221.

    Gravenstone

    @RaflW:

    For a ticket-change to have a chance, even a small chance, Biden would need to resign the presidency. … And my running mate is xxx [I’m gonna say Pritzger, but on this point you can pick your fav]

    Replacing a Vice President requires confirmation from both houses of Congress (25th Amendment). Good fucking luck getting anyone through prior to November.

  222. 222.

    JMG

    Ratings for the debate in the 44 largest markets were way down, 30 percent, from 2020. Makes sense. Summer reruns never do well. On a more serious note, it disgusts me when anonymous Democrats in DC, some in Congress, most not, wail that Biden should drop out or all is lost. They care about their country, but not enough to put their names on their advice. At least that Mass. State Senator had the guts to go public with his terrible idea.

  223. 223.

    Jinchi

    @RaflW: That said, I see only one path to Harris being the top of the ticket and that swap not being an automatic electoral disaster.

    I get what you’re saying, but Kamala Harris is already on the ticket. Voting for Biden, is a vote for Harris as well. There’s no need for him to resign.

    Democrats who are panicking publicly should instead be confidently making the point that the Biden-Harris administration has done a phenomenal job pulling us out of Trump’s morass and Kamala is not just ready to take over on day one if need be, she’s literally been working on it for the last 3 years.

  224. 224.

    Chris

    @Mousebumples:

    I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt, but… I don’t trust the media. Fuck ’em.

    After the last twenty five years, the media should get no benefit of the doubt from anyone.

  226. 226.

    Jackie

    @MazeDancer: Thanks for posting that😊

    If he indeed has been fighting a cold, thankfully he’s on the rebound now!

    I hope he’s scheduling a lot of barnstormers in the next few weeks, and cable media chooses to broadcast them!

  227. 227.

    JPL

    @Eyeroller:  The Washington Post highlighted one story.   The mom thought she would name, hold and comfort her son until he died.   The child choked to death for 90 minutes.   this was in FL and by the time she found out that the lungs were not developing it was pass the time you could get an abortion.

    some call it torture.

  229. 229.

    Eyeroller

    @JPL: If it’s the story I saw, the fetus had Potter syndrome, which results in renal agenesis i.e. the kidneys don’t form.  Before I read that story it had never occurred to me that amniotic fluid is fetal pee, but what else could it be?  So no kidneys means no amniotic fluid.  That means the fetus is not free-floating and the lungs do not form properly.  The parents understood this and wanted to terminate but were not allowed to do it in Florida because like many fetal abnormalities, this cannot be diagnosed early enough with the new bans.  They were not able to travel for various reasons that I don’t recall.  She had to carry to term and he lived for something like 15 minutes, struggling to breathe the whole time. It sounded horrible.

  231. 231.

    Gravenstone

    @Baud: Considering the large number of white clowns wearing “Blacks for Trump” tees in Detroit a couple weeks ago, I think it’s a given you’ll get your wish in short order.

  232. 232.

    Chris

    @ArchTeryx:

    Turning the country into Somalia isn’t exactly going to be good for business either – they want consistency, predictability and stability.

    That’s absolutely true, but it’s also true that the rich, on the whole, are not very bright.  They have only a hazy idea of what makes their society work and what keeps them at the top of it.  And since they’re much more sheltered from consequences than the average citizen, they tend to learn a lot more slowly than them, if at all.

  233. 233.

    Jackie

    The Supremes told Bannon to go directly to jail; do not collect $200 on the way! 😂

  234. 234.

    burritoboy

    It’s not just Kamala, of course. (Kamala is one very important part, naturally but only one part.)

    The ultimate point is that the Democratic Party is a political party – not a cult of personality.  (It’s still surprising to me that people take the words “political party” as essentially filler words.) We together do things.  We together grow people to take on matters of increasing importance and impact over time. We see over time each person’s virtues, abilities, faults, weaknesses, experiences, inexperiences (as much as is possible).  We try to place each in positions where their virtues will shine and they will grow, and to place other people in roles where the first might be weaker and the others might be stronger (and in turn those others will grow too).   This stuff is obvious – that the other party has abandoned it is likely a sign of their utter corruption and probably one major sign that they have departed from the traditions of republican democracy (small r.)

    The cowardly whining is….not very admirable, and indicates some very bad things about many of the people doing it.

  236. 236.

    Larch

    Just donated $75 – I’d be a terrible door-knocker, but I can support those who’re good at it get even better!

  238. 238.

    Chris Johnson

    Could he have rope-a-doped Trump? Trump is no Joe Frazier.

    It’s going to be really interested to see whether newly-emboldened fascists start spouting off a lot of REALLY alienating stuff because they think, with one debate win on optics, they’ve conquered the world. These guys seem to overreach.

    I think it would be too risky to throw it on purpose, so I don’t think Joe rope-a-doped Trump, but the fact that I have to ask the question is interesting. ‘cos the thing is, you know that this reaction from the fascists is predictable. They think they can conquer the world on Twitter, that everything is optics but they don’t have to pay consequences for negative optics because they think they are universally beloved. They’re fucking nuts. It’s a disadvantage in politics.

  239. 239.

    gvg

    @wjca: Also, people VOTED for those delegates to vote for Biden, not whomever the delegates wanted. We will be very angry if they don’t do what they are supposed to. That is in fact subverting democracy and election interference. It would be different if someone died.

  240. 240.

    Captain C

    @Eyeroller: Maybe we can force the shitty ones who voted to overturn Roe to watch several hours of vids of similarly suffering infants, in a Clockwork Orange Ludovico-type set up, all the while pointing out how this is what they voted for, and see how they feel then (and it would be a good way to discern which ones are true sociopaths and which ones are just uncaring political hacks).

  241. 241.

    Chris

    @burritoboy:

    I think the recurring problem for us is that a stupendous number of Democratic leaning voters just hate the idea of being committed to a party rather than an individual (or, more prosaically, “a principle”), and feel pathologically obligated to virtue-signal their independence from the party by jumping far aside from it and/or kicking it every time it stumbles.

    And people like to dump this on whatever political faction they don’t like, like “leftists” or “centrists,” but the phenomenon is way too widespread to be narrowed that conveniently.  It does seem to disproportionately strike educated upper-middle-class white guys with hard-ons for good governance and policy wonks.  Two hundred years ago, the Federalists and then the Whigs were absolutely lousy with this kind of self-conscious anti-partisanship, at a time when their Jeffersonian and especially Jacksonian enemies were happily rolling up their sleeves and diving into party politics.  That’s not the only reason those two disappeared, but it certainly didn’t help.

  243. 243.

    Heidi Mom

    @cain: And if they think Pete is going to stab Biden or Harris in the back, they’re nuts.  (Don’t know enough about Newsom to opine, but he sure is sounding loyal.)

  247. 247.

    greenergood

    Every neighbour I meet here in my little village in the west of Scotland, when they talk about ‘ooh, that Joe Biden, what a shame’ (to me, because I’m American, though living here for forty years), I just say ‘it’s not over till it’s over, and every word that Biden said last night was the truth, and every word that Trump said was a lie’. And then they step back, and say ‘Well, yes ..’. And I say that Biden has been busy presidenting, going around the world doing the harrowing responsibilities of presidenting, while the Yam has been sitting in courtrooms and golfing – so if Biden looks knackered, there’s a bloody good reason why he does look like that, but he’s still got his marbles, he doesn’t bloody LIE, and, given a rest, he may well be formidable again soon – so shut up NYT pundits, with your lazy, convenient, opinions.

  249. 249.

    WaterGirl

    The Angel earlier angel match is now complete.  You guys rock!

    Another angel wrote me just in time this afternoon, tough, offering a $1,000 angel match.  So if we can meet that one before midnight, we will definitely get the $500 bonus from yet another Angel who promised that if we can hit $10k by the stroke of midnight tonight!

    New Angel match for $1,000 – up to $100 per person – starts now.  Usual rules, tell us about your comment in the thread or send me an email.

  251. 251.

    RJM

    In for $100.  Did $250 for Joe and added some on top of my monthlies for a few Michigan Dems this morning.

    I leaned Dem but never intended to be a straight D voter. But in 42 years Republicans have never once looked like a better choice.

  253. 253.

    frosty

    Hi WG! Put me down for the $50 donation I just posted. If the thermometer is right I just boosted it to $9,000.

  258. 258.

    stinger

    Just threw in $75, which should put us just over the $10K target for today.
    Go Joe, and go everyone helping him get re-elected!​
     
    And there it is! $10,001!

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