I was traveling over the weekend and didn’t get to pay much attention to the news, so I’m shocked to see people still in a swivet about last week’s debate and still talking about replacing Biden, preferably with Johnny Unbeatable.
Instead of listening to the news, I listened to a podcast about California State Senator John Briggs and Proposition 6, which was Briggs’ attempt to reverse the progress of gay rights in 1978.
The short story is the that gay activists had a few wins in the early 70s with laws banning discrimination against homosexuals. Those gains were short-lived because people like Anita Bryant worked to pass anti-gay initiated measures. By 1978, gay activists had experienced a string of defeats, not only in Florida, but also in supposedly liberal enclaves like Eugene, Oregon. Briggs, a total right-wing asshole, introduced Prop 6, a draconian rollback of gay rights progress, in an effort to ride the backlash and become Governor of California. It was a long, circuitous path to the defeat of Prop 6, but there are a couple of parallels to our situation today:
- A lot of the old-school gay rights organizations were very timid about challenging Prop 6, and when they did, they were very afraid of “gay looking” gays being at the vanguard of the fight.
- There was a lot of disagreement between different factions of the gay community, with a more-liberal vs more-conservative split, among others.
- Very few in the gay community expected to win, and many of the organizations opposing Prop 6 were prepared for a loss.
- The anti-Prop 6 forces were outspent by the pro-Prop 6 forces, but the gay community and allies had just enough money to mount a true grassroots campaign encompassing the whole state.
These people were a true minority, but they won their fight. Democrats today are not a true minority. We’ve been maneuvered into a place where the minority protections of the Constitution have been used by a vocal, well-financed and energetic minority to get them undeserved majorities. This minority has installed a corrupt federal judiciary that insulates them from legal consequences. Corporations and corporate media prefer Republicans. A group of superficial, hanger-on courtiers in that corporate media and the consultant class are constantly jockeying for position to ensure further Republican rule.
I hate to even compare our situation with the dire straits that the gay rights movement was facing in 1978, but given that the LGBTQ community, as well as women, will be some of the first victims of a Democratic loss in November, there is some truth behind the comparison.
Given all that is at stake, the fact that a large number of Democrats are willing to basically give up the fight by running away from Biden at the first hint of weakness makes us look like a party that can’t fight its way out of a paper bag. Nobody has ideal leaders. Harvey Milk, one of the leaders of the 1978 anti-Briggs fight, was a deeply flawed human being. No side of a political fight has full agreement on priorities and appearances. And a lot of fights look pretty damn grim sometimes, especially after a string of setbacks. This is just how life works in politics.
I voted against Biden in the 2020 primaries. But I will be god damned if a bunch of weak, overpaid, professional Democrats and their enablers are going to get me to change my mind about who should be leading the fight in 2024. It’s Biden – an old man with a stutter who has a harder time making sense when he has a cold, but is a damn good president. Let’s go fight. We owe it to the memory of Harvey Milk and every other Democrat who fought against far worse odds to try to do something to better the lot of our fellow citizens.
Also, if any of you still subscribe to the god damn New York Times, I hope by now that you realize that you’re aiding and abetting the enemy for some fucking crosswords, recipes and Wordle.
dc
Thank you!
Baud
100%.
Thanks, MM.
MisterForkbeard
Yep. 100% on board with this.
I put this in the other thread, but I was working in Europe all last week, had to miss the debate and largely just sort of watched a general meltdown happening. It’s very weird to me, and I basically just decided to stop paying attention until people calmed down.
Gvg
I have never watched a debate. They bore me. Very few people seem to in any election. I look at what people do. The media people tend to think media is upper important. Maybe Biden lost a few votes from people who work in media jobs? But that isn’t even a measurable fraction of the electorate. This isn’t Nixon versus Kennedy’s time when everyone watched the same shows. And Trump isn’t new anymore, he is repetitive and didn’t get stuff done that he promised. Sure he did lots of racist crap and installed judges but some of his voters I knew really wanted infrastructure and that he did not do.
Mathguy
Can still play Wordle for free.
The debate meltdown has been annoying–everyone freaked out and all I could think is “Have you been alive the past 3,5 years?”
Oh, and fuck the 6 traitors on SCOTUS. What warped human beings.
Slightly_peeved
100%
Stepping down as President has never worked, challenging an incumbent has never worked, and debates have little or no effect on elections…
…but this time is totally different!
Math Guy
How many people in this country are actually willing to actively protest (march, go on strike, passive resistance) against the Supreme Court, against trump, the RNC, corporations that are supporting republicans?
delphinium
Yup, elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates. Apparently there are still some professional Dems who refuse to get this. Joe and Kamala have both been great!
laura
I am Ride or Die with Biden/Harris 2024. Naysayers can take the hind end.
$8 blue check mistermix
@Math Guy:
At this point that energy can be directed towards registering voters, canvassing voters and (where relevant) giving rides to the polls. Luckily we’re past where the 70’s gay rights movement, or the 40’s,50’s,60’s civil rights movement were. All we need to do is vote.
bbleh
(1) Donate, volunteer, organize — same as it ever was.
(2) Now more than ever! Because John Roberts has just legalized a Trump dictatorship. And if THAT’s not a reason to get active, then nothing is, and I will thank you from Canada or France or Australia after the fact.
Chris Johnson
Mousebumples posted an analysis (twice, because I asked ;) ) found on Bluesky: outlining how desperately fucked the Republicans actually are, election-wise. Dobbs alone is a lot of it, and let’s note that Dobbs is thanks to the Supreme Court and Trump, and as of RIGHT NOW we also have Chevron, and the President being a fucking KING effective immediately, to run on. For now, we still have a democracy, it is just a democracy governed by a tripartite system of which one of those parts is exempt from law. THAT’S a puzzler. For fuck’s sake.
Not that the Supreme Court have been behaving like they’re subject to law personally either… funny how that works.
Until we put it back, and we’re damned well going to put it back, we got King Brandon without asking for one. I wonder what happens next. Are they planning bloodshed and a King Johnson? That ain’t legitimacy.
I don’t believe this is going to work out the way the fascists seem to think it will. I think they’re fucked in the head, desperate, and trying to find that one weird trick.
Normies are gonna have to notice, considering that they have noticed Dobbs. Even not counting Trump’s madness there are now two new things for normies to notice. Starting with, meet King Brandon. I like him! He’s nice. But he needs to go back to being President, and a regular citizen, because that’s the point of our system.
Which guy would you rather turn to, to set down the crown the Supreme Court has invented for him? I know which guy _I_ would rather ask.
Barbara
When Ralph Northam was outed as a blackface dabbler (when in med school) the calls for him to resign came mostly from white liberals. I didn’t bother gauging the press reaction. His resignation would have taken the election away from voters and handed it in a very real way to a clear minority of voters. There is NFW I want a cast of self-aggrandizing self-promoting and frankly self-interested professional opinion mongers getting to decide who’s on the ballot.
Regarding Northam, I thought at the time that the white response came from shocked incomers and though Black’s were rightfully pissed, they were not shocked.
BruceFromOhio
I’ve been pressing this topic since 2016. They want what they want (there’s only three of them, but still ffs)
At least a number of them (4) have either dumped Spotify for Tidal, or are in the process of doing so.
moonbat
Thanks, mistermix.
By my count this is like the fifth “Let’s move on and work for our candidate” post so far today. And they are all getting derailed.
I hope this one sticks!
TBone
@Chris Johnson: King Brandon is giving a televised speech on Immunity Decision at 7:45 pm.
Betty Cracker
Biden is speaking at 7:45 about the SCOTUS immunity ruling. Hopefully he will announce, in very fluid and coherent language, that since he enjoys broad immunity as POTUS, he has directed U.S. special operations forces to neutralize a clear and present danger to the republic, i.e., Trump, MAGA electeds in Congress and the radical clerics on the court.
I keed! But it would change the national conversation from “Is Biden sundowning?” to “Who will sociopath Joe Biden kill next!?!”
Chacal Charles Calthrop
I haven’t been following the news because I’ve been under deadline, and I’m exhausted right now, but my first take is, if the president has absolute immunity for his official acts, why doesn’t Biden just order the secret service or Seal Team Six or whomever to shoot Trump?
The Rethuglicans can impeach him, of course, but right now Trump doesn’t even have VP so who knows what they’ll run. Meanwhile Trump will be dead and Biden can legally say he’s immune.
If the next election is going to be the last election, why even bother to hold it. Let’s just take power with the state apparatus we have.
And I see Betty Cracker has gotten there ahead of me! Go Betty!
zhena gogolia
THANK YOU
UncleEbeneezer
It’s not just the media. When we, politically-obsessed people turn all of our energy to endless nit-picking and whining about every flaw in our candidate, it hasn’t worked out well…
See: Gore, Al
See: Clinton, Hillary
Let’s not fucking do this a third time.
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker: This is what I fantasize. It should be like a Kentucky Fried Movie sketch.
Sorry, I finally just watched this film for the first time and I can’t get over it.
moonbat
@zhena gogolia: The Enter the Dragon parody is a favorite of mine. And I LOVE Bruce Lee.
karen marie
@Mathguy: It ain’t free when they’re embedding cookies and tracking you.
I like Squaredle better. Or if you prefer something closer to Wordle, try Squareword.
Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
A-fucking-men. Biden is the best president of my lifetime. And yeah, he’s 81. He’s still the best president of my lifetime, and we need to get our shit together and work to get him another four years. Republicans are scared and they’re desperate because they know they’re on the wring side if history, and that’s why they’re churning out shit like the Supreme [sic] Court decision today. They know they’re on the edge of losing for good. Now it’s up to us to tip them over that edge.
TBone
@Betty Cracker: 💙
H.E.Wolf
Precisely.
These fantasies of Big Wild Violent Extreme Options are just that: fantasies. Reminds me of the skit about some guy asking God to send him a real big challenge for protecting his (the guy’s) children… and God says, “Teach your children good hand-washing skills, and cook them nutritious meals every day.”
The guy in the skit is all bummed out because he wanted to shoot someone (fantasy) instead of doing the daily tasks (reality).
CaseyL
Washington state has all mail-in voting, so there isn’t much GOTV to do here. And though I enjoy in-person canvasing, I shy away from face-to-face encounters because I get shrill too easily. (Seattle, alas, is home to a large percentage of Purity Progressives.)
So postcards seem the best thing I can do. I would love some advice on the best postcard organization. I did a lot with Postcard Patriots, but they seem to have reduced their profile and no longer have campaign-specific cards. Or at least not yet in this cycle.
Any advice on the most effective postcard. groups?
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
That would be an improvement in the discourse.
TBone
If
PresidentKing Biden is immune, they can’t impeach him for anything. All of his acts are official.karen marie
@TBone: I’ll be listening to the kids at Lawfare when I finish work.
Chris Johnson
@TBone: Please. King Brandon. Clearly :D
Ksmiami
@Chris Johnson: I vote to remove all security protections for the Heritage 6.
hells littlest angel
I don’t even read the few NYT stories that non-subscribers are allowed. I don’t even scan the home page for headlines — I’d sooner look at the Drudge Report.
Ksmiami
@Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): when they go low, kick them in the fucking junk.
delphinium
@Betty Cracker:
Heh, Dark Brandon indeed.
Thor Heyerdahl
Has any performance artist put up a large tip jar across the street from the Supreme Court?
UncleEbeneezer
@CaseyL: Postcards To Voters is great! Very simple to use and they always have campaigns/addresses to give out.
Odie Hugh Manatee
Bravo! My only suggested edit (which I rarely offer because who cares…) would be:
Tonya Harding Democrats need to stuff a sock in it and get behind our candidate. Anything else is backing Trump.
delphinium
@Thor Heyerdahl: I’d like someone to put countdown clocks for days without breaking any of the 10 Commandments in front of each of the ‘Catholic’ justices houses, starting with Alito. Am guessing it would never have to be reset from 0.
Mousebumples
@Chris Johnson: lol, I’m glad it spoke to you like it did me! I also sent it to WaterGirl, so idk if it’ll be front paged at some point…?
+1
Biden has an amazing team. He’s not doing everything himself. He’s hiring/appointing an excellent staff, giving them direction, and letting them do their job.
Good government, working well.
@CaseyL: I like Postcards to Voters. I’m not sure if we’re doing anything this quarter (eg Wisconsin addresses…?)
PostcardstoVoters.org currently has addresses for Stephanie Vanos in FL. You supply postcards and postage. They give you 3 required messages to put on the postcards (plus additional optional items to add, if you want) and addresses. Minimum 4 addresses at a time, must mail in 3 days, if memory serves? (I usually mail next day, so someone else please correct me if I’m wrong.)
Happy to give more advice on where to get/up cycle postcards or stamps or whatever, if needed.
I’m hoping we’ll do postcarding threads again, at least. Email out to WaterGirl on that too. 😊
Chris Johnson
Whoa. I’m trying to work out why these guys look like the cat who caught the canary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUn7WfAuSaM
It’s about Cannon, stalling to delay Trump being held responsible for his espionage documents shit, which Judge Beryl Howell pierced the attorney-client privilege because it was about Trump committing crimes with his lawyer.
Cannon will be trying to say Corcoran can’t testify, and this would terribly weaken the case. The Meidas guy and Harry Littman seem thrilled, though.
There’s a lot about how Clarence Thomas tried to make Jack Smith’s position illegal or something. I feel like these guys could be working towards a sense that Cannon and these Supreme Court guys have been conspiring, and that she has been stalling KNOWING that the Supreme Court is working towards a theory of immunity that would let her dismiss the Trump case. That’s not them, that’s me having noticed that the Supremes have just fed her something perhaps salient that she may have been waiting for.
They seem real excited about how Cannon has been behaving, to the point where Harry had to restart one of his bits to camera, which normally he’s pretty polished on. Harry says ‘I think there is an opening’.
They think there’s a chance at mandamus, and they’re over the moon about it. Howell’s decisions seem beyond reproach, and they’re interested in whether Cannon’s stalling justifies mandamus. That’s all they’ve really let slip.
I wish I knew more about this. I wish I knew why those two seem SO excited and eager. I bet it’s gonna be another ‘interesting’ day tomorrow.
jowriter
@UncleEbeneezer: With this all the way. Thank you.
Delk
U2 and The Talking Heads tag teaming against Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer.
TBone
@Chris Johnson: 🤭
TBone
@Ksmiami: 👍😆
Other MJS
@Betty Cracker: Alas, as Heather Cox Richardson explained on a Facebook video this afternoon, SCROTUS declared that it gets to decide what is or isn’t an “official act”.
Matt McIrvin
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: The President has immunity, but the triggerman wouldn’t! And the President can probably only pardon murder if it happens in the District of Columbia.
(I’ve wondered before if, at some point, the limits of DC are going to be regarded as a federal death zone.)
TBone
@karen marie: 👍
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Biden just needs to do the deed himself.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: On Fifth Avenue?
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
That would be ironic.
TBone
I really hope Dark Brandon makes at least a short appearance during speech tonight. I mean, when they go low, kick them in the fucking junk seems to require it.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Matt McIrvin: yeah, but that would be awesome, wouldn’t it? Turn the capitol building into Thunderdome.
Two Congressmen enter. Only one leaves.
Chris Johnson
I’m pretty sure the Supreme Court are there to serve law, not just to embody it like deities. So they can break it, but that doesn’t mean all law (and all judges) are up in the air and immediately have to robotically serve evil ends. Instead it means that the legal system has to grapple with law that needs to be fixed, and judges can fight back against attacks on the law in various ways.
It’s a pretty big system, a living system. I seriously don’t think a few corrupt Supremes are able to dismantle rule of law all by themselves, they are just in a position to make things REAL difficult.
They are doing so to let a criminal go free. It seems like that is a mistake on their part. Everything Trump touches dies. They shouldn’t have tried to save him… I think they’ve fucked up, real bad. All this is to let a traitor and criminal go free because they are also traitors and criminals. Don’t tell me there’s no remedy when it’s a living system that is not itself 100% corrupt.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Like rain on your wedding day!
Matt McIrvin
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: Eh, we had that a few years ago and it wasn’t great.
hrprogressive
@Other MJS:
So what?
The Fascist SCOTUS proclaimed “Official Acts = Total Immunity”.
It would seem all Biden has to do is declare their arrest and jailing, for the good of the country, under the PATRIOT ACT or whatever other law he feels like picking, is an Official Act.
What is Alito gonna do? Scream and whine “You can’t do this!!!” as he’s hauled away and Dark Brandon, in his aviators and with his ice cream cone says go him “I am the POTUS, and that was an Official Act, so you’re goddamn right I can” as Alito gets renditioned to Gitmo or whatever.
If Biden really wants to protect Democracy, the SCOTUS just handed him Mjölnir. Fucking use it.
Dan B
To riff on the theme of this post I was a Marshall, secondary to Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird. I was one if the three dozen gay people at Seattle’s first Gay March fifty years ago. The cheers were deafening for the three of us in our car. There were an endless number of Thank You’s. One young guy came up and gave me a rose. Fifty years ago three dozen guys danced around the fountain at Sesttle Center. And yesterday more than a quarter million people let loose with deafening cheers. This young gay guy was so grateful for the tiny group effort half a century ago that likely allowed him the freedom and courage to be himself.
I’m 100% in favor of voting and getting out the vote and also wish for public protest. It may help people, like this young gay guy with the rose, to realize they’re not alone, much as postcards do. Being seen, being public, is an important component of overcoming reluctance to act and to live as you want.
I’ve still got the rose and wonder how that young man is doing.
TEL
I haven’t always agreed with your opinions MM, but I 100% agree with this. No savior (news media! Mueller! unknown perfect Democratic presidential candidate!) is going to save the day. We have to save it ourselves by doing the work and getting Biden and as many other Dems across the finish line first. Then maybe we can start undoing the damage this supreme court has done. I’m interested in what Biden is going to say tonight about this.
Another Scott
Great piece, MM. Thank you.
Cheers,
Scott.
Josie
@CaseyL: I’m writing for Postcards to Swing States and they are very well organized and really specific with the messages you can choose from. You choose a swing state and they send you the postcards and instructions on writing and mailing. You have to spring for the stamps. I chose Nevada and will be mailing them all on October 15.
ETA: I have 200 addresses, so am writing a few each day.
E.
@Dan B: Deep respect to you!
TBone
Sundae Girl xit:
Mai Naem mobile
@Math Guy: i would be willing to show up at one of conservative SCOTUS justices’ paid vacation spots to protest along with a vuvuzela. However, it seems like they go the upper plains states, Europe or Pokynesia.
TeezySkeezy
@Betty Cracker: Why kid? POTUS needs to protect america and by god he is now empowered to do so.
Josie
Thank you, MM, for this post. Well written and full of home truth.
Matt McIrvin
@Dan B: The Republicans are trying to do Anita Bryant on trans rights right now. They only have one song.
Dan B
@Dan B: Its great to have modestly sized protests and also to focus on what we want, not just on what we dislike. The PRO Palestinian contingent at Seattle Pride was mostly grouchy and disagreeable. They were almost completely ignored.
Dan B
@Matt McIrvin: Yes. There were many trans people at Seattle Pride and young trans people with their parents in the crowd. Attacking the weakest link seems to be backfiring here. Equal rights for ALL people seems to be a no-brainer but bears non stop repetition.
chrisanthemama
I canceled my FTFNYT subscription over the weekend, and told them why. I sent my first donation to Biden/Harris. I signed up to write postcards to send to swing-state voters. It’s the little things that will help keep me and all of us sane, I hope.
Another Scott
@TBone: Thanks for the reminder about the time.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/
Not started yet.
Whoops, he’s started.
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@chrisanthemama:
👍
Chip Daniels
One thing we have to keep repeating to ourselves is that we are in a similar position to the WWII generation who also faced a rising tide of fascism, and took up the challenge of fighting and defeating it.
We can lose, and we will lose some, but we can also win. The MAGAs aren’t magical, they don’t represent a majority of people, and they have the crucial weaknesses of all tyrants and bullies, which is that they eventually overstep and alienate enough people to bring about their downfall.
Quinerly
Biden looks great (a little tan). He always looks handsome in his blue ties. Sounds strong. Nice gait with his walk. No shuffle.
Great speech so far.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@delphinium:
Michael CorleoneDark Brandon says hello!Quinerly
@Another Scott: and looks and sounds great.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@Quinerly:
is he wearing a tan suit?
Dan B
@E.: Thank you! My friend Tom, in the carat the parade, turned to me after a couple blocks and said, “Can you believe this?” We were just a bunch of young guys who went to a demonstration fifty years ago. It was a tiny thing that grew and gave hundreds of thousands the motivation to be themselves and be seen. Out of hundreds of actions this one, and probably quite a few others, worked.
Quinerly
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: now that would have been cool….a vintage 10 year old summer tan suit!
UncleEbeneezer
@Dan B: That’s great news. Glad you had a good time :)
Dan B
@Dan B: Not only were there many trans people (and Drag Queens with PA systems announcing the groups marching in the parade every half dozen blocks in so( but there was a big Trans Rights March on Friday evening. Go Seattle!
Dan B
@UncleEbeneezer: We had goosebumps! We were two cars back from the superstar Grand Marshalls, Sue Bird and Megan Ralinoe, but the crowds sounded deafening in their roars for us, a bunch of old folks, the lesbian activists in the car in front of us and three old farts from ’74 with a poster of two of us, Tom and me, at the action at Seattle Center Fountain. We were trying to make it clear we were gay guys there for gay rights, how: dress GAY!. I was in cutoffs and a fake halter top. Tom had been talked into wearing a red dress. We were very silly looking. We got lots of thumbs up and applause for the poster (and laughs).
karen marie
@Chris Johnson: They’re excited and eager so that you’ll check back repeatedly.
WaterGirl
Thank you, mistermix. Every word.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Amen.
geg6
I’m not always in full agreement with you, mm, but this is 100% correct. I agree with every word of it.
Lyrebird
Mistermix:
YES YES YES YES YES!!! Every bit of it!
Or, what @geg6: said :-)
S Cerevisiae
I had a thought. I haven’t watched Joe’s statement tonight so I don’t have that to got on but –
I read that there could be legislative fixes for the Chevron etc. problem. I wonder if there could be one for the Presidential immunity one as well? Could Joe go up and say “The Supreme Court has granted me the power of immunity, but I promise not to use it or ever need it but to safeguard America’s future I have proposed to Congress the Presidential Accountability Act which will insure that no one is above the law.”
The current House would never touch it so we could run on give the Democrats the Presidency and Congress and we will pass the laws to protect us from a king.
Bobby Thomson
Mix, it makes me very happy to see you with this take. This election is the same binary choice as the last two, only with far more dire consequences for choosing wrong. Zero tolerance for people who see an opportunity to be the Berniebro spoilers of 2024 to support their preferred candidate. I will continue to treat those people with the utmost rudeness and incivility.