Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

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

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

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / Pre-Dawn Open Thread: Our Media’s *Particularly* Silly Season

Pre-Dawn Open Thread: Our Media’s *Particularly* Silly Season

by | 205 Comments

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Before they are issued their expensive diplomas, new journalists should be warned — the ceremony may be treated as secret, if it helps — that ‘Woodward & Bernstein Save Democracy’ is only barely less a highly-colored childish fantasy than ‘Clark Kent Punches Hitler, Wins WWII’. Reporters are not (are not meant to be) highly esteemed Public Celebrities; they are workers as essential, and generally as little respected, as household plumbers or mortuary attendants.

It took both Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen to assemble this masterpiece, so you know it’s *IMPORTANT*:

… Behind the scenes: Axios’ Alex Thompson, the most deeply sourced reporter on the Biden beat, has chronicled, day after day, the number of longtime staff and top Democratic officials who feel deeply angry and misled. These are the president’s fans, many on his payroll…

The media might be Biden’s biggest problem of all. It is a fair conservative critique that many reporters ignored obvious signs of cognitive decline. Yes, there are exceptions: Axios, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal…

The big picture: Ask yourself: What turn of events would keep Democrats, media and voters from watching every public appearance for hints of decline? How could reporters ever trust Biden aides after they tried to shame reporters who dared point out the obvious changes? How do they reassure lawmakers who now see Biden’s age and White House denialism as their problem?

– A top Democrat and Biden backer, asked how the president gets credibility back, said: “Get out of the race.”

– “No one is going to take anything at face value, that’s for sure,” New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker told us…

The bottom line: Nervous Democrats and skeptical reporters will pick apart every answer in every public setting and dig deep into past meetings. It’s called their job. If Biden stays in, it’s his new reality.


 
Interesting (July 4) thread from Aaron Fritschner, who works for Virginia Rep. Don Beyer:

There are reasons why pretty much everything you see now describes panic, chaos, and backbiting. Reporters are looking for those things, they are getting print and headlines, and the other stuff is getting twisted, downplayed or cut. This works many ways in practice– 2/

[Here come the News Gnus, wildebeasting across the pixelated plains!]

This is NOT to say everything is fine. Everything is not fine!
This is NOT to say reporters are all villains. They’re trying to do their jobs and they have bosses.
This is NOT to say they’re making it all up. Much of what you read is accurate. It’s just hard to tell right now 14/

But the fact is most of the leading journalists in the United States are *competing* with each other right now to break the Next Big Story in the Dems Panic/Bad For Biden genre. Their editors are hounding them for juicy bits, and their standards are being weakened to get them 15/

One thing that really pisses me off is blind quotes (and even on record ones) trying to speak for other people. “Everyone says X” “we’re all feeling Y.” In aggregate they’re giving many people a sense of impending doom.

These people do NOT speak for me or my boss. I do. 16/

What should you do with this? My advice: BE SKEPTICAL.

Who said it? What’s the sourcing/attribution? Where do they work? How senior? Do they know or are they pretending to? Is the story shaped by an agenda? What was amplified? What downplayed?

This is real, it’s happening! /end

To quote from the beloved fantasy: Follow the money…

Reader Interactions

205Comments

  1. 1.

    guachi

    I’m such a hardcore Democrat that in 1996 I voted for a dead guy in the Montana gov race. But now, as soon as I’m able, I’m registering as an independent because the Democratic party is ready to go all Baghdad Bob and go ridin’ with Biden right over the cliff.

    I can no longer make a positive case for Biden for President. I have no response to “he’s too old”. I even supported Mondale in 1984 when I was 10 but I can’t make a case for Biden. “Not Trump” isn’t a positive case. It’s a very, very low bar to cross.

  2. 2.

    ColoradoGuy

    “But her emails!” times 100X. Before that, the “Dean Scream”. Before that, “WMD in Iraq!” with impeccable sourcing from Judith Miller from the NYT.

  3. 3.

    Debbie(Aussie)

    Do these so called journalists not believe TCFG and his 2025 plan that retribution is on its way for them? Since when do the MSM get to decide who governs?  Always for the Democrats apparently.
    I can’t find it now, but the Guardian (I know)had a good article about the likely outcomes of the nonsupreme court decisions and project 2025.

    not that means much, but this non citizen is Biden/Harris!

  4. 4.

    ColoradoGuy

    The media billionaires in their Manhattan penthouses must think the MAGA hordes will never come for them. They should ask their Russian compatriots how that’s worked out.

  5. 5.

    Shalimar

    @guachi: “Not Trump” is the only bar that matters.  Whining about wanting another bar doesn’t change that.

  7. 7.

    Shalimar

    @ColoradoGuy: Makes me wonder if a NY Times editor said to the boss, “hey, let’s do emails again this cycle, but instead of a story every day to create a drip, drip, drip effect, let’s just turn on the fucking faucet and do 25 stories per day on age-gate.

    edit: I also wonder when Trump is going to get jealous of all the coverage Biden is getting and hold a press conference to announce that he’s old too.

  8. 8.

    Betty Cracker

    @guachi: “Not Trump” won the day in 2020, taking down an incumbent with a cult following that made up somewhere between 30% and 45% of the electorate. I think it can work again.

    Keep in mind that the election will probably be decided by the dumbest people in the country — people who experienced the Trump presidency and still consider the orange fart cloud a viable option.

    A fairly recent poll showed that nearly 20% of voters blame Biden for the fall of Roe. That’s the level of idiocy we’re dealing with. so pounding “orange man bad” into their brains relentlessly between now and November might actually be helpful?

  10. 10.

    Jay

    @Betty Cracker:

    Polls are screwed, even the pollsters admit it.

    “Random Number”, not in my contacts, goes to voicemail, if they leave a message. 100% of the time, it’s scammers.

    Votes count, polls don’t, even in France.

  11. 11.

    Aussie Sheila

    @guachi:

    If you have no response to ‘he’s too old’, is it because you agree, irrespective of any other consideration, or is it because you just can’t be arsed to find the arguments that the Democratic nominee for President is light years better than his opponent?

    I’m curious.

  12. 12.

    BethanyAnne

    @guachi: You’ve made your point. Over and over. Message received. Got it! Your horse is dead, stop beating it.

  13. 13.

    Jay

    @Aussie Sheila:

    guachi and his mom are on the replace Biden/Harris with a mythical rainbow skittles farting flying unicorn ticket at the last minute bandwagon, that doesn’t play “Hail to the Chief”.

  15. 15.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jay: I understand that polls are flawed and not the ultimate metric, thanks. But in my country’s fucked-up version of democracy, close national elections are decided by fence sitters in a handful of battleground states. I don’t need a poll to tell me that voters who experienced a term of both Biden and Trump and are STILL undecided are dumber than a bag of hammers. So keeping the message simple makes sense.

  16. 16.

    Aussie Sheila

    @Debbie(Aussie):

    What I can’t understand is the wailing and gnashing of teeth because prestige outlets like FTFNYT and wapo don’t fall in line and support the Democratic Party’s best way forward. Why would they?

    The Sydney Morning Herald has supported the election of an ALP government twice in my lifetime. The Murdoch Press which controls 70% of the Australian Press has supported the election of a federal ALP government once.

    In 1972.

    The elite media and elite gossip rags like Axios et al have absolutely no skin in the game except to make money by keeping the industrial level lobbying businesses glued to their ‘insights’ and gossip.

    I don’t give a fuck what elite media thinks. No one whose vote really matters ever reads it.

  17. 17.

    Tony Jay

    “The bottom line”

    Hip thrust

    ”Nervous Democrats and skeptical reporters will pick apart every answer in every public setting and dig deep into past meetings.”

    Bend forward, flick hair backwards, undulate to legs-akimbo stance.

    ”It’s called their job.”

    Husky voice, bite lip.

    ”If Biden stays in, it’s his new reality.”

    Spreadeagle shot across bonnet of red sports car, back bent, chest thrust out.

    “Hey, Jim? Is it your reporters’ job to ask the Republicans why they’re still backing a convicted felon, liar and accused child rapist?”

    Icy glare. Foot stamp. Flounce. Door slam.

    “I guess not.”

  19. 19.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I can’t wait till the GOP convention starts next week . I have no intention of watching it. I just want  a break from this Biden can’t handle the job story. Also I want a reporter to ask TFG why he doesn’t have the same Veep as he did in 2016+2020.

  20. 20.

    Jay

    @Aussie Sheila:

    Another way of putting it, is the 3 Card Monte dealer has shown guachi and his mom, how they rig the game. All the slight of hand, cards up their sleeves, a full Penn and Teller expose.

    guachi and his mom still bet their lives, life savings and American Democracy on the center card being the Queen of Hearts.

  21. 21.

    p.a.

    How much of this media/Biden bullshit is yellow journalism because they’re hemorrhaging viewers/readers?  In the past it was competition for a growing market: technology and increasing literacy exploded the customer base.  Now, not.  I’m not discounting basic fascistic impulse in those running things, but if what I see/hear is true, national media has already lost the youngs.  Hell, the Biden admin’s own youth outreach/freeze out of MSM  shows the admin knows this.
    So, a desperate MSM attempt to remain relevant.  And, of course, if they can help get tRump elected, it’ll be “look here for tRump’s outrage of the week day!”  Destroy the country to try to peel off a bigger slice of a collapsing resource.

  23. 23.

    Aussie Sheila

    @Tony Jay:

    Why does that scene remind me of ‘Little Britain’ crossed with ‘The thick of it’?

    BTW, Rachel Reeves has crossed my timeline to be the NuNewLabour pol who makes my teeth ache from grinding. What is her accent? And doesn’t the NHS perform adenoids removal free of charge at point of service? She needs to front up.
    JFC she’s awful.

  24. 24.

    Mai Naem mobile

    Alex Thompson is the worst.  He’s trying to be the 2024 Annie Karni.

  28. 28.

    Jay

    @Betty Cracker:

    Keeping the message simple makes sense.

    We here are going into both a Federal and Provincial election.

    I answered one poll. Period.

    My answer was basically Pierre Poilievre should die in a ditch somewhere and not be identified until the coyotes were finished with his carcass.

    Somehow, that has made me a “supporter” reported in various other polls.

  30. 30.

    Aussie Sheila

    @p.a.:

    Yep. Exactly. No one reads their fucking rags anymore. People are on so many different social media platforms now, that the prestige media’s collective heads are exploding. I don’t care.

    The days of prestige media setting ‘the tone’ were awful for the left.

    Social media can be, and is often, awful. But it has the advantage of being distributed and relatively easily penetrated.

    Bad because Russia.

    Good because partisan activists can do their thing.

    I’m not worried so much by the various social media platforms. I prefer it to the faux gravitas of prestige outlets whose job it is to preserve whatever rotten status quo serves their interests.

  31. 31.

    NotMax

    BTW, it wasn’t Superman, it was Captain America on the cover of the original first issue of his comic.

    In the DC universe Robin beaned him with all-American baseballs.

    /comic book pedant

  32. 32.

    Aussie Sheila

    @Debbie(Aussie):

    I didn’t tbh. I was so furious with Bob Brown with his stunt in QLD, I couldn’t see straight. Nevertheless, water under the bridge now.

    Yesterday’s idiots are still idiots, even if they have some good ideas. Ideas in the absence of the power to implement them are simply forms of intellectual  masturbation.

  34. 34.

    Nukular Biskits

    I gotta wonder how much of this is driven by petty revenge; i.e., Biden’s refusal to sit down with FTFNYT, for example.

    ETA:  And “WTF, Jon Stewart?!?!?!?”

  36. 36.

    Aussie Sheila

    @Debbie(Aussie):

    Yes, it’s an abomination.

    The USSC is the post enlightenment version of the Council of Guardians in Iran.

    Be thankful our Constitution is modest in its claims, particularly in relation to personal rights, albeit it copied the US Constitution in prohibiting religious tests for public offices.

    It found an ‘implied right to political speech’ in response to a case brought by the NSW Trades and Labor Council as it was then against donor restrictions imposed on the NSW TU movement by the LNP in the early 21st century.

    A good decision, but I’m leery of searching for and finding, individual and personal rights in a Constitution. They are best dealt with politically.

  37. 37.

    raven

    I don’t generally engage in the New York Times jihad but I finally cancelled too. I hate to lose the Athletic but here I and.

  40. 40.

    Aussie Sheila

    @NotMax:

    Yeah it’s a shocker. Doubtless there was some, shall we say, easing of what otherwise would be called ‘rigorous’ engineering standards.

    TBH, it’s an outlier, in that those kinds of big infra projects are usually over engineered here because governments are so worried about failure.

    Still, it’s QLD, Australia’s version of the Deep South, so who knows what happened. But it will be fixed.

  41. 41.

    raven

    @eclare: It seems to be fine and the staff and the doc were great. I stated getting afib alerts on my phone a couple of weeks back so I immediately went to my GP and she sent me to the cardiologist. I never had any symptoms but I do now notice that my heart was beating a bit fast. I was a bit sleepy yesterday and my chest was a little sore but that was to be expected.

    thanks

  43. 43.

    daveNYC

    @Aussie Sheila: Two main problems with countering any complaints that Biden is too old.

    1.  Biden actually is rather old, and worse, looked old in the debate.
    2.  If they’re glomming onto Biden’s age as an issue, as opposed to everything, including the fact that he too is old, about Trump; you’re probably dealing with someone running on feels, and good luck reasoning someone out of a position they didn’t reason themselves into in the first place.
  44. 44.

    Slightly_peeved

    @guachi:

    I have no response to “he’s too old”

    Can’t think of a response? I think you may be suffering cognitive decline.

  47. 47.

    Aussie Sheila

    @daveNYC:

    Sure, but there’s such a surfeit of material to hammer tfg and his fascist party with,  that with enough money and moxie their message can be drowned where it needs to be.
    As I understand it, there are five to six states needed to overcome the bias of the EC, so you’re not talking  having to blanket 50 states.

  48. 48.

    matt

    There’s very little in the world that matters less to me than the feelings of reporters.

  51. 51.

    Splitting Image

    @Nukular Biskits:

    I gotta wonder how much of this is driven by petty revenge; i.e., Biden’s refusal to sit down with FTFNYT, for example.

    It’s all revenge from top to bottom. Revenge for everything liberals have done to them from the beginning of time. Biden not doing an interview for the Times. Democrats throwing God-Emperor Trump out of office. A black man getting elected President. Men being told that women were no longer their property. Fidel Castro overthrowing the pet government in Cuba. Plantation owners not being paid for their slaves. Jews not accepting Jesus as their personal saviour. You not accepting one of them as your personal saviour.

    Revenge all the way down the line.

  53. 53.

    Aussie Sheila

    @Slightly_peeved:

    Exactly. He’s full of it, and the electorate knows it. Sun and wind plus batteries are so popular here and so obviously practical he looks like a loon proposing that garbage .
    Which is fair, because he is.

  56. 56.

    Don

    Particularly odious of the White House and supporters is blaming the media. Reporters did not show up thirty minutes late to the debate, or turned in that performance. It probably is true that many in the media are embarrassed to be caught so flat-footed. They are doing their jobs by asking questions the Bidens don’t want to answer. They are doing their jobs for voters. The MSM is self-policing , because if there is any incorrect reporting, the rest will jump on it, because nobody wants to be left behind. This mess is not the media’s fault, and it doesn’t help the voters to be blaming and shaming them. It’s Joe Biden, et al, being typical politicians. Not a good look against the orange monster, but this is democracy and it is messy.

  58. 58.

    sab

    Jeez. Every incumbent president blows his first debate, because presidents have a job that involves a lot of work that is nothing like debate prep.

    Somehow doing an excellent job at the actual job for 3 1/2 years counts for nothing?

  59. 59.

    satby

    @Don: The MSM is self-policing , because if there is any incorrect reporting, the rest will jump on it, because nobody wants to be left behind.

    😂😂😂 Ok, that’s just pure bullshit “grandpa”. And we all can see it with our own eyes. Pull the other one.

    I’m out. Things to do, elections to win

  62. 62.

    Aussie Sheila

    @Don:

    Hmm. If they were doing their jobs for the voters they would have noted that Biden didn’t have a good debate, but that his 34 times convicted opponent lied every time he opened his mouth.

    Or would that have been ‘uncivil’?
    Give me a break.

  63. 63.

    Jeffro

    @Betty Cracker:I don’t need a poll to tell me that voters who experienced a term of both Biden and Trump and are STILL undecided are dumber than a bag of hammers.

    Right??!?

    “On the one hand, you’ve got the guy who is in bed with Putin, botched our country’s (non)response to the pandemic, and took off with our nation’s secrets last time he had the job.  On the other hand, you have the guy who led us out of the pandemic, has presided over 42 straight months of job growth, and has repaired & strengthened our alliances all over the world.

    Hmmm….”

  64. 64.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Nukular Biskits: I gotta wonder how much of this is driven by petty revenge; i.e., Biden’s refusal to sit down with FTFNYT, for example.

    Here is an example: The is this Twitter parody account the DPRK News services which mocks North Korea. The press mistook it for the real thing. They get a call from the BBC, the BBC reporter thinks it’s hilarious when they find out they were taken in, the NYT reporter is next, he is indigent that that someone allowed the NYT to be taken in by prank.

  65. 65.

    Princess

    That NYT Parkinson’s phony story is really really bad. The doctor dude has made many many visits every year to the WH including when Trump was president. This is the kind of work you might expect from a college paper. But the NYT reporters are trained and experienced so this was a deliberately fake story told to shape a narrative. Dan Rather got fired for less than this. And this isn’t their pundits; this was supposedly news.

  66. 66.

    satby

    @MagdaInBlack: yeah, before I go, I will drop the wish that these goombas would quit writing longer and longer polemics on why they’re right and we’re wrong. One of them was book length last night (tl:dr).  Moar wordz doesn’t make you sound smarter.

  67. 67.

    Steve in the ATL

    @satby:
     

    I do miss the smarter commenters that used to post here

    I’m still around! On the other hand, so is Omnes….

  68. 68.

    NotMax

    re: MSM pushing this manufactured “crisis.”

    Have we at long last reached the dog food stage?
    “It’s the darn dogs, JB. They just won’t eat it.”

  69. 69.

    MagdaInBlack

    @satby: I have to admit tho, the MSM are “self-policing” is a new twist.

    I suppose if by self policing you mean feeding frenzy….

  73. 73.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @satby: And the part that really sucks is it so clear they are simply regurgitating their favorite media personality.

  75. 75.

    Bupalos

    @guachi: we’ll, let me help you there: If you think you’re speaking to someone for whom Biden’s age is disqualifying, you don’t have to fight them or make the case very specifically for President Biden. You can say “this administration” or “Biden-Harris and their team” or “Democrats.” You can note how responsible, stable, and effective this administration has been and how much more trustworthy it would be in a case of transition, which is every bit as likely under Trump who shows decline as well and whose administration was chaotic. You can pivot to talking about how A PRESIDENT ISN’T AND SHOULDN’T BE A KING OR QUEEN, and how it isn’t really very appropriate in America that we act like the administration is just one person. And that of course that is exactly what Trump does. Even while not caring about policy beyond how it can bring him power, while pretending “he alone can do it” these heritage psychos with their revolutionary crap about banning abortion and divorce run around ripping up the wiring of democracy.

    You can also note that there is no realistic candidate in the race who is not of a disqualifying age and cognitive capacity, and that while it’s a lamentable situation, only one that has a positive record and positive personal traits otherwise.

    There really is some democratic lemonade to be made here. We shouldn’t think of presidents as we do, and it’s a good time to talk about party visions and administrations.

  77. 77.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Don: The MSM is self-policing , because if there is any incorrect reporting, the rest will jump on it, because nobody wants to be left behind.

    Ben Franklin started the news media tradition of just making news up on a slow back in the 18th Century.   Mark Twain got his start as a writer doing the same.  Nothing has changed.

  78. 78.

    satby

    @NotMax: included you mentally. Who else would even know about the dog food story  😘

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:  yesterday, way at the end of the early thread, I was called “inhumane” for pointing out there are options for people needing morning respite from the news, including the daily bird next post over. Oh, the cruelty, the inhumanity of pointing out choices we all have. Leading to my comment about posters I miss. Corner Stone would have at least been creative. Oh well, fuckem.

  80. 80.

    WereBear

    On the other hand, has the Convicted Felon been seen in public lately? Why isn’t he campaigning to emphasis the man and the plan?

    Oh, right. People find him repulsive. Good luck with that strategy, there.

  81. 81.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    This is all reminds me of those televised news Pentagon briefings in the first Gulf War, I remembering watching them and being utterly horrified over the out of control egos of the reporters, like the one who lectured an air force general on air combat, and how the press would just quote mine the statements being made to string together what answer they wanted.

  82. 82.

    Geminid

    @WereBear: Joe Biden is taunting Trump on his absence, saying that while he is out campaigning Trump is riding around in a golf cart.

  83. 83.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @satby: Doom porn addicts.

    Are they trolls or are they junkies?

    @NotMax: Yes, instead we have David fucking Brooks, who can write whole books and not say anything.

  85. 85.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Geminid: Joe Biden is taunting Trump on his absence, saying that while he is out campaigning Trump is riding around in a golf cart.

    and then the MSM “Biden to feeble to go golfing!”

  89. 89.

    Tony Jay

    @Aussie Sheila:

      Why does that scene remind me of ‘Little Britain’ crossed with ‘The thick of it’?

    I guess because a grossly overacted symphony of grotesque stereotyping crossed with fictional political snarling and quip-throwing is a pretty on-point description of the modern corporate media product.

    As to Reeves, I can’t listen to her (or any of them) talk so I can’t identify the accent. Another bankerworld acolyte of austerity and ‘business growth’ all too eager to cut funding for the ‘work-shy’ to make her books balance. Someone described her as ‘Severina Snape’ and I’m happy to go with that as her standing description.

  92. 92.

    NotMax

    @MagdaInBlack

    Came across a 16 ounce tub of fresh chicken livers in Whole Foods only yesterday at a “Prime special'”price too attractive to ignore.. Looking forward to the resultant schmears.

  93. 93.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Are we still talking about this? I thought the support of the Congressional Black Caucus was a power move that would send us back to campaigning against Trump rather than our nominee

  94. 94.

    Chris Johnson

    @Mai Naem mobile: Oh, man, it’s gonna be something else.

    They’ve got to come up with a VP, that isn’t Mike Pence.

    They’ve got to scramble like maniacs, with the full assistance of the press, to convince the world that they’re normal uwu smallbeans nothing to see here, and that they aren’t gonna do ANYTHING controversial…

    …when the craziest portion of their base already thinks they are getting betrayed and sold out, and those are the ones that are groomed for stochastic terrorism!

    The Republican convention is gonna be amazing. I keep saying, the wingnuts all suspicious that Trump is selling them out and isn’t a true believer in their cause… are correct! For once they’re seeing reality, they are in fact being sold out, cheated, and what’s more their ‘treachery’ would be the first to be punished by their Dear Leader should he get any power at all.

    And he got power over THEM, otherwise it’d be Haley running. He’s being protected by all mainstream media, he doesn’t have power over us but he does have power over THEM and he’s using it to sell them out and betray them in order to save his own skin from deserved jail.

    Buckle up, the Republican path through all this is in fact a bumpy ride. It’s a road of bones but the bones are theirs.

  95. 95.

    Geminid

    The Nato Summit is in Washington this year, and it starts today. Joe Biden gets three days of Presidentin’ with Western leaders. I understand he’ll hold a 1-hour press conference when the Summit winds up Thursday. I’m looking forward to it.

  98. 98.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … Evan Hurst at Wonkette:

    Kristi Noem’s official social media accounts have disappeared. Ha ha ha, wouldn’t it be funny if the Trump campaign is secretly so mindfucked by this whole Biden controversy that Trump’s going to say fuck it and be a legend and choose the dog murderer as his running mate, because she’s a woman, because he’s scared and thinks he’s going to have to run against Kamala Harris now, and this is his “solution”? We might have had too much sugar cereal, but if that happens, you read the prophecy here first. [Guardian]

    “Don’t compare me to the almighty – compare me to the other guy.” – President Biden.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  99. 99.

    Tony Jay

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    The Democratic Party is apparently done with it. The corporate media and those who are paid to feed its needs are less ready to let go and would like to know who the hell these Democrats think they are to reject the verdict of Heritage Media.

    Creepyhands Kiddlediddler can’t beat Biden, so someone has to give it a go!

  101. 101.

    daveNYC

    @Aussie Sheila: 2020 was decided by about 200k-300k voters spread across, 2016 about the same, and 2024 will probably follow along too.

    There appears to be some amount of Obama -> Trump -> Biden -> possibly back to Trump or stay with Biden, voters out there that are unfortunately key to winning due to how thin the margins are in the swing states.

    Slather the target demographics in the target states with as much everything as possible to be sure, but I can’t look at that sort of voting pattern and think that there’s any sure way to get their vote.

  103. 103.

    Geminid

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Senate Democrats holds itheir weekly meeting today. I expect Chuck Schumer will make a statement to the press afterwards affirming his Caucus’s support for President Biden. He’ll be flanked by Democratic Senators including Mark Warner. John Fetterman will stand behind Warner holding Warner’s arm in a hammerlock.

  107. 107.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Tony Jay: That and most of the MSM  are doom porn addicts and the thrill is wearing off, so they are scrounging around for enough for another hit.

  110. 110.

    Chris

    Like I’ve said a few times, it would be one thing if the punditocracy was simply upset because Biden hurt their fee-fees by not giving them enough attention.  But decades of experience when it comes to their coverage of Democratic presidents and presidential candidates gives the lie to that.  They were always going to try and kneecap Biden.  If we’d elected Sanders, Warren, Harris, or Buttgieg, they’d be doing the same thing right now.  Heck, even if we’d elected Bloomberg, I suspect they’d still be doing the same thing.

    And when it comes to Biden specifically, this nonsense started in August 2021, long before any damn debate.

  113. 113.

    Betty

    Coincidentally, a clue in my crossword yesterday was “Word with circus or blitz”. Guess what the right answer was.

  114. 114.

    eclare

    @WereBear:

    OK that’s two recommendations for water chestnuts.  I’ll remember that for my next special meal, I try to avoid processed meat most of the time.

  115. 115.

    Michael Bersin

    @guachi:

    “I used to be a [fill in the blank], but now because of [fill in the blank], I’m going to [fill in the blank].”

    This is a very old trope in American politics.

    What it really means is that you never were a [fill in the blank], your horror at [fill in the blank] never was, and you were always going to [fill in the blank] anyway.

  118. 118.

    Splitting Image

    @Another Scott:

    Kristi Noem’s official social media accounts have disappeared. Ha ha ha, wouldn’t it be funny if the Drumpf campaign is secretly so mindfucked by this whole Biden controversy that Drumpf’s going to say fuck it and be a legend and choose the dog murderer as his running mate, because she’s a woman, because he’s scared and thinks he’s going to have to run against Kamala Harris now, and this is his “solution”? We might have had too much sugar cereal, but if that happens, you read the prophecy here first. [Guardian]

    If Trump chooses Noem, Biden/Harris will be the only ticket in the election that didn’t kill or eat a dog.

  121. 121.

    SFAW

    @guachi: ​
     
    Ah, the timeless hits:
    “Give me a reason to vote for Hillary, but without mentioning Donald Trump or the Supreme Court.”
    — Self-described “Democrat,” circa August, 2016 [might not be a 100 percent verbatim quote, but it’s pretty effing close]

  123. 123.

    moonbat

    Okay the last thread in the original post REALLY pisses me off because the author tries to have it both ways: You cannot gauge the accuracy of the reports surrounding Biden and “calls” for him to leave the race because reporters are taking quotes out of context and pumping up the volume of obscure, unattributed sources making such calls. But at the same time these poor journalists are just doing their editors’ bidding, and most are just being ‘herded’.

    What the fuck. Have journalists never had fights with their editors because they know what they are putting out there is inaccurate? Is there zero respect for the truth? I almost got fired from my paper on several occasions because I wouldn’t put my name on a story I knew to be false. I mean just admit that there is no journalistic integrity anymore and be done with it. Quit pretending these ‘reporters’ have any ethics whatsoever. Sheesh!

  124. 124.

    SFAW

    @Splitting Image:

    If Trump chooses Noem, Biden/Harris will be the only ticket in the election that didn’t kill or eat a dog.

    That we, the great unwashed, know of. But Pinche Sulzberger will get someone looking into it ASAP!!!

  125. 125.

    cmorenc

    Yes, the media is feeding on the Biden fitness story, but the reason it has persistent legs isn’t a conspiratorial cabal at the NYT, CNN etc. – it’s because:

    1)   Whether Biden would durably be fit to serve all they way through age 86 if re-elected was already a significant latent concern of a substantial portion of voters beyond just MAGAs who weren’t going to vote for him anyways.  Biden’s SOTU address performance was successful in suppressing that concern among the non-MAGA portion of the electorate, but it was always still there as a latent concern.

    2)  Debate night, Biden displayed what closely fits most people’s classic notions of a “senior moment” of the sort that in ordinary suburbia sparks family discussion about whether it’s time to consider taking the car keys away from grandpa.  Even if what we actually saw was just Biden handicapped by a bad cold, the “senior moment” impression is one that’s hard to erase from people’s minds.

    3) This concern cannot be entirely overcome, no matter how many sets of mental calisthenics Biden performs in public between now and election day – his chances of winning come down to enough of the non-MAGA electorate deciding that the risks and consequences of a Trump presidency outweigh the risks of Biden’s fitness issues.  But the fitness issue is an organic one with the electorate, not a synthetic notion planted by billionaire RW media owners, even though it’s true that they are providing extra fertilizer and water for it.  They are reaching a receptive public audience, even if they are also intent on helping stir mischief.

  127. 127.

    Gvg

    @p.a.: oh. Yes. That would play into it. And Biden is anti monopoly so he doesn’t want them buying multiple outlets up to consolidate the media more.

    Now i think part of why fewer people read or watch is that they aren’t producing a product worth it. Shallow celebrity entertainment is boring after my teens.

  128. 128.

    Layer8Problem

    @Michael Bersin:
    Guachi is presumably West Coast, so he was only good for a drive-by and then off to bed. “I didn’t leave the Democratic party, the Democratic Party left me.” Did you know that neither he nor his mother are media or elite?

    Bellycat I expect will drop by later to tell us we’re all mean spirited brownshirts agreeing unquestioningly with everything on the Approved BJ Position List and reducing the site’s diversity by driving off good-hearted, innocent questioners of received wisdom. Bellycat does read the site, right? I think we all know a few argumentative BJers who argue vigorously about things they believe in and somehow manage to put hard feelings aside and come back. It’s that kind of place. But poor wil though . . .

  129. 129.

    Chris Johnson

    @p.a.: Hey, don’t look to me for an argument against that. I drew a webcomic back in the day, and hung out with cartoonists. Newspapers have been going out of business for DECADES, largely due to being replaced by the Internet. This is even before cellphones and Big Tech really kicking in.

    To me it looks like they were already up against the wall and getting propped up by helpful Russian oligarchs in the ‘butter emails’ days. That’s many years ago. They’ve not gotten better.

    I think the only reason they’re this mask-off now is because Russia is losing. Russia’s physical war is of course starting in Ukraine (read: not starting as well as they’d wished) but their virtual war has been decades in the making, and they’re starting to lose that as well. Otherwise they’d have taken France, and held England (and US).

    They didn’t hold America even with the help of incumbency for their President, they haven’t been able to keep the Tories in power though they got one of their guys in Parliament thanks to BoJo, and they haven’t taken France. This, even while they’ve been burning up all their assets in efforts to do it.

    You can say media is hemorrhaging viewers and credibility, but I figure those are the media outlets that are basically puppeteered. If you doubt it I’ve got what, 192 counterexamples? And they wouldn’t be burning credibility like that if they didn’t have to. It’s devastating to them and their position in society, but they’re cannon fodder too.

    At least that’s my take. It explains some things. I used to feel that way just as a gut feeling, but they’ve helpfully confirmed all that bigtime by their actions. I’ll let other people be surprised, ‘cos I am not.

  130. 130.

    WereBear

    @Gvg:  Now i think part of why fewer people read or watch is that they aren’t producing a product worth it.

     
    Look at the mess that Disney is serving up, while other studios hire people who can’t make movies, either.

    I’d worry more, but junk flops even harder now. Our “elites” have been elevated by power-mad con artists and aren’t worth the pixels they are printed on.

  131. 131.

    Another Scott

    @moonbat: Fritscher does politics.  He’s trying to get the non-insane reporters to do better, while also telling junkies like us to THINK.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  132. 132.

    Elizabelle

    @cmorenc:  Helping to stir mischief?  Is Trump getting back in mischief?  Is bringing in fascism mischief?

    But it is just like taking the car keys away from Gramps.  Right.

  134. 134.

    Layer8Problem

    @Another Scott:  Thinking’s good, questioning one’s priors and axioms is essential, especially with the gamesmanship we’re seeing trying to play us all.

  135. 135.

    Tony Jay

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Thing is, if they wanted to get Hollywood Clicks they’d take some of the many stunning scandals engulfing Stench and the Party of Hench and absolutely destroy them. The crimes are many and shocking and very easily described to their readers and how exciting would it be for them to fill night after night of coverage with the enfolding catastrophe of a political party bound by fear and grift to a sex-case gangster criminal drowning under the weight of their reporting?

    Pulitzer worthy. History books. 

    But they don’t want too. They want to hide behind manufactured concern about Biden’s refusal to give them interviews old age debate performance cognitive abilities ability to impress them and pretend all of Stench’s scandals don’t exist.

    That have agency, it’s just that they’re agents of the Right.

  137. 137.

    Chris Johnson

    @MagdaInBlack: Huh.

    Let’s see if we start getting smothered with trollage defending the MSM. That would be interesting.

    It’d be smart troll work if it starts happening at scale, because unless I miss my guess the MSM is burning its credibility all at once to defend Russia’s candidate, the only one who will join them against Ukraine. They’ve lost England, they’ve lost France, their only hope is to make Trump win and hope he survives until January.

    Started with butter emails, was incredibly successful, but now it’s apparently all hands on deck and FORCE an outcome no matter what it does to the soldiers.

    As such, if they want to maintain the effectiveness they’ve gotta defend their puppets and so we might end up seeing passionate defenses of how the MSM are just plucky business guys and it’s a shame they have to go for clickbait but they’ve got to keep up their engagement numbers so they can make money as newspapers!

    That ship is already a ghost ship, crewed by zombies. They ALREADY failed and are ALREADY puppets, and under normal circumstances they wouldn’t be asked to be this damagingly obvious about it.

    So, time for some trolls telling us it isn’t obvious at all, and they are just little business boys. I don’t think there’s a ‘self-interest under capitalism’ angle to this. It hurts them, tons of crossword solvers even here are bailing. They’d have changed course by now if they were doing it for clicks for money. That’s not where their money comes from.

    Also, if they were just greedy Biden would still talk to ’em.

  138. 138.

    moonbat

    @Another Scott: I get that, but expecting us to believe that journalists are mostly ethical most of the time, but can’t be because ‘stampede’ when the the freakin’ presidency of the United States is on the line, is bullshit.

  140. 140.

    cmorenc

    @Elizabelle:

    @cmorenc:  Helping to stir mischief?  Is Trump getting back in mischief?  Is bringing in fascism mischief?

    But it is just like taking the car keys away from Gramps.  Right.

    Donated to Biden, will 100% vote for Biden.  But what what’s going on here at BJ is frankly delusional thinking that his problem is merely biased media, and anyone who doesn’t hew to the party line that all would be ok if the media would just shut up is an enemy troll.   The story has legs because it unfortunately resonates with people’s experience with seniors in their own lives, even if the true explanation is just a badly-timed cold on debate night

    Yes, a Biden 2nd term is infinitely preferable to Trump worming his way back into the Presidency, but if we’re going to get there, we have to find a way to get there despite the debate performance, despite the media.

  142. 142.

    BellyCat

    @Betty Cracker: But in my country’s fucked-up version of democracy, close national elections are decided by fence sitters in a handful of battleground states. I don’t need a poll to tell me that voters who experienced a term of both Biden and Trump and are STILL undecided are dumber than a bag of hammers. So keeping the message simple makes sense.

    My point as well (better stated by BC, of course).

    What’s the simple message? A simple counter narrative would go a long way in the next four months.

  143. 143.

    3Sice

    Here is my three hundred word screed justifying my continued support for a failed coup. I am not a crank.

  146. 146.

    Scout211

    – A top Democrat and Biden backer, asked how the president gets credibility back, said: “Get out of the race.”

    I think that top Democrat actually said, “Get out of my face!”

    Let’s ask that top Democrat what they actually said.  Oh yeah, we can”t because the source is made up anonymous.  🙄

  147. 147.

    WereBear

    A lot of this is because all some people know is Red State kinds of government. With a Confederate mindset.

    No wonder they want to join an apocalyptic cult.

  148. 148.

    Elizabelle

    @moonbat: Agreed.  I think Fritscher put that in because he’s a Capitol Hill aide. Does not want these models of ethics and higher principles taking it out on his boss.

  149. 149.

    libarbarian

    What kind of decent journalist would keep trusting a source that they find out has been lying to them?  No kind.  The idea that journalists have an obligation to pretend that it didn’t happen and to continue treating those liars as if they hadn’t been lying through their teeth is ridiculous.

    This is the White House’s fault.  End of story.  Those incompetent fucks  – hell, the entire Democratic leadership – has to go.  They have failed at their jobs.

  150. 150.

    cmorenc

    @WereBear:

    @cmorenc: So they are feeding a panic, instead?

    Yes – except I’d call it the visceral fear of folks who find themselves in a precarious situation.  Recognize that it’s not the media who created the situation or the feeling of precariousness, although they are helping fan the fearful reaction, and there are certainly bad actors taking advantage of it.

  151. 151.

    Gravenstone

    pick apart every answer in every public setting and dig deep into past meetings

    Cool. Now do Trump. Oh wait, you clowns are actively cheering him on for some reason. You and your bosses need their finances tossed with the finest toothed of combs.

  152. 152.

    sab

    @cmorenc: People have experience with seniors in their lives getting old. People also have experience with toxic crazy angry relatives and neighbors.

    In 2016 a lot of Americans thought Trump was the “Apprentice” guy. By 2020 we knew better. Trump was also on that debate stage and he was pretty horrifying. Plus he is old too, and pretty obviously in mental decline. There is getting old ( Biden) and there is onset of Alzheimer’s (Trump.)

    Very few people were madly in love with Biden in 2020, but he still won. After 3 1/2 years we know him better and many of us like him more. If we are worried about his age I still cannot see a rush to Trump as the alternative. The alternative would be to sit out the election.

  154. 154.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Splitting Image: If Trump chooses Noem, Biden/Harris will be the only ticket in the election that didn’t kill or eat a dog.

    The MSM “Biden’s refusal to eat raises health concerns”

  155. 155.

    M31

    lol if it’s Noem then every single Biden ad will have him flanked by Major and Commander

    bring it

  156. 156.

    Elizabelle

    @cmorenc:  helping to fan = 192 stories over just a few days in the FTF NY Times alone.

    They’re just reporting the news.  Not shaping it at all.  Oh no.

    I do get the visceral fear. And perhaps Americans would have less of it if the MSM adequately reported on Biden’s accomplishments.  They were always rooting for a recession.

  157. 157.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    My view of the posts is rapidly filling up with delicious baked goods.

  158. 158.

    M31

    @Tony Jay: 100% agree on this — if clicks and scandal and ‘digging’ were all that mattered, the Trump world is so full of easy pickings that that’s where you’d find your stories (let’s count the abortions! let’s count the adulters! let’s count the business sleaze quotient! let’s count the borderline pedophilia situations! let’s count the actual pedophilia situations!)

    but no, Biden had a shitty debate, and he’s old

  162. 162.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Tony Jay:That’s not quite what I am accusing them of. I am saying they’ve been pushing Hollywood Clicks for so long they’ve themselves have become addicted to that doom porn thrill.

    It’s been noted a lot these reporters come from white, wealthy families and American rich simply do not have addiction problems like some vulgar working class person, I mean, they went to Princeton after all! Thus the whole “how dare you” tone we are starting to hear.

  163. 163.

    schrodingers_cat

    BTW Modi has been hugging it out with Putin in Moscow. Expect attacks from the BJP IT cell on Kamala Harris. In 2020 though their effect was miniscule BJP’s IT cell was working on behalf of the Orange Moron. I noticed it during the contentious period after the elections and the run up to Jan 6

  164. 164.

    Layer8Problem

    “Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.” Thank you rotating tags.

  165. 165.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @cmorenc: Yes, a Biden 2nd term is infinitely preferable to Trump worming his way back into the Presidency, but if we’re going to get there, we have to find a way to get there despite the debate performance, despite the media.

    Please keep in mind that Biden’s opponent is Donald Trump. Not Nikki Haley.  It really feels like a lot of the people who are upset over the debate imagine Biden is running against Generic Republican, not that orange sleaze bag.

    And the stupid thing in this all, is we basically have to run Biden because to many of our fellow citizens won’t vote for anything but  an old white man while complaining about only having old white men to vote for.

  166. 166.

    Scout211

    A new ProPublica/CBS News report about the use of tax dollars in Texas to fund “crisis pregnancy centers” and other anti-abortion nonprofits.

    But an investigation by ProPublica and CBS News found that the system that funnels a growing pot of state money to anti-abortion nonprofits has few safeguards and is riddled with waste.

    Officials with the Health and Human Services Commission, which oversees the program, don’t know the specifics of how tens of millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent or whether that money is addressing families’ needs.

    In some cases, taxpayers are paying these groups to distribute goods they obtained for free, allowing anti-abortion centers — which are often called “crisis pregnancy centers” and may be set up to look like clinics that perform abortions — to bill $14 to hand out a couple of donated diapers.

    Distributing a single pamphlet can net the same $14 fee. The state has paid the charities millions to distribute such “educational materials” about topics including parenting and adoption; it can’t say exactly how many millions because it doesn’t collect data on the goods it’s paying for. State officials declined to provide examples of the materials by publication time, and reporters who visited pregnancy centers were turned away.

    Much, much more at the link.

  168. 168.

    Kirk

    The simplest message to me is: Why are we tolerating this misogyny, this racism, this misogynoir?

    The sole concern of Biden being too old should be the question of who replaces him. By default it’s the other person with access to the assets, the person sitting in the number two seat who takes over if Biden leaves office before – or after – the upcoming election.

    The voters will decide if they want more of the last four years or Reich2025. And we have fools and willful agents who will muddy the waters with immaterial crap. In the end, however, “Why are you terrified of Kamala Harris becoming president” is still my go-to, just as it was six months agon when the whole Biden’s age thing made its last appearance.

  170. 170.

    Another Scott

    @Cheryl from Maryland: Several people are talking past themselves,  and while it’s good to vent – sometimes ad nauseum – it seems to be winding down a little.

    Obviously, what we say here on this nearly top 10000 blog is going to swing the election.  Obviously, what we say here is going to change the way the Engagement Press is going to cover the race.  Obviously, what we say here is going to win over decades of rules and laws about how presidential elections actually work.

    ;-)

    OTOH, close elections (and we’ve had too many too-close elections in the last 25+ years) are won on the margins.  On the gripping hand, elections are won these days on turn-out.

    So, nothing matters.  And everything matters.

    But what matters most of all is thinking about the stakes and not the odds.  And acting in a way that one can look back on and say – yeah, I did the right thing and encouraged others to do so as well.

    [ insert comic of folks sitting around a fire in a cave “… but her emails.” ]

    [/soapbox]

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  171. 171.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Kirk: The sole concern of Biden being too old should be the question of who replaces him

    Yes this along with an answer to the question “show how the replacement will perform better in the election than Biden?”

  172. 172.

    TBone

    I missed this yesterday, so Heather Cox Richardson once again proves herself a vital source of information for me.  Strange to think a blastocyst can lose its rights, if it develops into a female…

    The 2024 Republican Party platform, released today, calls for using the Fourteenth Amendment not to protect equal rights for Americans from discriminatory laws, as those who wrote, passed, and ratified the amendment intended. Instead it calls for using the Fourteenth Amendment to protect the rights of fetuses from the time of fertilization. It says that states should start passing laws protecting those rights: so-called fetal personhood laws that have their roots in the 1960s and were considered a fringe idea until about fifteen years ago.

    https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-8-2024

  173. 173.

    schrodingers_cat

    Another gem from Biden is too old brigade. Disenfranchising primary voters is okay because of vibes and feels. This is from yesterday’s MM thread.

    Aside: Saying he was elected by Democratic primary voters also wasn’t, imo, the point. Obviously, if he died, we’d need to replace him. So, how close to a theoretical death was he? I didn’t know.

  174. 174.

    WereBear

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    And the stupid thing in this all, is we basically have to run Biden because to many of our fellow citizens won’t vote for anything but  an old white man while complaining about only having old white men to vote for.

     
    Sadly, so.

  176. 176.

    schrodingers_cat

    @JPL: Didn’t this already happen to a black woman in one of the red states

    Brittany Watts in Ohio.

    The case of an Ohio woman has garnered national attention after she had a miscarriage and now faces criminal charges; 34-year-old Brittany Watts was 22 weeks pregnant, and her pregnancy had been deemed nonviable just days earlier, when she miscarried in the bathroom of her home in September of 2023.

  179. 179.

    moonbat

    I hate the consolidated media we have now. Used to be papers competed against each other, not by all writing the same story, but often by poking holes in the other guy’s story.

    I mean we’re two weeks into this and JUST NOW folks are noticing that the main drivers of this ‘Biden is unfit’ stampede are a property of Murdoch and the FTFNYT which has been in a hot feud with the president for more than a year because he won’t submit himself to their editorial/neurological expertise, aka hatchet job.

    I know this is nothing new in journalism. Hearst ran rags that served his particular interests too. But folks knew not to trust them. I think we give too much deference to our modern press when they have done nothing to earn it. Someone tell Sulzberger the lesser that he didn’t inherit credibility like he did his fortune.

  180. 180.

    AM in NC

    @Elizabelle: I think cmore is right – a LOT of normies are concerned about Biden’s age, because a President in their 80s is naturally concerning.  BUT that doesn’t mean that we don’t fight like hell to talk about why even a failing Biden (and we don’t know that Biden IS failing) is worlds, light-years, universes better than Republican Governance.  Simply acknowledge and move on with the following with people making the argument that Biden is too old:

    Democratic judges will be worlds better than any Trump/GOP judges – even if Biden is old.

    Ukraine support and beating back Russian autocracy will be better under Democrats than Republicans (no matter who!)

    US industrial, labor, and tax policies will be better for everyone and our country as a whole under Biden/Harris/ any Democrats. Under any Republican, those policies prey on workers and middle class for the benefit of the super-rich.

    Biden/Harris/Democrats are for freedom of choice, religion, and conscience. Republicans are forcing everyone to bend the knee to their version of their Christian God, under penalty of law – abortion; trans health care; In Vitro Fertilization, Birth Control pills, No-Fault divorce – Republicans are trying to make it ALL illegal.

    Biden is old. Yes. Biden may not make it through his second term. True. But Trump is also old. He is also deranged and cruel, not a decent human being like Biden. He is also an adjudicated rapist and thief. He is also a National Security threat (according to his own, hand-picked Cabinet members).  And his policies are anti-American, anti-representative government, and anti-human life.

    We have to make this fight (this election and EVERY ELECTION) about different world-views and the two different Parties.  It isn’t about one person. It’s about fascism and White Nationalist Christian patriarchy ruling over all of us, or it’s about the actual promise of America – equal opportunity for all, human rights for all, rule of law, not rule of men and wealth.

    Pick side Democrat and FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT for them against the Republicans.  Biden, Harris, Clinton, Whitmer, Schumer, Jeffries, Ocasio-Cortez,  Newsom – whichever one’s name comes up in whatever context – FIGHT for them.  Doesn’t matter if they’re not perfect.  Fight for them.  Because they could be Jesus Christ himself, and the GOP and their billionaire media bosses will smear them with filth by the barrel.  FIGHT. It’s what normies respect, and what Democrats (with our love of nuance) are all too quick to run away from.

  181. 181.

    TBone

    @schrodingers_cat: they went into her home and tore apart the plumbing to try to get evidence against her.  Gives new meaning to the words “Whitehouse plumbers.”

  183. 183.

    Another Scott

    @AM in NC: The framing is bad, IMHO.

    (repost) Nitter, Twitter version:

    Mueller, She Wrote
    @MuellerSheWrote
    Jul 6

    Biden has made 15 appearances in 8 cities in 9 days. I’m only 50 and I nearly ground myself into dust making 4 appearances in 3 cities over 6 days – and I didn’t even have a cold. I honestly don’t know how he does it.

    Jul 6, 2024 · 8:38 PM UTC

    Biden isn’t Superman, but he’s doing – and thriving – on work that would kill most of us. That’s the objective truth, and anyone who has to travel – let alone give speeches – knows it. He’s doing the work and has been for decades. Getting tongue-tied a couple of times and having a sore throat doesn’t change that.

    Eyes on the prizes.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  186. 186.

    Mike E

    @moonbat: corporate captured media is in the end stages of what can be called their “mission”….think: music and how we consume it, or new movies and shows. Marshall McLuhan pointed out how a medium drives content in ways practically incomprehensible to the average person though they happily roll with it. Truth is irrelevant. Controlling behavior is the goal and now the genie has been let loose there’s no turning back. It’s nearly all noise with the signal there to keep us in our place. This is why people believe crazy shit that a generation ago would have gotten them laughed out of the room, or put in a padded one.

    People worry about Biden’s health when they should be concerned about theirs, funny how that works.

  187. 187.

    AM in NC

    @Another Scott: Yes. EXACTLY. Biden is doing the work! He is STILL getting the results!  We all need to support him and his team and stop freaking completely out.

    And always, always, make it less about the individual “Democratic Savior” and more about the people/party/policies that we, all together, work to enact.

  188. 188.

    Tony Jay

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Oh, I get you.

    I just don’t give them that much credit. They’re actively defending a scandal rotted neo-fascist from any scrutiny while going way, way overboard trying to force a sitting US President to resign through smears and innuendo.

    That’s not an addiction, that’s an assault. They know exactly what they’re doing, and why, and who benefits.

  189. 189.

    Ruckus

    Support Joe Biden or the idiot shitforbrains.

    Not a lot of choice to be made there. Unless one is attempting to destroy the country. Oh wait the choice would still be clear, just ignorant, stupid, asinine, immoral – the other guy absolutely has no actual morals other than fuck over everyone because he is a whinny jackass with zero redeeming qualities. And that doesn’t actually seem like a moral act. Because it isn’t.

  190. 190.

    Ruckus

    @Starfish:

    DO NOT IGNOR HIM.

    That is the worst thing, he has a level of power because there are people who think he’s the ONE. Not an insignificant number of people.

    He has to be beaten massively at the voting box. Overwhelmingly, figuratively beaten to not even close. Make sure everyone you know and understand to be normal, human and who hates him to VOTE. And vote him out into the street, it has to be obvious, overwhelming, a beatdown election. Ignoring him will not work, his bullshit is liked by a segment of this country, and they have to see him LOOSE.

  193. 193.

    terraformer

    If we make it through this moment by defeating (for now), the proto-fascists

    we need to take a good, hard look at how we can guard against the greed-driven news industry as the primary communicators on issues of the day. They are clearly compromised, at least in all to many cases.

    I don’t know what the answer is, but we can’t keep on like this, where news is distilled to present views and interests from the rich and powerful

  194. 194.

    Bupalos

    @Another Scott:

     

    I guess some of this stuff is appropriate, but as a general approach I really don’t like this angle of talking up Biden’s virility and doing some kind of version of “only he can do it.” It’s understandable, it’s what Biden has rather starkly has used in scrambling defense at the moment. But I think this is a kind of trap we’re setting for ourselves if we keep walking down that road.

    Right now on our side there is of course desperation to get past the Biden is Old cycle. Biden is desperate for it, Dem Pols are desperate for it, Biden or Busters are desperate for it, Biden Should Go folks are desperate for it. They all have different focuses for how you get past it. That muddies the reality that this is our common goal. Our common desperate goal.

    Here’s my suggestion: Don’t try to get past it, because there is no getting past it. It’s here to stay. Don’t swim against the rip current. Consider that every form of “get over it” is actually just “let’s deal with this later, at some other time…” that will once again not be of our choosing, is likely to be more critical, and will present us with less options.

    Instead of a kind of denial of the issue and courting greater and greater risk as we keep our fingers crossed that it just fades, the campaign needs to formulate a winning approach that also insulates us from the void that will open up if Biden is simply wrong – if father time does get his number here or that becomes an even more durable perception. I think there is such a lane available, which involves; first- recognizing the reality and inevitability of increasing challenges for Biden while maintaining that he is still extraordinarily qualified and fit for governance. Second- emphasizing that all of our accomplishments have been a result not of one man, but of the common Democratic vision shared by our team. Talk about that team. Talk about Harris, talk about Buttigiege, talk about Jeffries. Contrast a party with a vision and a broad team that is stable and predictable and will remain so even if there is a transition at the top, versus a party whose “vision” is to rubber-stamp and boot-lick one bomb-throwing chaotic old man, that also has age-challenges; that variously calls the people he hires idiots or enemy agents or wants them hanged; that claims not to know what his own administration is up to, etc. Win the age issue by understanding that it is at heart a stability issue.

    The worst lines we can take right now as far as party-wide risk:
    “The successes and stability of this administration were due to Biden alone.” And – “The debate was a one-off indicative of nothing real, spun up out of whole cloth by a conspiracy of The Media against us.”

  195. 195.

    Bill Arnold

    @Don:

    They are doing their jobs

    They are not doing their jobs. They are cowards, afraid to attack convicted felon Trump (a man who was close with a pedophile pimp) because if he wins, he/his administration and/or his stochastic army might attack them or their families or both.
    Trump’s performance during that debate was disqualifying. Nasty, lying every other sentence. Hell, he used “Palestinian” as an insult.
    Crickets from the press, relative to the anti-Biden stampede.
    (Note: If the press helps elect Trump (they’ve already done serious damage to the Democrats), expect revenge. This is a promise. The rules of opposition change when authoritarians are in power; they become much more ruthless.)

  196. 196.

    sab

    @schrodingers_cat: She was charged with abuse of a corpse after she flushed the miscarriage, but subsequently the grand jury refused to indict her.

    She had been to the hospital twice for assistance before she miscarried.

  197. 197.

    H-Bob

    The press’s attitude is similar to how they reacted to discovering that Bill Clinton actually did have an affair with Monica Lewinsky.  They were furious that Bill Clinton lied to them so the press was determined to get him; they didn’t get Bill Clinton’s scalp so they went after Gore and Hillary.  Of course they were unconcerned that the Bush Administration lied to the American public about the pretexts for the Iraq War or Trump disclosing military secrets to foreign powers — that’s merely lying to the nation but lying specifically to members of the press is unforgivable.

  198. 198.

    Slightly_peeved

     

    @moonbat:

    people blaming Biden for this should read up a bit more on political coverage in Australia and the UK. Kiss Murdoch’s ass or all his media will support your opponent. The papers do what their boss tells them to.

  201. 201.

    ljdramone

    @Tony Jay:

    Hip thrust

    Bend forward, flick hair backwards, undulate to legs-akimbo stance.

    Husky voice, bite lip.

    Spreadeagle shot across bonnet of red sports car, back bent, chest thrust out.

    Icy glare. Foot stamp. Flounce. Door slam.

    “Let’s do the Time Warp again!”

  202. 202.

    Chris T.

    What should you do with this? My advice: BE SKEPTICAL.

    Hm, well, my advice would be: troll the shit out of them. Tell them you have a secret letter, wait for them to publish that, then give them the “secret letter” that says “you fell for it”, etc. Make the news be about the news that’s trying to drag everything down!

  203. 203.

    Chris T.

    @Chris Johnson:

    unless I miss my guess the MSM is burning its credibility all at once to defend Russia’s candidate, the only one who will join them against Ukraine. They’ve lost England, they’ve lost France …

    More trollage: “I see England, I see France / I see media underpants…

    (ok, enough now)

  204. 204.

    Miss Bianca

    @guachi: Funny, I just  switched my voter registration to Unaffiliated for the first time in 40 years because of Democrats like *you*.

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