Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

All hail the time of the bunny!

This chaos was totally avoidable.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

In after Baud. Damn.

We still have time to mess this up!

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / Wednesday Night Open Thread: James Comer Is Back on His Bullsh*t

Wednesday Night Open Thread: James Comer Is Back on His Bullsh*t

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We regret to inform you…

The GOP-led House Oversight Committee subpoenaed three senior White House aides Wednesday, demanding they sit for depositions regarding President Biden’s health, according to letters obtained by Axios.

Why it matters: The subpoenas signal Republicans’ desire to investigate whether some of Biden’s closest aides essentially have hidden the 81-year-old president’s true condition, in a probe that could drag through the Nov. 5 election…

Driving the news: Oversight chair James Comer (R-Ky.) subpoenaed First Lady Jill Biden’s top aide Anthony Bernal, deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini, and senior adviser Ashley Williams, according to the letters.

= All three are low-profile but very influential inside the White House, Biden officials have told Axios.

= Comer asked for the aides to respond by July 17 and requested they sit for closed-door interviews later this month.

= He also cited a recent Axios report about Bernal and Tomasini having access to the first family’s residence — a situation that White House residence staff found unusual since political staffers often don’t have such access.

What they’re saying: In each letter, Comer writes that the committee is “concerned” that each official is “one of several White House staffers who have taken it upon themselves to run the country while the President cannot.”…

White House spokesperson Ian Sams said in a statement: “Like everything Congressman Comer has done over the past year, these subpoenas are a baseless political stunt intended for him to get media attention instead of engage in legitimate oversight.”

“His partisan attacks on the president have been discredited, and now he continues to debase the House by weaponizing subpoenas to get headlines instead of seeking information through the proper constitutional process.”

Zoom out: Comer recently helped lead an impeachment inquiry into Biden that included interviewing several members of the president’s family.

The inquiry ultimately fizzled out, however, and Biden wasn’t impeached.

No doubt Comer’s latest attention grab will be the subject of many TFG donation-demanding emails, and probably garner the man some applause at next week’s Milwaukee convention. And that’s the last we’ll hear of it, assuming virtue triumphs come November.
If one should happen to be keeping a list of Very Serious Media people not to trust, here’s an earlier discussion of Comer’s scribe Axios reporter Alex Thompson:

Axios has chosen its side…

…Over the last 12 days, Schumer has been listening to donors’ ideas and suggestions about the best way forward for the party, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The majority leader is one of several Democrats, including former President Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has the political and personal standing to convince Biden to step aside. Even so, Biden can still dig in and the delegates are pledged to him.

“As I have made clear repeatedly publicly and privately, I support President Biden and remain committed to ensuring Donald Trump is defeated in November,” Schumer said in a statement after this story was published…

I’m really looking forward to the RNC convention, and not just for my own lulz.

Reader Interactions

189Comments

  2. 2.

    Trivia Man

    Has Comer been asked about the Thomas impeachment yet? Let’s get that one some legs!

  3. 3.

    opiejeanne

    Gawd, when will this end??? It’s over, yet people are still trying to beat life back into the dead horse.

  4. 4.

    piratedan

    Dear Uncle Merrick,

    Would you PLEASE fucking prosecute these goddamn traitors who presume to represent the United States of America.

    Thank you,

    An exasperated citizenry

  5. 5.

    Jackie

    I’m really looking forward to the RNC convention, and not just for my own lulz.

    I’m hoping it will be the #1 news topic – pushing this week’s top topic below the fold. Ha! Who am I kidding?

  8. 8.

    satby

    Since so many of the local denizens of this joint proudly state they mainly get their news here (eeek!) there’s been lots of breathless repeating of  media reports later demonstrated to be false. So in case people have missed some of them MuellerSheWrote compiled a recap, plus some polling results that compared the same voters pre-and post debate. Worth a read.

  11. 11.

    laura

    Tell me this Isn’t penetration at all levels because this current tack sure feels like a targeted attack to tear each other apart while trump is an actual convicted felon and adjudicated sexual assaulted who appears to be a child rapist and manifestly unfit by appearance, “performance” and affirmative statements of his prior administration. I feel trapped in a political party suicide driven by outside forces to install a mad, manipulated autocracy. Divided We Fall.

  12. 12.

    Jay

    @satby:

    FYI, when I clicked the Mueller link,  a name came up as the person who shared the link.

    These days, that’s not cool, it’s a form of doxxing their own subscribers.

    Thank you for the link though.

  13. 13.

    satby

    @Steve in the ATL: I joked to someone today about saying the often used Shakespeare quote, but you, Omnes, and Baud are ok; and other lawyers known to comment would hysterically accuse me of threatening them. It’s just not fun here anymore.

  14. 14.

    satby

    @Jay: well, thanks if you mean me. But despite an earlier comment, I’m not at all anonymous online, and a large number of commenters nationwide even have my home address. Edit: I also tweet, just as pointedly (some might say abrasively) under my own name.

    too late to edit the link.

  16. 16.

    Mike in NC

    Comer is the very stereotype of a dumbass Kentucky redneck. Too many of those assholes in Congress.

  17. 17.

    Jay

    @satby:

    Just noting that it’s a bad practice for the site when it could just be “a subscriber shared this free article with you”,

  22. 22.

    Mousebumples

    I know rust traditionally the party with the convention sees a polling bounce.

    But normies have (maybe?) tuned out Trump for the last 3+ years.

    Any chance putting Trump & Co. front and center for a week will negatively impact polls?

    Probably dreaming. Idk what’s up with polls. Criss tabs are crap. Sampling is a mess. Margin of error, etc.

    Time to do the work.

  23. 23.

    Cacti

    My betters here have assured me that all of this is going to go away.

    So, when is that going to happen again? 🤔

  25. 25.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @laura:

    I feel trapped in a political party suicide driven by outside forces to install a mad, manipulated autocracy.

    And that’s on a good day.

  26. 26.

    cain

    This is what happens when you run to a mic, Dem pols – stop going to shows stop gving this stupid thing any oxygens.

    The polls are going bad because you keep fucking talking about it and of course, the GOP know that so now they are joining in. Moronic. I really want to slap Schiff who started this whole thing.

  27. 27.

    Scout211

    @satby: plus some polling results that compared the same voters pre-and post debate. Worth a read.

    I posted the link to the poll and the analysis of the poll in a thread downstairs.

    Here is the article.

    Biden’s poor debate performance had almost no impact on voter preference, new report says

    Minor changes in voter preference after the debate don’t mean the course of the presidential race has shifted, Northeastern expert says.

    . . .

    Seeing the dominant narrative coming out of the debate, Lazer and the team at CHIP50 decided to test the hypothesis that Biden had lost ground in public opinion after the debate. Notably, Lazer says, they didn’t survey two different cross-sectional groups of people before and after the debate like most polls. Instead, the team was able to survey the same group of respondents from a survey conducted before the debate.

    Lazer says using the same group of people helps make the results more precise, which is important in polling that inherently has a margin of error.

    What the report finds is that Biden held on to 94% of the people who said they would support him before the debate. For Trump, 86% of people who said they would support him before the debate said they would do so after the debate.

    “What we see is that there is some churn –– maybe 10 percent or so of people change what they answer –– but that the net result is not a movement away from Biden,” Lazer says. “If anything, it seems that Biden is holding on to his people somewhat better than Trump.”

    In fact, generally, the shift in support was actually more in Biden’s favor, although Lazer notes it’s not statistically significant and well within the margin of error.

    There were very minor shifts between the candidates: 1% of people who said they would vote for Biden before the debate, switched to preferring Trump, while 3% switched from Trump to Biden. Similarly, respondents who said they were unsure who they would vote for before the debate were slightly more likely to switch to preferring Biden after the debate.

    “[It all] points in the same direction, which is that it seems unlikely, based on our data, that things shifted toward Trump after the debate,” Lazer says. “If anything, our point estimate is a little more toward Biden, but I wouldn’t make a lot of noise about that.”

    ETA:  Forgot to add this from the article:

    My hope is that reporters look at this and say, ‘Maybe we need to be careful in overinterpreting noise as actual signal.’”

  29. 29.

    cain

    I hope Dems also realize that it is not a good look to be talking to “donors” about changing stuff that we all voted for. I mean, it’s undemocratic. In the aggregate, the rest of us have been giving way more money than these idiots.

    The media doesn’t listen to us, doesn’t want to interview us, and these guys don’t want to either. SMH.

  32. 32.

    piratedan

    @cain: seems like the only time that the press wants to speak to a random Dem is to see if they will provide them with a Dems in Disarray soundbite.

  33. 33.

    NotMax

    Meanwhile, after a slight and short-lived bump, DJT stock on a downward slope once again.

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    Will find a link when it goes up not too long from now.

    The segment about 45 minutes in on O’Donnell’s show today about the R gubernatorial candidate in N. Carolina is chilling to the bone.

  38. 38.

    Mousebumples

    https://bsky.app/profile/gregdoucette.bsky.social/post/3kwxwzwujw32p

    Going through the post-debate polls at 538 that have racial demo crosstabs, here’s how they list the black vote –

    ➡️ Bendixen: 27% for Trump

    ➡️ Cygnal: 17%

    ➡️ Data for Progress: 23%

    ➡️ Economist/YouGov: 13%

    ➡️ Politico/Morning Consult: 37%

    ➡️ NYT/Siena: 14%

    ➡️ CNN/SSRS: 33%

    ➡️ Suffolk: 16%

    ➡️ SurveyUSA: 22%

    Trump got 7% of the black vote in 2020, and 6% in 2016

    The last Republican POTUS candidate to get 13% of the black vote was Richard Nixon in 1960

    If you think Trump is going to double his 2020 black vote share, after accomplishing nothing in 4 years except being criminally prosecuted, I’ve got a bridge to sell you

    Keep in mind those absolutely outlandish black vote numbers then get used to calculate the top line numbers

     

    https://bsky.app/profile/mike.puterbaugh.net/post/3kwxyzo5zri2t

    CNN/SSRS had three (3) respondents in this cohort

  39. 39.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @cain: The media doesn’t listen to us, doesn’t want to interview us, and these guys don’t want to either. SMH.

    Well, we are the consumers of the media because it is certainly not the right.

  40. 40.

    Mousebumples

    @piratedan:

    https://bsky.app/profile/thetattooedprof.bsky.social/post/3kwxqx2dhot25

    Really feeling the truth of that old Will Rogers line, “I’m not a member of any organized political party…. I’m a Democrat.”

    Rogers understood the best satire is the stuff that actually rings true: “Democrats never agree on anything, that’s why they’re Democrats. If they agreed with each other, they would be Republicans.”

    See, also, Pitchbot’s Dems in Disarray image (gif? Maybe?).

  42. 42.

    Mousebumples

    @SpaceUnit: I don’t want to be an unskew the polls person. But it is a super small sample size that is being reweighted to represent the electorate. Of course the numbers are gobbletygook!

    Also, Bernie said nice things. Being vague to not derail the thread.

  43. 43.

    Mousebumples

    https://bsky.app/profile/itsoasus.fastestfurs.com/post/3kwvq452ofl2e

    FUN FACT: Did you know that The Heritage Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization?

    FUN FACT: They are not allowed to participate in political campaigns. Directly OR Indirectly.

    FUN FACT: IRS Form 13909 Exists.

    Do with this info as you will.

    https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f13909.pdf

    Heres another way you can fill out Form 13909: https://www.irs.gov/dmaf/form/13909

    This one might be easier

     

    https://bsky.app/profile/pewtergod.bsky.social/post/3kwxnyvmakz27

    The EIN would be: 237327730

    You’re welcome!

     

    https://bsky.app/profile/joshrosenau.bsky.social/post/3kwxqabf3yt2c

    Not to discourage because I want this to work, but as a non-lawyer who has worked in advocacy and election-adjacent nonprofits a) some lobbying is legal b) the IRS regards lobbying *only* as attempting to affect a specific piece of legislation, not advocacy on executive actions.

    This produces the fascinating consequence that a nonprofit may not electioneer — act for or against a *candidate* — but may endorse and act on behalf of a referendum or ballot initiative, because then the voters serve as a legislative body and it’s not electioneering but lobbying.

    Also the IRS hasn’t enforced the electioneering ban in a decade because of blowback after they revoked the nonprofit status of some overtly partisan Tea Party groups and this was somehow scandalous even though they also dinged some Dem-aligned groups. So wingnut churches have gone wild in elections.

  44. 44.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Mousebumples: I don’t want to be an unskew the polls person

    What’s there to unskew with sample sizes that small? It’s simply meaningless.

  46. 46.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @opiejeanne:

    It’s not going to end. Get used to it or tune it out because this is the new normal. It’s going to pile on and on all the way to November. Death by thousands of blades coming in from all directions. It’s clear that this was planned out and the Tonya Harding Democrats are performing their work in undermining the party due to their deep seated insecurities, as expected.

    I’m sure our chorus line of Tonyas will be in to sing us their off-key tunes. We are going to lose this fall and they are determined to make it happen, all for vanity and nothing else.

  47. 47.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Mousebumples: on target.

    I see how they can do so many polls so fast now. They just don’t.

    And sense the MSM is paying for it, the Pollster is just putting in the minimal amount of work and “weighing” the poll to the contracted results.  It’s like some MSM twatwaffel has the wits or interest to realize he is being played.

  48. 48.

    piratedan

    @Mousebumples: this is what I find so frustrating.  We’re going to really let everything else and everyone else who planned J6 just sit back under the shade of DJT?  They have to be witnessing this travesty of justice unfolding, why the fuck are they not prosecuting everyone else?  Meadows? Miller? Bannon? Thomas? Hawley? Roy? Cruz? Biggs?

    they’re just sitting on that shit.  For fucks sake, they’re attempting to shiv the President with all of this bullshit.  IOt isn;t a matter of even protecting the President, it’s a matter of protecting the country and the rule of law.

  49. 49.

    VFX Lurker

    I’m listening to Andy Serkis narrate Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, and this sentence stood out:

    But he that sows lies in the end shall not lack of a harvest, and soon he may rest from toil indeed, while others reap and sow in his stead.

    Seems relevant in light of all the lying liars trying to get the fascist felon elected.

  50. 50.

    SpaceUnit

    @Mousebumples:

    I don’t believe there’s a deliberate conspiracy to skew poll results.  But survey response rates of .5% cannot deliver a reliable cross-section of public opinion.

    The methodology, however unintentionally, is selecting for extremely atypical behavior (answering calls from unknown numbers).  It could correlate to any number of behavioral traits, including impulsive behavior, rashness, lack of discretion and general awareness, risk taking, a desire for confrontation or for an opportunity to spout off at a stranger.

    Any of those things would correlate pretty well to the MAGA crowd.  Just saying.

  51. 51.

    Cheez Whiz

    Comer will use the interviews to claim the aides “exceeded their authority” to cover up for Biden, based on nothing, just like every other investigation,  for the bubble and nowhere else.

    Just like Biden-So-Old, it’s all perceptions. The demands for Biden to step down are based on feels (Biden looks Old, voters will abandon him, he must step down or we will LOSE!) with no evidence in polling (so far), and personal testimonials like Clooney’s, who thought he looked confused at some event he attended. It’s not great that he’s 81 and President, but he is and I’m Telling You He’s Not Going, to paraphrase Dreamgirls. I think all the free-floating fear and anxiety found a place to rest in Biden-So-Old, and anxious people have a place to focus their fear, on Biden-So-Old. The fact that Biden Is Old is the kernel of truth to sell the fairy tale. I think if the polls collapse, a Hoover-level collapse, he will do the right thing and bail, because he cares about the country more than his ego. Otherwise he’s in.

  52. 52.

    Jackie

    @NotMax:

    The segment about 45 minutes in on O’Donnell’s show today about the R gubernatorial candidate in N. Carolina is chilling to the bone.

    His entire show is worth watching tonight. Especially the Union’s segment.

  54. 54.

    Tazj

    @Mousebumples: Bernie has been good in support of Biden.
    I don’t care for Alex Thompson at all. Saw a clip of him from a couple days ago saying if Kamala Harris took over as the candidate she would have to sit down for an extended interview about what she knew and when about Biden’s health.
    All these extended interviews required of the Democratic candidates. Dance! Jump higher! GTFO

    Meanwhile, Trump challenged Biden to 18 holes of golf and said he would let Biden bring Kamala Harris along to be his caddy and would speak up for her if they wouldn’t let her in to the golf course.
    The misogyny and the racism are a constant with that man. So there’s nothing new here and therefore nothing new to report according to our press.

  56. 56.

    SpaceUnit

    @Jay:

    Right.  But our corporate MSM love the results of those polls and trip all over themselves to amplify them.  Assholes.

  57. 57.

    Captain C

    @Tazj: “Sure, Donny.  18 holes.  No golf carts, you have to walk all the way.  And not at one of your third-rate golf courses.  And we’re bringing a PGA ref along to make sure everything’s on the up-and-up.  Also, after the golf game, we’re going for a 5- or 10-mile bike ride…”

  60. 60.

    Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog

    Did the three sources happen to be named “Me”,”Myself”, and “I” by any chance?

    Also, as any fule kno, subpoenas are now optional – just ask Leonard Leo and Gym Jordan.

  61. 61.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Scout211:

    My hope is that reporters look at this and say, ‘Maybe we need to be careful in overinterpreting noise as actual signal.’”

    Assumes that reporters are over-interpreting rather than willfully misreading what’s going on.

  63. 63.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Tazj: I don’t care for Alex Thompson at all. Saw a clip of him from a couple days ago saying if Kamala Harris took over as the candidate she would have to sit down for an extended interview about what she knew and when about Biden’s health.

    I fail see the need for that, Alex has proven himself more than capable of putting words in her mouth and their is no need to take up the Vice President’s time.

  64. 64.

    Old School

    Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston announced Wednesday that he had disqualified a ballot measure which could have loosened abortion restrictions in the state.

    Signatures to qualify the measure for the November ballot were due on Friday, and Arkansans for Limited Government submitted 101,525, more than enough to meet the threshold of 90,704.

    In a letter, Thurston said that 14,135 of those had been collected by paid canvassers rather than volunteers.

  66. 66.

    NaijaGal

    @cain: I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s the other way around. The donors have told the party to dump him or else they withhold money from the presidential and other Dem races. That’s the only thing that to my mind explains what’s going on.

  68. 68.

    Jay

    @NaijaGal:

    And yet, they are not withholding money.

    There have been 2 “big money” donors going public.

    The rest is “Media Claims”, probably as much BS as their other claims,

    over $264 million+ plus in July so far,

    But 121 FTMSM “stories” citing “anonamous sources” claiming that donations have dried up,…..

  71. 71.

    frog

    @Captain C:

     

    Also, after the golf game, we’re going for a 5- or 10-mile bike ride…”

    Where I come from, that’s a kiddie ride, and that’s not even counting what the animals think of a ride that short.

  75. 75.

    Jay

    @laura:

    Tip, so with Nitter, if you have pulled the post, you can cut and paste the text, which gives people more incentive to go to the link,

  76. 76.

    Bupalos

    @SpaceUnit: They aren’t all over the map. There’s wide variation with every one showing a shockingly high number for Trump.

    I’m open to an explanation and inclined to simply disbelieve,  but “small sample size means they all missed badly in the same direction somehow” isn’t computing for me.

    The same poster is suggesting that the right got lower vote totals in UK, France, and India…which is just generally not true. In the UK it was a higher right wing total it just split between right and far right. In France and India…. it’s complicated.

  77. 77.

    laura

    @Jay: Thanks! As a lurker, I’m not skilled in the social media sharing protocols. I’d like to state that it’s a doggone good thread and worth taking a peek. Black Twitter remains the place for stakes, spin stiffening and learning a couple few things.

  79. 79.

    Eolirin

    @Bupalos: If the sample size is sufficiently small, response bias may be enough to explain it.

    I think the response bias is likely to even itself out to some degree with a large enough sample, but if it’s like three people, probably not so much. Small numbers do tend to outliers, but we’d expect to see some 0% support results. Unless the pollsters are continuing to make calls until they get at least one pro Trump respondent in that subgroup and then stopping. In which case you’re going to see really perverse outcomes with small sample sizes.

  81. 81.

    Jay

    @Bupalos:

    but “small sample size means they all missed badly in the same direction somehow” isn’t computing for me.

    Basing how 34.4 million African Americans will vote based on a sample size of 3.

  82. 82.

    Eolirin

    @Jay: No no, he’s got a point. Given the number of polls, without some additional methodology flaws, you’d expect to see at least a few of them showing like 100% Biden support unless there’s a strong response bias.

    It is legitimately weird that they’re all breaking in a pro-Trump direction.

    Which does kind of make me suspect that the polls are likely to be doing something stupid like throwing out the cross tab if its 100% or keep making calls until it isn’t, which would very badly break expected outcomes with low sample sizes.

  83. 83.

    eclare

    @NotMax:

    I signed up to send 200 postcards to NC.

    Question for everyone:  I’d like to get some stickers to decorate the postcards (I am not drawing on 200 postcards), but all Amazon had were vinyl stickers.  Does anyone know where I can get regular adhesive stickers?  Target?  Michael’s?

  85. 85.

    Jay

    Gee, I wish I had taken in $234+ million dollars in the first 10 days of July.

    But then, I am not President Joe Biden, the best US President of my life, or MVP Kamala Harris.

  86. 86.

    Jay

    @Eolirin:

    no it’s not.

    I get polled all the time, on both the Federal and Provincial elections, (because I answered a couple of polls a few years ago and am somehow now on  a shared list),

    I screw with them all the time.

    I do this because I answered an email poll one time, that was a “stealth poll” from the Con’s, that’s only purpose was to put me on their spam email list.

    It was just an email harvesting op, because I basically said in the poll that Canada’s MiniMe should FOAD, in a couple hundred words.

    Hopefully, the Con’s paid some “Consultant” good money to add my name to their spam and blegging list.

  87. 87.

    NotMax

    @eclare

    Besides those possibilities perhaps Office Max/Office Depot? IIRC they have sheets of star stickers in a variety of colors.

    Hint: At Target, browse through the back to school aisles now on display.

  88. 88.

    Eolirin

    @Jay: That you do that does not address why there’s no example of a 100% Biden result in a set of that many polls. If it’s just that you’ve got low sample sizes, all the way down to 3 people, that should be happening.

    Also what’s you’re describing is a kind of response bias. And would be covered by unless there’s a strong response bias. It’s still weird there’s zero 100% for Bidens, but less so.

  89. 89.

    SFAW

    @satby:

    and other lawyers known to comment would hysterically accuse me of threatening them.

    I believe the appropriate response would/should have been “and your point is … ?” Or maybe “strange that you seem to be worried about this. Is there something you’ve done of which you’re that ashamed?”

  90. 90.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I keep wondering if I am missing something that Clooney, Rob Reiner, Michael Douglas, Stephen King, Colbert etc are seeing. Biden’s performance was bad in the debate but I didn’t feel it was a total OMG disaster. I’ll admit I didn’t watch the Stephanopolous interview and have just seen the snippets but he didn’t look bad. He’s old and he’s got the physical  stuff that goes along with being old. Personally I don’t care if he doesn’t serve the whole 4 years. I frankly couldn’t care less if he hands over the reins to Kamala on Feb 1st 2025. I just don’t want DJT in the office. I worry whether Kamala can win against TFG since Hillary was white and more accomplished than Kamala and still lost against TFG. Kamala is going to have to deal with racism and misogyny.

  92. 92.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @SpaceUnit:

    Don’t waste your time catering to them. It’s not worth it and they’ll just climb out on the ledge again and again, begging to be talked down.

    Let them jump. Shove them if you have to.

  93. 93.

    NotMax

    Unless and until James Clyburn urges Biden to step aside* I’m with Joseph Robinette all the way.

    *See: Snowball. Hell. Chance.

  95. 95.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @eclare: the kids section at the dollar store or a store like Big Lots or 5&under. You could also try going to a used bookstore that has a good kids section.

  96. 96.

    eclare

    @Mai Naem mobile:

    There may be a political angle with George since his international rights attorney wife works for the ICC (or whatever court it is) that wants to indict Bibi.  Word already got out a few weeks ago that George called Joe about it.

    I still find it curious that Julia Roberts was the other big name star at that fundraiser, and as far as I know, she hasn’t said anything.

    And I thought Rob Reiner had walked his comments back.

  98. 98.

    Eolirin

    @eclare: He may be legitimately spooked by the media shit storm too.

    He’s not an actual politician, and fear makes people do dumb things.

  106. 106.

    Eolirin

    @Yutsano: Look, I’m entirely on the other side of him on most of this stuff, but nothing he said in that post was wrong. Nor did it imply anything about what Biden should or shouldn’t be doing.

    It is statistically weird that the assumed polling error is all breaking in one direction.

    The UK vote really wasn’t as good as the outcome was. The French polling was off because it couldn’t account for the center and left coalition being super strategic about pulling candidates so that the far right was always in a two person race, etc.

    In both the UK and French elections, the vote share of far right radical parties went up a lot, their systems just made sure the electoral outcomes were blunted.

  107. 107.

    Jay

    @Eolirin:

    Who answers polls?

    When your sample size is as low as 3 people, when African American’s make up 14.4% of the eligible voters and broke 92% for the Biden/Harris ticket in 2020, less than 8% voted for the 34 Felonies Rapist Pedo guy.

    that tells you that your polling model is either broken, or rigged.

    If 4/5 doctors recommend that you shove a lightbulb up your ass and drink Lysol or bleach to treat your Covid,………….

  109. 109.

    Eolirin

    @eclare: He’s still going to be more concerned with his causes (including preventing a Trump win) than with understanding how campaigns work (throwing Biden under the bus does not help prevent a Trump win).

    Panic is an easy explanation, especially if he saw something personally that feeds into the narrative the media is pushing. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the fundraiser was three weeks ago which would’ve been right in the middle of Biden has a severe cold? It’s not like he gets to see Biden frequently.

  111. 111.

    Jay

    @eclare:

    yeah, he did

    Danny Ocean’s beef with Biden/Harris is the attempts to pressure the ICC with threatened sanctions.

  112. 112.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @SpaceUnit:

    They so intent on kneecapping Biden that they’re not noticing that they are also giving an assist to Putin and his propagandists who want Trump to win.

    They aren’t worth anything but derision at this point.

  113. 113.

    Steve in the ATL

    @eclare: if I had to choose a Kentucky native movie star with political knowledge, I’d go with Ashley Judd

  114. 114.

    Eolirin

    @Jay: So, if you have small sample sizes and there’s not a pretty strong response bias, you’d expect the resultant data to be wildly variable, but in both directions; i.e, you’d get at least one of those polls showing that Biden has the support of 100% of black people.

    Even with a moderate response bias, with sample sizes that small you’d expect to see that happen at least once.

    Unless the pollsters are making sure that doesn’t happen because it’s an implausible result, in which case they’re fundamentally tainting their results.

  121. 121.

    eclare

    @Eolirin:

    I don’t know if Joe had a cold at the fundraiser, but he flew thirteen hours back from the G-7 on the same day.  I’m probably reading too much into this, but jeez, George at least figure out how financing a new campaign would work before you pop off in the FTFNYT about who could replace Joe.

    And then FTFNYT poured salt in the wound by publishing the editorial while NATO is in town…

  124. 124.

    Eolirin

    @eclare: We really do expect super human qualities out of our politicians don’t we? That would fuck up most normal people pretty bad all by itself.

  126. 126.

    Jay

    @Eolirin:

    Yup.

    Ramussen is a good example. Huge bias towards ReThugs, that they narrow down mere weeks before an election to match other polling, so they look less like liars and somewhat more respectable.

    Right now, outside polls are about as reliable as an internet poll or a Dead Bird Site poll.

    Internal polls are much more reliable, as the Campaigns are polling “known” voters, but they hold those close.

    That’s why Biden/Harris is noping out of withdrawing inspite of all the media lies and pressure, the insignificant 9 Tonya Harding Democrats, the 2 so called “Major Donors”,……

    And why Rethugs are mostly running away from 2025, Project 47 and abortion.

  127. 127.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @SpaceUnit:

    Oh I know some of them do. They know exactly what they are doing and they came here to do it. This happens every election here and it almost makes me want to check out until after the election. As it is I am seriously considering changing my voter registration back to independent (no party) after the election.

    It’s not much of a change but I am having real problems fitting in because I don’t freak out and beat up our candidates to improve our chances of losing.

  128. 128.

    opiejeanne

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: I don’t expect it to go away completely, but I hope it cools off soon.

    And I don’t believe we will lose in November. I can’t believe that, I have to cling to that belief.

  129. 129.

    Jay

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    You fit in fine here.

    Discounting the Trolls, there as many Tonya Harding Democrats here, as in the House and Senate, but man, they are Drama Queens

    In the Ukraine thread, emasculated erectile dysfunction Lance is busy shitting on Ukrainian children’s graves.

  130. 130.

    eclare

    @Eolirin:

    Sometimes I think countries like England got it right:  have some royals to host state dinners, support charities, recognize citizens at garden parties and with awards.  All the showy stuff.  Nothing political.

    Then let the government govern.

  135. 135.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    I can’t help but think that if this ratfucking strike had hit in October, we’d be dead, as a functioning democracy. A natural, almost inevitable mis-step by Biden got turned into a firestorm, with gasoline deliberately poured on the flames. A famous actor from the 1990s demanding Biden step aside is front-page news. Articles of impeachment introduced against two sitting members of the Supreme Court*? Not a peep in the mainstream media, so far as I can tell.

    *I wrote and then deleted “Supreme Court Justices” because in my mind there are currently only three people who deserve that title, none of whom are the subjects of those articles of impeachment.

    All we can do is keep putting in the essential hard work, and pray that the next big surprise is bad (nay, catastrophic) news for the Trumpists.

  137. 137.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @opiejeanne:

    If we lose in November it will be because of the kneecapping assholes feeding the media. I’m not predicting squat…

    I’m voting. Until then I bide(n) my time.

  139. 139.

    JWR

    I’d like to know if some of these turncoat Dems are getting their information from incomplete or out of context quotes like this one, which showed up on my Book of Faces page.

    MSNBC
    MOMENTS AGO: Dem Sen. Blumenthal: “I am deeply concerned” about President Biden.

    Wait, whut? That don’t make sense. But if Sen. Blumenthal’s concerned, then maybe I should start peeing my pants, too, because this is serious!!1! And I do my best peeing in my clothes.

    Readers added context
    Senator Blumenthal never expresses concern about President Biden, voices his support. “I am deeply concerned about Joe Biden winning this November because it is an existential threat to the country if Donald Trump wins, … Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee has my support,”

    But yeah, he’s “concerned”. Lying POS press corpse. :/

  140. 140.

    Danielx

    @eclare:

    The UK government has not been doing outstandingly well of late, but fourteen years of Tory rule will do that.

    I am feeling Cole’s downstairs pain.

  141. 141.

    piratedan

    @JWR: NYT pulled the same shit with Pelosi.

    the bad faith and dishonesty is probably going to cause a LOT of folks to turn it all off.  Hope that Biden/Harris have bought a lot of ad time for the Paris Olympics.

  142. 142.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Elizabelle:

    I really hope so. In fact I hope a lot of Biden supporters remember who was there for him when he needed them and who was shitting on him. If our Tonya Harding Democrats could pull their heads out of their asses for a minute they would notice that Trump supporters will crawl over hot coals and broken glass just to get a chance to swim across a moat of acid and take a chance at Russian roulette to vote for their hero. Trump could be caught raping Mexican children and then barbecuing and serving them to his supporters and his voters would line up to vote for him and maybe get seconds.

    Biden stumbles in a worthless debate and the Tonya Harding Democrats are shitting themselves while trying to throw him overboard. No wonder Republicans keep beating Democrats.

  143. 143.

    opiejeanne

    Off topic, but what happened to the father of the Imp? (Can’t remember his nym).  I haven’t seen him in ages, and I wonder how the Imp is doing.

  146. 146.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Jay:

    I think Lance Thruster is a great sci fi porn name. Probably why they chose it. It’s been quite interesting to see the rise in new nyms and return of some old ones immediately after the debate, all expressing concern and just asking questions while freaking out and trying to fit in. It’s too obvious but they think it accomplishes what they want.

    Timing is everything and it looks like they were waiting for the right time to hit us.

  147. 147.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I was getting over a really bad cold around the same time as the debate. I tested negative for COVID. The really bad part lasted around 10 days but it still took another ten days to get over it. The last time I felt this  bad was when I caught the flu about 20 years ago. I saw a couple of blurbs that Biden’s cold around the debate was bad enough that they tested him for COVID. If he had the same cold I had it would have absolutely affected his debate performance.

  150. 150.

    eclare

    @Danielx:

    John Oliver had a really good piece on what fourteen years of Tory rule have done.  Besides gutting NHS and social services, five yo kids are a few centimeters shorter than they used to be.

  152. 152.

    eclare

    @piratedan:

    Martha Stewart was on Colbert tonight, and she said that she and Snoop are going to France to report for a few days.  Fun!

  153. 153.

    Chet Murthy

    @eclare: And as experts in human developmental medicine say, the strongest and clearest indicator of the health of a human society, is the height of its children.  Or as Jefferson said to his delegation in Paris (when they were faced with so much wealth, pomp, and circumstance) (IIRC) “yes, they have all this wealth, but every one of us is a foot taller than any one of them.”

  154. 154.

    Elizabelle

    The GOP convention is next Monday through Thursday, July 15-18.  I have wondered why the Biden story doesn’t sink out of the headlines a bit, and I think it’s because if the hysterics are going to take him down, they have to do it before America gets a gander at the GOP and what they’re offering.

    Also, you can tell Trump has better management this time around.  They have kept him under wraps, to keep the poison spotlight on Biden.  They may have sedated him.  But, he’s not out running his ugly mouth.

    This feels like hysteria and disinformation.  I have never, ever seen anything like this.  It is so ugly.  Ashamed for the media and for the Tonya Harding Democrats.

    Not only do they want to take out Biden, the parties who started this want to break the Democrats.

    And keep in mind all the stuff that is not getting covered due to Biden Shark Week.

  155. 155.

    Chet Murthy

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: Odie, lots of us are where you are.  Or close by.  Don’t despair.  And remember that the most important thing is that we do what is needful now, so that on Nov 6, regardless of the outcome, we don’t have regrets.

    And yes, that we win!  That we win!

  156. 156.

    eclare

    @opiejeanne:

    It’s been a long time since he has been here, but everything was fine.

    I think he bought property and an old house in NYS that was going to take some work?

  157. 157.

    JWR

    Colbert was much better tonight, running a brief segment on Project 2025, and Gretchen Whitmer is his first guest. I heard her defending Biden somewhere else today, and damn, she is good! Here’s hoping all these late night hosts are starting to really get what we’re up against.

  158. 158.

    Chet Murthy

    @Elizabelle:

    This feels like hysteria and disinformation.  I have never, ever seen anything like this.  It is so ugly.

    Every cycle, they take what they learned from the previous one, and amp up The Big Lie just that much more.  I don’t see how our democracy survives this trend.  Even if we win in Novembre, how many more cycles of this gaslighting before it all comes crashing down?

  159. 159.

    eclare

    @Elizabelle:

    That all makes sense, unfortunately.  He got away from his handlers for a rally last night.  He must be craving attention at this point, even more than usual.  I’m hoping he gets away from his handlers again before Monday.

  160. 160.

    eclare

    @JWR:

    She was also on Morning Joe yesterday.  She’s impressive, we have such a deep bench for 2028.

    Maybe the late night hosts are starting to realize that they will also be subject to Executive Orders and a TCFG led FBI?

    A few months ago Kimmel made a really crass and funny joke about TCFG, and then he said (paraphrasing), ok you know if he wins I’m going to have to move to Canada.

  161. 161.

    steve g

    Imagine the collected pundits and NYT reporters and Hollywood Dems and what not got together and said: “We have selected our candidate, we have checked with all the delegates and donors, and everyone is 100% on board with our proposed candidate. We’d like you to step down and let them run instead.”

    And then said either “Our candidate is Kamala Harris” or “Our candidate is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.”

    It should be obvious that Biden might accept the first one but would absolutely reject the second one.

    And that is the reason, or I should say a reason, that Biden cannot step down first, before the replacement is chosen. It’s only conceivable if the candidate chosen is a good one! So besides Biden saying nope, the idea of an open convention or equivalent is dumb and lousy politics.

  163. 163.

    Chet Murthy

    @steve g: I had never thought of it that way.  I mean, my thinking was “an open covention will be a non-stop B-roll reel for the G(r)OPers’ advertisements!”  But your way of thinking is excellent and explains why EVEN IF Joe wanted to withdraw (NoooOOOOoooOoo Joe, don’t do it!) he couldn’t.

    He’s not an idiot, and he -is- a small-d democrat.

  164. 164.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Elizabelle:

    Sorry, I was inspired by a diary at the GOS about his supporters not backing down even if he killed and ate them. It needed a bit more detail…lol

    I get inspiration from the strangest places. ;)

  165. 165.

    Elizabelle

    @steve g:  I don’t think Biden should step down at all.  He’s been an extremely successful POTUS.  That may not be transferable.  My preference is that he stays, and maybe retires in two years, if need be.  We have a phenomenal Madame VP.

    Voters prefer Democrats on major issues.  And Trump and the Supreme Court scare them.  There’s Dobbs, and now immunity.  Also, Democrats truly are better on the economy.  Who wants to take another spin with the GOP?  Which is why we see so much hysteria and disinformation.

    I hope Joe doubles down, actually.  People want a fighter.

  166. 166.

    Elizabelle

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:  Yeah, I can’t stand that shit.  It undermines any point one is making, unless one just wants to be crude and crass.

    But you have had dozens of very good comments over the last few days.

    It’s hard, but stay and fight.  They are trying to discourage and wear us down.

  167. 167.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Jay:

    Some of us cheated like fudge when that happened. The web application was Shockwave and you could reset it by manually deleting the Shockwave cache that was stashed on the drive.

    Reset that and you can vote again. And again… and… I’m sure you get it. Damned jackals! :)

  168. 168.

    Slightly_peeved

    @SpaceUnit:

    538 has it as a coin flip, because polls are both far more predictive, and more likely to move, closer to the election.

    I don’t agree with all G Elliott Morris’s punditry, but his math is better than my math, so I’m happy to go with him there.

  171. 171.

    Slightly_peeved

    @Eolirin:

    apparently I needed cognitive testing back when I did debating at high school because I occasionally got my points confused

  172. 172.

    eclare

    @Elizabelle:

    I get insomnia in bouts, unfortunately I am in one of those bouts.  Good luck with what you decide!

    I will not be watching the press conference, my nerves can’t handle it.

  173. 173.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    The polls are nearly worthless at this point because the pollsters are asking the wrong people the wrong questions. I actually prefer that Democrats are a bit worried because maybe this time they will show up to vote. Why go out of your way to vote if victory is assured? You might not want to vote that day because whatever but why even bother if it’s an easy win?

    Democrats need to quit panicking and stand proudly behind a kind and decent man who wants to do his best for our nation. To do otherwise is to give aid and comfort to our opposition and their dear leader, along with pleasing our Russian enemies. We can do better than this. We should not allow ourselves to be misled by those who seek to do damage to our party and its leader in a moment of your weakness.

  175. 175.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: The polls are nearly worthless at this point because the pollsters are asking the wrong people the wrong questions

    From what Moosbumps posted they aren’t even asking anyone anything, they just make a token effort and then produce what ever result the client who commissioned the poll wants.  Does anyone really think CNN is going to accept a poll they payed for that didn’t support their narrative?

  180. 180.

    eclare

    @JWR:

    Also, these hosts are friends IRL, so if one of them starts to worry about a TCFG led FBI, that is going to spread through the group.

    Kimmel is off for the summer, otherwise I bet Project 2025 would end up in his monologue, too.

    Off to watch Seth, thanks!

  181. 181.

    prostratedragon

    Driftglass gives some vital background to measure how abysmal today’s MSM has become, in the form of video of a CBS(!!) News report on white supremacy in 1964 and the search for the three missing civil rights workers.

    60 years later, as another home-grown fascist movement tries to install another, bloody-minded white supremacist regime in the highest office in the last, gutless media corporations cower and equivocate, insisting that, no no! The *real* story is “Biden is old”.

    Youtube, ~58 minutes: “The Search in Mississippi”

  183. 183.

    Geminid

    @opiejeanne: Immanentize bought an old house in upstate New York and is renovating it. We might not hear from him for a while, maybe years.

    Ed. Actually, renovations can be fun as long as there is not a tight deadline, and Immanentize has plenty else going on anyway. I hope he has a good experience. I run into him on social media now and then so he’s stll kicking.

  184. 184.

    Mousebumples

    @eclare: Office Max or similar?

    I’m thinking of the shiny little star stickers that I’ve used before. They are small enough to not take up space I need for writing but still call attention to a candidate name or date.

  185. 185.

    opiejeanne

    @Geminid: I remember that he bought a farmhouse in NY, but I just recently realized I hadn’t seen him in a very long time. I’m glad he’s still around if not here.

  189. 189.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    We have no control over the outcome or the actions of other people. I’m going to tune out from posts like these. I just don’t want to read any more discussion about it. I will vote for the Democrat no matter what.

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