I know something is gonna happen, but I can’t remember what. Let’s see, I’m going to visit my aunt in another state — no, that’s not it. Vampire Weekend is playing Red Rocks, nah, I didn’t get tickets in time. Hmmm, now I remember: the Republican National Convention.
Jesus, I had to actually google it to see when it started (Monday, July 15). There is not a single story mentioning it on the Post’s front page. The Guardian has one story about Teamsters’ President Sean O’Brien possibly addressing the convention (what’s up with that guy, anyway? He seems to have some real misunderstanding of the Republican Party’s attitude towards unions.) There’s one more story waaay down the page.
Overall, though, the biggest free media opportunity for Republicans is not drowning out even this little turd, which is top right on the Guardian US home page right now:
So, a no-chance nepo baby’s rape allegation is bigger news than the accused pedophile and convicted felon’s convention.
I understand that the Republicans really don’t want us paying attention to their convention — it’s all fan service for fans of the worst things. What the christofascists, glibertarians and rich, entitled fucks who serve as delegates want to hear is which folks need killing. They’re going to play all the hits: Project 2025, life beginning at the first thought of conception, sending goon squads into cities to round up immigrants, and how contraception needs to be outlawed.
What I don’t understand is how the media gaggle is going to justify basically ignoring a staple of American politics. Even in 2020, coverage started more than a couple of days before the event. I mean, it’s clear that they’re totally afraid/unable to write a set of declarative sentences describing the horrors that await if Trump is elected, but does their fear and inability stretch far enough to ignore an entire convention? I guess we’re about to find out.
(One kind of related point about the press conference yesterday: the only reason some of the questions were half decent was because there were foreign press in attendance.)
rikyrah
Don’t make that bet.
they are about to show their entire azzes with how they’ll refuse to cover the convention and attempt to gaslight into thinking all the lunacy that happens there is normal
matt
Media’s busy with their Glenn Close impression (Fatal Attraction, 1987).
moonbat
@rikyrah: While simultaneously telling us how a quickly corrected slip of the tongue is a national security emergency.
ETA Brought up from the dead thread below. I believe it was Another Scott who posted last night after the presser that an $81 donation to Biden/Harris sends a nice message. And I just did.
JCJ
Went to Bastille Days last night in Cathedral Square Park in Milwaukee a few blocks from the upcoming Project 2025 Festival. I will be so glad when they are gone.
Hildebrand
My question is why has Trump mostly disappeared since the debate? There is no way it’s simply ‘don’t interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake’. Trump has no impulse control, especially when it comes to piling on. The man is the living embodiment of adding insult to injury.
bbleh
I would say it’s just another symptom of the by now well-discussed inability of the modern advertising- , entertainment- and career-driven media to deal AT ALL with the current nature of Republicanism, which btw has been long in the building, equally long warned about, and which the media have had no small part in building.
What Michelle Wolf said about Trump is true also of the larger tide of American Christofascism: “he has helped you sell your papers and your books and your TV. You helped create this monster and now you are profiting from him.”
And more than that, insofar as they have become horrified by what has happened, and even insofar as they’re willing to work against their own well-documented interests, they don’t know how to push back on it.
I was struck by comments in the real-time coverage of Biden’s NATO presser, where the WaPo reporters assigned to cover it were openly saying “well, yeah, he’s extremely informed and erudite in answering questions about complex world events, but he slipped for a moment on Zelenski’s name, and how is anyone gonna hear about anything else?
How indeed? Who on earth might possibly have a role in doing that? It is a mystery.
MazeDancer
Predicting the GOP Convention has lowest ratings in History. And media keeps assaulting Mr. Biden.
Called my Rep’s office – Pat Ryan. Not surprisingly, no one’s answering.
Instructed to leave a detailed message, staying just under screaming, I detailed how hurt and betrayed I felt at his not supporting Mr. Biden.
And how he gets no yard sign from me. Ever again. And hoping he gets primaried in 2026.
We need the House. Have to vote for him. And he is in a much too close race to have done something so stupid.
White Boys are idiots. Not all. Not sure what the percentage is. But if you count in the Trumpers, the Pod Bros, the “Alpha Males”, and the greedy, it is high.
Apologies to all outstanding men, of course.
bbleh
@Hildebrand: as to this, I’m increasingly convinced it’s the Felon, much more than Biden, who’s being kept under wraps and wheeled out only for EXTREMELY controlled occasions.
Have you heard / seen any of his recent “speeches”? Or seen how he looks? He’s one step from Weekend At Bernie’s.
UncleEbeneezer
Maybe there’s something to the whole age-is-wisdom thing after all.
I eagerly await the deafening applause by all who have been bashing him on Gaza for 8 months…
PS- this deserves a FP post/celebration, imo.
Chris Johnson
@rikyrah: I agree. It’s going to be interesting, and it’s gonna be an opportunity for discrediting them. Because the performance they put on will be impossible to ignore.
It will matter very much, and be very interesting, to see exactly who plays along with the outrageous and inexplicable performance we’re gonna get.
Also very interesting to root for injuries between fundies, Russians, Trump family, and MAGAs! There is considerable conflict in there that is going curiously unremarked upon, as if not mentioning it will make it go away. And it’s not going away.
UncleEbeneezer
I think most of us who try to buck our collective demographic by supporting Dems, embracing Feminism, trying to be Anti-racist etc., aren’t offended by generalizations. We are well aware of the sad norm for White Men. And we know #NotAll responses are silly.
Old School
@MazeDancer:
Apology accepted.
Chris Johnson
@Hildebrand: I mean, the feeling I’ve got is: Trump is not capable of controlling himself, so he is BEING made to lay low and be quiet. That might not change, even with the convention. I’ve said, it is not impossible that he does not speak at the convention.
Depends on whether his Russian handlers are willing to risk him raving like a madman to a split, bitterly divided convention. He can’t disown Project 2024 to them because they want it desperately. He can’t feign pro-choice rhetoric for uncommitted voters when some of his audience already think he is betraying their most fiercely held beliefs… and that is in fact what he is doing because all he cares about is himself. He absolutely is selling them out, and the question is whether he dares face them.
100% sure there will be intense gun control at the RNC and not impossible it’ll be enforced by plainclothes Russian soldiers brought in to protect Trump. He cannot be sure of Americans at this stage.
bbleh
@UncleEbeneezer: is this recent? Like just now? Have seen more than one in the past that haven’t quite panned out, and not seeing anything on any news sites yet
ETA: ah, here we go https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-810103
Agreed to a “framework.” Excellent!
Trivia Man
I hope it gets major play in Wisconsin at least – that could help swing the needle the right direction. It is bound to be the talk of the town in Milwaukee so maybe it can goose turnout a few points in the demographics that will go 90+ for Joe? Raw vote totals help statewide – Pres and senate both.
Plus we have 99 newly drawn assembly seats this year so an outside chance to break the stranglehold there. I don’t know how many of the 99 have significant changes but I think every one has at least some boundary moves in play.
Scout211
New polling from NPR finds that
Same results as most of the recent polls, no change in preferences from before the debate to after the debate . I guess they didn’t poll the media or all those anonymous sources.
*says the media.
Belafon
@UncleEbeneezer: Exactly.
Frank Wilhoit
Hat off to the Grauniad; the Republican convention is not news. Here is the proof: what is the probability of any actual surprises emerging from it? I can only imagine one, and that is if Trump just happens to be surfing a wave of overconfidence that leads him to name some Q influencer as a running mate.
But we certainly do not need to be looking to the British Press for any insight into our own situation; they may have a little bit of historical context that we lack, but they are missing a great deal of contemporary context, and though they may see us with clear eyes, they (and we) can only see what they (or we) are looking for.
JML
GOP is trying to run the playbook from 2016 that worked on Hillary. Flood the zone with as many “but her emails!” stories as possible, make sure that keeps hanging out there, and using it to drag the Democrats down. They’ve been setting this up for some time on Biden, but it never really stuck before the debate when the lazy and deeply stupid political media decided it was time for their spotlight to see if they could take a political scalp.
There’s really no new information that suggests that anything about Biden has gotten worse. there’s no info that he’s actually cognitively impaired. There’s nothing to show that he’s actually incapable or screwing anything up as President (with all that it entails). He was exactly the same Joe Biden we’ve known for 30+ years in the presser. This is all just the recycle and rehash. And remember, there were the same kinds of weak-willed and stupid democratic electeds that threw Hillary under the bus over that story in 2016. Same trash again in 2024, even if there might be different voices falling for the same con.
tobie
@UncleEbeneezer: If true, this is major. I think one of the reasons Biden is staying in the race is that he realizes that the entire post-WWII, global political order is facing a major test, and the situation is too critical to have a POTUS learning foreign policy on the job. Obama was a great President, a once-in-a-lifetime President, but he didn’t respond firmly to Putin’s aggression against Ukraine in 2014 or Russia’s involvement in Syria and that’s had cosequences. Having just spent 6 months in Germany, I can tell you Germans feels like they’re next if Trump wins and gives Putin the green light to invade Poland.
Bex
@UncleEbeneezer: But it’s just a framework! It’s not good enough! We want rainbows and doves and sunshine…we want PEACE NOW!!! Biden can’t do ANYTHING RIGHT!!!
wjca
Not sure I qualify as “outstanding.” But definitely don’t fit the stereotype. The MAGAts (of whatever gender) are a blight on the nation.
Tony Jay
piratedan
still waiting on the 40 additional Dems to out themselves….
you know, if they had real concerns, they could point to/cite instances where they disagreed with 46 Admin policy, outline what they would do differently. Show examples of his diminished capacity over the last 4 years and primary him. Let the voters decide. Instead they’ve done none of that. and have disenfranchised the voters themselves who voted in these primaries. We have the verbal gaffes that have been part and parcel of the Biden package from the start. One bad opening 20 minutes of debate performance. A MSM that loathes him just as much as he loathes them back.
IF he had a diminished capacity, does anyone think that Harris wouldn’t have quietly spoken to him to step aside? Do they think so little of her character that she wouldn’t do what’s right for the country?
So.. instead of doing what is democratically available to them, they’ve been stampeded into this fiasco and harming the very real advantage of incumbency. The fact that this murmur campaign, initiated by the usual bad faith actors make me suspicious that these folks are neither savvy or pragmatic.
wjca
No doubt there a few experienced ones left. Who would welcome a vacation from Ukraine.
UncleEbeneezer
@bbleh: Will we get hundreds of breathless Joe Ends Genocide comments?
This would seem like a pretty damn important achievement to reward (by reelecting him), no?
Another Scott
@Hildebrand: TCFFG deep-down is afraid of any environment that he doesn’t control. Fritschner has made the point that he hasn’t had a solo press conference with unscripted questions since 2020.
If he were interested in moderating his rhetoric, he would have done so at the debate. I expect him to say very similar things at his convention – he thinks everyone (who matters) loves him, and he thinks that he can cause people who don’t love him to cower. He doesn’t think he should run from Dobbs or Trump Project 2025 or all the rest, he thinks he can lie about it and get everyone to accept the lies.
“You just tell them and they believe. They just do.”
Grr…,
Scott.
wjca
You left out “Here’s why that’s bad news for Biden.” The NYT would never fail to include it.
UncleEbeneezer
@wjca: Nah, they are literally “standing out” side of what is expected/assumed. Which is important because everyone who does helps to collectively create a permission structure to other white boys/men to resist the racist, misogynist expectations of White Male-dom, and try to live another way. They/we aren’t some kind of heroes or saints for doing it, but it does matter.
Another Scott
@UncleEbeneezer: 👍
Cheers,
Scott.
Omnes Omnibus
@JCJ: It always amuses me the Bastille Days is in front of a Catholic cathedral.
Geminid
@Bex: Well, it is just a framework. I am hopeful this ceasefire will come off, but it’s not a done deal. There are still blanks to fill in and while I believe the Israeli government will ratify the final draft, that is not a certainty.
Tony Jay
@wjca:
I’m imagining it resulting from the author slowly realising that the fabulous people he was chatting to at last night’s cocktail party were tagging that line on the end of every witty bon mot not because they were heh-indeeding the quality of his work, but because they’d been reading The Pitchbot and they were mocking him.
Old Dan and Little Ann
My entertainment this week has been pushing back the bs our ex-newswoman turned local legislator keeps churning out on twitter. She’s useless like all other “media.”
Martin
I suspect the problem here is that Biden is the only politician in this race, and he gets graded as a politician. Trump and everyone else are selling cultural issues, and we hold that to different standards.
I think it would benefit Democrats to speak to cultural issues but Biden is pretty bad at that. A lot of voters don’t engage on policy, they engage on culture, and Democrats lose these by a LOT, mainly because they just don’t talk about it.
As we get closer to the election, the focus should shift more to policy. This is what was key in 2008 – everyone was happy talking about broad cultural issues until the economy went to shit and real policy positions were needed, and the GOP didn’t have any. Nobody cares about policy when the economy is good. You have to speak more aspirationaly about where you expect the country to go with that economy.
Having Biden focus on accomplishments isn’t what voters are looking for. Democrats have the right things to say on an American future with clean energy and addressing climate change. That doesn’t need to include a lot of policy prescriptions, just a vision and confidence we can achieve that. What’s the vision for the LGBTQ community? What’s the vision for the immigrant community? The black community? There’s no well articulated vision.
Gretchen
Jen Rubin: “Why isn’t the NYT Ed board appalled Trump won’t sit down with them? Why do they not dissect his mental health as they should have begun months ago? They are confirmation bias in a prom dress.”
bbleh
@UncleEbeneezer: @Geminid: indeed just a framework, but Biden announced it, and ain’t no way he did that without everybody’s agreement. No diplomat, but my understanding is that a “framework” that’s announced at that level is something similar to a term sheet in a contract — lots of language and details yet to be drafted, and no doubt lots of petty squabbling, but major terms agreed. (Which is not to say that it can’t unravel, because Middle East, QED.)
I confess to some degree of surprise that I have not yet seen A SINGLE MENTION of it on NYT, WaPo or CNN, all of which are leading with breathless (and unsourced) stories about Jeffries meeting Biden and Dem donors purportedly holding back. I’d think even with all the Narrative to force, they might wedge in a bit of actual news about, y’know, a significant step toward a fkin Gaza ceasefire.
Soprano2
@bbleh: I think it’s funny how the press isn’t howling that he hasn’t held a press conference since February. Remember how they did that to Hillary? Plus, they don’t cover the stuff he says at his rallies when he does have one.
wjca
Since those are the people whose opinion matters to him, a rethink might start. And even spread.
After all, if a couple of reporters decide it would impress those fabulous people to rip into the Republican Convention, herd behavior might start in a different direction. Wouldn’t it be amusing to watch them compete for who could find the juiciest Trump gaffes and scandals? (No lack of material, at least. Back to the good times of not having to work for a story!)
Living in a dream world, no doubt. But it’s not impossible. Certainly not as impossible as winning after ditching Biden.
Eyeroller
@Martin: LGBTQ community: we don’t want to strip your rights and force you back into the closet or worse. Immigrant community: we won’t round you up and put you into camps. (And we allowed undocumented spouses here for 10 years to get permanent residency.) [I assume you’re talking about legal immigrants here since Biden can’t do anything about other immigration laws without Congress.] Black community: best employment rate ever. Comparable to white employment rate.
So basically the “vision” is, we will let you live your life as you see fit and we will support fair treatment for you. How’s that?
bbleh
@Soprano2: they don’t cover the stuff he says at his rallies when he does have one.
goes a bit to my comment #6 above (hello take my own advice and stop doing this) that even if they tried to, they wouldn’t know how. Have you seen video of those, ah, appearances? The soap-opera music, the disjointed, fantasy-world, stream-of-consciousness verbiage. The weird pauses. It’s like, they don’t need reporters; they need theater critics, except even they wouldn’t have much to say except “I had a sudden urge to run away as fast as I could and take a hot shower and go to bed.”
Captain C
@MazeDancer:
“Not all white men” may be technically true, but is functionally irrelevant as the problem is “too many do act this way.” — Captain C, a white* man
*depending on whether my Ashkenazi Jewish half is white today, and for which interlocutor
$8 blue check mistermix
@Martin: Part of the reason I looked for convention news, and posted this, is that the RNC gives Dems a great opportunity to push back on all that culture war stuff that will inevitably be part of the convention speeches.
I have an Instagram feed that has nothing to do with politics (all adventure travel and so forth). I follow one drag queen, Pattiegonia, who’s all about the outdoors. She posted a list of Project 2025 horribles. Even if Biden isn’t good at talking about it, I think Project 2025 is getting out there on social media.
Edited to add: this just popped up in my feed Young content creators drive messaging on Project 2025: It just needed to be out there.
tam1MI
My prediction for the Republican convention?
You won’t see hide nor hair of the crowd for which Gaza was the Most Important Thing Ever there. You won’t see them in the streets holding signs for their cause and condemning Trump’s “just finish the job” stance. It will be like they never existed.
I used to think that they would spring back to life and be burning effigies of Biden in the streets and howling for Biden’s head in the convention hall, but now I figure it’s a 50/50 shot that will happen. The Teach-Democrats-A-Lesson crowd may just sit back and let the Leroy Jenkins Caucus do their dirty work for them.
(I still give full props to Dems like Bernie Sanders and AOC for their stalwart defense of Joe Biden and democracy. Some of their followers however I don’t trust as far as I can throw).
thruppence
I work in retail, and in the past few weeks I’ve seen a couple people who seem affable and reasonable wearing KENNEDY 24 hats. Dumbfounding. Also very few Trump MAGA hats, and they had a big presence four years ago. Occasional Biden T shirt, but not many. Merch sightings are not scientific polls, but it does seem that a lot is not being said.
citizen dave
We are not losers. Simple question for the lazy media to ask any and all Republicans at the convention and anywhere, anytime: Your Presidential candidate has not won the popular vote in 20 years? Do you think that will change this year? Why?
I would just like to hear their answers (and yes I know/expect the EC and all of that–that’s another post). Just in terms of simple majority of votes, the Rs have been losing since 2004. Period.
Captain C
@Tony Jay: See now I hear that sort of thing (which we’ve hit a poe’s law level for) as “we’re totally the kewl kids and did not get hung from our lockers with atomic wedgies all through school” from the ‘elite’ political press.
Geminid
@bbleh: Like I said, I am hopeful. But I’m not celebrating until the Israeli government ratifies an agreement and the fighting stops.
I agree that Biden wouldn’t announce this unless someone in the know, which would be William Burns, told him the deal was within reach. Biden was burned once before, in early March when he predicted a ceasefire agreement would be reached soon and it never came off. I think the Qataris may have oversold their ability to deliver Hamas’s approval that time.
rikyrah
Marvin Sapp InTheSkreets/Marvin Gaye InTheSheets (@groove_sdc) posted at 10:29 AM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
This “love and respect for Biden as I stab him the back” shit is sounding a lot like “thoughts and prayers” after shootings.
(https://x.com/groove_sdc/status/1811784949667672507?t=kiUZ8bQyPlcRkQ1ItHHS9g&s=03)
Captain C
@piratedan:
Yes, I believe some of them do think that. It’s what they would do.
artem1s
The 2020 GOP convention featured a gaggle of Serena Joys discussing and promoting the “One Household Vote” policy (guess which member of the household gets to vote and which doesn’t).
IIRC after that event, there were a number of GOP women leaders (haha womenz leaderz! go make me a sammich!) who objected to the idea that women were nothing but chattel property who couldn’t be trusted to make up their pretty widdle minds about big boy subjects like which federal agency should we cut next and which which set of lie-iberal scum should be criminalized, jailed and executed first. Of course none of those GOP women saw Dodd coming or at least they thought the ramifications of defining half the world population as having no bodily autonomy and having no purpose except as brood mares wouldn’t actually apply to them.
I’ve been wondering if Project 2025 have anything to say about one vote per household? Or is the GOP trying to hide that vile policy under the same rug as their hard ons to reinstate the Comstock laws?
Anyway
I know there’s the old saw about “I belong to no organized party I am a Democrat” but it’s too bad that there’s no mechanism/party official to talk to the Dem reps who want Biden to drop out — that seems to be a big driver keeping the story going and hurting Biden-Harris. The stakes are so high and there’s little to no firefighting.
citizen dave
This is brutal. A 2.5 hour wait to get to the Orange Man’s hour of bullshit. Saturday, Butler, PA (north of Pittsburgh (source, butlerradio.com)
More details are emerging ahead of former President Donald Trump’s visit to Butler this Saturday.
According to his campaign, parking will be available at the Farm Show Grounds starting at 8 a.m.
Those going to the event will be parking through the Buttercup Road entrance—the Evans City Road entrance will not be open.
The rally will then take place in the field where most of the rides are set up for Farm Show.
Gates will open at 1 p.m. The campaign says no bags or purses are allowed in the event and Secret Service will be screening guests as they arrive.
They also say to arrive no later than 2:30 p.m. The event starts at 3 p.m. with President Trump scheduled to speak at 5 p.m.
Tony Jay
@wjca:
I think it absolutely is. Wasn’t there a story out there earlier this year revealing that each reporter has to have regular meetings with editorial staff telling them what storylines and narratives they’re going to be fitting their stories to for the next six months?
Any of them who so much as suggested polluting the Pinchebook’s sacred pages with anti-fascist wokery would find their membership of Le Club Gris revoked faster than a speeding meme.
Hildebrand
@Martin: One of Biden’s favorite phrases, ‘don’t compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative’ needs to be drummed into the heads of every member of the media.
clay
@piratedan:
I feel the same way about Dr. Jill. She seems him every day. I don’t believe that she would let him deteriorate on the national and international stage. If she felt there were a problem, she’d convince him to resign.
Eyeroller
@Anyway: Some of us who really, really hate conspiratorial thinking are starting to believe they’re being paid. So their internal polls are allegedly bad. OK then. We don’t really know why, whether that changed, whether it’s changing, etc. Maybe discouraging the base by attacking our presidential candidate played/is playing a role? Nah, couldn’t have. Must be because Biden is so bad. OTOH there are donors contributing to Reps who ask Biden to step aside.
There seem to be two groups of donors. The ones I mention above who are giving money, as a carrot, to get rid of Biden. At least one of those donors has been outed as a Republican. The other group may be largely entertainment industry figures and other “liberal” wealthy people, who have frozen $90M in donations until Biden is gone, and most of the latter want Harris out as well (I don’t know about the first group). That’s the stick. The “entertainment” donors want some kind of reality show/competition among “popular governors” (who say they won’t do it) to choose a new ticket. No idea what the first group wants other than Biden gone.
Martin
@Eyeroller: yeah, basically. Maybe a bit more focus on a commitment toward legal protections for trans kids and their care (just say that out loud), an expression that black families should enjoy the same opportunities for wealth creation. You don’t need to spell out specific policies – you can speak to the goal.
I mean, this is an old problem. Democrats were fucking allergic to talking about abortion until Dobbs – either in terms of policy or culturally (defending why women shouldn’t be shamed for getting one). These things need to be spoken to, and a lot of Democrats are really bad at it. It’s not Biden’s strong suit except maybe for labor. Harris is better at it. I think most Democratic women are better at it. It’s what a lot of people like about Bernie.
Tony Jay
@Captain C:
It’s impossible to put any words in their mouths so obviously beyond the pale that someone won’t think it perfectly in character, so I don’t even try to rein it in anymore.
FFS – we’re in week infinity + 10 of the entire ‘professional’ media caste screaming that Biden simply must be replaced by candidate Shucks V. Whitebread Esq. for crimes against optics while writing not a single word about Trump gang-raping children with his pal Epstein. There is no floor to the barrel. Anything is fair game.
Cacti
He deserves congratulations for something he actively helped to prolong for months? 🤔
CaseyL
@Eyeroller:
Do we have any names of those donors? This story originated at NYT (surprise!) but I didn’t see any names named.
Eyeroller
@Martin: A notorious blind spot of Bernie was failure to connect or really make much effort to connect with communities of color. LGBTQ probably he did OK with.
BR
Just called my elected officials again and told them to support Biden. I’m going to keep doing it.
artem1s
∙
The Halfway Cafe
BREAKING: A bar in Milwaukee has put up a huge piñata of Donald Trump ahead of the GOP Convention, and drinkers get one hit with a wiffle ball bat every time they order a “Pabst Your Jail Time” drink special, consisting of a PBR beer and shot of an orange flavored Russian vodka.
I don’t know if this true. Can’t find the name of the bar on the google machine. But it’s a great idea none the less.
Eyeroller
@CaseyL: I have not seen names, we can guess one “Cleorge Gooney” may be one of them.
There were a few names associated with the group contributing to the House PAC, I was unfamiliar with all of them.
Prescott Cactus
36 years with an active union card in my pocket. Had to walk more than a few picket lines. The only organization that ever crossed was Teamsters.
Solidarity for me, but not for thee.
eversor
@artem1s:
Kinda. Project 2025 is just an action plan for National Conservatism which is the exact same people plusd Rod Dreher, Ross Douthat, Sorhab Ahmari and the rest of the Bible Bangers have been pushing for years.
The plans is that only married citizens with their own natural born children get to vote, rights, or government benefits. Everyone else gets nothing but gets taxed to pay for those families. And yes it’s by household but they also want votes by size of household and also benefits go up for more children and wife at home.
They’ve had different versions of this same thing floating around for years and are making international plans for it. It’s a pan “Western Christendom” once they get their Franco. With the only hitch being Catholics wanting to include Latin America in it to get the numbers up to lock it in and Protestants wanting nothing to do with that.
I have no doubt they can get it and can implement it as we still aren’t willing to accept the Cross in the room (and #NotAllChristians is as nonsense as #NotAllWhiteMen here). After which it will promptly turn to shit as their are different visions of who’s branch of Christianity is going to call the shots.
Anyway
@Hildebrand:
And the Ds rushing to the nearest microphone …
BR
I just had a realization. I don’t know if you all have been digging into Anne Laurie’s COVID articles, but there’s a really clear message: a severe COVID infection and/or Long COVID is like aging 15-20 years. Doesn’t change who you are, but everything just ages in your body.
There are a lot of Americans who have personal experience with this now in a way they didn’t 5 years ago: they get sick a little more often, are more tired, have weird aches and pains, have trouble finding the right word, have trouble focusing, forget what they were doing, etc. It’s all a product of a really bad virus.
Biden’s aging is just like that. It doesn’t appear to me that he’s developed any serious neurological condition, and I’m not going to play CNN doctor and try to diagnose him one way or another. What does seem clear is that he’s experienced something like we all have, but mostly from age not COVID — he’s who he always was, but just a little aged — he mixes up words a bit more, is less energetic, etc. Like take Biden of 5 years ago and turn the energy knob down 25%. Still Biden.
David T Rickard
What’s the over/under on Nazis or Klanners in full regalia appearing on the convention floor?
Starfish
@Geminid: Thank you for being measured and informed in response to people spouting nonsense about middle eastern politics.
jimmiraybob
“(what’s up with that guy, anyway? He seems to have some real misunderstanding of the Republican Party’s attitude towards unions.)”
Not necessarily. I would be more than glad to address the convention. I would definitely be escorted out back afterward. No idea if the body would ever be found.
Eyeroller
@BR: BIden has mixed up words and made gaffes his whole political career. He was famous/notorious for that. It’s mostly due to his speech disorder. I’d certainly be willing to believe that may start to become harder to manage as you age. Edit: also going from 75 to 80 is worse than going from 70 to 75 in terms of overall energy, ability to walk fast, etc.
chemiclord
Normally, a candidate who hadn’t chosen a VP by this point would be considered rather curious and worth questioning by the 24-hour news industry.
Layer8Problem
@Eyeroller: I’m of the opinion that a topic like “dump Biden or you lose me” isn’t nearly as important as “what can you do about housing costs?” or “how do I stay able to get a D&C if my doctor says I need one?” Maybe I just don’t know the fine points about internal polls.
tam1MI
I am going to be the big Debbie Downer here and suggest that people dial back their expectations of what a shit show the RNC may be. One thing the Republicans have always been good at is putting on good, TV friendly conventions. I suspect it will be the same here, you won’t hear a word about abortion or anything that does not come off as reasonable and responsible no matter how blatant a lie this is. And the media will play right along, anybody who goes off script and tells the truth about what the Republicans really are and want will either be ignored by the MSM or the words massaged into something more palatable through careful editing. It will be up to us to break through the propaganda.
BR
@tam1MI:
Oh yeah, there’s going to be a credulous NYT report saying “Wow the Republicans are the party of moderates now while the Democrats have become too left wing and out of touch.”
Eyeroller
@tam1MI: That’s why I was warning that Trump may get a bounce, which will cause yet another freakout among weak Dems. It’s normal and expected and nearly always transient.
OTOH I heard MTG is speaking and I don’t think she knows the meaning of the word “reasonable.”
Captain C
@Tony Jay:
This should be thrown in their faces at every opportunity.
Steve in the ATL
@JCJ:@Omnes Omnibus: I planned my bastille day menu based on this movie scene
NB: the fat guy who later terrorized girls for years at Nickelodeon went to my high school. Thankfully we didn’t overlap as he was a few years older.
jimmiraybob
@tam1MI:
It will surely be all about hiding the plans: Project 1776 (patriotic history white washing), Project 2025, Schedule F (a 2020 Trump executive order with heavy shades of 2025), shooting peaceful protesters in the legs, ……. or something.
E
I’m trying to be gentler on news media. They’re sundowing.
matt
Really looking forward to having the chance to vote for whatever a bunch of donors, elected officials and media shit out for a Democratic candidate this November.
jimmiraybob
@Eyeroller:
“OTOH I heard MTG is speaking and I don’t think she knows the meaning of the word ‘reasonable.'”
Reasonable or treasonable?
Eyeroller
@matt: Since they seem to want a governor, who is the D equivalent of Doug Bergum? I can’t think of anybody. There has been a mention of Wes Moore but I think they’re really prefer somebody white.
Old School
@artem1s:
It’s not true.
matt
Eyeroller
@matt: Recent from DougJ (the NYT Pitchbot): Wealthy donors run our universities. So why shouldn’t we let them choose our Presidential candidates?
BR
@Eyeroller:
I think as a thumb in the eye of the media and donors, if they do manage to force Biden out it should be Harris/Whitmer. We’ll get to hear 3 months of “two women can’t win”.
matt
@Eyeroller: A lot of them want Newsom, who is a guaranteed -5 point delta from Biden. I am really anticipating a massive loss after a replacement, then the assholes will turn around and blame Biden for their bad deeds.
rikyrah
The New York Times is the #VichyPress (@Needle_of_Arya) posted at 9:32 AM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
I’m usually loath to ever give political advice to the president, but Biden needs to have a “Morning in America” ad to show Americans his vision for the rest of the 2020s.
(https://x.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/1811770498956616152?t=wTfFVpSXQ8xR1mdZPSZS4w&s=03)
Eyeroller
@matt: He has also firmly rejected participating.
I suppose a lot of them live or spend significant time in California.
matt
@Eyeroller: California, New York, places where you have hothouse type environments that allow versions of politics that are incompatible with US national elections to grow.
rikyrah
This has always been the tell for me.
Armando (@ArmandoNDK) posted at 1:32 PM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
These 19 Congresspersons who came out for Biden to drop out seems completely performative to me for their own districts did the most part.
The failure to endorse the Vice President just makes it seem unserious at least to me.
(https://x.com/ArmandoNDK/status/1811831128271290502?t=OZ2YuC5FVl-mWrdwxm-zJQ&s=03)
Steve in the ATL
@Prescott Cactus: teamsters is a curious outfit these days. Seem to be acting more corporate than union. They kicked every local that wasn’t automotive, trucking, or UPS—poor ROI on their time, effort, and money, apparently.
matt
The part where James Carville, Mark Warner, Chris Hayes, Nate Silver, Ezra Klein and George Clooney all agree on a replacement is gonna be lit.
Steve in the ATL
@Tony Jay: bien joué! I know you speak French since you dropped “bon mot” in another post. And, of course, the Norman Invasion.
Anyway
@rikyrah:
We kept reading that House Democrats were so organized and leadership could count votes and rely on their caucus even with a tiny majority but when push comes to shove — it’s found lacking. Without the oxygen provided by elected Ds the media would have been left spinning their wheels but I’m scared now. Totally committed to Biden/Harris but the ticket has been wounded.
zhena gogolia
Just cancelled the Washington Post. Sorry to lose Petri and Jennifer Rubin.
I was down to only doing puzzles and the news quiz. Today’s first question on the news quiz was a quotation from George Clooney, that astute neurologist and political scientist.
zhena gogolia
@Eyeroller: Brilliant!
Ridnik Chrome
Every historical precedent suggests that Biden dropping out would throw the election to Trump. Consider: only twice in the past hundred years has a presidential candidate been elected to succeed an incumbent of the same party, when Hoover succeeded Coolidge in 1928, and when Poppy Bush succeeded Reagan in 1988. The last time a Democrat did it was before the Civil War. When Truman dropped out of the race in 1952 and LBJ dropped out in 1968, their replacements lost in November. So it seems to me that whatever his flaws (and I agree with most people here, he’s been a damned good president) Biden is really our best hope of beating Trump, no matter what the FTFNYT and a bunch of Blue Dog representatives may say. Enough with this stupid circular firing squad.
Old BJ commenter (Cole will remember me) delurking with his two cents.
tam1MI
@zhena gogolia: I hope you told them exactly why you were cancelling.
Geminid
I hear Robert Menendez’s bribery case has gone to the jury. I thought he would take a plea deal, and I hope he ends up wishing he had.
zhena gogolia
@tam1MI: Oh, yes. It sounded as if he’d heard it all before.
rikyrah
@artem1s:
they put FETAL PERSONHOOD in the GOP Platform.
So….there’s that.
rikyrah
scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) posted at 9:29 AM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
Trump only talks to Fox, Newsmax, etc, never does press conferences, and sends out unhinged rants on his knock off version of Twitter that the press ignores while Biden is held to an entirely different standard, I don’t make the rules, folks.
(https://x.com/scarylawyerguy/status/1811769777334952098?t=dGhYPiPFdjJTyMSS8x4GIQ&s=03)
rikyrah
Craig Simon (@gitis) posted at 3:45 PM on Thu, Jul 11, 2024:
Democrats could wise up and make the best of this opportunity. Biden has to be in on it to turn things around. Then they could turn their mini primary into a massive money bomb. And save the country from authoritarian capture. Sounds good? #goldwatchclub https://t.co/Y4OmMjYGg8 https://t.co/dEWZHhcNyc
(https://x.com/gitis/status/1811502134908846414?t=RL9hqFHid6CHwll0jH2XjQ&s=03)
Jay
https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/chill-the-fuck-out-joe-bidens-got
rikyrah
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Acyn (@Acyn) posted at 1:13 PM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
GA Voter: I am voting for democracy and a convicted is not it https://t.co/GK1NNDvfzN
(https://x.com/Acyn/status/1811826254477479996?t=Fd1l87H9Jdw8oLfPzx5sTw&s=03)
rikyrah
Uppity Black Faerie Gothmother of Metal![]()
(@FountainPenDiva) posted at 0:07 PM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
#mouthypolitics101
Every single one of these dudebros has enough money to leave the country should shit go sideways.
Do you believe any of them will stay and fight for us?
Yet look how much clout they’re given just for being feckless white men.
(https://x.com/FountainPenDiva/status/1811809644761014390?t=sIqwGRqvm6j0t5jF3CJ_2w&s=03)
rikyrah
RealityCurator (@dearwhitelady) posted at 0:42 PM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
All the white men will never ever let Harris on top of the ticket.
They don’t even know to hide it. And they don’t even know why.
It’ll be ascribed to their gut.
(https://x.com/dearwhitelady/status/1811818460348899827?t=WHOJAC5oKcrLPzvC2AMsZQ&s=03)
Kayla Rudbek
Anyone have a reference for why The Dispatch is not a reliable source for fact checking? Thank you very much.
rikyrah
Boom
Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) posted at 0:14 PM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
Fed Chair Jerome Powell: “The story for the last two years has been just how exceptional the performance of the U.S. economy has been…The US economy has performed very well.”
Senator Tester: Is there any advanced economy performing better?
Powell: No. https://t.co/tF9MeiKedI
(https://x.com/keithboykin/status/1811811393588592858?t=OC-QdevPuEG1pcIrV0BERg&s=03)
rikyrah
Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) posted at 0:13 PM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
Remarkable finding in new Marist poll: By 68-32, voters say they’re more concerned about a president who doesn’t tell the truth than one who is too old to serve.
Maybe we should cover Trump’s lying as a sign of his unfitness for the presidency. 1/
(link)
https://t.co/mLlMWX2WFq
(https://x.com/GregTSargent/status/1811811186561732643?t=LJW2o2Kqr8pgs4J7HFrRCg&s=03)
artem1s
@tam1MI:
It’s true that the GOP has a history of putting on a good show, but the convention has been a hot mess and growing worse for a while now. Remember the Clint Eastwood v chair debate?
One of the back room functions of these conventions is for the party leaders to put together their platform for the next 4 years. they couldn’t even manage that back in 2016. They essentially took the 2012 platform and copied it verbatim except for the sections (most of it) that were a repeat of the 2008 McConnell plan to make Obama a one term President. They didn’t even make a show of putting together one in 2020 they just declared they didn’t need one or that whatever TCFG wanted was their platform – I honestly can’t remember now.
The controlled dog and pony shows that takes place in front of the cameras isn’t going to be too bad, except for the shit they can’t control anymore. Just pull up any CPAC convention coverage and you’ll get an idea of what I’m talking about. The saner parts of the party have no idea how bad that shit looks like to normal people. They don’t realize how unhinged the fundies look when they get into a feeding frenzy and the KKK/fascists let their freak flags fly.
rikyrah
scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) posted at 9:56 AM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
The mistake was assuming the media, having seen the near coup Trump pulled off on J6, would turn against him instead of realizing that they are far more invested in his return to prop up their business model regardless of the consequences for the country.
(https://x.com/scarylawyerguy/status/1811776758573633645?t=MwOVYdl2Zw72YGlkZQyebA&s=03)
eclare
@citizen dave:
The forecast high for Pittsburgh tomorrow is 92. Not awful, but still not good for standing outside under the sun for 2 1/2 hours.
I assume plenty of TCFG water will be for sale at incredibly marked up prices. And I assume no EMT’s will be on hand if someone wilts from the heat.
Eyeroller
@rikyrah: Clooney already spends most of his time in his 25-room villa on Lake Como in Italy, or in the UK.
Tony Jay
@Steve in the ATL:
Oooohhhh, non non non! There’s a huuuuuge difference between knowing some French words and phrases (waves) and speaking French (points over at Lady Jay) and having lived there for a year back in the 20th century (now that’s old) I’m very aware of it.
Thing is, the French don’t Duolingo it, they insist on speaking it like natives, and my brain just can’t keep up.
Also, fucking Normans. Coming over here, boeufing our cows and porcing our pigs. Frigging liberté!
rikyrah
scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) posted at 11:32 AM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
Democrats beclowned themselves the last two weeks. Obviously, the media did too, but we knew who they were and their hatred for Biden was well known, but bedwetting over a so-so debate to the point you ask Biden to drop out based on polling (which, see below) was REALLY stupid
(https://x.com/scarylawyerguy/status/1811800847946236255?t=SufeGqYBpqEd-gNeaK_h4A&s=03)
Old School
@Kayla Rudbek:
Per Wikipedia:
zeecube
@chemiclord: Not necessarily. In 1988, Bush Sr did not announce his VP until the Republican convention held in New Orleans. IIRC, Bush made a big splash arriving on the first day by steamboat, gave a little speech at the Mississippi Riverfront about points of lights or something like that, and then announces that his VP will be: Dan Quale! Everyone in the crowd looked at each other with a puzzled look, mouthing “Dan Who?” (Epilogue: Bush still won with a Mr. Potatoe Head as VP.)
rikyrah
JJ in NH (@JustJoshinNH) posted at 8:05 AM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
Don’t underestimate another element to all this, namely, that the president is considered a race traitor by many of the pundit class.
The New York Times is the #VichyPress (@Needle_of_Arya) posted at 9:10 AM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
Oh, definitely.
The term “race traitor” arises from the earliest origins of white culture & underlies the politics of those who believe themselves to be liberal: Biden was never supposed to make moves that challenge the centuries’ old power dynamic between colonizer & colonized.
(https://x.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/1811765004795801869?t=0ZUaFYgX0r6rcB0E-Z89IQ&s=03)
Geminid
@Ridnik Chrome: So far as I know, no member of the 10-member Blue Dog Caucus has called for Biden to step aside. Two of them– Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez– predicted he would lose, but they don’t seem to be counted in the tally of Reps. (and 1 Senator) who have called for replacing Joe Biden.
This reminds me of the organised opposition to Nancy Pelosi as Speaker we saw after the 2018 midterms. People often characterize it as coming from Blue Dogs but In fact, not one of the 25 Blue Dogs elected that year participated in Moulton’s and Ryan’s scheme.
CaseyL
@rikyrah:
Yes.
Clooney will flit to his Lake Como hideaway in Italy.
I have to put him in the category of “People who are terrific actors but horrible human beings who I will not watch anymore” along with Susan Sarandon and Kevin Spacey.
Eyeroller
@Tony Jay: Sacre bleu!
zhena gogolia
@rikyrah: I don’t understand that one.
The Thin Black Duke
Remember, the GOP was perfectly fine with Sarah Palin being a heartbeat away from the presidency. All they want is the power that comes with sitting in the Oval Office but not the responsibility, and if the country goes to shit, oh well. Safety is just a jet plane away.
rikyrah
No lie told.
Cooper (@justcuuper) posted at 7:23 AM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
President Biden has been in politics for 50 years.
There will come a time when his service to this country will end – specifically in about 4 and a half years.
He will go down as the man that single handedly blocked the strongest push to fascism America has ever encountered.
(https://x.com/justcuuper/status/1811738213871931741?t=G-q2WgP5hii1Led0dmrWaQ&s=03)
zhena gogolia
@CaseyL: Yeah. My gut feeling is I’d watch Spacey before I’d watch Clooney!
Mousebumples
@artem1s: I’ve heard it’s untrue. But sounds amazing.
I have friends and friends of friends in MKE on the lookout for the Dark Brandon busses…
rikyrah
he Chanteezy Is Real![]()
(@iamchanteezy) posted at 9:00 AM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
I’ll put this on repeat: The fact that a particular group of “Democrats” (White Dems) are willing call for the President to step down shows they don’t care if bigots & White Supremacists taking over the country. The first target is Black people and other marginalized groups.
(https://x.com/iamchanteezy/status/1811762491879293173?t=7jB6aaDoRu6killjVnhzNA&s=03)
LanceThruster
How many declarative sentences describing the horrors of our support of war crimes and ongoing genocide using banned weapons (cluster bombs, white phosphorus, etc.,) have BJ front pagers written?
How much easier would your job be demonizing Putin if he provided the same optics seen in a 360⁰ panorama in Gaza. Could you make use of doctors and nurses bound and executed? How about hospital staff buried alive after bulldozers plowing rubble over them also drove right o er them? Good stuff, right? What about instead of the fake stories of Kuwaiti babies dumped ouf incubaters to die on the cold floor… real stories of IDF taking over hospital and running off all medical staff, and stood around while Palestinian babies within the incubators were ignored and starved to death (probably not as horrific as it sounds as they were most likely too weak to cry after a day or two. Don’t forget an incubator baby is particularly vulnerable to begin with, so there’s that). When the occupiers vacated and staff returned, they found putrified bd decomposing baby corpses. It was probably a toss up as to which assaulted the senses more. If that happened in Ukraine territory, there’d be press coverage. In addition to foreign press being banned from entering, domestic press is targeted and slaughtered along with their families, in numbers completely unprecedented in any modern conflict.
I imagine you could slap together a few declarative sentences out of that, no? Regardless, it would be a good opportunity to explain the differences between worthy and unworthy victims. Be sure the photographic images are properly tagged because oddly enough, without that additional information, it’s quite easy the mistake one for the other. Truth be told, sometimes it’s hard to identify a mangled and festering mass of tissue and splintered bone as much of anything.
Another Scott
Per Jackie’s request – repost:
Meanwhile, … VOANews.com:
Good, good. Biden’s administration is still doing the work, and doing it well. Competence matters – a lot – and cracking down on giant tax cheats is a huge win for sensible public policy and voters like it!
Reminder that no GQPer voted for the IRA.
Eyes on the prizes.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ridnik Chrome
@Geminid: My apologies to the Blue Dogs, then.
To reiterate my earlier point: there’s a chance that if Biden stays in, Trump wins. But if Biden drops out, it becomes a certainty. I suspect that a lot of people calling for Biden to step down are well aware of the historical precedents. They are no friends of the Democratic Party, or the country.
Lobo
Those politicians asking Biden to drop out should show us the depth of their conviction by resigning(of course when safe to do so.) I would respect that more than the gnome underpants messaging.
rikyrah
The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) posted at 6:10 AM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) on Thursday accused “the angry feminist movement” of emasculating men and said the U.S. should “work our way back” to 1960 if former President Donald Trump wins in November. https://t.co/PGuZF9HZnl
(https://x.com/thedailybeast/status/1811719749706920266?t=1T7UTbG4e4Hm03ts_2kEnA&s=03)
Old School
@zhena gogolia:
Craig Simon wants Biden to retire.
Maybe rikyrah was trying to post a response?
tam1MI
@zhena gogolia: Yeah, I don’t know what the “mini-primary” is. Although I would be down for turning the Republican convention into a money bomb for Biden.
rikyrah
Cornell Belcher (@cornellbelcher) posted at 8:49 AM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
He can’t win right!? They point to the polling right? Well this is the 2nd poll (credible poll) in 2 days showing the Pres race in statistical deadlock two weeks after debate! Using polls to push Biden out feels like red wave 2020 bs all over again: Survey https://t.co/ueQF6l03i2
(https://x.com/cornellbelcher/status/1811759668286337055?t=dGsVgAvFgnaEBppBpVA62g&s=03)
Jay
https://nitter.poast.org/GlasnostGone/status/1811823260352331780#m
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@zhena gogolia: Hey, me too!
AWOL
@zhena gogolia:
You can just steal the vomit from them without giving the fuckers a nickel:
Webpage archive
Dorothy A. Winsor
I see People Magazine has a piece about Project 2025. That’s widely circulated to normies. Should be useful
Eyeroller
@rikyrah: That asshole David Axelrod tweeted something yesterday about how Biden’s staff needed to sit him down and explain to him that his chances of winning were very, very slim. Right about when 538’s latest forecast came out with Biden 51% chance and barely taking the electoral college. That’s pretty much even odds and I wish it were better, but it’s far from a “very slim chance.”
M31
I was thinking about a challenge like “1$ to Biden for every easily-disprovable lie told at the RNC” but I don’t have that kind of money
eclare
@CaseyL:
Yep. And I used to enjoy George’s and Susan’s movies.
Mousebumples
@rikyrah: ugh, Rep Grothman should find a Flux capacitor then.
AWOL
@rikyrah: How’d did that repressed freak escape from his closet and find a communication device?
Lapassionara
@Another Scott: So, I wonder which of the tax cheats made to pay back taxes is in on the “dump Biden” band wagon. Would certainly explain the motivation.
rikyrah
@zhena gogolia:
there’s a story in the NYT…yeah, I know.
That donors are withholding their funds…
and, the tweet was in response to that.
Mousebumples
@M31: $0.01, maybe?
Or 1 door knocked, phone called, or postcard written?
schrodingers_cat
@CaseyL: He is not that great of an actor even. He is charming and used to be good looking when he was younger.
He was terrible in Syriana, and was the not very convincing as an ER doctor in ER either.
UncleEbeneezer
@artem1s: They won’t be able to hide or downplay the crazies. They run the party now and will want to put on a demented show, as will their convicted-felon leader. Trump will insist that any scripted speech include all kinds of lies and Nazi-talk.
rikyrah
Kenny is back:
2RawTooReal (@2RawTooReal) posted at 9:09 AM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
President Biden’s age has never paid my bills so let’s get back to substance #BidenHarris2024 https://t.co/rIaSoabV7L
(https://x.com/2RawTooReal/status/1811764742739931274?t=Y95VRKYmlFpaKxrp1YvXpg&s=03)
me
@Eyeroller:
But the internal polls are dire! Trust me!
eclare
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
GREAT!!!
We have to reach normies where they are.
rikyrah
2RawTooReal (@2RawTooReal) posted at 7:19 AM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
I believe the reason why white progressives hate President Biden is because he didn’t Center his administration around the white male “working class” instead Biden decided to be inclusive & center people of color particularly black women. Which is why they attack DEI https://t.co/uYgGEB9Aza
(https://x.com/2RawTooReal/status/1811737159772017057?t=LXQU7ZNbxVB0B6UjBiDqyw&s=03)
schrodingers_cat
OT: I was in a Twitter Space just now discussing Indian politics, specifically the emergency of 1975. I have been speaking in these spaces since last month, gathering enough courage to speak in Hindi. It has been so much fun to listen to kindred Indian spirits who hate BJP’s guts as much as I do.
What a respite from the cray cray discourse of the last two weeks here.
eclare
@Eyeroller:
I’m sure this has been answered, and I missed it, why does Axelrod hate Joe?
bbleh
@tam1MI: @Eyeroller: concur it likely WON’T be a total freak-show. There’s too much advertising money on the line for one thing. I’m sure there will be SOME freaks, but they’ll be treated jokingly, like side-shows. “Oh look, aren’t they CUTE? Now back to Serious Floor Coverage.” And of course there will be a bounce — it’s an online rally, and all the cultists will be thrilled.
Kayla Rudbek
@Old School: thank you very much! I will cite this against the censorship at Facebook
eclare
@schrodingers_cat:
He was very good in Out of Sight, which was a terrific movie that I will never watch again.
schrodingers_cat
@bbleh: I used to make myself watch the RNC convention especially the nominee’s speech. I am not going to this year. I don’t see any reason to subject myself to the Orange Man’s rantings.
Ruviana
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I was scrolling to see if anyone mentioned this. People has the widest circulation of any magazine in the country (pause here briefly to think about that)! A good fairly detailed article about what Project 2025 means.
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: He is right. The anxiety that white dudebros are feeling is because KH is the VP. If it was a good looking white dude like Andy Beasher (sp?) or Newsom the media would not be in such a froth.
UncleEbeneezer
@rikyrah: It’s definitely one of the big ones. They are still mad that Class-Not-Race was rejected in 2016 and 2020 by the Dem Base, who doesn’t view Dismantling Capitalism as the most urgent priority.
schrodingers_cat
@eclare: I did like Good Night and Good Luck. Clooney directed it IIRC or was he the producer or both?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Ruviana: And those issues hang around in doctors’ offices
stacib
@matt: THIS, and they won’t take a bit of the blame for torpedoing his candidacy.
burritoboy
Let’s not ignore that George Clooney decides to live in Italy, which is currently run by descendants of Fascism. Note: I’m not saying that Clooney is influenced by that, but how much insight he has into American politics and how great his own political judgement is – is well, questionable, at best. I don’t see why we should privilege his voice over anybody else’s.
That people keep pushing Newsom’s name is merely one sign of how silly this game is. Newsom has repeatedly refused to consider this for the 2024 cycle (for years on end by this point), and has publicly re-stated this at least twice in the last two weeks. Like, what, you’re thinking you’re going to force Newsom to run for President? Have they lost any contact with reality?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@The Thin Black Duke: I think it dumber that, they just want to win. Actual governance boring and the Dems will do that as far as they are concerned.
When it comes to white people it’s “this is the stupidest of them we’ve seen, so far” not “this is the stupidest of them we’ve seen, out of them ever”.
eclare
@Ruviana:
I subscribed to the print issue for decades, now I read online. Yes, it’s mostly fluff, but it followed news other than celebrity news, and the book reviews were very good. The mailing was timed to arrive every Saturday, which was the perfect time to receive a nice, glossy magazine.
Eyeroller
Just saw that the Biden campaign got 40,000 donations during the presser. Total haul not specified. It won’t amount to $90M but it’s not nothing, maybe around $1M
eclare
@schrodingers_cat:
Can’t remember.
Steve in the ATL
@CaseyL:
Do you also have a list of people who are terrible actors and horrible human beings?
Can start with Ricky Schroeder, Kevin, Sorbo, and Antonio Sabato, jr., and of course Scott Baio.
Geminid
@Ridnik Chrome: Oh, I agree that the Democratic electeds who have called for Biden to step aside are hurting the Party.
I think their statements will be be held against them in 2026 primaries if Biden loses. It will be a lesser issue if he wins, I think.
I tend to be protective of Blue Dogs and like Nancy Pelosi value them as “majority makers.” So, often when people here toss rocks at the Blue Dogs, I holler.
I think the Caucus is on the way out though. They lost a couple more seats this last cycle, and 6 members including Sherrill (NJ), Spanberger (VA), Case (HI) and Correa (CA) left the Caucus soon after this Congress began last year. Two new Congresswomen–Mary Peltola and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez– joined. Four members are over 70 with a couple guys from California pushing 80.
I’m not sure the Caucus has much of a purpose now with districts so polarized. But as with the defunct Senate Blue Dog Caucus, people will be griping about them long after they are gone.
Ruviana
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yep, lots of places. It reminds me of the stories Teen Vogue broke.
rikyrah
Veronica McDonald![]()
(@Purify_toast17) posted at 10:35 AM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
Biden should lean into the oldness and talk about how society wants to throw old people away, cut their healthcare, cut their social security, force them from their jobs and housing…Trump even wanted old people to die from Covid. Lean into the oldness, don’t run away from it.
(https://x.com/Purify_toast17/status/1811786550327312422?t=1okviAxRxIcPfDS_GetTcw&s=03)
Omnes Omnibus
I get an echo of the way JFK’s insiders thought of and treated LBJ* from many former Obama people and their take on Biden.
*Obligatory “Fuck LBJ” for raven.
Mike E
@eclare: heh, I thought Jennifer Lopez was better. Talk about an of its time film, not an all-timer.
Eyeroller
@eclare: We are not sure. We have heard rumors of conflicts between working-class “ethnic” VP Joe Biden and some of Obama’s Ivy-League WASPy staff like Axelrod. Joe seems to feel they looked down on him. Also Axelrod obviously wasn’t hired for Biden’s staff in any capacity, but whether that makes a difference is unknown.
Scout211
Thanks. Here it is
A few excerpts:
. . .
. . .
Very good article. So much more at the link. (It’s long, but 900+ pages is hard to summarize).
schrodingers_cat
@eclare: He directed, wrote and acted in it according to IMDB.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Eyeroller:
The dude’s a mercenary, not in it for the cause. Lots of mercenaries out there in the punditocracy…
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Ah, Ivy League, that explains the dude’s smartest man in the room, just ask him, attitude.
Mike E
@eclare: Axelrod shows signs of psychopathy with a clear personality disorder….oh wait, there I go, diagnosing from afar, my bad!
BR
I’m trying to think who besides my senators, rep, and governor I can call to shout at about Dems in disarray and the need to support Biden.
eclare
@Omnes Omnibus:
Great analogy. I wonder if for the Obama crowd it really is just Ivy League type snobbery.
rikyrah
Rep. Eric Swalwell
@RepSwalwell
Let’s talk about the 60s: Poor kids were drafted to die in an illegal war
Gay couple could not marry
Black passengers sat at the back of the bus
Women couldn’t get a credit card
When Trump says Make America Great Again this is what he means.
https://x.com/RepSwalwell/status/1811834226834096318
Omnes Omnibus
I think Clooney is wrong on the merits and wrong on procedure, but I don’t really think what he has done is worth boycotting him. Hell, Aimee Mann was passing out Nader stuff when I saw her in concert in late 2000 and I still listen to her stuff.
BR
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I don’t think Axelrod is WASP but otherwise I get the point.
Mike E
@schrodingers_cat: I met the person he played in that movie, Fred Friendly, while in film school. A giant in the TV biz, nice enough to us students as well.
eclare
@Scout211:
What you excerpted is very good. I wish people would also focus on the elimination of no-fault divorce. That’s a biggie.
Hey, everyone, when you say “I do” no backsies!
Bill Arnold
oldgold pointed out a couple of times this might happen today:
Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI)
40,001.36
+247.61
(+0.62%)
At close: 4:01 PM EDT
Dow 40000 ! Biden achievement unlocked!
MAGA will of course claim it is because investors are confident of a Trump win. To which, one answers, no, it is because investors are confident of a Trump loss.
Eyeroller
@BR: That’s why I said WASPy rather than WASP, it can actually include a certain type of Jewish person like him.
Oh, and looks like he went to the University of Chicago, so one tier down from the Ivy League, poor guy.
Fair Economist
@Eyeroller:
This is an opportunity for Biden. He can say “a shadowy group of ultra-wealthy donors is trying to replace me. I won’t stand for that. This is America, and we choose our leaders democratically, not in the retreats of the ultra-rich. I’m staying in, and I ask you to join me in defending democracy.”
With that he would make it impossible for anybody to replace him. Anybody accepting the spot would be branded anti-democratic (in both senses.)
UncleEbeneezer
DougJ (revised for this space):
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: Unless you were a scientist the caliber of Subramaniam Chandrashekhar ( he went on to win a Nobel Prize in physics as an old man for the work that he had done as young man in England) you couldn’t get a green card if you were from India and bunch of other countries.
schrodingers_cat
@Mike E: That’s so exciting! Are you a filmmaker yourself?
Trivia Man
@artem1s: I remember the 2020 RNC platform well. They were terrified of the extremists making waves so the platform committee adopted without ANY changes the 2016 platform.
Including things like “Because the current president has failed at everything…”. All slams on the “current president “ were left in word for word.
Eyeroller
@Fair Economist: He has been talking about the elites trying to force him out, but maybe he should be more forceful about that.
BR
@Fair Economist:
He has already tip-toed close to saying that. I think it’s a winning argument, though it could hurt in actual fundraising from big donors who might otherwise contribute. But if they want to screw up the election then it’s better to ignore them.
tam1MI
@BR: Delegates to the convention, maybe?
Cacti
@matt: Yes. New York and California are double plus bad. Not real Americans despite the Dem candidate having no chance at the White House without their electoral votes. And Hollyweird needs to shut up and act.
Do I fit in now at Breitbart-Juice?
zhena gogolia
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: Don’t it feel good?
zhena gogolia
@Dorothy A. Winsor: You know what? People is the only publication I read now. It’s damn good.
zhena gogolia
@rikyrah: Okay!
zhena gogolia
@burritoboy: NO ONE HAS THROWN THEIR HAT INTO THIS PARTICULAR RING WHY WON’T THEY STOP TALKING ABOUT IT??? That’s what gets to me maybe more than anything.
citizen dave
@rikyrah: Valued commenter posted this link late in the mid-evening thread. It’s very good, and partially goes to your point:
https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2024/07/11/aging-biden-campaign-248335
3Sice
Claims of withholding contributions that weren’t ever gonna be made, kinda like my tots hot Canadian girlfriend.
zhena gogolia
@Eyeroller: No fan of Axelrod, but he’s not a WASP.
MisterForkbeard
@Omnes Omnibus: Is anyone seriously saying to boycott Clooney? He’s been helpful generally, and this is really stupid, but it’s not like he’s done 1% of the awful shit even the most normal republican has done.
MisterForkbeard
@Cacti: Nah, you fit in at Breitbart because you’re an asshole. You should probably just go over there.
zhena gogolia
@3Sice: This is my husband’s take as well.
Omnes Omnibus
@MisterForkbeard: Yes, people said it in this thread.
zhena gogolia
@MisterForkbeard: Yeah, I’m done with him.
ETA: I wouldn’t call it a “boycott,” just a personal decision. Can’t watch him any more.
Tony Jay
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yeah. The whip-snap drive to outlaw those who betray Tribal Loyalty is pretty unfortunate, but all too human. Disagree, sure. Deploy insults of many colours, absolutely. Instantly diving into the murky seaters of “isn’t it revealing that they once attended the MET Gala in Hugo Boss shoes? Hmmmm?” is a bit much.
Not that I haven’t slammed a lifetime boycott on certain UK celebrities. But that was because they revealed themselves to be lying, bullying, racist scum, not because they said some dumb things that I didn’t want them to say.
tam1MI
@MisterForkbeard: What is there to boycott? He hasn’t starred in a major motion picture in ages. At best we could just not buy the shitty coffeemaker he is always flogging.
Mai Naem mobile
I think what you’re talking about happening next week is the expected increase in Grinder postings in Milwaukee. Not sure why it’s Milwaukee.
Eyeroller
@zhena gogolia: As I noted, I wrote WASP-y, we are to the point that the acronym doesn’t really stand for anything anymore, like KFC. It’s just a particular type. However, I should be more clear because there have been cases such as the Sulzbergers who have apparently been on a 100-year effort to fit in with actual WASPs. And if we definite it very stringently literally then Trump is not one (German-Scottish) and also has a long history of trying to fit in with NYC WASPs.
Cacti
@MisterForkbeard: I hear that George Clooney’s wife is his evil, Lady MacBeth puppet master.
My progressive betters here have told me so. 😆
The Thin Black Duke
@tam1MI: What we need to do is understand that Clooney isn’t anyone to take seriously when it comes to political strategy. He just outed himself as an useful idiot.
Eyeroller
@The Thin Black Duke: C.R.E.A.M. as the kids say. He has a lot of money.
tam1MI
@The Thin Black Duke: Exactly.
3Sice
@matt:
Even with Clooney, not enough Q rating for the celebrity judges. Can we get a Dua Lupa? Maybe put the candidates in furry suits, the kids love that….
Mai Naem mobile
@Eyeroller: AXelod’s definitely got something personal going on against Biden. Also, I caught the Obama bros for a few minutes on Alex Wagner and wanted to punch the smug fratboy smirks off their faces. Makes me wonder if Biden pisses them off because he’s accomplished more than Obama. I’m not slagging Obama because he was a different guy in a different situation.
burritoboy
Like, I don’t think people should take any effort to boycott Clooney’s movies (that is time and effort better spent elsewhere). I just don’t see why his voice on this particular political decision should be any more valued than anyone else’s. Because he’s a major donor? Or because his family has a few elected in its branches? Since when did we outsource such a major one of our decisions to a small handful of major donors, however glamorous or famous they are?
bluefoot
@piratedan:
Not just Harris having a word in Joe Biden’s ear, but wouldn’t Obama have also said something if Biden had diminished capacity?
I wish Biden weren’t so old. At 80, you can go from fully healthy to rapid decline pretty suddenly. BUT he’s also been an amazingly effective president and I am more than happy to support him through his next administration.
I promised myself I was taking a break from this so that’s my last comment. (ha)
Eyeroller
@burritoboy: Money makes the world go round.
I’ve seen it in academia. Major donors can distort university strategy. They get what they want. DougJ is in academia, he knows (see his Pitchbot tweet I referenced above).
Omnes Omnibus
@3Sice: Olivia Rodrigo or Chappell Roan. Depending on who you want to attract.
Eyeroller
@bluefoot: It’s possible to have something go very wrong suddenly in one’s early 80s, but Biden is in good health for his age (despite all the murmuring about how he is “frail”–he his not). He should live at least several more years. And if something goes wrong he has a VP whose job is to take over. Of course many of us think that’s a big part of the issue with his “age.”
3Sice
@Mai Naem mobile:
I wonder if it goes back to Axelrod getting turfed out of the WH when he was going to be policy czar (or whatever that was).
eclare
@burritoboy:
All I said was that I wasn’t going to watch his movies anymore. It’s a personal decision, everyone else is free to do what they want. Just for me, I know whenever he appeared onscreen, I would think about how he slagged Joe. But that’s just me, everyone else can watch to their heart’s content. Jeez. Why are my personal viewing habits an issue to others?
Steve in the ATL
@burritoboy: I saw Clooney’s tequila in the Costco liquor store last week and didn’t buy it. But that was decision was based more on my hatred of tequila than on making a statement regarding his political views.
Geminid
@Cacti: Great. People have tried to turn this controversy into the War on Centrists or the Battle Against Bernie Bros, and now you want to make it the War Between the States!
Mai Naem mobile
@3Sice: i honestly don’t remember. Wasn’t Axelrod’s kid having some serious medical issues at some point which led him to going back to Chicago? All I know with Axelrod is that it’s personal. Kind of the same way I felt about Chris Matthews and the Clintons.
sdhays
@bbleh: Biden occasionally misspeaks and catches himself right away. Everyone does that. Trump was literally talking about Nikki Haley in one breath and then started talking about her as if he was talking about Nancy Pelosi.
That’s…not the same thing.
matt
@Cacti: They’re fine, but full of soft headed self indulgent rich people who have no clue about the limits that exist in national politics. You are an asshole troll who should be banned from here by the way. You make strawman versions of what people say and are generally a boorish liar and piece of shit.
Old School
@Omnes Omnibus:
Looks like the last film I’ve seen was Gravity (2013). I’ve been boycotting him for a decade without realizing it!
I saw her perform earlier this year. Thankfully, no Nader stuff in sight.
MisterForkbeard
@tam1MI: I mean, I like him as an actor. But I really don’t think it matters.
But as always – if someone bugs you and it’s unacceptable, you’re free to not interact with them. If you don’t like Clooney, go right ahead.
MisterForkbeard
@Cacti: Yes. That’s definitely what happened.
3Sice
@Omnes Omnibus:
This is gonna be episodic? I think we can work a Black Pink guest judge appearance – maybe foreign policy week.
Though if we get canceled that could be a problem…
Omnes Omnibus
@3Sice: It could really interesting really fast. For some values of interesting. YMMV. Do not drink and drive.
BlueDWarrior
@Eyeroller: I will take “barely getting over the bar” after all this sturm und drang.
Gvg
@The Thin Black Duke: A small number were NOT OK with Palin, and defected, although it was hard to tell because McCain’s cluelessness about economics was also scaring away some republicans at the same time. He had the wrong strengths for the specific crisis that came up. Anyway, it seemed to be mostly women who said so. I think they just weren’t fooled. It bothered some people. Cannot tell how many.
Anyway
@zhena gogolia:
Little disappointed that there were no responses to my comment that the media impact wouldn’t have been so bad if (18?) elected Dems hadn’t rushed to the cameras and made statements about the prez. House leaders should have stopped them.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@rikyrah:
Yup. Best president of my lifetime, no “buts” about it ala Loyal-Dems-But crowd.
Cacti
@matt: Obviously they’re not real Murricans like you and wherever you call home. Do you have a big “Ridin’ with Biden” flag on the back of your pickup? 😆😆😆😆
jimmiraybob
@rikyrah: Yes, our first close call with a fascist takeover (1930s-1940s) was thwarted by a guy in a wheelchair.
Now I know why the worked so hard to hide it.
Juju.
@M31: I would consider doing that but I’d be afraid I couldn’t buy the new or newer car I need to buy…eventually.
Ironcity
@Cacti: It could have been over before it started if Hamas hadn’t had their October surprise, but that is not something we can talk about., is it. It could have been over really soon if the Israelis had just gone in and pulled a Curtis LeMay and bombed Gaza back into the stone age. Or it could have been over if the Israeli’s had done the right thing and removed all the settlements, given back the Arab lands, and tried a real 2 state solution. Or…so many possibilities, so much or little time and all because everybody is human.
Kirk
I know there are three threads after this, but I found an article I’d been seeking that is most relevant here.
See, back in January ABC did a fairly nice article on “What if one of the candidates dies or suddenly withdraws?” It discusses processes, not personalities, with critical milestones that change the process.
Thought some of you might want to look at this.
For those who don’t want to go there:
From now till the convention, it’s a “once in a lifetime political spectacle.” The candidate will be selected at the convention. To be considered a candidate for the DNC the candidate has to get at least 300 delegate signatures before the convention starts. For the RNC, submit evidence of support from a plurality of delegates from at least five states, deadline is one hour before the nominations are made at the convention.
Next window is just about as wild and runs from convention to when ballots are printed. Printed ballots to election day everyone needs to remember you’re actually voting for your state’s electors, and it’s state shenanigans time. Election day to December 17 (electoral college voting day) is pretty obvious – who do the electors choose if the candidate dies? Whomever they want. After December 17 all goes smooth again as the 20th amendment takes effect.
The key word in the preceding is spectacle. Anyone thinking it’s going to be easy or straightforward should take a few minutes to read it.
slightly_peeved
@Steve in the ATL:
Mark Wahlberg!
burritoboy
If people want to boycott Clooney, I’m not going to stand in their way – I just think it’s effort that can generally be used more productively in other ways. I haven’t seen one of his movies in a very long time. What is a more important and productive discussion is why we assign such importance to someone just because they are famous or glamorous or give lots of money. This is a political party that does political things. Famous actors’ (or musicians or a hundred other things) help is naturally much appreciated, but they should be no more politically influential when we are making serious decisions than any other voter’s voice is. If Clooney wants to have a bigger and more appropriate political impact, I was (until his op-ed) quite willing to support him if he ran for office – hopefully in an office and capacity that he prepared himself carefully for, and that he selected wisely. Otherwise, he’s….another voter, and no more than that.
Cacti, stop pretending that we are somehow opposed to Californians. I am a Californian myself, VP Harris is a Californian and Newsom (who restated his support of Biden this morning) is a Californian. What people are complaining about are Hollywood stars trying to grab undemocratic levels of influence because they are wealthy, or famous, or glamorous, or sexy. (All good things for them, but not things that make them necessarily especially wise political voices.) That’s not the same thing at all, and you know it.