Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

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

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

No Justins, No Peace

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

It’s easier to kill a dangerous animal than a man who just happens to have different thoughts/values than one’s own.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

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

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / Open Thread: Biden Remarks Today

Open Thread: Biden Remarks Today

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Because no way am I listening to anything coming out of Milwaukee today. Not to stomp all over Anne Laurie, just offering an alternative.

This was from earlier today. I’m listening now because I heard it was a good speech (I tried to cue it up at the 1:10 mark when the speakers begin)

HAPPENING NOW: Join me and Congressman Horsford as we speak in Las Vegas

This is supposed to start shortly…

Open thread

ETA: OMG

Reader Interactions

148Comments

  1. 1.

    prostratedragon

    Will catch up to this. NAACP I presume? Great choice of audience to talk about Supreme Court reform.

    Need something else on the tv box this evening? MLB All-Star game at 8 Eastern; South Pacific at the same time on TCM, followed by Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison with Robert Mitchum.

  4. 4.

    Trivia Man

    @prostratedragon: Last night the home run derby made news – many say it’s the worst rendition ever of the national anthem at a public event. Its a very strong contender. Roseanne didnt pose as a talented dinger, she was set up and hung out to dry. Last night was much worse.

  6. 6.

    Jackie

    Another strong, fiery speech! He is done with holding back on TCFG!🥰  

    Joe held nothing back while calling out TCFG as a liar and listing all the evilness the former guy promised to unleash on America.

  7. 7.

    TaMara

    @prostratedragon: Might have to DVR South Pacific …not sure if I can watch it. It was one of my mom’s and my favorite to watch together.

    I’ve yet to make it through Tammy and The Bachelor on my DVR yet, for similar reasons

  11. 11.

    Ishiyama

    Joe Biden rocked it: The high point at the end, when he quoted this psalm:

    Psalms 37:25-26 King James Version (KJV) I have been young, and now am old; Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, ….

    This is the first time I have watched him this election cycle. He squints to see the teleprompter, but there is nothing wrong with his delivery, and the content: Wow!

  14. 14.

    Joy in FL

    Thank you for posting these videos.  I listened to the first one. Really good.

    Ridin with Biden : )

  15. 15.

    MisterForkbeard

    I just found out that my congressman thinks Biden should step aside (though this is being reported anonymously about a conversation he had with donors).

    I’m calling this fucker up tomorrow to tell him to back the damn candidate, and that I’m extremely disappointed in this reaction. Fighting and winning is the goal here, not running from craven republican attacks and throwing the election into chaos.

  16. 16.

    dr. luba

    Just got polled by Public Policy Polling.  On a landline.  From an unknown number.

    I guess I am officially old.

    I don’t usually answer calls from unknown numbers, but was waiting for a call from my mom’s doctor……and forgot they were supposed to call me on the cell phone.

    Questions about whether the debate changed my mind, how I feel about project 2025, the Chevron decision, and similar.

  17. 17.

    Shalimar

    In non-politics news, baseball injuries have gotten so bad that the Home Run Derby national anthem singer has to go to rehab after her performance.

  18. 18.

    Mike E

    @dr. luba: I know two of them from way back in the day, my daughter went to elementary school with the granddaughter of the guy who helped start up PPP. Small world!

    @Shalimar: hopefully she finds the help she needs

  19. 19.

    Rafael

    I’m loving these Biden fiery speeches and appearances but I’m a bit nervous that the Democratic self immolation is not over with. Is is certain that they have given up trying to make him step down?

    I wasn’t worried about the other minor reps doing the typical self defeating crap but Pelosi’s non endorsement still worries me.  When will we know for sure that he won against the coup attempt?

  20. 20.

    Ohio Mom

    @dr. luba: I haven’t got any phone poll calls recently but I have in the past, being an oldster and having a landline. Unless they are very obviously a Republican push poll, which I tend to lose patience with, I rather enjoy declaring my preferences.

  21. 21.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @dr. luba: careful there, there is a phone scam were they are trying to get the person to answer “Yes” to their name.

  22. 22.

    Lyrebird

    @dr. luba: Good for you!

    When I lived in a small rural PA town, I loved getting polled.  I just had to hold in my laughter when they said at the beginning, “you have been selected to represent your community” because I was highly UNrepresentative.

     

    ETA: thank you TaMara for posting these!  that’s our President, bringing down the house and shoring up our democracy!  And yes I thanked Anne Laurie too for watching what I can’t stomachh!

  23. 23.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

     President Biden just said “I know what a Black job is: it’s the Vice President of the United States!”

    hehehe awesome.

  24. 24.

    Trivia Man

    @JCJ: lol

    Roseanne got a bad rap. “I can’t sing!” Padres: “That’s OK! Your fans love you, it will be fun!”  Next thing she knows, old man Bush is bitching at her from the Oval Office. “Let’s hear him sing. I bet he stinks, too.”

  25. 25.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Biden sounded great (yet again) in the NAACP speech.  What’s that, like five, seven great speeches now?  This guy would be President!

  27. 27.

    Josie

    @TaMara: ​
     As a young girl, I saw South Pacific for the first time (not the last) with my Mom. I fell desperately in love with Rossano Brazzi.

  29. 29.

    prostratedragon

    Plus ça change, …

    Baron Franz von Luber, Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942):

    Mr. O’Toole, I want you to broadcast to America. Not only will you be extremely well paid, but you will be known as the voice of Europe. You will be famous. You’ll probably turn out to be an authority on international affairs, and you might even write a book called “Inside” something.

  30. 30.

    Rachel Bakes

    @TaMara: just watched South Pacific recently with the family. Used to love Tammy and the Bachelor! Not sure how I’d do watching that without my dad.

  33. 33.

    prostratedragon

    @Trivia Man:
    many say it’s the worst rendition ever of the national anthem at a public event
    They might be right. Played it late last night from catch-up and could hardly believe it.

    ETA from the next comment. Oh. I hope she can get help. It did seem as though she realized too late being off on the wrong foot, and decided to soldier on anyway. Knowing nothing about her, I didn’t know what the audience might have expected, but was relieved that they were polite.

  36. 36.

    Trivia Man

    @Jackie: Maybe if piling on never stops it is unfair, but 24 hours to laugh at a very public fail is OK by me. I also consider that it wasn’t just drunk, the auto-tune was a huge part of the failure. I’ll try to be a better person.

  37. 37.

    FastEdD

    That’s the Joe I can work for-good strong voice and he’s kicking ass. Off to “work” tonight. Our local Dem Club had about 50 members last year. By the beginning of this year we had over 100. Tonight we had to move to a bigger room because we’re about 250 strong. I’m organizing for a lit drop. We’re going to cover about 2,000 homes in my district. Our candidate for US House (Joe Kerr) has a well oiled organization behind him too.

  38. 38.

    Scout211

    Update on the veep debate:  Negotiations ongoing.

    WASHINGTON (AP)  Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican JD Vance on Tuesday had their first chat since the Ohio senator became the GOP vice presidential nominee, but the two sides are still working on terms for participating in a debate, according to three people familiar with the matter.

    Harris has agreed to a debate on CBS News on either July 23 or Aug. 13. Two months ago, former President Donald Trump agreed to those same dates, or one later in the calendar, on behalf of his then-unidentified running mate — but for a debate on Fox News, which Biden’s team has indicated it would reject.

    The people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations about the debate, said there had been no progress at bridging the disagreements on the network partner and format, but they expect discussions to begin now that Trump has selected Vance, a first-term senator from Ohio.

  39. 39.

    cain

    @Scout211:

    I hope this time she isn’t going to prepare for a classic debate. These people are just going to do a lot of lying and so you can’t really debate a stream of lying consciousness.

    She’s on her own up there – the moderators aren’t going to do anything .

  40. 40.

    Shalimar

    @Jackie: It wasn’t a joke about addiction at all.  It was a joke about how baseball players get injured so easily.  But as someone whose brother is a meth addict totally destroying our family, I also have no patience with addicts.

  42. 42.

    Origuy

    Breaking news: President Biden is finalizing plans to endorse major changes to the Supreme Court in the coming weeks, including proposals for legislation to establish term limits for the justices and an enforceable ethics code, according to two people briefed on the plans.

    WaPo Gift Link

  44. 44.

    Cacti

    Latest YouGov polls show Biden trailing outside the margin of error in Arizona, Wisconsin, and Nevada, and within the margin of error in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

    But, he read a good teleprompter speech, so all is well in the kingdom. 😒🙄

  49. 49.

    zhena gogolia

    @Josie: OMG Rossano Brazzi is so hot in that one! He’s in Rome Adventure too. But Summertime is the best one.

  51. 51.

    Cacti

    @UncleEbeneezer: Hey, remember when you declared triumphantly that Biden had negotiated a ceasefire in Gaza, then the IDF killed another hundred or so civilians the following day.

    I guess Netanyahu didn’t get the word.

  54. 54.

    Scout211

    @cain: I hope this time she isn’t going to prepare for a classic debate

    I think she’s an amazing speaker and will do well communicating her message.  I wonder if the Vance campaign is dragging the negotiations out because he is not at all prepared.  I hope she doesn’t agree to go on Fox but I think she’ll do fine no matter where the debate is telecast.

  55. 55.

    Scout211

    @Origuy: Breaking news: President Biden is finalizing plans to endorse major changes to the Supreme Court in the coming weeks

    Good.  I think this is a smart move.

  60. 60.

    Steve g

    @Origuy: I couldn’t read the gift link without creating an account. I don’t how WaPo considers that a gift link, because I sure don’t. Thought you should know.

  62. 62.

    Scout211

    Buh bye, Elon, X and Space X

    SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Billionaire Elon Musk says he’s moving the headquarters of SpaceX and social media company X to Texas from California.

    Musk posted on X Tuesday that he plans on moving SpaceX from Hawthorne, California to the company’s rocket launch site dubbed Starbase in Texas. X will move to Austin from San Francisco.

    He called a new law signed Monday by California Gov. Gavin Newsom that bars school districts from requiring staff to notify parents of their child’s gender identification change the “final straw.”

    I’m sorry that there will be Californians losing their jobs. But otherwise, we won’t miss you, Elon. Especially since protecting the privacy of children is your “last straw,” you horrible person, you.

  64. 64.

    Longtime lurker from Madison

    Hi everyone this is anecdotal but I need to share it.

    I live in a liberal neighborhood on the southwest side of Madison, Wisconsin. We overwhelmingly turn out to vote and we overwhelmingly vote D. In 2020 my precinct had roughly 80% turnout and (I just checked to confirm) a full 83% of our vote went for Biden.

    https://www.zipdatamaps.com/election-atlas/zipcode/wi/53711/map-of-2020-presidential-election-results-by-voting-precinct

    A friend says she talked to someone who was canvassing the neighborhood. THis person said that, over and over again, she got to homes of long-time reliable D voters who said they could not vote for Joe Biden. Too old, too old, too old. They claim they won’t vote R but won’t vote D either. I hope they will change their minds, but as of right now that’s what they are apparently saying.

    I hope the fact that this anecdote is THIRD-HAND (and thus I’m not claiming a ton of reliability for it) helps you understand that I’m being honest here. I didn’t make this up. Do with the information what you will.

  65. 65.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @M31:

    Pink heart-shaped sugar cookies for me. I believe the images are different every time you refresh your screen. I know sometimes a comment will be Eeyore and then a couple of minutes it’ll be a bag of sea lion chow or a cat cupcake or something.

  66. 66.

    Harrison Wesley

    @Scout211: What a strange and ignorant reason for moving a company.  Fortunately for any employees being transferred, Austin is a pretty cool place.  But Elon really needs to disappear.

  68. 68.

    Eyeroller

    @Scout211: Is that where he couldn’t be arsed to spend the money for a flame trench at the launch site?

    Why is the government so dependent on this asshole’s companies for a variety of things?  (Rhetorical question.)

  71. 71.

    schrodingers_cat

    A message for the people fretting about the polls. From Twitter. h/t saladshooter

    Even the most accurate poll in the world is a snapshot in time. A. Snapshot. In. Time. They don’t predict the future. We make the future.

  72. 72.

    zhena gogolia

    @schrodingers_cat: And I asked a question in another thread that no one has answered.

    When did a presidential candidate for one of the two major parties (let alone a sitting President) drop out because he/she was behind in the polls in July?

  73. 73.

    Harrison Wesley

    @TaMara: He doesn’t have to leave the planet.  I’d settle for him building his dream home at the bottom of the Marianas Trench.

  74. 74.

    Tazj

    @Cacti: Latest 538 forecast chance of winning Biden 53% Trump 46%. Pick your polls! Like others have said Silver isn’t a Biden Stan and I think he still wants him to step aside.So this isn’t biased in favor of Biden.

  75. 75.

    Another Scott

    @Harrison Wesley: Austin has changed a LOT in the last 30 years or so.  E.g., it’s very, very different from the very early days of SXSW and the like. I found it rather jarring the last time I was there to see so many “pedicabs”… :-/

    Meanwhile, … TexasMonthly.com (from April 2024):

    […]

    In the wave of stories about Austin’s ascension in 2020, there were always two pieces of evidence given top billing. That year the tech goliath Oracle relocated its HQ to Austin, where it had already built a massive campus on the south shore of Town Lake, and Elon Musk began building a gargantuan Cybertruck factory just outside the city. Austin-area authorities helped Oracle secure valuable lakefront real estate and offered Tesla some $60 million in tax abatements, including $50 million from the historically struggling school district in Del Valle. The new facilities were greeted by state officials as evidence that the “Texas Miracle” was alive and well. Abbott proudly proclaimed last year that Austin was “THE destination for the world’s leading tech companies.”

    This week saw a major plot twist in that narrative: Oracle declared it was moving its headquarters to Nashville, and Tesla—the largest private employer in the capital city—announced it would be laying off almost 2,700 workers from its Austin plant after a disappointing earnings report. Texas wasn’t really at fault here. Oracle, which makes business software, cited Nashville’s strength as a center of the American health-care industry, though it surely also helps that the company is getting nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in tax breaks and incentives from the city and the state of Tennessee. Tesla, meanwhile, laid off workers across the country after the Cybertruck suffered significant quality issues that put the future of its Austin production facility in doubt. The city’s debut in auto manufacturing is a vehicle that apparently rusts in the rain. The factory complex, which Musk once promised would become an “ecological paradise,” recently took advantage of a new state law to exempt itself from Austin’s environmental regulations.

    But while hard financial realities explain the HQ move and the layoffs, the news also evidences a moment of cultural change: the sudden hotness Austin enjoyed in 2020 has dissipated, at least a bit, into notness. In the mad summer of 2020, tech evangelist Joe Lonsdale wrote that Texas stood as a new frontier in the fight for human freedom and vowed to build a new city outside Austin to serve as a safe haven for disruptors, like other utopians who have been coming to the state for centuries. But, it turned out, after the COVID-19 pandemic, there was more utility in the status quo. When in-person work came back, rubbing shoulders in Palo Alto became more valuable to tech leaders. And while Lonsdale remains, many new arrivals started heading home.

    […]

    [ womp, womp ]

    The MotUs want their tax breaks and subsidies. It has very, very little to do with California somehow being too woke.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  80. 80.

    Eyeroller

    @Eolirin: Or even a little behind according to bedwetters who don’t understand “margin of error.”

    I do worry a bit about the third-party vote since that was a wildcard in 2016 and may be again this year.  It’s hard to predict since it’s a way for “double haters” to vote.  But I think we can manage it.  The leaked video of RFK Jr may help.

  81. 81.

    Fair Economist

    My own social media feed is suddenly full of “Biden plans to propose Supreme Court reforms”. Yet another reason Biden is by far our best chance to beat Trump. With the media so in the tank for Trump, only Biden can break through; because he’s the President and he has power. When he proposes something, people want to hear about it.

    If the Democrats are foolish enough to nominate anybody else, that nominee will just get buried under an avalanche of stories fluffing Trump, and talking about how that nominee betrayed Joe Biden. They’ll be a nobody and a patsy.

  82. 82.

    Harrison Wesley

    @Another Scott: That really sucks.  While all four of my sibs live in TX, only one still lives in the Austin area so I’m going by memories from a few years back (like the gift shop at the airport selling T-shirts with “Keep Austin Weird” and suchlike).

    And I still get confused, probably because I’m an Old, by Joe Lonsdale, international professional dick versus Joe Lansdale, really cool TX author.

  85. 85.

    Eolirin

    @Fair Economist: I think Harris would be able to break through, but no one else.

    And if Biden was going to drop out he would have done it already. There’s no way to remove him without him choosing to step down. He’s not going to.

    Btw, I love how Trump keeps falling asleep at these major events that he’s at, and no one’s questioning his fitness for the Presidency. Dude can’t even stay awake at this own trial or the RNC, but this isn’t a sign of age related functional impairment. Because he’s got a better shouting voice and no stutter I guess. Jfc.

  87. 87.

    Trivia Man

    @zhena gogolia: “Ross is by far the largest of all the Friends, why does he not simply eat the other ones? Is he stupid?”

    -alien from outer space watching earth TV

  88. 88.

    Kristine

    @Harrison Wesley:

    … Joe Lansdale, really cool TX author.

    A Lansdale memory…

    One of my first SF conventions, AggieCon iirc 1996. A bunch of us in the student union at oh hell whatever the time was watching Lansdale gently manhandle another male writer while showing us all how Tai Chi really was a martial art. The look of revelation on the other writer’s face as he made the connections while Lansdale twisted his arm behind his back, flattened him across furniture, etc. Very educational.

  89. 89.

    Captain C

    @Eolirin:

    Btw, I love how Trump keeps falling asleep at these major events that he’s at, and no one’s questioning his fitness for the Presidency. Dude can’t even stay awake at this own trial or the RNC, but this isn’t a sign of age related functional impairment. Because he’s got a better shouting voice and no stutter I guess. Jfc.

    Perhaps they just assume he’s drugged up and don’t feel that’s news.  I would think a Presidential candidate being drugged up enough to pass out at his trial and the RNC would be newsworthy, but what do I know?

  91. 91.

    Trivia Man

    @Captain C: Even better than his drooping eyelids was his puzzled golden retriever expressions while the Teamster pres was bitching about republican anti-worker policies. He was waiting for the times HIS name was mentioned but otherwise had no idea when to smile or scowl or shake his head dismissively.

  93. 93.

    Eolirin

    @Captain C: They made gossipy noises about how he kept falling asleep at the trial, they just didn’t link it up to a question of fitness. They know he’s not fit, they just don’t seem to care that much about that.

    The media continues to treat him like a circus clown instead of a presidential candidate. It’s a joke when a clown hits himself with a hammer, and you laugh. You’re not supposed to laugh when a presidential candidate is doing that. 

    None of this is normal. None of it.

  94. 94.

    Harrison Wesley

    @Kristine: My sister who lives in Nacogdoches spends a lot of time with the family dog on SFA campus.  I’ve bugged her in the past about finding Mr. Lansdale, since he lives in the area and has conducted workshops at SFA.  Of course, she’s not an asshole like me, so she wouldn’t dream of bugging a complete stranger just because her brother is a would-be writer.

    Now I’m going to have to watch Bubba Ho-Tep again.

  95. 95.

    Ruckus

    @Shalimar:

    There are usually 2 sides to an addict, at least when they really are. First, sure everyone should know that generally many drugs can be addictive rather easily, they generally make you either feel better or feel nothing. Second, some people are far more likely to become addicts than others, but it can be/is rather difficult/impossible to tell up front who’s who. And the whatever one gets hooked on can be different for many people. And if you don’t know up front then when one finds out – it is often way too late for any form of easy. Now let’s discuss alcohol. We sell that to adults pretty much everywhere. How much discussion have you heard about who will become alcoholics? Not a lot because it is easy for almost anyone. Most addictive drugs are no different in the ease of addiction. Some think that if we just ban drugs or liquor we will be fine. Some people are dumbasses. Humans like alcohol and humans like drugs. We make it harder to go there because humans like alcohol and drugs. They are an escape. Of course the trip is/can be far worse than sobriety, with many getting hurt in many ways. And that’s never stopped a noticeable percentage of humans in any way, shape or form.

  99. 99.

    Salty Sam

    @Harrison Wesley: gift shop at the airport selling T-shirts with “Keep Austin Weird”

    That phrase bubbled up from the very weird Austin scene over 30 years ago.  It has since become a Chamber of Commerce approved “thing”, so much so that you can even buy those T-shirts at the airport.

    I came across a great home-printed sticker attached to a highway overpass piling a few years ago:  “You may not understand that having the Chamber of Commerce approve Keep Austin Weird as an official logo is one of the least weird things that can happen.”

    The exodus of high tech workers that flooded Austin in the past 20-25 years has been noted in local media.  They were lured here for the hip happening cultural scene, and by their very presence, diluted and modified it.  Also, it’s hotter than homemade sin here in the summer, so they are selling their condos and leaving.  I’m not sorry- the only people that benefitted from their presence was realtors and Republicans (but I repeat myself).

    I’m hoping Musks twitter people have talked to their techie friends and decide it not worth it to relocate.

  101. 101.

    Richard Fox

    Perhaps I’m foolish or just an incurable optimist, but I feel Biden is doing well. Every event or news conference I’ve heard him speak, he’s been not only perfectly coherent but very engaging. I listen to what he says and he makes perfect sense. His verbal tics are just that and not much more. I honestly don’t feel the gloom and doom at all. And frankly I don’t see the media noise having the impact they (the media) think it has. Frankly the vast majority of voters (me included!) are tuning them out. The drop in viewership for news shows makes sense to me given how they report the news. It also struck me as very encouraging to see the President at a rally and see how much ordinary people really do support him. So I’m just holding onto that, and I expect this support to only build as we get closer to the Election Day.

  102. 102.

    Lyrebird

    @Eyeroller: I think you’re in agreement – I think the italics was the sarcasm tag there on “love”

    I repeat myself, but yeah the gap between the standard they hold POTUS to and the standard applied for the felonious candidate plaguing MKE is so enormous you can probably see it from outer space.

  103. 103.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    Checking out Freepers and while many of the felon’s supporters are on board with the anchor baby that Vance married, quite a few are not impressed at all. One said that the choice of Vance reminded them of Quayle and another said that his recent conversion to Catholicism meant that he’s still on a journey of exploring himself. Others were not happy about his wife but I could not qwhite put my finger on why that is.

    It’s a bag of mixed nuts gone bad.

  107. 107.

    Anoniminous

    Jul 20, 2022 — The first public poll for the Kansas constitutional amendment on abortion shows a close race and exposes divides over reproductive rights. — Kansas Reflector

    Jul 20, 2022 — A Kansas City-based pollster is predicting that Kansans will narrowly pass a constitutional amendment removing the right to an abortion — Kansas City Star

    Jul 20, 2022 — The Abortion Vote In Kansas Looks Like It’s Going To Be Close — ABC News/FiveThirtyEight

    Aug 2, 2022 — Kansas voters in a landslide Tuesday defeated a constitutional amendment that would have stripped residents of abortion rights — Kansas Reflector

    Actual vote 59% Pro Abortion to 40% anti

    Fuck the polls

  109. 109.

    Lyrebird

    @Harrison Wesley: You are a writer, and apparently a good one!  Maybe not a published one yet.  At least you’re trying to contact someone who does give workshops.  I found out I lived one town over from Sheri Tepper and wrote her a polite but probably dopey sounding note, which she politely responded to with something roughly like, “no no no no no”

    @Kristine: has probably met her, who knows.  I was of age to drive but I was very young and stupid.

  111. 111.

    Ksmiami

    The economy is going gangbusters, good governance is a thing. Wtf would anyone sane want Trump again?

  112. 112.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Anoniminous: Fuck the polls

    Yes, Jesus Fucking Christ, how much more proof do people need that the polls are discontented to reality?

    Yes, all those people who are basically crawling over broken grass to just vote for abortion rights are going to go “Oh! Hold on, that feller is just to old! Handmaiden’s Tail thousand times before an old guy protecting my right!”  Give me  fucking break.

  116. 116.

    Harrison Wesley

    @Salty Sam: As you can tell, it’s been quite a while since I’ve been there (I think last time was in the ’90s).  Hmm.  Seems more and more that the tech that makes our lives easier is also helping turn our lives into trash.

    FWIW, my four sibs now live in four different parts of TX, but they all seem to not only have adjusted, but are pretty happy.  And they’re all Dems.

  117. 117.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Anoniminous: Yes, and was for the reason that Washington society hated Lincoln for being from west of the Appalachian  and was ugly, while McClellan the serial fucked up, was from New Jersey and looked good in a uniform (to be fair, McClellan was bros with Burnside, the US Army’s own party animal)

  118. 118.

    Aussie Sheila

    Polls at best, are an indication at the time they were taken. People win elections, not polls. And it’s people who make history, not fucking Cable show hosts and failed writers who get paid to write middle brow opinion pieces for the NYT.

    Sheesh! I have a lot of faith in a fired up rank and file. I have nothing but contempt for professional opinion havers.

  120. 120.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Aussie Sheila:

    I have nothing but contempt for professional opinion havers.

    Even those who blither about Hegel, Napoleon and the World Spirit with respect to the Felon? (Seriously, an op-ed in today’s FTFNYT. I won’t trouble you with a link.)

  122. 122.

    Aussie Sheila

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    I read it on my substack link. Who reads the FTFNYT?

    Seriously.

    Not the people whose votes Biden/Harris needs in their millions. I’ll go with a rip roaring campaign aimed at framing the opposition, while committing to defend and extend the gains already made.

    I’m supremely indifferent to the opinions of the elite Press. My side of politics have had to deal with it all my political life, and way back to pre WW2 years for the really old ‘olds’.

    I couldn’t give a fuck. And nor should you.

  124. 124.

    Salty Sam

    @Harrison Wesley:  FWIW, my four sibs now live in four different parts of TX, but they all seem to not only have adjusted, but are pretty happy. 

    I’m sure they are!  There are wonderful things about all the many different part of this state, despite the shitposting from a lot of TX-haterz here.  Fuck’em.

    And they’re all Dems.

    As said many times, it’s not a red state, it’s a voter-suppressed state.

  125. 125.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Aussie Sheila:

    I grew up viewing the NYT as hero-journalists and have come to realize that no longer applies, if it ever did. Probably should have used a snark tag for my comment, but I thought the absurdity of the article spoke for itself. I think the media haz a disappoint that the rank and file aren’t falling for their bullshit.

    I agree about framing the opposition and going full bore on extending the gains made. That’s how we win.

  128. 128.

    Aussie Sheila

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    Years ago when I was a baby union organiser, an old communist union official (there used to be plenty then, they’re all dead now), asked me what newspapers I read. I replied with the title of our state daily broadsheet. He laughed and said, ‘don’t wast your money. Read the Financial Review, it’s the only paper that doesn’t dare lie to its  readers when it comes to the news they need’.
    I have adhered to his advice ever since.

    It’s paid off with insights that never get reported elsewhere which have been very useful politically and industrially and I can read their opinion section when I need a laugh.

  129. 129.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Aussie Sheila: I guess the WSJ is our equivalent of the Financial Review. I used to read it when I was still working,  it had solid reporting.  The op-eds were execrable of course. Now it’s owned by Murdoch. Don’t know how that’s affected the reporting side of things.

  130. 130.

    Aussie Sheila

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    The Australian Financial Review isn’t owned by Murdoch, it’s owned by a media conglomerate now called Nine entertainment I think. In any case, it has solid reporting, always has had, and I read it. I have never paid a penny to Murdoch for one of his lying rags.

    I have passed on the advice I received to every person I have mentored since.

  131. 131.

    RevRick

    @Anoniminous: The problem with “Fuck the polls!” Is that the same YouGov poll that had Biden losing to Trump in the swing states also showed the Democratic Senate candidates winning, doing between 10-15% better. Also, we correctly mocked Republican efforts to unskew the polls.
    The reality is tough, especially so given the MSM habit of getting stuck in a narrative. But I, for one, am not going to throw my hands up and quit.
    I will continue to contribute to Democratic candidates across the board and I will utilize whatever tools I can on social media to highlight the horrors of Republican policies.

  134. 134.

    Prometheus Shrugged

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: The anchor baby actually grew up in my neighborhood (though she was off to college before we moved in). The Freeper alarm would be over 11 if they knew that the neighborhood has been ~99% Dem for the last few decades.  I don’t know the parents’ political leanings, but it would be hard to argue that they aren’t accomplished academicians.  Far more credible than Vance.

  135. 135.

    TrainedWreck

    @Cacti: Ur perfectly discounting Women, not gonna be bothered poll piss&shit show. Will show up under radar VOTE,  lolS not be chattel,  tycacti 💯😎

  137. 137.

    Aussie Sheila

    @RevRick:

    I understand a healthy concern with the polls, but even assuming they are accurate, they are so at the time they were done.
    Polls might describe reality at a certain point in time however the point of campaigns is to make the reality the campaigns are aiming for.

    Again, polls don’t vote, people do, not necessarily under the conditions you might wish, but campaigns make their own reality.

  138. 138.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @NotMax: let us know if you find anything interesting or worthwhile.  I keep on telling myself that I don’t need any more bed sheets, but I am eyeing some cooling sheets and a cooling comforter…

  139. 139.

    Eolirin

    @RevRick: I’m skeptical that the gaps will be that big. To me that suggests people aren’t yet accepting that Biden is the candidate. I can’t see them turning out to vote for their senators and then voting for Trump or leaving the line blank in anything close to 10-15% margins.

    Like, maybe Ohio, and we can pray Montana, but not the swing states

    Either that or the senate numbers are also off and those races are much closer.

  142. 142.

    Another Scott

    Nitter (Twitter version.)

    New York Times Pitchbot
    @DougJBalloon
    1h

    We wanted to understand how undecided voters in swing states are feeling about the election. So we talked to a guy who sells Trump merchandise outside a Ralph’s in Pacific Palisades.

    Jul 17, 2024 · 1:45 AM UTC

    Something something the light’s better over here!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  143. 143.

    MisterForkbeard

    @RevRick: I’m not super worried about skewing or unskewing the polls.

    The yougov poll is at odds with some of the other recent polling, and polling over the last few years (especially 3-4 months out) has been uniformly off in favor of the dems.

    I think that’s pretty much all I have to say about it. It’s a bad poll taken at what’s likely the worst time for Biden, but I don’t think it’ll hold up over time.

  144. 144.

    Another Scott

    Speaking of polling… MarylandMatters.org:

    Daines, who took part in an event sponsored by the website Axios, later told Maryland Matters, “I like Maryland,” as a pick-up opportunity.

    Last week, Republican senators were privately shown an internal GOP poll showing Hogan leading Alsobrooks 47% to 41%. That contrasted with another recent poll from a Democratic firm showing Alsobrooks ahead by 8 points.

    I’ll bet they each had a “3% margin of error”, also too… :-/

    Polls don’t vote. We should ignore them and do the work, fighting for every gettable vote.

    Eyes on the prizes.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  145. 145.

    Chris Johnson

    @Eolirin: Absolutely. The one thing that is totally clear is that none of this is normal.

    It’s hard to work out what the hell it actually is, but it’s totally freakishly abnormal and fake. Tons of people all over the political map losing the plot.

    I’m waiting to see if they all start calling for monarchy now! and vowing to smash Ukraine. I’m still operating on the basis that this is all side-effects of massive Russian dirty tricks, and so it doesn’t have to be coherent but it does all have to have common factors.

    I know for a fact that crapping on Harris and demanding Biden drop out is a Russian-manufactured narrative that will not go out of style: that’s gonna be a constant, same with insisting against all evidence that Trump is dominating and will win with the full support of the voter for (insert underpants gnome reasoning, endlessly). You’ve got to go by intended results, read what the desired result is meant to be. That never fails in being predictive.

  146. 146.

    Chris Johnson

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: That’s a major weakness. Even if the ‘kid shooter’ thing turns out to be a staged op gone wrong (if there were no real bullets it could have been a harmless stunt) they are flirting with real trouble with Vance.

    Vance is 100% the Russia-pushed candidate (I have heard Tucker Carlson bullied Trump into it, which tracks with Tucker being Russia’s representative/agent here) but things about Vance simply don’t work with some of the same fascist creeps that Russia cultivated. I’ve seen that Nick Fuentes continues to flip out and insist that Trump is controlled by nefarious forces, and the groypers are dangerous armed nuts.

    These are astonishing times to live in, but it’s also quite amazing how dangerous a game Russia and Trump are playing. It’s like they have to make this final desperation ploy in a crazed wild assault on everything we know, because if Biden stays in control and gets re-elected then Russia is not only screwed, but exposed for the things they were doing with Trump at Mar-A-Lago, which the case is not gone just delayed.

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