Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Giving up is unforgivable.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

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

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

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

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

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

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

White supremacy is terrorism.

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / Dark Grey Dawn Open Thread: TFG’s Acceptance Speech

Dark Grey Dawn Open Thread: TFG’s Acceptance Speech

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Dark Grey Dawn Open Thread: TFG's Acceptance Speech
James Fallows has been following political speeches since he was one of candidate Jimmy Carter’s writers. He is professionally qualified to judge TFG’s performance here.

Putting this out now, so that those who want to can read it before they eat breakfast. Yes, that *is* a warning…

Predictably, the hirelings sent to Party City for this prop misspelled the poor man’s name.

(Not wanting to bleed from the ears is why I only witnessed this speech filtered through social media.)


(I checked. Venezuela is listed as a country that ‘frequently refuses’ extradition requests, if anyone wondered about TFG’s post-November plans.)

Conservative-on-conservative violence!


The first twenty minutes, you say?

Sure enough… The NYTimes‘ Peter Baker preps his heel turn!


You’re telling me.

Reader Interactions

280Comments

  1. 1.

    Hildebrand

    Perhaps this is the best possible outcome – the press finds that Trump is weird and repeating himself (and transparently dangerous). Tough to sell that.  And if they can’t make money off him they will finally turn on him.

  2. 2.

    Ejoiner

    Just spent last week driving through South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana to visit my daughter in Indianapolis. Except for being plugged in to the internet and following things on my own, you would never have known there is a presidential election right around the corner. My wife and I counted one giant Trump billboard and two bumper stickers the entire trip…no MAGA hats, no shirts, nada (and nothing at all of Biden anywhere). Really weird with the RNC going on and the only news we ever saw was Saturday/Sunday after the shooting. (Side note: construction everywhere – roads, apartments, business centers…I’ve never seen so much going on in every state we passed through)

  6. 6.

    Hildebrand

    Has anyone ever figured out what Trump is trying to say when he references Hannibal Lecter?  I mean, is it a joke if no one knows what the heck you are talking about?

  8. 8.

    WereBear

    @Hildebrand: His brain has a single synapse that fires when he says derogatory things about immigrants to get to crime.

    Now that synapse has a name. A famous name. The most beautiful name in the world!

  9. 9.

    MagdaInBlack

    Well, I’ve watched enough of his cult gatherings to know this is how he always is, just very few have actually seen whole “speeches.”  I’m glad we all got to see it. I’m glad the ft-msm was forced to see all of it.

  11. 11.

    Harrison Wesley

    One more time: that was some weird shit.  And, as Mrs. Slocombe would say, in that I am unanimous.

  13. 13.

    Chris Johnson

    I’m watching a Xanderhal video, which I hope is indicative of more young leftists. You’re gonna love the name and it’s no accident: this kid is smart though you might not get many of the references.
    “Biden’s Good, And I’m Tired Of Pretending He’s Not”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNH192lv0dM

    Love this kid :)

  15. 15.

    Lapassionara

    AL, I don’t know how you manage to find and organize all these tweets (or whatever), but I am very grateful to you. After yesterday, I approached the internet with apprehension. I heard that Trump was supposedly rewriting his speech to emphasize “unity.” If so, that theme got lost in his disorganized mind, and this collection of reactions shows that he is vulnerable. As a country, we should be having an extended conversation about his mental capacity, starting now.

  16. 16.

    TBone

    I bet Sarah Cooper is gonna have a field day making parody of last night 💜

    I hope she does the kiss on the fireman’s suit with the name spelled wrong.

  22. 22.

    MomSense

    The Republican Party is a cult of personality full of violent racists and bigots. There are probably some who don’t like him but are scared of being killed if they step out of line.

  23. 23.

    The Thin Black Duke

    The folks who won’t shut up about Biden’s bad fifteen minutes at the debate but won’t say a word about Trump’s babbling at the RNC aren’t people we should take political strategy from.

  25. 25.

    trnc

    NBC News: The first half I saw a lot of wet eyes, the second half I saw some closed eyes

    DT’s?

    Man, if anything helped to quell the worries over Biden, this was it.

  27. 27.

    Geoduck

    Checking the CNN/Post/NYT sites, it’s a mixed bag. Some acknowledgement that the speech sucked, but all three still have “anonymous sources say Biden must drop out” pieces of some stripe or other. The big airplane-software failure is the top story, unsurprisingly.

  28. 28.

    Xentik

    It’s lowered my anxiety some to see even the MSM has limits to how far they’re willing to gaslight us. Hopefully we can use this to change the discussion back to the fact that Trump is deranged.

    In other news, I want to thank Lily (and whomever else commented on this video and the related bsky thread) for posting this video from AOC regarding the situation with replacing Biden in the thread last night. It’s a breath of fresh air to see her lay out clearly all of the stakes involved and what’s actually happening behind the scenes with the “Replace Biden” movement. I highly recommend everyone wavering about what we should do watch it.

    Also, I’ve gotta say that if Harris isn’t the first woman President, AOC may very well be. She gets more impressive every year.

  29. 29.

    trnc

    @Hildebrand: ​
     

    Has anyone ever figured out what Trump is trying to say when he references Hannibal Lecter? I mean, is it a joke if no one knows what the heck you are talking about?

    All I can tell you is, any profiler who goes deep enough to figure out what the fuck he thinks he’s saying would come out a broken person.

  30. 30.

    Xentik

    @trnc:

    NBC News: The first half I saw a lot of wet eyes, the second half I saw some closed eyes

    DT’s?

    Clearly it was all the eyes of all the people lined up waiting to call him “Sir”.

  31. 31.

    TBone

    Packing a picnic lunch to take to a spring-fed lake surrounded by mountains.  There is a clean, manmade sand beach there, with picnic tables and charcoal grills tucked in groves of whispering evergreens, and a snack bar that serves delicious hand-scooped ice cream cones.  Lots of shady spots to stretch out in, as well as plenty of sun and sand.  Plus a big picnic basket full of sammies, potato salad, extra dark pretzels, chilled fresh cherries, and grapes.

    Life. Is. Good!

  33. 33.

    Shalimar

    It’s hilarious that the speech was so bad even Nate Silver was forced to retract his compliment by the time Trump finally got near the end.

  37. 37.

    stinger

    @WereBear: @WereBear: You highlighted the two things I was going to comment on — and maybe it shows how shallow I am, but his tiny vocabulary is irritating. The adjective “beautiful” repeated over and over, and his uninvited kissing of Smokey the Bear (took me several replays to figure out what that thing was) were eerily reminiscent of how he treats women and teenage girls in dressing rooms.

  38. 38.

    Chris Johnson

    @Geoduck: If they keep it strictly to ‘anonymous sources that are the very most important people’ or ‘many people who are familiar with his thinking’, it’s non-actionable.

    Gives me the impression that they run all that stuff past the lawyers because they know full well what they’re doing and why. They HAVE to keep it all non-actionable because they’re actively intending to slander high-ranking Dems and enrage the base against them to cause more chaos and damage, because there’s nothing else they CAN do.

  39. 39.

    TBone

    @WereBear: 💜 a relaxing break from drama!  Also: I’m choosing which Mark Twain volume(s) to bring along out of my vintage complete set of his works found in a thrift shop.  The old illustrations are a wonderful addition!

  41. 41.

    MagdaInBlack

    @trnc: I am broken: I think i figured it out. He segued into how other countries are emptying their “insane asylums” and sending the psychopaths here……see, it flows…..sorta…..

  43. 43.

    WereBear

    @stinger: Finally he brings up the poor guy who died protecting his family. And they misspell the name on his jacket and then Trump assaults the prop…

    That’s what should be run on loop. Everywhere. In Times Square.

  44. 44.

    trnc

    @Shalimar: ​
     

    It’s hilarious that the speech was so bad even Nate Silver was forced to retract his compliment by the time Trump finally got near the end.

    I would also note that David Axelrod criticized a republican for the first time in years.

  45. 45.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, I’m seeing on Mastodon.social/explore that a Crowdstrike update has broken the Internet.  So there’s that.

    Have a good day, everyone.

    (Still ridin with Biden.)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  47. 47.

    WereBear

    @Chris Johnson: That’s what made me think it was a psy-op, because the more you dug, the more it wasn’t there.

    I’m sure there is a background worry about Biden’s health. But Eisenhower was bedridden on doctor’s orders.

    But we aren’t looking for a stunt double. If he’s thinking fine and in good health, then this “concern” is both ableist and ageist.

    If we wanted a Chippendale dancer, we would get Trump.

  50. 50.

    TBone

    @WereBear: an amazing bargain!  I keep the volumes prominently displayed on living room bookshelf, as the hardcovers perfectly match my decor 😁 also too.  Me & Samuel share a birthday.

    OK, off to pack picnic and check the expiration dates on my sunblock containers.

  54. 54.

    Harrison Wesley

    If A Clockwork Orange is ever re-made, Trump’s performance is what Little Alex will be forced to watch.  Over and over and over…..

  57. 57.

    Harrison Wesley

    @TBone: Great birthday to share.  Me, I share one with Matt Gaetz.  So I guess I should celebrate by going out every May 7 and hitting on underage women.

  60. 60.

    cmorenc

    The “normie” take on the Presidential election last night will be:

    doddering vs doddering and deranged.

    We have a very nervous, scared electorate right now, outside Trump’s MAGA cult and Biden dead-enders.  Biden did not grow any better from anything that happened last night, but Trump likely did get worse in normie eyes

    So, how do we Ds best capitalize on this unexpectedly perversely favorable moment, after weeks of bad news?

  63. 63.

    WereBear

    And I’ve been the bird and he’s been the snake since I came to NYC in the early 80’s and he was rising in the tabloids.

    Now we know he’s a crime lord and is bribed to destroy our country, it’s all explained.

  66. 66.

    trnc

    @Xentik: ​
     

    In other news, I want to thank Lily (and whomever else commented on this video and the related bsky thread) for posting this video from AOC regarding the situation with replacing Biden in the thread last night.

    Watching that video now, so thanks for linking.

    Sure would be nice for the media to ask republicans why democrats shouldn’t be able to choose their own candidate at their nominating convention. I don’t mean that I want a brokered convention or for Biden to not be the nominee. I mean that it’s beyond ridiculous that republicans should have a say (through lawsuits) in which democrat should be on the ballot. Every democrat should be pointing out how pathetic this is.

    It reminds me that in the republican lawsuits that attempted to turn over the election in 2020, none actually claimed fraud. Every one was essentially a complaint that changes in voting laws made it too easy for eligible voters to vote.

  67. 67.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @cmorenc: It would do voters well to remember that the President isn’t the whole government.

    Once accounting for the VP’s ability to step up at a moment’s notice, we have offices up and down the ballot that are making decisions closer to your daily life and which may produce extra enthusiasm to show up to vote.

  69. 69.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Hildebrand: Picture what them and their editors are thinking this morning “We will be reporting at lest four years of this boring nonsense.”

  71. 71.

    WereBear

    It has occurred to me that Democratic leaders are just as vulnerable to MSM shenanigans as we are. And maybe, Schiff panicked first because of his personal experience being threatened and having to be evacuated.

    In a way, this is why we have a loooooong political season, and I see no reason to shorten it as long as people come out of near-nowhere and manage to become President.

    And perhaps this is especially true of actors who are sponsored in the role. Let’s say.

  74. 74.

    trnc

    @cmorenc: ​
     

    So, how do we Ds best capitalize on this unexpectedly perversely favorable moment, after weeks of bad news?

    We argue the platform and agenda. Ours is good and theirs sucks. Biden’s agenda is the party agenda, and we fully embrace it because it has already been producing results. The republican nominee is trying to distance himself from their agenda.

  75. 75.

    cmorenc

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation:

    Once accounting for the VP’s ability to step up at a moment’s notice, we have offices up and down the ballot that are making decisions closer to your daily life and which may produce extra enthusiasm to show up to vote.

    Another constructive approach would be to figure out: what assumptions by normies might have been broken last night that were lubricating their grumbling slide by a few but critical % toward Trump in swing states?  I doubt that Trump-ward slide was a happy one, just an assumption that somehow Trump would be better-able to fix the inflationary squeeze in the economy.  Keep in mind, this observation isn’t based on whether that assumption is correct (it isn’t) but rather the fact that it was stubbornly there.  Until hopefully last night.

  76. 76.

    WereBear

    @NotMax: I don’t understand the penchant for the downright repellent candidates R’s run, except that so many of them are Fundie “ministers” … but I repeat myself.

    In MAGA land, neither needs any authorization but that of their god.

  78. 78.

    trnc

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: ​
     

    It would do voters well to remember that the President isn’t the whole government.

    Once accounting for the VP’s ability to step up at a moment’s notice, we have offices up and down the ballot that are making decisions closer to your daily life and which may produce extra enthusiasm to show up to vote.

    This is something that democrats failed to note for years, or noted in clumsy ways (“You didn’t build that”). I think Biden has been better about explicitly crediting the good things the govt does, but it’s going to take a long time to break through to people who have internalized Reagan’s “I’m from the gov’t” bullshit.

  79. 79.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @cmorenc:The “normie” take on the Presidential election last night will be:doddering vs doddering and deranged.

    Going by conversations with people , that was the normie impression before the debate.

    So, how do we Ds best capitalize on this unexpectedly perversely favorable moment, after weeks of bad news?

    “This dude is fucked up” was the reaction of the focus to Trump debate night.

    We had good news that night, some people ignored the debate was Donald “Death by sharks and batteries” Trump and Joe “Whose for Ice cream” Biden and instead imagined it was Romney verses Biden.

    Why would that change anything now?

  80. 80.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @cmorenc: The normie assumption I find most frustrating at the moment didn’t have any great explanatory moments last night, unless persuadables are still thinking Trump might be sane.

  82. 82.

    Suzanne

    Tom Nichols is a bit of an asshole and absolutely a fair-weather ally…. but he does make me laugh.

    The ability to stick in the shiv is absolutely an underrated political gift, BTW.

  83. 83.

    WereBear

    The ghost of Walter Cronkite whispered to me that back in the day, grownups would file full documentation from their physician.

    Full. And open to questions from the press and people.

    Like vetting, this is no longer necessary? Since when?

  84. 84.

    mrmoshpotato

    Oh Nìcole…  That’s how time works, child.  Dump is older, and more batshit crazy.

  87. 87.

    Mapaghimagsik

    That is the sound of hundreds of Trump boners deflating across the media.

    Sorry/not sorry for the image.

  88. 88.

    Trivia Man

    @Hildebrand: I finally  made the connection last night. Other countries are emptying prisons and insane asylums* to flood our borders with illegal immigrants. Hannibal lecter is a dangerous lunatic. Therefore: they are sending millions of cannibals into america.

    *Many of us here probably remember when it was Cuba “emptying prisons and asylums.”

  89. 89.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: …aren’t we lucky?

    We will see. My impression the MSM was given Trump a pass and mean girling Biden was the wisdom among the MSM is “Trump is exciting, Biden is boring, we want exciting.” and they just found out Trump exciting in the way an old gym socks is, and worse, the ratings are down.

  91. 91.

    The Thin Black Duke

    The takeaway from last night’s disastrous speech was that Trump is incapable now of getting in front of a mic and sounding coherent and even ‘normies’ are going to be creeped out by the guy. It’s a long road to November and I think that in spite of the MSM’s attempts to polish this gold-plated turd, Trump is going to get worse.

  92. 92.

    WereBear

    @Trivia Man: Because the last scene in the movie, Lecter was in a foreign looking country planning a murder.

    Or, depending on how anyone could interpret what Trump did with that prop in the fireman’s hat, a romantic dinner.

  95. 95.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @trnc: I’m just saying a good place to start would be to focus on the successes of down ballot incumbents and the work more, better Democrats can do everywhere with more representation everywhere.

    Especially considering the bipartisan lack of enthusiasm for the top of the ticket,  Presidential campaigns nevertheless bring more engagement. We can use that as a chance to educate about opportunities closer to home and let that lift Biden.

    I think we can build a blowout like we haven’t seen in decades.

  99. 99.

    WereBear

    @The Thin Black Duke: even ‘normies’ are going to be creeped out by the guy

    YES! And so early, too. What big brain moved the debates forward?

    Usually the polls aren’t released from the horserace so soon, if at all.

  102. 102.

    Trivia Man

    I am rethinking my hot take i had watching live. The first 20 minutes were a plodding, low energy dirge. I was half expecting him to tell the story of ear blood and end it with THAT IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW!! EVERYONE IS SAYING IT.
    then, like a switch flipped, he started talking so fast he sounded like he was manic.

    My assumption was the carefully timed dose of something kicked in. Now it’s wonder if that’s when he went off script and actually got excited. They live me! They get me! I can say anything and they will cheer!

  103. 103.

    trnc

    @zhena gogolia: ​
     @Hildebrand:

    Oh, come on. They knew all that before they went in for the kill on Biden.

    That’s true, but they kept the evidence to themselves by not airing the bizarre rants from his speeches. That band-aid was ripped off last night. The only question is how quickly they can memory hole it.

  104. 104.

    Ken

    @Hildebrand: Has anyone ever figured out what Trump is trying to say when he references Hannibal Lecter?

    The best we can hope for is that this isn’t another “every accusation is a confession” situation.

  106. 106.

    WereBear

    @Trivia Man: That’s fascinating. And probably correct.

    War Room: “He’s praying too much! Where the cameras can see. Get Dr What’s His Name.”

    Did they believe their own fantasies of how Biden has supposedly been drugged to perform well?

  107. 107.

    SFAW

    @WereBear:

    If we wanted a Chippendale dancer, we would get Trump.

    WTF is wrong with you?? It’s too effing early in the morning for that mental image, which I now cannot unthink.

  109. 109.

    NotMax

    @zhena gogolis

    Biden has trouble getting into a car,

    Like since Saturday he hasn’t been weighed down with and restricted by extra protective gear underneath the suit.

    /Occam’s Razor

  110. 110.

    FDRLincoln

    @Suzanne: Nichols is intelligent, hilarious, likes Pink Floyd and Star Trek, and hates Trump. I’m inclined to like him for those reasons.

    But I would never ever trust him.

  111. 111.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I keep seeing posts saying “We’ll know by the end of the week whether Biden will resign” or “This will be settled in the next two or three days.” And then Biden says he’s staying in, and the whole thing repeats. I can’t do this. It’s too dispiriting.

  112. 112.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @trnc: There is social media now. Don’t let them memory hole shit.  Post appropriately contextualized video of Biden knowing his shit and Trump being deranged to dangerous.

    The video is available. Let’s go around them.

  114. 114.

    Another Scott

    @Hildebrand: Remember his quote about ratings.  All that matters is ratings.  He’s an attention sponge.  Something something there’s no such thing as bad publicity.  He lives that ethos.

    Remember, also too, that he supposedly said that he thought that people going nuts over “Wall” was stupid, but it got the most applause and attention at his rallies.  So he ran with it and kept pounding it.

    It’s the same thing here.  People talk about it, it gets attention, so he keeps going on and on and on about it.

    Plus, he’s incapable of learning anything actually related to the real world, so once something gets stuck in his head nothing else can enter.

    The way to crush his psyche is to ignore him.  Don’t talk about the stupid things he says.  Unfortunately, we have to defeat his cult, also too, so we have to do both and that’s kinda hard…

    :-/

    When we’re talking about him rather than promoting our team, we’re doing what they want.

    Eyes on the prizes.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  116. 116.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @zhena gogolia: One of them is pretty much in the mind set of a Flat Earther and ignores any information that contradicts her internal narrative or goes into rage mode on the person who presents her with facts that don’t support her conclusion.

    Going by her comments, and assuming she is part of the group driving this, this sounds like a group of rich people who want some woman to scream at Trump like he is a Wallmart manger. and simply don’t give a shit about anything else.  The rest of us need to just shut up and do as we are told in their minds and deal with any problems this creates.

  117. 117.

    different-church-lady

    REPUBLICANS: “FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”

    DEMOCRATS: “Doubt… doubt… doubt…”

  120. 120.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: The truly savvy among us already know whether Biden will step down. That it is even viewed by *some* as a valid question is only because the cult of the savvy jumped the shark because they know their insights are increasingly trash and weren’t that great to start.

  121. 121.

    eversor

    @Geoduck:

    It wasn’t “airplane software” or Microsoft.  It was Cloudstrike that fornicated the canine on this one.

  124. 124.

    schrodingers_cat

    @zhena gogolia: Are these bloodless coup plotters white? I really don’t care for their “good faith” arguments to disenfranchise me and 14.5 million people. They can get fucked

    I found Twitter to be much better the last few days than this mostly white blog. Its mostly white people who are losing their shit. On BJ it feels like being stuck in the same loop for eternity.

  125. 125.

    SFAW

    @WereBear:

    No, let’s be clear. He was never not-batshit.

    Minor disagreement: he’s always been a stupid, sociopathic, self-absorbed/narcissistic asshole with delusions vis-a-vis his own abilities. But he hasn’t been batshit-crazy until the last few years.

    [Let’s not pick nits re: whether my first sentence actually describes someone batshit crazy.]

  129. 129.

    trnc

    @zhena gogolia: ​
     

    Judging by the overnight thread, a couple of the commenters here haven’t changed their opinions at all. Biden has trouble getting into a car, so we need Trump.

    I haven’t read all the comments, so maybe you’re talking about trolls. If you’re talking about long time commenters, disagreement does not equal wanting Trump.

  132. 132.

    different-church-lady

    @WereBear: ​

    @WereBear: ​

    If we wanted a Chippendale dancer, we would get Trump.

    I think you might have misunderstood that SNL sketch with Chris Farley.

  137. 137.

    Tony Jay

      NYTPressroom/Confidential


           Just to confirm, King Sull has approved a weekend’s grace period for WH/Election coverage teams. The lake houses upstate are available if anyone needs to take some air, otherwise Party at David’s. It’s been agreed that everyone will need some space to rewhet the weaponry for next week’s Bidendump and let the dust settle in minds after The Candidate’s performance in Michigan. Editorial will hold the fort, come back Sun evening with On Narrative copy to tamp down any doubts.

    ps) Reminder. King Sull DOES NOT want to hear anything about Michigan. He wants NEWS. Talk to Maggie if you need source/hints.

    NYT – A Heritage Of Heroism

  140. 140.

    Trivia Man

    @WereBear: I have a friend who got obsessed with Japanese monster movies because the local station had them on repeat. As a teenager he started a fanzine and  recently  wrote a book. I can look up the book title if anyone is a fan of old godzilla, ultra man, and the like.

  141. 141.

    Jeffro

    @Hildebrand: “weird and dangerous” is a great, short way to put it, every time.

    (“corrupt and incompetent” also helps, if there’s room.  =)

  144. 144.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @WereBear: But Chris Farley would make the best Trump in sketches, I feel it.

    In the worst timeline, wherever that is, it was left to Alec Baldwin.

  147. 147.

    TBone

    @WereBear: ooh!  Glad I checked back in after packing up for road trip day.  Not sure I’ll have any cell service at the State Park today.

    My ancestors’ old PA family farm leased out property to a maple syrup operation for decades, so I always got their maple syrup in gallon jugs.  But the syrup barn burned down in 2022!

    https://www.mytwintiers.com/news-cat/top-stories/fire-destroys-maple-syrup-barn-in-tioga-county-pa/

    I hope they’re back in business by now.  PA maple syrup is bangin’ too!

    Thank you for the rec, if Mr. and Mrs. Tice are still out of business I’ll check it out.

  148. 148.

    SFAW

    @WereBear: ​ Immaterial re: to what you were referring. Your comment — however valid — still needed a trigger warning. I was just glad I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet.I mean, I still love ya (in a figurative sense), it’s just that I can’t un-see the mental image of him pulling a Chris Farley.​
     
    ETA: And I see different-church-lady beat me to it by a country mile.

  152. 152.

    Trivia Man

    @WereBear: My guess is the Biden team was watching dear leader rallies and knew how bat shit he was. What they didn’t count on was NOT letting him ramble helps. 2 minutes to say anything about any topic with no comments allowed was a good forum for him. And strict silence when not talking absolutely helped him appear sane and in control.

  153. 153.

    different-church-lady

    Here, let me do the obvious for Doug J:

    “Trump gave a rambling, incoherent speech at his convention. This means Joe Biden must step aside.”

  154. 154.

    schrodingers_cat

    @The Thin Black Duke: Duh. I was talking about the nice polite coup supporters of the BJ comment section, who have been singing this tune for 3 weeks now, and are immune to any new information.

    BUT HE IS SENILE, Has  become BUT HIZ POLLS now.

    BTW you should front page AOC’s thread and Instagram Live where she confirms what we have been saying that the coup plotters were instigated by wealthy donors and they don’t want Kamala Harris either. And have no plan besides dumping the current ticket.

  157. 157.

    M31

    @WereBear: Did they believe their own fantasies of how Biden has supposedly been drugged to perform well?

    every accusation is a confession, part the 100th

  160. 160.

    Jeffro

    AL, thanks for all the choice tweets and quotes and takes!  Very helpful!!

    SO glad I did not waste a moment watching psycho boy spew garbage and lies for over an hour.

    Oh well…onward and upward!  Let’s go with this thing, Ds!!

  161. 161.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @The Thin Black Duke: It’s instructive to remember that even billionaires ‘allegedly’ on our side aren’t reliable allies.

    Oh I agree. I had to deal with rich people before; oversized egos and deep, deep insecurities, so a lot of “how dare you even hint I am wrong”.

    The stupid thing in all this is these fools likely think they are helping us, but there brains go instantly into “how dare you sass talk me, don’t you know who I am?” mode when they get push back on their idiot idea.

  163. 163.

    trnc

    @different-church-lady: ​
     

    We’re talking about longtime trolls.

    OK, thanks. I’m all for dumping on trolls, of course, but I’m concerned about some of the vitriol hurled at solid, long time progressives. We may not agree with them, but I don’t think for a second they want DT to win.

    I do hope that whatever the end of this roller coaster looks like, we’ll all work to support the Democratic nominee. Hopefully, it’s Biden kicking ass and taking names.

  164. 164.

    Suzanne

    Somewhat O/T, but I pre-ordered Nancy Pelosi’s new book. Unfortunately, it is not going to get here before I leave with the fam for a few days at the beach. But I am very much looking forward to reading it. She’s a master of the game.

  165. 165.

    eversor

    @WereBear:

    I dunno we are dealing with this at work now.  It looks like Crowdstrike didn’t properly check their update and pushed it and wiped out MS Azure.  Which given that EVERYTHING pretty much runs off Azure or AWS now que the shit show.

    It’s not the first time something like this has happened.

  168. 168.

    WereBear

    @M31: Maybe we should just hand out fake 3-D glasses for a kind of treasure hunt and then MAGAs go into a campaign event with the effect of Roddy Piper’s sunglasses in They Live.

  169. 169.

    TBone

    @Liminal Owl: ✌️🌲🌞🏞️🍦

    Prescription for rejuvenating life so I’ll live to fight another day.  Hey, hey Boo Boo, I got the pickanick basket!

  170. 170.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Oh I agree. I had to deal with rich people before; oversized egos and deep, deep insecurities, so a lot of “how dare you even hint I am wrong”.

    I have had to deal with many men (of all demographics) like that and many white people like that, who were not even particularly wealthy.

  172. 172.

    cmorenc

    @schrodingers_cat:

    @The Thin Black Duke: Duh. I was talking about the nice polite coup supporters of the BJ comment section, who have been singing this tune for 3 weeks now, and are immune to any new information.

    So Pelosi, Jeffries, and Tester are now among the “nice polite coup” supporters, and not just Adam Schiff or George Clooney.  Or are they trolls speaking  or posting to discourage D BJ and more general D enthusiasm?  That’s what many regular BJ posters have been calling anyone who expresses thoughts that Biden staying in might not be a winning move.

  173. 173.

    trnc

    @schrodingers_cat: ​
     

    BTW you should front page AOC’s thread and Instagram Live where she confirms what we have been saying that the coup plotters were instigated by wealthy donors and they don’t want Kamala Harris either. And have no plan besides dumping the current ticket.

    100% agree, but I’d recommend editing to get the major points out front. I’ve been listening to it and it’s great, but I suspect a lot of people won’t listen to the whole thing. It’s also unfortunate that Instagram apparently doesn’t have a way to let me rewind a bit if I missed something. Maybe people with IG accounts are able to.

  175. 175.

    TBone

    @Trivia Man: I love that one!  Alas, recently read it so I’m on to his trip out West in a covered wagon (and I chose another volume at random so it’ll be surprise).

  177. 177.

    Trivia Man

    I am surprised I haven’t heard one word about Melania. To me it’s unusual that she wasnt with him until the very end. By an amazing coincidence, she arrived just 5 minutes after he left his seat to get ready backstage. No barron either. He said something about barron but I didn’t hear it.

  179. 179.

    different-church-lady

    @Trivia Man: ​My guess is Melania hated life at the White House and doesn’t want him to be president again, but only for that reason.

  183. 183.

    Another Scott

    @Trivia Man: Just about all the advance “behind the scenes reporting” on the GQP convention was wrong.

    “Haley isn’t invited.” – she gave an endorsement speech (and everyone knew she was going to endorse him).

    “Melania won’t be there.” – she was there.

    “TCFFG will pivot to unity.  He’s a changed man!” – he did not pivot, he has not changed.

    Etc.

    Makes one wonder about the rest of the political reporting and speculation these days, doesn’t it??

    Hang in there, everyone.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  184. 184.

    eversor

    @Ken:

    Pretty much.  Without getting too much into it you normally have a development environment, a testing environment, and then when you move it into production it hit’s everything.

    That testing is a sandbox where it cannot actually deploy to your customers.  One you move into production off it goes!

  186. 186.

    JWR

    @Layer8Problem: I listened to a bit of news a while ago and it’s also affecting flights at LAX. Whether it’s because of their computers, or just a reaction to other airports I do not know. But the damn thing is worldwide.

  188. 188.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @cmorenc: I can only speak for myself, but I’ve seen this movie before. It’s a sequel to the “but her emails” media blitzkrieg in 2016 and–shazam!–it worked. Look, I understand people being scared, but playing armchair QB isn’t helpful. Biden is the incumbent candidate, Harris is the VP, end of story. Maybe “hope isn’t a strategy”, but neither is hysteria.

  190. 190.

    different-church-lady

    Sounds like a good day to be smug about having some old-fashioned cash on hand.

  191. 191.

    BellyCat

    @Hildebrand: Perhaps this is the best possible outcome – the press finds that Trump is weird and repeating himself (and transparently dangerous). Tough to sell that.  And if they can’t make money off him they will finally turn on him.

    This! The press wants new click bait. Changing horses, as dangerous as this might be pe conventional wisdom, would certainly create a new horse race for them to breathlessly attempt to predict (and direct).

  192. 192.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @TBone: I have always been fond of “Pudding Head Wilson”.  While it features a white savior, the white savior is a non conformist, with the point that environment is a large factor in developing character.

  195. 195.

    different-church-lady

    @Starfish: I have never seen so many signs for school committee candidates as during the past cycle. People here in the liberal northeast are tuned into the MAGA attempts to take over the schools and aren’t going to let it happen.

  201. 201.

    3Sice

    I’m sure it was an early morning for Joe.

    Money spends, and best to be the first with the most.

    You know we always loved ya Joe….

  207. 207.

    Trivia Man

    @TBone: Keep an eye out for his description of Mormons. As a kid my Mormon family was careful to debunk his poor view of them but somehow I still hooked into him as a favorite author.

  209. 209.

    JWR

    Anyone given much thought to notable Repubs who didn’t attend? I’d guessed that one would be Mike Pence, then some newsperson mentioned Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney and Chris Christie. Oh, and most probably Adam Kinzinger. Something tells me he’s as far away as he can get. ;

    ETA that I missed Tucker Carlson’s appearance. Poor, poor, pitiful me. ;)

  210. 210.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @different-church-lady: My school board races and some other small ones never show up on my sample ballots. I showed up two years ago blindsided, literally not having seen the names before.

    What do you find is a good resource for school board races information?

  213. 213.

    cmorenc

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    @cmorenc: I can only speak for myself, but I’ve seen this movie before. It’s a sequel to the “but her emails” media blitzkrieg in 2016 and–shazam!–it worked. Look, I understand people being scared, but playing armchair QB isn’t helpful. Biden is the incumbent candidate, Harris is the VP, end of story. Maybe “hope isn’t a strategy”, but neither is hysteria.

    The one part I’ll agree with you about is “end of story”, but not in the way you intended.  Point is, the calls are coming now from so many level-headed key people  (e.g. Pelosi, Jeffries) and not just disaffected back-benchers.

  214. 214.

    NotoriousJRT

    @Hildebrand: I just have to see that to believe it. He’s consistently labeled them “the enemy of the people” and they’ve consistently behaved like charter members of the “Leopards (or, maybe, Hannibal Lecter) Eating People’s Faces” party.

  217. 217.

    zhena gogolia

    @trnc: I am talking about longtime commenters (I have never called them trolls). They want Trump for some reason I cannot fathom. When I ask them to explain how exactly a replacement for Biden is supposed to be installed and then win the election, they are silent.

  218. 218.

    Starfish

    @TBone: PA maple syrup was so good. In Maryland, someone knew a person from PA who would bring us all the maple syrup if we put in an order of at least $150 so we would put together a group order, ordering many gallons and half gallons of maple syrup. It was always great.

  221. 221.

    different-church-lady

    @zhena gogolia: ​I don’t think they want Trump. They have formed an opinion and they want to be right. Getting Trump as a consequence doesn’t seem to matter to them as far as behavior goes.

  222. 222.

    eversor

    @WereBear:

    I have no idea.  But from my experience (as a sysadmin/engineer/network/security guy over the years) here is how it “should” work.

    Your first area is development where you develop these things.  Then it’s moved into a staging area which is a replication of your production area.  This can be wiped, rolled back, whatever.  Then you have all sorts of comprehensive testing.  Once this is all validated and signed off on it gets moved into production where it hits everything.

    Cutting corners on this leads to massive issues.  Bricking iPhones via an iOS update is one thing.  Being an IT security company and bringing down the worlds second largest (and for business the largest) cloud provider is one hell of a fuck up.

    I have no idea what happened here but as the sysadmin running these sorts of servers/environments in the past for developers I’ve seen management rush things through for reasons over much protesting.

  223. 223.

    Ken

    @JWR: It reminds me of another recent incident where a Certificate Authority [short version, a company that creates the credentials that let computers securely talk to one another] had issued some certificates incorrectly.  Security standards require these to be revoked promptly, but the company said they wouldn’t, because doing so would shut down airports, hospitals, government agencies, railways, the electrical grid….

    The implication is that one bad actor at a CA issuer could take all that offline with a few keystrokes. Makes you wonder where foreign intelligence services are inserting their agents.

  225. 225.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @cmorenc: The call is coming from the old and cynical and white. Biden’s most stalwart supporters in office are the young, aspirational, and just all the women of color.

  226. 226.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Harrison Wesley:

    You also share a birthday with two of the greatest composers of the 19th century — Tchaikovsky and Brahms. So you can celebrate with the noisy, exuberant 1812 Overture and then soothe yourself to sleep to Brahms’ Lullaby.

  227. 227.

    SFAW

    Since the post-debate meltdown, I have been having a mild freakout. Not because of Biden — other than I was pissed that he blew a golden opportunity to put the “but he’s TOO OLD!” shit to rest — but because of the MSM-driven panic, which too-fucking-many Dems bought into, and then helped amplify the FTFTFNYT’s preferred “message.” I’ve been thinking about what a a second TCFFG Maladministration would do to the country and the world, and it scares the shit out of me. Add to that the powerlessness of being unable to get the MSM and “leading” Dems to SHUT THE FUCK UP and STOP pushing RWMF TALKING POINTS exacerbated my freakout. [For me, guachi’s and Cacti’s persistent “truthtelling”/doomposting can be annoying, but they’re not the problem, just a symptom thereof.] I’m an old, straight, white male, who is relatively financially secure, so my worries (for myself, that is) are relatively small. But there are people I know and love who would be in danger.

    So seeing this post [thanks, AL!!] is helping move me away from the ledge. I’m still stressed about the whole “Dump Biden” movement, but I hope TCFFG’s performance last night helps move the needle back in a big way.

  230. 230.

    NotMax

    Wondering how the members of Fleetwood Mac feel about the R convention using the same tune Bill Clinton’s campaign used for the Ds?

  231. 231.

    Starfish

    @different-church-lady: Yes! Exactly this. A lot of people have been working to make sure we don’t get any people who want to ban books on the school boards and possibly to roll back some of this charter school nonsense.

  233. 233.

    Trivia Man

    @WereBear: He has actually found people who contributed to his original fanzines and hasn’t heard from since. He can get obsessed on his projects so he is trying to archive every home made fanzine of the time. Finding people who had missing pages from his own issues he had lost, tracking down the artists and contributors – he is having a blast connecting with people from all over the world. And I think he sold 50 copies which thrills him no end.

  234. 234.

    different-church-lady

    So I assume a lot of people in the media are going to start asking when Trump will step aside.

  235. 235.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @cmorenc: And I disagree with them.

    Unless there’s genuine evidence that Biden is suffering genuine cognitive decline, I think it’s foolish to throw away the advantages an incumbent POTUS has simply because of the hatred–and that’s what it is–the usual backstabbing minions in the MSM have for Joe Biden. If Pelosi, Schumer, etc. know that Biden isn’t capable, then let us know for Chissake. Otherwise, shut up.

  239. 239.

    Jeffg166

    @Trivia Man: Perhaps her renegotiated premarital contract stipulates she doesn’t have to be in the same room with him at the same time.

  241. 241.

    cain

    @Xentik:

    Probably frustrating to the media as they are handling him with kid gloves and all he had to do was was some minimal unity stuff and they would take care of the rest but he can’t do it.

    His donors must be seething. Someone should troll Elon on whether that speech was with 24 million.

  243. 243.

    WereBear

    For all who want a peek with humor, I love Hal Sparks, Youtube, The Republican Irrational Conspiracy.

    His coverage of the last night.

  244. 244.

    Eolirin

    Guys, the reason why Trump keeps bringing up Lector is because people criticized him for bringing up Lector. He gets obsessive about things when that happens. He needs to prove that everything he’s done is actually correct and good to have done. He did the same thing about constantly bringing up his “perfect” phone call with Zelenskyy, and getting hung up on someone saying he had small hands. So many examples of it. He can’t let anything go.

  245. 245.

    Tenar Arha

    @Xentik: Thanks. Good to know. Maybe I can find it clipped elsewhere.

    ————

    Anyone else in having the experience of Instagram not even letting you see stuff or run any videos anymore, like at all?  I’ve never had the app installed, and never had an account. (Bc I’m never giving the Meta/FBers my data voluntarily if I can avoid it) so is there a way to get around the “Watch this in the app!” launcher?  I’m using DuckDuckGo Browser 7.128.0.1 on iOS 17.5.1 if that matters 

  248. 248.

    Trivia Man

    @BellyCat: I agree – ” change is as good as a rest”. They like DRAMA! TWISTS! TURNS! Things aren’t settled yet! What happens next? NOBODY KNOWS! Tune in to OUR station to find out what happens next!

  249. 249.

    Trivia Man

    @WereBear: My key take away from Hulk was that I have never seen Donnie so genuinely happy. No sleeping during that speech – beaming and engaged for every word. His kids even seemed to be jealous of how much he loves Hulk.

  250. 250.

    wenchacha

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Over the last couple days I have seen lots of bolded headlines re: stepping down when I check cnn online. Honestly, wtf? It seems a little premature, because I haven’t heard shit from the White House.

    It feels like news saying Reagan was dead, and then Dan Rather gets pissed.

    Does Biden campaign call CNN about this stuff?

  252. 252.

    artem1s

    @Chris Johnson: ​
    I just started listening and 4 minutes in explains a lot of the reasons this has become an endless loop of hysteria.
    AI generated post titles

    Judgement Day isn’t nuclear bombs from airplanes anymore. Gonna have to do a complete rewrite of the next iteration of Terminator.

  253. 253.

    trnc

    @zhena gogolia: ​
      I think there’s a big leap in logic from “does not understand how things work” to “wants Trump.” I was totally on board with Joe dropping out so that Kamala would be the nominee, but I think I understand the risks of that more now than I did before so I’m dropping that. Part of that is from various explanations that people gave who weren’t calling me a Trump supporter for my view.

    AOC’s IG post helps bundle up the arguments for keeping Biden nicely. I also appreciate that she reserved her fire not for people who disagreed with her, but with candyass anonymous sources who are elected officials or work in govt.

  255. 255.

    Trivia Man

    @Harrison Wesley: I remember Tom Lehrer saying “uncomfortable like a Christian Scientist with appendicitis”. The similar Twain qute was “He has all the confidence of a true Christian …. long pause…. holding four aces.”

  257. 257.

    WereBear

    @cain: I did not hear that he did. I’m sure they are tired of trying to make him do it.

    Or, fearful?

    “It was a beautiful death, beautiful. Hannibal Lecter.”

    And the lady has been honest with the press. She blamed the shooter, not Biden and the Democrats.

    Frankly, I wouldn’t want to inflict Trump on a grieving widow, but I’m a bleeding heart liberal Democrat.

  258. 258.

    Dave

    @trnc: Right; almost any of the established commentators do not want Trump (trolls and new commentators are well a different story) they just believe that with Biden that Trump is almost inevitable and I don’t even know that they are wrong because the media has been in a frenzy and it appears that a lot of Democrats have fallen into that so it may be self-fulfilling prophecy at this point.

    It’s not like we can run multiple scenarios and choose the best outcome; I’ll support Biden and if he does step down anyone who is the nominee because well the alternative is the current GOP and it’s malign clown of a Pontifex.

    I will say that what tiny bit of trust I had for the Democratic donor class prior to this has been absolutely shattered.  They really are only modestly better than the GOP donor class (still important) and I trust their judgment less than I would a rando off the street.

    Part of their freakout almost certainly comes from the fact that the Democrats have been actually putting policy in place that is more than the most anodyne fiddling with the margins that the Donor Class is comfortable with.

    And it’s particularly frustrating because we can not afford infighting at this time.  A second Trump term might now be the actual end of Republic (you can reconstitute from that but it’s hard and by no means guaranteed to succeed) but it will at best be very bad.  Which I’m sure is fueling the intensity of the current discourse.

  259. 259.

    WereBear

    And few have mentioned, but Amber Rose, who spoke the first night about love and unity (and was nearly booed for it), is Only Fans famous.

    Which I find so ironically amusing.

  260. 260.

    NotMax

    @Trivia Man

    Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary:

    Christian, n. One who believes that the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor. One who follows the teachings of Christ in so far as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin.

  262. 262.

    Trivia Man

    @NotMax: I am on my laptop now so I can do better research. Here is the Twain quote:

    “It will start in here in November and rain about four, and sometimes as much as seven days on a stretch; after that, you may loan out your umbrella for twelve months, with the serene confidence which a Christian feels in four aces.”

  266. 266.

    schrodingers_cat

    @stinger: Thanks. Steal away, the header I made, just give me credit and you are free to use it. Right click and then click save a copy. It willl download on your computer. The ridin with Biden I got from satby’s profile pic.

  267. 267.

    Geoduck

    @cmorenc:  At no point have Pelosi or any other senior figure come out in public and declared that Biden has to go. It’s all been anonymous second-hand reports. If you have proof otherwise, link to it.

    That said, they’ve been spineless and mealymouthed about actively supporting Biden.

  269. 269.

    SFAW

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​
     
    WTAF? I’m agreeing with you again? I either need to do less drugs, or more of ’em.
    Be that as it may, I hope things are going well in your Arctic wasteland.

  270. 270.

    Chris Johnson

    @The Thin Black Duke: I mean, the thing is if there are names involved you MUST check and see if it’s actually ‘people familiar with their thinking say that’. See if it’s ‘reportedly’. See if it’s ‘unnamed sources unanimously agree that’.

    With the right disclaimers you can use the name of a very important person and just. plain. lie.

    Adam Schiff, who’s apparently heavy into crypto and should not have won against Katie Porter, is a name where it’s not a lie that he’s acting against Biden and the only sensible plan. As yet I have not seen other names of significance actually confirmed, but I’ve seen everyone up to Obama and probably Jill Biden linked to ‘allegedly’, ‘according to people familiar with his thinking’, and so on, because you’re meant to freak out. None of that requires even the knowledge of the people who are named.

  271. 271.

    burritoboy

    The problem with the hand-wringing of the Dump Biden school has been reiterated too many times, but here is my (hopefully moderate yet strong) criticism:

    I would argue the outstanding problem in today’s politics isn’t the policy end (which is important but often receives too much emphasis within the Democratic / liberal / left end of things), but what I would call the deep personal character problem within the Democratic Party.

    Loyalty (very much including personal loyalty) is incredibly important.  You don’t knife your allies in the back when they stumble.  This tendency is a severe character problem, and shows that considerable parts of the Democratic / liberal / left continuum simply don’t have the character traits to be in solidarity with others (i.e. do not in some sense have even the most basic levels of political awareness they should have gained in high school.)  It is unlikely that they will develop these traits in any reasonable amount of time, and that means that our coalition is fundamentally considerably more weak than it could be.

    The Dump Biden school going to respond with some version of “we’re not a cult.” But, again, since the Dump Biden school had their own responsibilities to step up at the many earlier appropriate points along the way (if they thought they had a concrete better candidate than Biden) but did not.  That was their responsibility as citizens if they thought this.  They did not do so.  (In fact, only one credible candidate ever stepped forward who could defeat Trump, Joe Biden.) Now their responsibility at this point in time is quite otherwise, and avoiding the realization of that fault will continue its damage upon their own characters. And that fault will continue to severely weaken the coalition.

    The Dump Biden school needs more to be recognized or seen as right as individuals than to be politically effective, or even function within any sort of coalition.  That’s why we had every sort of ridiculous pundit opening their mouth, when their “ideas” are (mostly) secondary or tertiary, if we wish to be polite.  Their characters are full of vice and they cannot truly be in a political coalition – i.e. they are precisely the exact opposite of political people, because the essence of politics is building coalitions, not usually winning personal acclaim or personal attention for having your personal right opinion.  That’s why they continue to post various things instead of doing what is necessary (doing, not posting, not writing, not tweeting, not gaining personal status for being memorable on social media or the traditional media.)

    This is not a secondary problem, but indeed the primary one.  If the Dump Biden school had such weak characters they could not stand firm when others needed them to, they are the weak members within the coalition and the problem within the coalition, and ultimately, we must weed them out if they cannot reform or refuse to reform themselves.

    Now they are running around, praising themselves for “being right.”  Again, this underlines their lack of political being – the political question is never “am I personally right” (you have one vote, you personally are almost always irrelevant as a single individual) but whether I can build an organization that embodies that. You can’t build an organization where people are always looking to take down others so they can be praised for “oh look at me, I was right!”  That’s not a political role, and that’s the opposite of what we need those people to do.

    If they were out there actually doing something to BUILD towards their favorite candidate, that would (or at least theoretically could) be extremely valuable. (I.E. Imagine someone saying: The Draft [XYZ] Committee has 512 field offices, and 350,000 volunteers!  We’ve done A, B, C through P! Etc.  That is real organization, and might even come in quite handy even if [XYZ] herself is not successful.) Instead…..they bug people on message boards or write piffle in some media, usually without having done a thing to even concretely select the [XYZ] and absolutely never have done anything whatever to build a collective Draft [XYZ] effort.

  272. 272.

    Shalimar

    @WereBear: I don’t believe that Schiff panics and I don’t believe this is about the media barrage.  I think Democratic candidates are under massive pressure from major donors to come out against Biden, and that pressure is intensified for Schiff since most of those donors are in his state.

  273. 273.

    burritoboy

    Shalimar,

    Again, pay close attention to organization.  Is Schiff building anything or is he just conveying whatever the donors are saying?  This is a severe political test for him – his real first at the very major level that he clearly very much desires to be at. I believe that if he is merely conveying what the donors are thinking / pressuring without taking his own personal political responsibility in that equation seriously, he is simply not fit to be able to handle the very serious nature of being a Senator from California.  There will ALWAYS be tremendous donor pressure if you are a Senator from California, HOW you USE that is critical. Passively accepting it is not permissible.

  274. 274.

    artem1s

    @schrodingers_cat: Wonkette has been fine. Their commenters dismiss the trolls with ease and get on with the business of ranking TCFG. Robin’s spent the last week at the convention pointing out the cray-cray. They aren’t getting pulled into the loop because their front pagers just don’t post anything about it. They are focused and know who the enemy is. They plenty of ammo to work with and are happy and even gleeful.

  276. 276.

    Chris Johnson

    @burritoboy: Nice. That’s a great analysis. One would imagine if you were building a rival organization, that would involve public work, and heading a faction that was able to GOTV and handle campaign business, ideally in 50 states. I’m not hearing a lot of talk about the great alternate campaign network that’s holding out for a change in plan. Or ANY alternate campaign network. Hell, the Republicans don’t even HAVE a campaign network, they just have Charlie Kirk now.

  277. 277.

    SomeRandomGuy

    @Dave: Right; almost any of the established commentators do not want Trump (trolls and new commentators are well a different story) they just believe that with Biden that Trump is almost inevitable and I don’t even know that they are wrong because the media has been in a frenzy and it appears that a lot of Democrats have fallen into that so it may be self-fulfilling prophecy at this point.

    You raise a point. And I’d like to expound on that point.

    I’d like to send a big fuck you to every single one of those cowardly, pathetic wastes of breath.

    No, really. I’ve been told how fucking sacred human fucking life is, and that *I* don’t get to die, just because I’m in unending, excruciating pain that makes my life entirely pointless. You know how much work that takes, day in and day out, through each and every moment when life chews the fuck out of you again, for being a weirdo who can’t even talk half the time?

    *YOU* cowardly fuckers go all pants pissing because OMG you’re going to have some fucking ANXIETY for a couple-three months? You know what happens *AFTER* Biden wins? YOU pathetic pusillanimous pissants get to LIVE A NORMAL FUCKING LIFE.

    THREE FUCKING MONTHS OF ANXIETY! And you’re all “oh, no, I can’t do that, not for Joe Biden, no, kick his ass to the curb, kick him in the nuts, staple a kick-me sign to him, because OMG HE HAS OLD MAN COOTIES!!!  That means we have to something SO STUPID that NO ONE HAS EVER THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA BEFORE EVER EVER EVER!

    How could someone really be this painfully stupid? To take a Republican attack line, and just run with it? Because they’re oh, so SCAAAAAWED. GROW THE FUCK UP. LIFE IS SOMETIMES SCARY.

  279. 279.

    SomeRandomGuy

    @me: You’re sure not wrong. I am glad to see, from the tweets above, we were once again reminded who shlushesh hish wordsh in the middle of speaking, so the actual person with the family history of dementia, who is acting more and more like he has dementia, and who is actually showing signs of a problem affecting his neurology, gets a bit of focus on him.

    Oh, yeah, and I understand that Republicans are trying to blame Democrats that the Shoe Lift God Emperor wouldn’t let himself be moved until after it was proven he’s pathetic about his height, and yes, wears shoe lifts.

    I mean, how stupid can you be, to have secrets from your body guards? If you have shoe lifts, your body guards know you have shoe lifts, so they can say “it’s all taken care of now MOVE!” while members of the investigation team confiscate any guilty-looking falsies left behind.

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